A few more days till Season of 2 of “Alchemy of Souls” begins.

I’m making a note of the differences between Cho Yeong and Jin BuYeon to help me remember.

A. Cho Yeong

• Beloved daughter of the Mage Cho, the royal astrologer
• Trained to become assassin by Jin Mu in the valley of Danhyanggok
• Childhood crush of Seo Yul

Other Names: Naksu

Who knows she exists?
Previously, only Jang Uk and then Yul know of her existence as a soul-shifter. Now everybody knows that MuDeok is the missing Naksu the Assassin.

B. Jin BuYeon

• Much-beloved oldest daughter of Jin HoKyung
• Sister of Jin ChoYeon
• Friend of SoYi, con artist from the same Sari village

Other Names:
• MuDeok: The old lady from Sair Village named her after her deceased granddaughter
• The Great Soul: according to Master Lee
• Filthy MuDeok: The CP’s pet name for her. He didn’t like it when other people, e.g., the head gisaeng called her that, though.

Who knows she exists?
• SoYi knew.
• By Ep 20, her mother suspected that MuDeok is her missing daughter. I don’t think she told ChoYeon.
• Master Lee should know, too, but he’s being tight-lipped and cryptic about it.
• What about Jin Mu? Not yet? He definitely suspects something. At the King’s demonstration, MuDeok’s demeanor reminded him of BuYeon at the boating incident.
• If he wasn’t so dense, Mage Heo would find out sooner rather than later. He already said in passing that MuDeok’s ear looked familiar.
• What about Jang Uk? I think he’s aware that there’s somebody else there. He met this other soul when he was in the alchemical pool when GilJu attemped to do a soul-switch with him.

Additional Notes:

I don’t think Jin BuYeon and Cho Yeong like each other much.

I mentioned this before: Naksu was skeptical of BuYeon’s power. She brought it up twice.

a. First with Jin ChoYeon

JCY: A really powerful priestess can control people’s souls and trap them to be helpless.
Naksu: Trap the soul?
JCY: Yes. Even the most powerful mage is helpless if the priestess traps his power.
Naksu: I heard there are shamans who can erase or change memories of a soul.
JCY: A Jinyowon priestess is in a different league.
Naksu: How did such an amazing girl like her die?
JCY: Because she is that great. She is definitely alive. We will see her again.
Naksu: If she is alive, I’m sure you will.

I thought she raised a valid point. If BuYeon was that powerful, why didn’t she see through Jin Mu’s plan to use her to retrieve the Ice Stone? And why didn’t she save herself?

Also, we were told Jang Gang chose an “auspicious” day for BuYeon’s birth. I would hardly call BuYeon’s life thus far auspicious. Couldn’t Jang Gang have foreseen that BuYeon would be lost to the world? If Naksu had NOT soul-shifted into her body, she wouldn’t have gained access to the mage world, too.

b. Second with Uk

Naksu: The eldest daughter of Jinyowon has returned alive. She seemed like an ordinary blind girl. I thought she was a powerful priestess. I wonder if she lost her power. I guess it is possible seeing that she failed to find her way home for ten years.

She implied that if BuYeon was really that good, then she should have returned years ago. What kept her?

The way I see it, despite BuYeon being touted as a powerful priestess, she still needed Naksu’s energy, vigor, vim, boldness, or “giseya” to accomplish her mission of acquiring the ice stone. She couldn’t have accomplished the task on her own.

For the longest time, I assumed that the blind girl MuDeok was innocently dragged into this and that, out of the goodness of her heart, she made a “noble sacrifice” by offering to take the place of the tavern girl.

But what if it was the other way around?

What if she didn’t make a sacrifice at all, but grabbed the opportunity to switch souls with Naksu? She could undoubtedly sense that Naksu had a unique energy, especially when Naksu had a soul ejector on her.

What if she was the one who chose Naksu to be part of her plan to retrieve the Ice Stone?

Remember what the child BuYeon said in Episode 18, once they were in the force field of the Ice Stone.

Naksu: What’s this? Where am I?
Young BuYeon: It was not taken from us this time. We are inside the ice stone.

Naksu: This is the ice stone?
Young BuYeon: The ice stone is not limited in shape, size, or form. It can be water, fire, or wind.
Naksu: Does this mean I have the ice stone now?

Young BuYeon disappeared and was replaced by the Older BuYeon.

Old BuYeon: No one can truly own the ice stone. You only use its power. Pull and get pushed. Earn one and lose the other. That is the burden you will have to carry.
Naksu: I can gladly endure that.
Old BuYeon: Then try it. Overflowing power means you will not be able to control how much of it you use. Desire rain, and you will get a flood. Desire wind, and you will get a typhoon. Try to endure it.

The priestess BuYeon thought Naksu was foolishly ignorant. Naksu didn’t know what she was talking about or what she was up against. And because she was ignorant of the true nature of things, she could show make such bold and showy comments like “I can gladly endure that.”

BuYeon expected Naksu to eat her words after enlightenment.

Naksu: What are you? A relic of Jinyowon?
Old BuYeon: How dare a soul living off my body call me a relic?

To BuYeon’s ears, Naksu sounded insolent and pugnacious. I think she misunderstood Naksu’s confusion and curiosity for insolence.

But I can’t blame BuYeon. Raised half-wild and trained to become a killer by Jin Mu, Naksu wasn’t brought up to behave obsequiously to anyone. Meanwhile, BuYeon was aware that her special gifts as a priestess came with special distinction and privilege. It was natural that she would be affronted by Naksu’s direct question. She made the wind swirl faster around Naksu then Naksu found herself in the courtyard of Jeongjingak.

I don’t think Naksu meant to be offensive. She truly wanted to know who BuYeon was. Since she had no idea who she was talking to, she could only connect it to her previous experience with the mirror of longing in the Jinyowon. Back then, she also saw several reflections of herself.

Naksu: What was that? Was it a relic that latched onto the ice stone when it was in Jinyowon?

To the very end, when she jumped off the cliff, Naksu never knew that she was sharing the body with Jin BuYeon. It could be said that her alchemy of her soul with BuYeon’s body was so seamless that she had no idea that BuYeon was co-existing with her in the same body.

If I were to ask to pick a side: Team Cho Yeong/Naksu or Team Jin BuYeon/MuDeok, I’d pick Team Naksu. For one, Cho Yeong/Naksu was robbed of her childhood by the powerful mage clans of Daeho. For another, Jin BuYeon’s intentions are still largely unknown.