Who is Eun-gyu from Please Look After Mom and what is their importance?

Eun-gyu, who appears only in the part of the book narrated by Mom (Part 3) is, like Kyun and Hong Tae-hee (discussed below), a manifestation of Mom's inner life and identity that her family knows nothing about. He is her friend and confidante, and perhaps even her extra-marital lover (the narrative never actually suggests that he was, but the implication is there). There is an important irony associated with this character, however. This is the fact that, in describing him and their relationship, Mom doesn't go into a lot of detail about who he was for himself, focusing more on who he was for her. In other words, she views Eun-gyu in the same way as her children seem to view HER - as a source of (comfort? support? endless caring?) without, after their initial meeting, taking a great deal of interest in what HE might need, want, and/or value.