Because this image is way better suited for Jin Sahyuk than boss. Boss doesn't strike me as someone who would dress like that. Also, the Author didn't go "sure, why not?" Assuming this is correct, his reaction was "If this isn't Jin Sahyuk, then what does Jin Sahyuk look like".
Well for starters she has navy coloured hair and not the red eyes (including the pupil) that are Boss' thing. She's also way more expressive than the cold and calm look shown in the illustration. Other than that, there's not much difference between two badass athletic girls about the same age. I know we mostly see the cute awkward side of Boss since we're looking in from Hajin's perspective but you can't forget how Boss interacts with and looks like to other people. It's basically Sahyuk but with less cussing and more actual danger. He asks what would Sahyuk look like if not this? I'm asking what Boss would look like if not like this.
Is it the clothes like you said in the other reply? Because I can totally see Boss wearing something like that. When Hajin first saw Boss his excuse for looking at her was something like "man she's hot" which makes me think she was probably wearing something at least slightly revealing or shows off her figure a bit. We also know that she likes flashy things from Hajin's commentary when she tried to buy his obsidian bracelet thing (which has been missing for half the novel btw, I guess he just got better artefacts and forgot about it) so I don't see that furry coat being too out there either. We know she's been self conscious about her young age so it would make sense for her fashion sense to be clothes attempting to make her look 'mature' like this one. If she takes of the coat she seems to be generally suitable for combat, which is clearly needed for her.
i have short words memory & forgot their description, so when i read "boss" i imagine business woman.
1: I know Hajin is shallow, but at least give him the benefit of the doubt that his idea of beauty isn't solely cemented on how tight someones clothes are. 2: I can agree that something like this coat is well within the limits of her character, but it probably wouldn't be worn in that manner. As a side note, I quite like that coat. 3: Is this your idea of mature? I wouldn't call this kid's clothing, but certainly not mature. As this is a fantasy-ish world and she is a professional, I'd imagine she'd dress similarly to Corvo, from Dishonored. That's the image that's been cemented in my head, at least.
Spoiler: the pic in question (not sure which) pirate & assassin creed vibes edit: just to clarify, my image of boss is "business woman" and jin sahyuk "wild fighter", and that image of boss leans more towards "fighter"..so i do think that image is more sahyuk than boss.
I don't think just a pretty face is a good enough excuse to be staring at someone like Hajin did to Boss. And it's not that Hajin was staring at her because she was hot in the first place, it was because he recognised who she was. Calling her hot was him pretending to be a lecherous guy staring at a hot girl to justify himself. And this might just be me, but I think the word "hot" is generally about the whole person, not just the face. If it was about the face then I think something like "cute" or "pretty" would be appropriate. But it's more to do with the fact that I don't think anybody would stare at anybody else just for their face unless they are like an actual goddess, whereas if she was wearing revealing clothing it would be 'reasonable' for people to stare at her (disregarding the stealth artefact lmao). I also don't think the clothes she was wearing back then were as revealing as the illustration, I meant it as to mean she wasn't afraid of showing a bit of skin in public. As for how her coat is worn, I understand what you mean. I don't think she'd wear it like that normally, though. I'm imagining that she's in some sort of confrontational situation where she's about to tell someone what's what or start a fight and that intimidating pose just comes naturally. I'm not saying it's my idea of mature, I'm saying it could be a few years younger Boss' idea of mature: dark yet loud and flashy (expensive), showing off skin and revealing the fact that she's both hot yet also definitely in shape enough to kick your ass. I don't think that's how she thinks now (or even that it was a conscious thing back then) but that she's just stuck with the same fashion style since then because why change it? In regards to looking like Corvo I think we're just gonna have to agree to disagree on that one lmao. I do understand where you're coming from on these and I can't really say that my mental image of Boss is what the author intended. My reasoning for the most part is me thinking "this is my impression of Boss, why do I think this way?" And then trying to remember all the different parts of the story that have given me this impression. It's entirely possible that we just picked up on different things or deemed different things to be more relevant. My impression of Boss is similar to 'fighter woman' like Sahyuk, but more calm and ruthless. Ignoring the gap moe of course. I could also see Sahyuk in this picture, I'd just change the hair and eye colour and maker her more expressive. I'd also change the coat into something that looks less expensive
*RED ALERT* *RED ALERT* Either we have ship setting sail for real or we have a Hajin going into full blown panic mode. Either way: Oh and the bear helmet still kills me.
This is what I imagine Jin Sahyuk to look like to be honest, especially with the unsatisfied and angry look.
another option for her in my mind is Kanzaki from index. at that weird triple point of calm cool collected/deadly kill machine/hopelessly and cluelessly in love Jin Sahyuck is far far too much of a berserker to be esdeath. She is like an easily bullied rabid animal. She is like Uryuu from Mirai nikki where her range of actions goes from "I will tear your throat out with my bare teeth in a fight" to "blushes and passes out from being complimented sincerely"