Be honest now.

You’d be bored silly if I think like other bloggers and recappers. You’re here for a different perspective, my bitchiness and Schrodinger’s firefly.

@flying_tool wrote:

Some heavy hinting at how Schrödinger‘s firefly will be resolved. Heavy handed pointing at the Captain being the firefly. But there is a sentence by Mago 1:

He’s staying here as a small light because of the promise he made to Man Weol.
We know YW promised to build her a house.

What promise did the Captain make? I can’t remember one. Does Manwol’s wine jug in her tree qualify as a promise to wait for her – by their lake? So, their two spirits walk into the painting and consummate their long delayed tryst by the lake?

Awesome astuteness, @flying_tool. It’s a Schrodinger’s firefly, isn’t it?

Schrodinger is a famous dead quantum physicist who dreamed of killing cats. He said that if ever we place a cat in a box with an elaborate cat-killing contraption, we won’t be able to tell if the cat’s alive or dead until we open the box. In this moment of uncertainty, we can say that the cat is both dead and alive.

Trivia: The contraption consists of a radioactive atom, a Geiger counter to measure the decaying atom, a vial of poison, and a hammer. Once the Geiger counter detects radioactive decay, it triggers the hammer to smash the vial and release the poison. Thus, killing the cat inside the box.

To me, the whole point of this dead cat/live cat exercise (aside from agitating animal-rights groups) is to caution us from assuming to know the health of the cat (dead or alive) without a clear view of the inside of the box.  It’s best to assume all possible combinations of the cat’s health (dead, alive, one second from death, rigor mortis, etc.) until the box is open to reveal the cat inside.

In this kdrama, we don’t have a cat but a firefly flitting around the tree. I found @flying_tool’s joke about a Schrodinger’s firefly appropriate because we’re being led to believe that the Captain is the firefly. The Hong sisters are in the rehab business; they’re recovering and salvaging the Captain’s bad impressions.

But I’m resisting. It’s my supreme duty to resist and annoy the Captain’s fangirls!!!!

For two reasons —

First, the obvious one.

If the Captain is the firefly, then who’s “that guy” Chansung is going to bring to Manwol? The firefly is a spirit but “that guy” is human. Can the Captain be two beings at the same time?

In Episode 8, Manwol and Chansung believed that Captain was a flesh-and-blood being, like Mira and Yeonwoo, and not a spirit or a firefly. Both of them expected Chansung to probably bring the Captain.

In Episode 12, MaGo 4 confirmed that Chansung was bringing “that guy” with him.

MW: If I say, “Why are you doing this to me? It’s so scary to me,” while I’m shivering and shaking like a dog in the rain, and the petals are pelting down, that’s when I want to do it. I’ll say, (sarcastically) “Okkkay!” and “Will you lead me to the afterlife?” It’s true that your system is a bit petty. Instead of all of that, bring that bastard to me right now.

MW: (continuing) I’ll finish it all completely and disappear from you. Just like what I’ve been waiting and wanting to do all of these long years.
MG4: Gu ChanSung will bring that guy to you.

See that?

If the Captain is a firefly and Chansung has to bring “that guy” to Manwol, not a firefly, then the firefly must quickly transform into a human. It should die first,

Die, you firefly!

be reincarnated into a human, then grow old magically, from baby to adulthood, in a span of days, not years.   

Do you see what I mean?

It doesn’t make sense for the Captain to be simultaneously “that guy” and a firefly, unless:

A. we misunderstood the meaning of MaGo4’s words and “that guy” means anybody that would bring Manwol’s downfall, i.e., the serial killer, Chansung’s alter-ego, Sanchez, Yeonwoo, the Baker, the Butcher, and the Candlestick maker.

B. the “body” and “spirit” are two separate entities, like Manwol the person is distinct from her spirit tree. That’s how I explained the firefly in Episode 9.

Back then, people also insisted that the firefly was the REINCARNATED Captain, and I said no, the firefly couldn’t be a reincarnation for these following reasons:

1. I pointed out that the ghosts didn’t have time to reincarnate yet.

Check! ✅

Mago: He returned from the afterlife to which he was going with me.

2. I said the firefly was a SPIRIT, not a reincarnated bug, that detached itself from the swarm.

Check! ✅

Grim Reaper: That the spirit of a human remains as a small light and has endured so long, it’s surprising.

3. I also said it was hanging around because it made a promise to wait for Manwol.

Check! ✅

Mago: It’s a curse he brought to himself. It’s because of a promise made to Manwol that he’s staying on like that.

4. I also said that Chansung had a difficulty identifying tell spirits from ghosts.

Check! ✅

Chansung: Do you perhaps know if there are bug ghosts, like fireflies?

I pointed these all out after watching Episode 9 and it took 3 episodes before MaGo and the Grim Reaper confirmed them.

Second reason for my resistance.

If the firefly represents the spirit — or the nature — of the human person it once was, then it resembles Yeonwoo’s character more than the Captain’s. Look: Ma Go said that the reason the firefly was hanging around was because of a promise made to Manwol. I wracked my brains to remember the promises that the Captain made to Manwol.

And I found 3 promises, @flying_tool.

Strictly speaking, the Captain promised only ONE thing, (unlike Chansung who promised something new, every week) but the other two were implied.

First promise: from Ep 4. He promised to rescue Yeonwoo.

Captain: I promise you I’ll rescue him. I’ll return him to you.

What was the outcome of his promise? He did bring Yeonwoo back but he also broke his promise and killed Yeonwoo in the end.

Second promise: from Ep 6. The Lakeshore promise. He promised to be her drinking buddy.

Manwol: It’s a good place to drink alone. Get lost! (drinks her alcohol)
Captain: (captures and releases a firefly) Now do you realize that this view is much better than the previous one?
Manwol: Fireflies are fireflies. They aren’t that different from others.
Captain: Of course, it is. Before you were alone. But now, I’m here with you. From now on, every sight you see with me will look different. From now on, drinking alone here won’t make you happy. Mark my words. You’ll be waiting for me to suddenly show up like today.

And he drank from her wine bottle.

What was the outcome of his promise? He rescinded his promise. In Episode 8, he said:

MW: (stares at him). Don’t. There’s no way we can be together.
Capt: (letting go) That’s right. I guess there’s no reason for me to come back here again. (gets wine bottle) If a good drinking buddy disappears, you’ll miss him.

I thought the breaking of the wine bottle was symbolic of the broken promise.

Third promise: from Ep 12. Yeonwoo’s voiceover.
Yeonwoo: “You should live as a traitor, then Manwol can live.”

I interpreted this as Yeonwoo asking him to promise to throw a “lifeline” to Manwol, to betray the Princess so Manwol could live.

What was the outcome of his promise?

I don’t know.

However, most of the viewers predictably believed that he chose to be a traitor because he bought her a hairpin.

But something or somebody made him change his mind…

because he was leading the attack on Yeonwoo and Manwol’s clan shortly afterwards.

To me, the forest was a fitting place for Yeonwoo 2 to be re-introduced to the story in Episode 9. It was the site where he fell (literally and symbolically) to the Captain.

The metal STAKES that the police officers used to prod into the earth for dead bodies even reminded me of the SWORD fight that rounded up Manwol’s men thousand years ago.

When Yeonwoo 2 walked through the forest where the bodies were found, he saw a leaf on the ground. He picked it up, studied it, and crushed it in his hand.

To me, given Yeonwoo 2’s psychic abilities, although he couldn’t possibly remember what happened in his previous life, he must have sensed that something bad happened in a spot similar to that one. He was triggered to crush that leaf. Crushing that leaf would be like clenching a fist in micro-aggression or steely resolve to get things done no matter what happened.

Right now, we can’t tell when he told the Captain, “You should live as a traitor, then Manwol can live.”  It could have been before or after his capture. It’s a Schrodinger’s firefly. 😂

Now, in Episode 12, the Captain also crushing something in his palm. He gripped Manwol’s hairpin so hard that his hand bled.

Look: this image also flashed in Manwol’s mind when she first encountered Mira at the marina in Episode 7. I mentioned that this was the only image in her flashback that was unaccounted for. It was in her memory, too. She saw it. She saw his hand bleeding.

And that is critical for me….

Look, I totally get the popular belief. People believe that he clenched his hand because he was overcome with strong feelings of pity for Manwol and he intended to betray the Princess sooner or later. He was just biding his time.

But this could be interpreted in another way, too. Schrodinger’s firefly.  The Captain was trying hard NOT to give in to his traitorous feelings FOR Manwol. He wanted Manwol to live BUT he also didn’t want to live as a traitor to his nation. So he compromised. He took a gamble.

For me, Manwol interpreted that sight of his bleeding hand as proof that he wasn’t going to throw her a “lifeline.” He’d rather bleed silently,  stoically, than give in to his urge to rescue her. He was unlike Chansung who was always running to her side and throwing caution to the wind.

It’s like the quicksand incident again. She threw him her sword and he disappeared. She thought he left her to die when actually he was going to throw her a rope tied to the horse. A lifeline. 😂 Then, as  soon as he rescued her, he had his sword on her neck.

Unlike the Captain, Yeonwoo went all the way in for Manwol.

YW: Wol!
YW: With this, your favorite tree, I will build a biggest house I’ve seen in the city. I’ll give that to you.
MW: What? You will build me a house with this tree? No need, I don’t plan to live with you in the house.
YW: You will grow old, you can’t just wander around. I can’t let you live in a tent after you become a grandmother.
MW: I live a life with constant risk of getting captured and dying. I don’t expect to live to become a grandmother.
YW: You can become a grandmother. The fortuneteller told me that I would live as long as this tree. He said 100 years. I’ll give all of that to you.
MW: If you give them all, wouldn’t you die?
YW: (duhhh) That’s right. I’m fine with dying because of you. I can give you everything.

In a strange and unforeseeable way, everything he said to her became true.

He kept his promises.

Manwol was living in the biggest house in the city. He “made” it for her because it’s her grudge for his murder that created it. He didn’t want her to wander around so the tree stuck by her side wherever she went. And he did give up his life for her. He gave her everything. He even smiled at her before he died to reassure her. lol. He was probably counting on the Captain turning traitor and letting her live.

I don’t believe in fortunetellers but it’s hard for me to forget that fortuneteller told Yeonwoo that he’d live as long as the tree. I’m taking those words into consideration when I resist and say that the Yeonwoo is the firefly.

Gotta fly now.