Should have known that the Hong Sisters would spin a heavy metaphor from something as sweet and wispy as a cotton candy.
I’ll break this down in two parts, okay? I’ve work this morning.
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OG: Oh. This cotton is really sweet.
SM: It’s sweet, right? (She’s pleased that she has introduced him to something she likes, too.)
OG: Yeah. Give it to me. (Here, OG’s showing his natural state: a selfish monkey who thinks of his pleasure first.)
SM: You said it’s for me.
OG: Yours is…this much. (Hands her a small piece.) Wow (Gazing at his large puff of cotton candy.)
SM: You’ve lived that long, yet you’ve never had cotton candy? If you didn’t wear the Geumganggo, you would have never found out about cotton candy.
>>To ease her conscience for binding him to her, she keeps on trying to find something he could be grateful to the GGG for. She wants to convince him that there’s a bright side to this forced enslavement of his.
OG: Yes, yes. Thanks to you. I found out. (He’s being sarcastic, of course.) I like this cotton ball. It’s good.
SM: It’s the first time you’ve said you liked something because of me. You always said it’s painful seeing me while wearing the Geumganggo. You said I’m the Five Elements Mountain that’s crushing you. So…you said you wanted me to disappear.
>>Here, her sense of rejection is clear. To me, she appears pathetic. It bothers her conscience that she’s the cause of his pain. But at the same time, subconsciously, she wants to hear from him that he’s willing to bear the pain FOR HER — that because he “loves” her, he’ll endure it for her and be by her side as she carries her task.
OG: That’s right. I think it would be good if you disappeared.
>>But OG twists the knife in the wound. He knows that SM feels dejected and seeks reassurance, but he deliberately reminds him that she is the source of his problem to hurt her more. SM can only look at him with dismay when he says that he wants her gone.
SM: When the Geumganggo disappears and all your feelings toward me disappears, will this cotton candy disappear, too? The memory of having said you liked that it’s so sweet, all of it will be erased away, right?
>>Part 1 of the metaphor: Cotton candy is only sugar melted by a heated spindle to create silky gossamer threads. It dissolves easily in your mouth…like his feelings for her will vanish when the GGG is disbanded on his wrist. His words that he easily comes out of his mouth are “sweet nothings” like cotton candy. The words are all fluff that don’t mean anything lasting.
OG: Are you stupid? This will still exist. Even if not for Geumganggo’s sake, what’s sweet is sweet, and what you like is still what you like.
>>He’s almost being scornful and derisive here. Yet his blunt words still thrill SM. Again, she’s being pathetic. He’s only stating a fact (i.e., that sweet is sweet regardless of changing circumstances) but she finds hope in his words. She quickly swallows the cotton candy, and then finds a flimsy excuse to leave him so she can savor his words in private.
SM: Oh. My hands are sticky. Let me go wash it off.
>>Part 2 of metaphor. His words, like cotton candy, can be easily erased.
OG: Why, out of all times, do I have to be happy right now? (Takes a bite of the cotton candy.) Ah, seriously, damn this cotton ball is so sweet.
>>See there? All along he didn’t like the sweetness of the cotton candy. He’s only pretending. But because he’s made her happy with his fake words, he becomes happy, too – the side effect of the GGG.
To be continued…