mmm. i can see this to a certain degree? it's a yes and no from me.....obviously this is all just my conjecture, i don't feel like we (the audience) know luka well enough for me to do the kind of deep dive on his character i would do for ivan, yk? take everything said here with a hefty grain of salt.

1) i think that luka is extremely observant and while he might not keep active tabs on his old peers / competition / rivals — whatever you want to call them — he certainly knows enough about the notable ones to be prepared.

2) adding onto pt 1, i think that luka is a little bit "in love with" every opponent he faces. thesis evidence: him kissing his opponent's hand post-r4 (shown at the beginning of r5). the way he handles the whole business with mizisua in r5.

none of the things he does would cut so deeply if he didn't so deeply, thoroughly understand his opponents. he has to "love" them in order to dig in the knife.

3) however, as a contrast to #2 — it is a shallow affectation. it is a different character he plays for each and every opponent. luka is (as far as we know, to date) the finest actor of all of the main cast. he knows how to work the audience. how to win them over. how, to that effect, to win his opponents over. they buy the performance just as much as the segyeins do. if they didn't, his mind games wouldn't work.

4) winding back around to luka & hyuna — i think that luka can see some of hyuna in all of his potential opponents, but that's not really the focus. maybe i'm just projecting here, but for luka, there is only one hyuna, she is irreplaceable for him, but honestly mizi reminds luka more of hyuna than i think till does.

it sounds contrary, since mizi is pretty content with her life in captivity before sua's death (has a good relationship with guardian and friends etc) but it's the essence of that freedom of spirit. (to me!)

5) all of this is to say — i genuinely think luka sees himself in till more than hyuna. experimented on, forced into cages their guardians see fit, never able to act like themselves lest they get themselves killed. idk. that's my read.

more on this point — i think there's a lot of luka that screams "i'm human! see me for what i am beneath this façade!" and the person who knows him the best, knows what a sick and twisted fuck AND ALSO how terribly, desperately human he is — is hyuna. hyuna is his inspiration and his muse. she is a driving force for enabling luka to understand the emotional core of the people he gets up on stage with.

...is this anything? hahaha. thanks for listening to my ramble, kissy 💋