@Esst3 et al.,

I’m reposting your comments on the alternative title for the kdrama on the blog so I know where to find it. Thanks!!

@Esst discovered:

Oh btw not sure if anyone know this but SoMun actually means rumour. The Korean title translated is “Amazing SoMun/ Amazing rumour”. I can understand the amazing part of it because he is a special counter who has great abilities but not sure the show has given us a rumour to work with.

@GrowingBeautifully responded:

Nothing comes really close to what we understand by a rumour/hearsay/report of doubtful truth. However I do feel that Yung uses our trusty Counters like chess pieces/game counters in the fight against evil. They are also there to counter evil forces and be grim reapers leading good, trapped spirits to Yung (and only then Wigen and Co. lead them to the Afterlife).

So why the Korean has SM’s name as ‘Rumour’ is still a mystery.

@LeeDale9198 added:

Aside from the word 소문 meaning rumour, I believe SM’s name comes from his parents (his father’s surname of course So and his mother’s first name’s syllable Mun from Munyeong).

Haha. I wish everything about this drama is just like a rumour. Just something that doesn’t exist. Yung is so ridiculous beyond imagination. This world is better off without Yung.

@Cleopatra wrote:

@Esst3 what you said is rather interesting but as everyone said above the knowledge is out of context for us at the moment.

@Esst3 said:

@GB you’ve hit the nail on the head about the Yung have little regard for human life. Like I said earlier we’re really seeing how illogical the Yung world is with certain timings.

Yep guys I’m spun about the name too. I’d heard the word 소문 translated as rumour and thought “isn’t that the name of the character in UC” . Went to look up the title at Asian Wiki and saw the literal translation.

With the word “rumour”, I can’t help but think about Umbrella Academy (a comic series recently turned Netflix show). There’s a character- Allison- who has the ability to control people by telling them “I heard a rumour (xyz)”, the person she whispers it to does what she says. In the case of Uncanny Counter it’s the same phrase but used in a different more literal sense. So it’s the evil spirits who say “I heard a rumour” and they are talking about; So Mun, his powers, the Yung territory and whatever it is they know about the counters. So Mun becomes something of a dread to them (when he gets his powers back😪). Lol at this point I’m definitely speculating and drawing at straws but it just came to mind from the snippet of the next ep where we see Cheong Sin building an army.

@GrowingBeautifully said:

@Esst3
I like your conjectures about where the ‘rumour’ is being spoken about. It’s true that the spirits seem to speak in whispers to each other, like they are telling secrets or spreading rumours, LOL. Cute idea. Yes, what they are discussing, is how to figure out what the Territory was and how to avoid it, and trying to identify more of their kind. They are spreading the word around to all of their own kind.

And the ‘rumour’ is mostly about So Mun, so maybe it’s not so far-fetched after all!!

I like this, @Esst3. Since everything is murky right now, anything that adds to the understanding is good. If we find out later that the theory doesn’t work, then we’ll adapt the American Humane’s disclaimer, “No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Film.”  But in our case, it’s going to be “No sane minds were harmed in the creation and discussion of this theory.”

I think you brought up a good point that the evil spirits are always whispering. Through whispering, the evil spirits insinuate and encourage the villains to act on their killer instincts. Perhaps it’s about time that the good guys start their own “rumor” to counter the evil ones. And… Somun did start out as a rumor. lol.

Remember? I told you in my First Impressions that the Episode 1 was Somun’s creation MYTH. A myth is a story of how things began. It’s a story invented to make sense of an unknown  phenomenon and to manage fear of a dangerous threat.

Myths and urban legends  are like rumors and gossips.

The counters were in their restaurant talking about the demon they encountered. He was a Level 3 demon with psychokinesis, and they had no clue how they could have missed his existence all this time. Hana couldn’t even read his mind. Then, MaeOk switched topics.

MaeOk: What happened to Wigen?
Mr. Choi: I heard she found this splendid guy and dramatically survived.

There’s your rumor! Mr. Choi HEARD something and he circulated it as the most amazing and baffling story ever.

MaeOk: A splendid guy?
Mr. Choi: Yes. It’s quite uncanny. He wasn’t even in a coma. She went into this guy who was walking around fine in one piece.
Hana: What? Can someone who isn’t in a coma become a counter?
Mr. Choi: Wigen said that the kid was filled with energy.

See how the rumor gained traction here. They were listening with all ears because they trusted the source. He wasn’t whispering, though.

Mr. Choi: Once she slipped into his body, she could even take all the energy he had in him. He has anger and passion all piled up. She said no one will be able to take him once he blows up.

And that’s the most amazing rumor right there — SoMun’s potential power was so great that it must be feared because it was uncontrollable, uncontainable and unrestrainable.

To me, that’s the biggest rumor here since this fear is unfounded. If we replay those times when SoMun was alone with the villains, we’d find that the other counters were able to reach through him, and call him out of his rage to stop him from doing harm. SoMun has always yielded to Motak, Hana, and MaeOk’s authority, guidance, and wisdom.

What SoMun needs the most during his formative years is to be led by good example. This way, he wouldn’t be swayed to do harm when the evil spirits come whispering in his ears. If he had this great power in him, then it becomes more critical that he be instructed by virtuous role models to use his power in service of the good. Didn’t Chungsin, SoMun’s counterpart, become evil because of his exposure to gangsters and his bad father?

So yes, good job, @Esst3! I like your theory of SoMun being a rumor. 🙂