Let’s see if I can finish this before jetlag hits. This is part 1 of 3. I’ll post the links here when I’m done with them.

Part 2: Alchemy of Souls: Ep 16 On the Return of Naksu’s Sword
Part 3: Alchemy of Souls: Ep 16 My Notes, Part 3

Sorry. No screenshots because I don’t have time. Just rest your eyes.

1. Naksu’s “unloving glare”

Uk complains that nobody would believe that she loves him to death if she glowers at him fiercely.

I thought it was an appropriate look. She said she loved him to death, so she was merely being true to her word. She looked daggers at him. If looks could kill, then he’s dead.

Sheepishly, he asks if she can look at him with eyes “brimming with sweetness” instead.

But he knows that such loving expression would be too much of a stretch for her, so she should have toned it down and said that she was only “mildly attracted” to him rather than go overboard with “love to death.”

Naksu counters.

Naksu: Let’s say then that I do my best to look at you with sweetness and keep loving you to death. What happens next?
Uk: After?
Naksu: Should I keep loving you blindly while Maidservant Kim desperately tries to marry you off? What would happen to me then?
Uk: Don’t worry. I have no intention of marrying for now.

His answer infuriates her even more because he’s skirting around her real concern. She doesn’t want to lose face should he end up marrying Heo YunOk.

Naksu: “No intention,” my foot. Is that not why you refused to drink chaste herb tea?

Naksu has excellent recall. Uk refused to drink the herbal tea because he had plans to marry. In his own words: “I have plans to marry later on.…Yes, I do. I truly want to. I will get married at all costs.” He realized his mistake.

Uk: So what you are asking me is a promise of some sort?
Naksu: If I am to stay in love with you, (licking her finger and wiping it on Uk’s chin) I need to be certain that you are mine.

Ewww. It’s like licking a slice of cake to call dibs on it. But he finds it cute.

Uk: Let’s not rush into things.
Naksu: So you refuse?
Uk: Why is everything so dramatic with you? I’m just saying that we cannot rush things right now. I have to discuss with Maidservant Kim, too.
Naksu: Good grief. Never mind then. “Eyes brimming with sweetness,” my foot. I will just glare at you like a dog.

In my opinion, Naksu should be relieved that Uk is different from Danggu and ChoYeon. They rushed into declaring their feelings to their elders and regretted their impetuous gesture afterwards. Unlike his two peers, Uk is paving the way so he and Naksu won’t face opposition.

Another thing. Of all the Hong sisters’ characters, I think Uk makes the most fuss about the eyes. From the moment they met, he noted her eyes.

Uk: You have beautiful eyes.
Naksu: (flustered) Cut the nonsense!
Uk: Right, sorry. Only your eyes are beautiful.
Naksu: You must be crazy.

He meant that he recognized her as Naksu the assassin. Her eyes were beautiful, but her soul was ugly as sin.

In Episode 2, he brought it up again.

Uk: I knew the moment I saw you. You are my master.
Naksu: Did you find something special about me, Young Master?
Uk: I told you that you have beautiful eyes. Right, sorry. Only your eyes are beautiful. The soul shifter’s blue mark has bloomed inside them.
Naksu: (thinking) So the mark was inside my eyes.

He also remarked on her propensity to glare at him. He said it wasn’t proper for a servant to glare at her master, so he ordered her to keep her eyes down.

In Episode 7, when Uk rescued her from inside the Mirror of Longing, he checked on her eyes to confirm that it was indeed Naksu’s soul inside MuDeok’s body. He asked her to do the same to him in Episode 8 when she believed him to have shifted souls with Gilju.

Uk: (grasping her by the arms) Master! It’s me, Jang Uk. We did not shift souls.
Naksu: (turning to look at Gilju)
Uk: (shaking her) Look into my eyes. It is me, right? I am the only one who can look at you from this close. Do you recognize me?

I presume that the writers are laying the groundwork for the ending. We all know that “eyes are windows to the soul.” Literally, MuDeok’s eyes reveal the soul of Naksu hidden inside the body. In the future, should Naksu lose MuDeok’s body and be shifted into another body, Uk can still find her by looking into the eyes.

2. The dead Sapsali dog

Two noteworthy things.

a. Master Lee says that Gwiju attacked because it sensed sorcery. Meaning, the dog didn’t only sniff out soul-shifters, it could also smell the people involved in sorcery.

If that’s the case, however, then Gwiju should have barked like crazy, and attacked Jin Mu when they met each other in the palace courtyard in Episode 15. After all, Jin Mu engaged in dark magic all the time.

b. Naksu wonders why the dog stopped barking at her and concludes that it was covering for her.

I suspect however that the dog stopped barking at her after that night she fell in a trance because it recognized the alternate soul living in MuDeok’s body, Jin BuYeon. The dog knew then the soul-switcher wasn’t an evil person.

3. The King’s Star

Back in the palace, the Queen/Shaman Choi continues to instill paranoia in the King and undo the wise counsel of Master Lee. The King fears the emergence of the King’s Star to dethrone him.

Fortunately, the Crown Prince serves as the voice of reason in the Royal Household. He reminds his father that the King’s Star is like another Master Seo Gyeong who’ll save them from troubled times rather than threaten them. Unfortunately, he cannot win against both his “mother” and his mentor, Jin Mu. They inflame the King’s distrust of the King’s Star.

I think there’s ambiguity about the term “King’s Star.”

a. For the King, it means the rightful heir of the throne. He fears the “King’s Star” because he believes he’ll be replaced by someone more entitled, capable, and befitting to the throne he presently occupies.

b. For the CP, the “King’s Star” is the defender of the throne, not a usurper. Unlike his weakling father, the Crown Prince has self-confidence.

An aside: It seems to me that the Hong sisters like the actor’s portrayal of his character too so he’s being given more wiggle room to become a hero-in-waiting.

c. For Uk who’s so far unaware of his fate as the “King’s Star,” it’s the auspicious date of his birth. On his birthday, the star appeared at “the center of the Big Dipper that contains nature’s secrets. It only reveals itself when the sky is filled with the energy of the Daeho waters.”

He’s born with great powers but whether he’ll wield them for public and maximum good – as Master Seo Gyeong did – is still unknown. He claims, however, to follow his heart, and we know where his heart lies. With Naksu.

Yul: And it is our duty to protect this world…from such monsters.
Uk: We can also protect the monsters from this world. Once we keep them in check, the world will be at peace. Everyone had high hopes for you ever since you were little, so you think you need to do something grand. But I was told to sit still all my life. I will follow my heart.

d. Lastly, in Episode 15, Master Lee expounded on his understanding of the “King’s Star.”

King: Master Seo Gyeong was born with the energy of the King’s Star.
Master Lee: However, he did not become the king.
King: Are you saying that there could be another person with the energy of the King’s Star?
Master Lee: Even if he exists, the light he emits will be faint. And the energy of the seven stars surrounding him will not show yet. A power strong enough to defy the laws of nature and bring chaos to the world has returned once again.

From his statement, the “King’s Star” is only the eighth star in the Big Dipper. By itself, the power of the “King’s Star” is weak. Its full energy is contingent upon the emergence of its surrounding seven stars.

Now, there’s a couple of ways to interpret the meaning of the seven stars of the “King’s Star.”

One, the seven stars could refer to the people around Uk who have helped him thus far, and who will help him in the future. He has so many people assisting him that it’s difficult to limit the auxiliary stars to just seven. There’s Naksu, Yul, Danggu, the Crown Prince, Master Lee, and Maidservant Kim. That’s six stars right off the bat.

Then, whether he likes to admit or not, he also owes gratitude to Mage Heo and Mage Park Jin for raising him while his father was away. There’s also Heo YunOk and to a lesser extent, his ex-fiancee, Jin ChoYeon.

And now, his father, Jang Gang, has arrived. He can possibly be the seventh star surrounding the “King’s Star.”

Two, the seven stars could also refer to the number of steps or hurdles Uk must take in order to achieve greatness. Let’s remember what he went through.

First, he needed to find a master. He found one in Naksu. He actually coerced her to be his master.

Second, he needed to open his gate of energy. He did it when he took the poison Naksu gave him.

Then, he had to possess the torrent of energy he was given temporarily by Mage Heo. He learned Mage Heo’s breathing technique to own it, and he reached Jipsu level.

After that, he got flogged so his energy surged. Although he couldn’t control his energy, he was able to unsheathe his father’s sword just in the nick of time to save Naksu from the Crown Prince’s sword. He reached Ryusu then. He was the same level as the Crown Prince and Yul.

When he learned Naksu’s specialty, Tansu, he defeated Gilju. But it wasn’t till he defeated the Crown Prince that he amazed everybody with his mastery of Chisu. He jumped ahead of genius mage Yul.

Finally, he did the impossible by learning Hwansu. By going fishing with Master Lee, he achieved something only two other mages have done before.

Heo Yeom: The alchemy of souls was not a type of sorcery from the start. You can only perform this once you have mastered Jipsu, Ryusu, Chisu, and ultimately, Hwansu.
DangGu: Hwansu is the godlike power of changing water to fire and vice versa. Is it not? Humans cannot reach that level.
Heo Yeom: Right. But Master Seo Gyeong, the founder of Songrim, did. There was also someone else.
DangGu: Who?

That was Master Lee, of course.

I don’t think it has dawned yet on Uk the “godlike” power he has in his own hands. He’s an alternative to the ice stone; he can shift his soul into another human.

And that’s why meeting his father Jang Gang is the seventh star — or the last hurdle — Uk must do before he can fully become the “King’s Star.” He has issues with Jang Gang that he needs to resolve in order for his light to fully shine.

Okay, have to end here and snooze. See you in a bit.