Alchemy of Souls: Episodes 17-18

by alathe

Our heroes must deal with the fallout of two much-awaited figures’ return to Daeho: the heir of a noble line of priestesses, and the Gwanju of Cheonbugwan. Politics just got complicated! With Jinyowon and Songrim at each other’s throats, it’ll be a mercy if anyone gets out alive…

EPISODES 17-18 WEECAP

Last week, we left Wook unknowingly holding his father at swordpoint — with his father’s own sword, no less. From this, Jang Gang instantly recognizes his son. The same can’t be said for Wook, who has no reason to associate the parent who abandoned him decades ago with this disheveled wanderer, even when said wanderer knows all about Cheonbugwan’s Gwanju. The one who abandoned that sword — and his son — was a madman. So says Jang Gang, anyway. Will Wook seek vengeance for the insult to his father? No, says Wook. His father wouldn’t want that. Nonetheless, he’ll wear the sword for the sake of his mother’s reputation.

Jang Gang offers Wook a drink from a gnarled bottle. Wook, who has never met a beverage of dubious provenance that he didn’t immediately down, accepts. Father gazes sadly at son. He leaves Wook with a warning: continue chasing sorcery in a place like this, and its darkness will consume your soul. You’ll lose everything. Like me, he doesn’t say — but the subtext rings clear.

Meanwhile, Mu-deok, having ditched the Jin family reunion, regards her face curiously in a market stall mirror. Why do her eyes always hurt when she nears Jinyowon?

When Wook sneaks up to poke her in the cheek, it’s mark of how far their relationship has deepened that she doesn’t immediately initiate violence. Instead, the two proceed to muck about shamelessly with the stall’s merchandise. Mu-deok smears Wook’s forehead with powder. He retaliates, dotting her cheeks with bright blush. A play-fight of epic proportions commences.

After the merchant presumably tells them to go get a room already, they stroll through the market together. Mu-deok’s makeup has faded to a pretty flush, which proves excellent disguise for her actual blush as she remembers Wook touching her cheeks. In fact, Wook’s awful habit of doing charming things like guiding her out of the way of oncoming wagon traffic is proving disastrous for her dignity.

Later, Mu-deok remembers something about the newly-returned “Jin Bu-yeon”: she uses a familiar object as a walking stick.

Of all the things Yul was expecting from his friends, an interrogation regarding the location of his umbrella was presumably not one of them. Mu-deok, playing bad cop, gets right up in his face. When Wook (tentatively donning the role of good cop) points out she sounds like a wife with a cheating husband, it’s weird for everyone involved. Still, eventually, they put the pieces together: So-yi the swindler whom Yul saved in the marketplace and the supposed Bu-yeon are one and the same.

A moment’s maternal tenderness from Ho-gyeong leads So-yi to conclusions of her own. That embroidered blindfold with the Jinyowon emblem? Turns out, it was hand-stitched by Ho-gyeong herself — ironically, in case Bu-yeon ever found herself lost. It’s identical to the cherished keepsake So-yi stole from Mu-deok.

The penny drops. Clearly, a more elaborate lie is needed to maintain her cover. She begins telling everyone she senses bad things from Mu-deok: spiritually speaking, the vibes are rancid.

Ho-gyeong can’t help but question Bu-yeon’s reappearance. For one thing, it’s hard not to dwell on the fact that her daughter’s ears look different. Luckily, Mu is here to dispel all doubts — or rather, cheerfully bribe them away. Whilst delicately skirting any outright statement, he strongly implies that if Ho-gyeong wants the ice stone Jang Gang once took, she must declare Bu-yeon her successor. Cast away her doubts, and she can have relic and daughter for the price of one! She just needs to do one teensy little thing first… facilitate the fall of Songrim.

There’s a larger scheme at play here, which becomes apparent when So-yi is delivered to the trusty Murder Chamber at Cheonbugwan. Before the ranks of masked cultists, Mu declares that he will finally reveal the identity of their Danju. To her utter astonishment, he gestures to So-yi. It’s not long before she’s reveling in the attention: yet another perk to her newfound status! Alas, in actuality, it’s a poisoned chalice; Ha-sun has already set her sights on So-yi’s body for her soul-shifting purposes.

The next day, in firm defiance of Songrim, Jinyowon declares a Unanimous Assembly — to which, unprecedentedly, the royal family is invited. Ho-gyeong begins with a spirited list of charges against Songrim: ransacking Jinyowon’s relics; trampling on Cheonbugwan’s authority; and treating all other organizations as suspects. On paper, Jin’s track record looks pretty shocking. The other leaders murmur mutinously.

Ho-gyeong declares her bold intention to break a 200-year-old rule. At this, So-yi steps forward, resplendent in spiky eyeliner, holding a box. She is announced as Bu-yeon, official successor of Jinyowon. The crowd watch in disbelief as she opens the box to reveal — the ice stone.

The Assembly devolves into chaos. Amid wild accusations about Songrim’s lies, the debate at hand is Seo Gyeong’s original intentions: would he want the stone destroyed, as Jin claims, or do they now have proof, as Ho-gyeong contends, that he wished it preserved?

Things speedily unravel when it is suggested the ice stone is held, not by Songrim or Jinyowon, but by a third party — at which point, it becomes a violent, embarrassing free-for-all, where even Yeom, aging medic that he is, throws down with the other grandpas.

Jin watches in despair as his esteemed friends and colleagues, preeminent in their fields, engage in magical fisticuffs on the Assembly floor. Worse still, they’re ignoring his command to stop! At Ho-gyeong’s admonishment, however, they return to their seats — which seriously rankles. His No Good Very Bad Day continues when Ho-gyeong suggests that Jinyowon relieve Songrim of its right to call Assemblies.

It’s time for an ultimatum. Jin forbids Ho-gyeong from taking the ice stone outside of Songrim. Right on cue, ranks of Songrim fighters flood through the door — at which point, seems that slap-fights on the Assembly floor will degenerate into outright war. Then, a drum sounds.

Once again, Wook and Mu-deok demonstrate that if there’s one thing at which they excel, it’s theater. With Mu-deok behind the scenes, providing the perfect soundtrack for a dramatic entrance, Wook strides down the hall with the regal grace of a man about to give every single one of his former tutors a piece of his mind. Politely, of course. Because he’s here to tell them what Seo Gyeong actually wanted. Songrim hid nothing. The answer can be read plainly in Words of the Heart.

In terrifically plausible fashion, there follows sheepish whispering as all the seasoned magical academics struggle to recall the precise contents of a set text they read as undergrads. Soon, it is decided the book shall be fetched from Jinyowon. Jin privately determines this to be a stalling tactic; to his knowledge, Words of the Heart says nothing regarding the ice stone.

But, as Wook reveals to Won in a furtively-assembled meeting down the hall, he was speaking in earnest. Words of the Heart proves that Seo Gyeong was willing to leverage the ice stone against the laws of nature — to save the dying woman he loved. Wook intends to follow his example to the letter.

He also has some nasty news to share about Won’s mother: though still alive, she’s being puppeted by Shaman Choi. Won, who has been pulled in every direction by Mu’s manipulation, his father’s obsession with the King’s Star, and his own private doubts, takes this latest blow on the chin: it’s nothing he hadn’t suspected.

Back in the hall, things get ugly. The King, gazing avariciously at the ice stone, demands a practical demonstration. It can bring people back from the dead, you say? Well then. Let’s kill someone to prove it. How about — her? And in a move that just about oozes evidence of the banality of evil, he gestures to the only servant in the room: Mu-deok. However, for Mu-deok, it’s a god-sent opportunity. Hesitating purely for the sake of authenticity — she assents.

Serene in the knowledge that, after everything, it all comes down to this — one last death-defying leap in the face of an audience who would gladly see her go to hell if it entertained them — Mu-deok stands in the courtyard before Ho-gyeong. She’s just grateful that Wook won’t witness her last stand.

Ho-gyeong promises she’ll make it a painless death. But it’s clear that “painless” is relative, as she swiftly follows that up with using her magic to crush Mu-deok’s windpipe. Only So-yi is aware of the central irony: that this violence amounts to a mother-daughter reunion.

Suspended choking in the air, Mu-deok blacks out. But then, in a rush of Bu-yeon’s memories, her eyes flash blue, and she breathes out one last word: mother.

Even as Ho-gyeong falters, the Queen and Mu exchange conspiratorial grins. Now is the perfect moment to send Shaman Choi’s soul into So-yi’s body, using the ice stone’s activated energy. There’s a hitch, though: someone else is controlling the stone, and it’s making a beeline for Mu-deok.

Storm clouds spiral. So-yi, terrified that this reveal might be irreversible, dives into action with a move worthy of the KBO League, whacking the ice stone into orbit with her umbrella. The storm roils and twists, enveloping the two women — before whirling them away.

At Jeongjingak, with Wook, Won and Yul, all is wreathed in dreamlike fog. The other mages, rattled by the crack of thunder, begin to inquire quite earnestly whether they all might be dead — especially when Yun-ok emerges like a fairy from the mist. Even Won’s effort at maintaining an air of princelike dignity is marginally marred when he clings to Wook’s arm in fright.

Before long, they learn they’re surrounded by a magical barrier — one that violently repels whatever it touches. On the heels of this comes another discovery: So-yi and Mu-deok are here. With the barely-suppressed panic of one whose capacity for creative embellishment is being stretched to breaking point, So-yi pleads blindness: don’t ask her what happened! Mu-deok serenely claims she was here all along.

There’s a self-contained pensiveness to Mu-deok that persists even as she’s ordered to make tea for the Prince. Once she’s alone, we learn why. Her powers have finally returned.

Not only that: they’re theoretically limitless — at least here, inside the ice stone. Back in the whirlwind, she was confronted by a vision of Bu-yeon, who told her that the stone’s power is governed by balance. Earn one, and lose the other. Mu-deok swore she could endure it — before plunging her foot in her mouth. Pro tip for building a healthy relationship with the woman whose body you’re piloting: stop accusing her of being a relic of Jinyowon!

Having achieved her dearest goal, Mu-deok is content to bide her time, dreaming — and scheming — of grandeur. Or rather, she would be content if people didn’t keep ruining her mood with stupid orders. The assassin Naksu needn’t concern herself with mundane matters like replacing chipped teacups and wiping tabletops! She eats chipped teacups for breakfast! Tabletops flee in her wake! Except… for some reason — call it habit — she can’t seem to stop doing servant things?

One thing she knows for certain: it is beneath her dignity to play nursemaid to a bunch of obnoxious mages hungry for sujebi. Still… perhaps it can’t hurt to be Mu-deok for long enough to finish the dish? But, just this once! Then it’s over! No more Mu-deok!

In fact, once she shifts souls, she can be anyone at all. She could prance around as King, if she felt the urge. She could rock a goatee and be Jin Mu. (Ew, maybe not him.) She could swan about Songrim, flipping Park Jin’s luxurious mane of hair like Daeho’s answer to a L’Oreal commercial, and nobody could tell her otherwise! She could —

– finish up making noodles for Wook? He does like noodles. But, just one last time.

Later, she approaches Wook. She tells him she’s made noodles. That she’s leaving now. That they are inside the ice stone — that she has regained her power like in Lake Gyeongcheondaeho, and that this is the end. Earn one, and lose the other is the rule by which she nows lives.

Except — that’s not actually how it goes. When she approaches Wook, he doesn’t respond the way she expected, because, that simple, bloodless conversation? That was all in her head. In reality, Wook interrupts her, having already guessed that they’re inside the ice stone. He wishes she’d regained her power, like she did in Lake Gyeongcheondaeho! But, he’s afraid that she’ll break her promise and abandon him — so, with plain sincerity, he asks her not to do so.

Mu-deok can’t believe he can say such things without embarrassment. But, of course, they both know Wook is long past that; he learned to be brave at around the same time he learned to decipher love letters. Can Mu-deok be equally honest with herself? The answer will have to wait, because Yun-ok is calling for Wook. He leaves her with a packet of honey biscuits, sweetly assuring her there’s no need to share.

Yul, meanwhile, shares his own honey biscuit with So-yi. He knows she’s a con-artist, but he also remembers Wook saying she’s being used like Naksu. The parallels are striking, and sharpened precisely to jab at the soft underbelly of Yul’s finer feelings.

So-yi may be taking a swan dive off the moral deep end, but her smile upon seeing Yul is radiant. He’s startled when she urges him not to mention having seen her as a beggar: is she trying to spare him? She is indeed.

So-yi’s woes only intensify when she’s cornered by Master Kang. Having brought himself back from the brink of petrification by draining his host’s mother, he’s ravenous for energy. They’re on the same side — but, to prove that she and this unwished-for ally are truly simpatico, she’s obliged to lure victims to his makeshift lair. After snacking on a hapless Jeongjingak mage, he decides to satisfy his hunger for revenge: she must bring him Yul.

During a misconceived attempt to show off his spells before Won, Beom learns the hard away that the ice stone sucks the energy out of your sword like a straw. Mu-deok is quick to realize the implications. The ice stone empowers soul-shifters, but it feeds on the ordinary. Leveraging its energy to shift souls means she must drain everyone here to death. Like So-yi, she must choose between love and survival — but, unlike So-yi, there’s no external threat. The threat is herself.

As she stares at the barrier, Won approaches, warning her to take care. It’s sweet that he’s concerned — though, the chivalry of this gesture is admittedly undermined a bit when he insists she thank him for his thoughtfulness. Mu-deok, feeling guilty about the death to which she’s mentally consigned him, offers him a honey biscuit in recompense. Forget it, he says. Then, because he can’t resist, he adds that he should take them all: by that logic, they’re his gift to her.

Mu-deok, strangely touched, insists that he takes one as a symbol of gratitude. But, Won’s an expert in the arithmetic of metaphor, and he knows this one doesn’t add up to the weight of his feelings. He’d prefer something bigger. Mu-deok replies, this is enough. And so, he turns away, unwilling to hold onto her, or to accept something small — and ensuring that I’ll never again be able to consume a biscuit without crying a little over what could have been.

So-yi, in a creative bid to exterminate her enemy, orders Mu-deok to fetch her blankets from the mages’ quarters, where Master Kang lurks. Instead, Mu-deok runs into Yul, who is trying to light a fire… badly. The trouble with magical expertise is that mundane tasks become fraught with complication — and the existence of brazier lids is apt to be forgotten. Mu-deok, though appalled, realizes that Yul’s leg is probably aching from the humidity.

Yul is moved that she remembers. She remembers he likes pine pollen snacks, too. But, what’s the point of remembering when she never bought him any? Yul, unaware that Mu-deok has also condemned him to death in her mind, assures her she can do so next time. Whilst Yul is content that they’ll always have Danhyanggok, Mu-deok is determined to cut him away again. In true gentlemanly fashion, he urges Mu-deok to find Wook; he’ll fetch the blankets instead.

Upon hearing where he went, So-yi scrambles away in pursuit of Yul. With barely the pretense of blindness, she blocks his path. Too late: Master Kang emerges, falling upon the weaponless Yul who is forced, once again, to wield his favorite variation on a sword — So-yi’s umbrella. It’s a little less effective without magic: he’s battered to the floor with a barrage of spells. But, Yul and So-yi are momentarily spared by Yun-ok’s canny intervention: unlike Yul, she’s a dab hand at wielding fire, setting Master Kang’s coat alight as distraction.

They manage to flee, warning the others. Wook connects the remaining dots upon hearing that the soul-shifter was capable of wielding magic: Mu-deok’s powers have returned. He knows what he has to do.

Mu-deok, meanwhile, has come to the conclusion that before she murders everyone in cold blood, she’s going to save their lives. It makes sense, okay! However, when she runs into Beom, he tells her that Wook is about to die. Horrified, she learns he has set out to trap Master Kang in the secret room. Won tries his best to discourage her from following — but, even as he grabs her sleeve, Mu-deok reminds him that he said he wouldn’t hold on to her. Conceding, he lets go.

It’s finally time to break out her old sword. Bracing herself before the closed door of the secret room, with Wook’s name on her lips, Mu-deok swallows back her tears. She opens the gate. As Master Kang turns to face her, Naksu is once again unleashed.

She sends out a blaze of energy, unsheathing her sword. As Master Kang rushes towards her, she takes him out with a dazzling version of her signature move: Tansu. It’s all over in a moment.

Now weeping openly, she enters the room. It’s empty of all other inhabitants, but it still takes her a moment to realize — her pupil lives. Wook is standing right behind her. Why did you hide it? he asks. Because, she replies, I wanted you to die. Why then, he asks, in the same steady tone, did you come for me? Because, she cries, I thought you would die. It’s a beautiful encapsulation of the entire episode’s dilemma.

Fearlessly moving forward, Wook asks her to fulfill her promise: to aim her sword at him. In an eerie echo of their first meeting, she does so. Then, after holding it for a beat, she chooses to lower it.

It’s Wook’s turn to honor his promise. And so, he does. He moves forward, cradling her by the back of the neck. And then, they kiss — and kiss, and kiss.

Friends, Beanies, that ending made me bawl. Yes, true love exists in this world! Yes, when I say that, I am specifically referring to the love between a reformed assassin and her pupil who thinks grand romantic gestures only count if they involve risk of death — next question, please!

In all seriousness: wow. That last episode was practically architectural in its design. Bit by bit, Mu-deok dropped her defenses, until she could give Wook what he asked of her at the beginning: honesty. All the illusions — the fantasies, the vaguely megalomaniacal power-grab schemes, the promises that she’d drop her disguise after this one last task — were stripped away down to her last, literal weapon. And don’t get me wrong, Naksu’s sword is still an emblem of revenge; she wielded it thinking she was paying back Wook’s death. Nonetheless, now that she’s regained her power, there’s the possibility of using it for other, less destructive purposes. After all, her first move was to make tea — her second, to consider who she wants to be now.

As always in Alchemy of Souls, character development feels earned. Even as Wook and Mu-deok make progress, they tend to cycle back to their worst habits: Wook, by retreating into lassitude; Mu-deok, by deciding to cut and run. And there’s always a danger it’ll happen again. But each time, they’ve risen to the challenge together. This latest death-defying leap of trust is by far the most satisfying. Normally I’d end on a sillier picture, but honestly? Let’s have one more shot of that last, glorious kiss. We’ve earned it too!

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Alchemy of Souls: Episodes 17-18