Recap: Queen In-Hyun’s Man Episode 13

The consequences of changing history….

Boong-Do is back in his house in Joseon time and Yoon-Wol wants to see him. He calls her in and asks if she went to the temple. He comments that she does not look well. Yoon-Wol is hesitant to speak but Boong-Do prods her. She asks, “Do you really plan to leave this place? Will you leave everything and everyone to go to that woman? A new world has finally opened here and you are the head of a great family. I didn’t give you the amulet wanting this kind of result. I gave you the amulet for your safety, not for you to give up everyone for a woman. Also the amulet will bring wrath/revenge/curse if you have other selfish desires. How could you make that kind of decision?”

Boong-Do comments, “This is the first time that I have seen you this angry. I wasn’t ready to hear this so now I am confused. Let’s discuss this one by one.” Boong-Do asks, “You said the amulet will become a curse. What do you mean?”

Hee-Jin is opening the packaging of a new cellphone. She immediately dials her number on the new phone. She saves Boong-Do’s number on her phone as “sun-soo” (player) and her number on his phone as “Most Beautiful Woman in the World.” She picks her phone, which is still ringing, and says, “Hello? Mr. Player?” She pretends to be Boong-Do and answers, “How have you been doing?” She laughs at her own antics.

Hee-Jin has bought a few things that Boong-Do will need for the modern world- clothes, a watch, and a wallet, which she packs with his thick load of bills.

Soo-Kyung has watched her do this from upstairs and starts to “tsk, tsk” and wag her finger. Hee-Jin explains to Soo-Kyung that she did not buy all this with her money. It was bought with all his money; Soo-Kyung saw, didn’t she, that Boong-Do has a lot of money? But all Soo-Kyung can do is keep shaking her head at Hee-Jin.

Hee-Jin is astounded. Soo-Kyung is portraying so much with just that simple sound and motion- annoyance, anger, and exasperation. She claps at Soo-Kyung’s amazing skill. Hee-Jin also wants to stop at the realtor on the way to film. Soo-Kyung is mad that Boong-Do is making Hee-Jin do all this. Hee-Jin explains that Boong-Do does not have a good sense for what is nice. Soo-Kyung wants to know why Hee-Jin is dating someone who can’t even select his own house. Hee-Jin plainly says, “He has a lot of money.” She holds up all the bills. “See? The type of man you like is a man with lots of money. What’s wrong with you? He might have more money than Dong-Min. Boong-Do doesn’t even know how much his inheritance is worth. You said that a real rich person doesn’t know exactly how much money they have.”

Hee-Jin takes out a single bill from the wallet. “Since I shopped for him, I should take this as a service fee. This would only be worth a packet of gum for him.” Hee-Jin waves the bill at Soo-Kyung. “Let’s eat something good.”

Soo-Kyung is thoroughly exasperated. She falls back onto the bed and yells from upstairs. “Are you happy? Dong-Min sprayed water on you. You lost all your commercial deals. You get yelled at all the time on set. You got labeled as a scandal maker. Are you still happy?”

Hee-Jin simply replies, “Yes, I’m happy. Wahhhhh!!!!” She does some rapid fist pumps. Soo-Kyung gives up. “Fine. At least you’re happy. At least one person should be happy. Good job, Hee-Jin. Love doesn’t feed you but money does. At least he has money.” Hee-Jin just continues to smile blissfully.

Boong-Do is at the palace trying to attend to his work but he is distracted by what Yoon-Wol told him. “When I received that amulet, the monk told me something.”

In a flashback, Yoon-Wol is bowing at the temple. An older monk asks monk Young-Myung monk, “Who is that child? She has come here every day.” Young-Myung tells him that she is a gisaeng. The older monk wants to know what kind desire Yoon-Wol has to be this devoted?

It is night and Yoon-Wol is still at the temple. The monk asks her, “What do you desire you so much?” He wants to help her out after seeing her devotion.

The monk reads Boong-Do’s name in Hanja and his birthday. “This person is too smart and has great ambitions. What are you praying for this person?” Yoon-Wol replies, “For his safety and happiness.” The monk sighs, “But alas. This person is destined to experience endless suffering (meaning that Boong-Do will continue to choose difficult paths that lead to suffering) and will find it hard to save his life during this time.”

Yoon-Wol asks in a panic, “Then what must we do?” The monk replies as he writes the amulet, “An amulet can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. It must be used carefully. What I mean is that just because I wrote it, or you asked for it, or because it is Boong-Do’s, does not mean it will do what we want it to do.” Yoon-Wol nods in understanding. The monk continues, “If there are other desires, the amulet can become a curse/wrath.”

Yoon-Wol relays this to Boong-Do. “The reason why the monk wrote the amulet and I gave it to you was to save your life. But now if you use the amulet to purposefully go to that place, isn’t that against the first reason for making the amulet? Isn’t that the “other desire” that the monk was talking about?” Yoon-Wol continues, “There was never a time I didn’t wish for your happiness. But I never thought that your happiness will be disappearing from us forever.”

Boong-Do receives a letter. It informs him that as directed by Boong-Do, there was a search for Ja-Soo but no one was able to find him. The letter asks for Boong-Do’s help. The letter also lets Boong-Do know that last night, there was some trouble. A few days ago, the queen visited her parents. Last night at their house…

We see the Queen’s parents’ house. A man dressed like Boong-Do leaps over the wall and a guard sees him. One of the ladies-in-waiting checks on the Queen, who is fixing her nightgown/undergarments.

The letter continues, “Thankfully nothing happened to the Queen…”

The King is angry that something like this could still happen. He is sure that this was ordered by the other side (Minister Min’s people). He wants to re-question them and find out who ordered this.

Boong-Do is walking to the palace with the officers. The officer tells him that the King wanted to see Boong-Do and talk to him about this since he is the only one who knows about Ja-Soo. Boong-Do doesn’t understand why those people would do such a foolish thing. The officer figures it is because they are desperate.

The officer shows him the portrait of Ja-Soo. Boong-Do notes that while the general idea is right, Ja-Soo looks different. The officer asks for more specific details. Boong-Do mutters to himself, “This would be easy if we just took a picture.” The officer hears this and is confused. Boong-Do asks, “Did the person who invaded the Queen’s parents’ house look like him?” The officer answers that the only the back of that person was seen. But it was reported that the man was tall and had on yangban’s clothing. Boong-Do is surprised to hear this. “Yangban’s clothing,” he repeats.

From a rooftop, masked men ready their bows and shoot at Boong-Do. Two arrows hit Boong-Do. One near the chest and one in his back.

(Commercial—- I run around screaming.)

Two arrows hit Boong-Do but before the final kill shot hits him, Boong-Do transports to modern time. He has landed smack in the middle of Seoul. Back in Joseon time, the officers try to capture the assassins and are surprised that Boong-Do has disappeared. One of them says, “Didn’t you see? He just disappeared.” Another onlooker adds, “I saw it too. Before the arrow hit him, he suddenly disappeared.” Another one confirms. (Oh s***). The head officer yells, “That doesn’t make sense. He must be somewhere. Look for him!”

Boong-Do is surrounded by people staring at him- a strange man dressed in Joseon clothing with two arrows in his body. You can hear them say, “Where’s the camera? He’s good-looking (Haha). When will it (referring to a drama/movie) come out? Wow, he’s really tall.”

Boong-Do starts to walk away, in pain. He hides behind a wall, crouching in pain and breaks off the arrows from his body. Thankfully Boong-Do sees some backbags nearby. (In the midst of all this, I still have to laugh at Boong-Do’s amazing luck in finding nice clothes that fit him.)

Boong-Do has now changed into modern clothes but the arrowhead is still in his body and blood is seeping into his clothing. Boong-Do reflects on what just happened. “In the middle of the street, in front of government officers, an assassination attempt. This is definitely a trap.”

We see images of Joseon time and the officers looking at the arrow stuck in the ground after Boong-Do disappeared. Boong-Do’s voice- “This is the work of someone who knows the power of the amulet. It must be Ja-Soo. And behind him there must be Minister Min.”

Boong-Do is standing at crosswalk next to a crowd of people. As his vision blurs, he sees someone playing on her cellphone. Boong-Do is bleeding heavily. “Minister’s Min’s plan.”

We see a repeat of the conversation between Ja-Soo and Minister Min about the amulet. Ja-Soo wants to steal the amulet and kill Boong-Do. Minister Min wants otherwise. The amulet will not only help Boong-Do. It will also bring him trouble.

Boong-Do remembers what the officer told him about the man who intruded into the Queen’s parents’ house- the tall height and the yangban’s clothes.

Minister Min is talking to Ja-Soo. “We know that the Queen is at her parents’ house. I am sure that on that day, Boong-Do visited the Queen before he came to my house but I had no way to prove it. Now that we know how, we will recreate that day.” Ja-Soo- “What do you mean by recreate?” Minister Min- “What do you think the prideful King won’t be able to stand? The thing that he won’t be able to stand to not kill Boong-Do for.”

Boong-Do realizes what Minister Min is planning. We hear Ja-Soo’s voice- “A scandalous rumor?” Minister Min reaffirms, “A scandalous rumor.” (A great peace of cinematography here as we go back and forth between Minister Min’s smiling face and Boong-Do standing in the middle of the street, realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. At the same time I am appreciating this, I scream, “GO TO THE HOSPITAL!)

Boong-Do makes his way to the park with the phone booth. He looks at the phone. (Okay, I know that there aren’t a lot of phone booths in Seoul anymore but really?) Boong-Do passes on and heads up the hill to where he hid his bag last time. He doesn’t see it, however, and panics. Thankfully he sees a plastic bag there and pulls it out. Inside is a note from Hee-Jin- “Will you be able to read this? Kim Boong-Do sshi. Don’t steal anymore and wear clothes properly. From the ‘World’s Most Beautiful Woman’.” Boong-Do sighs in relief. He pulls out the cellphone and wallet, and hides the clothes again.

He heads down to the street and stops a cab. Boong-Do gets in and asks to go the library. (IS THIS MAN OUT OF HIS MIND?!!!!!). The taxi driver wants to know which one and Boong-Do asks for the nearest one. They start to go but they get stuck in traffic. The taxi driver asks Boong-Do to just get out now since they are only 50 meters away and they are stuck. But Boong-Do has fainted in the back. The taxi driver finally turns around and sees the blood.

Hee-Jin is filming, delivering serious words to the King, when we see that the “King” is actually one of the staff members dressed up as the King just for the close-up shots of Hee-Jin. (I feel like a crazy woman- going back and forth laughing and dying.) Na-Jeong comes by and asks why the guy is there and one staff member explains that it is because Dong-Min didn’t want to film with Hee-Jin.

The director is unhappy and just calls for some time. Na-Jeong starts to tease Hee-Jin. “How could the queen cheat on the King? You are definitely above me. You’re great!” The rest of the staff looks uncomfortable. Hee-Jin sees Soo-Kyung and makes cute faces at her, sticking out her tongue, but Soo-Kyung just shows Hee-Jin that she wants to cut that tongue off.

Soo-Kyung and Hee-Jin are in the backroom and Soo-Kyung complains about Dong-Min. Hee-Jin asks if she should talk to him one more time but Soo-Kyung disagrees. “Getting sprayed with water and hit with a pillow is enough. What else can you do?” Hee-Jin replies, “I can beg on my knees if he wants.” Soo-Kyung is indignant. “Why beg? Did you guys get engaged or married? Didn’t he do the same thing before?” (That’s a good friend, Soo-Kyung.) “I was sorry at first too but now after all this, I’m not.”

Hee-Jin checks her phone and finds 23 missed calls. She sees they are all from “Player” and smiles. “When did he come? He must have found the phone.” Hee-Jin calls, all bouncy, and immediately asks, “Hello? When did you come?” But it is some stranger on the phone. “You’re the ‘beauty’? Are you the ‘world’s most beautiful woman’?” Hee-Jin sheepishly answers yes. “Who is this? Taxi?”

Hee-Jin gets up in surprise. “Where are you?”

Soo-Kyung and Hee-Jin rush to the emergency room. Hee-Jin asks for the man who just came in from a taxi. The nurse recognizes her and asks if she is the guardian. Soo-Kyung replys that she is guardian and Hee-Jin just followed. Hee-Jin searches around the room for Boong-Do. (Find him! Find him!). Hee-Jin- “Where is he?!” Soo-Kyung steps on her toes and asks more calmly, “Where is he?” The nurse explains that he is in surgery. The nurse pulls out a consent form. He went into surgery in a hurry and they couldn’t get consent before it. Soo-Kyung signs while Hee-Jin worries.

Everyone is in front of the emergency room and Soo-Kyung is talking to the taxi driver. The taxi driver explains that he thought Boong-Do was fine in the beginning but later saw him bleeding. He thought he was going to have a funeral in his taxi. The driver continues to explain that he opened the wallet and saw money but no ID. He opened the cellphone and only saw one person in it- “The world’s most beautiful woman.” The taxi drivers stops and looks at Soo-Kyung. “So you’re the ‘world’s most beautiful woman’?” Soo-Kyung explains that it is just a joke. Hee-Jin looks on in worry.

The jail officer is talking to Minister Min. The city is in chaos. Many people saw Boong-Do disappear. They still can’t find him. Minister Min pretends surprise. “How could that be? What a strange thing.” The officer continues, “I talked to the guy who saw. Boong-Do disappeared in the blink of an eye.” Minister Min asks, “Then this must have been reported to the King?” The officer replies, “Of course. He was with other government soldiers. If they were to hide this, who knows what could happen?” Minister Min agrees. “Of course you must report it.”

The King is talking with his head of the police. “He disappeared like smoke? What do you mean?” The other government official reminds the head that he must speak the truth. The head apologizes but there are many people who saw this happened with their own eyes.

The King asks where Kim Boong-Do is but he hears that they can’t find him yet. Since two arrows hit Boong-Do, there should be blood trails or footprints but they haven’t found any. The King is in disbelief. The other government official guesses that the assassins must have kidnapped him but the head officer reports that they captured those assassins and they don’t know where Boong-Do is either. They were just as surprised at his disappearance.

The King asks, “Then you mean to say that Kim Boong-Do is using some kind of black magic? Where did Boong-Do go?”

Flashback to Boong-Do being rolled into surgery. Boong-Do is now out of surgery and he opens his eyes to see Hee-Jin above him. Hee-Jin asks, “Do you see me? Do you hear me?” She calls the nurses. Boong-Do struggles to say, “I need to check…” Hee-Jin can’t hear him properly. “What do you need to check?” He breathes out, “The Annals.” Boong-Do falls unconscious again. The doctors finally come in.

Hee-Jin is waiting outside the hospital room and Soo-Kyung tells her to go back to the studio. She is worried that people will see Hee-Jin and start talking about how the man Hee-Jin cheated on Dong-Min with is in the hospital. Hee-Jin just sighs deeply. Soo-Kyung reassures Hee-Jin, “I’ll be here. They said he is not going to die.”

Hee-Jin gets up to go. Soo-Kyung tells Hee-Jin, “Just because I like money, doesn’t mean that money is everything. Why does a student go around getting shot by arrows?” She pulls out the arrowhead. Hee-Jin drops her purse. Soo-Kyung asks, “Is he really a student? Should I ask the school? And why are you the only one he knows? So he doesn’t have parents but no siblings or friends? What are we going to tell the police? Who is that man, really?” Hee-Jin wordlessly looks at the arrowhead.

Hee-Jin is back at the studio and a staff member brings her some corrections to the script. (Oh no.) Hee-Jin reads the new script. She is completely amazed. She curses Dong-Min.

Hee-Jin approaches Dong-Min. “Aren’t you being really cheap/petty? How could you change the script this much? If you want to be angry, be angry with me. Why do you want to ruin the drama?” (You’ve got the wrong man, Hee-Jin.) Dong-Min looks at Hee-Jin in confusion. Hee-Jin continues, “This isn’t fiction but based on real people. How can you change real people’s lives? Are you happy killing (her) off?”

Dong-Min doesn’t understand what Hee-Jin is saying. “What are you talking about? Are you talking about the death of Queen In-Hyun being pulled up a few episodes? I don’t know why the writer did that. Maybe she didn’t want to write it anymore.”

Hee-Jin screams, “It’s not that it was pulled up but the fact that she dies like that.” Dong-Min asks, “What do you mean it doesn’t make sense?” Hee-Jin continues, “You don’t understand? When did Queen In-Hyun die like that?” Dong-Min asks, “Then how do we kill her? By a simple illness? I don’t understand what you are saying? Did you drink?”

Realization hits Hee-Jin. She remembers Boong-Do asking to check the Annals. Hee-Jin wordlessly leaves Dong-Min. The manager walks in and yells at Dong-Min for fighting with Hee-Jin. Dong-Min complains, “This is so annoying.”

Hee-Jin checks the Annals. She is astounded by what she is reading.

Boong-Do wakes up in the hospital room. The nurse goes to get the doctor. He hears Hee-Jin outside. Hee-Jin bursts in and Boong-Do smiles bashfully. Hee-Jin is happy to see him and just stares. “I see that you’re smiling. You must be alive then.” She grabs the cellphone. “What if you didn’t have the cellphone? You wouldn’t have been able to have surgery because of your missing identity and just died with no one knowing. Don’t I have great instincts? I thought the cellphone should be there first.”

Boong-Do asks how much time has passed. Hee-Jin answers, “Ten days.” Hee-Jin asks if he wants water but Boong-Do wants a book first. Hee-Jin guesses that it is the Annals. He asks how she knows. Hee-Jin answers, “You don’t even remember. You told me. I checked the Annals to see if anything changed.”

Boong-Do: “Did anything change?”

Hee-Jin: “Nope. Nothing”

(Face-palm.)

Hee-Jin turns to get some water out of the refrigerator. “Only one thing changed. Scholar Kim Boong-Do was shot by arrows and disappeared. After that, M.I.A.” (I think Boong-Do might believe her until she adds…) “After that, he never appeared again. So I thought, ‘This is how he ends up living here’.” Boong-Do asks if there is anything else and Hee-Jin continues to lie. “Nope, everything else is the same. Did you think that you were that important of a person? That the world would change just because you disappeared? You know what we call that here? ‘Ja-bbuk.’ You think too highly of yourself. Memorize it. Ja-bbuk.”

The doctor comes in and checks on Boong-Do. Hee-Jin gets a call and leaves the room. Boong-Do watches her leave, avoiding his eyes.

It’s a call asking for Soo-Kyung. A nurse approaches Hee-Jin and tells her that Boong-Do needs more examinations and that they need to report him to the police. The nurse wants Hee-Jin to fill out some forms.

Boong-Do gets out of his bed and looks for his amulet in his clothes. He can’t find it. Boong-Do has changed into clothes that Hee-Jin had brought to the hospital for him and tries to leave the hospital, but he meets Soo-Kyung on the way out. Boong-Do continues to leave the hospital and notes the ambulance and emergency room sign.

Soo-Kyung is in Boong-Do’s room muttering, “What crazy person.” Hee-Jin comes in. Soo-Kyung asks, “What is that? Where is Boong-Do?” Hee-Jin guesses that he must have gone to get more examinations but Soo-Kyung clarifies that she saw Boong-Do run away with his wallet and cellphone. “Why did he run? It mustn’t be because of he doesn’t want to pay the hospital fee? He gets stranger every day.”

Boong-Do is at the library, checking the annals, and in pain. Boong-Do reads what happened while he was unconscious at the hospital. May 25- the head of the police reports that Kim Boong-Do was shot and disappeared. May 26- witnesses report that the person who intruded the Queen’s house looked like Kim Boong-Do. The King got angry and punished the witnesses. May 27- guards report that Kim Boong-Do often visited the Queen and on the night there was the assassination attempt on the Queen, Boong-Do visited the Queen. May 28- it is confirmed that Kim Boong-Do never went to his hometown the day he said he would. May 29- it is reported that Kim Boong-Do disappeared for four days during his exile in Jeju. June 1- the rumors that Kim Boong-Do used black magic to travel the country and visited the Queen cannot be contained among the citizens. Official letters asking for re-investigation keep pouring in and the King orders for Kim Boong-Do to be brought in for questioning. June 3- The King orders the Queen to tell him the truth but the Queen remained silent. June 20- The King: “The Queen’s secret actions have been revealed. She consorted with someone who uses black magic and used me to be reinstated. This is high treason. The Queen will be punished again. Last April’s incident will be re-investigated. Release Minister Min and the others.” July 2- The King: “It is right to punish Kim Boong-Do also but since we can’t find him, we will behead all those involved and punish Kim Boong-Do (as in punish him after death with the greatest punishment. Since in Joseon time, your prestige, name, and heritage means so much, you can still punish people after death). July 25- The person stripped of her status, Min-sshi, was beheaded.

(A few notes here. They didn’t have Gregorian names of the months in Korea so when I write April, May, June, or July, it is all written as fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh month in Korean. The Queen’s real name is Min so when she is stripped of her status to be beheaded, she is simply referred to as Min.)

Boong-Do lets this all sink in. His phone rings and it is Hee-Jin. He doesn’t pick up. Soo-Kyung reports to Hee-Jin that they can’t find Boong-Do in the hospital. Hee-Jin tells her that Boong-Do is probably in a library but she doesn’t know which one.

Boong-Do has his head in his hands as he remembers back to when Yoon-Wol said, “I’m worried that the amulet will make you far apart from this world. Since everything is solved now, I wish you wouldn’t look for the amulet again.”

Boong-Do remembers his promise to the Queen. “Don’t worry. We will protect you to the end.” Concurrently, we see the Queen being beheaded. He remembers Yoon-Wol saying, “The monk said that the amulet can become a curse/wrath. The reason why the monk wrote the amulet and I gave it to you was to save your life. But now you if you use the amulet to purposefully go to that place, isn’t that against the first reason for making the amulet? Isn’t that the “other desire” that the monk was talking about?” Boong-Do hangs his head while the phone continues to ring. Boong-Do does not pick up.

Some time later, Hee-Jin is in the hospital room and her phone rings. She picks and angrily asks, “Where are you?” Boong-Do answers, “Your house.” Hee-Jin asks, “Why there?” Boong-Do answers, “I came to look for the amulet. Where is it?” Hee-Jin pretends to not know what Boong-Do is talking about but Boong-Do asks her, “Don’t you have it?”

Hee-Jin says, “I don’t have the amulet. I burned it.” Boong-Do repeats in disbelief, “You burned it?” Hee-Jin confirms. “I burned it since I knew you would be like this when you woke up.” Boong-Do just says, “There is no time. Where is it?” as he continues to search the house. (I love how he doesn’t believe Hee-Jin would actually burn the amulet.)

Hee-Jin keeps confirming that she burned it. “You saw the Annals. You went M.I.A. It’s because I burned the amulet. The Queen was beheaded. What would happen to you if you went back? So I burned it. You know I’m simple and not that smart. I could only think of that solution. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you this before but even if you want to go back to Joseon, you can’t now.

Boong-Do replies, “You can’t even really con someone but you always try.”

Hee-Jin yells, “This isn’t a con.” Boong-Do says, “Don’t be angry at what I am saying right now. I don’t like people who are not smart. You keep calling yourself dumb but I just think that you lack knowledge. You’re not dumb.” (Exactly. I never thought you dumb, Hee-Jin.)

Hee-Jin wants to know what he means. Boong-Do explains. “When the amulet was split in half, I lost my memories and you had to live the same life twice. If that happened when the amulet was split, what do you think will happen if it was burned? Will nothing happen? Will we never be able to recognize each other? Will we just pass each other even if we meet? How do we know what will happen?” (I’m just swooning over this man’s intelligence. Romance embedded in intelligence? I’ve died and gone to heaven.)

Boong-Do continues to search for the amulet. “You know this too so how could you have burned the amulet? You must have just hidden it somewhere.”

Hee-Jin remembers the night she tried to burn the amulet. Hee-Jin holds a lighter to the amulet but she can’t do it.

Hee-Jin tells Boong-Do, “Thank you for thinking so highly of me but I am really not that smart. I’m really a stone. I was famous in school for being a “stone-head.” (Different meaning here than the phrase used in English. She wasn’t a druggie. In Korea, they refer to people who are dumb as stone-heads.) I placed last in school!”

Boong-Do has opened the fridge and announces, “I found it” as he takes out the amulet from under a mat in the fridge. Boong-Do says to Hee-Jin, “You are not dumb although it’s for certain that you didn’t try that hard in school.”

Hee-Jin bolts up. “Don’t go. Wait a minute.” She starts to cry. “Don’t go. If you really go, I won’t see you again. (From here on Hee-Jin starts to speak banmal, or informal Korean language→) Don’t go, you jerk. We saved you from dying. How could you do this? You said you would be responsible for me. You said you would. Why are you saying two different things, you b*stard (a little harsher version of ‘jerk’). Don’t go!”

Boong-Do asks softly, “Will you listen to my words for a moment?”

Boong-Do: “I promised that I would take responsibility but five years ago, I promised to the Queen that I would risk my life to protect her. But now, because of me, she was beheaded. I don’t think I can live here knowing that and I have learned my whole life that one shouldn’t live like that. So…I will take responsibility of everyone. I can do it.”

Boong-Do looks at Hee-Jin’s portrait hanging on the wall of her house. “I will take care of everything and return.” Hee-Jin just sniffles at the other end of the phone.

Later in the night, Hee-Jin returns to her house and see Boong-Do’s clothes, cellphone, and wallet on the table. The song “Same sky, Different Time” plays in the background. Hee-Jin sadly sighs.

The preview is the same one as the one uploaded on tvN’s YouTube channel. I have posted it up already.

Comment:

Another excellent episode despite the lack of OTP moments. Things continue to remain interesting and moving swiftly.  I also love how each shot is framed, especially when Boong-Do is reading the Annals and we see how everything played out in the past. The drama is not only interesting plot-wise, but visually also.

I am thoroughly enjoying how the Queen arc is playing out. I was afraid it would be sidelined, or worse yet, take over the show, but it has done neither. The plot surrounding the Queen remains relevant to our main couple’s love story and continues to bring conflict and weight to what can otherwise veer off to sheer fluff.

But what else could have I expected from this drama? Every episode has been well written and carefully thought out so I guess I should have never had my doubts. But after so many traumas from other dramas, I just can never shake the fear of a writer losing her head and tearing a story apart. (I’m looking at you Boys Over Flowers. I will never get over that. Never.)

It is so refreshing to watch a main lead reason with someone and to have the receiver actually understand. The heart is great but sometimes the mind is a much better resource. This couple is such a functional couple. There are no doubts about each other. Boong-Do never feared for once that Hee-Jin would burn the amulet. He knows her too well.

When Boong-Do was explaining to Hee-Jin why he must return, I was just swooning all over the place. I will take words of reason over dramatic-in-your-face arm-grabbing anytime. Moar Boong-Do’s and Hee-Jin in dramaland, please!

One thing I want to note is that when Boong-Do was reading the Annals, everything in the past played out as if Boong-Do never returned. So there is that alternate universe. I wonder, though, what kind of universe that would be? Is it a universe in which Boong-Do made the decision to never return because I can’t see that happening. Or is it a universe in which he died and couldn’t return? Ah, time-travel. So much fun and confusion.