[Drama 2020] Mystic Pop Up Bar, 쌍갑포차

[Madu Mita]

https://alwaysobsessed3365.tumblr.com/post/621391361817673728/genuine-question-to-mystic-pop-up-bar-fanswhy-do
 

Had this whole discussion on Tumblr on why Cheif Gwi refuses to reveal his identity to Weol Ju. Many had interesting,valid responses. I recommend reading it as there are a lot of interesting perspectives and analysis.

[fluffyloaf]

Just got around to reading some of the comments on why Chief Gwi does not reveal himself to Weol Ju. Thought I would add a little something to it.

 

As much as yes he probably does not want to hold her back from moving on, I think most importantly is the fact that Chief Gwi understands Weol Ju equally (if not more) than Samsin about her sacrificial nature.

 

If we look at the latest episodes, Weol Ju had constantly emphasised her guilt for the curse she had put her child through for the past 500 years. Eventhough upon fulfilling the 100,000 grudge and her child would no longer suffer, she still remains sorry about what the child had to go through and she finds that there is no way to compensate for the torture in the past 500 years for her child. 

 

Weol Ju did not willfully kill her child. She was not aware of her child when she had killed herself. But when she found out the implications of her own suicide upon someone else's life, she was ridden with guilt and entrapped with trying to do more to compensate for the person. For now, the show is not fully revealing to us her desperation to compensate and we are still seeing a very calm facade of Weol Ju's character. This is largely because she does not know who her child is, she does not know what he had been through and she is not aware of how she can compensate. But we do see hints of her obsession and desperation to do so with Kang Bae (whom she feels an affinity to like a child to her but has no idea that he might actually be related to her) and the outburst from her normally collected facade upon being confronted by the Queen. She is on the verge of a possible breakdown.

 

Chief Gwi is probably seeing all of this and it hurts him. And because of this he does not want to burden her with the guilt of his own death because of her. He would rather be hated and despised by her and never to have her feeling guilty over the fact that he has taken his own life, not lived a good life, and in similar fate, been cursed and tortured in the past 500 years. If Weol Ju could, she would rather have all suffering to fall on her as she found herself to be the root cause leading to all these events. In her mind, she could have blamed herself for staying on and for loving the Crown Prince.

 

She already feels tortured and burdened enough over the death of her own mother burnt to death before her eyes and the death of her own child whom she was not aware of (not to mention the sacred tree and the other lives that were involved as an outcome).

 

Chief Gwi only wants her to focus on dealing with all she has on her plate now with no further hope for reconciliation. His love can only go as far as to helping her redeem herself and relieve her guilt with the occasional sweet moments between them but he dared not wish for more beyond that.

 

If Weol Ju finds out about him and what had happened, he is afraid that she might make further desperate, sacrificial attempts to make up for what she had put him through (like signing a contract to go to the hell of extinction) / give her a deeper grudge turning her into an evil spirit.

 

Not forgetting, aside from thinking about Weol Ju, Chief Gwi might inevitable feel guilty about the fact that he is the ultimate cause of it all in fact. He should be the one punished not Weol Ju. He is the one who insisted to continue the relationship between them and insisted he could protect her but how fragile he must have felt to have ruined her family, her life and even her afterlife. Any chance of ruining it further, he will not want to risk it. He knew better about the consequences of his own greed out of love to keep her with him. He himself is also struggling to make it up for the years of burden, torture and guilt Weol Ju has had to carry for the last 500 years.

 

Oh yeah and I am not sure about this but maybe revealing his true identity is also against his agreement with Yeomradaewang when he requested to be sent to be with Weol Ju? Maybe that's a possible reason too?

[soondubuu]

Hi everyone , i am finally here after catching up to the latest episode! Was recommended to this drama from another thread and i am seeing some familiar people here , YAY!

 

I love that this drama is sort of procedural style , including of course elements of the characters past life + mystic elements (hence the name Mystic Pop Up Bar)? I accidentally spoiled myself coming into this thread before watching the latest 2 episodes (lool), but ok i kinda expected Gwibanjang to be the Crown Prince & Yeorin to be the stone reincarnation + The Grim Reaper being taken over by his son !! Kinda sad the Queen had to die altho she did bad stuff and separated WJ & crown prince, but can see she was tryna atone for her sins after getting back her memories. Sad that she died so quickly, i liked her acting! I do suspect KB is their kid and i must say Sung Jae is so cute here hahahha!! I really do hope that no one ends up being "not reincarnated" ?? Hopefully Gwi +Weolju can have a happier life in their reincarnation (if that is gonna happen). 

 

Anw, did i miss out something? Why was Won-Hyung killed?? And why did the Crown Prince committed suicide  

[thistle]

8 hours ago, fluffyloaf said:

.....But we do see hints of her obsession and desperation to do so with Kang Bae (whom she feels an affinity to like a child to her but has no idea that he might actually be related to her).....

 

I loved your post and I think you've hit the nail right on the head about Gui.  

 

However, I disagree on one key point:  I believe that WJ has come to realization about Kang Bae.  In the 10th episode, she says, "I'm responsible for what happened to both KB and the Sacred Tree"  so she must understand the connection between them--if she doesn't, there is no reason for her to equate KB with the Tree.  And I think that this is why she was so desperate that she agreed to make the contract to go to hell in order to get the information she needed to help her son KB.

[fluffyloaf]

55 minutes ago, thistle said:

 

I loved your post and I think you've hit the nail right on the head about Gui.  

 

However, I disagree on one key point:  I believe that WJ has come to realization about Kang Bae.  In the 10th episode, she says, "I'm responsible for what happened to both KB and the Sacred Tree"  so she must understand the connection between them--if she doesn't, there is no reason for her to equate KB with the Tree.  And I think that this is why she was so desperate that she agreed to make the contract to go to hell in order to get the information she needed to help her son KB.

 

Ahhh, that actually makes a lot of sense too. I had dismissed that detail because I just assumed she had felt bad about Kang Bae because they did used his skills to fulfill her quota. Initially she had also assumed that Kang Bae helping them by entering the dream realm and afterlife was what activated his vision for spirits. But yes it does sound odd that she would make such a huge sacrifice to be sent to hell of extinction just for Kang Bae. Perhaps she had to physical proof of their tie but she might have sensed it by heart. I am just hoping that the trio could do a good that is so great to reverse Yeomradaewang's decision to allow Chief Gwi replacing Weol Ju's place in hell.

 

Also, could the powerful monk that had their spiritual vision "welded closed" by Weol Ju in the past possibly Kang Bae? Since he had suddenly regained it perhaps it is due to Yeomradaewang's discovery that Kang Bae is not living out his destiny to help as much people as he was supposed to. His power does not merely seem like a curse to me. Or maybe it was just the power of the Sacred Tree? 

[thistle]

1 hour ago, fluffyloaf said:

Also, could the powerful monk that had their spiritual vision "welded closed" by Weol Ju in the past possibly Kang Bae? Since he had suddenly regained it perhaps it is due to Yeomradaewang's discovery that Kang Bae is not living out his destiny to help as much people as he was supposed to. His power does not merely seem like a curse to me. Or maybe it was just the power of the Sacred Tree? 

 

Basically, I'm thinking "not" on this.  I'd say it's the power of the Sacred Tree.  

 

I'm not sure if I am recalling properly but it seems to me that the door-welding incident took place only 6 years ago.  By that time, KB was already separated from his parents for quite a long while.  The child that WJ helped was younger and the child's mother was satisfied by WJ's solution so she would have kept her son instead of putting him in an orphanage as KB's parents did.   Also, if KB was the child from this incident, then he would have lost his abilities; instead, he still has them--I'm not sure that he was helped out in any way from the spirit realm.  In any case, his abilities were a surprise to Gui and it seems that Gui with his 500 years of experience in the otherworld police should know about anyone out there who was not a normal human.

 

Like everyone else, I'm just guessing on this so I could very easily be wrong.

 

Only two episodes left.  Oh my.  I'm gonna miss this show.

 

 

[fluffyloaf]

10 hours ago, thistle said:

 

Basically, I'm thinking "not" on this.  I'd say it's the power of the Sacred Tree.  

 

I'm not sure if I am recalling properly but it seems to me that the door-welding incident took place only 6 years ago.  By that time, KB was already separated from his parents for quite a long while.  The child that WJ helped was younger and the child's mother was satisfied by WJ's solution so she would have kept her son instead of putting him in an orphanage as KB's parents did.   Also, if KB was the child from this incident, then he would have lost his abilities; instead, he still has them--I'm not sure that he was helped out in any way from the spirit realm.  In any case, his abilities were a surprise to Gui and it seems that Gui with his 500 years of experience in the otherworld police should know about anyone out there who was not a normal human.

 

Ahhh I see, thanks for the insights! Makes more sense to me now!

 

10 hours ago, thistle said:

Only two episodes left.  Oh my.  I'm gonna miss this show.

 

Yessss  Like Kang Bae and Yeo Rin is just about to have some good time in their life after years of feeling like an outcast. And there's only so little time for us to savour that. And we barely got to savour any sweet scenes between Chief Gwi and Weol Ju (and not sure if we will be getting any hurhurhur)

[raziela]

On 6/19/2020 at 4:46 PM, vangsweetie637 said:

but Death is the evil spirit’s dad. So if the evil spirit is his son, then how did he become Death while the son suffered in Hell? Death is a high rank so does this mean, he was a righteous dad in the living realm. It seems like the problem is the son. He even possessed his dad. 
 

And shouldn’t Yeo-(that high supervisor) know something is up with Death. Gui can’t sense it but given her powers, shouldn’t she at least know? 

I'm a bit confused by this too.  Also I wonder why does Won-Hyung hate them SO much. It appears Death is Won-Hyung's father in the Joseon timeline too because when the Queen Mother sees him for the first time in the modern timeline she calls him Lord Kim Jin and the Crown Prince was supposed to marry Lord Kim Jin's daughter. So if the marriage had gone ahead he would have become the Crown Prince's brother-in-law.  So could some of his anger come from maybe his ambitions being thwarted?

 

On 6/19/2020 at 5:38 PM, fluffyloaf said:

Hello again @raziela! Hahaha finally having you here! I know, his character is so awww and you just can't help but love him despite him being all silly sometimes. I just love the fact that he needs Yeo Rin to help him at silly things like opening the bottle but he steps up at the really important moment like telling off Yeo Rin's ex crush (as well as previously the customers who were stealing). They are both such opposites. One is strong on the outside but timid on the inside. The other appears timid on the outside but has some really great inner strength. It's just a blissful feeling seeing both of them.

 

Despite having wished for more twists in the earlier episodes and desiring the characters to be different from what they appeared to be, I think there's still something quite beautiful about the relationships despite it being predictable even from early on in the episodes. I hope the trio can have a happy ending because they are growing on me T_____T

Hello @fluffyloaf Lovely to see you on this thread too

One advantage of a few more episodes would be to get spend a bit more time with the characters and storyline in the Joseon period. 

 

On 6/20/2020 at 4:14 PM, whiteclover said:

Hi everyone , i am finally here after catching up to the latest episode! Was recommended to this drama from another thread and i am seeing some familiar people here , YAY!

 

I love that this drama is sort of procedural style , including of course elements of the characters past life + mystic elements (hence the name Mystic Pop Up Bar)? I accidentally spoiled myself coming into this thread before watching the latest 2 episodes (lool), but ok i kinda expected Gwibanjang to be the Crown Prince & Yeorin to be the stone reincarnation + The Grim Reaper being taken over by his son !! Kinda sad the Queen had to die altho she did bad stuff and separated WJ & crown prince, but can see she was tryna atone for her sins after getting back her memories. Sad that she died so quickly, i liked her acting! I do suspect KB is their kid and i must say Sung Jae is so cute here hahahha!! I really do hope that no one ends up being "not reincarnated" ?? Hopefully Gwi +Weolju can have a happier life in their reincarnation (if that is gonna happen). 

 

Anw, did i miss out something? Why was Won-Hyung killed?? And why did the Crown Prince committed suicide  

Hello @whiteclover So nice to see you posting on this thread  as well

Yes, I am glad that the Queen was trying to atone for her sins in this life. Agreed Park Eun Hye's acting as the Queen was very good. The drama really has a fab supporting cast all round.

I don't think we know the answer to those questions yet.  I suspect the Crown Prince beheaded Won-Hyung because he was the one who killed WJ's mother. This is a guess but I also think maybe he had something to do with the  invasion of the country and the subsequent 100 000 deaths because of what the Queen said about him being good at lies and deception.  He must hae done something very bad in the original timeline for the Queen to have that opinion of him.

[thistle]

1 hour ago, raziela said:

Also I wonder why does Won-Hyung hate them SO much. It appears Death is Won-Hyung's father in the Joseon timeline too because when the Queen Mother sees him for the first time in the modern timeline she calls him Lord Kim Jin and the Crown Prince was supposed to marry Lord Kim Jin's daughter. So if the marriage had gone ahead he would have become the Crown Prince's brother-in-law.  So could some of his anger come from maybe his ambitions being thwarted?

 

 

I missed that!  Interesting.  I had been guessing that Death was father to both the prince and to WH--I sure got that wrong!  

 

I have the impression that WH was also in love with WJ.  He was the one who had to walk her home from that palace at night so he must have spent some considerable time with her and got to know her.  The prince would not have been happy to hear that his close friend was also in love with his lover.  And we do know that the prince beheaded WH himself for some reason, so that most certainly would be a cause for anger.

 

We still have some more threads from the story to unravel.  Looking forward to the next two eps, even though they are the end game.

[raziela]

23 hours ago, thistle said:

I have the impression that WH was also in love with WJ.  He was the one who had to walk her home from that palace at night so he must have spent some considerable time with her and got to know her.  The prince would not have been happy to hear that his close friend was also in love with his lover.  And we do know that the prince beheaded WH himself for some reason, so that most certainly would be a cause for anger.

I also thought WH also falling in love with WJ was where they were going with that scene.  I guess we will find out if we are correct this week!  

[hyukjaeismine]

I compiled some of Weolju's beautiful hanboks in an appreciation post!

https://unstoppablesun.com/2020/06/22/the-many-hanboks-of-weolju-and-which-ones-your-favourite/

 

My personal favourite is the deep blue one she wore in the first episode (when she was strangling the free sample guy lol)! Which ones were your favourites?

[thistle]

1 hour ago, hyukjaeismine said:

Which ones were your favourites?

 

The floral one with the yellow voile top.....which she then covered with a trench coat.    I kinda love yellow clothes.....well, yellow anything (even my car is yellow).   Can't imagine wearing something so pretty, though.

 

And I've been drooling over that hairpin since episode one but there's no way I could afford to buy it (it costs more than $300/US).  Instead I bought a super-cheapie one on eBay and am waiting an eternity for it to arrive from China.  It's kinda fun to borrow some KDrama styles a little bit--if you can't have a hanbok or a binyeo, you can still find something to enjoy.

[chrysalidding]

On 6/19/2020 at 11:46 PM, vangsweetie637 said:

I too also think KB is their son. And for some reason, I think Samshin is WJ’s mother. 
 

When Gui came and ask her why didn’t she stop WJ from making the deal, she said she knows her the most. My instinct is that she is WJ’s mom. Plus, Gui always hints to WJ that her mother could be watching over her.

I don't think that Samshin is her mom. She's a deity in Korean mythology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsin_Halmoni), so I don't think that in this drama at least, that she would be related to WJ. However, if it's a role that different ex-humans fulfill over time, then that might be possible.

 

On 6/19/2020 at 11:46 PM, vangsweetie637 said:

but Death is the evil spirit’s dad. So if the evil spirit is his son, then how did he become Death while the son suffered in Hell? Death is a high rank so does this mean, he was a righteous dad in the living realm. It seems like the problem is the son. He even possessed his dad. 

He's not Death, but a Grim Reaper (https://aminoapps.com/c/korean_studies/page/blog/korean-folklore-characters-the-joseung-saja-grim-reapers/G5Mp_l4lHnu0kggkDMpak1dgDZ74k0DaJ51). He could possibly have been a principled official in his life. I think the crown prince was also supposed to marry Lord Kim's daughter, so he might have been doubling as his future father-in-law as well?

 

On 6/19/2020 at 11:46 PM, vangsweetie637 said:

And shouldn’t Yeo-(that high supervisor) know something is up with Death. Gui can’t sense it but given her powers, shouldn’t she at least know? 

I think Yŏm-ra Daewang (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama_(Buddhism)) is more of an overseer, so she may not be so involved in the nitty gritty.

 

I've really enjoyed the show so far. The story seems so simple, but it's got so much heart. Hope the finale will be good!

[thistle]

It's Wednesday!    Time for a new episode.....but only two eps left. 

[raziela]

On 6/23/2020 at 10:20 AM, chrysalidding said:

I don't think that Samshin is her mom. She's a deity in Korean mythology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsin_Halmoni), so I don't think that in this drama at least, that she would be related to WJ. However, if it's a role that different ex-humans fulfill over time, then that might be possible.

 

He's not Death, but a Grim Reaper (https://aminoapps.com/c/korean_studies/page/blog/korean-folklore-characters-the-joseung-saja-grim-reapers/G5Mp_l4lHnu0kggkDMpak1dgDZ74k0DaJ51). He could possibly have been a principled official in his life. I think the crown prince was also supposed to marry Lord Kim's daughter, so he might have been doubling as his future father-in-law as well?

 

I think Yŏm-ra Daewang (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama_(Buddhism)) is more of an overseer, so she may not be so involved in the nitty gritty.

 

I've really enjoyed the show so far. The story seems so simple, but it's got so much heart. Hope the finale will be good!

Thank you so much for the links! I wanted to know more about the actual deities.

[soondubuu]

OMG EP 11 WAS DAEBAK!! 

Spoiler

and yes i think everyone's guess was right !! Kangbae is their son!!  i think the final grudge mat be for Won-Hyung then?

 

[soondubuu]

3 minutes ago, corey said:

 

I am also so very sad that this wonderful gem of a drama is coming to an end .

Any thoughts of the ending? I think (and hope) we will get 100% happy ending, with  WJ and Crown Prince together as well as KB and YR.

Yes !! I hope for a happy ending too? But i am not sure how they gonna save Gwi tho? I mean it was kinda inferred he exchanged his chance for reincarnation to save WJ? But hopefully the other gods/spirits (?) get moved and lift this punishment/ maybe Won Hyung will sacrifice instead?

 

i think the last grudge might be Won Hyung’s then. Probably then WJ will hit her 10,000 milestone and KB can be free of seeing spirits/ having weird confessions when he touches people (plus because things are going well w YR too)

 

8 minutes ago, corey said:

If they do not end up together, I think I will lose my faith in humanity

Well... i came from another thread where i was so sure my OTP will be the end game but turns out the writer switch to the alternate pairing (which made no sense to me)at the last episode lmao. Hence my advice is to keep a neutral heart  

 

but judging from the show’s direction (no weird writing here), i think whether or not WJ & Gwi end up together its still a happy ending? Because they all met their past promises and (hopefully)managed to free KB from tortures for his subsequent reincarnations ? Eitherways im quite positive for the KB-YR couple  

[thistle]

44 minutes ago, whiteclover said:

OMG EP 11 WAS DAEBAK!! 

  Hide contents

and yes i think everyone's guess was right !! Kangbae is their son!!  i think the final grudge mat be for Won-Hyung then?

 

 

It was!  I still believe that the final grudge solved will be for KB.  The soul of the Sacred Tree is inside him, and that has to be appeased since the Tree died because WJ hung herself on it.

[Nymeria289]

Cinnabar Yeo Rin was so much fun....episode 11 really was amazing...no preview...whaeeee

[Michelle Gonzalez]

Waiting for Netflix really hope a happy ending