By: Sammy Wang
Released on June 30, 2024, Married in Red is a short 2-D thriller game about the main character, Bok-su Go visiting Da-Joeng Choi, her old friend from university on her wedding day. But all is not what it seems as one is out for revenge and the other is trying to keep her past hidden.
I recommend checking out the game here before proceeding with this article as it is free and a fun experience. It drew many players in with its unique art style, controls, and plot. From here on, it’s spoiler territory.
The basic gist of the game is Bok-su getting revenge on Da-Jeong by murdering her soon to be husband, Myeong- Hoon, and framing her for it. Her motive stems from when Bok-su and Da-Jeong were university students interning at a hospital, with Da-Jeong accidentally killing a patient with a low death rate and blaming it on Bok-su. When Da-Jeong throws Bok-su under the bus, it sets Bok-su on a path of failure in the future.
And with Bok-su killing Myeong-Hoon and framing it on Da-Jeong, along with setting up rumors to make ‘her murder’ seem more plausible, Bok-su gets her revenge.
But is it really what she wanted?
From the very last scenes where Bok-su stares down at Da-Jeong as she stumbles on her words of, “I didn’t do it,” the exact same phrase she said when she was framed for killing the patient, her shaky grin turns into a nervous grimace. The gravity of her actions had finally caught up to her.
But what could she do about it now? It’s not like Da- Jeong did anything when she was being blamed for her own actions.
Even though I do agree that Bok-su deserved to get some sort of revenge on Da-Jeong for completely ruining her life, she dragged in an innocent person, Myeong-Hoon. This parallels how Da-jeong killed an innocent patient due to her being inexperienced. Although neither character realizes it, their interactions drag innocent people into their schemes.
I would also like to point out their character design, or more specifically their choice of clothing; Bok-su wears a black coat, white sweater, and red gloves and belt. She later switches into new clothes after murdering the fiancé, which are the same, except without the red belt and gloves. I believe this was a metaphor for Bok-su getting rid of the blood that was spilled on her by Da-Jeong’s mistake. At the end of the game, the black coat is gone- only her white shirt remains untouched by blood. This symbolizes that she is now the one acting pure, the one that didn’t commit murder and frame someone in the name of revenge.
On the other hand, Da-Jeong wears all white, as expected of a bride on her wedding day. This could be seen as her trying to hide all her mistakes in the past by wearing white, free of sin and impurity. But as seen at the end of the game, she is covered with blood, like her mistakes and imperfections are being revealed to the guest.
In the end, the audience is left to wonder ‘will this cycle continue when Da-Jeong is released from jail?’
Sources:
https://racheldrawsthis.itch.io/married-in-red
https://youtu.be/8tQj7XMU0aE?si=xqqoLLYpgWFfviki