Alchemy of Souls - Part 7

This next arc of the drama serves well to remind us that power is not limitless, no matter who you are, how much you think you have, what you have achieved.  Hence, even the combined magical energy of the leaders outside the shroud of dense fog cannot break the barrier to enter, nor can they pull those inside of it out. 

They needn’t have worried.  The Ice Stone isn’t harming anyone. It is just playing with the imaginations of those brave young men. Fairy? Ghost? Out of the fog glides an apparition.  Well, not exactly.  As the mages try to identify if the visitor is friend or foe, Go Won takes refuge behind Jang Uk, holding tightly onto his arm.  Well, they are friends, so it’s okay.  He is expressing the trust he has in Jang Uk. They have formed a genuine friendship, one gently side-stepped into.  It’s not the first time Go Won has used Jang Uk as a shield from whatever frightens him.  It’s funny each time.    The ‘fairy’ is only Heo Yan-ok.  Relieved, they all settle to wait for the fog to clear or for one of the elders to rescue them. Jang Uk (of course) identifies that the substance surrounding them is infused with energy.  They can’t breach it. 

The drama is clearly signalling that some dark menace lurks nearby.  Ready or not, it’s coming. Surprisingly, however, when the threat to Songrim’s most precious comes, it’s in the shape of the escaped soul shifter that Park Jin and Heo Yeom were trying to resurrect.  It’s like watching Frankenstein,[1] the creature created for no good reason except that the scientist could.  Even monsters need feeding and this one has a captured stock of gifted mages to draw exceptionally good quality energy from.  Ironically, the first snack he comes across is the no magic energy So-yi.  Of course, her smooth talking saves her.  She can offer him an even better meal. Without a second’s thought, So-yi offers up Mu-deok to the soul shifter hiding in the proverbial cupboard. Targeting Mu-deok, whom earlier in the drama she worked out is the true missing daughter of the House of Jin, So-yi is intent on protecting her claim to the riches offered by her sponsor, Jin Mu. The plot fails. In her panic to save Seo Yul, who traded places with Mu-deok on the errand set up to lure her to the hungry human-essence- sucking-guy, So-yi even forgets to be ‘blind’.  Even racing to the rescue, her best efforts are not enough. Seo Yul suffers life-threatening injuries.  Tragically, the lives of many innocent mages are needlessly ended as well. 

Throughout the drama, the viewer remains expectant of Nak-su’s return, wondering what will happen then.  And to Mu-deok, in terms of her character; to Jang Uk, in terms of the love story.  To Jin mu, who she learns has exploited her, used her, abandoned her. And to the whole soul switching factory that is growing at breakneck speed.  Shockingly, none of that is addressed.  New Nak-su’s only threat is to Jang Uk, for about ten seconds. 

It’s time for the penultimate climax of the drama.  Whether it’s because Jang Uk’s survival instinct needs to increase, or he genuinely believes it is his duty to sacrifice himself (repeatedly) for the greater good, he chases the soul shifter which (or who) is full enough of stolen energy to suffer indigestion.  This kill will not be easy.  (The viewers don’t see the fight, but it’s easy to guess the outcome.  After all, the drama still has some way to go.)  Jang Uk’s fellow mages fear the worst.  Crown Prince Go Won even holds Mu-deok back from going to find Jang Uk, telling her he must be dead. Only, it’s not Mu-deok looking for Jang Uk, it’s Nak-su.  Power fully restored courtesy of the magical chunk of ice, she is pissed and murderous in her quest to either save the one she loves or kill the one who dared mortally harm him.

It's cruel to make the viewers question their expectation by showing what is assumed to be a pool of Jang Uk’s blood. It is certainly what causes Nak-su to tremble with dread.  The soul shifter is right in front of her, but no Jang Uk.  Our girl doesn’t waste time on small talk.  The battle is immediate.  In an “Indiana Jones” [2] move, two strikes and the soul shifter is no more.  Nak-su is back with a vengeance.  But there’s no satisfaction.  The demise of the SOB does nothing to ease the pain of her broken heart.  Until from behind her, a familiar voice pierces her misery. Jang Uk. Not a hair out of place and luxuriating in the love he just witnessed Nak-su express.  Except, the deal they have is that once Nak-su ‘returns’, their relationship will end.  Jang Uk also made the assassin promise that if she wanted to use her sword for revenge, she would point it at him first.  She does just that.  Will she kill him?  It’s a real possibility. 

Thankfully, Nak-su is more emotional about Jang Uk being alive than any intention to harm him.  Her sword is pointed at him the way we point fingers in angry relief.  It’s for the worry he caused her and for the surge in her heart rate at knowing he is still there beside her.  The qualifier for not killing him was that he would make her another promise.  She asks him now to keep his word. In response, Mu-deok leaves Nak-su.  Nak-su is at last the dominant soul in the hijacked body, and she’s ready to take control of the fate they share.  Except, again, without internal energy, Nak-su must live permanently as Mu-deok. In lowering her sword and choosing to save Jang Uk, she chooses to give up the powers she spent so much effort to regain.  One or the other, Mu-doek was told by the Ice Stone spirits of those whose powers she now houses.  All or nothing.  There is no middle ground is hard to accept.  But Nak-su does.   In choosing to believe in Jang Uk and his promise, she chooses to live a normal (non-magic life) as Mu-deok full time.  (Oh, boy!  Things can sure be complicated.)  The new-old relationship is sealed with a deeply felt kiss, one that’s been a long time coming.  It was what he promised her. He, Jang Uk, will commit to a lifetime with Nak-su if she accepts him. I do. I mean, she does.   

So, is that it?  Not quite. 

Having barely survived the last threat to his life, Jang Uk decides that jumping straight back into the fire is the right thing to do.  He must have misunderstood the expression, ‘jumping back onto the horse that threw you’, I think.  In an act of noble idiocy, Jang Uk is determined to be the sacrificial mage.  They all know that managing the Ice Stone in any way is currently impossible.  In it having no definitive form or shape, but constituting the elements of water, wind, and fire, Jung Uk is hoping, still, that there is a way to at least control whichever element it is presenting as. Currently, the shroud-like fog around them is a swirling wind that can’t be passed through, with energy enough to kill or seriously injure.  The individual internal energy, joint energies, and even the proficiency of the mages not only cannot help them but is being drained by the Ice Stone. That energy, absorbed from its living hostages, is feeding the soul shifters present (now only Mu-deok).  What if the fog can be turned into rain?  It should be enough to break the barrier and release its prisoners.  To attempt such lunacy could cost him all his hard-earned internal energy or even kill him.  Our hero has faced both situations before.  Neither prospect fazes him. 

Meanwhile… This time it’s Park Jin’s turn to play mind games with the queen.  Her ‘no blue mark’ boast in defence of being called out as a soul shifter turns to wild panic when she is showered with magical ash that can identify those who have recast and rehoused their souls.  It’s all over for Shaman Choi, I guess.  The end comes accompanied by a wild ride of passing blame and throwing around accusations against -- well, everyone.  Ultimately, the blame game comes to rest on the person who started the whole thing.  The buck stops with Gwanju Jang Gang.

It’s a family affair (father and son) as the Jang men prepare to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.  One deserves it; the other doesn’t.  Not because Jang Gang used the Ice Stone, but because of his actions after causing irreversible chaos.  Add to his crimes that he heard Jang Uk’s gate of energy has been opened but did not respond positively or negatively to explain his original mandate.  Says nothing when he learns that his son has achieved the highest level of magical prowess in an impossible time.  Did nothing upon learning that soul shifters are popping up like in a whack-a-mole game, and even that sorcery was used to resurrect someone.  Where could this coward have been hiding that still enabled him to be part of the local grapevine?  It appears that shame and guilt kept him away.  Causing him to abandon his son, his job, his responsibility to his household?  It’s not convincing.  In fact, father and son met when Jang Gang stalked Jang Uk.  The young Jang was looking for information on the soul shifted queen, Shaman Choi.  The older Jang spoke to him, identified the sword as Jang Uk’s father’s, shared a drink with him, but did not introduce himself as ‘Dad’. Why not confess to Jang Uk?  What about reconciling?  Rotten father! Perhaps, though, he should be pitied rather than scorned.  After all, he claimed to Jang Uk that he was “damaged to the depths of [his] soul”, although he did not elaborate on the cause.  That said, one got the impression he was proud of the young man that stood before him confident, kind, courageous.  Let’s hope so.

The man who was away for twenty years lasts about ten minutes upon his return. He’s come to repent for his sins.  Jang Gang directs the wrath of the Ice Stone triggered by the fake queen just before she dies towards himself. The sky’s anger cannot be appeased and hits Jang Gang with a force that brings him to his knees.  He has just enough strength to confess his crimes and also that Jang Uk is not his son (and, therefore, should not be held accountable for the wrongdoings of the father) before using his own significant energy to cause an internal implosion that ends his life.  It’s to break the chain of familial responsibility.  All watch as Jang Gang, who used his powers for nefarious reasons, turns to ashes.  Rising skywards, the remains of the best mage in the history of Daeho is dispersed slowly among the surrounding elements.  It was certainly dramatic. 

Jang Gang’s sorcery was done at the behest of desperate people who recognised his compassion for others as an exploitable weakness. Jinyowon’s leader begged him to bring her in-the-womb dead child back to life, and the dying king he served wanted a few more hay days and a last fling with someone else’s wife.  Both benefited; only Jang Gang paid the price.  It should be noted that without the creation of that history, neither Jang Uk (or hero) nor Jin Bu-yeon (priestess of Jinyowon and controller of Nak-su’s soul in Mu-deok’s body) would exist. That these two souls should come together as lovers and mutually pave their respective paths towards destinies created by evil but blessed by the heavens was clearly meant to be.  Perhaps Jang Gang can be forgiven for crimes in the eyes of those on earth that were approved by the heavens.  This time, Jang Gang draws on the energy of the sky to pay for the sins he committed.  It was, too, to save his son from paying an earthly price for those offenses.

What a pair.  The father forfeits his life and dies, the son forfeits his powers and survives.   These strangers exhibit many identical traits.  Whether fate, destiny, or biology, it is truly hoped that the father’s sins are not visited upon the son.  Especially not by the humans. The viewer can well believe that even knowing the false relationship with Jang Gang, Jang Uk would willingly carry the shame of something that had nothing to do with him; something that is actually contrary to his own moral principle and that he is actively fighting against. Subsequently, when a related conversation takes place about Jang Gang, Jang Uk explains that he continues to own him as his father to protect his mother’s reputation.  Our hero, so far, is heading towards leaving a much more honourable legacy. 

In parallel time, let’s rise heavenward to where Jang Uk takes his place as the King’s Star.  He is without magical power, and must be dead, no matter how one analyses his case.  Yet, he stands tall, looking unharmed, rejuvenated.  Even Jang Uk questions the logic of his position.  He emptied his internal energy in battle with the Ice Stone in an endeavour to destroy it.  He has the Ice Stone in his hand but without magical energy he cannot destroy it.  Irony, indeed.  Jang Uk can’t control the Ice Stone.  Instead, in a reversal of intended consequence, the Ice Stone controls Jang Uk instead.  Shining in the heavens and reflecting light onto the earth, the Ice Stone moves slowly but resolutely towards Jang Uk’s chest, coming to nest as a mass over his heart.  Our hero is transformed into a vessel for the powers of the sky comprising fire, water, and wind.  Like Mu-doek with Nak-su, an entity outside his control is keeping him alive. It is both unexpected and unwanted, understanding, as Jang Uk does, the meaning of this ‘gift’.  Be careful what one wishes for was never more accurately expressed. Jang Uk’s desire to be the best mage in the history of the world is now an undisputable fact. This prophecy, however, is beyond Jang Uk’s understanding, and beyond the expectations of those who will witness its literal meaning.  Still, only time will tell how our hostage hero uses the powers he gains by playing host to the Ice Stone. It’s a relationship Jang Uk has no choice over.  He also has no way to change it nor to end it.  Gift or burden is still to be determined. 

The fallout that started with a greedy king and put into action by first So yi and then Jang Uk has ended.  All who needed to die, have died.   Those who needed to be saved were accordingly saved.  Yet there are still loose ends to tie up, apparently.  It’s not over until it’s over, and this drama is not ready to draw the curtains.  So we are invited to share the return of our hero.  We are also reminded that not all bad people get caught or punished.  That snake, Jin Mu, turned against the queen without losing a step in the dance of betrayal he performs at her exposure as the soul shifting shaman who had been living as the Queen of Daeho.  Perhaps the whole event was too shocking, too distressing, for Jin Mu’s collusion with Shaman Choi to be fully appreciated.  Yet, for a man labelled a criminal by so many, his freedom and absence of blame are hard to accept.   They, the various leaders of the country, are remiss in their duty to hold all those guilty of performing the alchemy of souls to account.  It will surely come back to bite them, more likely to kill them.

Because no one dealt with the treacherous, two-faced Assistant Gwanju with a thirst for power and a god complex, Jin Mu’s ambitions continue undiminished.  A conflict of loyalty leaves Go Won partly to blame for this.  He could have given Jim Mu to the authorities when his collusion with the fake queen was exposed.  It’s hard to turn against someone who has been ‘good’ to you your whole life, however.  So, though he knows where his master is hiding, he stays silent. In response, Jim Mu, ever resourceful, continues to manipulate the crown prince, disguised, as usual, as performing his duty to guard his pupil’s birth right.

The solution:  Kill Jang Uk.  That again?!

Ever loyal Jim Mu offers to do the dirty work on behalf of his royal highness.  Although uncomfortable with the suggestion, having now developed a genuine liking for Jang Uk which, further, is mutual, Go Won doesn’t stop Ju Mu.  He ponders, and frets.  His desire to rid himself of Jang Uk waxes and wanes as he processes the implications as set out by his master.  He took the credit for Jang Uk’s triumph against the energy of the sky without understanding the birth prophecy linked to it.  Now Jin Mu is telling him that rather than being his friend, Jang Uk is out to destroy him.  The lie is brazen but effective.  Go Won regresses to a point of jealousy and suspicion towards Jang Uk.  His weak faith and strong vulnerability removes the noose from around Jin Mu’s neck.   The pupil waits too long; he should have acted as soon his master’s link to sorcery was discovered. It must be with a heavy heart filled with guilt that Go Won watches as the drama builds to its conclusion.

Leonora

asiandramaobserver@gmail.com

[1] Shelly, M. Frankenstein (1818). Publisher, Penguin Books (1992).  

[2] Indiana Jones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones