What did BongHwan mean when he called HwaJIn a fake Soyong? Do you have any theories?

I promise I won’t kick anybody out for theories. I’m known for my wild theories, too.

Here are the scenes I consider relevant to understanding the characters.

From Ep 1

Jo HwaJin was writing when her maid accidentally splashed ink on her paper. With deft strokes, she altered the word. She made a beautiful poetry. She looked at her maid and said, “This poem…Now, I’ve written it with your help.”

What does this tell me about her character?

It tells me that she can take a bad situation and turn it into an opportunity to do something positive. She’s resourceful, clever, and ingenious. She made a lemonade out of lemons. But on the other hand, there can also be a negative connotation to this characteristic. She can become opportunistic, sly, and scheming. It depends on how one looks at the circumstance.

From Ep 2

1. Jo HwaJin dropped by the Queen Dowager Jo’s chamber. The QD handed her a talisman, and then asked for her birth date and hour – to help with the fortune-telling, I guess. HwaJin looked uncomfortable. To head off the QD’s inquisitiveness, she apologized and told her that she was only there to serve the King.

What does this tell me about her character?

One, her distaste for QD’s belief in mystical spirits is obvious. Two, I like her insistence that she serves the King. Three, she didn’t like to hand out personal information.

2. After her audience with QD, she returned to her residence. She was distracted by thoughts of the Queen’s accident and blotted her paper. But just like before, she brushed it away with a smile. She told her maid, “I ruined it too much to fix in any way. It’s too bad, but I’ll have to throw it away.”

Her maid couldn’t help but gush, “Character-wise, and in every way, you are best suited to be the queen. She’s so pushy with His Majesty while only trusting her connections.” Hwajin reminded her maid that the Queen is monarch, and had to be respected; they couldn’t use harsh words. She dismissed her maid’s rant about the Queen.

She wondered aloud, “What can I do for His Majesty this time around?” and proceeded to crumple the ruined paper. (at 51:36) But there’s something jarring about the way that she crumpled her paper that seemed ominous. I asked myself if that was the way she discarded things she had no more use for: she crushed them.

The impression we get from this short scene is that she was an even-tempered and subservient concubine, but there was a hint of violence underneath that composure if things don’t go her way.

3. In comparison to HwaJin, the Queen had a bad reputation in the palace. According to her maid, she nitpicked at every little detail of the people around her and punished them severely. She earned the nickname was “The Witch of the Royal Villa.”

But her maid – who had served her since childhood – thought the Queen was merely putting on an act. She knew the Queen to be really warm and smart. She also gushed, “Once you make up your mind about something, you’d make it happen, no matter.” The maid ascribed her bad conduct to the King’s rejection of her. “It’s because you’re a little lonely in this palace, since His Majesty the King openly shows his affection another woman.”

4. The maid’s account seemed to be corroborated the Grand Queen Dowager in Episode 5. On the night of the lake incident, Soyoung had an audience with the Grand Queen Dowager to ask to return home.

SoYoung: I’m not fit to become the queen. I don’t want to live anxiously.
GQD: There’s a rumor in the palace that your behavior has been atrocious. I see now that you did it on purpose so that you wouldn’t be queen. That’s adorable (sarcastically), thinking it would give you a choice in the matter. But I don’t know what came over you suddenly after being so diligent in your royal education. And I don’t even want to know why! Your fate has been decided when you were born. Doing your duty in serving your family is by becoming the queen. That is your fate and the sole reason for your existence. Princess Bi, did you come here on your own? No. So you can’t leave on your own. If you want to die, die inside the palace.

To the Grand Queen Dowager, the young ladies of the court were so spoilt that they couldn’t handle stress in the palace.

From Ep 3

The kiss scene between ByungIn and SoYoung was most revealing.

ByungIn: Why is Your Royal Highness here?
SoYoung: It’s you again, Orabeoni. You are the only one who looks for me when I’m hiding.
ByungIn: Why are you here when your wedding ceremony is tomorrow?
SoYoung: I felt like I was going crazy so I left the palace, but I have nowhere to go.
ByungIn: (in the barn) I will take you back to the palace right away, avoiding being seen by others.
SoYoung: The dream that I have been dreaming since I was young is coming true tomorrow. My dream was to become the queen. My dream will come true tomorrow. Tomorrow, my dream will…disappear.
ByungIn: What is wrong?
SoYoung: I am scared. Orabeoni. Living…living is too scary.
ByungIn: Your Royal Highness.
SoYoung: Don’t call me that. Just for today at least, call me by name, so that I won’t forget myself. So that I don’t let go of myself.
ByungIn: What could you be so scared of?
SoYoung: I am…not me. I lived all this time thinking that I was me, but I wasn’t. There is nothing that is not a lie.

This is significant because she embroidered “give up false self” shortly before the lake incident.

ByungIn: You are SoYoung for sure. You are someone I have watched for a long time and secretly loved, my precious person. I won’t let you go. I won’t forget you.

Notes:

1. On the same night, she kissed not only her cousin in the barn, but also BongHwan underwater.
2. She must have gone to the Grand Queen Dowager to ask for permission to leave the palace before she met Byungin in the rain. She tried to run away but couldn’t/
3. Her encounters with the King, and the concubine happened after this.
4. Phew! She talked to a lot of people that night before she committed suicide.

From Ep 4

BongHwan discovered that the Queen had embroidered, “Giving up my false self.” According to the maid, the Queen couldn’t sleep or eat; she sighed regularly, looked gloomy and cried for no reason. She also gave treasured hairpin to her maid and her ring to Lady Choi. These odd behaviors let BongHwann to conclude that the Queen SoYoung had been depressed and planning to commit suicide.

From Ep 5

Three important flashbacks happened here.

1. ByungIn’s flashback of SoYoung.

This happened after the Queen collapsed (at 10:57). He remembered how happy SoYoung had been to finally meet the King.

Soyoung: Orabeoni. I’m going to the palace today! I’m finally meeting His Majesty for the first time!
BI: Are you that happy?
Soyoung: It’s because I am curious. Some days, he’s plain and ordinary. But other days, he seems like a jade sculpture.

He just looked at her. He knew that she’d been fantasizing — or fangirling — about the King.

Soyoung: In my dreams. And last night, he looked exactly like you!

This meant that she held him in high esteem.

But what was more interesting about this flashback was ByungIn’s soul-searching afterwards.

BI: I had believed that giving you up would result in your happiness. You were so happy before you came into the palace. Yet when you came to the palace, you tried to take your own life. By chance, was it because of that?

The image of King holding HwaJin in his arms flashed in front of his eyes.

We assumed that ByeongIn was talking about the Queen’s jealousy and dismay that the King chose to pick up HwaJin instead of her. But ByeongIn could have also been referring to a memory of another event in the distant past. Like in their childhood when the Young SoYoung had entangled with the young Prince Cheolgeong.

2. The King’s flashback of meeting SoYoung the eve of their wedding

He was unhappy to see her at the lakeside pavillion since he was expecting HwaJin.

King: Why are you here?
Queen: I have something to say.
King: You made things complicated for nothing. My fate is already in your family’s hands. Just ask me to hand over the letter next time.
Queen: Do you not like me because I’m from the Andong Kim clan?
King: I did not say I do not like you.
Queen: Do you like me then? (crickets) If I were not Andong Kim, do you think you would have seen me in a different light?
King: No, I would not. You became the Queen because you are from the Kim clan.
Queen: I always tried my best. I am not going to be crowned as queen just because of my name. I dedicated my whole life to this yet people say…

No doubt, if she continued her remark, she was going to say that people assumed that she was chosen to be Queen because of her name, her clan. The King was unaware that earlier that night, during her conversation with ByeongIn, she requested not to be addressed formally as “Your Highness.” She wanted ByeongIN to call her by name, Soyeong, so she’d retain her identity. This should tell us that she wanted to be seen as a individual, as a person in her own right, not just a cog in palace politics.

King: You will get what you wanted so bad tomorrow.

This was sad. Although he used a soft voice, the contempt in his words couldn’t be clearer. He was insinuating that she was ambitious and he was putting her in her place. In his mind, all she desired was to be Queen. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t know that she had been dreaming of meeting him.

King: It is late, and we have an important event tomorrow. Please go to your bed chambers now.
Queen: You should love me.
King: Is that an order?

In light of Episode 8’s revelation, I don’t see this as an order but a plea. I’ll fast-forward and talk about MY theory.

You know what I say: take it or leave it.

The key here is “The Little Mermaid.”

credit: culture trip

After BongHwan returned from his vegetative state, he acquired SoYoung’s memories as well as skills.

BongHwan: I wanted her to return so badly. But only her memories came back instead of her soul. Her memories came to me before from time to time. I had a headache and my ears rang whenever that happens. But this time, it came to me so smoothly.

He then remembered his maid’s name, Hong Yeon. He noticed his new hyper-sensitive sense of smell. He could play the gayageum like a pro because Soyoung had been playing it since childhood.

But he lost his voice.

BongHwan: Why have I been thinking in this woman’s voice too? Did I lose my voice?
Yeon the maid: What are you talking about? I could hear you just fine.
BongHwan: I gained my fingers, but I lost my voice. It’s like “The Little Mermaid.”

I’ll just give you the topical points.

The Little Mermaid fell in love with a prince she rescued from a sinking ship. She brought him to dry land and left him on the shore where he was found by a young girl. He never knew the Little Mermaid saved him because she hid behind a rock. He mistakenly assumed it was OTHER young girl who rescued him.

To seek him out, the Little Mermaid exchanged her beautiful voice for useful feet to walk on land. She found him and was quite content to be by his companion. He, however, was looking for the girl who rescued him. One day, the King and Queen announced that they found a bride for him. He was stunned to discover that his bride-to-be was the girl at the beach.

The rest of the story could be the happy, Disneyfied version or the sad, Hans Christian Andersen version.

If you have time, you can read the original Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale here:  The Little Mermaid

To me, Soyeon’s appeal to the King to love her sounded like a plea the Little Mermaid would say to the Prince. My theory is the Young Soyeon saved the young prince, Cheoljeong, from the well…with the help of her Orabeoni.

They were both inside the well, Soyeon and Cheoljeong. She probably found the hiding place, took pity on him, and shared her books with him.

That’s why her book had a damp odor,

just like the well’s.

But Soyeon was pulled out of the well by her father, and Cheoljeong was deliberately left down there to die.

Then, Soyeon begged her orabeoni, ByeongIn, for help. She didn’t want to be responsible for a death of Cheoljeong.

I suspect that they returned to the well together and rescued Cheoljeon. But they had to leave him or else their parents would get angry with them.

She was looking back worriedly while her Orabeoni was pulling her away.

When Cheoljeong came to, young HwaJin was there in front of him.

He believed she rescued him, and HwaJin didn’t correct his mistake. She saw an opportunity—like the mistake on the paper — and she grabbed it.

To me, that explains HwaJin’s mad rush. She wanted to stop the King from remembering.

BongHwan remembered everything when HwaJin arrived.

BongHwan was looking at HwaJin with a new understanding. The attraction was replaced by barely concealed repulsion.

But the King was seeing Hwajin as the little girl again.

Hence, BongHwan called Hwajin the “fake” Soyeon. I think BongHwan knew that Hwajin took credit for something that Soyeon actually did for the young Cheoljeong.

But growing up, Soyeon didn’t know that. She had hoped that Cheoljeong would remember her on their first meeting, and was most likely shocked and appalled to discover that he thought someone else rescued him…just like the Prince in the “Little Mermaid.”

2. Hwajin’s flashback

HwaJin was waiting for the King, and didn’t expect Soyeon either.

Soyeon: You can’t meet with the King tonight.
HJ: Why are you…?
Soyeon: Will you be satisfied only after taking everything I have?

Yes, I think HwaJin is jealous of Soyeon. That’s why in Episode 8, she had almost scratched off her name on the school book.

HJ: Did you change the content of the letter?
Soyeon: You changed something that is even more important. Why can I not change such a thing?

We still don’t know what letter they’re talking about. But I think we’re getting an idea what that “important” thing was that HwaJin changed.

HJ: (looking guilty) I’m not sure what you are talking about.
Soyeon: I know your lies. If His Majesty knows the truth I know, you will understand me. The feeling when your loved one is looking at you with despise. How cruel it is to see those eyes for the rest of your life.
HJ: (stepping back and almost falling in the water)
Soyeon: If you want to keep the lie, leave the palace.

Meaning, if HwaJin didn’t want to tell the King the truth that it was young Soyeon who rescued him, she should just leave.

HJ: You found my weakness. Reveal the truth to the King. But you will have to reveal another truth as well that you tried to kill His Majesty.

But HwaJin countered that if HwaJin told the truth that it was young Soyeon who rescued him, then the truth would come out that the Kims tried to kill him in the first place by imprisoning him in the well.

Soyeon: (clutching her skirt) You knew everything.
HJ: You can’t do anything to me.
Soyeon: (clutching her skirt again) I swear you, too, will end up losing someone precious to you.

Then, Soyeon jumped into the water.

I thought jumping into the water was a neat trick. It was like the Little Mermaid returning to her natural abode.

Episode 6

Prince YeongPyeong’s feelings for the concubine HwaJin became suspect.

From Ep 7

1. Hwajin’s move

After HwaJin found out that the King wasn’t going to her chambers because BongHwan/Queen fainted, she visited Queen Dowager Jo to make a move.

QD: I heard the news. You moved your faither into withdrawing the appeal (to depose the queen)
HJ: You told me before that I didn’t have to make a move myself, Your Royal Highness.
QD: I did.
HJ: What if…if I make the move myself, then will we be able to crush the queen for sure?

Somehow, I’m reminded of the image of HwaJin’s crumbling the paper. She might not be into palace politics, but she was in love with the King enough to do something stupid.

2. SoYoung (and not BongHwan’s!) voiceover

SoYoung: Everyone in the palace has a secret. A secret concealed by lies. A secret that can’t be seen or heard. A secret that is waiting for the right moment. To keep the secret hidden deep in their hearts, we all wear masks. But the seal is about to break.

The significant masks (note: Episode 7 title) here were the King’s disguise as a pushover monarch, and HwaJin’s disguise as a tractable concubine.

From Ep 8

1. The “false” Soyeon

BongHwan: My damn sense of smell has opened up a Pandora’s box.

Meaning, because of his heightened olfactory sensitivity, he remembered everything because of the smell from the well. He remembered Young SoYoung being in the well with the Prince. The Young SoYoung had wrapped her hands around the Prince’s neck as if to kill him.

Then, the well was boarded up

and the young prince was trapped inside and was calling out for someone to save him.

Then the Young Queen was telling an older boy that the death was all because of her.

And because BongHwan remembered everything, he had nothing but disgust for HwaJin now.

HJ: You seem fine contrary to what I’ve heard. But I still gave you the benefit of the doubt.
BongHwan: Don’t worry. I didn’t tell him anything. Isn’t that why you rushed here?
HJ: Then, what do you want? You must have lured him here for a reason.

lol. Of course she didn’t know that BongHwan regained SoYoung’s memories only minutes before she arrived.

BongHwan: I really wanted to get along with you. Perhaps you were the source of my hormones or my last resort. As long as I desired you, I could’ve been myself despite my physical features.

Meaning, HwaJin was BongHwan’s reminder that he was still a man, inside the Queen’s body, who was attracted to females. She was the only one in Joseon whom he found attractive, and the sight of her would activate his testosterone which was in charge of sex drive.

BongHwan: But I found out the truth about you.
HJ: “The truth”?
BongHwan: That you are the fake Kim So Yong.

HJ: Did you just call me fake?
BongHwan: I got my memories back.
HJ: More like your true colors are exposed now.
BongHwan: I’ll help you out since you activated my hormones before. You should come clean to the King. He’ll feel betrayed if he finds out from someone else.

This is interesting. Whether it was SoYeon or BongHwan speaking, they both wanted HwaJin to confess the truth.

HJ: You are threatening me? I heard you loud and clear.

She left the room and almost bumped into Hong Yeon who was bringing tea.

BongHwan: Gosh. It’s hard to get through to her. She’s holding to a relationship that’s twisted and tangled up. No wonder why she’s so twisted. That’s such a turn-off.

lol. And there we have ONE explanation of the Episode 9’s title, “Dangerous Liaisons.” BongHwan meant that the King’s relationship with Hwajin was twisted. And coming from BongHwan, who was a playboy, this was serious stuff.

2. The other dangerous relationships

a. The father-in-law and son-in-law relationship

The King was worried about Bonghwan’s health and wellbeing. But the other reason he visited her was to look for the book that would expose the Andong Kim clan’s corruption. He knew this was his golden opportunity to enter his father-in-law’s guarded mansion.

So no, he wasn’t totally sincere when he wanted to put on a united front for his father-in-law.

And his kiss at the end of the episode 8? That was insincere either. I don’t know why the viewers applaud there. Tsk tsk tsk. He used BongHwan.

He kissed BongHwan so his presence in that part of the house wouldn’t be questioned. He was searching for the book, not to visit the Queen. But he couldn’t let the guards find that out.

b. ByeongIn and the King

Love him or hate him, the only guy here who’s 100% on the Queen’s side is ByeongIn. The King is still divided. Of course, he’ll end up with the Queen; they’re the endgame. But the series is 20 episodes long, and right now, his motives are divided. ByeongIn is the one who has Soyeon’s interest at heart, and is willing to protect her from the GQD, his own adoptive father Min Jwageum, Daebi Jo, the concubine, Prince Yeongpyeong and the Capt of the Guard Hong.

If he was indeed the one who helped the child Cheoljeong out of the well because of Soyeon’s appeal, then he would feel doubly betrayed. He and Soyeon risked their fathers’ wrath to get Cheoljeong out of the well, and now, here he was, mistreating Soyeon for a concubine.

And ByeongIn was absolutely correct NOT to trust the King one bit. If you were in his shoes, would you? He was listening to the King’s words and knew he was lying.

He was looking for an excuse to take SoYoung away from the King because he didn’t trust him.

One, the King tried to kill the queen on the second night of their marriage. If ByeongIn hadn’t been there to defend her, the King would have killed her.

The King was stumped for an answer because it was true that he intended to sacrifice the Queen’s life for their mission.

Two, his concubine was performing a shamanic rite to curse the Queen. Even if the rite itself proved ineffective, it was a sign that they wished harm on her.

Three, what was the King’s first reaction upon hearing the information? Denial.

He should have been open to listen to evidence.

Four, the King was slow to action. This was the second time that the Queen’s life was at death’s door; so he should have acted quickly. It’s understandable that he didn’t want to investigate the first incident at the lake because the concubine was involved. But he should have called the guards to secure the kitchen and start looking for evidence of foul play.

It was ByeongIn who acted first. Sure, the King was at the Queen’s side but what good would that do really when there were maids to wait on her. Multi-task, my man.

Five, “She is my woman.”

Sorry. Was I supposed to swoon here? I’d believe it if he renounced all other women.

As it was, the Queen was HIS woman but so was his concubine Hwajin, and all the other concubines in the future. Polygamy was allowed, so this whole “She is my woman” sounded greedy.

King: If you touch her even with the tip of your finger, this sword will cut your throat.
ByeongIn: I did not know how dearly you care for her.

King: 0, ByeongIn: 1

If I were ByeongIn, I’d point out to the King that if she was truly his woman, then he should prioritize her. She was his woman only if it was convenient for him.

Six, “The most innocent is always the Queen!”

King: I will examine the incident first. So you will not be able to frame the innocent again.
ByeongIn: The most innocent is always the Queen.

King: 0, ByeongIn: 2

ByeongIn was the ONLY one who saw Soyoung the night that she cried.

Moreover, he was the ONLY one who saw the King attacked her when she was defenseless. ByeongIn would have to be stupid not to suspect that the King intended foul play. To ByeongIn’s credit, he hadn’t raised alarm about the King’s attempted murder that night; he was secretly investigating the mystery of the fabric.

ByeongIn: I told you. If you make her miserable, you will live in misery as well. I said it wasn’t a threat, but I have to change my words.

The reason ByeongIn could say this without being intimidated is because he truly believed that the King was half-assing his job as SoYoung’s husband. To everybody, including the King, SoYoung was just a pawn in their power play. ByeongIn, on the other hand, was willing to put his career and  his life on the line for her. That’s why he didn’t fear the King or his royal guard; the truth had to be said.

Prince YeongPyeong: How dare you!
King: That woman is not your cousin anymore. The person who is in charge of her happiness and misery as well as her safety is not you, the head of the Department of Justice, but me.

Bravo! Big words for a “big” guy. Let me see if he could do his job well.

Seven, “The Queen will be moved to her family’s house.”

To me, this was the first thoughtful decision he made for her. But then again, he used this opportunity to search his father-in-law’s house soooo…

he was just killing two birds with one stone.

It’s still early in the game though. We still have 12 more episodes to make this King into better husband.

**********

Have to post this now. Gotta run.