This story so good I actually read your whole comment, ty for sharing your observations
Thanks!
The author does a great job dropping tiny hints and foreshadowing throughout. I had been waiting for the time loop reveal since partway through S1 because of the little bits that they put in that hint towards it (plus the symbolism of Sisyphus). It's cool to be able to go back and reread parts while knowing new info that recontextulizes scenes.
honestly i thought that in this chapter jinwoo imagined the “guy” that tried to kill him in chapter 0 as his dad because he thought guwon really killed his dad, but now that i think about it, you may be right!
what you said is more complete and makes more sense, because he already lived that moment countless times thats why hes always having those memories
YES. Guwon killed Jinwoo's Dad.
Go between Ch 0 and 24 to compare the scenes.
Ch 0 Jinwoo is hurt and cannot comprehend what's happening around him because he's close to dying/passing out and has a head injury.
He hears a lot of things happening (Raiders robbing and attacking others) and misconstrued the events due to his injury. That's why you can't see the raider clearly in Ch 0 and his speech bubble is black. The thing he is holding is purposefully placed off screen. Ch 0 you think it's a weapon, but in truth it's a water bottle. The last dark speech bubble fades into white, as if the truth is barely peeking out.
Ch 24 reveals the TRUTH. There's no dark shadows hiding anything. The scene is completely clear.
A raider DOES appear, but is chased away by his Dad. To Jinwoo the two of them merge as the same person in Ch 0. His Dad returns and the scene from Ch 0 plays out with his Dad's real dialogue, some of which is similar ("look what I found" vs "there you are" in reference to finding Jinwoo). His Dad mentions having been chased by some guys (likely the Hounds), but says he got away and as he holds out the bottle, Guwon smashes his head in, killing his dad. The bottle falls and lands on the floor. Ch 0 Jinwoo looks down then up at Guwon. We don't see what he looks at on the ground. Ch 24 when he looks down he's looking at the dropped water bottle. In Ch 1 we can see the water bottle on the ground next to the Dad's body. But do we see a weapon on the ground anywhere? No. Because there never was a weapon his Dad was holding. Only water.
Jinwoo passes out for a bit and when they are on truck he wakes up. Guwon had taken the water and is now giving Jinwoo water to drink. At the time we don't question where the water bottle had come from, but now with the truth revealed we know Guwon took it from the Dad.
Guwon later lets Jinwoo come back to where Jinwoo's Dad's body is left. It's a surprise! Since Jinwoo said he wanted to get his memories back on his own Guwon pretended he didn't kill Jinwoo's Dad when Jinwoo asked him earlier, because then the surprise would be ruined! He didn't lie he says! It was just a secret so his surprise wouldn't get ruined. You know? Just like when you lie about a surprise birthday party so that it stays a surprise! How nice of Guwon! Lol When Jinwoo confronts him Guwon finally does admit he killed his Dad, but obviously to Guwon this is not a big deal so he doesn't get why it's upsetting. He just thinks he did a good job on his surprise!
So Jinwoo in S1 is unreliable because of his memory issues. The reveal at the end of S1 has his real memories come back and shows the truth: Guwon was not his saviour like he thought, he had killed his Dad. The way his heart pounded near Guwon may have actually been a natural fear response and not love like he thought. His body remembered, even when he didn't. He had mistaken the bright blinding sun as a hopeful future, when in reality it was the bright, hot heat of hell.
Jinwoo had been sleepwalking and having strange dreams since the beginning of the story. Deep in his subconscious there were memories of Guwon killing his Dad.
But also... Jinwoo had gone through several loops of these same events. His subconscious moved his body in his sleep. He tried to kill Guwon in his sleep, he tried to cut off his ring finger (just like he did in this chapter) and he's had strange dreams that seemed to prophesize an impending doom (as mentioned in this chapter), a pale Moon that seemed to stare at him that looked like Guwon's eyes.
Just like Sisyphus rolling a rock uphill only for it to fall back down and to restart, never to reach the peak: Jinwoo and Guwon have been looping in time and the town has been wiped out each time.