Episode 2 gave us a time jump – a full 19 years ahead in the future. ChungGi and Ram are 28 years old and it’s the 28th year of King Seongjo’s reign.

Highlights. I have to limit myself to three because I’ve guests coming over for barbecue. Happy Labor Day to my fellow Americans!

1. Sweet young Ha Ram grew up to wear many hats.

a. He’s the handsome, “gentle-mannered” astrologer. He supervises the Palace’s Astrology Bureau. As an astrologer, he divined future events and predicted people’s fortune by reading the position of the stars. For instance, he was told that the fifth star of the sixth constellation was shining brightly, and he interpreted that as a sign an important person from the east will arrive.

However, he also has a dark side. Literally. Mawang was inside of him. At the end of the episode, Mawang said that Ha Ram made a mistake.

Mawang: You have made a mistake, Ha Ram. You have left the palace proper on the night of winter solstice, where the energy of yin is at its fullest.

I wondered how a preeminent astrologer could make such a big mistake like that or did he plan it all along because he wanted to meet the important person from the east.

b. The King’s favorite. Despite their age difference, the King trusts Ha Ram’s counsel on state affairs.

He secretly asked him to observe the second and third stars which represented the 2nd and 3rd Princes. I assumed that the King wasn’t that naïve to trust completely in his sons. He probably suspected one of them of attempting treason.

However, the King doesn’t know that Ha Ram is just stalling his time to exact revenge.

King: Do you still have no memories of the past?
HR: The memories following the rain ritual nineteen years ago have yet to come back to me. But there are times when fragments of a memory come to me.
King: I’m glad to know that there are some improvements.

The truth is Ha Ram forgot some details of that fateful day, but he still vividly remembers that three people were killed that day. He promised himself that he’d seek revenge for that day’s bloodshed.

When he said three people were killed, I’m assuming that he meant his parents, and his symbolic innocent self.

This also tells us to be wary of Ha Ram, too. Remember, according to the creation myth, Mawang thrives in the “dark desires of humans.” Ha Ram’s thirst for vengeance can easily lead him to destroy.

c. Some called him the “palace’s protector god” because he led the rain ritual that resulted in a downpour after nine years of drought. However, some just called him “water monster,” because he had red eyes like a monster. I think his reputation as a monster conveniently deters strangers from persecuting or oppressing him. He scares them off.

d. He’s also Il Wol Seong, supposedly the richest man in Gwanyang and best merchant in the country. He also owns the Wolseongdang, which is like a Sotheby’s of the Joseon era. He buys and sells fine artwork.

More importantly, he was also a purveyor of secrets. In front of the gallery was a box where people could submit their question. He answered the questions if they paid the price. He became an “information central” who knew everything.

I like the idea that he’s living a double life. I’ve always liked this trope where the hero has a secret identity and masquerades as somebody else. He’s the mild-mannered Ha Ram on the outside, and he’s cunning Il Wol Seong in the inside.

That said, I thought it was hilarious that for somebody who was supposedly the “information central,” he personally didn’t know what was going right under his nose. I thought he already knew that his own storekeeper, Jeong SoenNae, was earning money on the side by hiring ChungGi to forge the paintings.

But he didn’t seem to know that his storekeeper was also involved in selling fake medicine. Either way, he didn’t like that his store’s reputation was being dragged into a scandal.

ChungGi: (beating up the medicine man) You! You swindler! Give me back my money! I said, give me back my money!
Medicine man: I don’t know anything. Jeong SoenNae told me to do it!
ChungGi: What? Jeong SoenNae? Wolseongdang is behind this, too? These scoundrels work in a pack! … Stop right there, you Wolseongdang scoundrel! (exits)
Ram: (asking his sidekick) I didn’t mishear that, did I?
Sidekick: Yes, she definitely said, “Wolseongdang scoundrel!”
Ram: (sighing) Tell MuYeong to investigate what has been happening at Wolseongdang.

The way that ChungGi easily stumbled into his secret corridor was symbolic. He hid himself behind multiple sliding doors, but ChungGi crashed through the wall without paying him the slightest attention.

This indicates how effortlessly ChungGi will break down his barriers. She’s the one person who knew him before that doomed water ritual.

2. Meet cute after 19 years = person from the east

From reading the stars, Ram/Il Won Seong knew that an important person from the east was coming to visit him. To him, there were a couple of possibilities.

One, there was Yu Si Hong, the brother of the Chinese emperor, who was sent as an envoy. Ram dropped by his store because its entryway faced east.

MuYeong: Is there some other reason you are working at Janghwangjang today, sir?
Ram: The stars last night told me that an important person would visit me from the east. The entryway of Janghwangjang faces east.
MuYeong: Is there anyone you suspect?
Ram: Perhaps. Who would be an important person to me?

Two, there was also the 2nd Prince. Ram knew that he was going to drop by at the Question Box and had his right hand man, MuYeong, wait for him.

And here was MuYeong meeting with the 2nd Prince.

But Ram didn’t suspect ChungGi aka Painter Hong. She dropped in exactly when he was telling MuYeong about “the important person from the east.”

He listened in to ChungGi fearlessly facing his storeowner, SoenNae. SoenNae was threatening to harm her if she quit forging the paintings for him. But she dared him to go ahead with his threat. Wolseongdang’s reputation would suffer if he did.

As she was exiting the store, her attention was caught by the sliding doors behind the paintings. She stood in front of them. On the other side, Ram stood silently. SoenNae then blocked her path, and she wondered aloud whether there was somebody behind the doors.

The significance of this moment is obvious. Despite the divider between them, they could sense each other and were connected in spirit.

But he didn’t know that she was the important person from the east. She came in through the entryway that faced east.

The next meeting was when she crashed through the wall because she was chasing the shyster who sold her fake medicine. She didn’t notice him, but he did.

Again, he didn’t know that she was the important person from the east. lol. Like a witch, she flew in from his left side with the broom.

The last meeting was by the city gates which I’m assuming faced east.

While he was recalling the incident at the courtesan’s house,

she again burst into his space. She entered his palanquin because she hiding from SoenNae.

I like how the screenwriter discreetly used SoenNae to drive the plot forward. He wasn’t just an ornamental character or a side story here. He played a key role in getting ChungGi and Ram together.

Note the doors motif.

Just as the stars prophesied, Ram’s important visitor arrived from the east. She was an important visitor because she was the “key” to unlocking the doors of his past. lol.

Sure enough, he remembered fragments of his lost memory of the girl at the peach farm.

3. Protecting her

I like that his first instinct was to get her out of the palanquin when he sensed something was wrong with him. He didn’t want to endanger her.

I think that’s going to be conflict of this drama. It’s the I-love-you-but-I’m-bad-for-you trope, but in this case, “bad” comes in the form of Mawang. To have a happily-ever-after with ChungGi, Ha Ram has to literally (and not just metaphorically) struggle with his own inner demon. lol.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Gotta run. 🙂