People might have forgotten that Uk originally asked Naksu to be his wife but I don’t forget details like that.
From Episode 2. Uk and Naksu were in the Secret Room viewing Naksu’s real body on the autopsy table.
Uk: The body was frozen here. Seeing how there is no rotting smell, your body must still be fine. Naksu.
Naksu: That’s right. I am the Shadow Assassin. Naksu. I thought long and hard about why you helped me. Did the Danju send you here, too?
Uk: No. No one sent me here.
Naksu: Then why did you help me?
Uk: I already told you. But I guess you didn’t get the message.
Naksu: (remembering his “Your eyes are beautiful” line) Don’t tell me you really fell for me?
Uk: (snorting)
Naksu: Do not laugh! That’s the only thing that makes sense.
Uk: I do admit repeatedly calling you pretty. But it’s because I desired something.
Naksu: Which was?
Uk: I have been searching for someone who can break this spell to call my master. And then I found you. (taking a closer step) Naksu. I want you to be my master.
Naksu: (her turn to scoff) The son of Jang Gang of Songrim is asking me, an assassin, to be his master? What original nonsense.
Uk: You will open your pupil’s gate of energy and help him master spells. As your pupil, I will keep you safe and hidden. We could form a beautiful relationship where we benefit from each other.
Naksu: Not interested.
Uk: If you do not want to be my master, you could be my wife instead. Would you like that?
Naksu: Shut it!
And now at the end of this Episode 18, she’s expecting something from him along the lines of marriage.
Naksu: (hearing his footsteps) You are still alive, my pupil.
Uk: (grimly) Why did you hide it?
Of course, he knows why. But he needs to hear it from her.
He knows she concealed the truth from him that a) she has regained her power and b) she has the ice stone because she plans to leave secretly with the stone. It was his worst fear: that she’ll abandon him. Remember? He told her that he was scared that she might break her promise and abandon him without even looking back. I always thought he had abandonment issues because Jang Gang left him.
So, now he’s asking her why she did it.
Naksu: I just want you to die.
Uk: Then, why did you come for me?
Naksu: Because I’m afraid you’ll die.
I checked the subs of Netflix against google and Papago, and to me, this translation is the closest to the theme of this episode. The priestess BuYeon had told Naksu while they were in the whirlwind that the ice stone can’t truly be possessed by anyone for only its power can be used. She elaborated, “Pull and get pushed. Earn one and lose the other. That’s the burden you will have to carry.” Naksu brashly replied that she was up to the task, “I can endure that.”
So here, Naksu is getting her first taste of burden she had to carry. She WANTED Uk to die because then she could flee with the ice stone. When he’s dead, she wouldn’t feel guilty about taking the ice stone and shifting souls as she pleased. However, her wish to see him dead is negated by her fear of his death. She wanted him dead at the same time she didn’t want him to die.
Uk: Since you have unsheathed the sword, make your decision.
I like Uk striding towards her. There was no hesitation.
Uk: I know you have been avoiding me. I also know that everyone’s lives are in your hands.
Naksu: (averts her eyes)
Uk: Like you promised, point your sword at me first.
Naksu: (points the sword at his neck)
Flashback to the scene in Episode 16. She remembers what he said.
Back then, I thought that he made her promise so a) he could take responsibility for her criminal actions and b) he could deter her from killing others and turning herself into a monster.
Now, however, I think he’s reminding her of the promise because he wants her to decide something for herself.
You see, Uk understands her frame of mind…better than she does. He knows that he cannot persuade her to stay if she intends to leave. No amount of coaxing or pleading will make her change her mind.
Remember in Episode 7 when he gave her the yin-yang egg? He asked her to stay loyal and dutiful teach other. But she handed it back to him and said goodbye because she was rejoining Gilju.
Then, remember in the make-up scene in Episode 17? Although he was joking, he knew that she was trying hard not love him. She was distressed at the thought of loving him.
Then, earlier this episode, she disapproved of him saying embarrassing lovey-dovey things so openly because he’d regret it later. To him, any embarrassment from speaking romantic words could be tolerated because the embarrassment was only temporary. However, any regrets for NOT saying the words would be unbearable because there was no way he could turn back time to say them. So he encouraged her to be open, just like him. “Master, endure the embarrassment and be honest with yourself. That way, you will not regret anything.”
To me, this conversation foreshadowed her distress when she saw the blood outside the Secret Room. She saw that the doors were closed so she believed him dead, and she remembered Uk saying that he couldn’t turn back time even if he regretted something.
I like the visual imagery here. It’s a *dead* end. She thought she was going to regret not being with him for the rest of her life.
The only way to make her stay is to compel her to face the truth about her feelings for him. She needs to be honest with herself that she WANTS to stay with him more than anything else…more than her desire to become Naksu the assassin again.
That’s why he put his life on the line.
To me, his daring mission to lock the soul-shifter in the Secret Room has a dual purpose. True, he’s rescuing everybody. But he’s also betting on Naksu to come to her senses, go rescue him from the soul-shifter (remember: he knows that she’s got her energy back), and admit that she can’t bear to live without him.
And that’s why they’re standing in the Secret Room with her sword at his neck. This is the moment of truth.
I like that Uk waits for her move without flinching. It’s an understatement to say that both their eyes aren’t dry.
Naksu: (lowering her sword) Fine. Make me another promise just like you said you would.
Lol. In a typical Naksu fashion, she can’t spare him any sentimental or lovey-dovey words even in her confession.
But it’s enough. He understands what she means, and he kisses her.
And that’s MY analysis of the kiss. People might find this odd but for me, the beauty of this kiss is not the sucking of lips, clashing of tongues, or exchanging of spit (we didn’t see any, anyway), but everything that went before the kiss.
Toodles. My dinner is ready.
You wrote about the spit exchanging lip sucking and tongue clashing just before dinner. Ha!
Yes, I loved the contrast and poignancy of the scene (he jokes about her being his wife in the same room and it comes full circle in ep18 in the promise/ and the first time she pointed her sword at him vs now) and the lowering of her defenses finally, the acceptance that “but I am Uk’s bird egg”.
Uk knows her well enough and he’s smart enough to play his pieces- he goes for the goal and bets himself, places himself on the line. It was such a systematic unraveling of her final defenses.
Similarly I haven’t forgotten all the teasers of being his wife and his repeated chastity denials/ insistence that he wants to get married some day. Maybe not in p1 but hopefully p2.
Kalispera @Packmule3!
I really enjoyed reading this one. The scene you described was one of the best in the show. I have watched it at least 10 times. Everything was spot on and I have to salute Jung So Min for the way she interpreted Cho Yeong’s feelings when she thought that Uk could be dead.
As I have said in the actual thread, in her internal fight we actually saw which persona of hers would won. What would she choose? To be the notorious Naksu or love Uk and be Cho Yeong.
The way she said: Tsa / Fine, while crying and closing her eyes to calm herself down. While at the same time, she withdrew the sword.
That part was the most emotional for me. Because for the first time in her life, she chose to be truthful and fragile not only to herself, but also in front of Jang Uk.
I think the reason Jin Bu Yeon will return her body back to her is because Yeong chose Uk above being power hungry.
I am also impressed with Jang Uk. Although he was heartbroken in the thought she could betray him, still he didn’t hesitate at all.
Lee Jae Wook’s acting matched hers. Those emotional eyes with the unshed tears of his. Looking determined to die.
This scene entered my Top Notch Acting Scenes, for the reason you said.
It was not the Kiss per se, it was everything before that led to it…
Uk has progressed quickly through the stages of mage study by repeatedly pushing himself (or being pushed by Naksu) to the brink of death. This leveling up of their relationship is very much in character.
Uk wants to spend the rest of his life with Naksu, knowing her soul is not in her original body; as yet, he hasn’t learned the body and soul combination with whom he fell in love is shared with Bu Yeon’s soul.
It may be not even Naksu has figured out the body + two souls situation. In dire moments she has seen and communicated with blind Mu Deok, but it could be Naksu believes she’s an apparition. However, when Naksu was in the ice stone whirlwind, she was first addressed by the child Bu Yeon, eyes bandaged, then by the adult Mu Deok, eyes bandaged. The blind adult Mu Deok spoke knowingly of the nature of the ice stone, which should have given Naksu a clue that the child Bu Yeon and the blind adult Mu Deok are one and the same person. But Naksu asks, “What are you? A relic of Jinyowon?” The blind adult Mu Deok answered “How dare a soul living off my body call me a relic?” Then blind adult Mu Deok disappears into the whirlwind, the whirlwind dissipates, and Naksu/MuDeok finds herself not only alive, but unharmed. I can understand she’s just gone through a traumatic experience, was presented a lot of information, and may still be confused, but it should be clear to her by now that blind Mu Deok is Bu Yeon, and that Bu Yeon can still exert influence on her borrowed body. But no, Naksu is rigid in her thinking: “What was that? A relic from Jinyowon that had attached itself to the ice stone?” She perceives adult blind Mu Deok as external, not internal: separate from her current body + soul.
So where was Bu Yeon while Uk and Naksu kissed? Bu Yeon’s soul is still in her own body, cohabiting it with Naksu in the guise of Mu Deok. But since the kiss was an expression of love between Uk and Naksu, I believe Bu Yeon’s soul was not involved. It seems most of the time Bu Yeon chooses to operate in the background–sleep mode, if you will–only coming to the fore when needed for matters related to the ice stone and protection from danger.
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