Karen raised a good question in one of the posts, and some of you might miss this so I’ll bring it up as one of our Bitch Talk.
This was my response:
🤔🐒I don’t know why OhGong can’t smell the lotus blood. You see, I’m unfamiliar too with the Monkey King stories and there’s nothing in the script that explains his inability to smell her lotus scent. So if there’s anybody here who can enlighten us, feel free to share with us the story behind OhGong’s inability to distinguish her lotus smell from others or to give us your theory/opinion/take on this. 😄
But from Episode 1, we saw that he and Mawang had two contrasting ways of identifying SunMi as SamJang.
Mawang exhibited that same visceral and frenzied reaction displayed by the other demons. He couldn’t help himself. He could identify her by smell.
OhGong on the other hand required VISUAL, not olfactory, identification. He didn’t “sniff” her out like a bloodhound. Instead he SAW the sign. When he glanced at SunMi’s shoulder and saw the bitemarks of the demon who bragged that he’d tasted the lotus blood of SamJang, it dawned on him who she was.
That’s why I said that I found his presence at SunMi’s place in Episode 1 to be very odd. We were lead to believe that he was there because like, all the other demons, he was following his nose. He just got there faster. Lol. 😀 To me, however, I believed he was conveniently there to ward off the swarming demons because he never left her side.
Then, in the following episode with the horny demon, we again saw that he needed to use a butterfly to seek out SunMi in the bridal line-up. To me, that confirmed that he couldn’t smell her. Because he had to stop and think about this first.
However, if I were to make a “scientific” guess here, I’d say it has something to do with olfactory adaptation. We ADAPT to familiar scents and lose the ability to smell them. That’s why we canNOT smell ourselves or our homes. For instance, if we’re cooking an onion, we can smell it initially, but after a while, our brains habitualize to the reeking scent so we don’t smell it anymore. We become DESENSITIZED. Only after we get fresh air and return to the kitchen, do we smell again the lingering odor of onions.
To me, if OhGong had been around SunMi for 25 years, her scent would have grown on him – like, a second skin. She’d smell familiar and he wouldn’t recognize her as anything different or unique. It would just be her “normal smell” in the same way that I smell of Ben and Jerry’s New York Superfudge Chunk ice cream. It’s what’s in my blood. 😀
But THAT is my theory and, of course! I can be wrong. If there’s anybody else with another theory, please do share. Sharing is caring. 🐒❤️😘
I think you actually touched on it in one of your earlier posts.
SOG is “equal to heaven” and doesn’t Sec Ma say that SOG is basically one step below a deity? From what we’ve seen, deities can’t smell her blood either, only the lower entities can.
If we think of Ma Wang as a high demon but maybe one step removed from SOG’s demon level, it makes sense. SOG is powerful enough to be equal to heaven, or close to being equal to a deity’s power level. So why would he need to smell her blood in the first place? The only reason he wanted to eat Sam Jang at the beginning was for the shortcut into heaven. He’s close enough already that he doesn’t NEED the blood to ascend to deity-like power; it would just be a faster way to do it.
That’s my theory anyways
Good point, phikyl!!! 👍😀He doesn’t need any stinking blood.
Can PK smell her too? He said his nose had been damaged after being hit by OG so often. Lol. Or was he just being nice to BuJa?
I think OG’s title “Sage and Equal to Heavens” was self-styled. He made it up himself. It’s a bit conceited of him. It’s like Napoleon crowning himself emperor of France. Typically in a coronization, the king invokes the divine rights of kings, as in he is king because God mandates it so. But with Napoleon, he decided to crown himself to emphasize that HE made himself king and it was his own merits that he “earned” the crown and the kingship.
OG sees his becoming god as HIS right and privilege. He EARNED it. He deserved to become a god. But that isn’t the way to become a god, really. In Western philosophy as well as Buddhist philosophy, there’s a certain HUMILITY required to become a god. Same with Taoism (“The sage puts himself last and becomes the first.”) The awareness that we are nothing and nobody is the start of enlightenment.
When I think more about this, his title (because he conferred it upon himself) is actually a roadblock to his reaching god status.
But no matter how powerful Oh Gong is, he’s still a demon, right? And if he’s a demon, no matter how powerful he is, he should be able to smell Sam Jang’s blood.
I’ve watched the Hong Kong remake of Jorney to the West. Been years so my recollection may be wrong but even now, my impression of Son Oh Gong was that he’s a deity. Or at least a higher being. Definitely not a demon. An uncontrollable one at that. And because he’s so powerful, the heaven realm decided to get him to protect the monk. Since he’s not willing to do that on his own, therefore the head piece.
Oohh. So he’s (only) a Demi-god or a half-god, and NOT a demon, like PK and Mawang? He’s not a hybrid: an animal god+demon like them?
If he’s totally NOT a demon, then yes that makes sense why he didn’t react like a demon and gnash his teeth and convulse and bare his fangs.
But why couldn’t he SMELL her though?
Who else can’t smell the lotus scent?
Could Buja, the Zombie, smell her? What about about CEO Sa? He isn’t a demon. Could Secretary Ma? What about the Twin Fairies? I know the Shaman/Priestess could smell her.
Yes, please check your stories or movie. If you find anything special or if you remember anything special, I’ll add it to my earlier post, another Bitch Talk post on who the Monkey King is. I’m separating these from the regular Hwayugi posts because these are our conversations and “info-gathering” or “brainstorming.” Thanks!
Thanks! I appreciate your input. It’s like brainstorming.
Do you still remember how we did an overnighter for Reply 1988? Hahaha. I was reminded of that last night when I was watching the opening of the Winter Olympics. I read that Hyeri was asked to be the poster girl for Madagascar!!! 🙂
But that’s the Chinese version. Not the Korean one so I don’t dare to say for sure I’m right. Plus my memory is hazy.
But again, if he’s not a demon, then why does his eyes flash red too?
I agree. That’s why I always assumed that he was a hybrid: an animal demigod+demon, like Mawang and PK, because his eyes could turn bloodshot red.
This happened first in Episode 2, right? When he threatened SunMi that he’d turn her fairy tale into a bloody tale if she didn’t stop provoking him and lying about knowing his real name.
Oh well. We’ll find out more as the story progresses. We’ve got time.
But isn’t the Chinese Monkey King stories the ORIGINAL version which the Koreans adapted? Again, since I’m not Asian 😂, I assumed the stories were like Greek/Roman mythologies. The Greeks’ myths came first and the Romans adapted them to fit their narrative. For instance, Homer’s Iliad, which explained who’s who in the Greek canon of gods, came about 1000 years earlier than the Aeneid, the Romans’ legend of how Romans came to be.
The all nighter that was completely discarded even after we spent all that time on it? Yeah, I remember. Lol.
I was reading on the forum that shall not be named the original backstory of SOG and apparently, he WAS a deity though he was brought to Heaven more to keep an eye on him than anything. He just got kicked out of Heaven because of the things he was doing; like eating the apples of immortality and drinking the wine of longevity or something like that [apparently, yes, this is why he was banned from drinking] because he was angry about the other deities looking down on him and giving him what he considered ‘lesser’ status.
Ma Wang: His case is a little different because originally, he didn’t go crazy at the smell of her blood. Only when she cut herself at the singing show did he show any signs of being attracted to her blood but even still, he could control himself where the demon spirits could not. He didn’t start reacting to the smell of her being close until SOG tricked him into drinking a drop of SJ’s blood. Once he had a taste for it is when he really started craving it.
PK: I think it’s half truth, half making Bu Ja feel better here. PK could smell her blood but I don’t think it’s as strong for him as it was for the others. When MW first puts SJ’s blood in the ring, PK smells it and wants some but he isn’t as crazed about it as some of the others so maybe SOG smacking him on the nose really did impact his olfactory sense.
As for Sec Sa and Sec Ma, I don’t know for sure. I think I recall them talking about smelling it but my memory is hazy on that.
Yeaaah, phikyl. That overnighter. lol.
Thanks for the backstory. That’s good to know.
I’d like to know little details like that although I am giving the Hong sisters a lot of leeway to recreate their own version of the “Journey to the West.”
I have no choice, otherwise. This whole Hwayugi already doesn’t follow the timeframe or adhere to any temporal sequence of the original story.
My understanding of the original journey is that the Monkey King, the Monk/Original SamJang and the rest of their ragtag group, all reached heaven (or enlightenment or nirvana) at the same time. But in this story, the Monk/Original SamJang has long been dead (at least 500 years, the length of OG’s imprisonment in that 5 mountains) and reached his “final destination” so how is it that Monkey King is still being punished here on earth? The original master of his headband, the original Monk, has already moved on to “greener pastures” AND he’s still being punished for the crime that he committed even BEFORE the journey? What’s this?? What about double jeopardy?
The Hong sisters definitely adapted the legends of the Monkey (like his petty thievery) but I’m treating this kdrama as an independent work which can stand on its own.
As for Mawang, in Episode 1, he showed a fierce physical reaction when SunMi cut herself on the picture glass. He was in a business meeting when he almost turned demonic. Then the following day when he visited her office, he snorted her Poporo slippers like he was an addict, and grossed out Hanjoo. But yes, he could stop himself from eating SM because, for a 1000 years, he’s been exercising self-control. But smelling her blood is different ingesting it.
As for PK, you’re right. I totally forgot that he detected the lotus scent in the ring. lol. Pigs are supposed to have very good sense of smell because they have to dig their food with their noses.
Btw, how creepy was that? Taking the droplets of SJ’s blood and keeping it in a ring? Reminded me of how grossed out I was upon hearing that Angelina Jolie kept the blood of her husband Billy Bob Thornton in a vial pendant around her neck.
Buja the zombie was searching for SunMi because of SunMi’s blood. She and the Shaman/Priestess were both re-animated because of SunMi’s blood.
But I didn’t quite get what happened in the van of PK when SM and the zombie were locked in together. Did you? I’m assuming that zombie tried to bite her but failed, because OG would have noticed any wound on SM and would have punished Buja for sure, instead of just serving her notice that it was time to die.
There’s inconsistency in the demons right? I also don’t understand why in the meeting in episode 1, Ma Wang reacted so strongly to Sam jang’s blood yet secretary Ma had no reaction. Why? Is it because he’s more powerful and so he could smell the blood from a Long distance away? So maybe only the demons within a certain distance can smell the blood each time.
I also wonder, prior to even episode 1, how did Jin Su Mi survive without been eaten up when she bled? I’m sure she must have bled at least once. And I’m not talking about menstruation which this blog has went into it in details. So yah, if we assume that Son Oh Gong has been watching her, then this makes sense.
hahaha. So you read the menstruation piece, eh?
Yes, in Episode 1, the demons were coming from all over… even out of a manhole. But Secretary Ma who was supposed to be a DOG demon didn’t react?
About the bleeding, yes. It strains credulity that she hasn’t bled or spilled a single drop of blood once in a span of 25 years. What about medical check-ups or dental visits? What about paper cuts? A couple of days ago, I cut my finger when I was opening a case of 12 can Coke in a fridge-pack.