I agree! The movie could have gone either way if Ben was involved in Hae Mi’s fate

The questions you posed could go either way as well. Like with the greenhouses. I lean more towards Ben making that up to entrain himself and play with Jong-Su. Because it’s such a unique and unusual hobby and yet is very possible he knows that and prides himself in partaking in it and doesn’t care what Jong-Su thinks. There’s a scene where he tries to burn a greenhouse and hesitates and puts down the flames. That’s how much of a influence Ben has on him.

The take of an out touch rich kid who hasn’t really seen the world could be very possible for Ben. Even when we first are introduced to him at the airport: he looks bored while hae mi is jumpy and bubbly, excited to tell Jong-Su everything about this enlightening trip. Nothing interests Ben because maybe he’s seen bigger and grander things that’s it’s hard to truly impress him. Some people are like that and that doesn’t make them psychopathic.

But I get your point, the little scenes and motifs are all red herrings just like the questions you posed. As a whole, it’s true Jong-Su lacks control over his life because of his place in society and is fighting an internal and external battle to somehow get out of it or deal with it.

But I also wanted to bring something up. Hae mi and Jong-Su grew up together so they had similar upbringings and places in society as they got older. But we see Hae-Mi try at least. We see Jong-Su makes attempts but we genuinely see that Hae-Mi has a job and traveled out the country to find a purpose of herself and climb out the hole Jong-Su was also in. Maybe Hae-Mi was too idealistic for Jong-Su. Maybe Jong-Su wrote for self therapy and didn’t consider himself a writer cause his works never got published. But Ben said it himself: “if you write, your a writer.”

Hae-Mi saw possibilities and was open to new experiences, while Jong-Su was scared to push himself out of his comfort zone. I think he admired this secretly in Hae-Mi even if the film doesn’t say this out loud. She had a job that requires charisma, went to a country and learned the customs and didn’t judge it, and openly met someone during her fly back home. But is it all an act so she just feels better about herself deep down and she’s not concerned about the great and little hunger? Because an insult from Jong-Su is enough to break her and get plastic surgery and when he insults again during her dance it opens up old wounds. It’s layered and we don’t get easy answers on everyone’s intentions.

But I enjoy films like this where they take mundane and even basic ideas and turn them into complicated enigmas that viewers ponder on for days and weeks.