This is Part Two. Part one is here: Alchemy of Souls: Ep 7 My Notes

5. The Mirror of Longing

According to Lady Jin, it’s a “relic that creates illusions. It uses other mirrors to show illusions of things that people long for.”

Uk: (punching the mirror repeatedly)
Mirror: You know you do not have the power to break it.
Uk: Shut up. You’re nothing but an illusion.

Note: Uk’s response mirrored Naksu’s response. They both told it to shut up.

Mirror: That is right. I am an illusion. An illusion that reflects who you are. Humans are incapable of seeing themselves with their own eyes. The only way is to see themselves through a mirror. So the perception you have about yourself is nothing but an illusion.

Note on nuance. An illusion does NOT mean that our perception of ourselves is ENTIRELY false, delusional, or invalid. Rather, an illusion implies that not *everything* is what it seems. Take for example the illusion of MuDeok that appeared before the Crown Prince. Some parts of the apparition mirrored MuDeok exactly, but some important characteristics of MuDeok, like her odor and her distaste for cinnamon, didn’t surface. That’s how the CP discovered the illusion.

Mirror: (continuing) The same goes for how others perceive you. They only see what they want to see and create an illusion that suits them. It’s all just an illusion.
Uk: If what you say is true, that means people only see illusions and nothing else.

This is erroneous. Sometimes, people only want to see illusions. But often people can’t help seeing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. There are some truths that are incontrovertible.

Mirror: That is right. I turn into what they want to see the most and show it to them. I shall do the same for you.
Uk: (staring-fest)
Mirror: Give me your energy. Then I will turn you into the most perfect version of yourself.
Uk: (thinking) But you need my reflection to create that so-called illusion.
Mirror: What?
Uk: If there is nothing to reflect, a mirror becomes useless.

He recovers the mirror. All the mirrors in Naksu’s dimension disappear except for the “mirror of longing.”

Uk: You are nothing but a piece of glass. That’s enough babbling from you. (yelling) MuDeok! Are you in there? MuDeok!
Naksu: (hearing him) Jang Uk! Jang Uk, Jang Uk, I’m here.
Uk: I found you. (sighing)

My Comments:

a. I like that all three guys went to look for MuDeok but it was Uk who stayed. The Crown Prince called him, “a low-level mage” but Uk’s lack of expertise didn’t stop him from rescuing Naksu/MuDeok on his own.

b. This reminded me of Naksu’s instruction in Ep 5. She didn’t want him to save her in the event that Gilju and his men captured her. He answered straightaway, “Of course, I am too weak to help anyway.” She gave him an annoyed look. She probably expected him to protest and insist on saving her.

Sighing, Uk said, “There is nothing your pupil can do for you.” Naksu retorted that she “expected nothing from you.”

I think Naksu shouldn’t underestimate Uk. This is one of his illusions. He gives the impression that he’s weak because he’s whiny and self-deprecating.

c. I have to make a note of the mirror’s offer. It said, “Give me your energy. Then I will turn you into the most perfect version of yourself.”

Only a few people and things can see Uk’s energy.

This mirror.
Naksu, of course.
Master Lee.

In Episode 5, Master Lee tried to convince Uk to become his pupil. Uk said he didn’t go there to train. Master Lee pointed out that he was wasting his energy. His arm would soon become a burden if he left his energy shackled by the bracelet. Then, with this serious look on his face, he asked Uk, “Shall I cut off your energy flow? Then you’ll be able to live an average and comfortable life.”

Master Lee, like the mirror, wanted to take Uk’s energy. They bribed him with something they *thought* he would like. While Master Lee proposed an ordinary quiet life (the same life Park Jin had wanted for Uk), the mirror offered the opposite: perfection, greatness.

But I don’t think Master Lee wanted Uk’s energy to keep for himself. I think he wanted to get rid of it to keep the world safe. Remember: he’s eliminating things that could hurt people.

Remember too that he didn’t kill off the sleeping body of Naksu/MuDeok because he didn’t sense “malice” in her. He didn’t have to get rid of her to keep the world safe.

Only Naksu wanted him to level up his energy to the max even if he had to drink poison, be flogged 100 times, duel with the Crown Prince or lose a hand.

To continue…

Uk: MuDeok. While you were gone, I thought about what I could do to keep you by my side. If I become Cheonbugwan’s Gwanju, you can be the Assistant Gwanju.
Naksu: Why would I want that?
Uk: You said you did not want to stay by my side as just a maid. We cannot tell anyone that you are my master. But you can stay if you become the Assistant Gwanju.
Naksu: Cheongbugwan’s Gwanju keeping a soul shifter by his side? You must be mad.

Lol. Little do they know that a Gwanju had done worse. Jang Gang performed alchemy of souls.

Uk: I thought about it after I heard about my marriage. “He finally has a way out. But how will I manage without him?” I bet you thought that and felt lost.

Lol. This is a first. He’s now trying to see things from her perspective.

Back in Episode 5, she lugged their heavy supplies to the shack, and he didn’t wonder how she was managing. Now, he was concerned about her feelings.

Naksu: (silent)
Uk: But now that you are not here, I feel just as lost. (putting hand on the mirror) MuDeok. I miss you.
Naksu: (putting her hand on the mirror)

Flashback to the memorable times together. Then, the blue smoke came out of her hand, the mirror rumbled, and so on.

Naksu told him to step away. There was blinding white light.

My Comments:

a. There was the couple bird egg pendants as couple rings later in the episode, so this scene with the mirror of longing scene constitutes the confession.

b. The Hong sisters have a penchant for proxy love confessions. Instead of directly asking her to be his “woman,” Uk offered to make her his “Assistant Gwanju.”

But I thought telling her that he missed her was brave. He risked being ridiculed by Naksu.

c. It’s appropriate that he expressed his longing for her, without the aid of the mirror, and without seeing her.

The comparison isn’t subtle one bit.

With the Crown Prince and Yul, they were thinking of MuDeok/Naksu when she appeared to them in an illusion.

The CP was grumbling that she was an ungrateful girl when her illusion appeared in front of him. She told him that he’d been thinking about her, so she came to see him.

But he sussed her out when he couldn’t smell her usual foul odor. She said, “You caught me,” and the mirror cracked.

Yul was thinking of Naksu when MuDeok appeared. She told him that she came because he kept longing for her.

Yul was confused because he didn’t know that Naksu’s soul was in MuDeok’s body. All he knew was that she wasn’t human. But he hesitated to destroy her because he didn’t want to lose the illusion. But when he decided to cast her out, the mirror cracked as well.

Thus, CP and Yul both encountered Naksu as an illusion. They saw her image generated by the mirror in their chambers. But despite seeing her, neither of them was deluded for long by her words and actions. Once they realized she was fake, the illusion, literally and metaphorically, shattered.

As for Uk, the illusion of Naksu/MuDeok didn’t appear before him. He didn’t need to conjure her up because he could tell her directly that she was in his thoughts. He was thinking of a way to keep her at his side, and he was missing.

It’s also noteworthy that the mirror was covered when he confessed. To me, this signified that his feelings for her weren’t an illusion, but truth. With the CP, he had an illusion of MuDeok as a silly, filthy country girl. With Yul, he had an illusion of an old crush who was no longer there. The young Naksu turned into something he couldn’t recognize.

Only Uk saw MuDeok for who she really was: Naksu’s soul lived on inside of her.

Lastly, unlike with the CP and Yul whose discovery of the illusion made their mirrors crack and MuDeok disappear,

Uk’s heartfelt confession (i.e., real, not an illusion) moved Naksu/MuDeok to reach out for him, like he was reaching out for her.

When the mirror exploded, she reappeared, not disappeared.

So that’s the difference between the CP’s and Yul’s mirrors of longing, and Uk’s mirror of longing. Uk’s mirror is a two-way mirror. Rather than give an illusion, it’s transparent.

6. On illusions

Park Jin: What you did was dangerous. Entering Jinyowon was recklessly childish and stubborn of you.
Uk: Do not be so angry. You may think I am pathetic, but that is an illusion.
PJ: What?

Uk has realized that he has great potential/great energy within him. He isn’t weak nor incapable as others think he is. He believes that Park Jin is in denial about his real strength and that Park Jin only wants to see as pathetic.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Of all people, Park Jin is aware of Uk’s great power as the King’s Star. He has absolutely no illusion of Uk being pathetic.

But unlike the “mirror of illusion,” Naksu, and Master Lee, he knows of Uk’s power but he doesn’t want it to emerge and activate.

Uk: The mirror I saw inside Jinyowon told me that people only see what they wish to see. That it is an illusion.
PJ: Are you saying that I see you as an illusion?
Uk: If not, why do you not want me to do anything?

Park Jin couldn’t answer Uk because he couldn’t reveal the truth.

Uk doesn’t know that Park Jin is fully aware of his power as the King’s Star. But Park Jin wants Uk to maintain the illusion of being weak.

Uk: (continuing) All my life I tried so hard to prove to everyone that I was my father’s son. But you told me I was not. Though it hurt, it got rid of my illusion. But even after that, why do you want me to stay as an illusion?
PJ: I don’t care what you stay as. I only wish for one thing. And that is for you to be safe.
Uk: The illusion that I tried so hard to prove no longer exists. So from now on, I am going to try even harder to find out who I really am, and what I must do from now on. (bowing)

My Comments:

a. I hope a day will come when Uk realizes that while he’s been protesting that Park Jin only saw him as an illusion, he was also guilty of viewing Park Jin as an illusion. It’s his illusion that Park Jin was a heartless man.

Uk doesn’t understand that his safety and well-being are paramount to Park Jin and that Park Jin is the closest thing he has to a father. Park Jin is only doing what he thinks is right for Uk and the community of Songrim.

b. For Uk, there had been two illusions in his life.

One, the illusion that he was Jang Gang’s son. Thanks to Park Jin’s confession, he became aware of the true state of affairs.

Two, the illusion that he was weak and pathetic. But thanks to Naksu/MuDeok’s harsh training, he knows that he has the strength and the fire in him (or “vigor”) to reach his goal.

And since he’s been disillusioned, he can then seek who he really is and what his destiny is meant to be.

c. We have to remember Jang Gang’s warning to Park Jin. He wanted to project and keep an illusion that Uk is weak.

“The day this child was born, a star that symbolizes the king was found in the night sky. The late king’s brother had already taken over the throne, and he even has a son to succeed him. If that royal family finds out that this child was destined to be king, they will see it as treason. His existence will bring chaos. He should not attract attention or challenge anyone. We must make people think that he is nothing special.”

But Uk shattered this illusion by doing the Tansu move in Episode 8. He attracted attention by dueling the CP — who was Ryusu-ranked — and defeating him with the Tansu move that he mastered in a few weeks.

The Queen, the royal family, Jin Mu, the three leaders of the important clans in Daeho, his friends, and the mages, all know that his weakness was an illusion.

That’s the sound of their collective mirrors breaking.

7. On unity

In Episode 6, Uk demanded exclusivity; in Episode 7, he’s demanding unity. They’re in it together so they have equal share of risks, losses, gains, and successes.

Uk: I was told the mirror made illusions. I am checking if it’s really you that I saved.
Naksu: You didn’t save me. I broke it and got out myself.
Uk: (surprised) Hmm?
Naksu: When I was trapped inside the mirror, I regained my power for a bit just like how I did in Lake Gyeongcheondaeho. I’m sure I broke the mirror with my own power.

I doubt it. Earlier, she was pounding on the door, but it didn’t crack.

The blue energy only surged after both she and Uk laid their hands on glass. They were united when the blue energy came out of her hand.

She might have the power in her but it needed Uk to draw it out.

Uk: So that was how you got out? I was excited thinking it was me.
Naksu: Not even close. You should be grateful that the mirror did not suck you in.

Lol. That is Naksu breaking Uk’s illusion of greatness.

Uk: I even thought about that because you were still inside.
Naksu: What a futile idea. It would not have traded you for me.
Uk: What if it did? Then would it not have been futile?

Lol. Naksu misunderstood Uk’s anxiety. She assumed that Uk was worried that he’d get sucked in, too. So she told him that he didn’t need to worry because she was the more “valuable” captive of the two.

But that wasn’t Uk’s point at all. He was worried that one would be trapped and the other one free. He wanted both of them free or nothing. He saw them as a package deal. Buy one, get one free. If he saves one, he saves both of them.

Naksu: Well, I would have survived.
Uk: And I would have died.
Naksu: Listen to me, my pupil. When there’s no other way, the best deal is to sacrifice yourself and save me.
Uk: No. I don’t like that. If I die, you should die, too. You cannot live on your own.
Naksu: (rolls eyes)
Uk: You have no other choice. When you put your pupil in danger, your life should be at risk, too.
Naksu: Fine. I will keep that in mind.

Meaning, they should have an equal risk contribution.

Naksu: (continuing) Then, what will happen to marrying the woman who almost had your master killed?

She wanted to know how Uk would handle ChoYeong. The girl trapped her inside the Jinyowon because she wanted her killed by “accident.”

Bah! ChoYeong is a morally dubious person. She looks as fragile and innocent as Little BoPeep but she knowingly endangered someone. She’s an illusion, too.

Uk: (sighing) Marrying her will surely guarantee my safety. But you almost lost your life, so I should risk my life, too.

Lol. He wasn’t really “risking” his life when he wanted to extricate himself from the engagement in the first place.

*****

I’ll *try* to work on Part 3 next. I hope I’m not boring you yet with my notes.