Let’s retrace our steps to Episode 11.

In Episode 11, King YiHeon listed the ingredients and drew the bibimbap that JiYeong had made for him at their first meeting. But its exact name eluded his memory. He called his Eunuch to show his sketch to him.

[I checked. He called the bibimbap, “barley rice.” JiYeong was a bit put out and corrected him, saying it was “‘gochugang butter bibimbap’ made by a three-star Michelin chef. It’s top-class French bibimbap.” He pronounced it as “Prance bibiNbap.”]

His Eunuch thought the King made a lovely drawing of flowers and birds. So YiHeon explained that it was food made of fresh vegetables, mixed with JiYeong’s gochujang and “batter,” and topped with wild flowers called bibiNbap.

Eunuch: The dish seems to carry a special meaning.
YiHeon: Hmmm… What would you name this dish?
Eunuch: The chief royal cook greatly misses the hometown she left behind. So how about a name that reflects that? How does “Hwanseban,” meaning “food that brings one home” sound?
YiHeon: “Hwanseban”? (then angrily) Are you saying that she will leave if she eats this?
Eunuch: Forgive my misspoken words, Your Majesty. Please do not take it to heart.

Episode 12 is about going home.

When Yiheon returns to palace, the first thing he says to Prince Jesan is “Why must it be so hard to enter my own home?” It’s a rhetorical question, of course, but the reason it’s difficult to set foot again in his own home is that he’s been deposed. The palace is no longer his home.

Now, to his credit, he could have taken the easy way out and fled — or sailed — far away. But he chooses instead to confront the traitors and extract a promise from his uncle for his half-brother JinMyeong’s sake.

YiHeon: I see you wanted to be king, Uncle.
Jesan: I have one question. Why did you return to the palace?
YiHeon: There was no place for me to hide on this land anyway, so I wanted to settle things with you once and for all.
Jesan: Very well. Tell me. What do you want?
YiHeon: I want your word that you will uphold JinMyeong’s reign, so he does not make the mistakes I made. Then, I will take full responsibility and accept my dethronement. I am prepared to do so.
Jesan: What a just ruler you are. Very well. I will banish you to where your mother is buried. Very well.
YiHeon: Very well. If shouldering the weight of it all is the way to atone for my sins.
Jesan: (laughing)
YiHeon: (thinking to himself) Just as I thought, I cannot leave you be, Uncle. I may be a living criminal, but you are a true tyrant possessed by madness.

Note: I would like to think that the 500 years YiHeon spent trying to find JiYeong served as his atonement for his sins. But then, in real time (that is, in JiYeong’s time), they are only separated for a little less than two months.

After his meeting with Jesan, YiHeon is sent to jail to await his exile.

While waiting, he asks for his book Mangunrok to be delivered to him. He completes his entry of the bibimbap JiYeong cooked for him. He names it “Hwanseban” just as the Eunuch recommended. In effect, “Hwanseban” has come full circle, that is, it becomes the first dish he remembers and the last dish he records.

Then, he dedicates the book to JiYeong.

Note: back in Episode 1, JiYeong didn’t know what to make of the manuscript. She presumed it was a cookbook due to the recipes. But when she read the foreword, she snorted and dismissed it as a “Joseon dynasty romance novel.” Little did she know of her role in this “romance novel.” On this blog, however, I guessed somewhere  in my First Impression comments that it was a record of his love for her.

King: (writing) My dearly beloved, if someday, you were to read this, may you come back to my side. (then thinking to himself) For then, I will recognize you at first glance. For then, my heart shall belong to you from the beginning.

Note again: Too bad he didn’t jot down all his thoughts. If he did, he would have recognized her at first sight. As it was, only his heart remembered her. His brain, on the other hand, contained zero memories of her.

Next, his Jester GongGil appears out of darkness and tosses the butterfly pendant to him.

King: (to himself) You are alive, Cook Yeon. That is a great relief.

He loops the pendant into the book. He finishes writing the book but the mission of the book isn’t complete. In fact, the important mission of the book is only about to begin.

He’s hauled away in a prisoner’s cart to his exile. But Jesan has plans to execute him on the way. Fortunately, JiYeong and his jester Gilgom have a counterplan, and they ambush Jesan and his men. But before they can totally defeat Jesan’s men, Jesan kidnaps JiYeong and escapes.

When faced with a dilemma to either return to his former home and take back the palace or to rescue JiYeong from Jesan, he goes after her. This is a no-brainer, really. She’s his future home, and forever home.

So he goes off to fight Jesan’s guards alone.

One of them slashes his chest, but thankfully, he carries the Mangunrok inside his shirt and it protects him. But with his shirt ripped, it tumbles out.

He orders JiYeong to flee but JiYeong refuses. As she rushes to his side, she steps on the book. Recognizing the title, she picks it up and flips through the pages. She’s stunned to see the sketches and recipes. Too late, she realizes that the author of the Mangunrok is YiHeon.

We all know what’s going to happen next, right? If I get a Korean won for every time I see a scene like this in a kdrama, I can buy myself a hanbok.

Jesan raises his sword to kill YiHeon but JiYeong covers him and takes the hit. Her blood spatters on the Mangunrok. [Note: the original manuscript from Episode 1 didn’t have bloodstains. Only coffee stains.]

YiHeon yells her name, but not before slashing Jesan.

YiHeon: Cook Yeon!
JiYeong: Your Majesty.
YiHeon: Do not speak.

Ugh! I dislike this kind of dialogue. Why call her name when you don’t want her to speak? Make up your mind, dude! 

Confession time.

JiYeong: I actually didn’t want to leave.
YiHeon: Where would you dare leave without my permission?
JiYeong: I love you, Your Majesty.

She closes his eyes, and in a pathetic conceit, the light from the torch and candles is extinguished.

Then comes the bawling scene. If you know me, you know that I also dislike this kind of scene. Every time there’s a melodramatic scene like this, I can sense my soul detaching from body, and wondering what’s for dinner.

YiHeon: Cook Yeon. Cook Yeon. I beg of you. Please open your eyes. Please!

More pathetic conceit follows.

The book glows.
The night sky darkens.
The moon turns blood-red.
A strong gust of wind blows the pages.
And the Chinese script floats in the air, bringing with it, the body of JiYeong.

YiHeon is on his hands and knees, crawling towards his Mangunrok. I like this image because it tells me how far the king has fallen.

Like JiYeong, he realizes too late the significance of the book for them. His journal is the book she’s been desperately searching for.

YiHeon: Why? Why now?

Yeah. Good question. Why JUST now?! 

He presses down hard on the book. I think, he’s trying to stop the book from carrying JiYeong away from him. For all his trouble to hold it down, the last page — with the “Hwanseban” recipe written on it — is ripped and blown away.

The book then sucks both YiJeong and the swirling Hanzi characters back inside its pages. Then, it shuts close and disappears.

YiHeon: Cook Yeon. Cook Yeon. Wherever you are, I will find you.
Jesan: I will send you along with her!

Oh dear! Why is Jesan such an evil Energizer bunny? I didn’t know that megalomania is powerful enough to keep a man going and going and going.

This time YiHeon stabs him and kills him for good.

Their last words to each other?

Jesan: Heon, I should have been the king of Joseon.
YiHeon: Uncle. Please go in peace.

Pffft! Who thinks YiHeon’s magnanimity is misplaced? I would have told him to go to hell. 

YiHeon collapses beside Jesan and the last page of Mangunrok drifts down from the sky and lands on him. A disembodied voice of JiYeong says, “Your Majesty, please don’t forget your promise to find me.”

Wait! Who promised what to whom again?

Let me review that scene from Episode 11.

YiHeon: Do you dislike me that much?
JiYeong: It’s not that I don’t like you.
YiHeon: Then what is it? Why do you keep turning away?
JiYeong: (avoiding his eyes)
YiHeon: Look into my eyes.
JiYeong: I…I have to leave.
YiHeon: You can choose not to leave.
JiYeong: I’m not from this time. It’s not that simple.
YiHeon: So you do not like me.
JiYeong: No, Your Majesty. It’s not that. But I must go back. Back where I come from…I left my dad on his own. And I have a career I’ve worked toward my whole life. Leaving that behind to start a new life…I’m not sure I can do that. I also don’t know if it’s right to go so far… to stay here.

Ha! Remember what I told you about that Meatball’s song, “I’ll do anything for love…but I can’t do that” in my write-up of Episode 11? She can’t leave her dad; she can’t abandon her career; she can’t live in Joseon; she can’t have him as a tyrant.

I swear: between the two of them, JiYeong has laid out more conditions about this relationship than YiHeon. In a way, she’s more dictatorial, bossy and demanding than YiYeon. And for a tyrant, YiHeon is more deferential, submissive, and accommodating than JiYeong.

YiHeon: Very well. I understand what you mean. If you insist on returning, give me your word. Just as you came here out of the blue one day, promise me. That you will come back to me.
JiYeong: What if I want to come back but can’t?
YiHeon: If you wish to come back but cannot (smiling then holding her)… In that case, I will find you by any means.

She pauses for a moment. I’m guessing she’s calculating the impossibility of finding her in the future. For one, what magic is at his disposal that will transport him to the future? For another, it’s easier to find HIM because he’s a historical figure. So, she changes her tune and tells him that she’ll return to him instead.

JiYeong: Your Majesty. I’ll just come back to you. In return, promise me something. Promise me that you won’t be a tyrant.
YiHeon: (smiling) Am I still a tyrant to you?
JiYeong: (thinking) Please don’t smile at me like that. Let me forget you and go home. Let this wind stirring my heart die down. Please.

So those are the promises. I like to remember who said what to whom so I can sue for breach of verbal contract. lol. 

To me, the Mangurok serves a dual purpose. It simultaneously calls each other back home and reminds them of their promise.

In some previous lifetime, JiYeong must have time-traveled and made a promise to return to his side. But she never had the chance to fulfill this promise until the original manuscript found its way back into her hands and she read the dedication. The dedication functioned like a magic spell or an enchantment.

In this lifetime, however, JiYeong adds an “extra” stipulation. She makes him promise to come find her himself in case she can’t go back to him.

I like this new set-up better than the previous one because the onus to meet again rests on both of them. It’s not just one way. If JiYeong must time-travel to get to him, then YiHeon must also find a way to time-travel to get to her side.

To me, this is when the book’s mission is finally achieved. We all saw how the Mangunrok returned JiYeong back home to her original time and place. But the Mangunrok also brought YiHeon to the future.

I can think of three ways:

1. When JiYeong performs her version of the “Chohon” rite

Do you know what a chohon is?

When she returns to her beautifully-preserved hanok on a hill, she checks her laptop and discovers that history has changed. Yeonhuigun reportedly went missing and his body was never found. Reading this gives her crazy hope that she can meet him if she goes back.

She grabs the Mangunrok and begins to read, “My dearly beloved, if someday, you were to read this, may you come back to my side.” She closes her eyes, but the chant doesn’t work.

She doesn’t give up hope. She tries again. This time, her finger traces the words as she reads slowly, “My dearly beloved, if someday, you were to read this, may you come back to my side.”

Awww… She’s making sure that she doesn’t omit a word or misspeak.

She then holds the book to her chest and closes her eyes. But it doesn’t work again.

Then, she remembers that during her first teleportation on the plane, she had been in the lavatory. So she goes to her bathroom and reads the line for the third time, “My dearly beloved, if someday, you were to read this, may you come back to my side.” She closes her eyes. When she opens them, she begins weeping because the enchantment just won’t work.

Or did it? I think it did.

You see, Koreans have this ancient ritual called “chohon” which means “invocation of the spirit of the dead.” I discussed this on the blog when I was writing about Lee MinHo’s “The Eternal Monarch.”

The chohon ritual is performed because it’s believed that the spirit of the dead can be brought back to his/her body by calling it to come back three times. Especially when a Joseon king died, the chohon became part of the state funeral.

Now, there are three prerequisites to do the chohon:

a. the chief mourner (typically, a eunuch) must go to high ground like the roof of the palace,
b. the mourner must have a piece of clothing belonging to the deceased monarch, and
c. the mourner must call the spirit to return three times

Do you see where I’m going with this then? I think JiYeong inadvertently performs the chohon for King YiHeon. How?

a. JiYeong’s home is situated on a hill,
b. JiYeong may not have YiHeon’s shirt, but she’s clutching YiHeon’s journal,
c. JiYeong calls YiHeon “My beloved” and she bids him to return to her side three times.

So I think by using the Mangunrok, JiYeong calls YiHeon home to her side in a chohon ritual. And it works because YiHeon shows up in the end.

2. When she keeps him alive in her heart as well as in her culinary world in the present time

She tells her new staff at Enfin that she’s developing a new dining course based on dishes prepared for the monarchs by the cooks of the Royal Kitchen during the Joseon Period.

JiYeong: Just like that, I returned to the life I used to live. But my heart and time remained in the Joseon royal kitchen. I took the royal cuisine I’d come across as the chief royal cook and dishes His Majesty had recorded in Mangunrok to create a new menu. I applied the techniques I’d learned in Paris toward developing a royal dining course. And I named it the Chief Royal Cook’s Dining Course.

To me, whenever she:

a. prepares food from the recipes that YiHeon had drawn and written down in the Mangunrok, or
b. draws inspiration from the Mangunrok,

he’s never far away from her. In a way, she’s calling him to come home to her side every time she cooks at the “Enfin.”

BTW, “Enfin” means “finally,” “in the end” and “at last.” It’s appropriate that YiHeon shows up at Enfin for their reunion.

3. Because it’s “Hwanseban” 

I told you to pay close attention to the food featured in the titles. Here, I’ll list them again. Notice anything?

Episode 1. Course Number 1 Gochujang Butter Bibimbap
Episode 2. Course Number 2 Sous Vide Cuisine
Episode 3. Course Number 3 Haute Cuisine
Episode 4. Course Number 4 **** and Spinach Doenjang Soup
Episode 5. Course Number 5 Snowflakes Schnitzel
Episode 6: Course Number 6 Black Sesame Macaron
Episode 7: Course Number 7 Dongnae Pajeon on a Rainy Day
Episode 8: Course Number 8 Rice Wine Beef Bourguignon
Episode 9: Course Number 9 Pressure-Cooked Ogyetang
Episode 10: Course Number 10 Joseon Restaurant
Episode 11: Course Number 11 Soy Meat Gujeolpan & Eggplant Pie
Episode 12: Course Number 12 Hwanseban

In more than half of the dishes, the food moved the eater to tears because it evoked memories of love, a cherished person, precious moment, or special place long gone.

In Episode 1, King YiHeon cried because he remembered his beloved mother, the deposed Queen.
In Episode 3, he again remembered his mother, but he also marveled how Cook Yeon knew he’d like the food.
In Episode 4, the Grand Dowager Queen Mother cried because she missed her mother’s homecooked clam soup.
In Episode 7, Jang Chuseong cried because he missed the food from his hometown, the dongnae pajeon.
In Episode 8, JiYeong made her beef bourguignon while missing her mother, and the Ming cook made the temple food in honor of the monk who saved his life.
In Episode 9, the anorexic Ming cook cried after tasting the tenderized chicken soup because he remembered his grandmother.

Do you see it? Food allows the eater to go back in time and place where his heart longs to be.

In the end, the single page of the Mangunrok left with YiHeon is his sketch of “hwanseban.”

To me, it’s just fitting. It’s the first dish that JiYeong cooked for him and the last that he named. It’s also the dish that I’ve been saying from the start represents the combination of his world and hers. Moreover, after he calls it “hwanseban,” it symbolizes longing for home and YiHeon’s home, in the end, is wherever JiYeong is.

If there’s one food in the Mangunrok guaranteed to call him to her side, it’s this one. Hwanseban, meaning “food that brings one home.”