Sang Yi
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–Sang Yi to Yi Sang, during the latter's days at N Corp. | ||
Sang Yi is a Mirror World Identity of Yi Sang who acted as a companion for him while Yi Sang’s mental health deteriorated with the collapse of the League of Nine.
He is introduced via flashbacks in Canto IV: The Unchanging, conversing with Yi Sang through Yeonsim.
Appearance
Sang Yi is nearly identical to Yi Sang in terms of physical appearance, with the standout difference being a lack of bags under his eyes. During his first meeting with Yi Sang, Sang Yi is shown to wear a neat black suit, tie, and vest, fitted with the classic T Corp. pocket watch. However, in later appearances, he dons a white lab coat over a dark shirt with an ID tag clipped over his right breast.
Beyond that, Sang Yi possesses a pair of colorful "wings" made out of a scattered collection of glass shards, which prove to be a continuous source of jealousy for Yi Sang.
Personality
Like his LCB counterpart, Sang Yi is polite and calm, with a dedication to his research. Yet, he shows a wider range of emotions than Yi Sang with his default expression remaining a nonchalant smile, as well as displaying a more "realistic" understanding of the world. This includes being more numb to the City's cycle of exploitation, and knowing that Yi Sang cannot afford to sit around in extreme depression forever. At the same time, he shows a very apathetic, disinterested outlook, not having any reaction to Hermann's plan to destroy all other Mirror Worlds even if it might potentially mean the end of his own existence, as well as regarding the outside world with boredom, saying that the world always flows along the same current and is therefore not particularly bothered by its ongoings.
Sang Yi showed compassion and care for Yi Sang, with Yi Sang even describing his Mirror friend's expression of one who had lost everything while empathizing with him. He was also a source of compassionate inspiration for Yi Sang, wanting him to be able to "fly" and achieve happiness. Despite this, Sang Yi displayed questionable actions at times: encouraging Yi Sang to stay with Hermann's group for a while through oppressive words, and later indirectly suggesting that he overdose if he cannot bring himself to make an escape, making some of the Sinners question his intentions.
Story
Prior to Limbus Company
Nothing is known about Sang Yi's origins or Mirror World. It is however shown that contact on Yi Sang's side was made through usage of the Mirror he named Yeonsim. The two of them first spoke on a spring day, around the time the League took its first steps towards rupturing. Sang Yi served as a source of inspiration for the inventor, yet also a source of envy and despair, displaying "wings" which Yi Sang considered himself lacking and longed desperately for.
When the League of Nine collapsed and Yi Sang was taken into N Corp. by Gubo, Sang Yi stood by Yi Sang's side as a consistent conversation partner. After learning about Hermann's plot to destroy all Mirror Worlds– one which would result in Sang Yi's demise– Yi Sang begged his idealized self to flee. Yi Sang would claim to be incapable of fighting back against the tide himself, denying the possibility of filling his now-empty void up with something new. Yi Sang described the expression Sang Yi made in response to his words as one of someone who had "lost everything", and for a time, Sang Yi would not visit Yi Sang to speak with him.
When Sang Yi returned to Yi Sang's side, he presented him with advice in the form of two options: to either escape the N Corp. lodging, or overdose on the medication they were giving him. He offered no reasoning behind these suggestions. Yi Sang would decide to flee after gathering the courage to do so, later ending up in Faust's care.
Canto IV: The Unchanging
Sang Yi appears at several points during Yi Sang's flashbacks to his life before joining Limbus Company. A handful of conversations and the general relationship held between them are shown to the Sinners and Dongrang.
As Yi Sang finds the strength to fight against Dongrang, Sang Yi speaks to him again. Sang Yi tells his other self that the wings he saw on his back were his own wings, and Yi Sang's displayed in the reflection. With this, Sang Yi tells his friend to "kick off the ground and flutter your wings", giving him the final push he needed to fly.
Etymology
Sang Yi's name (상이) is merely derived from the characters for Yi Sang (이상) with their order inverted.
Author Yi Sang's works often dealt with the subject of mirrors, reflections and symmetry. Mirrors appear both as metaphorical elements as well as structural elements, using repetition in poems incorporating diagrams and in the texts themselves. In regards to the left-handed "I in the mirror", two poems stand out: Mirror and Crow's Eye View no. 15. Mirror is quoted in Yi Sang's promotional art, as well as in his original character promo video released during the game's announcement period.
“ In the mirror there is no sound. There is no world as quiet as this.I in the mirror has my ears. Poor ears that do not understand my words.
I in the mirror is left-handed. Lefty cannot accept my handshake as he does not know to shake hands.
The mirror prevents me from touching I in the mirror but I could have not met I in the mirror without the mirror.
I do not have a mirror now but there is always an I in the depths of a mirror. I am not sure but I am sure he must be sunk in his own left-sided projects.
I in the mirror is opposite of I but is also quite similar to I. For I am unable to examine myself in the mirror I become sullen. ”—The Mirror poem, roughly translated into English
Yeonsim
Yeonsim (연심) is the name of the narrator's wife in Yi Sang's signature masterpiece short story The Wings. For most of the story, Yeonsim is absent and no dialogue is heard from her until a single line at the very end, with her physical presence being largely minimal compared to the presence she has in the protagonist's mind.
The protagonist presents an unfaltering adoration for his wife, making her his reason to exist and basing his entire life around Yeonsim, desiring her love and approval. He is completely dependant on her; he spends his days sleeping away in a dark, musky room he's kept hidden in, malnourished and completely cut off from the outside world, instead only truly living in his own fractured mind. The protagonist only ever enters his wife's room when she has gone out, playing with her cosmetics and particularly her hand mirror, noting her room to be so much brighter and colorful than his own windowless lightless room.
Eventually, the protagonist starts going outside, wandering the streets and growing curious of the outside world and observing the people on the streets. However, this causes conflict with Yeonsim as she grows to become more aggressive in response. Due to the internal conflict of the narrator in regards to his fleeting sense of self and grasping the reality of his situation, he shows a double consciousness or two different personalities: one passive, subservient, at times child-like state, and another of a more introspective, proactive intellectual, however this aspect is only truly apparent in the original Korean text, due to be shown through specific use of the Korean language.
During one of the protagonist's outings, wandering at night, he's caught under the rain and falls ill. Yeonsim takes care of him, giving him medicine. In reality, this medicine was in fact a sedative named Adaline. The protagonist wakes up after realizing he had been asleep for multiple days and realizes his wife had tried to kill him with the sedatives. After confronting her and being brutally attacked by her, he runs away, reflecting on his life and not being able to find any hope or meaning in it anymore, and at the rooftop of a department in a delirious state he yearns for "wings" to fly away, with the dreams and hopes he had abandoned long ago.
Trivia
- In the non-English versions, Sang Yi presents the oddity of speaking in casual, contemporary speech in contrast to Yi Sang's remarked archaic speech patterns and formality which is shared with his playable Identities.
- Of particular note, in the Japanese version, he uses the first person pronoun "ore" (俺), which is considered very rough, masculine and informal, compared to Yi Sang's pronoun of choice being "watashi" (私), which is considered gender neutral and polite; it is also more often used by women in casual speech, however comes off as stiff when used by men in casual conversation.
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