Just throwing my two cents in on Seong Su health predicament, but my main guess is that it’s a chronic side effect of some drug that the cult is abusing, which had been propped up as some miracle cure. If the pharmaceutical company noticed one of their products is being bought up at suspicious levels on a tiny island, they’d probably want to check that out. Cults abusing drugs is fairly textbook, and numerous medications can damage the immune system when done without a doctor’s guidance. Either the drug was being used as a catchall, or more specifically, being used to treat “degeneracy”. Alternatively, Seong Su could be dealing with chronic symptoms of an STI, transmitted from the rapist pastor. Given the time period, the particular fear of penetration, and his weak immune system, I immediately thought of HIV. But I doubt the syringes are for treatment, since antiretrovirals are given orally, and it doesn't make thematic sense to include that in the flashback. Instead, the syringes could have contained a sedative, ei date-rape drugs.
Just throwing my two cents in on Seong Su health predicament, but my main guess is that it’s a chronic side effect of some drug that the cult is abusing, which had been propped up as some miracle cure. If the pharmaceutical company noticed one of their products is being bought up at suspicious levels on a tiny island, they’d probably want to check that out. Cults abusing drugs is fairly textbook, and numerous medications can damage the immune system when done without a doctor’s guidance. Either the drug was being used as a catchall, or more specifically, being used to treat “degeneracy”.
Alternatively, Seong Su could be dealing with chronic symptoms of an STI, transmitted from the rapist pastor. Given the time period, the particular fear of penetration, and his weak immune system, I immediately thought of HIV. But I doubt the syringes are for treatment, since antiretrovirals are given orally, and it doesn't make thematic sense to include that in the flashback. Instead, the syringes could have contained a sedative, ei date-rape drugs.