I must be masochistic. My two favorite scenes in Episode 15 were the two goodbyes scenes.

1. The goodbye scene with TaeEul

LG: You said this position is actually really uncomfortable.
TE: Do you think I even tried it before? I just said it without thinking. Now that I’ve tried, it’s really nice.

Meaning, she was bluffing before. She never had a boyfriend whose shoulder she leaned her head on, and who leaned his head on her shoulder.

TE: Someday, let’s do everything we skipped.

If we notice, TaeEul had been using this word “skip” a lot. In drama, when a word is frequently mentioned, it’s probably good to reassess whether the word has any other significance, aside from being a running gag like “chicken” in this kdrama.

As I said before, the first time TaeEul used the word “skip” in was in Episode 8 when she dropped by Lee Gon’s hotel and decided to embrace her fate. She told him that she loved him. She also told him, “In the beginning, you ask about everything. We just skipped too many things.” I explained that she was acutely aware that they were in a unique situation. They were skipping the normal things a new couple would have done in this “getting to know you” stage. Like, go on dates, walk hand-in-hand, have dinner with friends, wear couple outfits (Hey!!! This is Korean dating scene after all).

The second time she mentioned “skip” was when Lee Gon and his cavalry rescued her from Lee Lim’s mob. She and Lee Gon stood in the middle of the intersection and she said, “Let me skip the thanks.” He answered, “You’re skipping so much.” What she meant was she’d cut the chase and say the important things first. So instead of thanking him for rescuing her, she told him what she felt most passionate about. She said, “I missed you. I missed you. I missed you.”

The third time, if I remember correctly, was when they went to church to receive a blessing from God. Lee Gon just shared with her the story of his parents’ courtship. She told him, “You turn out great, Lee Gon. We skipped a lot of things. When I was five, my parents ran the Taekwondo center together. My mother was a really popular instructor, but she died of cancer. I’m still wearing my mother’s black belt.” Lee Gon then patted her head, and said, “You’ve turned out great, Jeong TaeEul.” What she meant here was they skipped telling each other about their families. Usually a courting couple would learn about each other’s family background and family dynamics. But TaeEul had to google info about his family and learn about his wicked uncle on the go.

The fourth time, she mentioned when skipping was when they met at Gwanghwamun for the *first time* in her revised memory. He arrived just as he said he would, and she recognized him. She said, “You really came to Gwanghwamun. And you’re wearing a jacket with a lot of buttons.” Lee Gon didn’t know what she was talking about and answered, “This is strange. You seem to know me.”

Of course, this version of Lee Gon would find TaeEul’s greeting weird because as far as he was concerned, it was his first time entering this parallel world. He didn’t know that his older version had forewarned TaeEul about his arrival when she was 5 and then again when she was 27. So TaeEul readily accepted him as her fate when they met at Gwanghwamun. She said, “Let’s skip that. If I don’t do this now, I’ll probably regret it later.” And she hugged him. To me, she was wanted to skip things because she knew that their time was running short.

By now, you should know that there’s a primary reason for this skipping. The beginning was never the problem for them. They were always fated to meet and love each other. So they could skip the part of their courtship. The problem for them was in their ending. That’s when they would hit the snag: the endgame. They wanted to reach their final destination but fate always got in the way.

And that’s why they were skipping. Every time they meet each other for the “first” time, they have to skip because they’re running after time.

But now, in this fifth time that TaeEul mentioned the word “skipping,” she was suddenly demanding to do the things that they missed. Was she speaking with bravado? Was she wishful thinking? “Someday, let’s do everything we skipped.” Remember, this was TaeEul who only wanted to live for today. She didn’t believe that there was a tomorrow for them. And now, she was envisioning a future when they could do things they skipped.

TE: (continuing) Let’s travel together. Watch movies together. Take photos together, and together –

Remember, the word “yeogi”? I said that it was an important word. It means “here.” Now in this scene, the important word was “gachi.” It means “together.” She was emphasizing the adverb “together” before saying the verb. Like this:

“Gachi” let’s travel.
“Gachi” let’s watch movie.
“Gachi” let’s take photos.
“Gachi –” then Lee Gon interrupted her.

LG: Jong TaeEul.
TE: Hajima.

lol. If you watch kdrama often enough, your ears learn to recognize this word “hajima” as easily as “saranghae.” Hajima means “Don’t do it!” or “Stop!” She was telling him not to speak any further because she didn’t want to hear it.

She sat up straight.

TE: If you’re trying to say you need to go, don’t. I’m not going to let you leave. Let’s just not save the world. Let’s just go back and forth and only think about the present. Hmm?
LG: (looking at her, not saying a word)

TE: I know what you’re planning. You’re thinking of going to the past. You’re going to try and catch Lee Lim before he comes to this world.
LG: (sighing)
TE: Then I won’t be able to remember you. If our worlds flow differently from the present, then I’ll live without knowing you.
LG: Our worlds have already gone so wrong.

In a moment of weakness, TaeEul was asking him not to “rock the boat.” She didn’t want him to change the past because it would mean changing their status quo, their present situation. As crazy as their situation was, she was willing to accept to it rather than lose him altogether.

But Lee Gon knew that he couldn’t just let the two worlds follow their fated or predetermined course. He must do something to stop the downward spiral to chaos. Hence, the images of PM Koo with her scar, Prince Buyeong’s funeral, TaeEul frozen at church, and Song Jeonghye’s blaming him for her son’s death.

All these people expose the consequences of Lee Lim’s greed for the Manpasikjeok

Koo’s scar = politician exploiting the two worlds for their ambition
Prince Buyeong’s death = innocent people that Lee Lim for the flute
TaeEul = time would cease
JiHoon’s mon = more death to come if Lee Lim wasn’t stopped

LG: There are so many reasons to change the past. And that is the only way. So tell me to go. Tell me to leave. Please. I’m asking for someone’s permission for the first time in my life. If you stop me, I can’t leave.

TaeEul knew it was their sacrifice for the greater good.

On a more serious real-world application: Farewell scenes like this always remind me of spouses of military personnel and law enforcement officers. With a heavy heart, they, too, send off their loved ones to go save the world and make it a better place for all of us. We wish our real-live heroes safety and success, and we pray for their safe return.

TE: Tell me you’ll come back. That’s the 10th rule. No matter what happens, you have to come back. That’s the 11th rule. Catch Lee Lim, and even if the door closes, open all the doors in the universe and return to me. Promise me you’ll do that. That’s the 12th rule.
LG: I will. I’ll open all the doors in the universe. And I promise I will return to you.

She still has 5 more.

1. Stay quiet
2. Don’t draw people’s attention
3. Don’t tell anyone you’re a king
4. Keep Jo Yeong out of trouble
5. Don’t use any guns
6. Contact me whenever you go somewhere
7. Don’t be cheesy before I’ve eaten.
8. Don’t ask me to come with you.
9. Don’t get scared in advance.
10. Tell me you’ll come back.
11. No matter what happens, you have to come back.
12. Catch Lee Lim, and even if the door closes, open all the doors in the universe and return to me. Promise me you’ll do that.

For all intent and purposes, she would have been fine waiting for Lee Gon to return because she already secured his promise to return. #InLeeGonWeTrust

She would have been fine just like that person in the poem “The Stream” by Kim Sowol. Remember? I said that the person had been content waiting by the stream for her lover to return. But she waited so long for her lover that it finally dawned on her that perhaps her lover might not even return at all. That maybe, JUST MAYBE, he was gone for good. Like the flowing stream, and flowing time, he was gone for good.

Hence, the person began to doubt and question: Why did you do that? Why did you promise me that you wouldn’t be gone forever, that time you left me? Were you asking me not to forget you?

The Stream
by Kim Sowol

What is your reason for doing that?
Sitting alone by the stream.
The green grass was sprouting
and the water was splashing from the spring breeze.

You promised that even if you go,
You won’t be gone forever.
That is what you promised.

I sit by the stream each day
And think about it endlessly:
When you promised that even if you go,
You won’t be gone forever,
Were you asking me not to forget you?

For me, the metaphorical “stream” in this Episode 15 was the bouquet of blue flowers. The flowers in TaeEul’s room vanished.

The bouquet disappeared because a new timeline (or history, if you want) was being rewritten at that very moment. The bouquet belonged to the past, and Lee Gon was erasing the previous timeline because he was setting off on a new course. He was deviating from his “fated” path to follow his own destiny. But when he embarked on his own journey, he was fundamentally altering the course of “history” and making it HIS + STORY.

But the disappearance of the flowers frightened TaeEul to action. Unlike the person in the poem, “The Stream” who sat serenely by the water and contemplated on her lover’s return, when TaeEul realized what was going on with Lee Gon, she wasn’t going to wait patiently.  She knew that once Lee Gon set his plan into motion, her memory of him would be lost, and he would be the only one wandering alone in that frozen time and place of his.

She already saw how heartsick he had been when he visited her from the future to bring the flowers,

to tell her that he loved her,

and to kiss her.

In the voiceover, he said, “There will come a moment when it seems I’ve disappeared. I don’t want you to worry too much when that happens. It just means I’m walking through the frozen moments in time.”

She already saw it happening, and she didn’t want Lee Gon to go through that all again by himself. Thus, she went to see Lee Lim to ask about the flute.

TE: Where is the Manpasikjeok? Who has it right now?
LL: Did you come here to die too? You’re going to go and die?
TE: Just answer my question. Where’s the Manpasikjeok?
LL: You should be scared. Why are you idiots making such choices? Why?

TE: I am scared. I’m scared he’ll be lonely by himself.

We also saw in Episode 13 that TaeEul didn’t want Lee Gon to be alone when time stopped at length. She hugged him to comfort him and he told her, “You were with me a couple of times when that happened.” Her presence beside him made it bearable.

TE: (continuing) I’m scared that our worlds will continue like this. So make a choice too. Wouldn’t it be better if you went there with me? This is your last chance. Who has the Manpasikjeok?
LL: If that’s what you’re afraid of, I must have not taught you anything. I’ve sent hell to my nephew and Prime Minister Koo.

What struck me about this scene with Lee Lim was that he didn’t know how sad his life was. Lee Lim had been stuck in this loop, too, but he had no one to care for him. He said that he “sent” hell to Lee Gon and to PM Koo.  By that, he meant that he would take away their loved ones. They would suffer because he killed their loved ones.

But if hell meant the loss of the loved ones, then he must have been in hell all this time. Do you see it? From the very beginning, there was no OTHER person who loved him. Then, that ONE person who loved him the most — that is, his OWN self — he killed off, too. Literally, and metaphorically, he lost *his* loved one when he beheaded himself.

Monster, fool, or saddest person ever?  I’m still deciding on this…

2. The goodbye scene with Lady Noh

LG: (looking at the flute) God must have known that I would choose to kill Lee Lim instead of saving myself.

He put on his ceremonial outfit.

Spy/dresser: Are you going somewhere special, Your Majesty? You’re wearing your ceremonial outfit.
LG: (doesn’t answer him)

LG: (voiceover) That is why God had left the mark on my shoulder. It was so I would follow my destiny.

Mark on the shoulder = he has to shoulder to burden and duty at all cost.
He was fated to carry the mark on his shoulder because he was destined to fulfill the words written on the sword, “The sky bestows the heart upon us, and the ground helps the spirit. The sun and the moon are formed. As the mountains and streams form, lightning strikes. A sage is moved to defeat the evil of the mountains and streams.”

LG: (continuing) How selfish.

Two interpretations here:

A. Lee Gon is selfish because he’ll want to follow his destiny.
B. God is selfish. God knew that Lee Gon was an honorable man and would sacrifice himself for the greater good. He was the sage.

Noh: (seeing his outfit) Your Majesty.
LG: I’m telling you first, so you won’t be anxious anymore.
Noh: Tell me what?
LG: You must have been so lonely. You kept my secret and yours all to yourself. That book of poems was a gift for you. The lullaby you used to sing to me was in that book.

Here’s the Kim Sowol’s poem lullaby, thanks to Kuroshio!

The lullaby (01:15) Dragon Lady used to sing to LG was 엄마야 누나야 (O Mother, O Sister)

O, Mother O sister, let us live by the river.
Where golden sands glitter in the garden,
and beyond the back gate, the reeds are singing…
O mother, O sister, let us live by the river.
(David McCann)

Noh: The thought had crossed my mind, and it made me curious.

Meaning, she wondered whether Lee Gon realized that the lullaby she sang was originally a Korean poetry.

Noh: But why did you ask me about it?
LG: I thought you’d try to go back to your world.

This is important. That’s the reason Lee Gon didn’t force TaeEul to stay by his side. He joked about it once in Episode 6. TaeEul wanted to see her ID so she could leave the following day. Lee Gon replied, “I won’t let you go. You have to live here. I’m serious. I won’t let you go. I can keep you here with just one command.”

TaeEul just gave him THAT look.

Later, TaeEul made it her 8th Rule, “Don’t ask me to come with you.” Then, he didn’t press her to answer his marriage proposal. Secretary Mo was surprised that TaeEul didn’t accept his offer.

He would have known how lonely Lady Noh had been all these decades to be the only one of her kind living in Corea. And he didn’t want to consign TaeEul to the same lonely existence that Lady Noh suffered by forcing her to stay with him when the portals closed down.

Noh: Your Majesty.
LG: But thanks to you, I was able to read a beautiful poem. And I have a favor to ask you. Please let me go once again.
Noh: (sighing) But if I let you go, will you ever come back?
LG: You have to stay healthy. This is my last order.
Noh: Your Majesty.

To me, Lee Gon’s farewell to Lady Noh was touching because of the possibility that it was the final one. He could be too far away to return when she died. Remember? That was her major worry in Episode 4.

Noh: My gosh, must I die to make you come back? How are you going to make it to my funeral if you travel so far away?
LG: Let me guarantee you this. You’ll live a long life.

That’s why he ordered her to stay healthy. He wanted to see her again when he got back from his travel.

And I like this choice of camera shot.

It conveys the idea that, in the grand scheme of things, Lady Noh’s outpouring of grief and Lee Gon’s unshed tears don’t really matter much. The problems of world are much bigger than the problem of two small people. An enormous task lies ahead of Lee Gon before he can come home again.