[Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

[maria_m2me]

Okay.. I'm so happy to get this kiss scene for tonight.. Please.. Let us get more and hotter kiss scene, if I can ask, I need bed scene too... I want little SOG-JSM please, at least let them happy with cute demi-god please....

[marinated_lemon]

What ep are we in? Oh that kiss made me forget where we are.

 

Happy valentine week, people!

[iamsherry]

2 hours ago, annie1234 said:

Has anyone seen this?? 

 

Sorry! I cropped your post. 

I immediately hit play button and even visited YouTube channel (seen the 4:30 minutes video clip). This is precious. Thank you ! The kisses is to much! Gosh I’m feeling excited to watch the full episode right now.

[kjesin]

Ep 13 preview clip, kiss scene, translations.

 

http://tv.naver.com/v/2693177

 

LHJ:*saying something about work*

OG: Do you want to get married to me?

LHJ: President. What are you thinking about that intensely all day long?

SM: LHJ-shi, you're married, aren't you?

LHJ: I even have two kids, of course I'm married. Look here.

SM: LHJ-shi, you wore that ring because you are in love, right?

LHJ: Right.

SM: In that case, what if, he originally didn't love me but the moment he wore the ring he suddenly love me a lot, then is it ok to get married?

LHJ: But we (he and his wife) wore the rings after we fall in love with each other though?

SM: No, that's not it. There was originally no love but after wearing the bracelet, no, I mean ring, he started to say he loves me.

LHJ: President, did you buy Secretary Son a ring? So, you bought him a ring this big that can even make the non-existent love exists. Of course that is not love. Without the ring, that kind of love will end. Just End. Dia...

SM: It's not a ring but a bracelet though.

 

LHJ: President, can you give me the stamp. President, the stamp.

SM: Ah. yes.

LHJ: If the love that didn't exist, started to exist because of a thing, that love will disappear as soon as the thing disappears. You shouldn't trust that kind of thing and get married.

SM: Is that so?

 

LHJ: I. Need. The. Stamp.

SM: Ah. H-Here. But LHJ-shi, If I give him like hundreds of diamonds, and keep on giving till death so that it won't disappear, that means love won't disappear too. Then, it's ok to marry, right?

LHJ: Because you're capable? If you can really buy them this big, This big, THIS big forever, get married then. It would be nice if (I don't know, something about the face...)

SM: Thank You.

 

LHJ: President. President? President, the door is locked. Women are hard. So hard... (I think he meant hard to understand) I think I'm gonna be sick..(I'm not sure about the last one.)

 

[iamsherry]

i wonder how this clip leaks, the episode is not yet shown. But nonetheless, to the uploader THANK YOU!!!

[hikarudawn]

58 minutes ago, gf sherry said:

 i wonder how this clip leaks, the episode is not yet shown. But nonetheless, to the uploader THANK YOU!!!

It was uploaded by Naver TV earlier. I can't wait for episode 13

Edited February 10, 2018 by bebebisous33
don't quote videos, gifs and pictures. Remove these next time

[haymochi]

It's not leaked.. it's uploaded on naver already

 

hmmmph... they def did that  to make viewers forget about their complaints. 

I think i have lots of complaints till yesterday too.. but what is it?  

*replay the clip for 100x times* 

 

[Zelda]

(Wrote all this and now I see there were a bunch of posts in the meantime. I'm off to back-read now and enjoy everyone's wonderful insights. Sorry, if the following repeats too many things that were recently expressed by someone else. ^^; )

 

Terms (and a name) in the show, round 4:

 신녀 (神女) shin nyeo; possible translations: shamaness, priestess, spirit medium: Like @stroppyse explained, this seems to be an original term coined for this show. Taoism has some roots in Chinese Wu shamanism. The Korean Mu shamanism is believed to be related to Chinese Wu, and they both use the same character, (巫). A shaman in Korean folk religion is usually called a mudang (巫堂), but a synonym is munyeo (巫女). My guess is the writers took inspiration from munyeo (巫女) and replaced the shaman character (巫) with the character for spirit/god/deity(神), so as to have more freedom in creating the character and her abilities -not to mention making her a villain-, as well as stick with a more "Taoist" sounding vocabulary for consistency's sake.

 

 아사녀 (阿斯女) Asa Nyeo; possible translation: Morning Woman: Since this character is original to this show, I am not certain what Hanja her name should be written with. However, I love what the Japanese subbers at Viki are using. It's quite ingenious. "Morning woman" might sound rather positive for a villianess. However, written this way (阿斯女 Asa Nyeo), the name actually refers to "Asadal" (阿斯達), the mythical capital of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, founded more than 4,000 years ago by a god-king.

So if Asa Nyeo is named after Asadal, then that could imply that nations rise and fall with her and even deific kings can be manipulated by her. No wonder the heavenly realm is taking her seriously.

 

 사신(死神) Sashin; death god, grim reaper: Also known as Jeoseung Saja (저승사자 저승使者 Naver). They typically show up in Korean fantasies as emissaries of King Yeomma who lead the dead to the underworld. There are various modern media interpretations ranging from non-monsterlike to quite similar to yogwe.

 

 

Deities that have been mentioned so far in the show only by name:

• Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝) (character in Journey to the West) (Taoism)(ep1): Oh Gong boasts that "With the three letters in my name, even the Jade Emperor will be shivering."
• Queen Mother of the West (西王母) (character in Journey to the West) (Taoism/Chinese folk religion)(Ep3): Oh Gong ate her Peaches of Immortality.
• Daode Tianzun (道德天尊) (character in Journey to the West)(Taoism)(Ep3): Oh Gong has eaten his pills of longevity. The "Pill of Immortality" is a key concept sought after in old Taoist alchemy. Pills that boost one's cultivation and power pop up in a lot of Chinese Wuxia stories nowadays too. Daode Tianzun's Eight Trigram Furnace, which was used for refining said pills, is also what Oh Gong was burned in for 49 days when the heavens tried to execute him for his crimes -The heavens were supposedly trying to recoup their losses by refining out the pills that he had consumed while burning the rest of him to ashes.-
• Samsin [Halmoni] (三神) (triple goddess of childbirth in Korean Shamanism)(ep12 and earlier): According to the show, the love bells are used by her/them in her capacity of crafting people’s love fates when they are born. -For all the Goblin fans, she is the same character who Lee El (now Secretary Ma) played.-

 

On 2/4/2018 at 1:58 AM, aprilx said:

@Zelda thanks!! Great explanations! Really appreciate you taking the time!

 

Back to my question on the "rank" of SOG, I understand the different levels & types of monsters/demons. Maybe what I am not clear about is if SOG has been expelled from spiritual realm does he lose his deity status? 

 

Anyway  the "key benefit" as a deity I have seen so far (pls pardon my ignorance!) is the power to decide who lives, who dies and who gets played out. The gods mete out punishments and so far I've not seen any rewards. I hope they will reward OTP someday.  

 

I supposed if I was SOG I would want to become a deity so that I won't have to be subjected to the whims of the gods. 

 

By the way several posters point out that maybe SM needed to be the one guiding SOG to the path of righteousness. I love that idea and I think it's possibility. But I'm beginning to think that this Love story may have a sad ending. 

@aprilx It was my pleasure, and I am very glad it was useful to you. (^^ )

(And speaking of ignorance, I ask for pardon for mine as well, I am not from a culture with a heavy Buddhist and Taoist influence. I just get curious based off of the media I watch and read and start looking things up. What I have learned comes mostly from books, academic journals, and the internet. I am most grateful whenever someone corrects me if I come to the wrong conclusion about something.)

 

Being a Taoist deity

From what I understand, "benefits" of being a deity include, but are not limited to, living for eons if not eternity in the paradise of the heavenly realm, and a proper diety would do so by living in harmony with the Tao. Ma Wang is more of an exception to have such an ulterior motive in wanting to decide human fates, I think. The deities' role in managing the human realm is an important duty. As I understand, the human body is like a metaphor for the cosmos/all existence. For the "body" to stay healthy all the organs must be in balance, and the human realm is like an important "organ" in the cosmic "body".

 

Oh Gong's backstory and does Oh Gong retain the status of a deity despite his expulsion from the heavens?

Here is a quick summary of Oh Gong's story in Journey to the West:

He is born from a magic stone with eyes that shoot golden beams all the way into the Jade Emperor's palace, but as Oh Gong eats and drinks the food of the earth, the golden glow diminishes. One day, Oh Gong has a bet with his monkey friends that the one who can make it through a certain waterfall and come back out shall be king of them all. Oh Gong goes behind the waterfall and finds an iron bridge leading to a cave, which becomes their home, and he becomes their king. -This bridge and cave are present in the drama as the bridge in the garden leading to Sureumdong (Waterfall Cave 水簾 수렴) (EDIT: So, yes, he brought her to his place when they first met again, @tweets).-

 

Oh Gong is a powerful and influential yogwe and becomes allied with Ma Wang and others during this time. However, the underworld comes to collect his soul. He manages to wipe his name from the book of life and death as well as the names of his monkey companions.

 

When his actions are reported to the Jade Emperor in heaven, the emperor invites him to the heavenly realm, hoping that they will be better able to manage Oh Gong there. Oh Gong is offended when all they give him is a lowly position as a tutelary deity of horses. -Zelda thinks, "Seriously? It should have at least been monkeys."- Oh Gong rebels and proclaims himself "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven", and due to his might, the heavens are forced to recognize the title.

They next try to shunt him into the position of guarding the Queen Mother of the West's peaches of immortality garden, and some of the deities continue to disdain him. Oh Gong goes out of control, eats up most of the peaches as well as Daode Tianzun's longevity pills and the Jade Emperor's wine -No wonder he has a drinking ban on him now.- and fights off over ten thousand forces of the heavens. When he is finally captured, and other execution methods fail, he is locked into Daode Tianzun's Eight Trigram Furnace, for the reasons I described in the "deities mentioned" section in this post. After being burned for 49 days, Oh Gong survives, and his eyes have been refined into special golden, fiery ones that can see through evil. When Oh Gong destroys the furnace, the deities consult Buddha, who makes a bet with Oh Gong, that he cannot escape Buddha's palm. Oh Gong leaps to the end of the world and comes upon five pillars which he defaces with his "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven" title. However, he then discovers that the pillars are Buddha's fingers and that he is standing on Buddha's palm. Buddha's hand then turns into the Five Elements Mountain, successfully trapping Oh Gong for some 500 years.

 

I do not know how closely this show is following the JTTW when it comes to Oh Gong's back story. In fact, I suspect that there are/will be significant changes, because of the addition of Oh Gong having been betrayed by a human prior to his imprisonment and due to Princess Iron Fan's feathered fan being locked up with Oh Gong in the Five Elements Mountain. However, from the tidbits that have been dropped so far, I think that Oh Gong's crimes probably at least include the same ones as in JTTW.

To support:

I had posted this earlier as a summary and paraphrase of the official character description:

Quote

Son Oh Gong: A monkey yogwe born from a volcanic rock. He was titled "All Heavens Great Sage" (Jecheon Daeseong, I'm guessing that these are the hanja: 諸天大聖) for his outstanding talent and martial arts and became a shinsun of the heavenly realm, but due to his proud personality he committed a grave crime and was locked up as punishment.

And also, he says in episode 3 that he ate the Peaches of Immortality and the Pills of Longevity, and in episode 1, he boasts about being able to cause difficulties for the Jade Emperor.

 

What does this tell us about Oh Gong's status as a deity?

I would say that he no longer truly is one, since he was stripped of a position and has been expelled from the heavenly realm. However, because they were unable to execute him, he retains the immortality of a deity. He also retains all the power and skills on par to a deity that he acquired before being kicked out, and therefore retains his title "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven", but he does not have the status of a deity and is only capable of that which he is personally skilled in, since he cannot work together with the rest of heaven to affect things over which they preside.

So, "status" as in "the official classification given to a person, country, or organization, determining their rights or responsibilities": No, he does not have the status of a deity.

His physical "state of being", however, remains on par to a deity.

On the other hand, even though he has trained enough to not have his predator instincts go wild like Ma Wang's do in reaction to Sun Mi's blood, his heart/inner soul, which had never truly attained "enlightenment", is still rather yogwe, I think. However, that necessary "change of heart" is occurring as we are watching this story, I think. Did that answer your question, @aprilx?

 

The Taoist "Three Treasures" ethics

The "point system" and life style that Ma Wang, and Oh Gong, are participating in right now seems almost like a mockery of the Taoist "Three Treasures", which -as I think has been mentioned here by a previous poster- are compassion, frugality, and humility. I can only speculate what Soo Bo Ri and the heavenly realm are up to by introducing such a system, but I suspect, like other posters, that the fact that such a system does not require a true change of heart will become a sticking point for Ma Wang.

 

Despite doing well for herself as a realtor, Sun Mi, in many ways does portray those qualities. "Frugality": Eh, well, there is only so much "frugality" that we can expect to see in a drama with all its necessary "product placement" ^_^);;, so let's not be too nit-picky about that one, but contrast her actual way of life with that SNS persona that she faked to catch the cursing akgwi, and you'll see the contrast. "Humility" is one she certainly shows in the way she values those around her, though she is not perfect and sometimes takes it to the degree of insecurity stemming from lack of self confidence and to a manner of self-abasement. And, "Compassion" is something that Sun Mi exudes in her sympathy towards the pain of others.

 

We could view some of the changes in Oh Gong as Sun Mi, and being involved in her life, influencing Oh Gong's heart towards the Three Treasures. To name a few instances:

Humility: Apologizing sincerely to Sun Mi, being willing to stand in line with her, and eschewing the praise, love, and respect from the world for hers instead

Selflessness that leads to a kind of Frugality: Prioritizing Sun Mi’s joy with her grandmother over his pleasure in a night of drinking.

Compassion: The things he does for Bu Ja/Se Ra and for Han Joo when the cursing akgwi targeted him. The anger he sometimes shows at others bringing harm to those around them, like how he chewed out Sun Mi's cousins and the bookseller.

 

===

I am going to do some more writing while thinking to get things straight in my head. Kudos and thank you to posters who've previously brought up some of these ideas.

 

I would like to follow up on what I wrote about the Cowherd and the Weaver tale and the Geumganggo previously:

On 2/4/2018 at 1:22 AM, Zelda said:

Orpheus and Eurydice or could it be the Cowherd and the Weaver?

Spoiler

I think the Orpheus and Eurydice theories are fascinating (Thank you! jinsunmi and Benocciola). I wonder if maybe the Asian legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver is also a possibility? The Lyra constellation was shown behind Sun Mi. The brightest star in that constellation is Vega which represents the Weaver Girl, named Jing Nyeo in Korean. It's not a legend with a blissful ending, but death is not the obstacle. This article tells the Korean version.

Probably not related, but I find it interesting that both the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and scenes from Journey to the West are painted in the Long Corridor of the Summer Palace in Beijing.

On 2/4/2018 at 1:22 AM, Zelda said:

Red herrings when it comes to the Geumganggo

Spoiler

Looking back, what I remember is that the GGG shone when it was first activated. It also shone when the bookseller called Oh Gong. And Bu Ja, calls Oh Gong's bracelet a "one-to-one" connection between him and Sun Mi with which she could call him. But I think these last two are (in part) red herrings to keep us in suspense during episode 9 and 10.

  Reveal hidden contents

As far as I remember, whenever we saw Oh Gong hear Sun Mi call him. It always seemed to be a voice he heard in his head and the camera did not zoom in on the bracelet. I think it may in part have been Bu Ja's misunderstanding, but Oh Gong did not deny it because it is part symbolism. The bracelet was put on Oh Gong to keep him from eating Sun Mi, but it also made him (want to) honor his contract to go to her whenever she calls. In that way, it functions as a visual symbol of their contract, even though the GGG and the contract are not directly linked together.

 

Now, why am I not talking about how the bracelet makes Oh Gong share her pain? Maybe I am misremembering and need to go watch the earlier episodes in full once again, but I don't think the bracelet actually makes him capable of feeling what Sun Mi feels. We certainly know that Oh Gong cannot feel everything that Sun Mi does, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted Bu Ja to tell him what Sun Mi thinks about/feels towards him in episode 9. The phrase "your pain is my pain" has been coming up a lot, but I think that is more in the metaphorical sense. Because he loves her, he will feel pain too/along with her whenever she is hurt or in danger, but it is not her pain being transmitted into his heart. Does that make sense? In episode 4, Oh Gong asked Ma Wang why he should be hurt if Sun Mi is in pain, and Ma Wang's, albeit mocking answer, was that Oh Gong is in love with Sun Mi, not that the bracelet is transmitting her pain to him.

This is also, then, part of the reason why in episode 10, Oh Gong did not notice that Sun Mi was hurting too each time they spoke.

 

So, what was up with the GGG flashing at the time the bookseller called him? I think it must have just been coincidental. Perhaps the bookseller called Oh Gong as soon as she gained full control of the contract, but the GGG flashed in reaction to a great change in Sun Mi's state of being. To reiterate, though the GGG does not transmit her emotions to Oh Gong, it does react to her strong emotions and state of being. Part of Sun Mi was being ripped away, and while the GGG remained with the main part that stayed, it had to readjust itself.

The reaction to her strong emotion in episode 11, is quite scary, though. I agree that Sun Mi wanted to stop Oh Gong to protect him from the consequences of killing those humans and losing himself in his anger, but the fact that the GGG can emit black, negative energy is worrisome... What if Sun Mi tries to remove it, but finds that it won't come off...

With episode 12, we now have another confirmed manner in which the GGG functions. When the GGG was triggered and hurt Oh Gong, it was not simply due to Sun Mi's strong emotions, but by her speaking his name and then a direct order. If Oh Gong tries to go against it, then the GGG will activate and harm his heart.

The problem the heavens faced when punishing him was that he was not only immortal (i.e. "living forever, never decaying or dying"), but also seemingly invincible (i.e. "too powerful to be defeated or overcome") -To give a Western comparison, a vampire will live forever if no one kills it (immortal), but it can be killed by driving a stake through its heart (not invincible).- They needed to create a weakness, and the GGG has been slowly working over time to soften his stone hard heart, giving him , a proverbial "Achilles heel".

 

So, to sum up the purposes of the GGG (so far):

-Make Oh Gong (want to) protect and not eat Sam Jang.

-Give him a weak point.

-However, in episode eight it was also implied that the heaven's put the bracelet on Oh Gong to keep him and Sun Mi from knowing each other's true feelings.

SBR: So that's why you could freeze Geumganggo, no?
WG: Y-You knew about that?
        Since Sam Jang wanted to know how Great Sage truly felt, I put in a little strength for just a bit. I can't do it again.
SBR: You did something futile. Until Sam Jang's summons has been fulfilled, feelings can't ever be allowed to get in the way.
WG: So in order for the two of them to never know how the other truly feels, you had Geumganggo put on him?
SBR: Oh, so cold! It's so cold my ears have frozen solid. I'm leaving.

 

I am pretty sure that if Sun Mi was holding a real love bell and Oh Gong came near, she would hear that bell ring as well. More than five hundred years after he was locked up, the heavens sent Sun Mi into mortal life, and I believe fated her to be his love, in part so that Sun Mi would have an opportunity to keep her head on her shoulders long enough to put the GGG on Oh Gong (but I suspect there might be more to the story behind their love fate that has yet to be revealed).

 

Sun Mi and Oh Gong have a great work fated to them that must be fulfilled in order to save the world. The GGG was given both to bring Sun Mi and Oh Gong together in a coexistence of necessity as well as keep them from fulfilling their love fate together, by bringing doubt into their relationship.

 

Going back to the Lyra constellation possibly pointing to the Cowherd and the Weaver tale, the cowherd (Gyeonu) and the Weaver (Jing Nyeo) were so in love that they neglected their work and the Jade Emperor had to have distance placed between them to ensure they did their jobs.

The golden, vajra band on Oh Gong’s wrist is metaphorically like the band (the Silver River, aka Milkyway) that stretches across the sky separating Gyeonu and Jing Nyeo. Only by overcoming the separation -distance of hearts- caused by the band, can Oh Gong truly be with his “Jing Nyeo” Sun Mi.

 

EDIT: Okay, I got to all the posts about the kiss scene. Thank you, everyone who uploaded and translated! I loved how during the third conversation with Han Joo, it looks like Sun Mi glanced behind him at the Yook Gong plushie. She definitely knew Oh Gong was listening.  Good Job, Oh Gong! Keep overcoming that GGG!

Edited February 10, 2018 by Zelda
Reacting to the back-posts

[Jemara]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sadpluto]

OST is out!

 

 

[immortal_piglet]

That preview made my heart melt Omg but why do i have this uneasy feeling? That something bad might happen after this? SM doesn’t know the true meaning of the black bell yet afterall

[marinated_lemon]

Thank you @Zelda for clarification! It has been many years since the last time I watched JTTW and I forgot most of them apparently. I remember how the story of the monkey king's formidability was astonishing.

 

I dont know what's going on in his head, but him doing this is a danger to me. Although the kissing position gives me back pain (and that is not a thigh he was resting his hand on. I think it was the sofa), those are solid kisses and I hope for their love to keep blooming, with or without the GGG.

[chunkyung_8690]

Ost 7 is out  

And I loveeee how great the lyrics represent our OG ... and the chosen scenes for this mv is absolutely brilliant! 

 

[jentayue]

11 minutes ago, chunkyung_8690 said:

Ost 7 is out  

And I loveeee how great the lyrics represent our OG ... and the chosen scenes for this mv is absolutely brilliant! 

 

Plz translate the lyrics ..

[juzluvpink]

25 minutes ago, chunkyung_8690 said:

Ost 7 is out  

And I loveeee how great the lyrics represent our OG ... and the chosen scenes for this mv is absolutely brilliant! 

 

I hope SeungGi can perform this song live in his next concert. Like what he did for Lee JaeHa’s theme some “Love is Crying”. This is totally 50’s song (some ominous lyrics but I will ignore that for now) and I would like SeungGi to express this song himself.

[haymochi]

I'm super excited for tonight but still trying to keep it down

those kisses will def happen in the middle

and the cliff hanger will make me go  again

like for example Mawang collapsing, ASN possesing Sunmi, or our OTP getting hurt

hmmm

[maria_m2me]

Yeah... I'm so excited because of the kiss scene tonight... But also afraid with what will happen later after ASN and SOG in Sureumdong. I'm sure SOG can't kill her yet because she will be there with Mawang's love. I think ASN will use that woman (she's Mawang's weakness for sure).

 

And suddenly about ASN's wedding then SOG ask JSM to marry him, then SOG get angry to SB because of that death bell....

 

Okay I've watched SungGoKong 2017, someone ever shared the video here... And then I'm afraid we will get that kind of ending. ASN will use that Profesor Kang to be president, and what will happen if that evil man be president? Sure the end of the world can be happen.

 

Ah too much scenario in my minds now...

[V]

Here is the Live Recap Link. See y'all today! Whoo Hoo it's the weekend!

https://www.bah-doo.com/hwayugi-korean-odyssey-live-recap-episode-13/

 

 

[rocat]

Be still my ❤️! 

 

Thank you, V!

you are a saviour for those who understand no korean .

cant wait to see what happens tonight!

[haymochi]

Oh noooo...

is Mawang poisoned by ASN?