To me, Master Lee is a bit like the Mago in “Hotel del Luna,” although he isn’t divine. He’s somewhat prescient. He functions as the conscience in the story, providing counsel and guidance to Jang Uk.

Because he comes and goes in the plot, it’s good to keep track of what he says.

A. What Master Lee says regarding Jin BuYeon’s power

1. In Ep 4, Master Lee shows up at Songrim and is excitedly greeted by Mage Heo.

Mage Heo: Master Lee, where have you been? It has been three years.
Master Lee: Yeom, you have aged even more in those three years.
Mage Heo: Where did you stay? You were not at Danhyanggok.
Master Lee: I spent time treating a patient.
Mage Heo: A patient?
Master Lee: Lady Jin’s daughter. I heard she recently married Jang Uk.
Mage Heo: What? You treated Jin BuYeon?
Master Lee: Yes. I saved her life, woke her up, and erased what was unnecessary.

In his estimation, what’s unnecessary?

a. Jin BuYeon’s soul
b. Jin BuYeon’s divine powers
c. Naksu’s memories

2. In Ep 6, he doesn’t sound so confident anymore when he speaks with Park Jin.

Park Jin: Jin BuYeon really seems like a priestess with amazing divine powers.
Master Lee: She has started to regain her divine powers?
Park Jin: You told her that once she regains her memories, her divine powers will come back.
Master Lee: No. If she regains her divine powers, her memories will return.
Park Jin: Is there a difference?
Master Lee: (sigh) Have her find the earthenware.

He doesn’t answer the question. As he walks away, he worries about a problem in the horizon.

Master Lee: Once Jin BuYeon regains her divine powers, Naksu will also retrieve her old memories and will eventually be rejected by that body.

To answer Park Jin’s question, I think the difference lies in who’s leading, or propelling, the change.

a. According to Park Jin – and he presumably got this explanation straight from Cho Yeong herself – Cho Yeong is the driving force. If Cho Yeong regains her memories, then JBY’s divine powers come back. JBY’s divine powers are contingent upon Cho Yeong regaining her memories first.

Of course, at this time, Cho Yeong had no idea that JBY is coexisting in her body.

b. According to Master Lee, however, JBY is the driving force. If JBY regains her divine powers, then Cho Yeong’s memories come back. The return of Cho Yeong’s memories is dependent on JBY’s regaining her divine powers first.

Note: think Master Lee is basing his theory on the assumption that JBY possesses the “greater” soul since JBY is the scion of the Jin family, the descendant of the greatest priestess Jin Seolran and the priestess with divine powers comparable to Jin Seolran. In contrast, Cho Yeong was just an assassin in her previous life.

Master Lee’s assumption that JBY is greater than Cho Yeong is not surprising. Remember when Jin ChoYeon bragged about her unnie JBY’s divine powers in Season 1, Ep 16?

JCY: Even though unnie was blind, she could see energy and handle relics. Even as a child, her abilities were on par with my mother’s.
Naksu: Well, I’ve heard the Jin family members have stronger divine powers than spell-related powers.
JCY: You saw me handle Gwiju, right? It’s like that. A really powerful priestess can control people’s souls and render them helpless by trapping them.
Naksu: Did you say trapping a soul?
JCY: Mmm-hmmm. If the priestess traps his powers, even the most powerful mage is helpless.
Naksu: Well, I have heard there are shamans who can erase or change memories of a soul.
JCY: (a bit offended) A Jinyowon priestess is in a different league.
Naksu: How did such an amazing girl like her get into such an accident?
JCY: Because she’s amazing!

There! See that? The prevailing notion is that a priestess like JBY > mage like Naksu/Cho Yeong.

It’s noteworthy then that Cho Yeong got her memories back FIRST. She got them back BEFORE Jin BuYeon was able to regain all her divine powers.

From Ep 8.

Cho Yeong: You must be Jin BuYeon, the owner of this body.
JBY: I see you have finally realized who really are. What a shame. If you found out after I retrieved all of my divine powers, you would have been able to leave with no sadness. Thanks to you, my body stayed whole without running wild, and I have regained most of my divine powers. You will soon have to leave this body, for it is not your own.

See that? Cho Yeong doesn’t need JBY to regain her divine powers in order for her to recover her memories. Her memories came back on their own, independent of JBY’s divine powers.

3. In Ep 7, he shares his disturbing news with Yul. Yul seeks him out because he’s worried about Naksu.

Master Lee: You shouldn’t be moving around yet.
Yul: Were you already aware of who she was? You must know if you saved the body fished out of Lake Gyeongcheondaeho.
Master Lee: So you recognized her face. I do remember you saying that you met her in Danhyanggok as a child.
Yul: Does this mean you saved her despite knowing who she was was.
Master Lee: Seo Yul. If you’re the only one who knows about this, then feign ignorance. Naksu’s soul will disappear from her body soon. Once the soul of Jin BuYeon the true owner of that body awakens, Naksu’s soul will disappear.

Yul: What? I do not understand.
Master Lee: Two souls are coexisting in her body. But the body belongs to Jin Buyeon. Contrary to my intentions, everything went according to Jin BuYeon’s plans.

Note well what he says here. CONTRARY TO HIS INTENTIONS. I told you that he’s on Team Naksu. I told you that he was creating “meju with red beans.”

Meju with red beans = Cho Yeong
Meju with the actual soybeans = Jin BuYeon

Cho Yeong’s existence is self-contradictory and impossible to explain. Her life is nothing short of a miracle, according to Master Lee. She should have died but her giseya, her determination to live, made her live on even when the whole body was petrified. It was Jin BuYeon’s soul that was clinging to her.

Master Lee was making meju with red beans = he was bluffing

He wanted to get to get Lady Jin’s consent to save Naksu’s soul, rather than Jin BuYeon’s. So, he bluffed his way out of it.

I already told you all these. If you’re new to this blog, go read the links:

Alchemy of Souls 2: Ep 2 From the Kitchen of Park Jin

Alchemy of Souls 2: Ep 2 On Cho Yeong’s Body

Master Lee: (continuing) Jin BuYeon will use up Naksu’s energy. And Naksu will soon disappear.

Like a parasite. Like that bloodworm eating at Yul’s core of energy.

Ugh1 JBY will use Cho Yeong to get her own way.

Now, you know why I’ve been saying that I’m on Team Cho Yeong.

4. In Ep 8, Yul speaks to Lady Jin.

Lady Jin: I saved your life and you come here to threaten me with her secret?
Yul: If it sounds like a threat, then so be it. Do not try to keep Naksu locked up in Jinyowon.
Lady Jin: Are you telling me to let her stay with Jang Uk?
Yul: If that is what she wants, then I will help her do that.

Awwww. He wants to clear the path for Naksu/Cho Yeong to have a peaceful departure. I have to remember that Yul knows her real identity and name. He saw Naksu before the memorial altars of Cho Chung and Cho Yeong.

Lady Jin: Then that leaves me with no reason to keep Naksu alive.
Yul: You must stop thinking of it that way if you want your daughter, Jin BuYeon, to return to you safe and sound.
Lady Jin: What? BuYeon will return? What do you mean?

When I first watched Ep 2, and even before I figured out that whole “meju with red beans” metaphor, I knew this lady needed counsel to advise her not to fall for Master Lee’s scam. He gave her the impression that

a. he was cutting her a fair deal that left her with Naksu’s soul in JBY’s body,
b. and she had to take the deal or nothing.

Yul: Naksu’s soul will disappear soon, and Jin BuYeon will take over the body. That is what Master Lee told me.
Lady Jin: He told me BuYeon’s soul did not remain in that body. Then has he been deceiving me all this time?

Yul: Ask him yourself. Just let her stay where she wants with the person she wishes to be with for a while. This is both a threat and a plea.

By his remark, Lady Jin should have figured out that Yul was and is love with Naksu, too.

B. What Master Lee asks Jang Uk to do

In Ep 5, Master Lee finally meets Jang Uk at the stone tower village he made. Uk is pleased to meet him.

Lee: Are these the stone towers you raised every time you killed a soul shifter? It is almost too many too count?
Uk: Why do you feign ignorance? You urge the Crown Prince to reward me every single time.
Lee: Were you hurt that I met with him but not you?
Uk: I did not pine for you that much. But it sure is nice to see you again.

What can we say about this state of affairs?

Well, Master Lee probably didn’t want to see Uk at the same time he was treating Naksu. Seeing how the two couple were separated, he wouldn’t have been able to fulfil his promise to Lady Jin to honor her decision.

But he was working behind the scene. We know that he made the Crown Prince visit Uk to feel the guilt and shame. The CP knows he’s largely responsible for Uk’s state of mind, and that his monetary compensation will never repay what he owes Uk. He carries that burden like the turtle carries his shell on his back.

Lee: Is that MuDeok’s stone tower? You should have been more meticulous. It looks lousier than the others.
Uk: I did not raise it. Someone had destroyed it and tried to rebuild it.
Lee: Who? Park Jin?
Uk: No, it was a girl named Jin BuYeon.
Lee: Jin BuYeon? She destroyed it. (laughing)

I’m sure Master Lee can appreciate the irony of Naksu destroying her own memorial.

Uk: Do you know her?
Lee: I saved her life and took care of her.

He expects Uk to be curious about his bride’s amnesia.

Lee: Why are you not asking me any questions when I took care of BuYeon?
Uk: She already told me about how she was ill, lost her memory, and was locked up. But I had no idea that the great physician who treated her was you.
Lee: I only agreed to keep it a secret because her mother asked me to.

Master Lee is noticeably defensive here. I guess he expects Uk to protest his complicity in Cho Yeong’s captivity.

Uk: Then did you just sit and watch as BuYeon was trapped in that room with the tracking thread sewn into her?

Uk has a point. “If You See Something, Say Something®” is not just a slogan here in the US to raise public awareness of crimes and other suspicious activities. It also applies in magical kingdoms like Daeho. Uk thinks Master Lee should have done something more to help the girl trapped in Lady Jin’s residence. He doesn’t know that Master Lee was saving Naksu.

Lee: There must have been a reason for all that.

Uk’s frown indicates that he isn’t going to accept that excuse. But Master Lee deflects.

Lee: You have taken what Jin Hogyeong has tried so hard to hide. You have done so completely.

Master Lee walks away to leave Uk pondering about what he just heard.

He then reveals why he’s come for Uk. He wants Uk to check on the fire bird in Jinyowon.

Uk: Why are you telling me all this?
Lee: Go there and check if that bird is safe.
Uk: Only the members of the Jin family can open that door.
Lee: And you are married to Jin BuYeon.
Uk: She was kicked out of there. Do not try to involve me in their affairs. (walks away)
Lee: (looking at his departing back) There is no need to force them together, for they are already walking the same path of fate.

To me, he’s talking about Uk and Cho Yeong. He doesn’t need to pressure him to go to Jinyowon because he’s bound to chase after her when she pays Lady Jin a visit.

My Comments:

1. We have to remember that Lady Jin despises both Naksu and Uk.

a. Remember Lady Jin’s conversation with Master Lee in Ep 2?

Master Lee: BuYeon’s body has no divine powers, and Naksu’s soul has no memory so the body and soul do not conflict. If she regains her divine powers, Naksu’s memory will likely follow. Can you bear that?
Lady Jin: I would rather have her stay that way than have Naksu’s memory come back.

Meaning, to block Naksu’s memory from returning, she was willing to sacrifice her daughter’s divine powers. She’s fine with JBY never becoming a powerful priestess as long as Naksu never regains her memories. What an odd mother!

Master Lee: Then are you going to keep her confined?
Lady Jin: That’s my decision to make. And if I decide to kill her because I can no longer stand it, then so be it. You promised to respect my decisions.
Master Lee: Jang Uk loved her. If you tell him, he will help you protect her.
Lady Jin: No. He was in love with Naksu.

Interesting, isn’t it? Lady Jin fully understands the situation that Uk only loves Naksu. Although Uk’s servant MuDeok has JBY’s body, Lady Jin recognizes that Uk loves Naksu’s soul residing in that body.

And this look that Master Lee gives her is very interesting, too. He knows that she’s a very spiteful and selfish woman. If she can’t be happy, then nobody else can be happy, either.

Lady Jin: She will only live as my daughter, BuYeon.
Master Lee: (continues to glare at her)
Lady Jin: I will not let him find out about her. Besides, Jang Uk does not know what Naksu’s real face even looks like. Even if the two ever do meet, they will not be able to recognize each other. I have to live my life in agony looking at the girl’s face, so that is the price that must be paid.

Do you see it? Lady Jin is acting out of spite. If she has to suffer, then Naksu has to suffer with too. Misery likes company indeed.

b. Remember Lady Jin’s conversation with Uk in Ep 6?

Lady Jin: Master Lee could have just asked me to show this to him. I wonder why he asked you to come and check.
Uk: Because he doesn’t trust you. You even unveiled the ice stone once.
Lady Jin: It was a choice I made to save BuYeon when I was pregnant with her. The person who did not return it after its use was your father, Jang Gang. And in the end, his son ended up with the ice stone inside his body.
Uk: I guess it will not be easy for us to get along seeing that you have so many reasons to hate me.

Lady Jin doesn’t approve of Uk for many reasons, but the original reason is the grudge she had against his “father” Jang Gang. She never forgave Jang Gang for stealing the ice stone from her and now, she resents that the stone ended up with Jang Gang’s “son.”

Granted, Uk deserves Lady Jin’s anger too because of his own actions, like getting engaged with Jin ChoYeon and then breaking it off, breaking the precious relic of the Gwiji dog, breaking the Mirror of Longing.

the marriage because she held a grudge against Jang Gang, which transferred to Uk. It’s noteworthy that she seemed to have forgotten all about the broken engagement of her second daughter to Uk.

2. Put together, Lady Jin has deep enmity toward both Naksu/Cho Yeong and Uk.

It must be galling for her to know that the future of Jinyowon rests on these two people that she detests. Lady Jin knows that the strongest person in Daeho who can protect Jinyowon and all the relics inside is Uk. And she also knows that Naksu/Cho Yeong is willing to do her all for Jinyowon, even undergo the trial that Jin Mu proposed to test her divine powers. He threw the Jinyowon plaque in a prison in Cheonbugwan and ordered Cho Yeong to retrieve it within the day.

Cho Yeong: I will go in.
Lady Jin: No. The wraiths of those who performed sorcery live inside Gwido. Those wraiths could kill you.
Cho Yeong: Then do you plan to surrender Jinyowon? (stepping closer to tell Lady Jin) Have faith in your daughter’s divine powers. I promise that I will bring it back.

I’d like to think that at this point, Lady Jin realizes that this isn’t her daughter speaking but Naksu. For one, the steely resolve in her voice is something I associate with Naksu. For another, her eyes avoid meeting Lady Jin’s. If this was JBY, she would have reassured her mother that she would be fine.

C. What Master Lee wants Jang Uk to do

In Ep 6, he encourages Uk to take a more active role in protecting Daeho given that he already has energy of the King’s Star in him. He wants Uk to fulfill his destiny as the King’s Star. Naksu’s death and his death by the sword of Naksu stalled his development, and stopped him from pursuing his destiny.

Lee: When the world suffered from severe drought 200 years ago, the ice stone fell from the sky. It looks like these people are trying to do the same by waking the fire bird.
Uk: The royal family and Cheonbugwan are the ones behind it. Do you wish for me to fight against them?
Lee: A fight like that would be considered a revolt. If you win the fight, you could even become the King.
Uk: (silent)
Lee: What? You already know that the King’s Star, which is known to be the Crown Prince’s, is actually yours.
Uk: (avoids his eyes)
Lee: That also means you know who your real father is.

Flashback to his conversation with Park Jin.

Uk: I am guilty of existing when I should not. So I have decided to do nothing.
Lee: Jang Uk. “It is better to die than to do nothing.” That is what your master always used to tell you. My master Seo Gyeong was also born with the energy of the King’s Star. Instead, he protected the world.
Uk: How can I protect the world when I could not even protect the one person I had sworn to keep safe?
Lee: I guess you are not thrilled to possess the power of the ice stone since you gained it by getting killed by that one person.
Uk: Why did Master Seo Gyeong leave behind the ice stone?
Lee: He wrote in “Words of the Heart” that he left it to save his lover, Jin Seolran.
Uk: But eventually, she died. Why did he keep the ice stone inside Jinyowon?
Lee: Maybe it was for you. You were also born under the King’s Star.
Uk: I will be off.
Lee: (sighing)

He fails to convince Uk but by Ep 8, Uk has found his giseya back. He informs Park Jin of his plan.

Park Jin: So you have agreed to go to North Fortress?
Uk: Yes, I’ve decided to go.
Park Jin: It concerns me that they might be sending you away as part of a scheme.
Uk: The Crown Prince showed me his Gold Plaque and asked if I was willing to fight. If I decide to engage in this fight, will you stand behind me like you did last time?
Park Jin: What exactly is your target in this fight? What is it that you wish to protect? Are you acting in careful deliberation?
Uk: Yes, I know where I am targeting, and I have decided to accept this fight in order to protect what I must.

Essentially, what Master Lee does is to plant the idea in Uk’s mind that something must be done, and then he watches the idea take root.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

So there we have it.

Though Master Lee is wiser, subtler, and more patient than the other mages, he isn’t a deity and he isn’t infallible. He can certainly maneuver the pieces to improve the outcome of the game but the unpredictability of life, and a girl like Cho Yeong, will confound him still.