Here are the four new things I learned this episode.

1. 1000 years ago, Hwal created Dark Hole when he ripped out EunTae’s soul. 

EunTae was with a blood-stained and motionless Hwal.

ET: Please tell me. I have always wanted to become like you. I’ve been waiting all this time. Even those of low birth live well. So how could someone as noble as me remain sickly until the day he dies? Isn’t that too unfair? So please tell me. What do I have to do to become like you?

Hwal: (mouthing words)
ET: What? (leaning in)
Hwal: (growls and removes soul)
ET: (writhes in pain)

Comments:

a. So…Bulgasal Hwal created Dark Hole. In my previous post, I guessed that he accidentally became mortal when he stabbed Ok Euntae and Ok Euntae’s soul transferred to him. As it turns out, he didn’t “stab” him. He punctured Euntae’s chest with those sharp Bulagasal-y claws of his and took his soul.

However, we don’t know whether Hwal knew beforehand that removing EunTae’s soul would turn him (Hwal, that is) human.

b. EunTae lied again.

In Episode 11, he told Hwal that Hwal begged him to turn him into a Bulgasal. In his own words, “You wanted this. It was for you. I did it for you! To turn you into a Bulgasal. You asked me to turn you into Bulgasal a thousand years ago. So on that day 600 years ago, I brought that woman to you. To make you a Bulgasal. To keep the promise I made to you.”

But we learn in Episode 12 that it was the other way around. It was EunTae who wanted to become a Bulgasal and begged to become a Bulgasal like Hwal.

However, we don’t know whether or not Hwal was obliging him when he pulled out EunTae’s soul. It’s possible that Hwal had no idea that by pulling out EunTae’s soul, he was turning EunTae into a Bulgasal and that EunTae’s human soul would ooze into him.

Remember, in Episode 2, he also pulled the soul of the Painter Monster out of its body. But that soul didn’t migrate into him.

c. The weakened state of the Bulgasal Hwal could indicate that EunTae managed to temporarily incapacitate him.

However, his weakened state doesn’t mean that he was willingly cooperating with EunTae. Nor does it mean that he agreed to assist EunTae in becoming a Bulgasal.

In fact, judging by the way his eyes flashed red as he was taking out EunTae’s soul, he was enraged by EunTae’s audacity.

d. Human Hwal repeated Bulgasal Hwal’s actions.

Back in Episode 11, when he was stabbed by EunTae and gasping for breath, he was mouthing some words that EunTae couldn’t understand. He then pretended to faint, forcing Euntae to come closer.

That’s when he pounced on Euntae and stabbed his chest with the knife. Hwal said, “You told me that your dark hole was your weakness. I might not be able to kill you but I thought I could make you vulnerable for a bit.”

Unconsciously, Hwal repeated the action he took in Year 1000. Back then, he also pretended to say something softly that EunTae had to lean in to hear properly.

Then, he went for EunTae’s heart/soul.

e. The problem with Dark Hole/EunTae is that he never speaks the truth. As SangUn said EunTae isn’t trustworthy. He even blamed her for killing his family.

EunTae reminds me of the villain Iago in Shakespeare’s “Othello.” He was also sinister and duplicitous. He twisted everything, and manipulated people with his lies. He ruined Othello when Othello believed in his lies.

2. SangUn is EunTae’s real opponent.

These are things we need to keep in mind.

First, EunTae framed her. He put the blame on her for something that he did.

Second, EunTae killed her over and over again for 600 years. But now that he’s powerless to do so, he wants Hwal to finish the task.

Third, EunTae put enmity between Hwal/the Blue Lord and SangUn/the Red Lady. He intended to separate them.

Six centuries ago, rumors spread that the child Hwal was cursed by the Bulgasal, and EunTae fueled the rumors by attacking Hwal’s village. He instilled in the child the fear and hatred of the Bulgasal.

As an adult, Hwal finally decided to hunt down the Bulgasal to end his curse. When he learned that the Bulgasal was the same Red Lady who saved him, he retreated from the attack. He decided not to kill her.

I suspect that’s the reason EunTae attacked his camp and went after his family that night. He didn’t like that Hwal had a change of heart, so he killed Hwal’s family and framed the Red Lady for it.

(I said from the beginning though, that had Hwal had stopped to think first, then he should have noted that that his family died from neck wounds. The Red Lady, however, didn’t bite him to kill him. She stabbed him. Wrong M.O.)

Fourth, EunTae first met the Red Lady on that day he killed his younger brother, then tried to kill the eyewitnesses. She stopped him. But he reported that the Bulgasal killed his younger brother. It wouldn’t surprise me if EunTae’s father, the chieftain of his tribe, attacked the Red Lady’s people in retaliation.

Fifth, EunTae kept a portrait of the Red Lady and the Blue Lord and stared at it all these years. The painting showed Red Lady and the Blue Lord with their backs turned away from each other.

This pose could be interpreted either as

A. Red Lady and Blue Lord were going separate ways, or
B. Red Lady and Blue Lord have each other’s back.

Depending on how EunTae looked at the subject matter of the painting, he could be:

A. rejoicing at their separation, or
B. envying their oneness.

Sixth, EunTae had a murder map (or a crazy board) hidden behind the painting. While Hwal’s and SangUn’s photos were prominently displayed and evenly spaced-out on the board, SangUn’s section of the board had more pictures because EunTae was actively chasing her. And it also had more bloodstains than Hwal’s section.

EunTae had extreme hatred for SangUn, and considered her his #1 enemy.

3. “Unrequited Love”

As of Episode 12, we can add one more reason for EunTae’s hatred for SangUn: unrequited love.

lol. No, I’m not referring to Hwal’s love (mutual or one-sided) for the SangUn. I’m talking about EunTae’s unrequited love for Hwal.

Hwal: I guess Bulgasal can be pretty weak too. The terrifying and immortal Bulgasal looks like a corpse now.
ET: That’s because I’m only half Bulgasal. Are you here to end me?
Hwal: Yes. But I have a question before that. Depending on your answer, you could end up in the well alone, or I, the root of all this, could die with your right here. I came here to make a decision. So tell me everything that you know. What kind of person was I a thousand years ago? Why did I ask you to turn me into Bulgasal? Why did Min SangUn give me Bulgasal’s curse?
ET: Then kill her for me. I’ll tell you everything after you kill her. I’ll tell you everything you don’t know. Kill her and bring her body to me.
Hwal: You’re not in your right mind. You’re still obsessed with her despite being on the brink of death. She’s been running away from us for the past 600 years. It’s time to let her go.
ET: You’re the one who’s not in your right mind. What is she to you? Do you even know what she did to you a thousand years ago?
Hwal: I don’t care. I may have wanted to kill her when she was Bulgasal, but I want to save the person she is now.

Good point. He’s repeating what he told EunTae at the train tracks. He said he didn’t care if she killed him.

ET: You made the same choice 1000 years ago. After all that she’s done to you, here you are again. Your damned one-sided love. Aren’t you sick of it.

Sigh. I would love to believe EunTae but he’s the proverbial boy-who-cried-wolf. After all the lies he said, I’d be a fool to believe him.

Hwal: What are you talking about?
ET: In the end, she will end you for good. She will ruin everything for you. Fine. I won’t expect anything from you anymore. Since you have chosen her over me, I will take everything you have the next time we meet. Even your son, your father, and your wife. I will kill everyone you cherish. Okay. Do as you wish.

Methinks, EunTae is the one with the one-sided love for Hwal. He sounds like spurned lover here. Since Hwal rejected him, and chose SangUn, he’d go after SangUn and everybody else whom Hwal loves.

ET: (continuing) Okay. Do as you wish. Stab my heart or cut it out if you want. But you better hurry. There’s not much time left.

And that’s when Hwal learned that EunTae had plotted to get SangUn killed while he was with him.

ET: I called one of my men. I thought you’d come back with Min SangUn, the woman you never leave behind.

This is interesting. Is he speaking about the present time, or is he also alluding to the past, to 1000 years ago? Were Hwal and SangUn inseparable back then, too?

I noticed that in the painting, there were two cave openings side-by-side.

ET: I said I’d kill everyone you cherished.
Hwal: (pushing him away and turning to leave)
ET: (clutching him) Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go. Just. Just let her go. Focus on me. Focus on me. This is your chance to kill me. I’ll tell you everything you want to know. So let go of her and come to me. Please don’t go. Let go of her and come to me.
Hwal: (runs away)
ET: Don’t go. Don’t go. He’s gone. He left me behind. He abandoned me.

With so much angst on display, I would have to be an ostrich burying its head in the sand, not to consider that ET’s unrequited feelings for Hwal.

4. Bulgasal’s Powers and Flashing Eyes

a. True Bulgasal can regenerate on his/her own.

Hwal: I guess Bulgasal can be pretty weak too. The terrifying and immortal Bulgasal looks like a corpse now.
ET: That’s because I’m only half Bulgasal. Are you here to end me?

If Hwal just used his brain cells here, he should have deduced that he isn’t a half-Bulgasal like EunTae. If a “half-Bulgasal” becomes this weak, after being attack and not drinking human blood to revive himself, then Hwal should have been suffered the same effects whenever he fought against the monsters. After all, wasn’t he a “half-Bulgasal,” too? Although he never drank blood in 600 years, he recovered from his wounds and regenerated on his own, without problems.

b. True Bulgasal doesn’t totally lose his/her powers upon turning human.

When Hwal was still a general in the army fighting monsters, he survived all his wounds because his previous Bulgasal regenerative power was still in him, although he didn’t know it.

Similarly, SangUn retained her Bulgasal powers although she wasn’t aware of them. I listed them back in Episode 3 & 4, right?

Link: Eps 3 & 4 Things I Learned

For instance, unlike her unnie Sangyeon, she got goosebumps and trembling hands when monsters were nearby. That was how she could recognize monsters from the past. They were her defense mechanism.

In this sense, Hwal and SangUn were yin-yang in the past. Hwal was the aggressive and active one while SangUn (aka Red Lady) was the defensive and passive one.

c. Additionally, SangUn had a fighting ability.

Back in Episode 3, I noted that she experienced a blackout/whiteout before beating up the monster to a pulp. I said she possessed a fighting skill that was activated only during a “fight-or-flight” episode, like Bruce Banner’s “Hulk” episodes.

Just before she was attacked, she was thinking of her sister’s last words to her, “Listen carefully. You have to live. Live in hiding, and don’t trust anyone. And look for a way to kill Bulgasal.” Her eye flashed, and she had a vision of the same cave scene that Hwal had on the night his family was killed in Episode 1.

I suspect that this vision is a premonition (or warning) of something dangerous coming their way. Their cave/refuge is about to be invaded by an enemy.

When she regained her senses, she was holding the knife in her hands.

In this episode, she had another “Hulk” occasion. Her eyes flashed again, and then she attacked the forest ranger who was sent by EunTae to kill her.

Because she was in a sort of trance, she had no clear recollection of how she found him. All she knew was she stabbed the man and ended up with the knife.

SangUn: Do you think that the cop will be okay?
Hwal: Don’t feel guilty about it. It was self-defense.

She didn’t kill the cop but EunTae did when he drank his blood to regain good health.

SangUn: But I stabbed a man.
Hwal: He attacked you first. You could’ve died.
SangUn: I did it involuntarily.
Hwal: What do you mean?
SangUn: I don’t remember much after getting stabbed. When I came to, I was holding the knife. This happened once before. I felt like a lunatic.
Hwal: You did well. I don’t care if you went crazy. Just don’t die. I would’ve put Ok Eultae in the well if I knew this would happen.

Stabbing people seems to be her method of choice for fighting off attackers. Remember when Dark Hole/EunTae was choking her to death in Episode 4? I told you that that she conjured that sword out of nowhere to stab EunTae.

She had enough power in her to make a sword materialize out of nowhere because her life was in danger.

That’s why she stabbed Hwal in this episode. She confused him as her attacker because she had a flashback of a murderous looking Hwal 1000 years ago. To fend him off, she reached for a sharp object, a pair of medical scissors this time, and stabbed him on the right shoulder.

But she was in a trance.

If you look at her pupils, she wasn’t seeing Hwal as he stood in front of her, but the Bulgasal Hwal.

Hwal: Why did you do that?
SangUn: (dropping the scissors) Who are you? Who? Who exactly are you?

She was beginning to remember. Unfortunately, her memories — just like the shaman’s prophecies — are fallible and unreliable. These are “memory illusions” or delusions. She was MIS-remembering the past and reconstructing it with the fragments of flashbacks, only to end up with the false narrative.

She doesn’t have this image of herself like Hwal did, to anchor her memories.

5. Hwal as lover boy is awkward for me to watch.

Here are the gifs from seawherethesunsets’ tumblr.

source: seawherethesunsets’ tumblr

That’s it for me. I’ll try to post my write-ups on Bulgasal earlier next time. 🙂