I’m using the viki subs for now.

1. What’s the power of the ring?

P2: Will Supervisor Ha gain Mawang’s powers now?
Shaman: He may have the ring, but he will not possess Mawang’s powers completely.
P2: Why is that?
Shaman: Such enormous power makes one intoxicated and greedy.

Pffft. We knew this already. I thought that having Mawang inside of him, even if it’s dormant and he was unaware of its presence, affects his disposition/nature. He’s been “thirsting” for extermination of the entire royal family, hasn’t he?

Shaman: (continuing) If someone with divine powers like me does not control the ring’s power, Supervisor Ha will soon be consumed by that power.
Adviser: If he is consumed by Mawang, will he become a monster as he did at the sealing ritual? Is that not also dangerous?
Shaman: Thus, before Supervisor Ha is completely consumed by Mawang, we must perform the sealing ritual again.
P2: Don’t we need the royal portrait to summon Mawang again?
Adviser: We must arrest Painter Hong CheongKi first. I have an excellent plan.

My comment:

Lol. I see what you did there, Shaman! It seems to me that Shaman Misu is attempting a bit of power-grab herself.

Look: According to her, HaRam has Mawang’s power which threatens to consume him. The ring, which is made from the bones of the God of Balance, is needed to control Mawang’s power. However, the ring must be controlled by somebody with divine powers, somebody like… who else???…herself!

In effect then, if Prince2 manages to assimilate Mawang inside of his own body, he still requires Shaman Misu’s assistance. Shaman Misu ultimately ends up in control of him because the ring controls Mawang.

But she forgets one thing.

There’s another person with a divine power. CheongKi. Sure, she isn’t into sorcery, but she’s the divine painter. As we see over and over, the gods favor her.

And on top of that, she actually has Mawang’s power. Remember? She has Mawang’s EYES which is the source of its power. Lol.

Samshin said to Mawang, “I will take your eyes, the source of your power.”

She told Mawang, “You will be powerless until the day you reclaim your eyes.”

This indicates to me that to completely seal Mawang with all of its powerful dark magic in an eternal vessel, it must retrieve its powerful eyes first.

Then, Samshin flew to CheongKi, telling her, “You are a child destined to save the world. I shall temporarily entrust these eyes to you.”

It seems to me, too, that back in Episode 12, when she and Haram encountered Mawang in that alternate world (or dreamscape), Cheongki could have defeated Mawang because she had both Mawang’s power and the ring to control that power.

If you ask me, the real danger here is the Shaman because she alone has figured out that CheongKi has Mawang’s eyes.

Both HaRam and CheongKi heard Mawang bellow about the eyes but the significance never connected with them because they don’t understand sorcery like the Shaman does.

Also, if you ask me, I’ve a simple explanation for the title, “Lovers of the Red Sky.” Both HaRam and CheongKi have red eyes. HaRam’s red eyes are visible, but CheongKi’s red eyes are invisible. Their red eyes act like colored spectacles and make them see the world (including the sky) in red.

2. Prince Yul asked the comatose King, “How much of this did you know?”

To me, the king knew all along about Mawang behind inside of HaRam’s body. Hence, his inquiry about HaRam’s memories. He wanted to know whether HaRam remembered that it was the monster inside of him which killed his father. He anticipated that HaRam would have serious self-recrimination if he knew the truth.

I mentioned in my Ep 13 Q&A that HaRam had an image of his father flying in the air and hitting the tree.

The king would have guessed that the supernatural being was inside of him. So he ordered his Royal Guard to take HaRam away from his mother and brought the child to live with him in the palace where he could monitor him. He did it to preempt HaRam’s self-destruction and to compensate for his guilt. He witnessed the disaster at the water ritual, so he knew that HaRam’s situation was his fault because he was an imperfect monarch. Because he felt guilty, he atoned by granting HaRam special status and privileges in the palace.

As for HaRam being Il Wol Seong, I don’t think the King knew about that part of him. If he did, then he certainly turned a blind eye.

It wouldn’t surprise me if, after the “Joseon Exorcist” controversy, the screenwriter of LotRS made a special effort to portray the King as a benevolent one in this drama to avoid a similar backlash.

3. Why was the king’s portrait torn during the ceremony?

I think the painting has the wrong face on it. But oh well…

Wol Seon, the official palace shaman, tells Prince Yul that there’s something missing.

WS: But Your Highness, did you not sense something strange at this sealing ritual? Do you remember how the royal portrait was torn during the sealing ritual? It was certainly a divine painting, but if Mawang was able to rip it, it means there’s something missing to seal Mawang.

Well…. I think Mawang can’t be sealed without its full magical powers. Mawang’s source of power, its “eyes,” is still with Cheongki.

In the last sealing ritual with the predecessor king and Haram’s father, Mawang was in complete mastery of all of its powers. In the recent sealing ritual, Mawang was incomplete. CheongKi may have to give up her eyesight before then.

Yul: You mean we need something else other than the divine painting?
WS: Perhaps we need to use something other than the royal portrait’s divine quality.
Yul: Something else… look into it as soon as you can.

Good job, Writer!

We’re already in the final week, and nobody still knows what Samshin meant by an “eternal bowl” that CheongKi. I don’t think she meant a literal bowl. I think she meant a symbolic vessel or a receptacle that could seal Mawang in it forever. It could be a body even.

4. What was their first lovers’ quarrel all about?

HR: I’m glad you’re safe.
CK: But…
HR: What is it? Is there something troubling you?
CK: Why do you think the royal painting ripped? Even the Chief Shaman at the Shamanist Bureau said it had divine powers. That was why the sealing ritual went ahead. What could have been the problem?
HR: It is for the better.

The Kissasian version had Haram saying, “I’m glad it turned out that way.” As soon as he says that, CheongKi looks at him as if she can’t believe what she’s hearing.

CK: What do you mean?
HR: Maiden. Are you considering another sealing ritual, after all you went through? My heart…is in agony.

Didn’t I say this from the beginning? HaRam’s primary concern is the safety of CheongKi. Always has, and always will be. If he were a robot or machine, that would be his “prime directive” or guiding principle installed by his creator: to protect CheongKi.

If Cheongki was fated to be the divine painter, then he was fated to be her “destined partner” who would help her “avoid the curse” of blindness. They have their own particular mission in life pre-assigned to them.

Note too that Samshin never mentioned anything about protecting Cheongki’s family and friends. It’s only about Cheongki.

HaRam is only doing what Samshin has fated for him to do. Likewise, CheongKi is only doing what Samshin has fated for her to do. They’re at odds with each other because their fates require that they work at cross-purposes now.

CK: We must seal Mawang in a divine royal portrait somehow.
HR: No. You should never paint the royal portrait again.

See that? Their purposes in life have become contrary to each other.

CK: Then, is there another way? If we do not seal Mawang, what will happen to you then?
HR: (pausing) The heavens will not betray us so easily.

lol. But it’s the heavens who designed it this way. I must admire HaRam’s naivety and simple faith in his gods here.

CK: How could you say that, when you don’t know what adversity could befall you?

The kissasian sub is more direct. Cheongki says, “How can you say such a foolish thing when we do not know what could happen?”

CK: (continuing) Countless people died because of Mawang already. This existence called Mawang must be sealed. I will complete the royal portrait again, no matter what. When the sealing ritual takes place again, please help me seal Mawang in the royal portrait. I beg you.

In other words, she’s asking him to present and be tied up at the sealing ritual.

Now, she’s the one being naïve. Did she really think that Prince2 wouldn’t attempt to steal Mawang again?

HR: No one can change my mind right now.

Meaning, the line is drawn.

CK: Scholar Sir! Why…?
HR: (no answer)
CK: (walks away in a huff)

And that’s their first quarrel right there.

Alone, she thinks to herself, “HaRam, If I can, as long as I am alive, I will fight Mawang. I will seal that terrible Mawang in the royal portrait that I paint. I never said it in words, but I love you, Haram.”

Meanwhile, he’s outside the door, leaving a flower for her. His voiceover goes, “If I can protect you by keeping you far from me, I will push you away a thousand, even a million times. I am sorry, Maiden.”

So, if you ask me what this whole lovers’ quarrel is about, I’d say that:

a. it marks the first sign of CheongKi’s disillusionment with him.
b. it also marks CheongKi’s first time going against his wishes.
c. it’s their fates or life goals clashing against each other.

5. What was their SECOND lovers’ quarrel all about?

CK: Move aside.
HR: (holding her) Don’t do this! This is a trap. What will you do if you go like this?
CK: (brushing aside his hands) Then should I just watch my family at Baegyu Painting Institute die?

Just a sidenote. I like this actress’ performance. She’s immersed in her character and connected to the flow of the story. I don’t see the “technical” details of her acting; I just see a distraught woman. Good job!

HR: I will find a way.
CK: Until when will you continue to search for a way?

Ouch! This is as close as she can get to calling him inept and impotent.

HR: (speechless)
CK: Even when I risked my life to paint the royal portrait, you tried to stop me, saying that you would find a way. But I still completed the royal portrait.

In other words, she was able to finish the painting without his help. She doesn’t need him.

CK: (continuing) His Majesty must have followed that course because the only way to stop Mawang is to trap it in the royal portrait. But I thought all I had to do was risk my life alone. I lost my father and now my family at Baegyu Painting Institute. I did not know things would turn out like this. But even when things are like this, until when will you continue to search for a way?

Double ouch! She’s saying that she already risked a lot, but what has he done to trap Mawang? She still doesn’t know of his ultimate plan to avenge his family’s death. I pointed out before that if she knew what he was really up to, she wouldn’t put him on a pedestal like so.

HR: Blame me. Blame me. Blame me as much as you want, but – I cannot let you go.
CK: I wish I could. I wish I could blame you. I wish they could live if I blame you.

Hmmm…This is an interesting thing for her to say in the heat of the moment. If I were HaRam, I’d take this as a declaration of her priorities. For her, her family (but her dad’s dead), her adopted family and friends come first. She’ll throw him under the bus if that meant saving them. It goes without saying that she’ll throw herself under the bus, too.

CK: If something happens to my family at Baegyu Painting Institute, I will, I will, I will blame myself, and not forgive myself for the rest of my life. So I must. Please move aside.

A note on the subbing. I don’t know if the Viki subber is translating word for word, but I rather like the repetition here. He says, “Blame me, blame me, blame me…” And she answers, “I wish I could, I wish I could, I wish I could…” And she follows it up with, “I will, I will, I will…”

I talked about this in “The King: Eternal Monarch.” I said that, in Korean funeral practices, repeating something three times is part of the ritual. So when Haram and CheongKi keep repeating themselves, there’s an ominous tone in their spoken words – at least to my ears.

HR: (embracing her but she struggles) I am sorry. I know how you feel. I also lost my mother and father, the people most dear to me. I do not ever want to lose anyone else. I shall save them, no matter what. I promise you. So you must stay here. If you go now, there is no telling what will happen.
CK: Then. Then…then what should I do?
HR: This is exactly what Grand Prince Juhyang wants. He wants to provoke you and then me. If we move as they planned, there will be bloodshed again. Do you understand? (sitting her down and holding her hand) I shall go. I know it is difficult, but please wait a little longer. (then leaves her)

So what was the second lovers’ quarrel all about?

a. This is where their paths diverge.
b. It’s the melodramatic way of saying their final goodbyes.
c. I see this an ultimatum for HaRam. If he wants to keep the girl, he must do something more drastic.

Like…uh… maybe die for her. lol. In kdrama, self-sacrifice is the ultimate test of love.

5. How was Prince Yul going to stop Prince2 from taking Mawang?

Shaman: Your Highness, there’s big trouble. Painter Hong was taken by Grand Prince Juhyang.
Yul: What?
Shaman: It seems they used her father as bait to lure her out.
Yul: Then it’s only a matter of time before Supervisor Ha appears himself.
Shaman: If they two are caught, the sealing ritual will take place again. We must stop them before then.

Interesting. Previously, they wanted the sealing ritual to happen. Now, they don’t want the sealing ritual to happen. So what changed in their goals?

Their objectives changed because they finally discovered that Prince2 intended to possess Mawang for himself. The possibility of Mawang residing in Prince2’s body poses a bigger threat than the existence of Mawang inside of HaRam’s body. HaRam had Mawang inside of him all this time, but Mawang was contained for the most part.

Yul: No, I will not stop them.
Shaman: Pardon?
Yul: Hyeongnim will never give up on Mawang. Then there is only one way.

He takes out the sword, and thinks, “I shall also have to pay the price.”

Shaman: You were safe last time because Supervisor Ha was able to hold onto his life. If someone dies by the Tiger Sword this time, you would truly have to risk your own life.
Yul: What else is there to do if that is my fate?

To me, the simplest way is to just kill himself. Lol. If he’s dead, then his Hyung has the clear path to the throne. Prince2 desired Mawang because he believed he needed it to ascend to the throne. But if there’s no other successor other than him because Prince1 and Prince3 are dead, getting Mawang’s assistance becomes unnecessary.

However, since this is kdrama, the long, angst-ridden, circuitous route will be taken to reach the same outcome: Prince2 becomes the King.