To be honest, it’s been a little bit of a trip for me to start blogging again, and to do it via show recaps as well. I can definitely feel the ~rust~, both in my brain and in my joints, because I am an old person with one foot already in the grave hahaha. HA. HA.
But what else is there to do other than to push through and do it, right? We’re all just counting down the days until our time here on this space rock ends, so might as well do stuff that doesn’t make you want to drown yourself.
ANYWAY, good evening, let’s get to recapping!
When we last left the mages of Daeho, Naksu and Jang Wook finally agreed to enter into a mentor-student relationship after Naksu poisoned Jang Wook and forced the elders of Songrim to open his ~gate of energy~. With your noona-dongsaeng romance founded on a near-death experience, surely this will be a smooth ride!
At the start of the episode, we get a flashback to when Geon blocked Jang Wook’s ~gate of energy~ as a child. For the past two episodes he’s been made to look like someone who doesn’t care for his child — and it sorta really isn’t his child — but when one of his companions tries to murder the kid, he protects it. Geon says closing of Jang Wook’s ~gate of energy~ is for his own good, because keeping it open would lead to his death. DUN DUN DUN!
We go back to the present day, and Jang Wook’s ~gate of energy~ is well and truly open. Are we counting down the days to his death? Let’s see! Either way, Jang Wook tries to bargain for his and Mu-deok’s life by claiming that he poisoned himself and that Mu-deok was only following his orders.
There’s some discussion between the two elders of Songrim but to be quite honest I don’t really care? Which will probably cost me in future episodes but I like to live ~dangerously~ so there. Meanwhile, Dang-gu and Seo Yool are talking about Naksu/Mu-deok, with Dang-gu being the positive one and Seo Yool the one immediately suspicious of her. The fate of the second lead, you all. Also was Minhyun’s voice always this deep? Gotta look back at Nu’est content to see.
At the infirmary, we find out that it was Jang Wook personally attending to Mu-deok, since he couldn’t risk anybody finding out that she’s actually the body that Naksu’s soul shifted into. It’s supposed to be like one of those “*gasp* you have intruded on my person but I kinda like it” scenes but the chemistry isn’t there for me yet. Sue me.
The pair agree to formalize their teacher-student relationship, with the condition that Jang Wook continue to treat Naksu as his maid when in public. The potential for ~tension~ is there so I hope that they take full advantage of it!
We then go back to Jin Mu, who has been feeding his soul shifters human souls so they don’t run wild in the palace. His henchman, the one who was supposed to kill Naksu in her new body, provides an opportunity for Jin Mu to provide some exposition, while at the same time lying about whether there was a blue spot on the woman he killed, since we viewers know that who he killed isn’t Naksu.
In the flashback, we find out that just like Naksu, Jang Gang could not access his energy in the body of the king, since the body was not fit to handle his powerful soul. To get himself out of this bind, Jang Gang taught Jin Mu the alchemy of souls. Let’s see how they further unravel this backstory further on!
We then get to the magic lessons for Jang Wook, and this is the exciting part for me since I like understanding the magic systems of the fantasy worlds I get into. It looks like the magic system here is water-based, starting with Jipsu, gathering the energy of water. The next step is Ryusu, gaining energy form the flow of water. Chisu, which is the ability to control that energy, comes after Ryusu. We get a skills assessment scene with Naksu easily outclassing Jang Wook, even in her weakened body, which I think is meant to be that “poor girl rich chaebol heir have a tense and ~tense~ encounter” but no sparks for me just yet.
What’s more interesting is the magic system discussion. Jang Wook apparently got 10 years worth of energy deposited in his body to help him heal, and if he wants to make that energy his won he needs to breath the same way as the one who gave it to him., Interesting! And what’s even more interesting is that Jang Wook got this energy from a relative of Seo Yool, so we get to see Minhyun again. Seo Yool teaching Jang Wook how to breathe? Are we getting some GHEI?
Unfortunately, on this last day of Pride Month, we do not get ghei, as Jang Wook is called away and we get a scene of him getting Songrim’s doctor drunnk before the energy given to him gets taken away, and then shifts to Cho-yeon talking about her past with Jang Wook. Here, have a video of Akkong MCs’ “Dolphin”.
We also get more heterosexual antics as Naksu needs to learn how Seo Yool breathes, which leads to a sequence of her following him straight into the male bathhouse and putting her hands on his stomach but Seo Yool rebuffs her and tells her that’s not going to work. My main complaint is that you’re in a bathhouse and you couldn’t get a Minhyun shirtless scene? You had all these extras shirtless but not the second male lead? What about tradition?!? That said the two of them have better chemistry SUE ME.
Meanwhile, Jin Mu is laying down the foundation for the next episode as he turns the crown prince against Jang Wook, implying that Jang Wook insulted his lowly status. And in a flashback scene, we find out why Jin Mu wants this to happen — Jang Wook is the rightful heir to the country’s throne and pushing him to show his true power will send the country into a spiral. See, your sorta father prevented you from reaching your true potential because he loves you.
Sidebar, I am really over this “I am doing all these mean things to you because I am protecting you” trope in K-dramas. Or in any other form of media, really. I’ve had it, officially.
Ron Does Stuff 
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