#joseon x files

[edenesth]

The Way to His Heart [11]

Pairing: general!Seonghwa x wife!reader

AU: arranged marriage au (Joseon era)

Word Count: 3.7k

Trigger Warnings: gore, implied mutilation

Summary: Life has been hell ever since your mother's passing many years ago. Despite being from a prominent family, you've never received the privileges associated with it. It only got worse with the arrival of your stepmother and her daughters. When the intimidating General Park was in search of a wife, your father seized the opportunity to dispose of you, simultaneously securing a connection with the powerful general—killing two birds with one stone.

Part 10 | Fic Masterlist | Part 12

Hearing the cessation of all the screams, one of the royal guards gathered the courage to enter the chamber and check on Seonghwa, "Sir, are you done?"

Upon entering, he had yet to witness the state in which the former minister was left. The general stood before his victim, actively wiping all the blood off his hands with a towel prepared beforehand, "It's done. Has my assistant arrived to pick me up?"

"Yes, sir. Assistant Choi is waiting with your carriage by the entrance. If I remember correctly, he mentioned Lady Park helped prepare dinner today." A smile instantly graced your husband's face at the mere mention of you.

"Thank you, soldier. Bring in the rest and clean up the mess," He instructed, finally stepping away from the seat in the middle of the room, revealing the sight of your father slumped in the chair, both of his arms missing, blood gushing out from his shoulders, "Get him to a physician before banishing him. No need to treat him extensively; heal him just enough to keep him alive."

Freezing, the guard nodded quickly, "Y-yes, sir! We will not let you down!" His round eyes fixated on the two mutilated limbs on the ground in the middle of the puddle of crimson liquid.

The general was truly not someone to be underestimated, that was evident to the royal guards who filed in later on to clean up the bloody mess. They now understood why Seonghwa was so feared among those who had worked with him or witnessed his cold-blooded nature firsthand.

However, rather than instilling pure terror, your husband garnered more respect from them. He had gone to great lengths just to avenge his beloved wife. This demonstrated that the man still possessed a heart after all and that his affection for Lady Park was undeniable. He has proven that he could love just as fiercely as he hated.

Not a single member of the palace staff harboured even a hint of pity for the former Minister of Military Affairs as they dealt with his mangled body according to instructions. Any citizen with access to news was aware of all the cruel acts the old man had committed against his own daughter and first wife. It was safe to say that witnessing him in this state brought ample satisfaction not only to the general but to others as well.

"Sir, there's a bit of blood here."

The assistant extended his handkerchief, ensuring his master was free from any signs of bloodshed as they returned home. The last thing they all needed was for you to catch on to any of the events that occurred today; you should only focus on happiness and never spare another thought for your so-called family from now onwards.

"Thank you, Jongho," The general responded, taking the piece of fabric to remove the small bloodstain on his neck, "Keep me posted on where they banished that clown afterwards. It would be nice to check in on him once in a while, for entertainment purposes."

"Yes, sir."

Upon entering the estate, he was surprised not to find you waiting for him by the entrance, as was your usual routine when he returned from work. Only the head maid and a few servants stood there, ready to greet him, "Welcome home, master. We hope you had a good day at work." They said with a deep bow.

Seonghwa frowned, "Where's the mistress?" The elderly woman replied, "Mistress is currently at the main hall having a chat with Royal Secretary Choi while they were awaiting your return."

That immediately had the general rushing towards the hall. He didn't like the thought of you alone with... yet another handsome man. He had finally grown accustomed to having Yunho around the estate whenever he was at work, only because the two of you rarely interacted; he knew that thanks to daily reports from Eunsook. Now, jealousy was flooding his veins again.

What if you found San more attractive?

"Yes, I fully understand your concern. My sister faces similar issues," The royal secretary's voice carried from outside the hall, and then your softer response followed, "Thank you so much for your help, San. It means a lot to me."

They're already on a first-name basis?

"Help? With what?" He queried, abruptly pulling you and the secretary from your conversation. Both of you looked up at him, and you blinked and stammered nervously, quickly rising from your seat, "Oh, Seonghwa! You're home! It's nothing, we were just having a casual conversation while waiting for you."

Sensing your unease, San chuckled and concurred, "Yes, it was nothing important. It's good that you're back; I've come to deliver the minutes of today's assembly to you, as per His Majesty's orders."

"Please don't let me interrupt; I'll be waiting for you at the dining hall," You remarked to your husband, offering a nod of gratitude to the secretary, "It was nice talking to you, Royal Secretary Choi," The man respectfully bowed his head, "And you, Lady Park."

The general watched the interaction between you two with unmistakable envy, causing San to suppress a snicker into his fist, "Without further ado, general, let's proceed so that you can join your wife for dinner as soon as possible," Seonghwa nodded, feigning nonchalance, "Of course."

As the secretary continued to share the main details discussed during the assembly, he noticed the general's slight distraction. Wrapping up the debrief, he decided to ease your husband's thoughts by divulging the nature of your earlier conversation.

"Listen, before you came back, Lady Park and I were just talking about her concerns regarding being a better wife. Given that my elder sister, who is married, shares similar worries, I was merely offering some insights that might be helpful. So, don't stress over it too much, okay? I assure you, you're the only one on her mind."

Learning that you were only seeking to improve yourself for him, Seonghwa's heart melted immediately. Regret washed over him for entertaining the notion that you might find his colleague more appealing, and a slight embarrassment crept in, "I, uhh... it's not like I was worried about that or anything... but thank you, San. If that's all for today, Jongho will escort you out."

The secretary held back his knowing smile as they bid each other farewell before the general made his way to the dining hall. His heart pounded with excitement at the thought of being with you again.

Dinner went by as usual, though this time, you were brimming with enthusiasm as you shared how you spent the day learning to prepare his favourite dishes from the kitchen staff. You even mentioned the surprising discovery that you might have developed a love for cooking. He ate more than usual, savouring the fact that the meal was made just for him, and found it difficult to take his eyes off of you throughout the night.

He had once considered happiness to be a frivolous notion, something only fools wished for. He never anticipated being the one to experience it. Now that he had, your husband was determined not to lose this newfound feeling.

With your family matters now resolved, the only thing remaining was to give you the grand wedding you truly deserved. From then on, the plan was to enjoy a lifetime of this happiness together. Watching you munching away with joy, he couldn't resist reaching over to affectionately wipe the corner of your lips. At that moment, he realised that this was all he needed.

After the meal, he walked you back to the House of Lotus, hand in hand as usual. Upon reaching the entrance, you smiled up at him, "Have a good night, Seonghwa."

However, before you could turn and leave, he swiftly cupped your face, "Wait, before you go..." Your heart quickened as he leaned in, whispering, "Just one kiss, my love."

Almost instinctively, your eyes fluttered closed as soon as his lips met yours in a tender kiss. The warmth spread through your insides as he wrapped his arms around your frame, pulling you closer and deepening the kiss by angling his head.

Feeling the sensation of his lips pressing against yours, again and again, you finally understood why couples enjoyed kissing. It was hard to put into words, but being so close to him felt pleasant, and your husband had a unique way of making you feel beautiful with his touches, even when you doubted it yourself. There was an almost addictive quality to it, making you feel like the luckiest woman in the world to be desired by the great General Park.

Perhaps I've found it... my happiness.

After breaking the kiss for a breath, he leaned his forehead against yours, a smile adorning his face as he looked down at you lovingly. In silence, the two of you remained in each other's arms, basking in the moment, reluctant to part.

Unfortunately, the moment was cut short as your assigned group of servants approached, "Oh, pardon us for the intrusion, master and mistress! We came to assist in preparing the mistress for bed. May we proceed, master? Or, if you wish to stay with the mistress, we could also make arrangements for both of you for the night in the House of Lotus."

His heart raced as he witnessed the faint blush on your cheeks in response to the maid's suggestion. Chuckling, he gently shook his head and placed a kiss on your forehead, "No, the mistress needs her rest. Perhaps another time. Go on ahead then; she will join you soon."

"Yes, master, as you wish."

The servants entered your quarters to prepare your bath while you exchanged your goodnight. Caressing your cheeks with his thumbs, he couldn't resist leaning in for a final, lingering kiss on your soft lips, "Goodnight, my love. I'll see you tomorrow."

As you made your way to your room, he felt a swell of affection watching you turn for one last wave before disappearing inside. He missed you already, and as much as he would have loved to hold you close all night, he knew that waiting until your proper wedding night to share the same bed was the right decision. For now, this was more than enough. After all, he had the rest of his life to spend with you.

"Thank goodness the ointment has been remarkably effective. I don't think you need to harbour any insecurities about your appearance anymore. Lady Park, you look beautiful." said Physician Jung as he arrived to assess the condition of your skin. Having you apply the medicine he prepared for some time, he recognised that his work here would soon be done.

Eunsook couldn't contain the grin on her face at the slight pink dusting your cheeks from the doctor's compliment, suddenly relieved that her master was not around. Lord knows how unamused he would have been to hear any of that or see your reaction.

"Yes, thank you, Yunho. She's always been ravishing with or without your ointment. I think your job here is done; it's my turn to enhance this beauty. Head over to the general's study for your pay if that's all," The doctor couldn't resist rolling his eyes at the dressmaker's dramatic entrance, "It's nice to see you too, Hongjoong."

With a dismissive wave, he shrugged off the sarcastic greeting from his tall friend, saying, "I'll catch up with you soon; I have work to do." Left with no other choice, Yunho offered one final bow to you before leaving your room with a maid escorting him out.

Closing the distance between you, the dressmaker swiftly retrieved the new hanbok he had made specifically for the special occasion today, declaring, "Now, who is ready to outshine all the princesses in the palace? It's you, Lady Park!"

"Outshine the princesses? I d-don't think that's a good idea—"

He interrupted you before you could finish your protest, "Nonsense! I promised General Park to make you the most beautiful woman in all of Joseon." With a small giggle, you sighed in defeat and allowed him to work his magic with the assistance of the head maid as they coordinated your appearance for your visit to the palace.

Today marked the day you and Seonghwa were meeting the King and Queen to discuss the details of your wedding ceremony in-depth, as well as allowing the royal couple to finally meet you after having heard so much about you. Even without having seen you, they already adored you from the stories your husband had shared. Not to mention, their hearts ached, especially after learning about your nightmarish childhood.

Seated at the vanity table, you gazed at your reflection in amazement as Eunsook worked on your hair and makeup, with Hongjoong providing expert advice and guidance. Just as the elderly woman was about to conceal the remaining faint scars on your face as she had always done, the dressmaker intervened, "No, wait. Leave the one on her forehead as it is; I have an idea."

With his extensive knowledge of fashion and beauty, he had always been intrigued by the Chinese makeup style, which incorporated temporary tattoos. Specifically, he was drawn to the idea of a small flower design painted onto women's foreheads.

Rather than covering your marks, he opted to transform them into an accessory that would improve your overall looks. With this distinctive look, you were bound to capture attention from all directions, not that your beauty didn't already achieve that. Now, you would stand out wherever you went, even within the palace grounds where princesses and royal concubines were always impeccably dressed.

Waiting by the entrance, Seonghwa turned when he recognised the sound of your dainty footsteps approaching. He didn't miss his assistant's awestruck expression, taking in your appearance from behind him, "Finally, Hongjoong's taken way too long..."

As you stepped into full view, his words trailed off, and his gaze fixed on you with a mix of astonishment and sheer admiration. His breath caught in his throat, and for a moment, he couldn't find the words to express what he felt. You had always been beautiful in his eyes, but his friend had truly outdone himself this time.

The most significant difference that caught the general's attention was the little red flower on your forehead, right between your eyes. That delicate design elegantly covered one of the scars you bore from your past. It was a stroke of genius from the dressmaker, turning a mark of pain into a unique and striking accessory that enhanced your natural beauty.

Your husband approached you, his eyes never leaving yours. Finally finding his voice, he whispered, "You look breathtaking, my love," before gently reaching up to trace the edge of the flower on your forehead, his touch soft and filled with so much love, "Hongjoong, you've done wonders."

The dressmaker grinned proudly and nodded in agreement, "I know, I always do."

Throughout the journey to the palace, the general found it hard to divert his gaze from you, just as you were captivated by the passing scenery outside. The roads to the palace differed from the usual routes leading to town, explaining your intrigue. As he admired your beautiful face, an unexpected desire surged within him to take you back home and shield you from others' eyes. A sudden uncertainty about wanting anyone else to see you overcame him. A selfish impulse urged him to keep you all to himself.

Before he could entertain the impulsive idea of turning the carriage around, Jongho had already announced their arrival. This time, Eunsook didn't bother to stand by and assist you down, instead waiting expectantly as the general smoothly helped you in one swift movement, determined to keep you close.

Having been here more than enough, Seonghwa knew this place might appear beautiful on the inside but could be very dangerous at the same time. People here might seem nice but rarely could be trusted, particularly the women. Well aware of this, he hesitated to let you wander off alone, despite your status as his wife. You were easily recognisable as Lady Park from a distance, anyone would have to be insane to dare mess with you.

Even so, he had no intention of leaving your side for even a moment. Palace servants passing by bowed deeply at both of you, and you did your best to maintain the poise of a noblewoman as practised with the head maid. The last thing you wanted was to make your husband look bad in here.

As you both approached the hall for the meeting with His and Her Majesty, the royal secretary rushed out to intercept the two of you. Almost as if your husband had jinxed it, San exclaimed, "There you are, General Park! We have a bit of a situation right now. Your immediate presence is required at an emergency meeting."

"But my wife—"

Finally realising you were present, the secretary bowed, "Oh, right, Lady Park! We're all aware you're here to discuss your wedding arrangements, but this really cannot wait. Even His Majesty is currently in this meeting expecting you. Would it be alright if we have your wife waiting by the cherry blossom garden? We'll have the servants prepare her some refreshments."

As much as Seonghwa detested the sudden change of plans, he acknowledged that he was left with no choice upon sensing the urgency in San's demeanour. With a nod of defeat, he agreed, "Okay, fine. Eunsook, please stay by the mistress' side at all times."

She nodded with a bow, "Of course, master."

Turning to you with a regretful frown etched on his brows, he said, "I'm sorry for having to leave you alone, my love. I'll come back to you as quickly as I can, I promise."

You shook your head with an understanding smile, "Don't worry about me, Seonghwa. I'll be fine. Your work is more important. Now hurry and go. Don't make His Majesty wait." Sighing lightly, he pecked you on the head before rushing off with the royal secretary.

"Lady Park, please come with us. We will guide you to the cherry blossom garden."

A team of palace maids appeared before you, showing you as much respect as they would towards royalty. Your status and reputation were well-known nationwide; you were favoured not only by your husband but also by the King and Queen themselves. No one would dare to disrespect you for fear of dire consequences.

Their dedication was evident in the top-tier hospitality as they led you to the enchanting garden, unlike anything you had ever seen. After thanking them politely, they prepared a seat for you in one of the pavilions within the vast garden, serving a tray of tea and some sophisticated-looking snacks.

Boredom eventually set in, and you glanced at one of the palace maids standing ready by the pavilion for any orders you might have for her, "Excuse me, would it be okay for me to take a walk around the garden?"

"Oh, certainly, Lady Park! Feel free to explore the garden as you please. Would you like any of us to accompany you?" Smiling and glancing at Eunsook, you declined, "No, thank you. We'll manage on our own. We won't be gone too long; you have my word."

"Thank you, Lady Park. Your assurance is appreciated; we'll await your return here." They bowed deeply as you and the head maid began your leisurely stroll.

As you wandered through the picturesque garden, marvelling at the vibrant colours of the flowers, you inadvertently caught the eye of a stranger who happened to be nearby. Your beauty, accentuated by the mark on your forehead, captivated the attention of this mysterious figure. What intrigued him even more was the unmistakable childlike innocence reflected in your eyes.

From a distance, he observed you with awe. The way you carried yourself, the genuine delight on your face as you admired the flowers and scenery—it all conveyed a sense of authenticity. Unlike anyone he had encountered, you seemed untouched by pretentiousness or spoiled airs.

Driven by an unexplainable urge to get closer, the stranger slowly made his way towards you, navigating through the enchanting garden. His curiosity was piqued, and he couldn't resist the desire to learn more about the intriguing woman who had captured his attention.

Unaware of the approaching figure as you immersed yourself in the beauty of the flowers, a clearing of the throat behind you signalled his presence. Eunsook, recognising the newcomer, widened her eyes and began to bow, but he gestured for her to remain silent with a finger against his lips and a subtle shake of his head.

Interrupting the tranquillity, the unexpected deep voice spoke, "It's beautiful, isn't it? Do you know what cherry blossoms symbolise?"

Startled, you turned to find a handsome man dressed elegantly, smiling down at you. After a moment of surprise, you nodded, "I do. I've read that they symbolise purity and beauty."

The man acknowledged, "That's right, much like you, my lady."

Concern flickered in the head maid's eyes, realising that the stranger might be unaware of your identity and possibly attempting to make a romantic gesture. Before matters could escalate, she decided to intervene, "Allow me to express our deepest respect, Your Highness. This is Lady Park, the esteemed wife of General Park. Mistress, may I present to you Prince Yeosang."

« Preview of Part 12 »

Seonghwa's eyes widened as they approached the War and Strategy Department building, where soldiers were marching about hastily, "Wait a minute, don't tell me—"

The royal secretary had no time to explain as he pulled the general into the meeting room where all military officials were seated and awaiting anxiously. The King, positioned in the middle of the room, sighed deeply upon noticing your husband's arrival.

"You're here, General Park. Is your wife also in the palace?" His Majesty asked, rubbing his head to alleviate an oncoming headache.

Seonghwa nodded in confirmation and inquired, "Yes, she is. She's waiting by the cherry blossom garden as we speak. Now, tell me. What is it? What has happened?"

With regret in his eyes, the King grimaced, "I'm so sorry, my boy. It seems your wedding will have to wait. Relations with the neighbouring nation, Ruhon, have not been very good lately. I fear war is inevitable this time, and... we need you."

Just wanted to make it clear that Ruhon is a fictional country. I've thought about it and decided it's probably best not to use real places for fear of offending anyone.

As always, thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts! <3

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#edenesth #the way to this heart #ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #park seonghwa #ateez seonghwa #arranged marriage au #joseon era #seonghwa x reader #seonghwa x you #ateez fic #historical au

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up, Ep 4 Recap: River vs A Letter

Welcome back to the project everyone loves waiting two weeks for -- my MNET Build Up Recaps! In the previous one, we saw WEi’s Seokhwa and AB6IX’s Woong take on two trainees. In this one, a bunch of my favorites face off -- Kim Minseo, Bain, Lee Gwangsuk, and Kim Sungjung. Oh no! Who will win? Let’s find out!

The guys come out, and as they stand there on stage, everyone notices how nicely dressed most of them are, and how tall. 

Bain and Minseo introduce themselves as Blackfire.

The colors in Blackfire refer to their hair colors, they explain. Looks like Minseo has trimmed his hair a bit, and it makes him look a little older. Bain’s is also restyled in a way that’s a bit more flattering to his head shape, which is good. This is all good. 

Wait, what is Bain wearing? 

Ok, I think he’s wearing a translucent white turtleneck, a white… vest? Cumberbund? … and a white blazer, with white trousers that also appear to be maybe a bit too translucent for me. 

Anyway, they explain that Bain even dyed his hair dark red (it had been orange before) as a step in becoming “ferocious” to beat the hyungs in the other team. 

Gwangseok and Sungjung introduce themselves as Black Haired.

Ok, obviously something is going on here -- a mysterious hair battle. What’s going on? Baekho reads the file and finds out that Sungjung said something surprising, so much so that VCG is like, “What is this, the Joseon Dynasty?” (That’s like asking, “What’s going on, are we in Renaissance times?”) 

We flashback to the rival matching moment, as Bain and Minseo make their way up to the RCPA (Rival Choosing Platform Area).  A lot of teams step forward to challenge them, including Geonu’s team, which is extra painful because Geonu and Bain are both on Just B together! Hey man, that’s gotta be a Survival-Show No-Go. An SSNG. 

Left to right: Team Geonu x Soomin; Team Lim Junhyeok x Yeo One; Team  Lee Gwangsuk, and Kim Sungjung; Team Yoon Inhwan x Ma Jaekyung. 

I guess later on I’ll try to reconstruct the order that the matching took place, because obviously this was pretty early on. 

Bain takes it in stride. He’s like -- “four teams thought they could beat us. It was fun!” And he gins. I really like Bain, guys. I wish he had a better stylist because he’s really charming in a Joohoney from Monsta X kind of way. 

So, Bain and Minseo start to think they’ll probably try to tackle one of the two teams on the left, and Sungjung notices the direction their eyes keeps going. He interviews, “Just by looking at them, I thought they’re someone we could beat with just emotion.”  He decides to make a strong provocation to get them to pick his team and he says, “I don’t like men dying their hair red.”

Bain, being iconic, is like, “well, first of all, it’s ORANGE, you dumb dumb!” 

At first, everyone is laughing, but then Bain is like, oh no you better don’t, and he picks Sungjung’s team. “They fell for our provocation. I’ve already made a plan. There’s no way we can lose -- I’m riding a wild horse. I have the fastest strongest horse. I’ve brought The Red Hare. I have… Lee Gwangseok.” 

Sungjung and Gwangseok meet up some time later to prepare for the challenge. MNET blurs out the brand name on their keyboard, which is important. Also, Gwangseok looks to be wearing a big, thick turtleneck s w e a t e r. Keep that throat warm, Gwangseok-ah!

Sungjung explains that his plan was to pick a really great partner and ride on his coattails, which seems weird given that Sungjung is also pretty highly regarded on this show. 

Sungjung explains that he really loved Gwangseok’s voice in both performances, even in Tomboy when Gwangseok was chosen as Low Tier. Sungjung says that he thinks they should do an emotional song, and again says that Gwangseok has a “wild horse” feeling, and every time he says that, the show plays a horse sound effect and it’s just like… 

FYI, please don’t be too concerned. This isn’t a real photo, as realistic as it looks. I did this in Microsoft Paint! I know, I know. You didn’t know your BPR-unnie could work magic like this. 

I think Gwangseok starts to get a bit uncomfortable with Sungjung constantly saying he’s like a wild horse, but that’s just my feeling. 

Sungjung says he wants to do a song with so much emotion that it smells. “I’d say a song that almost stinks!” Sungjung, are you ok? (This is probably a Korean figure of speech.) 

They decide on A Letter by Bumjin. This is the gist of the lyrics: 

“As I saw you turning around, I couldn’t say anything, and my short-lived year of being sad came to an end. When the harsh memories that pass by are scattered by the wind, I try to let them go as if nothing happened so that no painful feelings remain. Goodbye, my day is fading away, my stars that failed to shine, the words I have been saving, finally, I will send you my goodbyes.” 

At Gwangseok’s suggestion, they decide to just let their rugged vocals and the emotions of the song carry the piece.  Sungjung literally says he’ll do whatever Gwangseok wants to do, and Gwangseok again is made a bit uncomfortable, like, “this is too much pressure!”  Still, he really loves the song and thinks the performance could be really great. 

They gather to rehearse by singing into iced tea bottles in a… department store changing room? IDK, fam. Gwangseok says that neither of them majored in music, so he’s worried. It surprises me to hear that Sungjung didn’t major in music, since he seems to have some training under his belt, but I guess you never know. They practice a lot to make sure they have a good stage with their “unpolished” voices. 

And the performance begins!

Full version without reactions 

Overall, very nice, if a bit… boring? I think that’s because of the song as much as anything. It’s just so slow and plodding, with a beat that you simply cannot tap your feet to no matter how hard you try. 

Both guys have lovely vocal tones, and I really didn’t hear anything “off” or “wrong” about the performance when I just listened to it without watching. 

Gwangseok sounds husky, on the verge of him losing his voice, but that’s kind of his thing, isn’t it? 

Sungjung’s voice is so clean, almost featureless that it could blend with almost anyone’s, from Jay to Hayoon. I feel like I couldn’t really hear him in this performance, partly because he sang a bit too softly, and partly because Gwangseok sang a bit too loudly.

Something obviously went wrong part way, as Gwangseok seemed to have some sort of problem with his in-ear piece, and I think his inexperience on stage hurt the team a lot. In-ear piece giving you trouble? Subtly take it out and just move on. But he did the opposite -- he made a big deal out of his ear piece not working, shaking his head, getting his partner’s attention to point it out, just basically having no chill. 

And then, without the in-ear piece to help him judge volume levels, Gwangseok seems to lose control of his dynamics, and he suddenly and randomly gets really loud and even a bit shouty. It hurts the blend of the harmonies. It’s a shame, because I think that Sungjung’s voice is really interesting and wanted to get to hear him more. I feel like Gwangseok kind of dominated the show. It never sounds bad, but both of them look kind of miserable on stage and the vibe is off. 

And that’s the worst thing about it, since the whole point was supposed to be to portray this sad break up song in a way that makes the listener cry. The listener is too busy wondering “what’s wrong with Gwangseok’s earpiece?” to connect emotionally with the song. 

I’m not sure what happened here. Maybe they practiced too much and Gwangseok wore his throat a little raw and he just sort of lost confidence. Maybe it was just singing with the in-ear piece. I don’t know. But I think that Sunjung maybe shouldn’t have been so weird about the whole thing, because it put a lot of pressure on Gwangseok. 

Also, I think they should have planned what they would do between verses besides stand there and bop. Maybe they could have had the lights dim on them a little, or have something projected on the back screen, something to take the focus off of them while they weren’t actively singing. 

In the MNET edit, everything seems to start right. Right when Gwangseok starts singing, everyone seems to love his singing. Sungjung gets a lot of happy nods, too.  

Eunkwang is enjoying it. I think. I guess?

But then it starts to go wrong. Gwangseok lets everything show on his face and totally forgets about portraying the emotions of the song, which was supposed to be the whole point. The judges start to look kind of bored, kind of concerned. 

(next to Baekho’s face, it says “complicated”) 

It's a bummer, because they sound ok, despite the lack of blend in their voices and the problems with Gwangseok’s dynamics.

When the guys are done singing, the judges applaud a little, and VCG is smiling, but it’s a bit muted. Sungjung asks Gwankseok about his in ear monitors, and Gwangseok says they were “unstable.” 

Backstage, the guys say they’re not sure what the judges will say. They think it started off well, but was disappointing toward the end. They also aren’t sure the two singers' voices blended well, which I actually think I disagree with. I think they didn’t practice matching their dynamics properly, and if they had, their voices might have sounded really nice together. I think their lack of training ended up biting them in the hinder.

The judges seem to take a long time voting. Finally, we learn that their high is 90 and their low is 75, from -- who else -- Jaehwan. 

Jaehwan says that the song suited Gwangseok’s voice well, but it became too strong. Solar chimes in to say that Gwangseok sang a bit too loudly at points and it wasn’t balanced enough. Eunkwang scolds Gwangseok a little, saying that he really has to watch his dynamics because otherwise he won’t be a good member of a team. “You guys are really good,” Eunkwang says, even if they haven’t had training, “but there are parts that are disappointing.” Sungjung lacks energy, Eunkwang says -- and Baekho agrees. I think they’re all pretty correct. 

As the guys walk off stage, Baekho and Seungkwan compare Gwangseok’s voice to a gemstone that just needs some polishing. 

Next it’s Bain and Minseo’s turn. Backstage, they’re nervous -- scared, even. 

We flashback to the rival choosing day. Bain feels bad, partly because so many guys thought they could challenge his team, and partly because he was baited into choosing Sungjung’s team. But no more regrets! He is determined to find a song that fits his voice well. 

Minseo is frustrated, because he was low tier. “I expected no one to come my way and no one did,” he says. They were basically the team of leftovers, we see. Minseo says that he feels grateful to Bain and determined to do better. 

Some time later, Bain’s hair is now pale orange, and they’re meeting in an office space of some kind. Neither is wearing a sweater! What kind of bullshit is this? 

But at least Minseo has a nice coffee. Good, keep that up. 

They’ve already decided to sing a pop song. But which one? 

We see a pre-production meeting with Different-Hair Bain. I like this look better than the weird helmet cut he has going in episodes 1-2. He says that he thinks he must have been a foreigner in his previous life, because he feels so at home in the United States. Oh, come to visit, Bain! I have a spare bedroom. My fella and I will show you around. We can go do karaoke!

He just really likes pop music, by which I think they mean specifically Western pop music. They decide to do River by Bishop Briggs. I mean, yeah. That’s a great song to sing. Powerful, driving, oddly emotional despite the fact that the lyrics don’t really make sense no matter what language(s) you speak. Yep. 

People thought these two would be pushovers, easy to beat. It’s just made them want to try harder.

And then it’s time for their performance. Solar is worried that the song would be too powerful for them, but I know my Bain and I think this will be good.

Full version without reactions 

My thoughts:

FUCK YEAH. 

THAT’S THE STUFF.

Ok, guys, I would like to point out that I TOLD YOU ABOUT BAIN. I told you! I told you that he’s fucking great and I know that the show has up until now edited him to look like a schmuck but YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT YOUR BPR UNNIE TOLD YOU ABOUT BAIN. I also called Minseo “one to watch.” Listen to your unnie! 

One of my favorite parts is when, even in the Youtube version with no reactions, you can actually hear the judges screaming right toward the end. Amazing. Love it. 

Their voices are actually really similar, so I can mostly describe them together. Both of them have a fantastically well developed upper mix, meaning they can hit higher notes with a full voice rather than a falsetto. They both have a perfect vibrato that provides texture and interest without making it sound wobbly or fussy.

In terms of performance in general, they seemed confident, striding around the stage like they knew they were hot fucking shit, which they are. Bain’s little grin as he whispers “like a river”  toward the end is so good. 

Nitpicks? Just three. (1) At once point, Minseo got a tiny tiny bit shrieky as the note got away from him, right toward the end. (2) Bain’s falsetto was a little thin and underdeveloped. (3) Minseo in particular could improve his English pronunciation. But who cares, this rocked. I forgive it all. At this point, I prefer this to the original version by a decent amount. If only they’d worn sweaters it would have been completely perfect.

Ok, for once I’m excited to see the MNET version. 

It’s so fun to watch the judging panel go apeshit, even if it was filmed on a potato.

VCG likes it so much he gives his Super Dorky Smile of approval.

There are so many instant replays but I don’t even mind. I suspected Bain’s whispered “like a river” would get replayed and it did, but a bunch of other things too.

The judges are just open mouthed while the guys backstage are like, “this is so dark and sexy! They’re like different people.” Even Minseo’s slightly shrieky high note toward the end gets love.

When they’re almost done the judges are already on their feet screaming, but then the singers have two more notes to sing and the judges hush their mouths to listen. 

So. Satisfying. 

Backstage, the guys are mostly gobsmacked. Most of them didn’t know that Bain was that good. On stage, VCG is wiping away tears and Jaehwan is comparing Bain to Rihanna. 

Bain and Minseo are being so polite and reserved that VCG teases them that they should be more cocky about it after a performance that good.

Solar calls them “perverts,” which again refers to that thing Seunghwan said in the first episode, which is just a little bit beyond my ability to research. I assume it’s Korean slang. “You seemed to know what it means to put on a performance,” she adds, which, yeah. 

Seungkwan asks if they’re both actually Korean, which is pretty funny. 

“What? Hyung, what? Why are you laughing at me, hyung? I’m going to tell S. Coups on you." - Seungkwan, probably

Seungkwan says that the song River could come off as cheesy if you’re not careful, but Bain was so sexy and Minseo went nuts! 

VCG says “Bain, that’s how one should sing -- with all the different tones. That’s the taste I’ve been wanting. That’s how you get the listeners to focus. And Minseo? You’re a trainee but you gave more taste than the pros.” 

Eunwkwang says that even though they were powerful, their singing was clean and they never lost control. 

Jaehwan says they’re in trouble… because now they have to do even better in the next round. Baekho is like, come on! 

Time for the judges to vote! Backstage, poor Gwangseok and Sungjung -- remember them? -- know what’s up. Reveal the votes, but not really! Commercial break! Reveal the votes again! But not really! Ok, finally reveal them this time!

Seungkwan, VCG, and Wendy all give 100s. Baekho and Wendy give 97s, and Solar and Jaehwan must have given 98 or 99.

The continued look of astonishment on Minseo’s face is just about the cutest/dorkiest thing on earth. I love it. 

And Bain low-key looks like he might cry:

Dahee calls out the first team, who walk up on stage kind of sadly. Since their high score was 90 and low score was 75, there’s just no way that they could have won, but we get the scores anyway: 690 to 587. 

Doing the math, Solar and Jaehwan must both have given Bain and Minseo a 98. As for the Gwangseok and Sungjung, if you subtract out the high and low scores, it turns out the average of the other judges scores was 84. 

Backstage, Inhwan and Jaekyung note that Bain and Minseo’s team would have beaten any of the teams who challenged them. As a reminder, they were challenged by: Geonu x Soomin and Junhyeok x Yeo One as well as Gwangsuk x Sungjungand Inhwan x  Jaekyung. You might notice that two of those teams haven’t performed yet…. Hmmmm. I wonder if maybe these performances were shown a bit out of order? So now we’re spoilered that Team Geonu x Soomin and Team Junhyeok x Yeo One will both score below 690. 

Dahee asks the losing team if they have any remarks, and our leaping lizard Sungjung says, “I just want to say one thing. Red hair suits you well.” Everyone laughs and the good feeling is restored.

Gwangseok says, “But seriously, we just wanted to be cool. We thought a loss would be acceptable if we did well, but the opponents did better.” The implication is that maybe he thinks they *didn’t* do well. The judges reassure him that he did, and Dahee adds her piece: “I don’t know if it’ll comfort you, but from where I stand, you guys still seem cool to me, even though you lost.” Aww, Dahee is pretty great, isn’t she? I was unsure about her in the beginning but she’s just the cutest. 

Backstage, Gwangseok and Sungjung say they should just go get some soju. And Bain and Minseo are in a state of delighted disbelief. 

Anyway, that was fun! I feel a bit sad for Sungjung and Gwangseok, but it also feels fair. I think Sungjung put all his hopes on Gwangseok instead of just sort of running his own (horse) race, and I think Gwangseok’s inexperience showed. I still think both of them are great singers and I hope they can continue to learn and grow from all this. 

Thanks as always for reading! And if you’re enjoying my recaps, feel free to talk about them whenever/wherever/however! See you as always in the next one.

#bain #just b #bpr recaps build up #build up mnet #mnet build up #build up

[ilhoonftw]

Joseon X-Files was a good show too

[shop-cailey]

Watch "Things I'll NEVER Do Again in Walt Disney World" on YouTube

ACCESS - FLORIDA - FOOD ASSISTANCE

(SNAP) - SUPERB - NEW - PROCESS YES

HOMELESS - ASKED - AT - ONCE

ASKED - MY - COMMENTS SHARED

FLORIDA - HAS - NO - REST - AREAS

LIKE - CALIFORNIA - FREE - 2 - REST

ELECTRICITY - 2 - CHARGE DEVICES

SMARTPHONE - LAPTOPS

REST AREAS - WITH - MICROWAVES

FROZEN - FOODS - SHOWERS ALSO

FREE - REST - AREAS - SHARED YES

MAIN LIBRARY - SHERIFFS - CRUEL

WHEN - FELL - ASLEEP - SO MEAN

BANK - ACCOUNTS

NO - ENTERING - OF - NUMBERS - 2

BUT - NEW - APPLICANTS

UPLOAD - TRICKY - WITH - TABLET

MY - SCREEN SHOT - DIED - LITTLE

GOOGLE - PLAY - STORE

FREE - X CAMERA - SUPERB

PURPLE - BACKGROUND - MY - YES

WRIST - FLANNEL - REST - HUGE

PLACED - FL - IDENTIFICATION HAI

CARD - THERE - SO - BEAUTIFUL - 2

EMAILED - 2 - ME - SCREENSHOT

AFTER - UPLOADED

2ND - ONE - MY - BANK STATEMENT

CLICKED - DOWNLOAD - SO - WHEN

CHECKED - FILES - BOTH - THERE

DON'T - NEED - 2 - APPLY - RIGHT

AWAY - BUT - U - HAVE - LESS THAN

15 MIN - 2 - UPLOAD - BECAUSE YOU

WILL - LOOSE - APPLICATION - FOR

IN-ACTIVITY - FOR - 15 MINUTES

SO - FASTLY - LOADED - WENT - TO

ROBOFORM - 2 - GET - INFO - LOTS

OF - NOTEBOOKS - NOT WITH BANK

INFO - RIGHT - NOW - SO - GOT FRM

SMARTPHONE - APP - ROBOFORM 2

SUBMITTED - ALL - REQUEST - YES

VOTING - REGISTRATION - 4 - NEW

UPS STORE - MAILING - ADDRESS

ACCEPT - UNIT 5555

DIDN'T - ACCEPT - ####

HOMELESS - MAILING - ADDRESS

REQUIRED - ASKED - 4 - ZIP CODE

OF - HOMELESS - GAVE - ZIP - OF

MAIN LIBRARY - SAME - ZIP - ALSO

OF - THE UPS STORE AT BRICKELL

REMAKING - AFTER - ALL

VIOLENT - KOREAN

'MY - SASSY - GIRL'

REVISIONS - TANAKA - STUDIOS

PRESENTS - FILMING IN FRANCE

'THE - UNDEFEATED - PRINCESS'

REQUESTING - MALE - LEAD

TAHITIAN - DANCE - 4 - MALES

TREADMILL - INCLINE - ALSO 2

PER - EXERCISE - TIME

900 BILLION - WON - X 2 - TAX

PAID - INSTEAD - OF - HIS - YES

'MULAN' - SMALL - FAN - AS HE

FOUGHT - LARGER - FAN JOSEON

BUT - MADE - IN - CHINA - YES ITS

COPPER - NOW - IT - DISHES OUT

LIKE - SHARP - LONG - NAILS

QUITE - LITTLE - GOES - THRU

KOREAN MALES - POISONOUS

THEY - DISAPPEAR - AFTER

CAN - FIGHT - FASTER - YES

BOTH - FEMALE - LEAD

CHINESE - MARTIAL - ARTS

TRAINING - 900 BILLION WON

X 2 - PER - SESSION

AS - SHE - THREW - CHINESE

POWDER - HE - SAYS - 'BEST

U - CAN - DO - TOOK - THEIR

ANTIDOTE' - CHINESE - YES

MARTIAL - ARTS - BETWEEN

THEM - DEFEATED - GUARD

FEMALE - AS - FAR - AS THE

PRINCESS - MORE - FEMININE

MEATING - HE - USES CHINESE

MARTIAL - ARTS - HOW 2 TAME

KOREAN - GIRLS - WITHOUT

HURTING - THEM - SHE's - YES

SCREAMING - BUT - SOFTLY 2

MAKING - INTO - MUSICAL XO

ALSO - AS - SHE - SINGS

ITZY - CAN - DUB 4 - HER

LITTLE - BOY - SINGS - 2

LIFE - IN - JOSEON PALACE

NEAR - TREE - WAITING FOR

DETHRONED - QUEEN - SHE

SINGS - LOVE - THOSE - YES

GIRLS - SURROUNDING - THE

DAUGHTER - OF - TRAITOR 2

WE'RE - REVISING - SCENES

NO - MORE - BUTCHER

VILLAGE - INSTEAD - POTS

CERAMICS - MADE - THERE

CLOTH - ALSO - MADE - TOO

IN - THAT - VILLAGE - MAKE

SAFER - AND - PRETTIER - 2

GOING - INTO - RESEARCH OF

TRUE - JOSEON AND GOREO

GLAD - FINISHED - ALL THAT

WORRIED - ME - BORING - SO

LONG - AND - FINALLY ASKED

OUR - TELEPHONE - YES - HAI

MOBILE - TEL - EXPENSE - YES

ADDED - $45.59 - FOR - MINE 2

HOW - MUCH - I - HAVE - RIGHT

NOW - TOTAL - OVER - $7

INCLUDES - COINS - BANKS - 2

ASKED - DO - I - HAVE - LANDS

BUSINESS - IN - PHILIPPINES

WHY - WOULD - I - NEED EBT

I - HAVE - SEVERE - HEAD

INJURY - MEMORY - LOSS

FORGOT - MY - HOME ADDRESS

BOUGHT - 2 LANDS - 2 MAKE - 1

NEAR - OR - IN - MANILA

NO - MAILING - THERE 2

WILD - CARABAO - 2 - GET THERE

SITTING - ON - HIM

SMALL - COVERED - TOP - SIDES

ATTACHED MOTORCYCLE - 2 GET

BOTH - NOT - FREE

FORGOT - WHERE - I - LIVE

FORGOT - WHERE - MY - 2 SMALL

GROCERIES - ARE - MAKATI - PH

FORGOT - MY - BANKS - NO - YES

CARDS - MAKATI - PHILIPPINES 2

HAVE - PERMANENT - AMNESIA

NO - NO - ASSETS - PHILIPPINES

MEMORY - INTEREST - BEARING

AUTO - TAX - PAID - NO - USD $$$

TOTAL NOW OVER - $275 BILLION

PERCENTAGE - FEEDS - HUNGRY

KIDS - PHILIPPINES - FIRST THEN

FEEDS - KIDS - INDIA - ETHIOPIA

AND - WORLDWIDE - HOORAY - 2

BUT - UPLOADED

FLORIDA - IDENTIFICATION CARD

FIFTH THIRD BANK - STATEMENT

WONDERFUL - ONLINE - WOW - 2

THE - UPS STORE - RECEIVING

VOTING - REGISTRATION - YES

NEW - MAILING - ADDRESS

NEVER - GOING - BACK - TO

NASTY - CAMILLUS HOUSE

I - WASN'T - ALLOWED - US MAIL

4A - BUS 77 - HAVE - 2 B - THERE

ILLEGALLY - 5A - 4 - METRORAIL

AND - METROMOVER - STARTS

AT - 5A - SUING - SUING - SUING

ALL - INCOME - MUST B TAXED

CLOSING - NON-PROFIT - RELIGION

CLOSING - MANY - NON- PROFIT

ALL - INCOME - THEY - RECEIVED

WILL - B - TAXED - AMOUNT OWED

2:22P EST - LEAVING - 4 - PUBLIX

INTERMITTENT - FASTING - IS - 12P

LAST - EATING - EACH - DAY AT 6P

WENT - BEYOND - TODAY

WAS - SUPPOSED - 2 - EAT

WATERMELONS - 4 - MORNING

ON - EMPTY - STOMACH

INTERRUPTED - GETTING ALSO

RED - APPLE - CIDER - VINEGAR

WHAT - 2 - EAT - WITH - SNAP

FOOD - ASSISTANCE YES EBT

ELECTRONIC BENEFITS TRANSFER

JESUS - IS - LORD - TABLET - WAS

TRICKY - BUT - MADE - IT - TRULY 2

SNAP - NOW - SERVING - OVER

6 MILLION - FAMILIES - POOR 2

HOORAY - LEAVING MAIN LIBRARY

SW 13 ST - PUBLIX - SELF SERVICE

METRORAIL - EXIT - 1 STOP

SOUTHBOUND - BRICKELL

COMING - BACK - KOREAN - GIRLS

#Youtube

[actiaslunaris]

Illumination - a Secret Investigation Record fanvid - gen

Shadows and light.

Music is “Moiety Theme” by Robyn Miller. Originally posted January 20, 2011. Made for ghost_lingering. Contains flashes.

#fanvid #secret investigation record #joseon x files #kdramaedit #festivids #vids:mine #throwback thursday

[611dramaunnies]

Hi Chingus, Tiara her with my first pick of 12 Days Of Drama Secret Investigation Record - Joseon X-Files Need a Sci-Fi fix, look no further than Joseon X-Files. This little cable show from TvN back in 2010 is everything a Sci-Fi fan needs and wants. This drama was really ahead of it’s time as the drama genre is not only Sci-Fi but a sageuk. Of course, these are two of my favorite genres and I might be a tab bias. JXF has been in my top 5 dramas of all time. The writer is on point and the plotting is masterful. This drama will not assume you’re an idiot as it will test your mental capabilities. I’m looking at you, episode 7. JXF will lay the ground work and ask questions and it’s up to you to figure the meaning and answers. The actors, director, and those people behind the show really should be proud at the work they did on this little drama. It’s a hidden master piece everyone should watch.

#joseon x-files #secret investigation record #kdrama meme #kdrama #meme #12 days of drama #611 #611dramaunnies

[taye-x]

yo someone @ me if temperature of love gets good

#i doubt it but yknow stranger things have happened #until then i really just cbf #on to live up to your name #which is pretty good so far #got some fucking ballin cinematography #very Nicolas Winding Refn #even in that joseon era bits #i havent seen joseon x files yet but i like to imagine this is what that looks like #kdramas

[aer-in-wanderland]

구미호뎐 | Tale of the Nine Tailed - Lost in Translation EP02

Back by, possibly not popular, but certainly very enthusiastic demand: my sister’s and my continued adventures in mistranslation and cultural subtext. You can find EP01 here. Buckle up and settle in for another monster post because, wow, a lot happened in this episode. Contains spoilers. 

Prologue

We open with a sweeping view of Baekdudaegan as Yeon narrates about his past as the god who presided over it. For context, Baekdudaegan is the biggest and most famous mountain range in Korea, taking up an enormous swath of the Korean peninsula (to the extent that it’s often referred to as its ‘spine’ or ‘backbone’). So Yeon wasn’t lying when he said he was a ‘major’ mountain god. ;) 

Yeon: You could say these were my Leeds Days. I was the master of Baekdudaegan, a mountain god who controlled the wind and rain,* and a gumiho who was, from the start, of a different caliber than the mongrel foxes you see in Hometown of Legends.  ...Or, I was.”

[*Note: Can also be taken to mean ‘the natural elements’ in general.]

When Yeon refers to his ‘glory days,’ the term he uses is ‘Leeds Era’ (리즈시절). Originally a sporting term for the height of a footballer’s career, in Korean, the expression has come to be used to describe a person’s bygone glory days. The modern figure of speech (complete with English loan word) makes for a funny counterpoint to the Yeon we see on screen and recalls the mint-chocolate loving American TV show enthusiast we’ve known him as so far. 

The other modern reference he makes is to Hometown of Legends (전설의 고향), which has been the title of numerous dramas and movies (1977-2018) centered around Korean myths and legends. This is basically the equivalent of an alien referencing the X-files. Overall, the narration serves to remind us just how modern our gumiho has become and clashes humorously with the visual onscreen.

Yeon’s above narration concludes with the first appearance of little Ah Eum, who immediately proceeds to pet the mighty master of Baekdudaegan as if he were her pet dog pfft (thus the ‘....or I was.’) 

As an aside, tvN released some backstory information revealing that Ah Eum had gone to find Yeon in order to pray for rain. Which means she pet him in spite of that lol We also know from the past-life sequence in episode 10 that she had actually been warned never to venture anywhere near his mountain because a 1000 year old gumiho lived there. It’s almost as if her guardians don’t know her at all...

For anyone keeping track, Ah Eum uses banmal with Yeon from the very beginning. We find out why later. As a princess (even one who had been discarded), she’s used to outranking everyone around her and therefore speaking almost exclusively in banmal. To be fair, with her temperament, Yeon being a 1000+ year old mountain god probably just wasn’t enough to get him an automatic pass from her. Point for Ah Eum/Ji Ah character continuity. 

Yeon: If I could rewrite* my past just once, I would return to this moment without hesitation. So that that child could never find me. 

[*Note: Literally, ‘A/S my past,’ which I’m pretty sure has its roots in computer usage. So again, thoroughly modern vocabulary from the former master of Baekdudaegan.]

We transition from young to grown Ah Eum with a sweep of the Red Umbrella. According to tvN again, this umbrella was actually a gift from Ah Eum to Yeon, and it’s also the same umbrella Yeon still carries everywhere. It’s somewhat poetic, then, that it was this umbrella that lead Ji Ah to him. So, a meaningful item on multiple fronts. 

Yeon: Some called it, ‘the scandal of the age that shook Baekdudaegan.’ To think, a mountain god who had given his heart to a human... Nowadays, it would have felt like a disciplinary hearing, but I didn’t care a whit. I liked her [presence] permeating my woods. 

As you might have guessed, this love story ends in tragedy. Someone stole her life. Once she crossed the River of Three Crossings, I would never be able to see her again. I couldn’t hold on to her, but nor could I bear to let her go...so I resorted to abusing my power. 

The BGM playing as Yeon narrates the ending of his tragic story is ‘The Parting at the River of Three Crossings,’ which I think of as the epic love theme of TotNT alongside ‘Sad Fate.’ Why do I keep mentioning the BGM? No reason, other than that it interests me. ;)

On a linguistic note, Yeon’s line, ‘Someone stole her life’ caught my attention from the first time I watched this due to his unusual usage of the word ‘life.’ Korean has multiple words for ‘life.’ The one that would typically be used in this context is ‘moksoom’ (목숨), which I think of as having the nuance of one’s life force. So to steal one’s ‘moksoom’ would mean to kill them. Instead, he uses ‘insaeng’ (인생), which is more like the life one leads. To steal someone’s ‘insaeng’ sounds more like a case of identity theft. As we find out later, that actually is what Imoogi did, and this hinted at that linguistically. 

I’m not sure how well this translated, but the gesture of Yeon kneeling is both epic and heartbreaking. Kneeling is a very weighty gesture in Korea, so for Yeon to use his godly powers to freeze the very River to the Afterlife only to kneel and beg for one last moment with Ah Eum is just... It’s a momentous enough gesture for Taluipa, the ultimate stickler for rules, to make an exception and grant his request. 

The fox bead: In Japanese lore, a fox’s bead is often akin to its life force, but that’s clearly not the case for Yeon. In Korean lore, fox beads are sometimes called ‘the treasure of a fox’s lips,’ since the bead is supposedly located within the fox’s mouth (and can thus be stolen/gifted with a kiss). Some tellings claim that someone who swallows a fox’s bead gains understanding of all things and phenomena in the universe, while others say they grant the bearer’s wishes. 

Yeon continues his narration, describing how he’s encountered women with Ah Eum’s face over the centuries, but that none of them were her. For anyone interested, you can find my hot take on that here.

Okay, can we please have a spin-off of Yeon hunting down folklore monsters in Japanese-occupied Korea Gaksital (2012)-style?

Fun fact: Based on some of the still cuts they released, there was actually a deleted scene in which Yeon pulled the late-Joseon era Ah Eum look-alike aside, checked her for the fox bead, and then erased her memories. (And by ‘fun’ I mean, ‘why would you delete that??’)

“I’ve been waiting for you.” Iconic.

Fun fact: Lee Dong Wook picked this as the most memorable line of the drama due to it’s thematic echoing across multiple episodes. 

On the topic of the tranquilizer, there was a deleted scene in episode 1 in which Ji Ah very openly 'borrowed’ it from Shin Joo’s vet clinic because she already suspected Yeon was a fox: fox fur, Fox Ridge... She was taking a pretty big gamble though since he’s not exactly your average fox. 

It’s worth noting that Ji Ah doesn’t say she was ‘looking’ for Yeon (although she was, because she’s a go-get-‘em kind of girl); she says she was ‘waiting’ for him. I took this to mean she was waiting for him to return and make good on his threat to kill her (since, not only had she not forgotten, she’d been actively sticking her nose into anything remotely supernatural or unexplainable), at which point, presumably, she planned to turn the tables on him. 

Episode 02 Title Card: I’ve Been Waiting for You

For anyone wondering how Ji Ah managed to get Yeon back up to his penthouse, apparently she told the security desk her boyfriend was drunk and boldly took him back up in the elevator (presumably with help) haha

Possibly coincidentally, Yeon’s first line to Ji Ah when he regains consciousness is the same as his first line to little Ah Eum: ‘Do you want to die?’ (minus the sageuk speak)

Ji Ah’s line, “I wouldn’t be sipping tea here if I was worried about that,” would more literally be: “If I valued my life, would I be sitting here drinking flower tea?”

Lol Ji Ah. “Want a cup?” is such a classy power play. 

Sub: “After the stunt you pulled, you’re actually offering me tea?” Ha. Also, what Yeon literally says is: “You pulled that variety-esque stunt, and your next line is what? ‘A cup of tea’?” ‘Variety’ here is an English loan word meant in the sense of ‘variety shows’ (ex. Running Man or 1 Night 2 Days), though to my knowledge, no one has ever been tranquilized on one. 

The following exchange was littered with enough small things I would have changed that I’ll just translate the whole thing here for reference:

Ji Ah: When a man and a woman have that level of physical contact, don’t they usually also drink tea or eat meals together, too? These days, the whole pure and noble act doesn’t go far.

Yeon: Whether it does or not, when you’re at a disadvantage, isn’t it considered common courtesy to come [to the table] having put aside either your pride or your self-esteem [i.e. at least one of the two]? 

Ji Ah: Listen until the end before you determine who’s at a disadvantage.

Yeon: (Nodding) In exchange, if my thinking still doesn’t change, you’ll pay the price for having tested me. 

Ji Ah: Price?

Yeon: Your sight (literally ‘eyes’). I’ll be taking your eyes that have seen what they shouldn’t have.

Ji Ah: Deal. (literally, ‘call’ as in poker)

Rang & Yoo Ri Crash a Funeral

In the off chance you were wondering why this is basically the only time we see Rang driving Yoo Ri and not the other way around, it’s because Yoo Ri is ‘in character’ as the daughter of a major conglomerate and wouldn’t be expected to drive herself if there was another person in the car. In Korea, there’s a whole code of etiquette around who sits where in the car. 

Instead of ‘Lee Rang-nim’ the subs have Yoo Ri addressing Rang as ‘sir.’ That just strikes me as so distant and cold...

To my thinking, this scene was peak ‘Hoket-dan.’ It was nearly the same level of over-the-top campy as some of the old supervillains. If I’m being perfectly honest, I was worried at this point that Rang’s character would turn out to be equally 2D. Joke’s on me though, ‘cause this later became a hilarious character quirk when Sajang says to Rang, “It can’t be that you came to enjoy watching me die?” and Rang responds, “I love doing that! Look, I even brought popcorn. I even go about visiting funeral homes and stuff on purpose.” lol

Ji Ah’s Gamble

Okay, but Yeon actually took her up on tea haha I love it. 

Subs: “So you’re a fox that’s pretending to be human.” The word they use here (and throughout the drama) is ‘doongap’ (둔갑), which is literally ‘to assume the form of.’ Unfortunately, there’s no verb in English that neatly conveys that, so this gets subbed a lot of ways. I’ve mostly been translating it as ‘transform,’ but that’s more properly ‘byeonshin’ (변신). Sometimes with translation, the best option still isn’t great. 

It’s also worth noting that this is actually not what Yeon is doing here, since he sees those sorts of tricks as beneath him. Yeon is a cheon’ho; his human form is his own. 

Sub: “What a lame reaction. A normal human being would scream...” More literally: “What kind of reaction is so lacking in sincerity? Generally, if [you’re] a human, I should at least get a scream...” Again, both ‘reaction’ and ‘scream’ are in English, and, somewhat humorously, Yeon uses the verb + juda (주다) form, implying he was hoping to elicit a scream with his reveal pfft

Sub: “No. I knew something like you would exist somewhere out in this world. I started directing a TV show about urban legends so I could catch you myself.” This is mostly fine, but what she says more literally is: “No. I knew something like you would exist somewhere in this world. In order to catch [one] myself, I buried my bones in a TV show about urban legends.” To ‘bury ones bones’ means ‘to devote oneself entirely to’ and implies more drive and dedication than in the sub. The subject is once again omitted, so she could mean Yeon, but I think she actually means ‘things like Yeon’ more generally. 

Yeon’s line to Ji Ah when she asks him about their long ago encounter was subbed as: “I followed the smell of blood, and I ended up saving a little kid. But I can see that she’s very ungrateful.”  I would translate this as:

Yeon: I smelled blood and followed it, and ended up saving some little girl (lit. young child), but now I see that that child is trying to repay a favor with enmity.

The expression Yeon uses here, to ‘repay a favor (eunhye) with enmity (wonsoo),’ is a common turn of phrase. It’s the Korean equivalent of ‘biting the hand that feeds you,’ or ‘repaying good with ill.’ Considering eunhye has actual consequences for Yeon, he doesn’t seem all that put out. 

Lol Something about Lee Dong Wook’s delivery of Yeon’s line, “So you lost your parents...” reminds me of the Oscar Wilde quote: ‘To lose one parent may be regarded as misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.’ 

Sub: “I’m not threatening you. I’m taking my chances.” This should be: “You’re mistaken. I’m not threatening; I’m gambling.” This turn of phrase is rather clever in Korean since ‘threat’ (협박) and ‘gamble’ (도박) are only one syllable off. In terms of the subs, while ‘gambling’ and ‘taking my chances’ are similar on the surface, they’re different enough in nuance that I would consider this a mistranslation. ‘Gambling’ implies an informed, calculated risk, whereas ‘taking my chances’ gives the impression of improvisation and leaving everything up to luck. 

The Funeral Parlour

This scene is Rang in a nutshell. I actually don’t have much to comment on linguistically, but it was definitely an important scene for establishing Rang’s MO and motivations. 

Shin Joo & Yeon

Yeon and Shin Joo meet up at the ice cream parlour to debrief on the situation with Ji Ah, and it’s cute how Shin Joo is more indignant over what went down than Yeon.

Subs: “It’s like we exist to repay people for their kindness.” This has been grossly paraphrased due to lack of cultural context. His line is literally: 

Shin Joo: It’s not as if we’re magpies meticulously repaying our eunhye! Geez, how long do we have to be bound by that sort of premodern contractual relationship?” 

This is another Korean folktale reference, this time to the story of The Grateful Magpies. I elaborated on it a bit here.

Yeon: “It’s old-fashioned but romantic. And it's also a fox’s dignity.”  ‘Romantic’ here is the French loan word ‘romang’  (로망). In contrast to the English ‘romantic’ (which is also used), ‘romang’ is used to refer to ‘anything marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized.’ ‘Dignity’ could also be translated as ‘grace of character.’ Yeon’s preoccupation with style/swagger/dignity is enough of a recurring theme (and occasional joke) that it features in his character profile.

For anyone keeping track, Shin Joo refers to Ah Eum as ‘Ah Eum agasshi.’ ‘Agasshi’ meaning ‘miss’ or ‘lady.’

Shin Joo’s line is subbed, “Does she bother you?” but it should be: ‘Does it bother you?’ where ‘it’ refers to the fact that Ji Ah so closely resembles Ah Eum. 

Sub: “I’ve seen tons of people who looked like her for hundreds of years.” It’s actually not ‘tons of people,’ but ‘a couple’/‘several’ over the course of hundreds of years. Let’s be honest, people as pretty as Jo Bo Ah just aren’t born every day. ;)

Yeon’s line may be overly blunt, but it’s sweet that he calls Shin Joo, ‘Shin Joo-ya.’

Back over to Ji Ah. The way this scene suddenly switches from sentimental to horrifying is great. I also like that it’s unclear when she fell asleep. The boundary between reality and unreality is as blurred for the viewers as it is for Ji Ah, and it leaves us with a similar sense of disquiet.

In case it wasn’t already clear, it’s the tooth on this skull that leads Ji Ah to Eohwa Island. She sees a skull with an identical tooth in the news and goes to investigate. 

Afterlife Immigration Office

LOL Hyeonuiong briefing the newly departed on death via powerpoint is hilarious. The powerpoint reads: ‘A Guide to Hell for the Dead, Presenter: Hyeonuiong.’  The red sigil on the right bears the characters ‘十王’ (the Ten Kings), so I guess this is an official, Afterlife-approved slideshow. heh

Side note: I’m impressed with the way this show seamlessly shifts between genres. We went from emotional to creepy to funny without it feeling forced or jarring (or at least, it didn’t to me). 

The powerpoint (complete with webtoon) continues cheerily: “Hell! What is the Afterlife?” / “The 10 Types of Hell.” pfft Who made these slides? Whoever they are, point to them.

Subs: “You know King Hades, right?” WOW This is bordering on cultural whitewashing if you ask me. This should be King Yeomra (aka King Enma). He’s one of the Ten Kings of the Afterlife, and quite arguably the most famous. 

The sub here says Taluipa is Yeomra’s older sister, which is understandable since the antiquated word Hyeonuiong uses (누이), doesn’t specify older or younger. We find out in the final episode, though, that Taluipa is actually Yeomra’s younger sister. As far as I’m aware, this is not part of the original lore.

Lol Yeon being a drama king: “I’m going to take revenge! Thanks to her, my obligatory military service has already gone on for 600 years~!” (You’re not fooling anyone, sir)

“No way! A man’s hair is his life! My red-brown...” Fun fact: It was actually Lee Dong Wook’s idea to make Yeon’s hair red-brown, both as a nod to him being a fox, and to give him a more otherworldly look. 

Why do the gods keep saying reincarnation is random when everyone we see reincarnated kept their face??

‘Oh my god” lol Watching kdrama characters react in English never gets old. Possibly because there’s something exaggerated or overdramatic in the conscious decision to use English instead of Korean.

A++ response from Yeon. I saw something going around to the effect of, ‘this show really just said love is love,’ and I love that. Point to the writer. 

The BGM here is once again ‘Thread Rings.’ Given where it keeps being used, I’m fairly certain they’re somehow related to Ji Ah/Ah Eum... (So I guess there actually is a reason I’m paying attention to the BGM ;p).  Lee Dong Wook just disclosed the behind the scenes scoop on the rings in his latest VLIVE.

This bulgasari is such a mild-mannered person. Like Shin Joo, he calls Ji Ah ‘PD-nim’ and speaks politely and deferentially. 

Not for anything, but I really liked Jo Bo Ah’s delivery of Ji Ah’s line, ‘I saw a corpse.’ Her little mannerisms really sold Ji Ah to me as a person and not just a character.  

Bulgasari: “That dream, can you sell it to me? I want to play the lottery.” In addition to the concept of symbolism in dreams, Koreans also have a common notion that dreams can be bought and sold. It’s funny, though, when you consider he’s probably just planning to eat the dream. 

I love whenever Taluipa calls Yeon, ‘Yeon-ah.’ She’s normally so prickly that it’s notable when she's affectionate. Also, seeing as Yeon is older than 95% of our characters, there aren’t many who might address him like this with the affectionate diminutive. 

Heh, Yeon refers to Ji Ah’s favor as a ‘civil complaint.’

When Yeon asks Ji Ah for her parent’s times and dates of birth, what he’s actually asking for is their ‘saju’ (literally, ‘four pillars’). You can find my explanation here.

The Snail Bride

Bok Hye Ja: “It’s the first time he’s brought someone (literally ‘a person’).” Normally this would mean, ‘it’s the first time he’s brought a guest,’ but in this case, I’m fairly certain she means, ‘it’s the first time he’s brought a human.’ ;)

“I won’t ask you to understand.” This was another exchange that made me love Ji Ah. I found her frank and sincere apology refreshing.

On a personal note, I loved watching Yeon recalibrate his estimation of Ji Ah in this scene. And it was also a scene in which viewers got to recalibrate their impressions of Yeon. Yeon is feigning indifference, but he makes a point of asking after Ji Ah’s feelings, which is not insignificant. It’s also in sharp contrast to what we’ve seen of Rang so far.

Oh my gosh, THAT PUFFBALL DOG (and it’s name is Bean-ie) XD

Minor detail, but where did Shin Joo get his necklace? Wait. OH MY GOD. Shin Joo is the Aquaman of TotNT. Yeon gets to be Batman and Superman rolled into one and Shin Joo’s power is that he ‘talks to fish animals.’ Dead. 

Lol Ji Ah watching Yeon eat. I feel like this is a running joke. In the tales, gumiho notoriously eat people’s livers, so seeing him eat normal food must be a bit eye-opening. 

The text description for Shin Don was left untranslated in the version we’re watching but it reads: In A History of Goryeo, there’s record of Shin Don, a monk from the time of King Gongmin’s reign (1351-1374 C.E.), having been an old fox.

Subs: “Is it true that the monk of Goryeo Dynasty was a fox?” Us: ‘Yes, the one monk in all of Goryeo and for all of Goryeo. Guess he’d have to have been a fox in that case.’ This should probably have been translated as: "So then, Shin Don...is it a fact that the Goryeo monk Shin Don was a fox?”

Ji Ah: “Oh my god.” heh

Do You Really Want to See It?

Wait, they walked all the way from Insadong to Digital Media City? Okay, this is one of the (few) pitfalls of being fairly familiar with Seoul. Sometimes it’s really obvious when two locations don’t connect and then it pulls me out of the drama. I think we’re supposed to believe that the Snail Bride is in the vicinity of Ji Ah’s broadcast station, seeing as her team are lunchtime regulars, but the the two neighborhoods are nowhere near each other.

Yeon’s line in the subs here is: “A. I’m a busy man. B. We may currently be living in the same world, but there is a big difference between where we come from.” Personally, I would have translated this as: “Firstly, I haven’t got that much free time. Secondly, we may be unavoidably living mingled together, but the world I belong to and the world you belong to are incontrovertibly different.”

Subs: “Those who got a peek at my world ended up going crazy or dying young.” More literally: “In the past, there have been those who got a glimpse of the world’s secrets. Well, most of them either went mad or had their lives cut short.”

Minor detail, but Ji Ah’s response subbed as: “I don’t care. I’ll stay out of your way. Just don’t disappear.” should more literally be: “Just don’t disappear from my sight (lit. ‘from before me’).”

The sub on Ji Ah’s line here reads: “She (Sae Rom) and I both had nightmares.” What she actually says is: “Me and my hubae also had nightmares,” meaning that she (Ji Ah) and Jae Hwan had nightmares in addition to Sae Rom. Which is why Yeon refers to them as ‘contagious’. 

Okay, is it just me, or does LDW look exceptionally unreal in this scene? 

Bulgasari

I’m not familiar with the actor who plays the bulgasari (pretty sure he’s a new face), but he did a great job making his movements uncanny here. The firey CG effects are fun too.

Heck yeah! Yeon sure knows how to make an entrance. Seeing as how he instructed Ji Ah on what to do, I’m pretty sure he was there the whole time......show-off.

Once again, I’m digging the fight scene underscored by ‘The Uninvited.’ I would happily watch an entire series that’s just Yeon and Ji Ah solving supernatural cases and hunting down baddies who disturb the peace. 

The Smirk™ XD  I’m 90% sure this was another LDW ad lib.  

Lol Yeon. Subs: “Really? Then am I the jerk here?” More literally: “Really? Then I guess I’m the only bad guy, huh?” 

On a linguistic note, the bulgasari speaks to Yeon in old-timey speech, once again playing up their mutual identity as creatures of lore. 

It’s only at this point that, prompted by Ji Ah, Yeon finally reveals the bulgasari’s identity. This is accompanied by a brief chyron telling us that they appear when the world is in disorder, and Ji Ah supplies that they eat nightmares. 

To elaborate a bit, bulgasari are one of the better known Korean creatures of lore. There are two different sets of hanja for them: (bulgasari 不可殺伊 ‘can-not-kill’) and (bulgasari 火可殺伊 ‘fire-can-kill’), which explains why, depending on the telling, they’re either un-killable or only die by fire. In traditional lore, feeding them metal makes them grow larger and stronger, which, while not the case in TotNT, is probably what inspired the coin-gobbling. 

Subs: “Yes they are especially fond of broadcasting studios, which are packed with people. Eating metal reveals their true identities.” That subtitle went a bit sideways. It’s not that they like broadcast stations in particular, but crowded places like broadcast stations. So it should read: “They like places with lots of people, like the broadcast station, and if you feed them metal, they reveal their true colors.”

Okay, Yeon’s line that’s subtitled as, “The hostage will answer,” is more literally: “Hey, hostage. Try answering me.” It’s worth noting that, while he calls her ‘injil-bun’ (injil = hostage + bun = the polite word for a person), he’s still speaking to her in banmal, so he’s once again being cheeky. 

It’s taking some license, but I would translate Yeon’s question to Ji Ah here as: “In this moment,* what exactly can you do other than rely on me to save you?” which is essentially what he means. [*Note: literally, ‘at this timing,’ and once again, ‘timing’ is in English.]

We get a series of short scenes lining up some of the side characters who will become our key players on the island: the fisherman find the severed head, Ji Ah grills Detective Baek about the case, and Rang approaches Pyung Hee with his usual devil’s bargain pitch. I didn’t really notice anything here that I think is important enough to the central plot or characters that it’s worth commenting on (especially given how massively long this post is already), so I’m just going to call it good and move right along. ;)

Pfft I definitely wasn’t expecting the bulgasari to be literally chilling in Yeon’s freezer (not that he had a choice). This is somewhat interesting given they’re typically thought to be weak to fire, not ice. 

Subs: “I’ll die even if I tell you where he is.” More literally: “Whether I die in this way [by Yeon’s hand], or that [by Rang’s], it is all the same.” 

Brother Complex

Sub: “Don’t even think of hurting her.” More literally: “Just try touching one hair on her head.”

Oh my gosh Rang’s face ㅠㅠ This was the first time I felt Kim Beom really got to display his acting chops in this role, and boy, was I glad to see it. This was also when I knew Rang was going to make me cry. 

Yeon: “You’re acting like this because you lack affection.” The expression Yeon uses is ‘aejeong gyeolpip,’ which literally does mean ‘affection lack/want/absence,’  but I would have translated it as ‘affection-starved,’ since saying Rang ‘lacks affection’ could also be interpreted to mean Rang is incapable of expressing affection. 

Yeon: “Why’s that?” Lol Lee Dong Wook. Also, this one line is cheekily in polite speech.

Subs: “Just because of a woman you gave up your position as a mountain spirit, left the mountain, and you even...” More literally: “Just because of one mere human woman you gave up your position as a mountain god, turned your back on the mountain, and..!!” 

Yeon: “Yes, I know. I even abandoned you.” Rang-ah~ ㅠㅠ I recently received an ask as to whether or not I believed Yeon had truly abandoned Rang, which I answered here.

Oof, Yeon giving Rang advice as an older brother. In Korea, nagging is seen as a sign of affection. You may recall Ji Ah was very excited for her dad to nag her about her boyfriend in episode 12. 

Sub: “You crazy fool.” Rang literally calls his brother a ‘michin nom,’ ‘michin’ meaning ‘crazy.’ ‘Nom’ is a pronoun that, depending on how it’s used, can mean anything from ‘guy,’ to ‘jerk,’ to ‘bastard.’ 

Sub: “I don’t need to know.” Actually: “There’s no need [for you to tell me].” The two are subtly different. Yeon’s saying he’ll find out on his own, not that he doesn’t want to know.

Fun fact: Kim Beom said in his script reading interview (before they started filming) that he was a bit worried about his onscreen dynamic with Lee Dong Wook because, while Rang has to hate Yeon, LDW is a hyung that KB likes so much in real life. What a cutie. 

We cut briefly over to Ji Ah on the phone with Jae Hwan, asking him to look after Sae Rom while she chases down the skull lead. 

As an aside here, Ji Ah calls Sae Rom, ‘Kim-jak’ (short for ‘jakga,’ meaning ‘writer’). In Korea, it’s common to refer to someone by their role or title. This might indicate distance, but Ji Ah’s shortening it makes the term familiar and speaks of their camaraderie.  In the subtitles, this has become, ‘Ms. Kim,’ which is oddly distant given their frenemyship. 

The Island

Is it just me, or does it feel like there should have been a scene here explaining how and why Yeon came to be on the boat? I’m assuming it got deleted due to time constraints, but I feel like it was needed. 

Pfft The way Ji Ah pops up from behind Yeon, cutting comically into the dramatic shot of Lee Dong Wook’s windswept profile + BGM was great.

In case it wasn’t already apparent, Kimite patches are used to alleviate sea sickness, so this is further undermining the mood of a second ago haha

Yeon’s line is subbed: “I’d like to keep it to myself,” but this should more literally be: ‘Let’s each work individually/play it solo.’ 

Sub: “No, thank you.”  What Yeon actually says: “Hard pass.” hahaha (Literally: ‘I’ll immediately/urgently decline,’ but tonally, ‘hard pass’ is closer). 

The subs have Yeon’s line as: “You need to be careful what you pay attention to.” I would have translated this as: “If that’s the reason [you’ve come], go back. You mustn’t recklessly lend an ear [to such things].” His tone and phrasing are both surprisingly gentle. 

Subs: “My guts keep telling me, that this is a very suspicious combination.” Well, my guts keep telling me, that this is a very suspicious sub haha I would have translated Yeon’s voiceover as:

Yeon: The same boat...the same island...a woman with the same face as that girl. My instincts speak to me relentlessly, telling me there’s something amiss about this combination.

Pfft The contrast between Ji Ah's dismount from the boat and Yeon’s. 

Lol Yeon’s ‘excuse me’ was totally rude 

For the record, from the moment Yeon sets foot on the island, he speaks to everyone in banmal. That’s bad form towards any stranger, but it’s especially rude considering their age. Sure, Yeon’s way older, but they don’t know that. 

Ji Ah mouthing “What?” in English haha

Yeon clocking the effectively creepy villagers. Turns out the right BGM and camerawork can make anything creepy. Point to the director.

Settling in on the Island

Ji Ah’s line subbed as, “I thought you didn’t want to be involved,” should more properly be: “I thought you just said we should each play it solo?”

Yeon’s line is similarly mis-subbed as: “I changed my mind. Don’t let it bother you.” What he actually says is much ruder: “I’ll do what I want! Butt out.” Which explains Ji Ah’s affront heh

Lol Yeon walking right in front of the camera. Anyone who has ever had a pet recognized this moment.

I love how Yeon is being completely tactless and insensitive but then grudgingly course-corrects when Ji Ah glares daggers at him. 

Fisherman (subs): “It gives me a bad feeling in my mouth.” Excuse me, what? haha The line is: “The more I think about it, the more it bothers me.”

Lol Ji Ah: “In the documentaries I watched, they say digging holes is your speciality” (complete with digging gesture).  

Fun fact: Ji Ah blocking the way with her leg and Yeon burrowing under it was something Jo Bo Ah and Lee Dong Wook came up with themselves. Ji Ah’s line was scripted, but I’m nearly positive Yeon’s comeback of, “Burrowing is my speciality,” was an ad lib by Lee Dong Wook. Once again, casting Lee Dong Wook is the gift that keeps on giving. 

WAIT. Subs: “You can’t go.” / “Borrowing is my specialty.” Hahaha What even? Cheon’ho Lee Yeon: professional mooch. 

The way we then cut to Yeon ‘burrowing’ into a freezer of ice cream is just perfect. Point to the director. 

Once again, Yeon is talking to all the village elders in banmal.

“You have a terrible service mentality.” pfft

OH. Ji Ah’s response to the misogynistic fisherman is just A++ 

Her line here is literally: “Oops, I’m afraid I’m overflowing with ‘jeong.’”  ‘Jeong’ (情) can be a little hard to translate. It literally means ‘emotion’ or ‘affection,’ but the way it’s used linguistically can be a bit complex. The sub here was: “I’m afraid I was too generous,” which I actually think is pretty decent. The turn of phrase in Korean though, using the word ‘overflowing’ while over-pouring on the man, made her response doubly witty.

Hah. I love the way Yeon just raises his eyebrows when he comes out of the market and spots her.

Subs: “How dare a witch from outside come here and...” He actually calls her a ‘michin nyeon’ meaning ‘crazy bitch,’ so the line is: “Crazy bitch, where do you think this is that you dare...”

Ji Ah’s line that begins, “If you’re going to hit me...” is just SO great. We stan (1) queen. 

Subs: “Nice. You’re tough.” This is a bit hard to translate. Yeon’s line is literally: “Oh~ What ggang is like this?” ‘Ggang’ can be translated as ‘guts,’ ‘tenacity,’ or ‘persistence.’ Naver dictionary describes it as: ‘a personal trait found in one who never gives in, when put in whatever difficulties,’ which is so spot on for Ji Ah. I might approximate this as: “Woah~ Just how gutsy are you?” 

The way he's just like, ‘I approve. Here, have a shikhye~’ is mildly adorable. Did you buy that for her, Yeon, or were you planning on having two but decided she’d earned one? haha

Ji Ah’s response is equally great. The sub says: “That was nothing.” which isn’t a bad option for a subtitle, but what she literally says is ‘saesam-seureopge’ (새삼스럽게), where ‘saesam’ means ‘now? at this point? after all this time?’ So she’s basically saying, ‘You’re bothering with that observation, over that little stunt, after everything else you’ve seen me do?’ haha

“I plan to mooch off of you as much as possible.” Pfft I love how Yeon actually moves to stand behind her just to underscore the point. That’ll be Lee Dong Wook again. 

Wow, these are some sketchy old people.

Subs: “People aren’t the only ones with eyes and mouths.” What he actually says is, “Are people the only ones with eyes and ears?”

The Forest Spirit

Wow, the lighting in this scene is just A++ Point to the lighting team (or is that just natural? It feels almost too pretty to have just been natural). 

I was too distracted by Lee Dong Wook to notice the first time, but Ji Ah’s face when Yeon shushes her is great haha

On a linguistic note, this scene is one of the few in which Yeon code switches to archaic speech as he’s addressing the tree spirit. It’s the linguistic equivalent of him putting on his ‘mountain god’ hat. (He still speaks to Ji Ah normally, though). 

We cut briefly to the mudang (shamaness), and I’m sorry, I know this is a traditional way of speaking, but it always makes me laugh because it’s so over-the-top.

The spirit addresses Ji Ah as ‘agasshi,’ which would be strange if she was actually a modern young girl, but makes sense for a spirit who’s at least 600. Overall, it helps to remind viewers of her supernatural-ness. 

Yeon telling Ji Ah she did a good job is so cute. I feel like they’re rapidly becoming a quirky tag-team duo and I’m 100% here for it. 

Mudang: “His body returned to shore before his head did! Your father!” This line was explained in the backstory collection.

Okay, the mudang needs to dial it back like 10 levels here. 

Possibly just me, but Yeon swatting the air with his hand as he peers into the cave struck me as vaguely fox-like. 

Minor detail again, but the chyron here is subbed as ‘Jangsansa Cave.’ It’s actually ‘Jangsan sagool,’ not ‘Jangsansa gool.’ ‘Sagool’ is written with the characters 蛇窟 meaning ‘snake hole.’

Lol Yeon freezing mid-motion when Ji Ah tells him to stay put. That is 110% Lee Dong Wook’s sense of humour. Praise the drama gods for Lee Dong Wook - this show wouldn’t have been half as fun without him.

Fun fact: This cave is actually intimately tied to Ah Eum’s past with Imoogi and the story of how she came to be his ‘bride’ (read: sacrifice). I translated the tvN description here. I actually think this was fairly important information, so it’s a shame it wasn’t covered in the drama. 

Sleepover with a Gumiho 

When Ji Ah asks Yeon why he’s insisting on staying at Pyung Hee’s, his response is subbed as: “I have my reasons.” This is more properly: “You don’t need to know.”

Sub: “We don’t eat that crap!” Yeon’s line doesn’t have a subject, but this should properly be: “I don’t eat that crap!” We know from Yeou Nui that some gumiho in this world actually do eat liver. 

“Heard of the Chinese liver fluke?” Ha. Yeon literally says ‘kan distoma,’ i.e. ‘liver distomiasis’ or ‘liver fluke’. While there was a well-known outbreak in China, it isn’t inherently Chinese. There’s a Korean word for it too (간흡충), but once again, Yeon opts for the loan word, adding further humour to the gumiho disavowing liver consumption - for health reasons, no less pffft

The BGM playing as Yeon sees Ah Eum in Ji Ah is once again ‘Parting at the River of Three Crossings.’

Bok Hye Ja’s line to Shin Joo is subbed as: “He went to the island to find this reincarnated girl?” The word she uses is actually ‘gakshi,’ which is an antiquated word generally meaning ‘bride’ (as in ‘the Snail Bride’), but it can also just mean ‘young woman.’

For the record, the Snail Bride speaks to Shin Joo in banmal, who speaks to her in jondaetmal

Shin Joo: “Contrary to how he looks, he’s the devoted type, after all.” Et tu, Shin Joo? 

Shin Joo’s line is subbed: “As if that’s a good thing,” but I would have translated it as: “Romantic, my foot!”

Sub: “At least once in our lives we come across that one person we want to give our lives to.” This should be: ‘risk our lives for.’ 

Sub: “I won’t ever devote myself to love. My goal will be to protect Mr. Lee.” Actually: “I won’t ever risk my life for love. I’m going to protect Lee Yeon-nim!”

“Well that can also be called love, can’t it?” Thank you for this, Show. I know some people think TotNT champions romantic love above all else, but I simply don’t agree. 

When Yeon checks Ji Ah again for his fox bead, the BGM playing is once again ‘Thread Rings’

I love how they did the CG on whatever is happening with Yeon’s powers here. I would have loved to have gotten more of an explanation of the fox bead and its powers (and Yeon’s, for that matter), but alas. 

I love that Yeon tucks Ji Ah in even after re-confirming (or so he thinks) that she isn’t Ah Eum. It was important to me that he came to like and appreciate her for herself before learning that she was, in fact, his lost love. 

Morning on the Island

Ji Ah wakes to find Yeon gone, the blanket tucked around her, and her expression tells us she’s onto him: sure, Yeon can be a grump, but he’s also a complete softie. heh

Yeon is, once again, talking to the elders in banmal. Why do I keep mentioning it? Because no matter how many times I see it it’s still funny.

Okay, Lee Dong Wook has this way of pointing at things with his entire arm that I find ticklish. Yeon ends up coming across like a petulant child. On a cultural note, in Korea, pointing at people like this is considered impolite.

Yeon dangling the ginseng behind Ji Ah as extra incentive pfft Wild ginseng can be massively expensive in Korea (on the order of hundreds of dollars), so this is actually a very effective bribe. 

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate that Yeon woke up before dawn, and, instead of going back to sleep, went into the mountains to hunt for wild ginseng, then set about using it to bribe the elders into answering Ji Ah’s questions for her. Entirely of his own accord. Like I said: softie. 

Side note: Lee Dong Wook’s eyebrows are working overtime in this scene and I’m honestly a little jealous. 

The newspaper Jae Hwan finds at the library is dated August 13, 1954, which Ji Ah immediately recognizes as having been just after the Korean War (if you’ll recall, this is when the forest spirit told them something ominous had come to the island). 

This newspaper is actually really cool. You can see how, in the past, Korean newspapers used a lot of hanja in addition to the phonetic hangeul, similar to modern Japanese. The headline reads, “Headless Corpse, Discovered on Eohwa Island, Investigation Hits Dead End.” (頭 없는 屍身, 漁花島에서 發見, 捜査 迷宮으로). 

Okay, to be honest, this final scene - absent the extra context given in the next episode - made me question Ji Ah’s smarts again. I wondered why she was chasing down the clearly unstable guy just to question him, but it makes sense once you know she meant to warn him his life was in danger. 

As usual, Yeon knows how to make an entrance. Cue ‘Gumiho’ theme. 

Yeon stopping when Ji Ah tells him to never stops being satisfying. 

The BGM playing as we cut over to Rang is ‘The House of Ghosts.’ 

Okay, those shots of Thirsty and Hungry were full-on horror movie and I actually kind of like it? I never watch horror as a genre, but for some reason, I found I missed this spooky element when it dropped out of the later episodes. 

Oh, I like that Yeon went and made her a poultice. Very ex-mountain god of you, sir. 

“Long time no see, Lee Yeon.” Iconic. And creepy. I love the attention to detail Jo Bo Ah displays in the difference between how she acts Ji Ah vs. Imoogi. Imoogi’s voice is higher pitched, and gives off more of a loose-cannon feel compared to Ji Ah, who speaks in a lower, more grounded tone. 

Sub: “It’s me. The person you’ve been waiting for.” Imoogi literally says: “It’s me. That thing you’ve been waiting for.” This is obviously a big clue since normally one wouldn’t refer to oneself in such a way. It also reflects the fact that, unlike Terry-Imoogi, Jimoogi perceives no value in Ji Ah herself. (Yes, I call Ji Ah-Imoogi ‘Jimoogi,’ and sadly, no, I didn’t come up with it). 

Yikes, Jimoogi tracing Yeon’s face was all menace and zero cute. Point to Jo Bo Ah.

Boy, this show really knows how to make an exit.

Blue Mooooooooon!! The guitar (bass?) riff is just so catchy. 

And that concludes Episode 2. Thank you to everyone who commented on the first one. If not for your encouragement, I probably wouldn’t have continued. I also genuinely enjoy hearing from people, so send me your thoughts! This is a weird, unprecedented mashup of a live reaction post, behind the scenes info, and detailed language and culture notes, and I’m still learning how to balance the three. Your feedback is always welcome. 

I’d also like to take a moment to credit my sister, who, in addition to weighing in on a lot of the translations, is also the chief researcher and fact checker for these. I, meanwhile, am in charge of bad jokes and snark. I mentioned before that these take longer than you might expect, but it’s really true. The time we spend watching the episode is actually the least of it, and as much as I enjoy them, they are a huge time suck. 

So. This is what I’m going to do. If you’d like to see more of these, or if you enjoyed this, or if you’ve enjoyed any of the translations or commentary or whatnot I’ve been posting recently, please consider buying me a coffee. If you follow the link, you can buy me a $2 cup of virtual coffee. I’ve never done this before, but I’ve decided to give it a try. It’ll help me to gauge how much interest there is, and, possibly more importantly, it will help me to justify all the time haha. If and when I’ve established there’s enough interest, I’ll proceed with Episode 3. ;)

#tale of the nine tailed #totnt #lost in translation #구미호뎐 #kdrama #korean language #korean culture

[darlingandmreames]

Tag 9 people you’d like to get to know/catch up with!

@hazelestelle tagged me ^-^

3 ships: Kalluzeb, Jonathan/Ardeth (Ardethan? Jardeth? either way I’m trash), Dream Husbands (SHOCKER, I know)

Last song: Cluster A by In The Blue Shirt

Last movie: Contagion (hence the Contagion AU, and buddy let me tell you that movie hits DIFFERENTLY now)

Currently reading:  Models and Strategies for Factor Mixture Analysis: An Example Concerning the Structure Underlying Psychological Disorders (because grad school is funnnnn)

Currently watching: Joseon X Files, The Boys

Currently consuming: cottage cheese with honey, peaches, and cinnamon, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Currently craving: lebkuchen and mulled wine (I fully blame @dbakeiro for this)

I’m tagging @dbakeiro, @seastorms, @oceans-foundfamily, @seaofashes and anyone else who’s interested!

#tag games #these are fun! #local trash goblin speaks

[dreamvvithme]

Hi Dream, really enjoy your blog. We seem to have similar taste and as I am in a drama rut atm, just wondering if you can give me a recommendation list of some K/C/Jdramas to watch.

Hi Anon!

Thank you for the ask, you made my day! I can certainly give you a few of my favourites from each category. I am unsure of what genre floats your boat so I’ll give you a range.

Kdramas:

If you’re up to a slice-of-life romance, I would recommend ‘Run On’ which is currently airing - the script is whip-smart and the characters are completely endearing. The first episode feels slightly chaotic but if you can get past that, the plot picks up in the subsequent episodes. Don’t expect any bigger-than-life moments though, the show shines in its modesty.

For a feel-good coming of age show, I would say ‘Reply 1988′; it’s fluffy and nostalgic with a loveable ensemble. ‘Age of Youth 1 & 2′ for some wholesome representations of female friendships. If you’re up for some crime-thriller I would highly encourage ‘Signal’ (however, chances are you have probably seen it) - it still stands as one of the best investigative drama for me. For something historical, try ‘The Crowned Clown’ where Yeo Jin Goo killed it with his performance. Oh, there’s also ‘Joseon X Files’ which is less historical and more sci-fi but still so fun! There’s also ‘Kingdom’ on Netflix which I adore, but it’s gruesome so maybe check the trailer and reviews before watching. If you’re feeling like a solid ensemble drama, I can vouch for ‘Hot Stove League’ which is packed with so much heart.

I’m sorry, I don’t tend to watch Korean romances so it is limited in my recommendation list.

Jdramas:

To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve finished a Japanese drama (I am more interested in their films). However, some of my ALL TIME FAVOURITE dramas actually come from Japan... which is ironic.

If you’re up for something heavier, I would HIGHLY recommend ‘Soredemo, Ikite Yuku’ which is translated to ‘Still, Life Goes On’. It’s a profound human drama about the deep ripples that are left behind after the murder of a young teenager. The drama features some of the best performances I have seen in any drama. The ‘Midnight Diner Series’ is always a joy to watch - like eating dinner with your family after a long day. If you’re into crime/mystery shows, you might enjoy ‘Galileo’ and the Twin Peaks-inspired ‘Atami no Sousakan’ starring Odagiri Jo.

Cdramas:

This is really hard. I’ve seen so many quality Chinese dramas of late that it’s difficult to narrow down my favourites ... but here goes.

For a solid crime-thriller I would HIGHLY recommend ‘The Long Night’ - I wrote a brief review in an earlier post which you can read. It’s my favourite drama of 2020 by a LONG shot! ‘Bad Kids’ is also from the same director and writer and it’s also superb. They are both directed and performed like a dream, I could really find no technical faults in either.

For period dramas, I would say ‘Ever Night 1’, ‘The Story of Minglan’, ‘Nirvana in Fire 1& 2’(these are all classics which I assume you may have seen). ‘Novoland: Eagle Flag’ is great, if a tad slow, and if you’re up for a good youth drama then I would recommend ‘I don’t want to be friends with you’ which is packed with so much heart, and then some more. There’s also ‘Rise of the Phoenix’ which is lush and beautifully crafted. 

I’m sorry for such a lengthy post but I genuinely hope you find some enjoyment from this. P.S I know you didn’t ask but there are also some excellent Taiwanese dramas of recent such as ‘Some day, One day’ and ‘Yong Jiu Grocery Store’. Okay, I’ll really stop now. Heh.

[kihyunswrath]

ANYWAY. I truly feel like South Korean law enforcement would easily find better things to do than try to find and convict every person who has allegedly smoked pot once six years ago.

I really feel like there are worse crimes out there that would probably benefit from having more resources freed from cases like... Wonho’s. I truly believe the combined elements of his case - mildest drug in the market, one-time use and a span of seven years - applied to the entire population of South Korea is. Going to include so many normal citizens and idols that the law firms would drown in the files so bad they’d have to immediately dismiss all the cases. As a person who has never used drugs and never plans to, I feel like one time use of weed long time ago cannot even be considered generally harmful to anyone’s health or safety, which kind of removes the need for legal punishment. 

In a way, I expected the accusation of theft becoming bigger of an issue, even if proved untrue, considering that... it does damage victims financially and emotionally.  Or maybe the made-up driving without licence part, since that can be life-threatening? But, no - that’s not what knetz are talking about, they are just using those as additional convenience in order to falsely paint a suitable image of Wonho as a troublemaker and bully. The main problem still turned out to be... one time use of weed, six years ago. AND YET THEY CANNOT PROVE THAT EITHER?

Because who knows, maybe it wasn’t just that one time, all cRImINaLs renew their crimes and smoke pot every single day after that, right?  

One might think South Korea’s law enforcement has a lot of money to throw into a literal trash can, because that accusation in particular can be said just about anyone. We might all be druggies. We are all hiding weed in our pockets. We are all sneaking it into the holiest of holy Korea between our ass cheeks and contaminating innocent minds. We use bong in Monsta X concerts, because of course we do. 

I feel like there might indeed be better problems to focus on instead of deliberately ruining careers, angering hundreds of thousands of fans and making foreigners see yet another glimpse of ye olde Joseon dynasty, and realize what a joke the entire kpop industry is. I feel like it might eventually make people turn their backs to Korea’s best-selling products. Now I’m not saying that’s entirely a bad thing, because there are bad sides to globalization and people fetishizing Korean idols. But I’m also saying that might not be the best strategy for economic growth.

Then again, hey, what do I know. 

#monsta x #monstax #wonho #shownu #changkyun #kpop #jooheon #kihyun #hyungwon #minhyuk #mine #gif not mine

[bangtanlighters]

Fate! Chapter 9

Genre: (um, lots of things) Joseon dynasty, past/present-ish, a sprinkle of hybrids

Pairing: BTS x Reader (yup - all seven)

Summary: Princess Yemma was the youngest regent of Joseon, also the most feared. With her seven advisors who would give their life for her, she was untouchable…..When the princess died a new regent took control, however, the previous ruler died much too young for it to be natural.

Part 9 / ?

Warnings: Enter the dance unit!!! Sorry this is late and short!!!

....

"No it's fine, I'll go up myself. Just phone his secretary that I'm on my way."

With that Yemma walked over and pressed the elevator button. The staff bowed once more as she sighed and pressed the top floor.

The entertainment company her father owned was quite popular and some very good artists, not only idol groups but actors and models as well. Unfortunately that also in included her stepmother, because of this Yemma rarely came in here.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to another lady, this time she was already waiting for her.

"Hello Yemma, your father is in a meeting right now but he should be done soon. You can go on ahead in his office, it's open."

"Thank you, secretary Kim."

She entered the spacious office and sat her father's lunch on his desk. It had been a while since she had been in there. The last time being before her mother died. Yemma remembered she loved to play with her toys in front of her father's desk. Those were simpler times.

Suddenly the door opened and her father entered followed by three other young men.

"Oh Yemma, what brings you here?" Her father asked smiling and kissing her on the head.

"SookMi made lunch for you." She eyed the three boys who seemed to be having their own conversation.

"How nice of her." Her father said taking his seat. "Oh, Yemma these three are going to be new trainees for a special group I have planned."

The three immediately stop their conversation and introduced themselves.

"Hello, I'm Jung Hoseok." The one on the far left said deeply bowing.

"My name is Park Jimin." The one in the middle also bowed along with the one on the end.

"I'm Jeon Jungkook."

Yemma just nodded and waved. They seemed oddly familiar but she knew she'd never seen them before. Maybe she'd seen there faces in one of her father files.

"Kim Yemma."

"No need to be so formal with each other. Actually, Yemma, Jimin, and Jungkook will be transferring to your college. Next week why don't you show them around?"

"Sure, I guess." She sighed.

"No! I'm sure we'll be fine on our own. We wouldn't want to inconvenience you just for something we could do ourselves." Jimin shook his head.

"Nonsense! Yemma knows her way around pretty well I'm sure, so hang out with her some will you. To be honest she doesn't have that many friends." He whispered the last part before laughing out loud.

"Anyway, Papa I just came to deliver the food so I'll be heading out now." Yemma sighed rolling her eyes.

"Alright sweety see you later at home!"

She took one last glance at the three boys who nervously faced her. They bowed deeply once more before the door closed.

What strange boys. She thought as she entered the elevator once more.

Eight<-- -->Ten

#bts #bangtan #bts scenarios #kpop x reader #kpop #kpop reader #kpop reader insert #bts hybrid #bts hybrid au #joseon bts #bts joseon #bts v #bts taehyung #bts jiimin #bts jungkook #bts suga #bts yoongi #bts namjoon #bts rm #bts hoseok #bts jhope #bts fics #bts fic

[swordsandparasols]

Haechi: The Damo and the Saheonbu

The following is a brief list of things it would be 100% historically accurate for Yeo Ji in Haechi to do:

 1.      Run faster than anyone else in the cast

2.      Win at arm wrestling with any of the guys  (well, maybe not Dal Moon, dude seems pretty strong).

3.      Do that thing where someone is comically struggling with something heavy and someone else walks by and easily picks it up.

4.      Break down someone’s door swinging an iron flail.

5.      Win at a drinking contest.

Yeo Ji is a Damo, which literally translates as “Tea Lady” (which is why viki translates it that way, though the direct translation gives the wrong impression).  Damos were members of the Joseon police force whose official main job was to serve tea to officers and nobility.  A Damo would also frequently be the main investigator in “female sensitive” cases such as adultery, or when it was needed to search a woman or a woman’s private rooms in the name of propriety.  A Damo also carried a rope and an iron flail to, yup, break down doors and catch criminals, and had an identification card to verify their authority.  A Damo being able to arrest a prince as shown in Haechi is, as far as I know, not outside the realm of possibility on an official level, but is very unlikely in terms of probability.

 In order to qualify to be a Damo, a woman had to be at least 5 feet tall, able to lift approximately 90 pounds of rice, have a very high alcohol tolerance and be extremely physically capable in pretty much all areas.  You’d think that a job that required a woman to be pretty badass in general and to have the authority to arrest and investigate people of  any social class would be reasonably high ranked, but in fact, a Damo was part of the lowest social class, ranked even below a slave. Ha Ji Won’s character in the series Damo was, of course, a Damo, and this is the job Jin Se Yeon’s character was pursuing in The Flower in Prison but was deemed over-qualified for.  There, JSY’s character was an orphaned prison warden, then believed by most to be the daughter of a former prisoner, and so almost as low as she could be in terms of class, but even that low, becoming a Damo was considered to be a step down for her.  Despite the extreme popularity and influence of the series Damo, as far as I know, Haechi is the first sageuk series since to specifically highlight and focus on a character who is a Damo.  

Prince Yeoning generally treating Yeo Ji (and the other members of the Saheonbu) with what would seem to be an unusual level of respect and consideration given his own status is fairly in keeping with history.  His mother, Choi Suk Bin, was a member of the cheonmin class before catching King Sukjong’s attention and becoming a royal consort.  Members of the cheonmin class were almost the lowest of the low.  They took on “unsavory” (yet very useful and usually needed) professions, including in the police bureau, butchers, and various craftsmanship jobs such as metalworking, making shoes and fabric, etc, and members of the class were taken to be gisaeng, slaves, and palace servants. So when people in the show talk about Prince Yeoning’s low birth, they’re being very literal.  Choi Suk Bin was a musuri, or “water maid,” who would do various menial tasks on the palace-tending fires, filling jugs of water, cleaning, etc. The future King Yeongjo was always very aware of his mother’s humble origins, thankfully in the right way, so his regularly helping the poorer citizens and interacting with them on a casual manner is much less of a stretch than it would be with most other sageuk princes.

 As far as the show Haechi itself goes, it’s solid so far.  Not outstanding but certainly better than a lot of the recent shows focusing on who will be the next king.  One of the two things that makes it stand out (the other being making young future-King Yeongjo the main lead, but that’s a subject for a separate post) is the choice to focus the plot through the actions and members of the Saheonbu. While members of the Saheonbu do regularly feature in sageuks, it’s usually as minor or background characters, mostly as flunkies and/or comic relief, with a few exceptions where Saheonbu members are given more focus and POV*.   Where a lot of these royal succession focused dramas fail, for me, is in almost exclusively focusing the attention on royals and powerful nobles.  Haechi, so far, seems pretty committed  to shifting a lot of the focus away from the palace and to the people affected by these shenanigans, and those who are used by people in power.  Since reforming the Saheonbu is meant to be a major focus in the series, I expect that to continue.

 *Damo, Mandate of Heaven, Tree With Deep Roots, Joseon X-Files, Jung Yak Yong (OCN).  (There was a multi-season thing about the Saheonbu some years ago, but good luck finding all of it.  I can’t remember the title off the top of my head but I think only one season was ever subbed, and not the first season.)  This may seem like a relatively long list, but check out the dates for them and consider how many other sageuks there’ve been.

#haechi #hatch #kdrama #sageuk #kdramanetwork

[buddhismnow]

Guidance of a Departed Spirit by Kusan Sunim

Can you understand that originally there is no birth or death? 'Guidance of a Departed Spirit' by Kusan Sunim

Lecture for the Guidance of a Departed Spirit, Kusan Sunim

Kusan Sunim mounted the High Seat, struck his staff and said:

‘One Thing is constantly spiritually active; its sublime functioning is manifold. Can you understand that originally there is no birth or death? When we discard the sense bases and sense objects the essence manifests fully. The mountains, rivers, and the great earth are my home.

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[bts-is-my-life-as-always]

Flows of memory. Pt2

Not triggering just yet.

Genre: maybe a small angst and a little fluff

Pairing: Taehyung X reader

(Credits to gif owners)

Parts: 1 3

You woke up, to a bright light, beaming right at your face, you rubbed your eyes hoping that you’d be back to reality, until you saw the sight of cherry blossom again, but this time, there were only around 10 blossoms on the trees around you, and the girl who was once wearing pink, now wearing a complete white, but she was smiling, again she turned towards you, this time with tears instead of smiling, as you turned yourself to see who she could be crying to, it was a man in blue again, this time, it didn’t end too shortly, this time you saw her face, you walked over, confused, she looked so much like you, you wondered, is this what I look like to others?

It seemed to be you, you weren’t too unfamiliar with your past lives, but this one, you’d never seen before, and never before did you look like your current self in any of your flashbacks, you knew it was you by the certain little details, like how she kept tucking her hair behind her right ear, or how she would bite the top of her bottom lips when she cried, but you still couldn’t get to the mans face before you opened your eyes, you looked around, the baby blue walls seemed familiar, and then you saw your bosses name plate, you knew he was the last person you saw before you fainted, but you also knew how he hated people lying on his couch, you got up instantly, still feeling slightly out of it, you managed to wobble out of his office, and onto your chair, you lowered your head into your palms, never ever had you become unconscious for what seemed like long because of your past, never had you felt so dizzy in your life.

You stayed there for a good 20 minuets trying to figure out who this man was, and for some reason, unlike any other times you were more invested in your past, unlike any other times, you were the one chasing after your past, not your past chasing after you.

You rose from your desk, needing to get back into reality and work, you still had a life to live, and being the only one that could support yourself, you had to keep strong, sometimes you questioned why this Devine being created you like this, with the worst luck and the worst fate in the world.

You closed your eyes and breathed in and out slowly, until you heard a knock on your desk, you instantly snapped your eyes back open, you looked up to taehyung standing in front of you, for some reason his presence made you feel better, sometimes you questioned if you had a crush on him, but who wouldn’t, he was always caring and no matter what always managed to smile at you, maybe it was so he wouldn’t have to get another p.a after you were gone, or just his manners, or maybe he felt the slightest bit similar to you, so as you always did you smiled at him, he smiled back, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes, instead his eyes were laced with worry, perhaps he was the only one that worried about your existence in life, all your mother ever wanted was for you to just disappear, you recently found that she was remarried and happy, she didn’t want you in her life ever, not even for one second, you’d once seen your mothers past, hers was darker than anyone else’s, perhaps that’s why she’s so cold now, she was hung during the Joseon dynasty for something she didn’t do, she was framed for treason, well she wasn’t, her father was, perhaps that was the only thing you pitied about her, apart from that, you really had no reason to feel bad about hating her, you thought that people who go through the most once are usually morally better in their next lives, but her hatred and anger even when her life had perished, seemed so strong, maybe the only thing you could agree with her, life was so annoying, life just seemed so tedious you’d remember your life now in your next life, so what were you looking forward to anymore, your soul just never died.

While your brain was racing with the thought of your next life being as crappy as this one, you didn’t realise you were crying to taehyung, he lifted his hands towards your face, he wiped away your tears, at his sudden actions you could see the cherry blossom again, this time, you could smell things, it was sweet and aromatic, just as you were ready to see who the man was, the image slipped from your grasp, before you knew it, for some reason, you’d never felt the need to be curious about faces, but your whole entire being told you maybe you’d never ever be able to see who this man in blue was, a soft low voice broke your trail of thought,

“Y/n? Maybe you should take today off, you don’t seem too well, and go to the hospital please, fainting isn’t normal, if you want I can come with you” You looked at his retracting hand, your left cheek feeling empty and cold once again, you nodded at him, perhaps you should,

“I’m sorry sir, I thought I’d be okay, I’ll come earlier tomorrow and finish the emails and files that i was supposed to sort through today”

You bowed to him slightly, and proceeded to exit the building and get into your car, at this rate you knew you couldn’t drive, so you took your phone out and ordered a cab back home.

So I didn’t know how to end this part to be honest with you, I reallly love where this series is going, and please give it lots of love, thank you and have a nice day

^~^

#bts #bts rapmon #bts jin #bts suga #bts jhope #bts jimin #bts v #bts jungkook #bts reaction #bts scenario #bts v scenario #bts v fluff #bts v angst #bts v series #kpop scenario #kpop reactions #these hashtags are getting out of hand #why am i still typing #anyways bye

[achiara]

may i please ask what your top ten dramas or any genre of korean shows are? i am trying to get into more but just haven't really found much to like because its just like any form of media you get some greats and some not so much XD. but i've really like some of the stuff i've seen on your blog, so thought i'd ask but don't feel obligated to answer:D hope your having and countinue to have the best of days.

This isn’t easy to answer, I have so many of them. It’s true that gooddramas, the kind that takes over your life and remains with you long after you watch it, are hard to find but if you dig you will be rewarded with real gems. I’m not pretending these are perfect, it’s all very subjective after all but for me they are. I don’t have a preferred genre so here’s a list of only 10 as per your ask 11, in no particular order :

Awl

Secret Love Affair.

A Wife’s Credentials.

Dear My Friends.

Joseon X-Files.

Painter of The Wind.

Misaeng.

Signal.

Secret Forest.

Brain.

Six Flying Dragons.

I hope you can find something to your liking and thank you for this message. Have a nice day too sweet anon :)

#anon #reply