Category: Analyses

Time: the invisible main character in The King: Eternal Monarch

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

In one of my former analyses, I compared Alice in Wonderland with this k-drama. In the fairy tale written by Lewis Carroll, the Mad Hatter considered time as a person therefore Time was written in capital letters:

“If you knew Time as well as I do, said the Hatter, you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s him. “[…] I daresay you never even spoke to Time”.

Furthermore, time played a huge significance in this story as it was about growth and the passage from childhood to adulthood. Alice’s journey in Wonderland represents her quest for her own identity. And this k-drama is not different: We see Lee Gon, the protagonist changing. From a mathematician and scientist, he has become a true believer of the 4 Tiger Sword and the Manpasijeok. And as such, time is an important factor for growth and making new experiences.

Before analyzing the k-drama under this aspect, we need to remember what time is. Time is composed by past, present and future. And all along these three aspects are always present and relevant for the story and its evolution.

But now let’s go back to the start of The King: Eternal Monarch. Right in the beginning, time is present. We hear our antagonist Lee Rim telling the story dated in 632, then when he is asked, why he doesn’t look like his age (71), he mentions the year 1994, where everything all started. All this underlines the importance of the past. But time doesn’t just exist through the testimony and the reference of the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms. In the interrogation room, the detectives Kang Sin Jae and Jeong Tae Eul put the records of Lee Rim.

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episode 1

The records about Lee Rim symbolize time. He is supposed to have died, just like he is supposed to be very old. As you can see, the “person” Time never appears as such but is existent in the interrogation room. The past and the present are the elements that are alluding to the supernatural: the story about the mysterious flute, the strange appearance of Lee Rim who doesn’t age.

Then when Lee Gon is saved by the mysterious savior, he catches the ID from the future with the date: 11.11.2019. During the coup d’etat, we have a mixture of past and future. Now (episode 13), it has been confirmed that Lee Gon traveled back to the past (1994) and saved himself from Lee Rim. So here time is embodied by the ID and the mysterious savior. It was as if time could be seen or touched through the objects or the persons. The best example is when Lee Gon and Lee Rim observe that Time stops. Because nothing moves except the two main characters, the latter can sense the lack of time. Nature stands still: the snow flakes or water don’t fall anymore.

The director sometimes tried to even personify Time in different shot, when the persons were not talking about the present, the past or the future. I chose two different takings:

Here, we have the impression due to the lights on the right side that this is not a sequence but a photo. However, when Lee Gon and Jeong Tae Eul hug each other, the viewer can observe their movements, while the lights on the sight are so fuzzy and stretched. It was, as if time had stopped and nature stood still. This taking reflected the inner feelings of our two protagonists: they enjoyed the moment, the present.

Here, Time is also present in the form of the hourglass. Pay attention to its size: it is even bigger than Lee Gon and Jo Young. Through this taking, the director illustrates how powerful time is and it is a main character invisible to the people standing next to it.

While Lee Gon was looking at the CCTV in order to watch his loved one who was so far away from him, he suddenly discovered this CCTV from the future. The child with the yo-yo lets him know where Jeong Tae Eul will be on the birthday. This scene is important as it shakes the king to the core. There is no science that can explain this. On the other hand, it shows him that Jeong Tae Eul is alive and well which can comfort him. Here, it was as if the child with the yo-yo already knows the end of the story, just like the book about King Arthur. This deity can move from one world to the other, it can also travel to the future which seems to indicate that he can travel to the past as well. The child with the yo-yo has also a strong connection to time as he was the one ensured that Jeong Tae Eul would get a new ID so that the young Lee Gon would be able to receive it. Then he was the one who told Luna that he believed in the existence of god which let her say that she would be punished. So is he a personification of time? I am more inclined to believe that he embodies fate which is related to time. His main duty is to observe that the balance is well maintained. Anyway, the child with the yo-yo uses time (and good timing) so that everything predetermined will happen. Since the flute makes it possible to travel in time, then the balance has been disrupted as we know that Lee Rim travels to the future. He neglected the past as he saw no real meaning in it. The reason is simple: since he is obsessed to become king, his focus was on the future.

Another observation is the strong connection between Jeong Tae Eul and Time. Remember that she is a person who learns through experience and as such, she needs time to acquire her knowledge. We can see this strong link between these two in different occasions. When she waits for Lee Gon in the episode 6, the separation made her realize her longing for Lee Gon. Time was the reason why she realized how much she missed the king. Then in the episode 7, when she is about to confess her love to Lee Gon, her thoughts revolves around the past (“fate”) and the future (“sad premonition”) but this doesn’t stop to declare her love. She wants to enjoy the present to the maximum. This elucidates why Jeong Tae Eul seems so obsessed with the present. She doesn’t want to project herself with Lee Gon in the future as she has a sad premonition. She keeps saying to Lee Gon: Let’s enjoy the moment. Hence she doesn’t answer to his proposal. Strangely, Jeong Tae Eul meets Lee Gon from the future which somehow confirms her sad premonition, yet she doesn’t reveal her strange meeting to the present Lee Gon. In other words, Jeong Tae Eul could be perceived as the personification of the present.

Since Jeong Tae Eul is associated to the present, then which person represents the future? In my opinion, this part is reserved to Lee Gon. The latter appeared in front of Jeong Tae Eul in the episode 10, when he came from the future. But this perception is also confirmed in the episode 13, when Lee Gon looks at his reflection in the mirror.

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Here, Lee Gon realizes that he is wearing the same clothes than the mysterious savior in 1994. He gets aware that he saved himself in the past. In the mirror, he sees his own past but also his future as the time travel has not occurred yet. Let us not forget that Lee Gon keeps projecting himself in the future with his girlfriend. He proposes to Jeong Tae Eul, he keeps asking her to come to Kingdom of Corea which annoys our female lead as she is someone who is focused on the present. So the mirror embodies Time as it reflects past and future together.

Since we have described Jeong Tae Eul and Lee Gon as a personification of Time (present, future), we have to wonder which person embodies the past. In my opinion, this is Luna. That’s why she is also seen in the mirror. She represents the past. She has a tragic past (abandoned with no identity) but she has no future, as she is about to die. That’s the reason why she can’t enjoy the present as well. Many have speculated that there were two saviors during the coup d’etat. I have the feeling that Luna could be the second savior if there is a second helper. She could become Lee Gon’s ally and helper in the past. Why?

First, like I mentioned above, the mirror reflect the past and the future. So when he travels back in the past, he could be accompanied by Luna, like in the mirror. Let us not forget that on Jeong Tae Eul’s cellphone there is the inscription: Back to the future and Luna is now in the possession of this precise cellphone. Since the cellphone is in her hands, she could travel back to the past as well. Luna wished, she had grown up differently, so maybe Lee Gon help her to change her fate so that when her future is changed so that she can die in peace, as her time is limited. 

All along, we have the impression that the fight between Lee Rim and Lee Gon is a fight against time. It seems that Lee Rim traveled to the future, while Lee Gon will focus on traveling back to the past. Since Lee Rim knows the future, he thinks that he’ll win as he is able to influence the events in the present so that the future is changed in his favor. That’s why he targets specific people, since he knows what they will do in the future. By switching the people from Republic of Korea to Kingdom of Corea, he is able to have the important people siding with him. But changing the past can change the present and as such the future so that all Lee Rim’s efforts become vain.

As conclusion, time is always palpable, visualized or personified in this k-drama. It was as if people could feel time, either through an object or a person.

The Earth is flat: Jeong Tae Eul’s relationship to sciences and belief

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

Since the beginning, Jeong Tae Eul is associated to the following expression: the Earth is flat. This expression is quite important as it reveals Jeong Tae Eul’s personality and the way she perceives the world.

While our protagonist Lee Gon is introduced as a mathematician and scientist, hence he tries to understand the world through numbers and physical laws, our heroine appears to be the opposite, she is a liberal arts person. That’s the reason why Jo Young initially rejects Jeong Tae Eul as he says that JTE is not the science type hence she is not Lee Gon’s type. The fact that she is a liberal arts person is pointed out on many occasions. First, she reveals her lack of knowledge in math, when she tries to reject Lee Gon’s proposal.

She doesn’t realize her mistake, until Lee Gon points out the issue with the 360 degrees. Sure, she corrects herself, yet this incident underlines her disinterest for math and sciences in general. Another example for her lack of interest in these topics is when she doesn’t even try to understand Lee Gon’s explanation about the existence of a parallel world. She doesn’t really pay attention to his explanation about the Quantum mechanic theory, for her it sounds so complex to grasp that she even gives up before really listening. At some point, she gets upset as Lee Gon keeps trying to explain to her about the parallel world that she yells back that for her, the Earth is still flat.

Why does she mean with this? She knows that the Earth is round as it is a planet. In reality, she wants to say that she needs to experience that the earth is round in order to accept this knowledge. She can not understand things through numbers or theories, she needs to live it with all her senses. She is so different from Lee Gon who uses his brain in order to grasp the world, she uses her other senses in order to gain knowledge: the eyes, the hands, the heart… As conclusion, she belongs to the type of people who prefer learning through experience. https://medium.com/@thestempedia/https-medium-com-thestempedia-aristotle-to-feynman-learning-through-experience-304a2d7876bb (if you want to read more about this)

This explains the choice of her career. She could have become a senior inspector much earlier, if she hadn’t opted to work as a detective. She chose to work on the field rather than behind a desk. This also explicates why Jeong Tae Eul is a Taekwondo fighter. This sport worships the following virtues: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit. Through her body, our heroine learns these virtues hence she was there to help Kang Sin Jae, when the latter was bullied. First, out of courtesy, she asked the students to stop the bullying. She didn’t give up, when she got threatened (perseverance). Our female lead was able to control the students and showed no fear, when she started fighting against 5 students (self-control and indomitable spirit). That’s the reason why JTE embodies those qualities as well.

But since she met Lee Gon, she was confronted by a dilemma. On the one side, she wanted to believe in Lee Gon’s good nature, on the other side she didn’t believe in his words. Therefore, she remained by his side and even helped him to sell the diamonds or invited him to eat something. But at the same time, she wanted to reveal his lies. Strangely, she needed to use sciences for that. She asked for a fingerprint test, for a DNA test and finally for the help from the Korea Racing Authority because of the horse. Striking is that the sciences she neglected or rejected before proved that Lee Gon was not lying. With her own eyes and ears, she discovers that everything Lee Gon said is correct. While she didn’t believe in his words in the beginning, the sciences are the cause for her change of heart. Little by little, her resolve to see him as a weird or crazy person diminishes. She is more and more doubtful. She is not entirely convinced hence she wants to see Lee Gon’s world in order to believe him entirely. Once there, she wants to discover Monarchy of Corea hence she makes a trip to Seoul. Through her travel, she witnesses all the differences between her world and this world which leads her to admit the truth: the existence of a parallel world.

Just like Lee Gon who had stopped believing in gods, Jeong Tae Eul didn’t believe in the existence of the parallel world but at some point, she realized her mistake. Later, she even conceded to her colleague Kang Sin Jae that she believed Lee Gon and everything from him. She has become a true believer as she experienced the new world on her own.

Since she is a person who acquires knowledge through experience, she is really adamant to know if Lee Gon has been dating before meeting her. That’s why she focused on “first” things: first dating and first girlfriend, first snow, first cooking etc. That’s why Lee Gon asks her on the other hand if her earth has become rounder. She has gained experience and knowledge through what she has lived.

episode 6: Jeong Tae Eul says here “I was just waiting on Earth, which has become slightly rounder”. With these words, our detective confesses that her affection for Lee Gon has grown.

After parting from Lee Gon in the episode 6, she misses him more and more. Her longing lets her realize what Lee Gon means to her. At the end, she has no problem to show her affections to him therefore she hugs him. Step by step, she learns what love is. In another scene, the king complains that her Earth is still flat, which she admits (“It’s as flat as a thin pancake”). In that scene, she didn’t know how to console Lee Gon as she had never done it before. Since Lee Gon is her first love, she lacks experience but due to her love for him, she has changed. She is learning how to love and show love to someone.

While watching JTE all along, I couldn’t help myself thinking about the apostle John who is often called the doubter or sceptic. He refused to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ until he saw Christ’s wounds. The reason why I associated JTE with John is because of the painting of Caravaggio

Ausstellung: Caravaggio: Ein Berliner Liebesgruß - Kultur ...
Pay attention to John’s behavior. He is actually touching the wound and not really looking at it. Because of this experience, he believed even more in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Actually, the other apostles had also a hard time to believe in this miracle, yet only John is considered a sceptic. In reality, John is a stronger believer as he is willing to die for Jesus Christ, he is also a team player (John 20,25; John 14,5), just like our heroine. The latter says that Lee Gon can rely on 5 people next to her. She is willing to do anything for him, she trusts him so much that she doesn’t even doubt that he won’t be able to rescue her. Unlike Lee Gon who rejected faith after that fateful night (coup d’etat of his uncle Lee Rim), JTE has always felt some affinity with the supernatural. She mentions the story about the moon rabbit which our king rejects by saying that the moon is covered with regolits. Then when she is in the passage between the two worlds, she wonders if there is magic there. Magic is a symbol for supernatural.

In this scene she sows seeds

Lee Gon answers her that space can not be explained scientifically as there is no wind, no air and no time, yet his explications don’t stop her to sow some seeds. She hopes that a plant could grow. Hope has a strong connection to faith. She is different as she feels that this passage shows wonders. Her closeness to legends and myths makes it easier for her to believe in magic. Her hopeful attitude contrasts much more to Lee Gon’s behavior. She starts believing much earlier than him… only in the episode 12, he wants to pray to god with JTE. We see JTE’s praying much earlier, when she talks to the plants.

episode 6: “I know you’re from a different world, but you should sprout. Your friends are in a much harsher place now”.

Notice that Lee Gon also starts talking to the plant after his return. Nonetheless, his talking to the plant doesn’t resemble a prayer as it is an order. He orders the plant to sprout in this world. However, both protagonists have to make the same leap of faith. For JTE, her love confession should be perceived as a leap of faith. She calls it fate.

episode 7

She believes in fate hence she says:

It took me a long time to realize this. When it’s fate, there is no coincidence. The fate is determined by the choices you made but there are times, when your fate chooses you. Things that are bound to happen are taking place even at this moment. I was struck with a sad premonition that this will be short-lived but I decided to love my fate that chose me.

Since she is a learner through experiences, she needs much more time to understand the world and her own feelings. This explains why Lee Gon wants to marry her as soon as possible and it took her much longer to realize her love for him.

The more she interacts with our hero, the more she is influenced by him. She has already accepted that she is his number 0. In the episode 6, she admits that there was no way she could know what was happening in his world. Because he was a person who was beyond one and zero. With these words, she unveils her longing. She feels the huge distance between herself and Lee Gon. She is no longer rejecting numbers and science at all. Furthermore she keeps asking Lee Gon to appear within 10 minutes.

Notice that she calls the existence of the parallel world “science fiction”. One could claim that she is avoiding the topic “existence of the parallel world” as she feels that KSJ will never come to believe it too. However, I feel that her choice of words reflects her own mentality. Since JTE listens to Lee Gon’s scientific explanations (the time difference e. g.) unlike in the beginning, she has somehow combined the two worlds (science and belief/faith) in one expression. Belief was not really rejected by her, it was just that she somehow neglected it, just like she neglected sciences. With Lee Gon by her side, she has now turned into someone who believes in “sciences” and in fate (faith) as well since she has experienced it.

Lee Gon was able to change her attitude towards math and science because he used many metaphors with mathematical expressions “Root” “0” and “1” so that JTE could visualize and feel it. “I guess, you know now what root you are standing in front of. It’s my hell and my history”. He was not only trapped by his feelings for her (see his love confession) but also by his own situation as a king (his past and his family). He can not escape from his destiny, he is a king and as such he has his duties which he can not deny. Besides, he needs to catch his uncle too. Lee Gon understood very early how JTE thinks hence he changed his words towards her. Unlike our heroine, Lee Gon claims that he is a quick learner, while she needs experiences to acquire knowledge.

But the results are the same: both protagonists have changed and become both true believers. They no longer rejects science or faith. They have accepted that both can complement each other, just like Blaise Pascal wanted.

Lee Rim and Lee Gon: a fight between artificiality and nature based on “The King: Eternal Monarch”

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

What caught my attention are the places Lee Rim is often seen. I find it interesting that we often the antagonist in the following places:

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episode 7: Lee Rim and the CEO’s son on the right
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episode 7: Lee Rim’s dark room

Both places give us a huge clue about Lee Rim. In the first picture, the traitor is standing in front of a furnace. Fire is associated to hell, when you look at the different pictures of hell from the European Middle Age. Furthermore, there is also another fire behind the doppelganger who replaces the CEO. This place is illustrating Lee Rim’s true nature: he is like the Devil. Furthermore his place looks like a workshop underlining the artificiality of this hell. This hell is made by a human. It is neither natural nor a godly place. In this “hell”, the son of the CEO is confronted with the final judgement: his death… he is even tormented before his death due to the multiple stabbing. Notice the painting in red in the first picture… it reminds us of dripping blood coming from his victims.

Then the other place is the dark room where his future targets for his big plan are revealed. Even the expression “dark room” is an allusion to the darkness of his plan. The red symbolizes the blood therefore the red announces the future of the pictured people: they all are his victims, even the doppelgangers Lee Rim succeeded to seduce because once they have lost their usefulness, he will get rid of them. The camera and the furnace are both manufactured by humans, they are not natural elements which outshine Lee Rim’s true personality. There is no coincidence that artificial is a synonym for fake and imitation. He is not a real god, rather an idol like the golden calf created by humans in despair hence his realm is artificial. This is the reason why he is so dangerous. Lee Rim is trying to create a fake realm. With his plan, the balance of the world has been disturbed. And this also explains why Lee Rim uses another gate to travel from one world to the other. It is underground, next to a bridge … here again we find again the themes of darkness, artificiality and manufacturing which contrasts to Lee Gon’s gate: the bamboo forest, a natural element, presented at the beginning of this analysis.

Here, the trees are alive, unlike in the workshop of Lee Rim where you only see cut wood. The bamboo forest reminds us of water as well due to the green. Green versus Red; Forest versus Fire (destruction of wood). Lee Gon’s favorite place contrasts so much to Lee Rim’s favorite places.

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Episode 6: Prince Byuong and Lee Gon on the right

It is in the open, the pavilion is surrounded by water and the tree is blossoming. Unlike with his uncle’s places, the construction is in harmony with nature. There is light, the tree can live, even if it is surrounded by a building. That’s why Lee Gon is associated to light and his uncle to darkness. And this explains why Lee Gon has chosen Jeong Tae Eul as his Queen who loves planting. JTE is also connected to nature.  

episode 6: Jeong Tae Eul is sowing seeds in the passage between the two worlds
Episode 6: Here she is even talking to the plant: “I know you’re from a different world, but you should sprout. Your friends are in a much harsher place now”.

Her gestures show that for her, nature should have its place everywhere, even in a place where there is no wind, no rain, no light and no time. Striking is that both protagonists talked to the plant. Lee Gon ordered to the plant to grow nicely as well. We can observe her influence on him. Both are close to nature, while Lee Rim is often shown in closed and dark rooms, even in a building in constructions underlining the coldness and roughness coming from him. 

The world in numbers: science versus belief from “The King: Eternal Monarch”

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 1 Comment

In one of my past analyses, I had already pointed out that our hero Lee Gon is first a mathematician and physician before a king hence he loves the book “Alice in Wonderland” written by the famous mathematician Lewis Carroll. But if you pay attention to Lee Gon’s world, you will actually notice his obsession for these sciences.

episode 3

Notice that the walls of his study are actually blackboards full of mathematical and physical formulas. There are not just blackboards full of equations and physics formulas next to his desk but also on different floors. We even learns that he sometimes disappeared in his study for research. This reveals that for Lee Gon, the world can only be explained with math and physics. His head is full of Natural Sciences hence when Jeong Tae Eul mentions MSD (Mixing, Shaking and Drinking), he thinks, she is speaking about Most Significant Digit. His obsession and fixation is also reinforced in another taking.

Here the windows of his suite are covered again with formulas.

In Republic of Korea, he doesn’t even abandon his old habit, although it is a new and foreign world. Sure, we could say that when he discovered the existence of the parallel world, he needed science to reassure himself and understand how this could even exist. He needed reason and logic in order not to become crazy. The more rational and logical he was, the more he was perceived by Jeong Tae Eul and the others as weird and crazy. No one could believe him, although he tried to explain this with Einstein and Quantum mechanics Theory. And now you can perceive the dilemma in this story. This is about the conflict between belief and faith against sciences (math and physics). Even theories from Sciences can be rejected by people, although it is proven scientifically. I could mention Global warming or Jeong Tae Eul who keeps denying that Earth is round, as she has never seen it with her own eyes.

And this dilemma (belief versus Sciences) is even underlined in the love confession of our king. Striking is that Lee Gon is using Math to express his feelings. Since Math are considered as a rational and logical science, it actually contrasts with the concept of love as the latter can not be scientifically measured. Furthermore, we shouldn’t forget the famous quote from the French mathematician Blaise Pascal (17th Century):

” The heart has its reasons that reason knows not.” (Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point)

As you can observe, love has nothing to do with logic and rationale… yet Lee Gon is desperately attempting to rationalize his feelings. First, when he asked her to be his queen, he added that she had just become the reason why he should stay in her world. Striking is that Lee Gon connects love with reason all the time. It is clear that he wants to marry her out of love, nevertheless he is rationalizing his decisions. When Jeong Tae Eul was explaining that thanks to the DNA analysis he could find his family, the king associated “family” to his family status (single) and led him to the proposal. As a family member, his future wife, she would be allowed to know his name and his origins. Therefore in this scene prior to the love confession, the viewer sense that Lee Gon is extremely rational and is not led by a huge passion. However, this is actually a mistake to underestimate Lee Gon’s burning passion for Jeong Tae Eul (JTE), despise his calm manners and rational words.

In fact, his love confession proves the exact opposite. Since he has been obsessed with math, he can only describe his own feelings with mathematical formulas. The more math he is using, the deeper his feelings are for her. As you can see, the love confession gives us a good insight about Lee Gon’s personality hence we need to analyze his little speech.

“Among real numbers, zero is my favorite. You have the nature of that number. A zero means there is nothing but it’s actually a number of absolute power. It can nullify any number or take everything away from it. What makes money powerful is not the number at the front but the number of zeros behind it. A number trapped in a root symbol can escape under only 2 circumstances. They need to have a square root or meet the powerful number, zero. You’re standing in front of the root symbol. I’m trapped in. Do you believe me?”

Striking is that just like JTE is a number, Lee Gon considers himself as a number too. While she is the powerful zero, he is one (1). In this love confession, he didn’t mention the number one but he revealed it much later, when they were going through the passage between the two worlds.

episode 5

Here he told her: “It’s something between 1 and 0 in my world and yours.”

In other words, Lee Gon perceives the world as a composition of numbers and physical formulas. People are numbers, that’s why we have Rose93 e.g.. However, in Lee Gon’s case, only two numbers exist: 1 (my world) and 0 (your world). And this is no coincidence. The combination of 1 and 0 is indeed a reference to the binary numeral system which is used in informatics for computer and computer-based devices. Therefore this reminisces the movie Matrix, a computer world. However, the Matrix, visible in different screens is full of different numbers and signs, where the numbers are sometimes written in reverse, as if there was a mirror in the Matrix. (see my analysis about the significance of mirrors)

That’s why the binary numeral system is also connected to other people, like Jo Young, the closest friend and right-hand man of the king. In the episode 9, we discover that the Unbreakable Sword Jo Young has as password: 10000000000000. In the decimal number system, this number would be 8192. Then in the episode 8, we hear from Goo Seo Ryung the Prime Minister that she was horrible at math hence her answers were either 0 or – 1. And here we could see a clue that GSR could be represented by -1 and could become Lee Gon’s enemy as she is walking on a small path between good and bad. This binary numeral system is shown in different episodes, the director keeps using it as a metaphor for our two main leads.

This taking happens in Monarchy of Corea
episode 3 :The bank note has been analyzed and confirmed as real.
episode 5: JTE keeps calling the palace as she has not enough money to travel back to Busan

All these shots are actually reflecting the distance between our detective and our protagonist. The more zeros it has, the bigger the gap is. He is much richer than her, but in the episode 5, she is much closer to him than in the episode 4, when he had returned to his world after her rejection.

But let’s go back to the love confession. Lee Gon is not just 1, but √ 1 = 1,000000. He uses the root as a metaphor for his actual situation. He is trapped and can only escape from his “agony”, if she reciprocates his feelings. Since JTE is a zero, she can never get trapped as she is so powerful. She can turn his love into nothing (nullify) with a rejection or she can liberate him with her acceptance, meaning that his feelings will be multiplied (“take everything away”).

But what caught my attention is the ending of his love confession. He asks her if she believes him. Here again, we have a new situation where belief and faith are connected to science. On the surface, both seem to contradict each other. A scientist and mathematician can not be a believer because in faith or belief, things can not be proven and rationalized. Yet, the mathematician Blaise Pascal even used math in order to solve this dilemma. First he presented a pragmatic reason for believing in God: the so called Pascal’s Wager about God. If God exists, the persons gains more when the person believes in God and if there is no god, the person believing in God loses nothing. Besides, the same scientist proposed the hidden God as an unverifiable hypothesis that allows signs to be interpreted in a way that fully satisfies reason. The scientific method becomes a mise en abyme of faith.

In reality, belief doesn’t exclude science but for Lee Gon it has become a principle. He only believes in ratio, in math and physics. It’s his new faith and belief. He rejects any other form of belief at all. That’s why when they are admiring the strange world between MOC and ROK, he ignores JTE’s question, if there is magic here. His only reply is that this is part of a legend. And in this moment, the viewer can realize that he represents the opposite of his uncle. Remember that in the episode 1, he looked down on people who denied the real powers of Manpaseokjik. He declared that disbelievers would call this story a myth. Legend and myth are synonyms. He doesn’t believe in that legend, he is quite skeptical. Before this scene, the viewers could observe his rejection of belief in deity in different occasions.

First, when the time stops, he uses the Euler’s number to count how long the time passed.

episode 4

He is trying to observe the phenomenon scientifically. He has no rational explanation and his unique watch can not even resist the phenomenon. But the problem is that he can not prove this phenomenon to Jo Young and Jeong Tae Eul. Both couldn’t feel or see it. Therefore he uses a note in order to prove the reality to Jo Young. When they are in the passage, he explicates that he has already determined that time flows differently here. One minute in the passage means 1 hour in her world or his world. Nonetheless we can feel a certain despair from him: “There is no air, no wind and no light”. With his knowledge and as a scientist, he fails to explain this strange world. The red balloon doesn’t move or disappear… every physical law he knows can not be applied here. Simultaneously he is not admitting that magic exists which he would see as the contradiction to his own belief. That’s why he doesn’t believe that the seeds can grow in this strange world: no light, no air, no water… He has no hope, unlike Jeong Tae Eul. She hopes that the plant will grow that’s why she is definitely deaf to his statement.

Then when he is looking at the autopsy report of his uncle, he is using math and ratio again in order to tell his friend that he thinks that his uncle is alive.

“Sometimes, symbols of mathematics or science are useful when understanding a certain phenomenon. For example, the + sign doesn’t have a meaning itself, since it’s a symbol that means adding something.”

For him, the body is a symbol that Lee Rim used. He is definitely seeking for a logical and rational explanation as his intuition is telling that Lee Rim is not dead. And the more he digs around his uncle, the more desperate he is to prove that every strange phenomenon has a reasonable and logical explication. The following scene from the episode 9 represents the climax of this denial that god or magic could exist:

episode 9: the deity is on the right playing with the yo-yo, while JTE on the left is walking in front of a bookstore named “Haesong Bookstore”.

Actually, the different videos on Jo young’s laptop were recordings from CCTV that were removed by his minion in order to erase every single trace of JTE in his world. Yet, the CCTV is dated in the future… here the numbers in which Lee Gon finds comfort are indeed shaking him and his belief. He can not understand why he has such a video. This defies any logical and reasonable explication. The child in this video is looking at the young king as if he was telling him: “Yes, that’s right… this is from the future. Stop relying on math and physical laws. Open your eyes to the truth”.

Let us summarize what we discover so far: Lee Gon has been obsessed with math and physics because he is a disbeliever. He denies the existence of god and refuses to have faith in a deity and in the existence of supernatural. The origin of his stubbornness comes from his past and the fateful night, where he almost lost his life and lost his father. The boy had learned from his father Lee Ho the duties of the king based on a prayer written on the Four Tiger Sword:

image.png

If you pay attention to the clothes, Lee Gon is wearing the same clothes than the night of Lee Rim’s coup d’Etat, just like his father. So this scene is quite important as he reveals the importance of the 4 Tiger Sword.

“The sky bestows the heart upon us, and the ground helps the spirit. The sun and the moon are formed. As the mountains and streams form, lightning strikes. A sage is moved to defeat the evil of the mountains and streams. Wield it with deep thoughts and make things right.”

Only a king is the owner of this sword and striking is that the father was passing his sword onto his son… he is unaware that he will die in a few hours. The father was preparing for the ceremony with the Manpasikjeok and like I said, this only happens every 20 years. It was his fate to die that night… and Lee Gon has already been initiated by his father, Lee Rim knows the prayer but only believes in the supernatural powers from the flute, written in the Memorabilia. Lee Gon did act like his father told him, he used the sword to defeat his uncle but failed. He could only take the half of the flute and was saved by a mysterious savior. This terrible night marked a turning point for Lee Gon: he no longer believed in the prayer written on the sword. He had lost his father due to the sword and he had failed to stop Lee Rim.

This incident explains why the sword is no longer kept in the king’s room, contrary to the past. Only in the episode 4, Lee Gon retrieves the Four Tiger Sword, full of dust, from the temple that has been neglected for many years.

episode 4
episode 4

He is still skeptical but since he feels like Lee Rim is alive (episode 4), he has the impression that he will need the sword again. However, he is still a scientist and can not be considered as a believer of the 4 Tiger Sword. To summarize, this will be a fight between two cults: the Manpasikjeok and the Four Tiger Sword. Since he is still doubtful, as he can not explain the scene from the CCTV 2022.05.27), we have to consider the symbols on his shoulder as a warning and reminder of his task as king.

episode 4

By looking carefully at the form of the burns, you will notice that it looks like “streams” and “mountains” as the streams have relief. This is an illustration of the prayer: “As the mountains and streams form, lightning strikes”. And the special sword is definitely the ultimate weapon against Lee Rim and the flute. Why? The former owner of the flute was the Dragon King of the East Sea. There is a relation between the “mountains/streams” and the “Dragon/Sea”. All streams lead to the sea and Dragons are often associated to mountain (many different fairy tales or e. g. The Hobbit). Like I had mentioned in one of my former analyses, Lee Rim took the words from the Memorabilia too literally. He is a fundamentalist and never questions the authenticity of these words. Since he doesn’t age, he believes that it is connected to the Manpasikjeok, whereas Lee Gon has already figured it out scientifically: it is related to the world between his world (1) and her world (0). At the end, Lee Gon will become a supporter of Blaise Pascal. A leap of faith is possible, even for mathematicians. There is no real contradiction in reality. A scientist can be a believer and the words from the sword will become a prayer again.

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Lee Rim’s fight against the boy with the yo-yo in “The King: Eternal Monarch”

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 1 Comment

Now, I would like to analyse this taking because I do feel that the director wanted to outline something important.

image.png

In this scene, Lee Rim found out the identity of the guest at the palace, he sees Jeong Tae Eul’s ID as police officer. On the left you see the kid with the yo-yo. We don’t know the name of this boy but he has been shown in different scenes. He often appears in front of the book shop where Lee Rim can get info from the palace. Simultaneously, he was the one who made JTE lose her ID.

Here he appears, where the ID tag is revealed to the antagonist. It was as if the boy was following the ID from JTE. From my point of view, the boy with the yo-yo could be a deity, the one who ensures that the balance is maintained. This is no coincidence that he is playing with the yo-yo. Pay attention to the movement of this toy: it goes from one side to the other, you need to maintain a balance in the strength in order to keep the yo-yo to come back and to keep rolling. The yo-yo reflects this balance. And it was the same with the bike. You need to find the right equilibrium in order to ride a bike. The boy fell from the bike indicating that the balance has been shifted. 

Remember that I had mentioned that Lee Rim keeps looking down on children as he considers them powerless and even manipulable. But he forgets that a child is linked to innocence and purity which can be seen as strengths as well. The villain is not paying attention to the child as Lee Rim already thinks, he is a god hence strong … yet he has not realized that Luna has already been working for this boy (deity).

In the beginning, I had thought that Luna had worked for Lee Rim therefore on Lee Rim’s orders she was the one who lured Lee Gon to ROK but I was wrong. Lee Rim hasn’t met her yet and he knew nothing about JTE as well. So fate, arranged by the deity,  was what brought Lee Gon to ROK. And this is no coincidence that Luna gives the rabbit jacket to the child. It was as if she was giving it back to the rightful owner. Fate was what brought Lee Gon to JTE and Luna was destined to have the jacket and meet the boy in the end. That’s why JTE was able to see her doppelganger and the Prime Minister too. Both were getting warned. Furthermore, we shouldn’t forget about the timing. JTE saw Luna right before Lee Gon and Goo Seo Ryung saw her doppelganger before Lee Rim approached her through the newspapers. Lee Rim is not aware that his fighting is pointless as he is fighting against fate. 

Now, let’s go back to this taking. First, notice the similarities between these two rooms: both are full of books (a symbol for knowledge) and both people are put under a light underlining their power and importance. The first difference catching the attention of the beholder is the proportion of Lee Rim’s room compared to the one with the boy’s room. Lee Rim’s room occupies a bigger part of the scene illustrating his actual power. It looks like he is now more powerful than the boy. He has been working for 25 years and his labor has been fruitful. The other difference is that he is not alone. He has his minion by his side which shows that Lee Rim’s power comes from his huge base of supporters.

The boy is on his own, however he is not quite defenseless… his actual “companion” is the yo-yo. This toy represents fate and destiny as the string is often connected to a person’s life. In other words, the boy has his own minions: Lee Gon (LG), Jeong Tae Eul (JTE) and others whose fate is already predestined. JTE is well aware of her own situation hence she chose her destiny… I would even say that she embraced her destiny. We could interpret the shadows (the 4 lines) between the two rooms as a representation of the fight. The boy is fighting against Lee Rim so that Lee Rim’s room doesn’t eat up his “room”. This would mean that Lee Rim had won and would control everything.

Another contrast is the way the books are displayed. Notice the red string surrounding the piles of book… let just say that each red string is a life which means that each stack of books represents a person. If we look at the way the stack of books are displayed, we can come to the conclusion that these people are connected to each other as the stack of books are touching each other. They are all relying on other stacks implying on other people. Furthermore, the color red is significant. Red symbolizes life and love. Love is what connects each person next to the child.

On the other side, in Lee Rim’s book shop, the books are stored on shelves… If we assume that the row of books symbolize a person and as such a doppelganger lured by Lee Rim, we can see that the row of books are not connected to each other. Each life is separated by wood, Lee Rim is the one planning the shelves through his minions. There is no red indicating no real life and love. Here the wood is associated to death (see e. g. coffin). Only order and purpose are what linked them to Lee Rim. The seduced doppelgangers are just pawns and are all relying on Lee Rim in the end.

The red strings remind me of the three Moirai from Greek Mythology: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.Clotho is the spinner who spins the thread of life, Lachesis the assignor who measures the length and Atropos who cuts the thread of life. But the yo-yo is different, it is a circle and it moves like an endless loop… from one world (up) to the other (down). So the yo-yo represents a certain person (the eternal Monarch), unlike the red strings behind the boy, those are linked to normal human beings.

 There is a disequilibrium reflected in this taking and the boy, a deity, is working to recreate the balance by using people… it’s their destiny. Notice the contrast between Lee Rim and the boy. On both sides, people are asked to choose, yet Lee Rim lures them with temptations and desires for a better life but they are actually deceived, while JTE chose her destiny, although she is well aware that her love could be painful and short-lived. Lee Rim is just an idol, a false god living the illusion that he can take over two worlds, but his fight is pointless as he is limited by time. He might not age but his minions are not eternal and he can not time travel. 

The mirrors and its different meanings in “The King: Eternal Monarch”

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

If you look at the poster above, you will notice the presence of three important characters: the king Lee Gon, the lieutnant Jeong Tae Eul and a huge mirror. The latter even occupies a bigger place than the two main leads indicating first the existence of a parallel world. Secondly, it also manifests the huge role the mirror will play in this story. Here, the mirror is actually the reflection from water and not a simple mirror made by humans. Therefore it means that the existence of two worlds is a natural phenomenon. It is not created by humans, the latter are just inhabitants in these worlds. Furthermore when we look at the reflection, the onlookers can notice the duplication of Lee Gon and Jeong Tae Eul. And this is not a coincidence: it announces that Lee Gon and Jeong Tae Eul will interact in both worlds. The director and writer could have used the doppelgangers, Ji Hun and Luna, in this poster underlining the idea that both have “adversaries” but it didn’t happen. From my point of view, the writer is already displaying the roles that the king and the detective will play in order to keep the balance of the two worlds.

Since mirrors reflect light, this object is often associated to illumination, wisdom and truth. In a mirror, the beholder can see his own self (the truth), how he or she appears, like in this following scene.

episode 7: The Prime Minister Goo Seo Ryung

On the surface the mirror here serves a purpose: she is about to choose her clothes for a certain event. She needs to judge herself if the clothes fit her and are suited for the event. Striking is that in this scene, Goo Seo Ryung catches the attention of the viewers due to the color of her dress contrasting so much to the background: red versus blue and white. Furthermore, there is only the reflection of the Prime Minister in the mirror, we can not see the stylist and her secretary in it. I could even add that the duplication of Goo Seo Ryung illustrates her confidence and charisma. She is not afraid to stand out which is also confirmed during the conversation. She rejects all the clothes because her stylist chose rather conservative clothes.

But a mirror symbolizes vanity as well, as the spectator wants to confirm his or her own beauty and attraction. And this scene illustrates Goo Seo Ryung’s vanity too. It even outlines her egocentrism. She is only looking at herself and not at the stylist. That’s why a mirror can be a source of danger which is presented in the myth of Narcissus.

Narcissus, the son of a river god and a nymph, was walking by a pond, when he decided to drink some water. The moment he saw his own reflection, he fell in love with it and kept staring at it until he died. It was his punishment from the goddess Nemesis because he kept rejecting suitors which caused the death of a female admirer. At the same time, the mirror in this myth is also linked to desire and wish that can not be fulfilled. Narcissus can never really touch himself, as soon as he tries to grasp the water, his own reflection disappears. Furthermore Narcissus can never feel the love and the warmth from his own reflection, since it comes from water. Therefore we can connect a mirror to futility too.

In the work “Faust” written by the famous author Goethe, Mephistopheles brings Faust to a witch who owns a magical mirror. In there, he doesn’t see his own reflection but “Gretchen”, the future love interest of Faust. Just like in the myth of Narcissus, the mirror here reflects Faust’s desire. He wishes to meet the young woman, however there is more to it. The mirror is here used as a temptation, since Mephistopheles, the personification of the devil, wants to get his soul. In exchange for youth and love, Faust agrees. It was as if Faust was seeing his own future with Gretchen. In other words, a mirror can be associated to the future.

As conclusion, a mirror can be linked to qualities (illumination, wisdom and truth) and negative aspects (vanity, futility, unfulfilled desire and temptation). Equally, this object is a symbol of physical and spiritual reflection. It represents the threshold between conscious and unconscious mind. In the scene above, the Prime Minister wants to shine and appear as an attractive and confident woman (conscious mind). Coexistent, she unveils her true personality: her self-centeredness and her vanity (unconscious mind).

But now let’s take a closer look to the utilization of mirrors in this k-drama. First, we can see the presence of a mirror, when Lee Gon is about to enter Republic of Korea, the parallel world. Here, it is introduced as a magical tool, even as a portal to enter another world.

episode 1

The mirror as magical tool has a long tradition. I could mention “Snow white and the 7 dwarfs” or even a more recent story “Harry Potter”. In the first story, the mirror speaks to the Queen and tells her the truth: Snow White is now more beautiful than her. It was as if this item was a living object, since it speaks and can even make its own judgement. In the past, the queen used to be the most beautiful woman in the world, now it is Snow White. The mirror has changed his assessment and adapted to the new situation. Then in “Harry Potter”, Mirror of eriseD serves to show what a person desires the most. In the 7th book, Harry Potter uses a fragment of a mirror in order to call for help, as he is imprisoned by Bellatrix. Dobby answers to his call. This magical tool is here connected to desire, danger and signal for help. Striking is that in the picture above, the mirror implies danger as well, since it is fractured. Lee Gon can only go through the mirror, since it is broken. Just like the mirror in Snow white and the 7 Dwarfs, the mirror seems to be a living object as the mirror appears on his own (Lee Gon doesn’t summon it) and it even breaks on its own.

At the same time, this mirror is in fact the physical threshold between the conscious and unconscious mind. While people from one world are rich or healthy, they live an opposite life in the parallel world. Luna is abandoned and has no family hence her biggest wish would be to have a family and a father, to be recognized. Whereas the CEO and his son from HG Group in Republic of Corea are powerful and famous, their doppelgangers in MOC are weak und rather common. Besides, I could name another example: while Myeong NaRi doesn’t fancy Jo Eun Sub, it is the opposite in Monarchy of Corea. That’s why I come to the conclusion that there is a balance between these two world. The conscious mind in one world is the unconscious mind in the other world and the reverse. The temptation and desires are never revealed to the world, until Lee Lim appears.

And this is the reason why Lee Rim is so dangerous as he acts as the devil, similar to Mephistopheles. He lets people see their own reflection and appeals to their unconscious and inner desires. We should consider pictures taken from the doppelgangers as a transformed reflection. He only allows them to see what they want to see. Let us forget that a mirror consists of glass and in a camera, there is a lens constituted by glass as well. In a different scene, the Prime Minister sees her doppelganger in the screen.

Or it could be the opposite… Goo Seo Ryung is seen by her doppelganger. While the latter is an average woman, Goo Seo Ryung appears rich and influential which could be a temptation for her doppelganger. Our strong politician gets scared at her own image, although she didn’t react the same in the scene mentioned above. The shock came because she didn’t even recognize herself. She had the impression to see a ghost as the doppelganger’s image is transparent. Actually, we don’t know about the origin of this phenomenon. Is Lee Rim behind this or not? In my opinion, I doubt it as Lee Gon is not a god. It could be a warning as it becomes clear during the episode 8 that Lee Rim is trying to lure her to Republic of Korea. It looks like someone is already working against Lee Lim in order to keep the balance between the two worlds. If she came to ROK, she could become the future president of the country, something she can never achieve in Monarchy of Corea. Lee Rim thinks that she is trying to seduce Lee Gon because she is attracted to his powerful situation. In a republic, she wouldn’t even need Lee Gon at all. But from my point of view, he forgets that the Prime Minister is above all a woman. Remember the scene with the clothes: she never wanted to give up on her femininity. She is definitely interested in Lee Gon the man and not just the king.

In this scene, you will notice that Goo Seo Ryung’s doppelganger is holding a mug. And in a different scene, we witnessed a weird phenomenon. Jo Young and Jo Eun Sub were both holding a drink, the former had a mug of hot coffee, while the other was holding a mug of iced tea. In that particular scene, both dropped their drinks as they felt a strange sensation. Jo Young was surprised because his coffee felt so cold, whereas Eun Sub got burnt by the ice tea. It was, as if their drinks had been exchanged. Due to the scene with Goo Seo Ryung, I came to realize that the Prime Minister, Eun Sub and Jo Young had all something in common: water and mirror. All three (Eun Sub, Jo Young and the doppelganger) were holding drinks, which is linked to water. Actually, the reason why I have been connecting mirror to water isn’t  just because of the myth of Narcissus. Actually, I kept thinking about the following scene from the movie Matrix

The Matrix

Notice in this scene, the mirror gives the impression to be a magical tool. It was, as if it was alive (just like in TK:EM). Then it transforms into a liquid, it looks almost like water, and at the same time, the mirrors serves as a portal as well. Neo is able to pass from one world (dream) to another world (reality), although Neo is confused, if this reality is true as it doesn’t feel and look real at all, rather mysterious and magical.

But let’s go back to our k-drama. Since the mirror is fractured each time someone goes through the passage, we have to imagine that each time something was leaked from one world to the other, hence water and mirrors haven been affected by the opening of the passage. In other words, reflecting items like screen or water in a drink leak reflections or sensation from the other world.

Then I also think that the moving from one world to another has also affected both worlds. Remember that the people are supposed to live the opposite of their life from one world to the other. So they are not supposed to do the same thing, actually the opposite. Yet, in both scene (ES-JY and the scene with the Prime Minister), their doppelgangers were doing the exact same thing:

– YJ/ES were about to drink something

– GSR was sitting in front of her screen just like the other

The more people are going from one world to the other, the more people will do the same thing than their doppelgangers. I hope, this is understandable. 

Finally this scene from Matrix can explain why ES and JY could feel the temperature from the other drink… Neo is touching the mirror and I would even say, he is eaten by the mirror the moment he touches it with his finger. Water is well known as the best current conductor, hence it means that sensations can be transferred through water.

Like I mentioned above, the reflection in the screen could be a warning, a signal of a danger. And this meaning is even more visible in the following scene, when the lieutnant JTE sees Luna in her rear-view mirror.

episode 1

Remember that the function of a rear-view mirror is to alert the driver of potential danger. Besides, Luna as a source of thread is even reinforced with Luna’s gaze. She looks at JTE with a certain animosity.

In another scene, the detective Kang Shin Jae is looking at his own reflection in a pool of blood.

episode 7

And this is no coincidence. This single taking is referring to Shin Jae’s past. His life in ROK is linked to the death of his surrogate. We discover much later that his doppelganger was in a coma for one year. Even the mother declares to him that she considers his recovery as a miracle. It becomes clear that Lee Lim has lured the father by giving him the hope that he could get a healthy son as the mother from ROK has no idea about the switch. But for that miracle, the adoptive parents paid a huge price: their company went bankrupt and the father even landed in jail. Seeing his own reflection in the pool of blood triggers something in the detective therefore while he is trying to sleep, a souvenir resurfaced, the moment he woke up at the hospital.

But this doesn’t stop here. In another scene, Shin Jae visits the ashes of Ji Hun and here again, he sees his own reflection in the picture.

episode 8

What caught my attention is that in this taking, the detective is almost translucent. Here again, the connection between his reflection and the face of Ji Hun jogs a memory: he remembers the funeral ceremony held by the infant Lee Gon who resembles Ji Hun. Concerning Shin Jae, the writer used the mirror in order to reminisce the past, something he had buried deep inside. As conclusion, the mirror helps to see the future (see above Faust) but also to discover or remember the past.

Finally, in the last episode, we see our villain Lee Lim walking to the shop of The Prime Minister’s mother where he left an umbrella behind. Here, his reflection comes from a puddle.

episode 8

Interesting is that

– the director used a puddle which I associate to dirt and failure, as we know the expression “step into a puddle”

– his head is shown upside down. It was as if the antagonist is trying to bring chaos to the world as there is this expression to bring the world upside down.

– He isn’t even looking at his own reflection. He doesn’t pay attention to his surrounding. He is blind, since he is obsessed with his own plan. People might have wondered why the camera zoomed here but after reading this interpretation, you can sense that this taking could be a prophecy of Lee Lim’s failure. Let us not forget that I suspect that there is something else or someone else working against Lee Lim. In this scene, we can see that the mirror serves as a spiritual reflection and as such, it foreshadows the consequences of Lee Lim’s actions. He is doomed to failure and he should fear the retribution of the gods.

Then in the episode 13, the mirror plays a huge part in the discovery of the savior’s identity.

image.png

In this scene, the mirror has an important purpose. It makes Lee Gon realize that he traveled in the past and saved himself. He had already imagined that a time travel was possible. In the same episode, he had told his girlfriend: “If there’s a time axis in there as well as a space axis, then it’ll be possible”. By looking at the mirror, he discovered his future self acting in the past. He only got aware of it, the moment he identified the woman as Luna and saw his own reflection in the mirror. That’s when he realizes that he is wearing the same clothes than the mysterious savior. It was as if the mirror allowed him to see his own past but at the same time his own future. At some point, he will travel to the past.

Then next to him, there is Luna, his enemy but since she looks like Jeong Tae Eul, we have to wonder if JTE will stand by his side, when he travels back in the past. Let us not forget that she is the one who had the cellphone with the inscription: Back to the future. On the other hand, we shouldn’t forget that Luna was the one who stole JTE’s cellphone. Since the cellphone is in her hands, she could travel back to the past as well. Luna wished, she had grown up differently, so maybe Lee Gon help her to change her fate so that when she travels back to the future, she can die in peace, as her time is limited. 

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“Lee Rim: the birth of a new god?”, based on “The King: Eternal Monarch”

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

Anyone watching the k-drama “The King: Eternal Monarch” knows that Lee Rim is the antagonist in this story, Lee Gon’s uncle who conspired against his own brother, the king, in order to possess a mysterious flute.

Striking is that this k-drama starts right away with the introduction of the villain and not with the protagonists. This unusual move has a rather simple explanation. It exposes the true personality of the antagonist and his motivation behind the “coup d’Etat” which happens later.

However, there is more to it because in the first scene of the first episode, the viewers don’t see the villain immediately but only hear his voice. He is actually telling a story. What caught my attention in this first scene is that the story told by Lee Rim doesn’t initially match the taking. While the beholder sees a forest of bamboo, Lee Rim mentions an event recorded in the Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms:

“In spring 682, King Sinmun received a bamboo flute from the Dragon King of the East Sea”.

First episode: Lee Gon’s father is taking the flute from his shrine”

Right after quoting this sentence from the historical Chronicles, the scene changes and viewers witness how the king takes the flute from a shrine. So with this move, the director wants to confirm the veracity of Lee Rim’s words. The flute does exit and it is possessed by the descendants from Silla Dynasty. Then Lee Rim adds:

“When the flute is played, enemies would retreat, diseases would be cured, rain would fall during droughts, the rainy season would end, the wind would stop and strong waves would subside. Seeing its powers, King Sinmun named the flute Manpasikjeok” and designed it as a “national treasure”.

Only after quoting this from the Memorabilia, Lee Rim appears, his face is covered in blood,

which is kind of surprising as he told the story about Manpasikjeok in a very calm manner. The head quotes from the Memorabilia outline that Lee Rim is a strong believer of the powerful flute. For him, the Memorabilia from the Three Kingdoms is similar to the bible. In other words, Lee Rim is an extremely religious man.

I would even add that he treats the Manpasikjeok as an idol. An idol is actually an image or a representation of a god used as an object of worship. So for Lee Rim, the flute has become a new religion and the owner of Manpasikjeok is a god. Interesting is his attitude towards disbelievers. He criticizes them indirectly as the non-believers call this story a myth. As you can observe, Lee Rim appears to be a radical believer, a fundamentalist. Fundamentalism is a form of religion that upholds belief in the strict literal interpretation of scripture. So the quotations from Memorabilia are taken literally by the antagonist. Like I mentioned it above, for him Memorabilia is like a Holy scripture. He believes in the true power of this mysterious flute. But his complain doesn’t stop there. He explains why he took it from his brother. Notice the words he used to legitimate his murder and coup d’Etat.

“I took it from my brother who had it but didn’t believe in it”

So for the antagonist, the king is categorized as non-believer. Nonetheless, if we look at the first picture above, the king is treating the powerful flute very carefully and it is put in a shrine. Only once every 20 years, the Manpasikjeok is revealed to wish peace to the world. This means that it is kept hidden the whole time, while in Lee Rim’s eyes, this flute should be shown to every one. For him, the cult around the Manpasikjeok should be practiced more openly and differently. We can feel his religios fervor, while his brother acts as if it was a hidden cult. I have the impression that while Lee Rim considers the flute as an idol, the king treats it as a relic. The latter is something associated with a saint, which some people regard as holy. A saint is a virtuous person, someone who does good for others. Now, you can better understand the huge gap between the two royals. While Lee Rim considers the flute as a divine object giving godly powers, the king connects it more to the human world and humbleness. This flute has to be used by a virtuous and honest man which elucidates why the flute is not revealed to the public eye.

We can feel his resent and jealousy towards his brother, when he yells to JTE that the king was able to see the Manpasikjeok each day. He didn’t cherish the flute properly. Furthermore, he reproached the king’s ignorance and passivity as he could have grasped the world with the flute. And with these words, it becomes clear that Lee Rim believes that this precious and divine flute can turn the owner into a god as the owner has the possibility to access to another world.

As conclusion, for Lee Rim, becoming the owner of the flute means becoming a god, yet simultaneously it means that Lee Rim will introduce a new religion with new rituals: sovereign’s cult. Since he is a fundamentalist, it also implies that Lee Rim expects a strict obedience to him, the new god, from his followers.

However, we can observe a huge contrast between Lee Rim and his brother. The latter keeps the Four Tiger Sword close to him and his son. Besides, when Lee Rim mentions that Lee Gon will be confronted with the legend and realize its authenticity, the camera zooms to the Four Tiger Sword. For Lee Gon and his father, the sword is far more important than the flute, whereas it is the opposite for Lee Rim. This lack of respect for the sword is actually outlined, when Lee Rim kills the king with the sword. Actually, the villain is soiling the sword. Furthermore, after using it, the uncle let the sword fall onto the ground, where Lee Gon can use it later in order to stop Lee Rim. So here is the question: why isn’t the sword as important as the flute for Lee Rim? Because it is not mentioned in the Memorabilia. Remember that Lee Rim considers it as a Holy scripture. Since Lee Rim is not a legitimate son, he has not been initiated to the secrets linked to the sword and the real story about the Manpasikjeok. He only knows the story through the Chronicles in reality. And he took these words for a reality. And we get another clue that the Four Tiger Sword is actually the real divine item with the following scene:

Episode 1 the young Jo Young is declared “Unbreakable Sword” by the young Lee Gon. We have to remember that Lee Gon has just lost his father and has already become the new King.

But now, let’s go back to our villain. While fighting with the king, Lee Rim denies the existence of gods (“God never created humans”) which contradicts his own words and belief. This actually underlines his real intention. His true goal is to become a god himself and for that, he needs the powerful flute. The flute will give him divine powers and simultaneously it serves as regalia, just like the sword. And we can clearly see that he uses the cult around the Manpasikjeok to justify his coup d’Etat. Religion in History has always been used as a justification for monarchs, see e. g. the French King Louis XIV called the Sun King. But what differs him from Louis XIV, an absolute monarch, is that Lee Rim intends to install a theocratic monarchy and not just an absolute monarchy. Now, you are wondering: what is the difference between these two? An absolute king is considered as a representative of God on Earth, whereas in a theocratic monarchy the king is considered as a god himself and has connections to gods. Since he denies the existence of god, he needs supporters in order to become a god, just like in a theocratic monarchy therefore he declares to his brother:

“it was the weak who created god”

But he fails so that he is forced to hide. Because he got the half of the magical flute, he is able to escape from Monarchy of Corea (MOF) and appears in Republic of Korea, where he discovers the existence of a parallel word. So this miracle proves him that the Manpasikjeok has godly powers and as such the owner of the flute is powerful. Then he meets by chance his half-brother who is poor and rude in this world. That’s when he realizes what he could do here. If you pay attention to his different actions from that moment, you will realize that Lee Rim as fundamentalist starts considering himself as a god.

  1. Before killing his own self, he claims that he is different and far nobler indicating that he doesn’t consider himself as a human being any longer.
  2. He shows up in front of his right-hand-man after so many years and he hasn’t aged at all. He reinforces the idea that he is an immortal.
  3. When Ji Hun’s mother returns from the morgue, she laughs as she is happy about her husband’s death. Her bruises on her face indicates that she has been abused by her husband. While laughing, she declares: “I guess, there is a god […] I prayed every day that he would die”. And here notice Lee Rim’s reaction: he waited on the wheelchair all this time listening to her laugh and her words. Then she starts mentioning her son Ji Hun which shows that her resent is only directed at her husband. She clearly loves her child. In that moment, Lee Rim stands up from the wheelchair. His behavior somehow reminded me of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the doppelganger of Lee Rim looked like he was dead (he couldn’t move and didn’t even speak). Then he confronts the mother by telling her that she has sinned with her laugh. He acts like a god who judges people for their behavior. Ironically, her sin (laughing about her husband’s death) is nothing compared to the crimes Lee Rim committed before. He had already killed three people in ROK: his brother, his other self and Ji Hun, the doppelganger of Lee Gon. He acts as if he has answered her prayer but for her sin, she should repent and confirm her son’s death as an accident.
  4. In another scene, he acts as if he would answer a mother’s prayer. Her son is paralyzed and has been mocked by children on his birthday. HE tells her that her son can never walk but she should change her prayer so that her wish would come true. He even tells her what her prayer should be: the rude children should be punished and get paralyzed just like her son. In this scene, the beholder observes the limitation of Lee Rim’s powers. He is not a god, he can only play tricks.
  5. Then we see him at a temple painting the walls. It was as if he was creating his own temple where people would come to worship him.
  6. Finally, when he meets the pregnant woman who is poor like the other people he met in ROK. He tells her that she can live a great life but for that, she needs to pay a price: kill the doppelganger in MOC. So Lee Rim asks for a bloody sacrifice. It was as if he had become a bloodthirsty god. In order to have your prayer answered by the god, a human sacrifice is required.

All these scenes illustrate Lee Rim’s belief: only weak people create a god. He acts as if he was a powerful god, yet in fact his powers are limited. He can go from one world to the other, he doesn’t age as well, nonetheless he can not turn a sick person into a healthy one. All the prayers are linked to death and punishment. He is not someone who wants happiness and peace for people, he only uses weak humans to achieve his goal. He wants them to see him as a god that’s why he acts like that.

Finally, I would like the readers to remember the story told by Lee Rim in the beginning. He mentioned the Dragon King of the East Sea. Who is this Dragon King? A real dragon or is it the king from Japan as the island is situated in the East sea? Remember that the dragon is seen on Lee Gon’s robe. Striking is that so far Lee Rim has never explained the identity of this Dragon King. For Western countries, dragons are associated to destruction and death, whereas in Asia dragons are linked to positive aspects: great power and fortune hence the dragon is seen on the robe of the king. And here I’ve got the feeling that Lee Rim is influenced by Asian mentality. He considers the Dragon King as someone positive. Yet we heard from Lee Gon that his ancestor Prince Sohyeon became the king Yeongjong and stopped the Qing invasion. While doing some research, I read that prince Sohyeon was influenced by Western ideas and was for a modernization of Joseon. So Lee Rim represents the conservative type (fundamentalism, theocratic monarchy), while Lee Gon and his father are more modern and under the influence of occidental mentality. Therefore I think that this explains why Lee Rim criticized his brother as he saw the Dragon King as someone positive, while Lee Gon and his father have been raised to see the evil nature of the Dragon King from the East Sea.

As conclusion, because of his travel to the parallel world, Lee Rim has come to see that his belief was correct and that he has become a god who could rule over two worlds. However, if we pay attention to his actions, we can conclude that in reality, he is just an “idol”, a false god. He reminds me of the golden calf from the bible symbolizing the false faith.

Painter of The Night: Min, the introduction of a new villain? (Third version)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 5 Comments

This is where you can read the manhwa. https://www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/painter But be aware that this manhwa is a mature Yaoi, which means, it is about homosexuality with explicit scenes. If you want to read more essays, here is the link to the table of contents:  https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/04/table-of-contents-painter-of-the-night/

What caught my attention in the chapter 43 is the man with the green robe. His name is Min and just like Seungho, he is a noble. (chapter 43) Here he is described by his friend with a black heart. However, in the first season, he was shown in different chapters (8, 9, 19, 33, 36, 41 and 43), but he was among others and as such, he was never properly introduced. His presence increased until the chapter 43 marking a pivotal moment. In the first version of this essay, I desired to prove that Min would play a bigger part in the second season. And this was proven correct. Nevertheless, I still need to introduce him. But who is this man, what do we know about him in the first season?

But first let’s go back to the chapter 41, where he was shown hunting with Seungho.

Chapter 41: Seungho on the left and Min on the right

This means that he is quite close to Seungho, as the latter spends time with him outside the sex orgies. Striking is that in this chapter, the man with the green robe was tasting the water, when he asked Seungho to confirm the rumor about the incident at the tailor shop. Seungho warned him not to cross the line, as he could share the same fate than Jihwa. During that scene, the author draw two pictures focused on the hands. The man with the green robe grabbed the wrist of our main lead (chapter 41) and even put his other hand on his waist.

Chapter 41

And these pictures are not random as usually. Remember how Seungho reacted, when Jung In-Hun touched his shoulder, he was about to kill the teacher. (Chapter 30) He was so upset, hence imagine how he felt, when he sensed Min’s hand on his wrist and then waist. With such a gesture, Yoon Seungho could only get more irritated. And here, our main lead only pushed his hand and insulted him by comparing the man with a mouse . His gestures towards our seme revealed something in my opinion. The waist is a very intimate place. It gave the impression that Min was interested in Yoon Seungho sexually. It was, as if this man wanted to become Yoon Seungho’s lover as well. The gesture is quite deceiving, which explains why Yoon Seungho thought that lord Min was wooing him. However, the protagonist was misinterpreting the gesture and interest. In truth the noble was lusting after the painter. This explains why Yoon Seungho was not sensing the danger coming from the “friend“. But then why doesn’t Jihwa feel threatened by him? Then remember that he grabbed Seunho’s wrist. A man in Asia will usually grab his girlfriend’s wrist. In other words, the man with the green robe was treating him like a woman (the waist, the wrist). Everything was pointing out that he wanted Seungho to be his uke. Yet, the reality is that he wanted to “screw“ the main lead. He wanted to ruin him out of jealousy. He desired to have the painter. “Screwing“ someone can have two different meanings. But there‘s more to it which I will explain more below

However, like I had really sensed right from the start, Min was in truth a seme, just like the protagonist, hence Jihwa never felt threatened by him. If I look back at chapter 33, his sexual role was implied, as he was smoking and still had his topknot on, just like Seungho, while the ukes in this scene had all their hair down. (Chapter 33) As conclusion, anyone observing the scene in chapter 41 would come to the conclusion, that this man wanted to have Seungho as lover, just like Jihwa, but in a different role. He would like to be the top. As conclusion, the lord Min was a seme who seemed to be interested in Seungho. Thus he considered Baek Na-Kyum and the red-haired master as rivals, whom he needed to eliminate. And that‘s how Yoon Seungho perceived his gesture and words in the woods. This explicates why he compared him to Lee Jihwa. In the main lead’s mind, Black Heart was paying attention to his every moves and was always updated about his interactions with the painter out of jealousy. The reality is that Min was terribly envious of the main lead. His real center of interest was in truth Baek Na-Kyum. Thus he kept looking at him during their first meeting. (Chapter 8) (chapter 9)

However, the chapter 43 revealed more information about the master Min and his personality.

Here Min is manipulating Jihwa with his words.

The readers could realize his dangerosity here. Why? First, it was revealed that this seme knew all along about Jihwa’s feelings for Seungho, and he played with them. He enjoyed toying the red-haired aristocrat. Black Heart misled the childhood friend so that the latter would run to Seungho’s mansion, especially if you recall that during the same night, Yoon Seung-Won visited his brother. This explains why he lied in the inn. The noble with the mole knew about the deception, as he had a drop of sweat on his face. (Chapter 36) Naturally, here Kim had played a huge role in this deception too, as he allowed to leak information to the red-haired master’s servant. (Chapter 41) Yet, Min knew that Jihwa wouldn’t be able to resist and run to the lord’s mansion. He had already calculated that the childhood friend would discover the truth. He would be hurt and realize his mistake. He even ridiculed Jihwa by comparing him to a dog. (chapter 43) Here, he reminded me of Seungho with his sarcasm and his ironical comments from chapter 6. (chapter 6) He enjoys making fun of Jihwa and is as cunning as Seungho, though in reality the main lead‘s true personality is totally different. (Chapter 43)

Consequently, I couldn’t help myself associating Min to a snake… he was like the devil, inciting the stupid Jihwa to commit a murder. I would even say that he was employing the red-haired noble as his hunting dog. In my first version, I had suspected the man before to be jealous, as he was the one who had even asked Seungho to bring the painter to one of their sex parties. (Chapter 33) It was, as if he wanted to ensure that the artist meant nothing to the protagonist. As you can see, the vicious man gave the impression that he was jealous of the painter. His reproach towards the main lead sounded similar to the childhood friend’s. (Chapter 18) (chapter 41) It was, as if he wanted to play with Jihwa and get rid of Baek Na-Kyum at the same time. The latter is viewed as a source of danger, for Min keeps thinking about him. The noble considered the artist as a witch who put a spell on him, Here, he was projecting his own thoughts. (Chapter 43) It looked like both ukes represented a threat. He was definitely using Jihwa so that if anything would go wrong, only the red-haired aristocrat would be blamed. The man with the black heart tried to diminish the consequences of the murder. He said that the murder should look like an accident, hence this attempted murder can never happen at the mansion. Back then, I had envisioned that they would wait, until Baek Na-Kyum left the mansion, and this expectation was proven correct.

Now it becomes clear why the man with the black heart is doing such a thing. Although Min claims that he wants to be entertained, when he lied to Jihwa in the past, he had already prepared to set the trap for Jihwa. He knew where to hire the killer. (Chapter 43) He had already anticipated Jihwa’s reaction. While Min declared that it was funny, when Jihwa came crying, he added that he was disappointed that he only saw just tears. He wanted him to “come with his tail between his legs”. (chapter 43) And this outlines his cruelty. It was, as if he was “castrated”, had lost his masculinity and virility. As you can see, the guy was making fun of Jihwa and even insulting him. But the latter didn’t pay attention to these words, too wounded by the scene he had witnessed in the study of his friend. By acting like that, he gave the impression that he didn’t care. In truth, it exposed the antagonist’s naivety. He even didn’t see any danger coming from the man with the black heart.

But striking is that after Jihwa’s arrival, he proposed right away to the noble to have Baek Na-Kyum killed. He was indeed acting like a jealous man. (Chapter 43) Now, Yoon Seungho was neglecting him. But in order to convince the upset red-haired noble, Min added more fuel to the fire with his comments:
– His childhood friend had been bewitched
– At some point Baek Na-Kyum would become Seungho’s mistress
He was implying that the red-haired aristocrat was on the verge of losing his love. All this pointed out that the guy was manipulating Jihwa to ensure that the latter would decide to kill the lowborn. That’s the reason why we saw Jihwa’s imagination of that night. The Joker‘s words distorted the memory from the red-haired master. (Chapter 43) The words the man with the green robe said had a huge influence on him. Not only his mind is black, but also his heart which outshines this man’s evilness and dangerousness. Let us not forget that he is a seme… but since he has been forced to be the bottom because of Yoon Seungho, all his actions can be judged in a different light. People could see him as someone who has been longing to become the main lead‘s lover. Thus he said this in season 2: (chapter 52) and in season 3 (chapter 92) But this was just a deception, his real target was the painter. However, after season 3, I realized that in truth, Black Heart had only been a puppet himself, though Min seemed to be like a personification of the devil… his lies, his words in order to incite Jihwa to commit a crime, his words ridiculising Jihwa and even Seungho.

Some questioned this perception in the beginning, for when Min appeared in chapter 8, he was an uke, he couldn’t be a top.

chapter 8

But the readers were overlooking that the main lead got raped and he even used to be a bottom. So roles can be switched. It becomes obvious, when you read this scene. (Chapter 16) Here, the main lead desired to discover the painter’s sexual preferences. So when Min stroke the main lead’s waist, he never realized the true signification of his action. (Chapter 41) The main lead could only assume that Min was interested in him, he wished to become his only partner. Deep down, he desired to become the top, but since Yoon Seungho was not willing to change his position, Black Heart was willing to remain a uke. Note that Min invited the main lead in chapter 19 to the kisaeng house, and offered him wine, right after the main lead had cut ties with his childhood friend. (Chapter 19) It was, as if he was wooing him, hoping to take over Lee Jihwa’s place. Then in chapter 33, Min is the one asking for Baek Na-Kyum.

chapter 33: look, he is dressed and acting like Seungho, which gives me the impression that he is a top.

Striking are his words: “We would have all welcome him”… In the first version of this essay, I had demonstrated, that these words were the proof that Min was in fact a seme, but he was only a uke because of Yoon Seungho. The second season proved me right. He wanted Seungho to bring over Baek Na-Kyum so that they could taste him… I doubt that they would have allowed the painter to be a top. especially when sex sessions are viewed as battles. However, every action from Min were in fact ambiguous. He gave the impression that he was happy to be favored by Yoon Seungho (chapter 33), he would seek his company (chapter 51) (chapter 52) and he was jealous of the painter, for the protagonist was only paying attention to him.
As you can see, due to his words and actions, Min created the illusion that he wished to taste Yoon Seungho, especially when he acts like a hunter. Imagine how his reputation would change if Min was able to tame Seungho and have him become an uke. Min is a player and hunter because of his behavior and words (hunting scene, his offer, his manipulation with lies etc)… Thus, you comprehend why in my first version, I had the impression that his real target was not the painter, but Seungho. It was caused by the ambiguity of his actions. Striking is that in the shaman’s house, he never tried to taste the painter at all. He even allowed the other nobles to taste the painter first. (Chapter 101) Note that he even pushed Lee Jihwa to become a top. (Chapter 100) It was, as if Min was not interested in the painter at all. His true goal was to get rid of Lee Jihwa and Baek Na-Kyum, his rivals. But we know the truth… Black Heart wished to be noticed by Baek Na-Kyum, thus he said this to him in the shaman’s house: (chapter 99) But if he wanted to become his lover as uke, he would be not different from Jihwa. However, this man is definitely not seeking for Seungho’s love. His actions and words don’t fit the profile of an uke, of a person longing for Seungho’s love, rather he fits the profile of a hunter and player.

After season 3, I came to realize the cause for this contradicting attitude. In my eyes, Black Heart was already acting on the king’s behalf. The mysterious lord Song wished to keep the famous sodomite as his lover/wife, and the painter represented a hindrance. Using Lee Jihwa was the perfect tool to achieve his goal. He would get rid of two rivals at the same time. Yoon Seungho would blame his childhood friend for the painter‘s death, once alone again, the king could approach Yoon Seungho. Thus the latter was treated as a prey by Min in each season. But while he used the artist as an excuse to hunt his prey, the hell-raiser, he couldn‘t admit that he wanted to have the painter for himself. Baek Na-Kyum was a commoner. What appeared as a tool, became slowly a goal. (Chapter 56) But Min was still in denial, hence he justified his requests as an urge, while he was also longing for the painter’s affection.

Due to his words and the color of his robe, master Min reminded me of the snake in the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the one who brought misery to Adam and Eva, here in this case this seme is leading Jihwa to his own demise. Hence I came to develop this theory that Min would become the villain of the second season. My interpretation was just based on my own knowledge and European background. Striking is that this man persuaded Jihwa that nothing would happen to him, Baek Na-Kyum was a commoner and if this looked like an accident, then he wouldn’t get caught. (Chapter 43) And remember that Jihwa is a noble… and in the bible, God got aware of Adam’s original sin, hence the latter was banished from paradise. Thus I had been expecting that Lee Jihwa would lose his title as noble, as his crime would be discovered. And this prediction became true which the author revealed in the creator‘s note.

Finally, I would like to point out that Seungho compared Min to a mouse indicating that Seungho didn’t consider him as a threat, he even saw Min as harmless. (chapter 41) A mouse is small and has no real claws. This shows that Yoon Seungho was underestimating him, but also was misinterpreting Black Heart’s action. He was acting like a jealous concubine, thus he compared him to Lee Jihwa. Here, we had the impression that the protagonist was well prepared. He thought, he knew why Min asked him to bring the painter for their sex party and why the lord Min asked about the veracity of the rumor about the incident at the tailor shop. But no… he didn‘t detect the longing and envy from Black Heart towards the painter. I compared him to a snake due to his cunning behavior and his cynical and seductive words… But the reality was that he was a fool himself, for he had no idea about Yoon Seungho‘s past. The abduction did occur and this twice, but note that Min had to become involved himself in order to achieve his goal. The irony is that when Min said this to Yoon Seungho (chapter 102), he was again giving the impression that he had acted like a jealous man who was longing for Yoon Seungho‘s attention. He had acted like a vicious concubine, but in Joseon, „jealous concubine or queen“ would get sentenced to death, like the Queen Yun and the concubine Jang Ok-Jun. (chapter 101) No one in his right mind would torment a loved one like that. Yoon Seungho was not recognizing what jealousy and envy are and what these emotions could trigger people to do! Black Heart would torment Baek Na-Kyum, for the latter was rejecting him. So imagine the king‘s reaction, when he discovers that Min got killed. (Chapter 102) First, he lost his loyal helping hand, secondly he got misled and even betrayed by Lee Jihwa. In other words, the opposite had happened. Instead of obtaining Yoon Seungho, the king lost his “wife“ who decided to kill himself. To conclude, the villain from season 2 and 3 was in reality a pawn, the shadow of the true villain, lord Song. This explicates why Min‘s behavior was particularly ambiguous in season 1… All his actions and words could be perceived as a jealous man who desired to become Yoon Seungho‘s top!! The king would have never approved such a thing! And this could be the other reason why he will vent his anger on the Lees.

Feel free to comment. If you have any suggestion for topics or manhwas, feel free to ask. If you enjoyed reading it, retweet it or push the button like. My instagram-tumblr-twitter account is: @bebebisous33. Thanks for reading and for the support, particularly, I would like to thank all the new followers and people recommending my blog.

Alice in Wonderland, a source of inspiration for “The King: Eternal Monarch”

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

Before making connections between “Alice in Wonderland”, written by the mathematician Lewis Carroll, and the K-drama “The King: Eternal Monarch”, it is relevant to know about the major topics in that fairy tale. In this story, Alice is getting sleepy on a bench, when she suddenly witnesses a White Rabbit running while holding a clock. She gets curios and decides to follow him and that’s how she enters a new world: Wonderland. This land symbolizes the epitome of craziness and fantasy. Alice discovers strange animals and people like Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts. No logical explanation can be applied in this world, like e. g. the baby of the Duchess turns into a pig or the Cheshire Cat appears and disappears or the Mad Hatter drinks tea with Dormouse and March Hare without changing the table. No rational thoughts and physical laws can rationalize the events.

Striking is that a mathematician, a representative of logic and sciences, wrote this book, where creativity knows no boundary and where sciences can not be used. However, at the same time, Alice tries to use sciences and her knowledge in order to understand this strange world because the female protagonist of this fairy tale keeps wondering if her adventure is a dream or a reality. As she attempts desperately to use her knowledge in order to solve this dilemma, she fails. Even the reader keeps wondering the same thing either as there are always allusions that she could be sleeping and as such dreaming.

Coexisting to this dilemma, the reader is following Alice on her journey from childhood to adulthood. Her strange adventure makes her experience different stressful situations (growing, shrinking, having a long neck etc.) and this should be interpret as a symbolization of her future puberty. The transformations of her body are not the only changes operating in Alice, she also questions herself and about her own identity. The Caterpillar asks her about her identity and she can not answer it right away. She even adds, she feels that she has changed since the morning too. And later after eating a mushroom, her neck streches out so that a pigeon calls her a snake. In other words, her identity quest suggests a initiatory journey. On her way to become an adult, she faces difficult and strange experiences which turns her into a different person at the end. When she leaves this land, she is no longer a child. That’s why time plays a huge part in this book. Remember that the White Rabbit held a clock in the beginning, later she meets the Mad Hatter who owns a strange clock as well. Transforming into a adult is definitely linked to time. Just before leaving Wonderland, Alice is put before a trial and the Queen of Hearts wants to condemn her. The latter embodies the adulthood, the parent who appears to teenagers strange, authoritarian and strict. At the end, Alice defies her and leaves Wonderland before getting any punishment. All this represents Alice cutting ties with her parent on her identity quest.

That’s why my comparison between the fairy tale and the k-drama “The King: Eternal Monarch” is not just about the characters, but also about the following topics: dream, reality, fantasy, sciences, identity quest, initiatory voyage, adulthood and time.

First, the fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland” is directly mentioned in the first episode. The main lead, the King of Corea Lee Gon, is reading this book in front of children. He even reads the passage where Alice is following the White Rabbit.

episode 1: Here is the scene where the king Lee Gon is reading the book “Alice in Wonderland” to children. On the left, we can see an illustration of Alice following the White Rabbit.

This scene is really important as it serves two purposes. First, it gives a first overview of Lee Gon’s personality. We discover that this story is the king’s favorite and he considers himself as a mathematician therefore he feels connected to the author, Lewis Carroll, who is also a mathematician. Here, our main lead seems to know himself quite well, unlike Alice. Lee Gon is a scientist loving Physics and Maths and even using physic laws and mathematical formulas in order to grasp the world around him. Furthermore, he shares some similarities to Alice. Just like her, he is curios and shows a certain innocence. The second purpose of this scene is to elucidate the reason why Lee Gon will discover the parallel world, Republic of Korea. Since Lee Gon reads the excerpt where Alice is chasing after the White Rabbit, the protagonist is suddenly confronted in a similar situation: he sees a person running with a rabbit costume hence he decides to follow this Rabbit. It was, as if Lee Gon had become Alice.

Since this is an adaptation of this passage from the book, we also need to compare the two scenes. The first difference is the gender. It doesn’t seem to be relevant, yet it gives us an illustration that everyone is like Alice. The second difference is that Alice is a child in the story and changes through the story so that at the end, she is no longer a child. Here Lee Gon is an adult. Yet he sometimes behaves like a child, e. g. when he yells at his captain of security Jo Young that everything in this palace belongs to him. He acts as a spoiled child who doesn’t want to share his belongings. In other words, despite his age, Lee Gon hasn’t lost his innocence completely. Therefore, when he sees a person dressed like a rabbit, he acts like Alice: he chases after the White Rabbit and the clock.

The White Rabbit in the episode 1 from “The King: Eternal Monarch”

Unlike the fairy tale, the rabbit is not a real rabbit but a person. Besides, the biggest contrast is that the rabbit jacket is not white at all but black. She doesn’t hold any clock but she is followed by thugs, hence she is under pressure. What caught my attention is that once Lee Gon notices her (the person is a woman called Luna), he says that he is chasing after the white rabbit and the clock. His words defy the reality as it is not correct. Then here is the question: why did the writer and director choose a black rabbit jacket? Is it a coincidence and is there a meaning behind it?

In my opinion, this choice could be deliberate as Luna, dressed as rabbit, is supposed to lead Lee Gon to the parallel world: Republic of Corea. Besides, during that first incident, Lee Lim, the villain and uncle of the King, appears at the rowing event. While white is associated to innocence and purity, black embodies the opposite: evil and corruption. Hereafter, this visit in Republic of Korea, is not supposed to be an initiatory voyage, rather a trap for the King.

However, the author of the k-drama has not just associated Lee Gon to Alice. During the 6 first episodes, our main lead has a terrible habit: he keeps threatening everyone to behead them, if they don’t follow his orders or disregard his wishes.

Episode 1: he is threatening his captain and friend Jo Young

He behaves just like the Queen of hearts who constantly orders the beheading of people when something isn’t to her liking (although these orders apparently never are actually carried out). In Monarchy of Corea, it is the same: no one has ever been beheaded since the beginning of the 20th Century. As I had mentioned above, Queen of Hearts, represents the adulthood and as such the absurdity of the adult world. Lee Gon had to act as an adult, the moment he lost his father. He had to fight his uncle and later assume his function as the next King. That’s why Lee Gon is a combination of Alice and Queen of Hearts. Furthermore, the latter did act like a strange and even childish person… she never wanted to lose a croquet game hence she bent the rules to her liking. However, just like Lee Gon embodying two characters from Alice in Wonderland, Luna doesn’t just resemble the White Rabbit, her actions remind us of Cheshire Cat as the latter keeps appearing and disappearing. Luna pops up in front of Lee Gon twice and in front of JTE in the car once. She just remains there for a few second. There is no logical explanation for her appearance and disappearance, only magic or fantasy can elucidate this. Our female lead JTE is a combination of two characters: the Caterpillar as she keeps asking who Lee Gon is and Alice, when she visits Monarchy of Corea. After her return, she tells her father that she was in Alice in Wonderland.

Once the king arrives in the parallel world, he is surprised and confused, just like our heroine from the novel. Nevertheless, he adjusts himself very quickly as he tries to use his knowledge and sciences to grasp this new world. Strangely, Alice has a similar attitude: just like him, she attempted to use her knowledge in order to distinguish if this world was a dream or a reality. Although their behavior is a little similar, their purpose is different. Lee Gon is not questioning himself if he is dreaming or not. First, he is not alone because he traveled with his horse Maximus. So for him, this is all real. Here, Lee Gon is trying to assess how this world works and how it is different from his own world. He makes different experiences… for the first time, he learns f. ex. the value of money. Just like a spoiled child he was in his world, he doesn’t change his way of life therefore he is too spendthrift with his money. As result, he is left with no money (end of the second episode). Here, for the first time, he makes the experience that there is nothing free in this world.

As you can observe, although Lee Gon has been sent to Republic of Korea with some bad intention, his trip to that parallel world can be seen as an initiatory journey. For the first time, he is on his own… not surrounded by his bodyguards and his Lady Head of court No. That’s why he is able to become more mature. Then he confesses to JTE for the first time. It seems to me that his change from childhood to adulthood is much shorter than the one compared to Alice. First, he is already an adult hence his body doesn’t change so that he doesn’t need to deal with transformations. Secondly, the central topic of the k-drama is to fight against his uncle and not the loss of childhood. The loss of childhood and the initiatory voyage are just side issues.

Then in both works, the quest of identity is present. Contrary to the novel, here Lee Gon is not trying to find his own identity as he is already an adult. In “The King: Eternal Monarch” Jung Tae Eul, the lieutnant, is the one who is attempting to identify the weird man. Since she keeps asking who he is, she could be linked to the Caterpillar. However she fails with every possible method. Her problem is that she doesn’t believe him at all, when he claims that he comes from a parallel universe and he is a king there. On her quest to identify him, she can’t help to find him weird and crazy. The craziness, existent in Alice in Wonderland, is shown in a subtle way in the k-drama. Lee Gon has no current money therefore he uses buttons to get money. Then what he says and the way he acts look weird to JTE and the others. They all keep calling him: “crazy bastard”, “weirdo” or “half-crazy bastard”. JTE even gives him a name connected to “dog excrement”. They sometimes give him a better description: a handsome man with a beautiful white horse. Yet JTE fails to really understand him, until he leaves her world. Only after his departure, his words are proved to be true. His weirdness fades away and JTE is finally able to identify the man.

However, there are two common denominators with the fairy tale in this drama: the importance of time and fantasy. The importance of time is already pointed out in the poster that you can see above. In the title, there are actually two clocks. And it looks like there will be a time loop. Remember in the book that the white rabbit was running with a clock. Secondly, the Mad Hatter owns a strange clock that doesn’t give time but the day of the month. Just like the Mad Hatter, Lee Gon possesses a clock that is unique in both worlds:

episode 2: the unique clock of Lee Gon that was fabricated after Maximus’ first victory

Then while talking to Alice, mad Hatter mentions time as a person: “If you knew Time as well as I do, said the Hatter, you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s him. “[…] I daresay you never even spoke to Time”. He even adds that if Alice talked to Time, then he could help her to change time as she wished. She only needs to whisper to him about the time she would like to have. In my opinion, this excerpt could be seen as an indication that something similar will happen in the future. Lee Gon will time travel.

The time is even so relevant that’s why the writer uses a lot of expressions and situations around the time, like f. ex. The lady No and the prince Byeong are both annoyed by the disappearance of the king and are searching for a good excuse. Each of them keep saying “this time”. I could mention two scenes

1. when Lee Gon confesses how troubled he is. It took him 25 years to find JTE, yet this day felt so long for him. Notice the discrepancy, although 25 years is much longer than a day… Lee Gon pointed out that he felt the exact opposite. He, a scientist, who keeps measuring time in order to know the time difference between the two worlds, is making the experience that sometimes time can not be really measured.

2. when Lee Gon is asked if he has dated before then he kisses her. Indirectly, he is underlining the importance of the present. The kiss marks a turning point between the past (has he been dating before?) and the future (Is he dating now?)

The other common point is fantasy which is linked to time. Lee Gon discovers that time can stop there but first he has no idea why. Then his uncle doesn’t age. In 2020, Lee Rim doesn’t look like a 71 years old man. Then in the passage between the two worlds, Lee Gon the scientist has noted that there is no time there as the red balloon is still remaining at the same place. The air has not disappeared. This space defies the laws of Physics. Hence he wants to discover this world. Furthermore, the ID that was printed in 2019 already existed in 1994.

As conclusion, we find many elements from Alice in Wonderland existent in the k-drama and many characters from “The King” are inspired by different characters from the fairy tale. The viewer need to know the book in order to understand the insider jokes (like the beheading e. g.)

Painter Of The Night: The chamber where everything changed

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

This is where you can read the manhwa. https://www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/painter But be aware that this manhwa is a mature Yaoi, which means, it is about homosexuality with explicit scenes. If you want to read more essays, here is the link to the table of contents:  https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/04/table-of-contents-painter-of-the-night/

In this analysis, I will compare two major scenes (chapters 20-21 versus chapters 41-42), which happened both in Baek Na-Kyum’s study and chamber. In this chamber, our main lead, Yoon Seungho, has sex with the painter BNK.

The moment the lord Yoon Seungho forced the painter to live in his mansion, the latter was sent to the room next to Yoon Seungho’s bedchamber. One of the reasons for this was that it was much easier for BNK to enter the lord’s chamber in order to paint the erotic scenes. However this also outlined the special status the noble gave him. The noble would have never let someone live close to him whom he didn’t trust. He knew that the painter represented no thread to him.

Now, you are wondering why these scenes should be compared to each other. First, both scenes mark a turning point in the relationship between the lord and the painter. Secondly, through the comparison, you get a better understanding of the chapter 42 and why it also illustrates a crucial moment for the painter, whereas the chapters 20-21 marked a pivotal moment for Yoon Seungho.

What caught my attention was the way both scenes showed so many parallels. Let us a take closer look:

  1. both scenes were predated with an argument between the painter and the teacher Jung In-Hun. In the picture below, you can observe Seungho witnessed from far away how BNK got upset. chapter 19

The lord can not hear the content of the conversation but he observes that Baek Na-Kyum is hurt and upset due to the teacher. The latter has just discovered that the invitation and the support from Yoon Seungho has nothing to do with Jung In Hun’s abilities. Then he resents the low-born. In the chapter 41, Yoon visits the painter’s study because he heard from the servants that the painter wouldn’t leave his room and would keep painting without eating much. As you can see, the lord pays a lot of attention to the mental health of the painter. He knows from the way BNK is acting that something is wrong. The reason for BNK’s strange behavior is that BNK had just heard before from Jung In Hun that he was born to be a prostitute. His love for In Hun was so pure and for the teacher, BNK was just a prostitute.

The quarrel started because the painter asked the teacher what would happen to him, once the learned sir would succeed the civil service examination. The scholar refused to take any responsibility for the commoner, as he claimed that he was already experiencing a huge change and getting a lot of benefit from Yoon Seungho. The artist had to hear from the one whom he admired the most that he was just a prostitute in his eyes. (chapter 40) The main lead was definitely hurt. Nonetheless, Seungho never witnessed their conversation, unlike in the chapter 19. And in this chapter (19), the rich lord thought that the expensive bottle of wine that had disappeared had been snatched by the painter due to his emotional state. Since the aristocrat had already figured it out that the painter was upset, he decided to visit the artist’s chamber. In other words, in both cases, the lord showed some concern about the painter, and wanted to keep an eye on him. At the same time, he desired to discover the truth about the missing bottle of wine

2. In both scenes, the painter made the first move on Seungho, which contrasts so much to the artist’s normal behavior. The latter has always kept pushing away the rich lord. He always tried to avoid his touch and even his gaze.

chapter 19: here notice his gaze. He never expected a kiss from the artist.

In the chapter 42, BNK didn’t kiss the lord right away, he asked Seungho first to hold him. However, there was no reaction from the lord, since BNK had yelled at the noble before which led Seungho to slap the painter for his disrespect. Unlike in the chapter 20-21, there was no quarrel between the lord and the painter… but there was a huge misunderstanding. BNK mistook YSH for the teacher and thought, Jung In Hun was visiting, hence he kissed him. Back then, he was under the influence of alcohol, yet this revealed his deepest wish. He wanted to confess his love for the teacher. Striking is that in both kisses, Seungho keeps his eyes opened.

chapter 41

In the chapter 20, he was surprised and shocked, in the other chapter he is uncertain about the kiss. He has no idea why the crying, visibly upset BNK is asking for his embrace. Nonetheless, BNK’s kisses did affect Seungho whom I have been described in another post as someone detached and emotionless. While he criticizes the painter’s kiss in the chapter 42, this would not arouse him, in the earlier chapter he made no complaint. He saw it as an opportunity to finally taste the painter. He was not annoyed by the lack of inexperience unlike in the chapter 41. However, both kisses have something in common. Both outline BNK’s innocence and purity. These kisses are not here to excite the partner but to express a deep and pure love (chapter 19) or to ask for warmth and comfort (chapter 41).

3. The other similarity is the presence of Jung In Hun in that chamber, although the teacher is not physically there. In the chapter 19, the love confession BNK made was actually addressed to Jung In Hun and not Seungho. Furthermore, BNK kept calling Seungho “my learned sir” and that’s how the painter used to call his beloved teacher. Since BNK was drunk, he mistook the wealthy lord for his loved one. I would even say that BNK is actually imagining JIH’s presence. He is not really seeing the teacher as the author gave us a few pictures from BNK’s perspective. It was as if he wished, the teacher would be there. He drank so much in order to drown his sorrows but to be more precise, he drank in order to escape from reality, like he was in ecstasy. He preferred living in an illusion than facing the reality that the teacher has never loved him and will never loved him. For BNK, this night is like a dream. In other words, this night where BNK lost his virginity was an illusion and a dream. That’s why at the end, he cried out of happiness and even told Seungho that he was happy. But for Seungho, this night had another signification. First, he thought that it wasn’t too bad if BNK mistook him for JIH as he could finally taste the painter. However, as time passed on, he could no longer bear hearing from BNK “learned sir” hence he proposed BNK to call him “lord”. As you can see, the shadow of JIH in the room did bother Seungho. And for Seungho, this night in the chapter marked a pivotal moment as well. He heard a pure and innocent love confession and at the end, when BNK told him that he was so happy and his heart was full, Seungho’s heart was moved and touched. I doubt that Seungho had ever heard before that he could make someone happy. Since BNK had kept his virginity intact for his loved one and confessed to Seungho indirectly, this night gives the readers the impression of a wedding night. Back then, the husband usually joined the bride much later. But the problem here is that all this was also an illusion and a dream for Seungho as everything said and done was addressed to the learnt sir and not to our main lead. This explains why our seme is looking for a renewal of this night later.

As I had mentioned before, in both scenes the readers felt the presence of In Hun in this chamber. In chapter 41, his shadow is indicated by the drawing,

Notice Seungho’s reaction: his gaze shows his displeasure and shock.

Although the painter is kissing him and even asking him to embrace him, the lord refuses and becomes even angry at the low-born. He doesn’t want to become intimate with the painter because this is related to Jung In Hun. Our seme is even quite brutal and even grabs BNK’s hair. He even criticizes BNK’s kiss saying that with such a move he can not be excited. But this rejection from the lord doesn’t even upset the painter, hence he becomes more proactive. He grabs Seungho’s loin, undresses himself (chapter 41), he would have sex with the seme without any preparation. The lord is actually surprised by BNK’s actions because this doesn’t resemble him at all. He acts as a prostitute that’s why Seungho asks if the teacher has talked the painter into it.

But by comparing these two scenes, I noticed some differences as well. We can observe a huge contrast between these two scenes. While earlier, Seungho was just looking for sex, he found love or better said, he tasted the illusion of love and enjoyed it very much. Baek Na-Kyum was a virgin, totally inexperienced and innocent who asked the noble to be careful with him. And in chapter 41-42, the opposite is happening. The artist is actually acting like a prostitute… it was, as if he was looking for sex but this is not what Seungho wants. I say prostitute because BNK is acting as if he was doing a job and not seeking love and affection. He considers himself as a prostitute as he has received support from the lord all this time and he thinks that Seungho has always perceived him as such. There is no seduction in this scene as BNK has been “forced to prostitution”. Actually, the painter’s words contradict his words and his actions. He doesn’t say that he wants sex because he keeps begging for the lord’s embrace. Being hold is connected to warmth and affection. And here, the reader can feel the pain and despair from the painter. Jung In Hun’s words (“you are born as a prostitute”) are still in his mind. Here, BNK is doing the exact opposite of the night in the chapter 20. He is no longer running away from the reality and living in an illusion, BNK wants to face the reality. The slap from Seungho should be considered as a wake up call. Baek Na-Kyum can not ignore the lord’s status, he can not mistake him for someone equal to him. In both scenes, BNK overlooked the lord and this is not what Seungho wants. He wants to be perceived as the person he is: a lord who worries about the painter.

Then in order to underline the contrast between both scenes, while their first night took place during the night, the kiss in chapter 41-42 happens during the day. As you can see, the time reinforces the idea of illusion (chapter 20-21) and of reality (chapter 41-42). So since the artist is facing reality, he has decided to follow his lord’s orders (painting erotic pictures) and he acts as a prostitute, because he really believes what Jung In Hun said before. He is taking the teacher’s words as face value, while in verity Jung In-Hun has no idea that Yoon Seungho is treating BNK more like a lover and even “wife”. Back then, it was a custom that the lord visits the chamber of the wife and concubine. But the artist is not really aware of all this. And just like in the chapter 20, the aristocrat is annoyed and even jealous of the place the learned sir has in Baek Na-Kyum’s mind and heart.

Another difference is that in the chapter 20 Seungho wanted to sleep with BNK right away and BNK had to stop him. The painter had to confess his virginity and his fear and this confession surprised the lord as he never expected this from the low-born. Since the painter came from a gisaeng house and would paint sodomy, he naturally thought, he had experienced. In the chapter 42, Seungho does the opposite. While BNK wants to start right away, the noble questions BNK’s behavior and points out the need of preparation. And this difference out lines the special care the lord has for the painter. He really determines not to hurt BNK physically, while the latter doesn’t care at all. Like I had mentioned before, the physical pain is to replace the emotional pain.

Striking is that even in the chapter 42, their first night is even mentioned. The painter confesses that he did enjoy the night, he even concedes that he likes painting such erotic pictures. Since he is facing reality, BNK admits for the first time his homosexuality which had been suppressed by the teacher all this time. But at the same time, he is admitting that he is a prostitute which is shown through his actions. However, he can’t even say this to the lord. What caught my attention was the contrast between these scenes when it comes to eloquence. Although BNK was drunk in the chapter 20-21, his confession was well spoken (“I admire you”, “I pine for you”), in the chapter 42 he is neither sick nor drunk, yet he is unable to talk properly. He stutters and can’t even finish his sentences “I’m… a …”). The pain is so strong that he is left speechless.

He is so hurt that he wants to have rough sex (“harder”, “so it’s all the way in”). He wants to be physically hurt so that he can no longer feel any pain in his heart. It was as if he wanted to erase the words In Hun spoke from his mind. Hence he says “So I can’t think of anything else”. Strangely, BNK’s gesture and position show the change in their relationship. He is now facing the lord, he even grabs the noble’s hand and puts it on his stomach. It is such an intimate gesture outlining that this is much more than senseless sex. BNK has not realized the contradiction between his words (“harder”/ “to hold me”) and his actions (grabbing his loin/putting the hand on his stomach). We can see that BNK is actually lost and confused.

However, just like the night from the chapter 20 changed everything for Seungho, this night changes everything, as BNK is no longer running away from reality. (chapter 42) He is no longer suppressing his homosexuality and he is accepting to have Seungho by his side. Just thinking about In Hun causes pain to the painter here, while he was in ecstasy in the chapter 20. He even wrinkled the painting of the ceremony with In Hun which shows the huge pain in his heart. (chapter 41) For him, paintings are treasures. This gesture reveals some changes in BNK. The painter is well aware that the teacher has abandoned him as the former doesn’t want to assume any responsibility. Therefore, his disrespect for the picture is a sign of disrespect for the teacher. Although he has internalized In Hun’s words and views, he is so affected that he no longer admires In Hun like before. In the chapter 42, he no longer calls Jung In Hun “learned sir” but “my teacher” which illustrates that BNK no longer views IH as a noble (“sir”) but as a simple teacher. He only sees Jung In Hun in his actual position and not as his social status. We all know that despite being a noble, JIH is not rich and influential. He belongs to the lower nobility. IH is no longer put on a pedestal. But BNK has still some respect for IH as he calls him “my teacher”. So there is still a string between the teacher and the painter but it is about to disappear.

There is another common denominator in both scenes: the tears. While the artist cries out joy and happiness in chapter 21, here his tears are linked pain and sorrow, as the artist is heartbroken. (chapter 42) This time, it is the lord who initiates the embrace, something the painter had been longing. (chapter 41) Yet, this request only got fulfilled at the end of the love-sex session, the main lead put the painter on his lap while kissing him and even embraced him in an desperate attempt to console the artist. Simultaneously, this shows that Seungho is longing for warmth, love and tenderness. But despite this night, Seungho is well aware that Baek Na-Kyum is not loving him. He has sex with him because BNK has confessed before that he has never hated the things he did with Seungho which represents a huge step for the lord.

However, the huge contrast is that Seungho is unaware of the reason for the artist’s distress and pain in chapter 41-42. He thought that it was related to the scholar’s departure. Hence he made no move on the painter, and was even a little rough, when he thought that the scholar had asked him to do such a thing. This reasoning illustrates that Yoon Seungho didn’t realize that the scholar had backstabbed the painter. He couldn’t recognize the true cause for the artist’s pain. At the same time, he failed to grasp that the artist had already moved on from the teacher. Besides, he never noticed that the artist had lied for him twice. He had feigned ignorance about the content of the conversation between the main lead and his brother. He had not betrayed his sponsor and host. (chapter 38) Striking is that the painter blamed himself. From my point of view, the painter’s confession could only wound the noble’s heart. (chapter 41) He had the impression that he was somehow responsible for the artist’s tears. Yet after this night, Yoon Seungho had sensed that something had changed in their relationship, just like Baek Na-Kyum’s relationship with the teacher had changed. Notice that this room is connected to betrayal, love, sex and pain.

In conclusion, this chamber is full of symbolism. Here, a noble could feel warmth and love for the first time, although it was just an illusion. Yet he became addicted. As for the artist, this room represents the place where he decided to confront reality. In this room, the lord joins the painter which seems to indicate the future position in the couple: Seungho is willing to meet the painter. The reason for the connection between the study and the change is that in that precise room, the lord had experienced the same: betrayal, sex, love and pain. In my opinion, this is where he got sexually abused.

Feel free to comment. If you have any suggestion for topics or manhwas, feel free to ask. If you enjoyed reading it, retweet it or push the button like. My Reddit-Instagram-Tumblr-Twitter account is: @bebebisous33. Thanks for reading and for the support, particularly, I would like to thank all the new followers and people recommending my blog.

Truth and Memories: Memorist, Nobody knows, Find Me in Your Memories and The King: Eternal Monarch

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

Before we start to analyse different actual k-dramas under the aspect of truth and memories, we need to take a look at the definition of truth. This is what I found under the following website (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/truth)

  1. the true or actual state of a matter:He tried to find out the truth.
  2. conformity with fact or reality; verity:the truth of a statement.
  3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like:mathematical truths.
  4. the state or character of being true.
  5. actuality or actual existence.
  6. an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.

As you can observe, truth is not just simple, although it is a short word that is often used. Truth has different meanings. Even philosophers like e.g. Plato questioned the definition and essence of truth. In our case, the second and fifth meaning are the relevant ones because truth is in the center of crime series. Fact, verity and reality are the goals of police work. Police need facts and evidence in order to retrace the events. They attempt to find the whole truth hence they need to find the culprit for the offense as the identity of the perpetrator is often unknown. As such, people think that discovering the perpetrator is a synonym for truth as it is a fact and a reality (signification 2).

But is it correct to think so? Actually, we have to question this belief. Knowing the identity of the culprit doesn’t necessarily signify that the police know the truth… Sure, in order to unveil the truth, the police investigation has to bring physical evidence and testimony of witnesses. However, the motive and justification for the crime are all subjective hence the detectives can only guess those. They can reconstitute the whole crime scene but they can never retrace the thoughts of the culprit. Moreover, it’s very difficult to prove a motive, especially if the perpetrator is motivated by emotions (anger, jealousy, etc.) and even irrational thoughts (serial killers). The profiler and detective can only guess and make assumptions but there is no guarantee that their reconstitution is the truth. Finally, retracing the events can never become the reality and as such the truth, since the victim is already injured or dead. The crime has already happened. As you can see, finding the whole truth is not physically possible. The thoughts can never be shown, the reconstitution can only give a glimpse of reality.

But even so, in order to retrace the events, the detectives have to rely on evidence and the testimony of witnesses, like I mentioned above. Evidence is quite simple as these are traces, like a bill, a phone call etc. On the other hand, it is quite different for the testimony of witnesses. The latter have to remember and we know that memory is not reliable, as people tend to forget or the witness didn’t pay attention to the scene and could only get a small part of the event, or even misinterpreted the words or the scene. In other words, memories are very subjective and even fluctuate, yet for the detectives, the memories of a witness can become facts. That’s why in memories lie a certain danger and can never served as the whole truth. Memories are quite subjective but are often treated as objective by people. This explains why during a trial, the witnesses are questioned by the lawyer and the prosecutor. By analyzing the veracity (truthfulness) of a testimony from both perspectives, the trial is trying to retrace the crime and retrace the thoughts of the accused before the events. All of this in the attempt to find the whole truth. That’s why memories play a huge part in the investigation and this topic is treated in the following k-drama, Memorist.

Poster of Memorist

Detective Dong Baek (Yoo Seung Ho) has the supernatural ability to read people’s memories, when he touches them. Armed with this power, he tackles a mysterious serial murder case. And due to his ability, he catches criminals and is able to send them to jail. Initially Han Sun Mi, a profiler, dislikes the detective because she finds his method suspicious and quite dangerous. As you can see, the detective’s ability is perceived as an objective tool. We are not shown, how the criminals he caught were really convicted. He is the only one who can read their memories and in this drama, the viewer have the impression that memories read by DB are quite objective. Strangely, our main protagonist is suffering himself from amnesia. He knows nothing about his past, he only remembers the corpse of a woman. That’s why he is using his supernatural ability, he wishes deep down to discover his own past and the culprit of the murdered woman he keeps remembering.

Striking is that although Han Sun Min kept her distance from Dong Baek for a while, she relied herself a lot on her memories. She still wants to catch the culprit of her father’s murder. Only after many years, she realizes her mistake. She thought she saw a scar on the culprit’s face, while in reality she saw the mark of a face mask. As you can observe, the memories and their interpretation misled the profiler. Later, both protagonists are confronted with a crime, where the witnesses have no memories at all. All their memories have been erased and with no evidence, Bong Baek and Han Sun Mi have no lead to find the culprit. As the investigation progresses, they realize that they have to deal with a man with the supernatural ability to erase memories. At the end of the episode 12, DB touches Lee Shin Woong, Han Su Min’s superior, and read his memories. To his shock and surprise, he sees his younger self and the police commissioner confirms that it was DB who killed 7 people 20 years ago. As conclusion, the witness and the memorist believe these memories as the truth and fact. However, seeing is not the same as knowing. Dong Baek could have a twin brother hence Lee Shin Woong misjudged the situation. He thought, he saw DB, while it was not correct. Another possibility is that Lee Shin Woong manipulated his memories in order to mislead the memorist. All these events actually outline that testimonies should never be treated as the truth. That’s why we have trials where the reliability of witnesses is questioned. The use of DB’s ability for investigation is actually questionable. He is a human being and the memories read by him are also subjective.

Nobody knows

Then in this k-drama, the writer is already pointing out through the title “Nobody knows” that it is quite impossible to find the whole truth. Sure, the title is first referring to secret. All the persons involved have a secret which is revealed one by one. CYJ was the best friend of the 8th victim in the stigmata serial killing, HMS cheated on a test, KEH had discovered the identity of his biological father etc. In other words, discovering secrets play a huge part in discovering the truth but that’s not enough. It is possible that some secret will never be unveiled hence the whole truth won’t be known. Another parameter are the memories. Thus just like in the k-drama Memorist, the writer focuses on the importance of memories too.

The teenager Ko Eun Ho fell from the rooftop of the Millenium hotel in order to escape from the minions of the villain Baek Sang Ho. Striking is that after the victim wakes up, he is suffering from amnesia and wonders how he got injured. He is actually missing one month of his life. While the mother prefers her son not remembering the past month (“she declares that missing one month of his life won’t affect his future”), the young student expresses the desire to know the truth that’s why he questions the officer Cha Young Jin and his mother (“How did I get hurt?”; “Did I tell you something strange before getting hurt?” “why won’t anyone tell me anything?”) so that at the end, CYJ gives in and tells him how he got injured. She could retrace a huge part of the events but she couldn’t tell him why his minions were really after him. As she notices the teenager’s desire to know the whole truth, she tells him this.

episode 11

Striking is that for Cha Young Jin, retracing the whole event with evidence and testimonies, it means that she will get the whole truth. However, like I pointed out before… her promise can’t never be fulfilled in reality. Furthermore, when she made this, she believed that it was related to the book JKH gave to the teenager. And she knows nothing about Baek Sang Ho’s past and trauma as well. For KEH, getting his memories back is a synonym for knowing the whole truth. He is so determined to remember his lost month that he discusses the topic with his teacher.

Scene from the episode 11
The teacher LSW: “And even if you fail to remember, people around you will tell you bits and pieces of what happened and you fill up your missing memory.”
The teenager Ko Eun Ho: “But that’s not my own memory. I want to remember what happened myself. “

As you can read in their conversation, the amnesiac teenager doesn’t accept the memories from the others as he perceives it as a false reconstruction of the past. He knows deep down that their memories is subjective as they only knew a part of him. Remember that he has a secret buried in his brain, besides the people close to him weren’t by his side all the time, as he was often on his own. His mother neglected him and spent time with her lover, the friend and officer was busy with her investigation, his friend DM was busy working. So the proposition from his teacher is rejected… he wants to remember himself as he believes that only with his memories he can get the whole truth.

However, KEH is wrong too. He makes the assumption that with his memories he knows the truth as he was the witness and the victim. Yet, while he was sitting in the car waiting for BSH, he never saw how the driver CDH was forced to drink some drugged water. While he was eating a piece of cake, the driver CDH was lying in the trunk of the car and later killed by BSH’s minions. They faked his suicide. When his short term amnesia disappears, he remembers that he discovered CYJ’s photo with the cellphone of SJ, the 8th victim from the stigmata killer. What caught my attention with his scene is that with this revelation, the viewers realize that they had been misled. All this time the viewers thought, they knew the whole truth as we were shown the events that took place before the fall from the hotel.

However, at the end of the episode 12, we get aware that we only saw the events from BSH and his minions’ perspective. KEH never left the 10th floor in a hurry because he had realized BSH’s mistake (“You already bought the book again!”). With these words, BSH revealed that he was the one who stole his school bag. In reality, KEH got scared because he discovered the photo of CYJ and SJ with the cellphone in the drawer of the desk. This was a clever move from the writer because it outlines one more time that nobody knows. The viewers didn’t know KEH’s memories until the end of the episode 12. Yet viewers are usually the ones who can get the whole truth because the crime is usually shown in his entirety. The scenes are not memories… the director and the writer are the one who hold the whole truth. But the reality is different: the detectives have no director by their side to show them what really happened. The only truth the police know for sure is: someone has been injured or killed. Everything else can not be considered as “reality” and “fact” but just “a reconstructed truth”, not the whole truth.

Find Me in Your Memory

In this k-drama which is more a melodrama than crime series, our main protagonist Lee Jung Hoon is a famous anchorman suffering from hyperthymesia. This illness gives people the ability to remember an abnormally vast amount of their life experiences in vivid detail hence they can never forget. On the surface, it doesn’t sound terrible, nonetheless they have problems to deal with loss and breaks-up as they can never forget. Remember the saying: time heals wounds, for people like LJH, this saying doesn’t work at all. As time passes one, he can not forget, hence he is unable to move on. On the other hand, the female lead Yeo Ha Jin is suffering from amnesia. She has forgotten the most important moments of her life, as she couldn’t bear the loss of her best friend. 

The thing is that since LJH is suffering from hyperthymesia, people and even LJH himself believe that he knows the whole truth. He lost in front of him his girlfriend Seo Yeon who had been abducted and later pushed by the stalker Moon from the rooftop. However remembering and knowing something are two different things. JH only knows the story from his point of view. While he was dating her, she said things that HJ, her best friend, used to like or say. Furthermore,  Seo Y’s last words were strange : “I’m sorry”. This is not something you say, especially after being pushed from the roof. If I had been in her place, I would have named the culprit immediately in order to ensure that he gets punished. Or she could have said that she loved him … But no… she feels sorry for this. Then we know for sure that HJ discussed with the stalker Moon based on a small flashback. She got a glimpse of one lost memory. The journalist saw Moon showing around SY in the past, hence when he saw his flat full of pictures of his girlfriend, JH jumped to the conclusion that Moon was a stalker. Then the latter complained that if JH hadn’t showed up, he wouldn’t have ruined their relationship. Sure, hearing such words from Moon, JH thinks that he has to deal with a delusional man. Sure, the man’s words are not entirely reliable, yet we were shown glimpses that SY was not herself with JH the whole time. She acted as if she was HJ. Just like Moon was obsessed with SY, I have the impression that SY did everything in order to catch JH’s attention. JH never investigated SY’s past and her real relationship with Moon, as he considered Moon’s words and behavior as stalking. However, JH has always been a determined journalist who wouldn’t just rely on his hyperthymesia but also get fact in order to expose crimes or misbehavior (see the case of the abusive CEO in the beginning). So the whole truth has not been unveiled and our anchorman is not aware of it. He needs to dig the past but he doesn’t do it as he relies too much on his own memories. On the other hand, he doesn’t want HJ to regain her memories as he fears, she could try to commit suicide like in the past. However, her memories are important in order to understand what really happened in the past which led to SY’s death. But since JH is now showing signs that he is moving on as he is falling in love with HJ, the stalker Moon thinks that he is the only one who really loved SY and SY’s death was in vain. He can only remember her but he lost her forever. In other words, the stalker Moon lost SY, while JH is able to find a new love. Even having the best memory is not a proof that you can get the whole truth.

Sinopsis The King: Eternal Monarch Episode 1 | Tentang Sinopsis
Lee Lim in The King: Eternal Monarch

In an earlier statement, I said that knowing the culprit doesn’t mean that you know the whole truth. The best example is proved with the k-drama “The King: Eternal Monarch”. In this story, we already know the villain: Lee Lim. He killed the king and tried to murder the crown prince Lee Gon, as he was a witness. However, Lee Gon, as a young child, couldn’t identify his savior. He doesn’t even know how the black man could show up, why he left the ID of Jung Tae Eul. First, the witness thought that she was related to his mysterious savior, yet he realized, he was wrong. We know the culprit, even his reasons, but we don’t know how and what is really happening. In other words, the whole truth signifies here to discover the mystery of the savior and his reasons. The viewers is intrigued… he has to reconstruct the whole story: why doesn’t Lee Lim age, who saved Lee Gon, what Lee Lim is going to do in the future etc.

As conclusion, knowing the truth is not really possible in reality, only in watching crime or fantasy series. Only the director and writer know the truth. Memories are not reliable, there is too much subjectivity, hence they should be analyzed carefully.

Painter of The Night: Yoon Seungho: A tragic figure or a hell-raiser ? (second version)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 8 Comments

This is where you can read the manhwa. https://www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/painter But be aware that this manhwa is a mature Yaoi, which means, it is about homosexuality with explicit scenes. If you want to read more essays, here is the link to the table of contents:  https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/04/table-of-contents-painter-of-the-night/

It would be great if you could make some donations/sponsoring: Ko-fi.com/bebebisous33  That way, you can support me with “coffee” so that I have the energy to keep examining manhwas. Besides, I need to cover up the expenses for this blog.

The seme, Yoon Seungho, in this story is introduced with this expression “a hell-raiser” by the uke Baek Na-Kyum. The latter has heard about Seungho’s bad reputation. Strangely, the more chapters we read, the more we realize that our main lead is different from what he appears to be.
What caught my attention while reading this manhwa was the way Seungho stands, when he interacts with people. First of all, as a wealthy and influential noble, he sits far away from the others, not just from the servants. There is always some distance or a table between him and the others. Let me show you a few examples.

In the chapter 12, Jihwa visits the main lead without any appointment. In this scene, notice that Jihwa doesn’t sit next to the seme but in front of him. This underlines the gap between Seungho’s status and Jihwa. Furthermore, there is no physical contact between them at all. Even Seungho is looking outside the window, while talking to Jihwa, that’s how he sees Baek Na-Kyum and decides to go to him. In other words, although Jihwa is physically closer to Seungho, the reader can sense the existence of an invisible wall between him and Jihwa.

Chapter 12, Seungho drinking tea with Jihwa on the right

But this doesn’t happen just once. Even after the long night spent with BNK who got so sick, we see Seungho sitting in the center of the room after a sex orgy and it was as if his sex partners would be below him, as if they were all standing at his feet. In this chapter (33), they are all asking for BNK’s presence… their request underlines the special status Seungho has over them. At the end, Seungho decides to leave the room which shows that Seungho is no pushover and makes sure to maintain the distance between him and his sex partners.

This contrasts so much to the interaction between Seungho and BNK. Right from the start, there is no gap and distance. Remember the first chapter where Seungho took BNK’s hands and even let him touch his own loin. Later, you see him always touching the painter’s face. However, there is one scene that caught my eye, it is in the chapter 16. Jihwa and Seungho had just a sex session and Seungho decides to go to BNK’s side.

chapter 16

Notice the contrast between Seungho’s behavior in the chapter 12 and here. Seungho is not even closing his robe, he even lays down next to the painter. And he keeps asking questions. He is very relaxed in opposition to the scene where he is drinking some tea. The way he is dressed contrasts so much: his robe is loose and open, while he is well-dressed with Jihwa. While he maintains an air of nobility and oozes mind control in the chapter 12, here he gives the impression of cheerfulness. It was as if he was playing as he has BNK’s hairband in his hand and keeps looking at it. Notice the huge opposition: Seungho is lying on the ground next to the painter, while with Jihwa he was sitting in front of him. This gives an explanation why Jihwa is furious and jealous. Seungho has never really rushed to go to his side, he even ignores Jihwa who is about to leave.
This behavior outlines Seungho’s curiosity for the painter and his wish to be close to his idol. He definitely shows an interest towards BNk, while he remains quite indifferent to Jihwa and the others. In this scene, there is intimacy and closeness and this is no coincidence that the noble calls the painter Na-Kyum while whispering. He is quite intimate and reveals his need to close the gap between him and the painter. In other words, Seungho has a different attitude towards the painter. While he maintains a gap between him and his sex partners, he is doing the opposite with BNK. He is not indifferent but curios and quite cheerful. He even smiles.

This closeness and intimacy is even underlined one more time, when Seungwon, Seungho’s younger brother, pays him a visit. The latter announced him that their father was ill and our seme should pay him a visit. Although the painter is a low-born, he is actually sitting next to Seungho’s side, while the brother is facing him. This shows that Baek Na-Kyum is even closer to him than his own family. He let the painter hide his face, yet he didn’t even ask him to be dressed. (chapter 37:

The painter is even turning his back to the brother which shows a certain disrespect, nonetheless this was certainly ordered by our lord.

Then after this scene, Seungho shared his bed with Baek Na-Kyum for the first time. The lord was even hugging the painter and let us not forget that he always sent his sex partners right away after their love session. Striking is that both chapters 16 and 37 have something in common: the lord is the one pleasuring the low-born and not the other way around. So, here the lord shows rather an “inferior” position, although from his social status he is above Baek Na-Kyum. This indicates that the social norms have disappeared.

Then I observed another phenomenon. I noticed that Seungho was often shown in front of a window (chapter 12, chapter 44) or under a roof (chapter 19 :

chapter 30 :

Chapter 30: Yoon Seungho hears about the painter’s return,

while he keeps watching BNK who is standing outside. It appears to me that the author has an intention with Seungho’s position. I get the feeling that Seungho had stopped living after the incident with the topknot and the purgery. In the chapters mentioned above, the noble witnesses:
-the disappointment of BNK, when In Hun hears that he was invited due to the deal with the paintings.
– the departure of In Hun from his room, just like he looks at BNK returning from the gate.
– how BNK leaves his bedroom after the punishment.

Striking is that Seungho shows two different kind of behaviors:
– he remains passive and indifferent on the surface but can’t help thinking about the painter

chapter 44


– he rushes to BNK’s side (chapter 12, 30)

episode 30

and touches him right away. He grabs his wrist, or touches his head… there is always this physical contact which Yoon Seungho never has even outside their sex sessions. Usually, he acts like that, when he is upset and very emotional. In other words, BNK is able to change Seungho, as the former ignites reactions from Seungho. My interpretation is the following: The noble only watches life from his window, meddles more and more in people’s life due to BNK. Remember that after meeting Seungwon, it looks like Seungho sent a painting of himself with his sex partners to his father. So far, he had ignored his father and his brother.
The lord is less and less indifferent. I have the feeling that for the first time, he is no longer feeling empty. Even after the rape, he can’t help looking for BNK in the bathroom. He is angry, feels guilty and jealous. The violence of his emotions can only be explained by the fact that Seungho felt nothing for so long. He is not able to control his emotions, and this illustrates that Seungho is no longer an indifferent, passive and emotionless person, quite the opposite. Seungho needs to learn to control his emotions, something he forgot. And you can observe that as time passes on, Seungho is able to show more and more affection. The so-called loyal servant Kim told BNK that Seungho had mood swings, which I explain so. Seungho could be either violent and ruthless or indifferent/broody. When he killed the servant, he showed no fear, no remorse… he just did it without feeling anything, though his face lets transpire sadness. While killing the domestic, the lord tried not to take it to heart. But his violence has nothing to do with emotions first, only when Seungho started interacting with the painter. In the first chapter, the noble had even announced that he would kill someone, which outlines his lack of emotions and empathy. And this shows that his brutality is not inherent to Yoon Seungho. His violent outbursts are also linked to his suppressed anger and rage due to his past trauma, as he was forced to accept his fate. Hence he started cutting himself from emotions… but in reality, he was like a dormant volcano, and his eruptions were caused by BNK’s reactions.

From my point of view, Seungho is starting to live for real, and the sex he had before was a way for him to pass time. This would also explain why Seungho had problems with erections before (he needed to be prepared, to have replenishing medicine and even the erotic books in order to get a reaction). This also explains why Seungho refuses to join In Hun in reality. He has been detached from the world for so long, he has no interest in politics and whatsoever. However, I sense that Seungho will be forced to act outside his courtyard in the long run. Being indifferent and detached from the outside world, is not right, as we can see that Jihwa is about to have BNK killed and In Hun might try to hurt BNK in order to weaken Seungho. In Hun has not forgotten the humiliation and I am quite sure, he wants a payback for that. Seungho will be forced to handle.
At the end of this season, Seungho remains passive and indifferent on the surface, yet his gaze never leaves BNK and even with In Hun, he thinks about him. He is no longer a robot, but a human being seeking for love and recognition. He knows that BNK has given up on his crush hence he feels much more confident than before that’s why he mentions BNK to In Hun before the latter leaves for the capital.

But now, you are wondering why Yoon Seungho became such an distant, passive and rather indifferent man, who was feeling rather empty. I mentioned before that Yoon Seungho was suffering from a past trauma. His loyal servant once told our uke that the lord had a tragic and painful past. However, we don’t know anything specific. The reader is just aware that the son is estranged from the father. While reading the manhwa for a third time, I came to the following theory. Naturally, there is no guarantee that this theory is the story imagined by Byeonduck.

From the start, Seungho was not a sodomite but due to the discovered conspiracy, the father decided to have his son to take the blame in order to escape the purge and divert attention. He created the rumor that Seungho was a sodomite and put on a show. This would explain why the father dishonored his son in such a ostentative way: cutting off the topknot which is not just a humiliation but also symbolizes a castration. Another possibility is that the father somehow “sold” his eldest son in order to escape the purge so that Yoon Seungho got raped by a higher-up official. Both theories have in common that the father betrayed his eldest son for his own survival and in order to ensure that his son would never reveal their connection to the conspiracy, he ruined his son’s reputation by declaring him a sodomite and cutting him the topknot. Why not a sodomite from the start? (sorry for the repetition)

We shouldn’t forget that we heard the lord drinks a lot replenishing medicine, which is an aphrodisiac. Now, Baek Na-Kyum is drinking the same thing and notice his reaction: he was hard… The servant was helping his master this way. Notice how happy Seungho was, when he noticed Na-Kyum’s reaction. Seungho was just writing and Na-Kyum was already reacting. Secondly, we read from Jihwa that the latter always had to prepare Seungho (blowjob) in order to get aroused. (chapter 3)

Finally, right in the first chapter, Seungho confessed that only with Baek Na-Kyum’s book, he could get aroused right away. (chapter 1)
This would explain why Seungho resents his father and said to Seungwon that he was living by the father’s principle… which is living as a sodomite because his father ruined his reputation and life. The father betrayed the son, when he declared him a sodomite. With this move, the father made it impossible for the son to become an official with a high position.

But now, I would like to add new aspects. Actually, Seungho was not sent away because he was a sodomite. It was actually the opposite. The family left the domain and went to the countryside, leaving Seungho behind. And this new detail is quite important… it was as if the father wanted Seungho to become the head of the family Yoon and if the authorities decided to punish Yoon’s family, then Seungho would have become the target. Since the father had left the property to his son, if the police had come to arrest Yoon, then the family could have said that Seungho was the one responsible as he was living in the courtyard, but the family had cut ties with him as he was a sodomite. In other words, not only the father humiliated his son but he also tried to turn him into a real scapegoat. The father thought that Seungho would be the one to take the fall. Furthermore, while the family left, it is said that all the servants were replaced which is a clue that all of them were killed. And I have the impression that Seungho was forced to get rid of them if he wanted to survive. With no witness, Seungho could survive the purge, however he couldn’t kill the loyal servant who had been by his side all this time.

As conclusion, since the family left the family domain, it means, the father not only pushed all responsibilities on his eldest son Seungho but wanted to sacrifice him. The latter was the one who had to dirty his hand in a way to survive. That’s why he is suffering from insomnia and has often nightmares. This is much more terrible than what I wrote a few days ago. This explains why Seungho really hates his father and had his hand shaking, when the younger brother mentioned the father’s illness. With Seungwon’s visit, it becomes clear that the father has decided that it is time to return to the family domain hence if Seungho visits his father, this represents a reconciliation and marks the return of the Yoon. Since the brother smiled, while receiving the letter, it looks like it was a good sign for the father. At least, Seungho wrote a letter to the father… I can imagine that during all this time, Seungho ignored his family that’s why he never replied to the brother’s letter. I can imagine that the father is asking for a visit and will ask that Seungho helps his brother to become an official. I even suspect that since the father has been so cruel and selfish, that he wants from Seungho another sacrifice. Since Seungho has a bad reputation as a sodomite, he can not become an official, the father ruined his life. However, I have the impression that Seungho might have been close to the deceased grandfather who had a high position in the government. Jihwa mentioned like some others that the Yoon family was declining. The reason is that no one after the grandfather took up a government post, like Seungho mentioned it to In Hun in the chapter 6.

And here is another speculation from my side. Since according to Yoon Seungho, the father never had a position, it looks like the young man has either repressed that his prostitution helped his father to get a high position, or he has no idea that his father sold him as courtesan for his own career. We know for sure that father Yoon had a high position and was forced to resign. (chapter 37)

I was wondering if the grandfather considered his own son as not suited for a high government post, and wanted his grandson to follow his footsteps. Besides, I had the impression that there’s some secret behind Yoon Seungho’s birth, which would explain why his official father truly loathed him. When Yoon Seungho lost his position as courtesan, because he was framed for an incident, the father used this opportunity to save his skin and get rid of his own son: create the rumor, he was a sodomite, cut off his topknot and leave the domain to Seungho so that he would take the fall. Though the protagonist is smart and cunning, he has never perceived father Yoon’s actions and motivations, for he was always longing for recognition and love. Besides, the long exposure to physical and sexual abuse could only ruin the main lead’s sanity.

But now time has passed on, and the father wants his younger son Seungwon to become an official which would underline one more time the disdain and even hatred between the father and Seungho. (chapter 37) However, I doubt that Seungho will accept all of this, especially after having been put through all of this. Besides, he will want to protect Baek Na-Kyum. Remember that Seungho decided to take his responsibilities towards the painter. He took Na-Kyum’s virginity which the painter had reserved for the loved one and latter he put the red point on his forehead symbolizing that he was his bride. (chapter 40)

And this would explain why at the end of the season 1, it is revealed that the father received an erotic painting of Seungho having sex with 2 men. (Chapter 44) The eldest son is showing the father the consequences of his past actions. He is a notorious sodomite with no boundary and the father is responsible for this. This gesture illustrates that the young master doesn’t want to reconcile with his own father. Yoon Seungho definitely wants to hurt and infuriate his father. It was as if Seungho was saying: “See… this is what I have become due to you!!” On the other hand, the delivery of the ruined painting was orchestrated by the butler without the main lead‘s knowledge. (Chapter 37)

As conclusion, Yoon Seungho seems to be more a tragic figure, especially if my theory is true. The way he had been living was a way to cope his own traumas and suffering.

And this interpretation was confirmed in the second season: he got raped, then drugged and gangraped to finally become the king’s courtesan.

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Nobody knows : adolescence and adulthood

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

This has been a long time, since I wrote an analysis about a drama. But this one got my attention as it focuses on two major topics which are quite interesting. How can children and teenagers become good adults? It is thanks to the parents or to the friends or to the school and their teachers or to their social status? Actually, the drama is trying behind the serial killing to answer these questions. Don’t expect here a summary of the story, in order to understand this analysis, you need to have watched the drama.

In this story, the viewers see a lot of different kind of parents: a single mother who is raising the protagonist Ko Eun Ho (KEH), another single father who abandoned his son DM, a rich mother who would do anything for her son HMS, a normal family with mother and father. Striking is that many parents are shown in a bad light which actually convey the following message. Just because they have parents, the teenagers or children don’t have it necessarily better than orphans. The parents can become a negative influence for their own children.

KEH’s mother is neglecting her son as his own existence reminds her that she failed to keep KEH’s father by her side. She actually fears all the time, KEH will abandon her as she had always prioritized her love life over her son. She gave KEH the impression that he was a burden hence he couldn’t get close to her. Since she neglected KEH, the latter was on his own and the result was that she realized after his accident that she knew nothing about her son: his friends, his dislikes, his size… She never saw him growing up. Striking is that HMS’s mother represents another form of bad parenting which contrasts so much to the behavior of KEH’s mother.

HMS’s mother is the exact opposite. She has expectations from her son HMS, she fears that he might not succeed in keeping his first or second position hence she asked for the answers. She forced her son to cheat for the next test. She controls her son’s life so much that he is suffocating. Remember that he has a booth in his home so that he spends so much time for learning. That’s why he keeps hurting himself… this is the only thing that his mother can’t control. His room at CDH’s flat reflects his desire to escape from his prison, it really shows that despite being 15 years old, HMS is still a child. CYJ was right to remind the caregiver KTH that KEH is still a child, since he is only 15 years old hence he should be treated as such. KEH’s “freedom” contrasts so much to HMS’s prison, the latter is forced to act like an adult…

Striking is that his mother is a bad person as she forces her son to commit wrongdoings: cheating, lying… KEH could grow up as a decent teenager because he met his neighbour Cha Young  Jin (CYJ), our female protagonist who lost her best friend as she was a high school student. We don’t know much about CYJ, yet since she is always shown on her own without any friend and family, only in the episode 13 we see her with her grandfather. Therefore we have to assume that she had lost her parents and was raised by her grandfather, which explains why she has no relative later. Strangely, KEH and CYJ connected so well right away, she helped even KEH’s mother as she was abused by one of her lovers. From that moment, KEH always sought her out, when he needed someone to confide and find some peace. CYJ accepted him and let him enter her own flat… asked him to take care of a plant. All these little moments made the young boy realize that she made him feel secure and good. She was such a good person in his eyes that she became his model. And here we come to the next aspect: the friend.

Just like KEH, CYJ had the chance to meet the detective Hwang who was investigating the serial killing “Stigmata murders”. The latter became her mentor and all this time, he has remained close to her. The writer shows through KEH and CYJ’s life that in order to become a good adult, parents are not necessarily needed, as the parents can give false advice or even neglect and abandon their children.

This view is even reinforced with the novel that is shown many times during the drama. The title of this novel in French is called “la vie devant soi” (Life ahead). It is a book written by Romain Gary under an alias Emile Ajar. He won an award for that book, prix goncourt. 

Summary of Life Ahead

 Mohammed, known as Momo, recounts his life in Belleville at the home of Mrs. Rosa, an elderly and sick Jewish woman, a survivor of Auschwitz, who, as a former brothel owner, raises children abandoned or left in boarding schools by prostitutes. Momo thinks he is ten years old, and he is the only one, with little Moses, who does not know his parents. He considers Mrs. Rosa to be his mother. She is more and more tired and hardly goes out anymore, because of the six floors without an elevator; she is given fewer and fewer children to look after. One day, Momo learns that Mrs. Rosa is suffering from senility. She goes through long periods of absence, and thinks she is reliving her past, dressing as a prostitute or waiting, with a suitcase in her hand, for the French policemen who once handed her over to the Germans during the Vel’d’Hiv round-up. To escape these painful moments, Momo wanders the streets and meets Nadine, a beautiful young woman who works for the cinema. One day, the teenager’s father reappears, claiming his son. Mrs. Rosa, conscious that day, makes him believe that she raised her son in the Jewish religion, and that he is in fact the little Moses. Momo’s father dies in shock. Momo learns that he is fourteen years old: Mrs. Rosa was bringing him younger to keep him close to her for longer. However, his condition worsens, but she refuses to go to the hospital because she wants to die without being “prolonged”. Momo, making the whole building believe that Mrs. Rosa is leaving for Israel, taken away by her family, leads her to the basement, in the “Jewish hole” she has made for herself, in fear of further persecution. That’s where she dies. Momo lies next to her for three weeks, until the neighbours discover them, and entrust him to Nadine, to whom the whole story was addressed.

As you can observe, this book is about the longing of love and abandonment. Momo’s fate resembles KEH’s fate in the sense that he prefers wandering in the streets and even going to the neighbor than being home. His mother has abandoned him, although he knows where she is. Momo in the book refuses to be happy and have a “life ahead” as the world is too rough and hard. Mrs. Rosa is his surrogate mother, just like YJ who also loves him but is not always attentive like the ex-prostitute. however, the huge difference is that KEH is influenced by YJ that’s why when he sees a crime, he wants to stop it.  

Here, the biological mother of KEH is jealous of YJ as she senses that KEH feels closer to YJ than her. She has the impression that CYJ has become his surrogate mother, yet CYJ has to remind her that she was and is still KEH’s mother.

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Credit to @Ameera Ali from forum soompi.

She hated KEH’s gaze as she saw her own reflection: in his eyes, she could observe her own shortcomings. She neglected KEH, she kind of abandoned him as she chose her boyfriends over her son. She never thought that love from her son would be fulfilling. In the novel, the biological father of Momo appears but at the end, Momo decides to remain by Madame Rosa as she has become his surrogate mother. This difference contains in my opinion the same message: it doesn’t matter if you are the mother or not, as long as you help a child to grow up in a good way, giving him support when needed, having a listening ear as well and show understanding, even if the child or teenager did something wrong. Acceptance and open-mindedness are the qualities that adults need to be a good influence for the children and teenagers.

Then we have the school and the teachers who have a huge influence on the teenagers. Lee Sun Woo made a huge mistake in his past and has been regretting it. He mistook a victim for a bully, because the latter had a reputation as bully. After realizing his mistake, he tried very hard not to judge his students very quickly. So the relationship between the teenagers plays also a huge part in it. In the beginning, KEH is rather isolated, only DM is his friend but hides their true relationship by acting as a bully. As the story goes on, the teenagers can overcome their grudges, their prejudice and their mistakes which leads them to become true friends and this time in the open.

And then we have children and teenagers who were truly abandoned by their parents and put in orphanages. BSH, the villain, was abused by the church that supported him and no one helped him that’s how he came to the belief that people should rely on no one. And this explains why BSH turns into an avenger full of hatred and resentment. On the surface, he helps young people who were rejected by the society and turns them into his minions. He considers himself as a god, he has definitely a savior complex, but in reality, he is misleading them. He is himself full of prejudices (like f. ex. rich people will use their power in order to abuse weak people) but in reality, he is not different from them. He has not realized it yet, as he still sees himself as the weak orphan he was in the past. Unlike CYJ or KEH who were able to meet good adults, BSH had the opposite path. HE never met anyone hence he became a devil.

As conclusion, a lot of parameters are important in order to raise well children and teenagers. Parents or money are not enough, they need to have adults around them who are willing to trust them, to listen to them and support them.

One Spring Night and its illustration in the K-drama

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

credit to @gm4queen (forum soompi)

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picture shown at the beginning of each episode

This picture at the beginning of each episode doesn’t just represent the title of this drama. To me, it also gives us clues about the story. The blossoming tree, a cherry tree, embodies the blossoming love between our leads, JH and JI because the cherry blossom is often a symbol of love and passion. We often see in K-dramas scenes where the main couple walks under cherry trees in bloom reinforcing the idea that this couple is fated to be together.

Besides this picture not only marks the start of their love, it is also illustrating that their love is bringing new sides of our characters. JI is changing, even her friend noticed that she smiles more and is more creative thanks to her new feelings. It was as if JI has come back to life and before, she was like hibernating. She was not really herself in reality but she had no idea. It is the same for JH who was so traumatized that he only worked and played basket ball during his spare time. Now, for the first time he started flirting with JI, he is definitely more active.

Finally, since their love is connected to a season, the spring, I would say that their love is natural and it can not be controlled by humans and society. That’s why neither JI nor JH can control their emotions and their mutual attraction.

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cr. to @Pmyonly (forum soompi)

GS won’t be able to stop it… His fight will be pointless, nevertheless he has no idea about it.

The second aspect in this picture is the moon. I have the impression that their love is also very discreet and even secret because of the presence of the moon, since forbidden lovers usually meet during the night. I am not saying that their love is forbidden, far from it, it is just that it will grow unnoticed by the others. Notice that until now, no one is aware of their connection. Sure, in the next episode, her friend will see JI with JH, yet I am quite sure that JI will never tell her what really happened between her and JH. JI has no idea what she is feeling right now.

Notice that they often meet during the night, like for example in this scene: (cr. to @Pmyonly, forum soompi)

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This gives the impression that they are secret lovers… but they are not. The night is the only moment where they can talk to each other without getting noticed. Furthermore, since I have started watching K-dramas, I have noticed that we often see a scene where the FL and ML are together while it is snowing. The reason is simple: there is this belief in South Korea that if you are out in the first snowfall of the year with someone you like, true love will blossom between you. In the drama, the characters (f. ex. JI’s sister) mentioned that this could be the last snow of the year, hence we could think that this scene has not the same meaning. Yet, I doubt it.

For me, this scene underlines one more time how natural their “attraction” to each other is. This scene indicates that they are fated to be together, this will be true love. Furthermore in my opinion it doesn’t even matter if it is the last snow or not, the most important aspect is that we shouldn’t forget that both protagonists have been hibernating so far, hence this explains why they couldn’t meet in the first snowfall, they are late because of their past. The “last snow” marks the start of their blooming love. Moreover, the spring symbolizes birth hence everything is new to JI that’s why she can not clearly recognize her feelings.

In the last scene of the episode 4, the viewer can see another illustration of the title:

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JI and JH are talking to each other in the car escaping the notice of people

Above her head, you can see the reflection of the blooming cherry tree, an indication that her heart has been moved. So the director is linking this scene to the first picture shown above. In that scene, we shouldn’t forget that she is actually admitting herself to JH that she is so glad that she got to know him. In this confession, she definitely uses the expression “I like”. This was a huge step for her and gives “hope” for JH. That’s why he admits that he has bad desires. Here again, he clearly reveals that he wants more.

Anyway, this taking is important because, like I had mentioned, this tree symbolizes the return of life and a change in JI’s heart. When JI was driving with GS, we never saw the blooming cherry tree. She is getting closer to her inner feelings.

I sense that she is reluctant to give in because she still perceives GS as a good man and doesn’t want to be the bad person: if she broke up with him, she would betray him. However, her judgement of GS will change next week because she will realize that GS is quite manipulative. Notice that in the preview, GS’s words seem to indicate that she is the bad one, making her feel guilty because she doesn’t want to get married. I sense that at some point she will get aware that GS has been trying to make her and JH feel guilty and bad all the time, while in reality he was never a good man from the start.  

The angels in “Angel’s last mission: love”

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

In this drama, we see four kind of angels. Yes, four … you didn’t read it wrong. Let me introduce them one by one.

1. KD’s superior (cr. to @immorethant) 

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He  can open or close the doors to Heaven As we can see, he is far superior to KD as he can change his form and his function without getting noticed by humans and angels. KD can not recognize him, until he shows his original face. JKW didn’t recognize him either. He is the one who gives orders to KD and advises him as well.

2. Kim Dan

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Our angel Kim Dan seems to prefer animals over humans because they are much easier to understand. I do think that he does resent humans to a certain extent, and this could be explained with his past life. The only human he shows a certain empathy to is LYS. But I had already explained earlier that LYS’s behavior reminds me more of a hurt animal that shows its claws because of the pain. The more hurt the “beast” is, the more violent and brutal it gets. Yet, we were shown that Kim Dan has no idea about his past and his life as human. Yet his past is definitely connected to LYS, but he is unaware of it.

Right now, KD is on a mission (kim.dan@goodmission.com). As you can see, his email address reveals a lot, it is for the good of KD and LYS in reality. In 100 days, LYS must have found love. Striking is that the mission never said what kind of love KD should find for her. He immediately believes that he needs to find a human for her. The more time KD spends with LYS, the more she softens and relies on him. She starts trusting him… We know that LYS resents God a lot. She prayed in the past that God would make her wish come true but it never happened. She was even willing to offer her rip, but what she got in return was that she lost her sight. In this scene, 

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episode 4 / 40:20

we hear from Ni Na that LYS used to say that talents were given from above and they should give it their all so they wouldn’t be an embarrassment to those who could not be there. This shows that LYS was very religious and connected her faith to the ballet. As conclusion, she no longer believes in God due to her tragedies in her life. So what if the real true mission is not to find true love but love and faith in God? There is no coincidence that KD brought her to a temple where she can make a wish because by wishing something, it means that you acknowledge the deity’s existence. She is on her way to find her faith back. That’s why LYS will be able to get back her title “angel”. Back then, she used to be like an angel: polite, nice, loving and selfless (remember her rescuing a small boy, KD).

KD is a good angel hence his wings are white and glowing. They illustrate his innocence and purity. He might overstep his boundaries as he often acts like a judge: he punished the driver by ruining his car and letting the dogs run away. His judgement is lacking because he only looks at the surface. However, his actions are quite selfless, they illustrate his deep sense for justice and his big empathy for weak creatures (dog, cats and LYS as a visually impaired person). LYS’s despair moves him.

To sum up, KD is associated to selflessness, empathy and huge sense of justice, yet his biggest flaw is his “false image” about humans. He is too superficial in his judgement. Therefore when he acts around LYS, he shows more empathy towards the staff than towards LYS. The latter is a human but behaves terribly, that’s why he trusts more the others: he doesn’t perceive the evil intention of the aunt. He judges people by their manners and appearance. He rather scolds LYS for her rude behavior. All this underlines his naivety. Furthermore in the episode 3, he often uses the words “humans” implying that he is different from them and they are terribly flawed. That’s why he is turned into a human for his mission. That way, he will learn to differentiate more… the real evil humans are not visible. He is definitely too naive and trusting. Don’t forget that he asked Ni Na if JKW was a good man. When the ballerina replied that she couldn’t tell if the artistic director was good or bad, he was just cool, KD thought that this was a good sign. 

Notice that KD is really on his own all the time. His superior doesn’t help him hence KD has no home. He had to sleep on the bench, until he met LYS again. His superior just gives him some advice and that’s it. He has no financial background (huge house, people he can call and ask for help aso). Finally, I would like to point out that KD has no control over the appearance of the wings. My supposition was that they appeared because LYS was about to get injured. His wings protected LYS. 

3. The artistic director: Ji Kang Woo

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episode 4 – the end scene
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Only in the episode 4, we discover that he is also an angel. However, his wings look different. First, we only see the shadow of the wings. As you can see, the wings are not visible in the next picture and this indicates that JKW is a different angel. It definitely looks like JKW is a fallen angel, especially when the beholder pays attention to his words. I will give more further details later. Just like KD, he also has a mission: he has to make her heart beat again.

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episode 3 / 42:11

He is inspired by his past love Matilda that’s why he watched a video of her. Matilda loved ballet that’s why he believes that bringing back LYS to the stage is his mission. Once she dances again, she will be moved and her heart will beat again.

The mission sounds similar to KD’s mission but there is a huge difference. KD’s goal is following: By bringing love back to her life, LYS will be able to find peace and happiness. JKW’s mission can not end well because the more he pushes her back to Fantasia and to the stage, the more he endangers her life due to the greed of her relatives and directors. KD told JKW that he wanted LYD to find happiness to which JKW replied that he had no idea what this meant. As conclusion, this mission can be considered as evil, however on the surface it looks like it is a good proposition.

He is offering fame, wealth and power to LYS which actually corresponds to the devil’s temptation. Sure, he needs to protect LYS from harm, since she has not returned to Fantasia therefore on the surface, KD and JKW’s actions look similar: protecting LYS. Nevertheless power, money, greed, envy are the consequences of this mission. That’s why LYS refused his offer in the first place and gave him money… because indirectly that’s what he was indirectly proposing. Becoming a ballerina and taking the control of that company can not be differentiated.

When we pay attention to JKW’s words and actions, the beholder can notice that JKW sounds like the devil. He advises Ni Na to be selfish, to put a good fight against LYS, not to focus on others (episode 4). He definitely shows no empathy for the young mother on the stage. He is able to convince Ni Na to stop protecting others. Little by little, he is leading Ni Na to the dark side in my opinion. She admires him because, although he seems to prefer LYS, he lets her believe that she has the chance to become the star of the new show. Ni Na believes his words and doesn’t realize that he is misleading as his primary goal is to bring back LYS to the stage. His evilness is not perceptible at first sight, just like Ni Na’s father who seems so gentle and kind, while in reality he lets his wife and daughter RN do the dirty work.

JKW is definitely obsessed with LYS because she resembles his past love. There is a huge difference between KD and the artistic director. First, KD has no memories from his past life, only the viewers know that LYS saved his life, when he was a child. Her words before the car fell from the bridge triggered something in him. He didn’t know why he saved her but he had to. Her words arose emotions in him. JKW remembers his past: 

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episode 4

The loss of the woman he loved. She was killed by saving his life. As we can see, both women did something similar: they rescued a person.

The question is now: who was he back then? A human? I doubt because if he was, he wouldn’t remember his past life. I have the impression that he was an angel too, but an angel of death, the one who took the soul of humans. This means, he had a superior status than the actual KD who only took care of the souls of animals. I guess, he might have fallen in love with Matilda who was supposed to die. By disobeying the order, her destiny was changed and she sacrificed herself for him. My theory is that because he couldn’t bear the loss of Matilda, the real Devil might have tempted him with an offer: she would come back to life, he could meet her again. But we know that deals with Satan/devils are full of tricks… like f. ex. LYS looks like Matilda but she is a different person.

Moreover, don’t you find it strange that each time, LYS’s life was exposed to danger, he always arrived too late? KD was the one who saved her in the car accident, he was the one who protected her, when the chandelier fell… Each time, the artistic director came too late. Yet, JKW is not aware of all this. He believes to be the right person for LYS because he has the means and the knowledge. He never corrected LYS, when she asked him if he was the one who rescued her? She recognized his hand but he never saved her life. Secondly, he always appeared next to a crime site (the car accident, the chandelier incident, the rocks lying on the road on their way back after visiting her parents’ urns. He gives the impression that he is protecting her… yet he is often too late.

By comparing KD and JKW, I observe that the latter is richer and has more power than KD. He is able to get any information he wants. He just needs to call someone. This is important because this represents the power of the devil. Money, connection, power are the sources of evilness because they are linked to temptation. For KD, it is different. He can only rely on his abilities (his good qualities: his honesty, his empathy, his strong sense of justice aso).

I know that a lot of people dislike the scene between Ni Na and JKW but the more scenes we get, the more it becomes obvious that JKW is leading Ni Na to the path of evilness and self-destruction. In the scene above, where Ni Na and JKW are together, he reminds her that she needs to be even more selfish: “You’re still a long way from being selfish”. So at some point, she will hurt LYS herself. She is losing her purity little by little. Don’t forget that Ni Na has already be introduced in an environment of violence and pain. We saw her killing a cat (which was an accident). Nevertheless, this is no coincidence. Then we discover that she is suffering from an eating disorder which outlines her willingness to hurt someone. Her hands are not clean and she will do much worse in my opinion.  

I am quite sure that JKW was jealous of KD, when he saw the couple kissing that’s why he reacted by showing his black wings. The more time KD spends with LYS, the more the latter will fall for our protagonist… at some point, JKW will be the one who reveals KD’s true nature to LYS in order to separate our couple.

So now, this is the time to reveal the identity of the 4th angel.

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Mr. Jo and LYS, episode 1

Mr. Jo said that she was like an angel. She used to shine so brightly. Sure, this is connected to the ballet. But deep down, I think that Mr. Jo wanted to see her huge smile oozing happiness and gentleness. Back then, she was a really nice person. By spending more and more time with KD, she will gradually change as she trusts him. He will bring her true personality to light, while Ni Na will become her shadow embodying evilness for real. She was like an angel in the past because she once rescued the human Kim Dan.

Love in Sadness: Is true love for Kang In Wook possible?

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

The episodes from this week makes it clear that KIW is more obsessed with Yoon Ma Ri’s face than with the person herself. First, he wants to change her face. Many people warn him that the surgery represents a high risk for Yoon Ma Ri but he doesn’t care. Furthermore his wife even declares to her husband that he has never really known her. Finally, this scene reinforces this idea. KIW is upset after hearing some harsh words from his father. In order to calm down, he looks first at their couple’s picture.

episode 16: notice that he even caresses Yoon Ma Ri in that picture

But this is not enough. That’s why he pushes the couple picture.

episode 16.

Behind the photo there is another picture. We see Kang In Wook as a child hugged by his mother who resembles Yoon Ma Ri. This action from Kang In Wook reveals two things. Only looking at his mother has an effect on him. Yoon Ma Ri’s picture is not enough. This scene illustrates that Kang In Wook has always been longing for his mother, for maternal love.

But why did our antihero get so upset? Just before, his father had not just insulted him. He had actually abused him mentally with these words.

The father knows perfectly well that his son has abandonment issues and inferiority complex. By telling him that he was not good and that’s why he was abandoned by his mother hurt KIW a lot. And this is the reason why I came to this theory that KIW’s father is abusing his son mentally because he is actually covering up his crime. From my point of view, KIW has been brainwashed by his own father who told him that his mother abandoned him by committing suicide. We heard that she shot herself in the head.

However, I suspect that in reality his mother tried to protect her son, she came back to take him and her husband shot her. She was killed by him. And his own son could have realized that hence he told KIW these lies. He knew what his mother meant to him. By telling him that she committed suicide therefore she abandoned him, the chairman hurt KIW so much so that he wouldn’t pay attention to the details and his own memories. That’s why the father can insult KIW as weak. He expected, KIW would come to resent his mother for leaving him behind.

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The reason why I suspect that his mother was killed is this:

Notice that her wound is on her chest and not on her head. Secondly the way she is holding her gun. In an earlier episode, I had seen the blood on the chest but I thought, this could have been a mistake. However, this time the scene was much longer. KIW never saw his mother’s suicide, he only heard the gun shot. And notice that in the preview, he is trying to act like “his mother”, point the gun to his head….

from the preview

The reasons why I suspect the father for killing his wife are the following:

– He was bothered that YMR looked like his wife… he was afraid that this might trigger KIW’s memory of this night

– Secondly, he was happy that his son would treat YMR like he did with his wife. Her running away revealed that the lies he had told KIW had worked. 

– Furthermore he talked about betrayal to KIW once while he was hunting. In my opinion, he was talking about betrayal as if he had experienced it himself. So the mother came back to take her son… and she would leave him for real. 

– Finally, he shows so much concern for YMR. Why? Because she could trigger something KIW which would make him realize that he had been manipulated by his father all along.

Therefore I come to the conclusion that KIW could be shot by his father, as the latter is trying to kill YMR. That’s how he will realize what happened back then. Now, we know where KIW went in the first episode. The villa looked a lot like the villa YMR was sent after KIW took her from the hospital. The secretary told him that this villa is used by the chairman. That’s how KIW will realize what true love is. His mother loved him so much that she risked her own life to take him away from his father. Kang In Wook can only find peace, the moment he realizes that his mother never abandoned him. Only then, the abusive husband can let go of his wife. He will realize that he has never loved his wife, in reality he was just longing for maternal love. If my theory is correct, then the discovery of the past will play a huge part.