how cix's story films progress into jungle and their connection to dante alighieri's divine comedy; a thread

okay so first of all, BIG trigger warning for this entire thread

tw // suicide, death, self-harm, car accidents, bullying, violence, blood, abuse

cix's entire concept is based on dante's divine comedy, a narrative poem about dante's journey through hell. hell is divided into nine circles, each one having differing punishments for sinners

bae jinyoung is running through a wood, apparantly trying to escape something. this wood is a reference to the first sentence in dante's inferno:

"At the midpoint of the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest for the clear path was lost."

he then arrives at the gate to hell, which bears the phrase:

“lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate”

this phrase can be found in dante's inferno and means "abandon all hope, you who enter here"

the first circle of hell, the limbo, is where the souls of those who did not believe in god in their lifetime reside.

in the second circle are those overcome by lust. they are violently pushed around by strong winds.

at the second circle of hell is also where minos, a giant beast that judges over sinners, stands. he curls his tail around himself a specific number of times to represent the circle of hell the sinner shall be sent to.

this is where we find jinyoung again. his soul is being dragged to the second circle to await judgement for the sins he committed in the story films. we'll get back to this later, so keep it in mind.

the third circle, gluttony, punishes its sinners by forcing them to lie in a vile slush that is produced by icy rain.

the fourth circle torments the greedy by forcing them to push great weights with their bodies.

the fifth circle is where the wrathful and the sullen are. the wrathful fight each other on the river styx while the sullen float along its surface on a boat.

this is where hyunsuk is being punished for his sins.

in the story films he is abandoned by his father, who finally agrees to meet up with him at the bus station after years. but when the time comes he doesn't show up, leaving hyunsuk all alone. this leaves him sullen and without hope.

the sixth circle punishes heretics by locking them into flaming tombs.

the seventh circle, violence, is divided into three rings. the first ring punishes those who were violent to other people and property by sh00ting them with arrows.

s£unghun is being punished in this ring of the circle. this isn't confirmed, but there is a theory that he is one of the bullies that tormented y0nghee. we'll get back to this in just a second.

tw suicide gore

the second ring of the seventh circle is for violence against yourself. the souls here are transformed into trees, which are then tormented by harpies, creatures that have the body of a bird and the face of a woman.

this is where y0nghee is.

tw suicide

y0nghee attempted to commit suicide by jumping off his school's roof in the story films, but survived. we know this because the last epilogue ends with his heart starting to beat again.

tw self-harm, bullying

his attempt stems from the fact that he was being bullied at school (maybe by s£unghun) and was under academic pressure. this pressure was so extreme that he self-harms in class after getting an unsatisfactory grade, but he is stopped by jiny0ung.

the eighth circle is resided by the fraudulent. the punishments differ depending on the type of fraud the sinners have committed.

hypocrites in the eighth circle are forced to wear heavy robes, which are golden and lined with lead, as they endlessly walk in a circle. interestingly enough, seunghun is also here.

tw suicide, car accidents, death

y0nghee texts his mother right before he jumps off the roof, causing her to speed and hit s£unghun's mother with her car. s£unghun mourning her death is the hypocrisy he is here for, as he (allegedly) played a role in y0nghee's decision to jump.

the ninth circle is a frozen lake and, like dante's vision of hell in general, is divided into rings of increasingly bad sections with the worst in the center. the people who are sent here are those who have betrayed the trust of someone close and special.

jinyoung is here.

minos has decided that jinyoung's sin warrants punishment in the final circle. the person whose trust he has betrayed in the story films is yonghee, his classmate. now this is where it gets tricky, as there are multiple ways of interpreting this.

tw suicide, self-harm, violence

a.) he went too far while stopping him from self-harming and hurt and humiliated him
b.) he didn't care enough
c.) he couldn't stop y0nghee from attempting suicide

unfortunately i don't know where bx is in all of this. his sin in the story films was to not interfere when he saw y0nghee getting bullied, but i'm not sure in which circle his teaser places him.

in the latest teaser there's also this shot of yonghee covered in a golden liquid, which is a reference to the "golden ladder", a ladder that allows sinners to ascend to heaven. his hand was already covered in gold in revival, so his ascension was planned from the beginning.

so this is where we currently stand before the release of jungle:

bx: ?

hyunsuk: 5th circle (wrath)

seunghun: 7th circle (violence against another) / 8th circle (hypocrisy)

yonghee: 7th circle, 2nd ring
(violence against self) / ascension

jinyoung: 9th circle (treachery)

they have been planning this concept since the very beginnin of their career, as some lyrics in their debut song movie star and certain scenes in their variety show hello cix seem to be references to dante's inferno.

(credit for the pictures shown below: @luceatluxtua_)