Episode 5: The Yukgaetang

The yukgaetang is Korean spicy beef soup. Although it’s only mentioned briefly in this episode, I can still create meaning from it.

Lady Heo is ordered to find Master Lee in Jang Uk’s residence and brought back to Sejukwon as soon as possible. Maidservant Kim is surprised that Master Lee is back in town.

Lady Heo: I heard he went to see Young Master Jang.
Maidservant Kim: Well, our young master and Young Lady BuYeon are visiting her mother right now.
Lady Heo: I see. Is that so?
Maidservant Kim: I will take good care of Master Lee if he ever comes here.
Maid: (interrupting) No, my lady. We were told to escort Master Lee to save Lord Park Jin.
Maidservant Kim: Is he ill?
Maid: It’s critical. The spicy beef soup he made absent-mindedly is tasty.
Maidservant Kim: His spicy beef soup is tasty?

She checks to find that it is tasty. She hurries inside his house where he’s suffering from indigestion.

My comments:

a. This spicy beef soup itself isn’t complicated to make but it takes time to cook. The meat and the vegetables are simmered for a long while for the broth to develop its deep and hearty flavor.

b. By “absent-mindedly,” Park Jin could have been paying little attention to his cooking because his mind was on Master Lee’s visit at Uk’s residence.

c. Despite his distraction – or perhaps because of it? – the soup turned out tasty.

d. I can see a connection between Park Jin’s spicy beef soup and Master Lee’s observation that he doesn’t need to apply force on people who are already walking on the same path of fate.

The fate of a couple, like the indigestion of a cook, depends on how well the individual can tolerate a heartburn.

e. To me, the soup is a metaphor of Uk and Cho Yeong’s relationship. There’s conflict between them but the best way to resolve it is to allow the two to have time to think about it and become reasonable. The two have to “simmer” until they’re ready to come to their senses.

Cho Yeong went to see Uk at the Sejukwon to beg him to accompany him to Jinyowon. She even brought him his favorite food from Maidservant Kim to sweet-talk him into going. But her discomfiture got the better of her and she ended up picking a fight with him and sounding querulous.

Cho Yeong: You do not even bother to thank me. How miserable I feel. You do not thank people, do you? I bet you do not apologize or ask for favors either.
Uk: What is it this time? You always have an ulterior motive when you say something unpredictable.
Cho Yeong: Look. If you are free today, would you like to go to Jinyowon with me?

Awww. She’s begging with her eyes like that Puss in Boots.

Uk: Did Master Lee tell you to go to Jinyowon with me?

He sounded suspicious. He assumed that Master Lee had gone to her to urge her to pressure him to visit Jinyowon about the firebird. But Cho Yeong was confused. She had her own agenda for visiting Jinyowon and she imagined that her mother sought Master Lee’s help to pressure Uk.

Cho Yeong: He said that? Did my mother talk to him?
Uk: Does your mother want me to come to Jinyowon as well?
Cho Yeong: Yes. Can you do that?

Uk stared in her eyes and almost fell for begging eyes.

Uk: No. I don’t want to get involved.

He meant that he didn’t want to check on the firebird as Master Lee requested him. Cho Yeong however interpreted his refusal as rebuffing her mother’s olive branch. She thought he didn’t want to have anything to do with her mother because of their bad blood.

Cho Yeong: Jang Uk! If I acted a bit more obsequiously, would you come with me?

Meaning, if she groveled harder, would he reconsider and go with her.

The way I see it her problem is twofold. One, Uk didn’t know what she was talking about. And two, she needed to be more explicit and direct with her request. That said, I do understand why she’s being mealy-mouthed.

Lady Jin had demanded that Uk apologize to her and reconcile with her. Knowing Uk’s personality, she was sure Uk wouldn’t kiss and make up with Lady Jin. The best that she could do is to bring Uk to Jinyowon. The apology and reconciliation could wait another day.

Uk: I already said no to Master Lee. So there’s no need for that.
Cho Yeong: Fine. I was just trying to stay by your side.
Uk: (confused)

He looked confused because he didn’t understand how the firebird had anything to do with her staying by his side. What she was saying, however, is that her mother would consent to their marriage – and thereby, allow her to remain by Uk’s side – if he came over to Jinyowon AND apologize and reconcile.

When he refused, she naturally assumed that he didn’t want her to be at his side. He had “no need for that” = he had no need of HER.

Cho Yeong: Forget it. I will go now.

I thought this aerial shot was a great insert. There was no movement nor activity in the courtyard. Even the water in the pond is still. There’s a sense of deadlock in the atmosphere and it matches the mood between Uk and Cho Yeong who were in a disagreement because of a miscommunication.

She cried off somewhere.

Meanwhile, Uk was also confused.

 

He didn’t get why she was so upset that he declined to go to Jinyowon. If anything, it should have been Master Lee who was upset. So, he went home to find to her and sort it out. When he got home however, he was met by Maidservant Kim who told him that Cho Yeong returned to Jinyowon.

Uk: (surprised) By herself?
Maidservant Kim: She said you declined to go with her. I offered to go with her, but she declined.
Uk: Why would you go there?

See that? He still thought it had something to do with the firebird. Maidservant Kim wanted to go with Cho Yeong to make sure that the young lady return home with her.

Maidservant Kim: She must be so embarrassed and upset. Her mother came all the way here. She offered to forgive everything and invited you two over. But I heard you refused immediately.
Uk: What?

This was the first time he was hearing all this. He finally pieced together what Cho Yeong’s request was all about. He realized that they had a misunderstanding.

Maidservant Kim: I sent her off with many gifts. But she may never return. Lady Jin said she could do whatever she wanted if she took the marriage back. Unbelievable!
Uk: (grimacing)

We can easily see the inner workings of Uk’s mind. If Lady Jin was no longer going to lock Cho Yeong and force her into marriage, then Cho Yeong was a free bird. She had no more reason to stay with him. She didn’t need him anymore.

So Uk hot-footed it after Cho Yeong.

At first glance, it would appear as if he was killing two birds with one stone. He was going to Jinyowon to help Master Lee with the firebird mission, and to extricate Cho Yeong from her mother’s demands. But in reality, he went after Cho Yeong because he didn’t want to give her up.

Lady Jin was happy to see her daughter returning all by herself.

Cho Yeong: I am here, Mother.
Uk: (appearing behind her) I am here as well.

Cho Yeong’s eyes widened; she didn’t expect to see him there. He rested a hand on her shoulder. They exchanged looks and he nodded. Obviously, this was a signal. He was telling her that he got this. She didn’t have to worry.

I like their body language because a) it indicated their growing familiarity with each other, and b) it signified that they were in this together.

Then with an arm around her, he walked them towards Lady Jin.

Uk: Thank you so much for inviting us over. I apologize for my previous acts of impertinence. I hope we get along.

Cho Yeong looked shocked again. To me, she was shocked for two reasons. One, she didn’t expect Uk to apologize and reconcile with her mother. And two, it dawned on her that Uk was faking it.

So, she looked intently at him and nodded. Obviously, this was a signal too. She was telling him that SHE got this. She was telling him that she remembered what she had to do. They had practiced this when they visited the Queen. So she smiled at him.

Cho Yeong: (gripping his hand on her shoulder) Mother. We are here together.
Uk: (coughing)

Lol. Did you see what she just did there?

When she heard him apologize to Lady Jin, she suddenly had this brilliant idea (but a mistaken one) that Uk was fake-apologizing to Lady Jin like he did with the Queen.

Remember what Uk told her before they met the Queen?

Cho Yeong: If we are here to apologize, should we bow and brownnose them?
Uk: We are not here to apologize.
Cho Yeong: Then what?
Uk: We are here to taunt them. They tried to take what was mine, so I will show them what I have.
Cho Yeong: And what is that?
Uk: You.

Uk: Do not bow or brownnose them. Just look at me as if you love me to death.

Sigh. I wish he’d stop using that “love me to death” idiomatic expression especially since Naksu literally died loving him to death. It gives me the willies.

Anyway…

With that memory in mind, Cho Yeong put into action what Uk had taught. They already rehearsed in front of the Queen so she knew how to “taunt” Lady Jin…in a softer way.

She sprang into action.

That’s the reason she gripped Uk’s hand, pulled it closer to her, and looked like the cat that got the cream. She was telling her mother that nobody could take away what rightly belonged to her, namely, Uk. She was also daring her mother to disapprove of her marriage to Uk when they had arrived together as per demand.

lol. I get why this actress was chosen. She radiates innocence and beauty when she smiles.

And just like that, Uk was taken by surprise by her unpredictability.

In the same way that nobody expects Park Jin to cook an edible yukgaetang, Uk doesn’t know what to expect when she’s left to simmer all day.