Thanks @Growing_Beautifully! I wasn’t getting the two leaves so I’m glad you explained this.

I’m posting it out here for easy reference. I hope you weren’t pressured to write me a term paper. My responses are included.

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The Leaves

1st Leaf
It was a leaf that flew from MW’s past into CS’s present and which MW almost picked from his jacket. CS found that leaf still on him. I feel that Chan Sung sees the leaf as a sign of Man Wol coming more alive, like the tree, of being able to feel and care for others. He was tasked by Ma Go to take care of the barren, spiky tree, and he is told that he had something to do with the tree becoming more beautiful. Every leaf is a sign of the enlivening of the barren Man Wol.

He finds that he has a special connection to her, through her past in his dreams. The leaf of the dream was a precious shared moment of Man Wol’s time, a sign of the link between them (or a merging of their time), and something that he held close to his heart, literally and possibly figuratively.

I’ll add these thoughts, too, to help me remember later.

“Did it come from a dream? That split second from Jang Manwol.”

Chansung entered Room 13 and approached the wardrobe where the human-hating ghost lived. He lit the incense. As he turned around to leave, he sensed something. He took out that leaf from his pants’ pocket and transferred it to his breast pocket, tapping it safe. With the leaf, he was reassured that Manwol would protect him from harm.

But at the same time that the leaf served him like an amulet, the leaf also gave him extra courage. He heard sounds from the wardrobe and he stepped forward to investigate.

To sum, the leaf is

a) a dream-weaver: it wove together the dreams of MW and CS so CS felt connected to her,
b) a talisman: it reminded him that he was protected by MW from harm, and
c) a cross: it gave courage to his weak-heart.

2nd Leaf

The earring was a personal item that he found on the floor and at first pushed further under the table when Man Wol was looking for it, and asking him to help her find it. He was a bit put out because he was talking to her about how she and the staff had sent him into the dangerous Rm 13, but she was more focused on the earring.
He asked her what sending him to the Room 13 was about, and she admitted that the tree had changed since he came, so they were worried that their time to leave was near.

He asks MW why she saved him. She said that she was not going to intervene but a leaf changed her mind. He takes the leaf from his pocket.
CS: This one?
MW: Yes. A part in me as small as that made me change my mind. (Something had started changing inside her. She had started to care.)
CS: Are you saying that I won by this much? (meaning that your desire to save me was only this much more than your desire to save yourself?)

I think their banter here loops back to their conversation under the tree.

MW: You saw me in your sleep again?
CS: Are you curious? Sit down. I’ll tell you what you were like in my dream.
MW: (coldly) This is what I hate. I should be telling you to shut up, or that I’ll rip your mouth open. But I thought about sitting down next to you. I hate my thought in that split second.
CS: (plucking the leaf from his shoulder) You held out for over 1000 years but you let go for a second. (shows her the leaf) I won a tremendous moment.
MW: Yes, this change means a lot to me, and you’ll have to pay for it.

Keeping this context in mind, their dialogue in Episode 5 takes on a special meaning. To me, they’re connecting, not just because of their dreams, but because of their shared everyday conversation. They’re developing a relationship because they actually TALK to each other. When they talk, they build emotional intimacy. They begin to understand how the other person thinks and what he/she is REALLY trying to communicate behind the words.

For instance, in Episode 5:

CS: Why did you save me? If you didn’t, I would have gone mad and left the hotel.
MW: (admitting to their dirty plot) That was the plan but the leaf was weighing on my mind.

I love the double-meaning of the words here. The leaf and what it represented “weighed” heavily on her mind. She meant that the leaf was a token of her promise to protect him. The leaf itself didn’t weigh much. But the leaf as token of her protection caused her to worry about him very much.

CS: The leaf? (takes it out of his breast pocket)
MW: Yes. You were weighing on my mind with the weight of that leaf.

I love the image here! The leaf is lightweight but burdensome.

CS: Then… did I earn this much of your sincere feelings?

This is funny. Last time, she stated that she resented the change in her (i.e., that she’s feeling something for him, and that he could tempt/move her do something for him) and she threatened him, “You’ll have to PAY for it.” But despite her threat, he still has the temerity to ask her if he EARNED only “this much” (i.e., a leaf-proportion is only small) of her feelings. He’s being cheeky because he’s beginning to “get” her.

Also, he’s flirting with her.

Granted, Chansung’s style of flirting is subtler than the Captain because of the wordplay. The Captain was more direct and straightforward. He had the fireflies to get his point across that he was going to be a significant person in Manwol’s life. Meanwhile, Chansung has the leaf which, as I showed earlier, has many meanings.

MW: You’re doing it again! Asking questions when you know the answer …
CS: Asking questions to induce an answer can lead to determining the truth.
MW: …. This is not Harvard so get back to finding my earring.
CS: Is finding it worth another leaf? (Meaning: Will finding it increase my chances of being saved? Will finding it mean you’ll care more about my well being?)

Ahhhh! So here’s where the earring comes into play. Thanks for pointing this out, @GB!

The Viki subs worded it clearly. Chansung asked, “If I find the earring, would I be worth two leaves?

So you’re right. He was asking her if she’d care more for him if he found the lost earring.

I’ll also mention what he did afterwards. He took her to task for not saying what she meant.  He said, “You talk about killing with no plan of killing. And you talk about not looking for it with a plan to look for it. (lol! We already figured her out long ago. We said that she wasn’t really that scary when dealing with humans because she’s limited by the same commandment, “You can’t hurt humans.” Otherwise, you’re karma-ed.)

He added, “Your heart is twisted and your words are even more twisted. Is that what happens if you stay as a ghost too long?”

This is what I meant earlier that, as they talk to each, they’ll learn to listen not only to the spoken words but also to the unspoken ones. Chansung is beginning to discover that Manwol has the habit of saying the opposite. That is, she has NO PLAN of killing although she threatens to kill. And she HAS A PLAN OF ACTION when she says she doesn’t care.

But the sneaky part here is Chansung had kicked that earring under her table. Out of spite. He was upset because the his colleagues at the hotel conspired to send him to Room 13. So he kicked her earring to hide it. And now, he was asking for a reward (two leaves!) if he found it.

Then in Ep 6 he sees her wearing the earrings and says “That’s the earring that I found” (that’s another leaf that he has got.)
MW: I bought these to wear them when I’m going out to eat webfoot octopus. I’m heading out to eat it now. You must come with me because you found it.
CS: You’re just craving webfoot octopus. Stop coming up with these excuses that make no sense.
LOL. I just love this running joke.

Same here.

Manwol can’t come clean that she likes him so she gives absurd excuses for doing what she’s doing for him. But the funny thing is, although he thinks he’s onto her absurdity/capriciousness, Chansung falls for her misdirection each time.

Like this one: she uses the earrings as an excuse to eat webfoot octopus with him.

The hidden, real motives here are a) to spend time with him (of course) and b) to tell him that he was worth two leaves.  She remembered their bargain.

The excuse she gives him is that she craved webfoot octopus.
The red herring or the absurd distraction is “to show-off the earrings.”

See her layers?

He thinks he’s too smart to fall for her red herring but he falls for the excuse instead. He still doesn’t see her real reasons for seeking him out. lol.

She did the same thing with the poop-colored car that she bought for him.

Back to leaves:

If the first leaf was the sign of their shared time, their connection and the start of her caring more for him, (remember that split second when she wanted to sit with him under the tree) then the 2nd leaf meant the deepening of that connection and that care.

Ep 6, In MW’s and CS’s conversation about going to the beach.
(53:45 on the timecount) MW: Are you suddenly being nice to me because I told you I’m going to be your last guest? … What an incredible hotelier.
CS: I’m not that incredible. Hoteliers aren’t supposed to have personal feeling for their guests.
MS: What? What kind of personal feelings do you have for me?
CS: The leaf. You showed me that I got two leaves. How do you expect me to ignore that. (Meaning: We have a connection in which you cared enough to save me, I cannot ignore this, and usually it would mean, the sentiment should be reciprocated.)
Man Wol looks affected and pensive. She turns her head away and talks about not going to the beach that day.
CS had received 2 leaves or parts of the Man Wol tree, which symbolised their shared time, and her connection to and care for him. Being the person that he is, who would (and did) reciprocate, this made him a hotelier with personal feelings for his would-be final guest.

I think it hasn’t dawn on Chansung yet that the leaves, like the blossoms and the flowers, are short-lived. He’s excited about receiving two leaves when the number of leaves he collects doesn’t matter in the end. When she departs this world, they’ll all be painful remembrances of her.

In this case, one leaf will be enough one too many for a heartache.