Seo Hwa wants to leave, to keep Wol Ryung from being in danger. He laughs, dismissing her fears, and shows her the food he has gathered from the forest. When she tells him that an apple is good, he goes out and picks many more for her to eat.
Wol Ryung’s loving presence and serving heart, bringing her things like a sack full of butterflies, these help cheer her and win her heart. Because she misses Yoon and Dam Yi, Wol Ryung travels to the town to find them and discovers Yoon’s hanging body. Kwan Woong has left him hanging for 4 days.
As Soo Ryun asks Kwan Woong to take down Yoon’s body, they receive news that the body has been stolen. It’s interesting that she is concerned about the boy’s body, since it doesn’t seem to be something that should bother her.
Wol Ryung returns after burying Yoon’s body – complete with grave marker, which means he can read and write – and tells Seo Hwa that Yoon and Dam Yi are safe. Grateful, she hugs Wol Ryung, telling him she can finally live again. Suddenly embarrassed, she pulls away, but after a moment, he kisses her and asks her to marry him. Even as she tells him all the reasons why he shouldn’t marry her, he continues to ask and she agrees.
Wol Ryung goes to the monk and asks for the Book of Nine so that he can marry Seo Hwa. So Jung doesn’t agree, thinking eternal life is better, especially when you’re strong and good-looking. Wol Ryung tells him that he doesn’t understand since he hasn’t actually *lived* a thousand years. When So Jung scolds him about not telling her he’s not human; he is non-plussed because he will become human, so it’s a non-issue.
So Jung finds the instructions, which say that to find the book, for 100 days Wol Ryung must: (1) Not kill anything, (2) help anyone that asks for it, and (3) cannot reveal his true nature to humans. But if he breaks the conditions, he will become a demon for 1,000 years. Even though the monk is nervous, since no one has ever been able to do it before, Wol Ryung confidently begins his quest.
Wol Ryung and Seo Hwa marry.
Pyung Joon continues to hunt for them and discovers Yoon’s grave. It does not lead them to the Garden of the Moon.
Wol Ryung and Seo Hwa are happy and in love. Despite Wol Ryung’s protests that she wait for them to go together, Seo Hwa leaves to gather herbs, saying that she could wander the trails blindfolded. There are 11 days to go before Wol Ryung’s 100 days are up. The monk visits. Apparently Seo Hwa’s cooking is terrible. So Jung says that he has found a way around the conditions, should Wol Ryung fail.
As Seo Hwa gathers roots, she is spotted by soldiers. One leaves to report, the other follows her.
The loophole is a 100 year hawthorn dagger. We aren’t told how it’s a loophole, just that this dagger is important.
Pyung Joon tells Kwan Woong that he has decided to give up since after 3 months there have been no results. Kwan Woong refuses to let him. They receive news that Seo Hwa has been found.
Wol Ryung returns from gathering firewood. Seo Hwa is not there. Something could be wrong, so he leaves to find her.
Seo Hwa is picking roots. She realizes that she is being followed and runs. The soldier shoots an arrow which explodes in the air to indicate their location. Both Wol Ryung and Pyung Joon see it and Wol Ryung knows that his dread was right. He rushes to save her.
As she is almost caught, Wol Ryung finds Seo Hwa. He uses his magic to hide them in the trees, but Pyung Joon finds them anyway. Wol Ryung causes Pyung Joon’s horse to rear and the pair are able to run away. Unfortunately, they run into a trap and Wol Ryung caught by chains.
Pyung Joon begins to drag Seo Hwa away and to save her Wol Ryung reveals his true nature and kills the men holding him. The rest of the soldiers are no match for him and Seo Hwa sees the monster that can be the gumiho. All of the soldiers have fallen down dead or unconscious. Afraid, Seo Hwa tells Wol Ryung to stay away and faints.
Although he is able to bring her back to their home, Wol Ryung has been badly wounded. Begging her forgiveness, he collapses. Seo Hwa runs away, refusing to believe that this could be her husband. She finds Pyung Joon and the other soldiers.
So Jung finds Wol Ryung weak. He begs So Jung to find her and help her. So Jung begs Wol Ryung to use the dagger, when the time comes, to stop what is to come.
Seo Hwa is taken to Kwan Woong. He tells her that Dam Yi and Jung Yoon are dead and that everything Wol Ryung said was only done to seduce her. Horrified, she begins to vomit. Kwan Woong tells Pyung Joon to use Seo Hwa to find the gumiho.
Seo Hwa leads them to Wol Ryung. She refuses to believe his explanations and instead believes that he would lie, cheat and deceive. Wol Ryung’s heart breaks as she betrays him. Even so, he tries to save her and is run through by Pyung Joon’s sword. He asks her why as he tells her he loves her, despite everything, and as he refuses to kill the woman he loves, he disappears in a cloud of blue light.
Pyung Joon realizes that what he has believed about the gumiho is wrong. Kwan Woong leaves him to kill Seo Hwa. The monk arrives and crumbles at the news of the death of his friend. Never had Wol Ryung harmed anyone. When Pyung Joon says that Wol Ryung killed half of his men, So Jung counters with, “Did he start it? All he wanted was to live and ordinary life. To grow old with his wife.” He turns on Seo Hwa, telling her it was all her fault and that Wol Rung would have been human in 11 days. Seo Hwa looks at her bloody hand and again begins to vomit. She realizes she might be pregnant.
Pyung Joon brings a bloody hairpin to Kwan Woong as proof that Seo Hwa is dead.
The forest grows over Wol Ryung’s motionless body. Time passes at the Garden of the Moon.
Seo Hwa has been hidden at the gisaeng house. Heavily pregnant, she has attempted to drink lye in order to kill her baby. Soo Ryun tells her that she should have accepted her fate. Seo Hwa begs her to kill her, but Soo Ryun refuses, as a favor to the man who brought her there. Does that mean that she has some connection to Pyung Joon? And why wouldn’t Seo Hwa put it together that Pyung Joon had saved her?
Terrified at her impeding birth, Seo Hwa runs away to the forest. Wol Ryung’s voice calls her name. She returns to the Garden of the Moon and remembers their happy times together. Even as she gives birth, she remembers Wol Ryung’s love. Blue lights appear, flying toward the cave and the library where So Jung sits. So Jung wonders and hopes that Wol Ryung has returned.
Seo Hwa has brought a sickle to kill their child. Begging Wol Ryung’s forgiveness, she is about to strike, when the blue lights arrive. Illuminating her baby’s face, she realizes that he’s no monster and neither was Wol Ryung. She weeps bitterly.
The scene fades away and opens to some men and giseangs by the river. As Park Mu Sol drinks some of the water, he hears a baby’s cry and finds a basket floating in the river. Seo Hwa’s baby is inside. Mu Sol brings the baby up from the river as So Jung arrives. So Jung tells them that if Mu Sol will be blessed if he chooses to raise the child. His friends are eager for Lord Park to get those blessings and name the child, Kang (river) Chi (found). They give him Park’s servant’s last name, Choi. Mu Sol’s heart is moved and he decides to keep Choi Kang Chi.
Thoughts
There were several places where my heart broke for this tragic couple, as Wol Ryung realized his betrayal and as Seo Hwa realized that she was wrong. Both of their faces and the tragedy of it made me cry and still chokes me up when I think about it.
The blue lights make me wonder if Wol Ryung will become what we expect: a demon. And if so, would the knowledge that Seo Hwa loves him anyway be enough to save him and bring him back? Because I think that she realized that it wasn’t all lies, that the only times he had lied were to avoid hurting her, rather than manipulate her, and that she could have had a human husband if she just had listened to him and hadn’t been weak. So heartbreaking!!! I really do want Wol Ryung to be saved from this twist of fate.
It seems as though that’s going to be a theme for this series: challenging the fate that you are destined to live. Wol Ryung’s fate to be a gumiho. Seo Hwa’s fate to be a giseang. Their child’s fate to be a gumiho and potentially suffer a doomed love like his parents.
Wol Ryung challenged their fate when he interceded and saved Seo Hwa. He laughed at the idea that he wouldn’t succeed in his quest to be human and that his fate wouldn’t end well. He believed that he would be able to do what no other gumiho has done in the past because he had finally found someone to love after a 1,000 years. And still he became what seems to be fated for any gumiho when they try to become human: an evil spirit. Time and again, Seo Hwa is told to accept her fate, first to become a giseang and then to give birth to this gumiho child. She continues to refuse, even though it makes her suffer.
And then there’s the question of their son: Choi Kang Chi. Will he be destined to the same type of fate as his parents, when he grows up and falls in love? And will he ever discover the truth about his parents and their tragic love?
Well done on making a back story engrossing. Well acted, too.
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