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Scholar Who Walks the Night: Episode 5

Aw, the vampire has a heart. I don’t know if it pumps blood or keeps him alive, but today it starts to pang him—at least emotionally, which is the more interesting version anyway. And yes, right now it’s providing more pain than loving satisfaction, but we’re working up our way to that. First the cold cold vampire has to acknowledge that feelings matter, and that they have power over him, and then we can get to the happy fun good times. It might take a while, but I can be patient. *taps fingers impatiently* *waits for kisses*

SONG OF THE DAY

Taru – “이상한 밤” (Strange night)Download ]

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EPISODE 5 RECAP

Sung-yeol finds Yang-sun asleep at her desk, and reads the notes she’s jotted to herself about the lost prince’s diary and how Sung-yeol is mean for telling her to stay away. Though we know he’s the furthest thing from indifferent, given that he now sports two nasty gashes in his palm from using his blood to heal her.

A new batch of flyers is dispersed, telling the populace of the bloodsucking monster who rules over their king. But a strong gust of wind blows through the city, snatching the papers out of their hands and sweeping them away.

Prince Yoon explains to his confidante Hak-young how he came to be the mysterious Eumlan Seosaeng (at least the newest incarnation, since the forgotten Prince Jeonghyeon was the original). Back when he was a child, his father, Prince Sadong, had shared with him the full story of Gwi and shown him Eumlan Seosaeng’s 120-year-old novel (Vampire Tale).

Sadong had assured his son that he’d found a way to destroy Gwi, and instructed him to get Prince Jeonghyeon’s secret diary from a certain man if anything ever happened to him.

Sure enough, three days later Sadong was accused of treason and executed, along with his faithful teacher and advisor. Young Yoon had snuck in to see the bodies, and confirmed that their corpses bore bite marks, just as the Vampire Tale novel had said.

Yoon had hidden when the king had come by with his Noron advisors, talking of the need to recover the diary Sadong had stolen from Gwi. Yoon had hurried to get it first, but it was nowhere to be found.

Hak-young speculates that Gwi’s searching for that diary now, and that the one-armed merchant may know more than he’s saying. Yoon adds one more possibility: Perhaps his disappeared childhood friend Jin has it—the one whom Yang-sun resembles.

Bad news arrives: One of Yoon’s guards has been killed by royal soldiers. That’s the body Sung-yeol finds, and the tattoos indicate that he was once Prince Sadong’s guard. They were reportedly all killed ten years ago, but Sung-yeol instructs his team to track down any survivors—they could lead them to the current Eumlan Seosaeng. They need to track down One Arm as well before Gwi does.

Yang-sun discovers her foot healed upon waking up, though she’s still miffed at Sung-yeol for telling her not to come looking for him anymore. She’s also puzzled at the disappearance of her flyer—nobody raided her underground library, so where did it go?

Ah, it turns out that Sung-yeol is the one who rounded up all the flyers, which he now burns.

Yang-sun’s father grows increasingly worried about her work, telling her that the book she’s trying to find is extremely dangerous. He saw firsthand how everybody connected to the book or Sadong was rounded up ten years ago, and Dad was forced to hide for years. He feels safe now, since the only people who ever knew he worked for Sadong were Sadong himself and One Arm, but he also wants to make sure Yang-sun stops her hunt. The family’s lives could be at stake.

Seeing how upset he is, Yang-sun doesn’t argue. She wonders where One Arm is these days, and accepts Dad’s reply that he’s probably out on business—though I notice he looks uneasy.

Masquerading as a Chinese merchant, Sung-yeol has drinks with the war minister, bribing him for a list of names—he’s tracking down Sadong’s supporters who’d been stripped of their rank and sold as government slaves.

Yang-sun takes Dad’s appeal to heart and intends to return Sung-yeol’s money and quit the job. At the gibang, Sung-yeol meets her eye but deliberately turns away, refusing to acknowledge her, and gisaeng Su-hyang stays behind to deal with her instead. She looks way too pleased to see Yang-sun snubbed and even gives her a snooty once-over, noting her shabby shoes; sigh, I guess Scholar won’t be passing the Bechdel test anytime soon.

Yang-sun attempts to return the money, but Su-hyang tells her to put it away as payment for possible future work. Yang-sun concedes that she’s in no position to refuse.

Su-hyang tells Sung-yeol that even with the flyers destroyed, the people are talking about a possible vampire in the palace, and that Yang-sun cannot continue helping him in the hunt.

Meanwhile, Yoon makes good on his promise/threat to hold Yang-sun’s vicious loan sharks accountable, putting up Wanted posters in town. The boss feels safe that the war minister will protect them, having received lots of bribes from them in the past. Yes, good luck counting on a corrupt official to be honorable all of a sudden. That’s exactly how the world works.

That’s when Yang-sun shows up to pay off her debt in full, not knowing that Yoon already paid it. The boss warns his henchman not to get rough with her, though, since she’s got the prince’s protection. This, of course, is news to her.

In contrast to Sung-yeol, Yoon is glad to hear the people talking about the flyers—they can only rally the people to rise up against Gwi if they know about Gwi in the first place.

Yoon brightens to run into Yang-sun, who hands him her pouch of money in repayment, still only knowing him as a scholar rather than the prince. Just then, soldiers on horseback come charging down the lane, and Yoon whirls her out of harm’s way. Ah, the classic intervening-in-traffic-spurs-romantic-feelings maneuver.

I love that she’s not much affected, but Yoon is—he stares down at her intently, now realizing she’s a she. It makes him even more playful with her, downright flirty in fact, as he asks her to change how she addresses him. Rather than the proper “scholar-nim,” he’d prefer something friendlier, like hyungnim. She’s ill at ease being that familiar, but he insists.

Then he notices her worn straw shoes and adds that she owes him interest. Okay, how are you going to twist this so buying her shoes is her payment to you?

Yoon takes Yang-sun to the marketplace where he browses the shoes, and notices the scar on her face. She explains getting it in the melee that ensued at the gathering of the fake Eumlan Seosaeng. He asks if she knows where the fake guards took everyone, and she whispers that she’d gone back and found everything wiped clean. But it’s a relief that Eumlan Seosaeng remained safe, she says.

Since she’s talking about him, Yoon is pleased to hear it, though he asks whether she’s really rooting for a traitor. She starts to protest, but admits that it’s true—as a bookseller, she likes that his books have prompted countless people to learn how to read, and that’ll spur them to learn things and improve the world. So really, he’s doing a public service.

Yoon puffs up ever so slightly and says, “That man has done a great thing.” She agrees, though she finds the flyer’s contents difficult to believe.

Yoon catches a glimpse of someone watching them from a distance, and, grabbing Yang-sun’s hand, leads her through the streets. The follower runs after them, but finds himself outnumbered and taken down by Yoon’s guards. Yoon orders the man handed over to the authorities, but he bursts out that he wasn’t after Yoon—he was following Yang-sun.

He was acting on Su-hyang’s orders, and Yang-sun confronts her angrily. But Su-hyang just slaps the man coldly and asks Yang-sun with a sneer, “Happy now?”

Yang-sun insists on an answer, and Su-hyang retorts hotly, “How dare a woman—”

Sung-yeol cuts in before she outs Yang-sun’s secret. “I ordered it,” he says, and dismisses Su-hyang. He explains his reasons for having her tracked: She seemed to know about One Arm but hid it from him, and quit suddenly, which struck him as suspicious. He needed to know what she knows.

She tells him earnestly that she truly wanted to find that book for him, and that she felt bad taking his money and being of no help. That’s why she has to return the money to him—but she fumbles around in her robes and can’t find her pouch.

That’s when Yoon arrives holding the pouch, telling her she’d entrusted him with it. Sung-yeol recognizes him as the prince and eyes him suspiciously, wondering why he’s here and what he’s doing with Yang-sun.

His sidekick sees the two heading off together and comes to the simpler conclusion that Yoon must have agreed to let Yang-sun publish his story, explaining how they met at the gibang when Yang-sun saw Yoon drawing. Sung-yeol takes that information in.

Yoon and Yang-sun end up drinking together at a tavern, and she complains about Sung-yeol and his curt manners while Yoon cutely takes her side. She even pulls off a pretty accurate impersonation of Sung-yeol’s stone-cold expression, all narrowed eyes and sharp glances. Hee.

As she lists Sung-yeol’s bad traits, Yoon plays along and gets up in mock outrage on her behalf, offering to go whoop some scholar ass and teach him a lesson. Yang-sun takes him at his word and leaps up to stop him, grabbing Yoon around the middle in an inadvertent back-hug. Haha, we’re just burning through all the tropes today, aren’t we?

Yang-sun says that Sung-yeol saved her life three times and she owes him a debt of gratitude. Yoon teases, “Having you hug my waist and talk of another man doesn’t feel great.”

At that, she realizes he was joking to cheer her up, and he quips lightly that it makes him jealous to hear of all her encounters with the other scholar. She points out, “You’re staring again.”

Yang-sun asks if she really looks like Yoon’s old friend, and today he answers that upon second glance, no. And when she tries to bring up the debt she owes him, he tells her she’ll have to repay him—but that can happen after she publishes his book and finds it to be a huge success.

Meanwhile, from the shadows Sung-yeol hangs back, watching Yang-sun laugh and drink with the prince, watching with an inscrutable expression. Are you jealous? Please be jealous, ’cause you kind of earned that one with your whole cold-on-the-outside routine.

Many, many drinks later, the two are winding down when Yoon is called away. She bids him good night, intending to finish her drink and head home herself.

In Gwi’s underground lair, doppelganger Hye-ryung alerts Gwi to the existence of that flyer outlining his existence. Since the drama’s already indicated that she’s not Myung-hee, my big question is whether Hye-ryung is human or vamp, although the signs seem to point to human. For instance, Gwi leans close to smell her neck, telling her that she doesn’t know how sweet her blood smells, or how hard he works to protect her.

Yang-sun finishes off the last of her liquor and recognizes that she’s well and drunk. She starts to nod off and thinks of an earlier conversation with Sung-yeol, when he’d asked if she found it difficult masquerading as a man. She sighs that yes, it’s difficult to try her hardest and feel like nothing ever improves, that the burden of caring for her father and sister and the debt that never seemed to go down sometimes made her afraid that she’d just give up on everything.

Sung-yeol approaches and takes the seat across from her, and Yang-sun assumes she’s fantasizing about him again. She says it’s a problem imagining him every day, and how even when he hurts her feelings, she can’t help worrying about him. “Why do I feel this way?” she asks Sung-yeol, assuming he’s a figment of her imagination. “Do I have feelings for you?”

Sung-yeol watches as she sheds a tear and gradually falls asleep, and some time later when Yoon returns, she’s gone. Yoon hopes she made it home safely and looks down at the box in his hands—new shoes.

Su-hyang knows Sung-yeol will be upset with her for interfering with Yang-sun again, and when he arrives home, she launches into an apology. But he cuts her short and just says that Yang-sun isn’t working for him anymore, so she needn’t be followed. Furthermore, he tells Su-hyang to prepare a safe place for Yang-sun to stay where Gwi won’t find her.

Suddenly, Sung-yeol doubles over in pain, clutching his heart, eyes red. Gwi is killing again, and he can feel it coming from the palace.

Gwi feeds off another of the king’s women, resuming his M.O. to get the king to fall in line. He reiterates that the king needs to capture Eumlan Seosang, wanting to know how the writer even knows of his existence in the first place. Gwi instructs the king to leave the Eumlan Seosaeng case in the prime minister’s hands—the prime minister being fully Gwi’s patsy—and throws a pointed look at Sadong’s mummified body as he says he’ll consider what to do with the throne once Yoon finds the writer.

The dead woman’s body is snuck back into the palace, and Sung-yeol sees, understanding that Gwi will be continuing the killings until he’s found Eumlan Seosaeng.

Yang-sun wakes up in her front yard, not sure how she made it home. She’s surprised to find new shoes on her feet—but they’re not the ones Yoon bought. They spur a hazy memory, of Sung-yeol kneeling before her to slip the shoes on her feet, though she tells herself that’s impossible. In the flashback, tipsy Yang-sun grins widely at Sung-yeol, having decided this is just another happy dream featuring her crush, and tells Not-a-Dream Sung-yeol that she likes things in her dreams much better because he smiles at her, buys her shoes, and doesn’t get angry.

She adds that they’ve even kissed in a dream, “Like this.” He stiffens in shock when she plants a peck on the lips, too startled to react.

Yang-sun sighs that even though it’s only a dream, she’s trembling and her heart is pounding. She places one hand over her heart, then reaches out to touch his with the other hand, smiling to hear their matching thump-thump-thump heartbeats. “We’re both trembling equally,” she says happily, and marvels at how her dream feels so vivid.

Sung-yeol stares intently at her, fighting with his own feelings, and says aloud more to himself than anything, “This is a dream. When you wake, you’ll forget it all.”

And then he grabs her for a real kiss. Rewind. Replay.

When Sung-yeol returns home, he’s still reeling from the kiss, his heart still thudding loudly… and then his eyes flash.

In the morning, Sung-yeol forces himself into a bedroom, instinctively reeling away from the sunshine pouring into it. But he’s full of scorn and self-loathing, asking himself what he dares to want, like he has no right to want anything. He steps toward the sunlight, and even through clothing his skin starts to sizzle.

Still, he steps farther into the sunlight, withstanding the agony as the direct light causes his skin to smoke. It looks excruciating, and he forces himself to stay there for long moments before wrenching himself back.

Slumped and defeated, he tells himself harshly, “Take a good look. You’re nothing more than a bloodsucker who looks like a person. You cannot ever be human, or ever face the sun—this is you.”

It’s an entirely different kind of morning for Yang-sun, who’s trying to make sense of the last night and the brand-new shoes on her feet. She examines her lips from every possible angle, looking for signs of puffiness, which makes her sister look at her oddly—understandable, given that she asks things like whether her shoes look like shoes.

Sung-yeol finds a lead in his book hunt—in going after the one-armed merchant, they came across mention of a man named Choi Do-gab. Choi was Sadong’s former book procurer who betrayed him… and he looks exactly like One Arm. They must be the same man.

Sung-yeol also thinks back on past conversations with Yang-sun and deduces that she must have known this too.

Yoon has found Choi Do-gab first, and assures the man that he didn’t come here looking to kill him for betraying his father. He merely asks for information about the diary, and adds a gentle compliment about the man’s cooking. But all the while, Choi just sits in silent shame, unable to look him in the eye.

Yang-sun decides she has to find out how much of her recollection was real, and goes to ask Sung-yeol directly. Did he see her last night? Did he give her shoes? Did he k… She can’t actually imagine asking him about the kiss, and is so embarrassed when he steps out of his front gate that she whirls around and hurries away silently. Haha.

Sung-yeol doesn’t go after her, and Yang-sun notes that he barely spared her a second glance. His coldness makes her call herself crazy for even thinking her dream might have been real.

Arrangements are made for Yang-sun to be sent away to Tamra (modern-day Jeju Island), where a doctor has been found who can treat Yang-sun’s sister. Sung-yeol intends to pay for the medical bills and take care of the family, thinking that while Gwi is afoot, it’s best to keep Yang-sun far away.

He’s alerted to fresh trouble in the city, with royal officers going around and rounding up anyone and everyone involved with the sale of books, both buyer and seller.

Yang-sun encounters this firsthand as she’s out distributing books to children, and at the sound of approaching officers, she tells the children to scatter. One boy trips, so she stops to help him up, and in their haste they drop a book and—what else?—her hawthorn pendant. Seriously, learn to tie a knot!

Yang-sun hides in a shed with the boy as the officer makes his patrol. He finds her dropped items, but so far she’s able to avoid being detected…

The question is: What is the raid even about? Customers are released, but the booksellers are rounded up and taken to the royal tribunal, where it looks like a massive punishment awaits them. The sellers are mostly confused, not scared, even when Gwi steps out to confront the crowd, scanning their faces for one to spark recognition. None does.

The booksellers look blankly at Gwi when he asks if any of them are the owners of the bag in his hand. It’s Yang-sun’s bag, retrieved from the forest chase, and nobody recognizes it. Gwi inhales the scent and calls it sweet, then grabs a bookseller at random and bites down on his neck.

Now they’re properly horrified, as Gwi drinks his blood and Sung-yeol watches from a distance.

 
COMMENTS

Halfway through the episode I was ready to call it a decided win for the secondary pairing of Yoon and Yang-sun, and then that drunken forest scene happened and shoved all thoughts of sweet princes out of mind. Probably the marker of a successful episode, then, when it had me rooting for both men and feeling squealy at both of their moments with the heroine.

The romantic developments continue to be somewhat obvious, in the way that they play upon very familiar setups and payoffs—the whisking out of danger at oncoming traffic, the accidental back-hug, the drunken not-a-dream confusion, the pushing away of the heroine for her own good. I do wish they were a tiny bit more clever, served up with a refreshing twist somehow, because then it would get right in that center of the rom-com sweet spot. (I think we’re hovering in the central area, but missing the delicious gooey center.)

But even so, I still enjoy the way the romance is unfolding, and am surprisingly really digging the secondary loveline with the prince. Maybe it would’ve been nice for some of the main characters to remain in the dark a bit longer about Yang-sun’s gender (I’m recalling how wonderfully angsty Coffee Prince did it, and how many hilarious misunderstandings arose in Sungkyunkwan Scandal), but if both boys must know, I love that at least they’re both the ones who are more affected by Yang-sun than she is by them. It’s in cases like this where it’s fun to have a dense heroine, totally unaware that she’s working a guy in knots because she’s so simple, and she doesn’t get any of his complicated, shaded meanings.

I love how flirty Yoon gets with Yang-sun (and how playful he is in general—he was amusingly cheeky when he thought she was a man, too), and I can see him enjoying himself immensely while playing with this knowledge, getting in lots of sideways jokes and double entendres. Of course, in the end it’ll be him who hurts the most, but until we must break his heart, I’ll enjoy watching him develop that friendship.

And while she’s pretty much head-over-heels for Sung-yeol already, I’d say he’s by far more rocked by the feelings. A lot of times when a character kisses someone on impulse, I don’t really feel that impulse—I know what the narrative is telling me intellectually and generally just accept that. But when Sung-yeol was trying to convince himself that it’s all a dream that doesn’t exist in real life before kissing her, I loved that frisson of emotion in the air.

That made it particularly effective to follow that up with his moment of self-loathing when he walked into the sunlight to remind himself of his beastly nature—I mean, yeesh. I’m pretty sure it’s not something he ever forgets about, but that he forces that kind of agony upon himself as penance is a great way to evoke the whole tortured hero theme. This isn’t a guy who just broods a lot; that inner conflict cuts deep, and it’s the beauty of vampire stories that we can make literal what in other stories can only be metaphorical.

But it’s the intensity of his denial that makes me sit up in anticipation, because imagine all that passion directed the other way—into acceptance, love, and hope. Will we even be able to handle that?

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On tonight's episode of the Vampire Idol who Walks the Night: Mukadil forgets about Beon Gae and starts skeeving on his nemesis's cannibalized beloved's doppelganger. Why, you ask? I don't know. Not even Bbabba's magical smart phone has an answer for that.
Also Yoobi-chingu is probably over Woobin chingu seeing that the latter is dating a Gumiho the end

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And also once you go Lee Jun Ki you probably never go back <3

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LOL i love this; thanks for the laugh

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Yes, Yubi-chingu found herself another vampire and Woobin-chingu found himself a real gumiho lol, they both dating other magical creature-people. ..

and Mukadil found himself a substitute Bonggae but this one dislikes him, poor Mukadil.

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hahaha!

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OMG!! Mukadil please stop obsessing about eating Yoobi for leaving Gabri for Scholar vampire because Gabri himself have already found his own Gumiho. They both have move on so please move on too!!

LOL this made me miss Vampire Idol. And Woobin-Yoobi is super cute there too. It's like they exchange partners. Because Woobin is now with Arang and Yoobi with the Magistrate.

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well, Woobin-chingu found out that Yubi-chingu has dumped him for the Magistrate (aka Satto), and has now retaliated by going off and dating none other than Arang......

I applaud the uncanny spot-on-ness of your choosing to do Vampire Idol Who Walks the Night, right the week before it becomes apparent we've had a couple swap between the leads' previous dramas! (are you clairvoyant or something)

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Hehe I love these pls keep them up XD

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You people are making me want to watch Vampire Idol. O.o hahahahaha!

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lovely episode.
I felt bad for SY having to remind himself or rather punish himself in daylight that he's a bloodsucking beast who can't love. 120 years without love calls for an intervention for SY.
GWI smiling when HR came to see him and being attracted to her blood,I take that to mean that he's interested in her. No? oh well.

speaking of The 2nd female lead. I still dunno her relevance to the show or maybe it hasn't shown up yet. hmmm.

overall, I loved this episode.

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Sung-yeol is a vampire with a human heart and he obviously has feelings for Yang-sun that he can not control even when he tries to avoid her.

Gwi has been killing without any feeling of remorse. Maybe he doesn't have a heart or maybe he is just too lonely and bored.
He seems different with Hye-ryung. Maybe because she is not afraid of him? I want something to happen between them (good or bad). He's been pissed off for centuries and he is getting nowhere with it. Hye-ryung please do something lol.

I wish the writers were more creative with Gwi's character because I almost forgot about him during this episode.

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yeah, I don't think this drama is going to try anything new in terms of villain portrayals, sadly.

I rather enjoyed Gwi when he was chasing Sung-yeol like a stalker ex-boyfriend lol. He's even older than SY and spending all those centuries with no company except for people who become your dinner and now a mummified corpse set into the wall Han Solo-style. I'm not surprised he's this obsessive about Hye-ryung after that.

(you could say, the thirst is real. Literally!)

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Wait...isn't joongki older than soohyuk? Or you mean the characters? As in Gwi is centuries older?urghh I'm letting real life intrude again! Zeezam just enjoy the drama

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I have a feeling that Gwi is interested with HR too like it's a vampire thing, I guess? The scent of the person they like smells so good to them. Not sure if it's applicable to Gwi too but like SY, he likes the smell of YS's since he's interested to her. But then it might not since SY got that vampire thing when the first blood he tasted was his lover's blood. And idk but I read somewhere she's leaving Gwi's boat to joing SY? Lol I want to see a heartbroken Gwi.

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I haven't watch the episode but I did watch the preview for ep 6 and I saw Gwi and Yang Sun walking side by side. Now, I'm a sucker for bad-boy-fell-for-good-girl romance (blame it on A Walk To Remember!) so I was wondering if there's any indication in the original manhwa whether Gwi will like Yang Sun? So are we looking at a potential love square? Because I'm pretty sure the crown prince has started to like Yang Sun...

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I hope not...... I think Gwi like Hyerong

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I can't say I read the original manhwa, as the scans I saw were all in Mandarin which I can't understand, but my impression of Gwi's love life there was that it was nonexistent (though he did exchange some flirty looks with one person). Afaik, he was basically described as a "beast" in human form--like a tiger who happened to look like a man. That's why he kept killing, even when it would draw attention to himself that the court couldn't cover up, because (at least in his mind) he's a top predator and humans are just prey and play things.

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Can you please tell me where you found the scan in Chinese or raw?

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This drama is beginning to feel like a mashup between Joseon Love Story and Louche Gwi’s Velvet Goldmine. :-)

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Ah... Thanks for recaps. I like your recaps . The allkpops recaps is biased.

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I'm waiting since last night ...... Can't wait for the next episode....

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I love the lee couple (SY YS) ...but how come a vampire marry human ??? Maybe more realistic to pair YS with Yoon ?

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The only solution for that is for SY to turn YS into a vampire so they can be together forever. I don't know of SY will ever want YS to be a vampire like him though. That probably will be one of their many trouble and worries.

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Of course our hero will always do what he think is best for our heroine without asking her what she really wants. Misunderstandings and noble idiocy has to be a part of every drama.
It would be great if Yang-sung would make her own decision. Maybe it's not so bad to be a vampire with human emotions. They are strong enough to fight evil and have the heart to protect the weak.

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it would also help if the shoes start dropping for Yang-sun, she's totally in the dark not only about the vampire stuff but also has amnesia about the first 11 years of her life.

(seriously I am so ready for her to get something to DO)

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Agreed! I like her as a character, but the story has been letting her down so far. Give the lady more to do!

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Yubi has been doing a fantastic job keeping Yang-sun consistence and enjoyable. Her sincere attitude keeps the cuteness from being annoying but yes, it's time for her to find out who she really is and what happen in the past.
I'm not liking her foster father or her uncle for some reason. They seems to care more about protecting themselves and their own interest.

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but its not realistic for a commoner to marry a prince, either, is it?

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I love me some really well executed tropes. lol

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when their done this well without causing my fingers to cringe? YAS, give us all of the tropes Writernim!

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That kiss, wow....no wonder Yang Sun is always ♥___♥ she is so cute with Yoon and I would like them together but her sunbi-nim always wins, haha. While Yoon is still only flirting, SY went straight to the kissing stage! Lee Yubi actually makes her face just like Lee Jun Ki's for that one secondwhich is funnier because her face looks not at all like him normally. Especially the eyes.

so Gwi eats the king's women for dinner when something happens that he doesn't like? I remember people in recap 1 asking why the king kept concubines if he knows Gwi is just going to eat them when he feels like it......but if there wasn't any concubines, he would probably eat the queen. And how will they have babies to carry the royal bloodline if Gwi keeps eating queens?

Yoon needs a nice girl of his own now.

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She cracks me up when she was imitating Sung-yeol too lol. Even funnier with Yoon's reactions.

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Thank you for the recap! :)

It's amazing how many tropes they managed to pack into one episode lol. Still pretty cute, though I am hoping this means they'll strike out into more original territory in the upcoming episodes.

One thing I do so far like about this drama is that it doesn't try to keep secrets too long. It might bite it in the ass later, but I'm certainly hoping not. We already know that KSE's character is not Myunghee (at least 99% sure... this *is* kdrama land so who knows, maybe she magically survived vampire death and burning), we know Prince Yoon's secret identity, and both of our male leads are on to Yangsun's secret. It's kind of refreshing, in the middle of the back hugs and drunken kisses.

Now if only the characters could figure out where that dang secret plan is....

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Because GWi said to the doppelgänger, " you came back as a woman" I think KSE's character is the prince's friend Bin.

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The figure of speech Gwi used is 'you came back as a woman' which he uses because she was a child before she left, not necessarily a boy.

Just take it as the Joseon Creepy Vampire version of 'look at you, all grown up now!'

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I was super happy as well that the guys caught on pretty quickly that she's a woman.

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Am I the only one ...find Leejunki ( SY) voice so sexy ???

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I find Lee Soo Hyuk's voice sexy :)

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Nope you're not the only one!! Gosh, a pretty face with a sexy/deep voice.

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Sigggggh to answer your last question jb no noooo we woooon't. sigggghhh lee jun ki is frakking perfect at playing the tormented hero. he should never be allowed to play anything else ( and I don't think he does also). That kiss swoooonn that broody intensity double swooonn.

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Thanks for the recap jb!

This is the episode that really connected for me and already I can't wait for the angst of the whole I-want-to-be-human because of love to play out just cause I know Junki will slay it. I totally enjoyed the scenes with Yoon as well but oh dear we all can see how he is gonna be hurt. Poor Yoon. Also can't wait for the day that they team up against Gwi cause that has to happen. With kisses along the way too. Btw how dreamy is that forest scene? ^replays kiss scene^

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I have nothing against this drama, the story is nice, even I'm not so into vampire stories. The only vampire story that I have ever watched is vampire prosecutor.. In this drama when there was a scene gwi suck the blood, eww I feel like I was the one in the scene. Lol. I'm haunted by this vampire ?

However, I'm sincerely think if KSE can drop this drama since so far her character seems not to be that significant. Or maybe no longer needed. Her scenes is so little. Pls dunt get me wrong, i think we cant even see the direction of her character. As her fan I don't want her to waste her time. Even the gisaeng has more appearance compared to her. But well will see on tonight's episode first.

Overall so far I quite enjoyed this drama.. Hopefully more actions,coz LJK and LSH is so damn hot in action scenes I think.

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I read from the forums that KSE joined the SWWTN production a few weeks later than the other actors who started filming in mid-May because she had other project to complete. She was filming WGM until June. Maybe that's why there's less of her in the earlier episodes. She'll probably appear more in the later episodes which were filmed after she joined.

As a KSE fan, I trust in her judgement and decision, and I think her character is going to be quite significant in the coming episodes.

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I'm a KSE fan and loved her characterization as Myunghee, brief though it was. Sweet, loving, sacrificial, poignant. But I just don't get her blank stares and motivations as Hyerung. Is she being manipulated? Is she scared of Gwi? Is she a willing accomplice? Why does she offer the flyer to Gwi on her own accord? No flicker of a tell on her face - is this her acting or the writing that is giving us so little?

And why won't Gwi drink her sweet blood? I'm still not clear on the internal vampire logic for this show. When does being bitten result in turning someone into a vampire like SY and when does it result in death like Myunghee and Prince Sadong and all the concubines?

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It's pretty apparent in episode 4 that she loathes being near Gwi/is terrified of him, even without saying a word - the shaking hands as she gives him the bowl of blood, the clenched fists when he starts creeping on her. And enough going on behind the eyes to suggest she really hates being forced into her current position so the haughty/cold manner is her default.

In the case of the flyer she pretty much had no choice, they were all over town and if she was supposed to be Gwi's spy she was expected to bring in information. And this is the bare minimum she can get away with.

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She's putting on a expressionless "mask" on her face to hide her true feelings and emotions, which can be seen from her body language instead.

She's definitely scared of Gwi, but I think she has her own agenda since she lied to him about having met Sung Yeol.

On the show's vampire logic, it seems that being bitten will result in turning someone into a vampire like SY and the little girl. However, the new-born vampires have to drink human blood within a certain time frame (half a day?) or they will die (and they also need to continue drinking blood to continue their existence). And to prevent them from turning, they are staked through the heart and burnt like the concubines. The little girl vampire disintegrated because she was staked with the hawthorn knife.

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The only thing is.... he gave her shoooooeeeees! ?

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he also gave shoes to arang...

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Yoon bought Yang-sun shoes after he notices that her straw shoes were worn out.
Out of nowhere Yung-seol also gave Yang-sun a pair of shoes.

Sometimes Yung-seol's actions towards Yang-sun doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I get it that giving a young lady shoes in that era is like declaring his feelings for her but the timing doesn't feel right and it's lacking sincerity in my opinion.

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It's sincere. The problem here is ... SY try very hard not to fall in love with human . Try to eliminate his feelings towards YS. But he noticed YS shoes before Yoon.
SY has mixed feelings ... he didn't show his feelings to YS ... therefore looks cold & arrogant .

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My problem with the romantic development between the leads is that I see a lot of romance but I couldn't get into it. Why? because they went there but it's not what the characters were really feeling.
I can take being teased by the cpr kiss and all but it's getting so repetitive. It's the same freaking formula over and over that it comes off rather staged.

Jun-ki and Yubi have great chemistry thank goodness and the only reason why I'm buying this romance.

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The chemistry is the only reason why I even end up buying it at all, because in the moment the kiss was perfectly plausible (like jb said, it's the look in his eyes that really sold it).....but after the episode is over I kind of end up having a 'hey, isn't this a bit too fast' moment. Definitely a case of actors triumphing over weak writing to make the romance plausible despite the rushed nature of it.

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the romance developed too fast.. same with me, i cudnt get into it. lack of feels. chemistry is there but the romance is like came out from nowhere..

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Yoon wasn't the first person to see that Yang-sun's shoes were worn out, since she went to Sung-yeol's first and her shoes were wrecked even there. It's not impossible that he noticed the state of her shoes in that brief glance her way.

but I do agree that the romance needed more development so it doesn't feel so abrupt.

This is not something I end up thinking during the actual scene because their chemistry covers for it in the moment, but afterwards I was definitely wondering how he got to the point where he absolutely HAD to throw all his coldness and caution to the wind and kiss her. He's obviously got a soft spot for her and is very aware of her as a woman as well as her feelings for him, but yeah, it did take a bit of a leap here.

(not that I am complaining about that scene since it was equal parts adorable - Yubi - and nuclear levels of hot - the way he looks at her before the kiss, unf)

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I know Sung-yeol noticed her worn out shoes before even during the rain scene. He could have bought her shoes then lol.
I thought it was kind a off. I hate it when he's all sweet with her only to make her believe that it was just her imagination.

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I think her shoes broke when she fell and hurt her foot. Maybe he gave her shoes so that he doesn't have to cut his hand again to heal her. LOL.

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I suspect what Gidget was getting at was the superstition that giving your lover shoes will end up in the lover leaving you. Much like the superstition that giving a knife will result in a severed relationship.

To counteract this, the receiver needs to pay the giver a token price.

I've noticed the gifting of shoes in other kdramas as well (eg Misaeng), so maybe this is not a superstition prevalent in korean culture. (Might be just a Chinese thing?)

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Oh no, not shoes!

Hmmm, Sung Yeol succeeded in giving her the shoes whilst Lee Yoon failed. Is this a foreshadowing that she will "run away" from SY to LY?

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Thanks for the recap :-)

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Now I ship Yoon-YS!!
They are so cute and more believeable than SY-YS.

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@livina, hopefully yes. Coz so far he character is so unclear.

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Behind the scenes on LJK's Instagram

https://instagram.com/p/5ZEfUcAoao/

He really does do his own stunts...I'm impressed Junki-sshi ?

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Haha I'm loving his dorky personality here ?

https://instagram.com/p/5T-CP2AoVw/

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He has other BTS videos too on his Instagram for those who are interested in seeing/following him

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He always do his own stunts. Even he injured him self .... He is a Real Hero . Proud of him !

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Did you see the bit where he magically opens the car door? That was pretty funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-16kcJ3rU_c

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Plus did you guys see him doing some 'magic' by rising some potteries up in the air? Loving this guy...

https://instagram.com/p/5Dz5UWAoQm/

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Omg!! Seriously?! I swear... That pendent. Jeepers!

Kekeke :-P

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This is a skin of a killer, bella :D

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Thank you for the recap!

Was anyone else having My Princess flashbacks with that kiss?

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Changmin - wow! He's stepped up his game. I can hardly believe this is the same guy as the one in Paradise Ranch.

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I know! He's actually good here.

I had a feeling he would be ok, based on the drama's producers singling out his acting while talking about the drama.......

usually when they cast leads who can't really act and are in the drama for reasons other than talent, drama PDs in the publicity rounds tend to refer to their looks/hard work/on-set "bright attitudes", pretty much everything other than the actual emoting/acting. The fact that they were specific in noting Changmin's acting was decent, was pretty reassuring and I'm glad to note they were right.

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i like it if Kim So Eun will drop this drama instead of her movie with Aaron Yan ... what's with her and fantagio? I'm seriously pissed off her choice of choosing this drama over her movie when she gets so little air time and her character is so so in this drama . She give up her movie plus end up her WGM stint abruptly for nothing

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You shouldn't balm her, she said that she find this role ( tswwtn drama) new and interesting + I'm sure she will appear more and we will get to HR story sooner or later .. we still have 14 ep to go (I'm sure she will appear more after ep 8 or 10 tho).

The china movie product company keep changing their filming date each time/month .. (no one knows how many projects / roles she drop for that movie). in the end it's her personal choice. she's aware of what she is doing so I trust her.

As a fan I only can support her drama and hope she get more project in near future.

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Plus not to mention she started filming for this drama late because at that time she still has WGM to film. She couldnt appear much in the beginning episodes but I suspect she'll appear more later in the drama (since she quit WGM and decides to dedicate her full time into acting for this drama).

I think her character is pretty central to the plot....for now we are not seeing her much in order to keep that 'mystery' about HR there. She'll appear more, I'm choosing to trust KSE's choice in this drama and also the writer/PD!

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"Ah, the classic intervening-in-traffic-spurs-romantic-feelings maneuver." almost LOLed at work!!

Thanks for recap! :)

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At episode 5, though I think Scholar is not as exciting as I hoped it to be, so far I'm enjoying it. Lee Junki is very engaging in this role (he looks engaging even by standing still doing nothing come on)
I just hope there will be more action, I really like eps 1 where he showed off his fighting skills before he turned to vampire.

I'm looking forward to more interactions between SY & Yoon actually. Can they have bromance please? ><

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Where can I read the original manhwa in english or mandarin?

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the manhwa hasn't been translated into English yet but I believe there are Chinese scans out there somewhere.

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Lee Soo Hyuk's voice is so sexy omg I can't get enough of it ! And is it just me or does he remind me a lot of EXO's Chanyeol?? I don't know, they don't look that alike but there's still something very similar about them?? I think it's the eyes. And the voice. Just GAAAHH

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OMG the deep voice of SooHyuk T_T yup they both have that deep sexy voice and Chanyoel is my bias particularly because of that deep voice of him xD

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The kiss scene was exciting to watch but vampire having a heart pang? kind of awkward. I love the way LJK delivered the scene, it almost made me forget the drama had any vampire's in it.great episode and recap cant wait for doppelganger myung hee/ hye ryung to come in between sung yeol and yang sun or better our leading man realising and accepting his feelings and stop playing unaffected cold ass. Just as an additional thougt princey is already making my heart pang for him. me thinks his in for a lot of hurt at the end. pls drama round up a consolation price for him OK.

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I love Sung-yeol too but poor Prince :(((((

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poor Prince, indeed. If oppa wasn't the lead, I swear I'd have a case of Second Lead Syndrome right about now.

which is funny because Second Lead Syndrome is what led me to Lee Jun-ki fangirldom (My Girl).

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Oh dear, My Girl. </3

He was nice until the end. And such awesome bromance with LDW too...

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I'll never forget their angstily-soundtracked squash matches, haha

and actually Yubi reminds me of Lee Da-hae in My Girl, the charm and perkiness are the same.

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She is having great chemistry with both of them, it's hard to pick a ship. I want a happy ending for our little bookseller.

Yoon is mostly likely going to live throughout the whole drama. He is freaking Yi-san for heaven's sake. The people's king.
I'm not sure about Sung-yeol because I can see him being the noble idiot in the end unless love conquers all lol.

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* most likely

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I'm just here for Gwi's rocker look.

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Gwi is totally a mashup of Dracula and Loki in glam rock styling, spot-on.

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Yubi made a (now deleted) mention on instagram of him looking like Snape from Harry Potter and now I can't unsee it.

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He has the same hair and the similar voice, I remember mentioning it on the ep 1 recap (he looks like a lot of iconic villains, actually). Clearly Yubi was of the same mind!

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I agree. I mentioned to a friend that his voice made me think of Rickman

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Alan Rickman had the same hair even when he was younger so I can kind of see it.

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The subs delay on the Thursday episodes probably means I won't be able to catch tomorrow's recap, but here I am for this one.

1. They really lucked out on this cast, not a single bad performer in the lot no matter what the writers make them do.

2. THAT KISS! ok, when she kissed him first I laughed because it was such a perfect inversion of the usual girl doing a deer-in-headlights look when kissed, he really looked stunned. But the second one, oof. In hindsight that kiss doesn't quite make sense right at this point, but in the moment it felt like it was swoony and perfect and everything a couple kissing should be. That's all down to actor chemistry triumphing over weak writing.

3. Gwi continues to be a campy little devil, and Lee Soo-hyuk is having a cakewalk there. And not just because of his looks.

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4. I ended up shipping Yang-sun really hard with Yoon this ep, well, before The Kiss that is. They're adorable together, and I love how playful and teasing he is with her.

They have a natural comfort level as equals too, and watching the accidental skinship and him flirting with her is just so damn cute.

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Im heartbroken for Yoon. It must heart not to be human and love like a human, live like a human. Although his passion is real, in reality as a vampire, there will be barriers.
On another note, I loved his last message to Yubi when she was drunk, 'this is all just a dream."! And then Baaam! He kissed her. *picturing that was me.

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the expression on her face when she looks at him is pretty much the expression on my face whenever I see him too, so it's really easy to put yourself in her place lol

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At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the "person" who "knows" the secret to kill Gwi is Myung Hee's doppelganger. If I'm correct in what I'm inferring from this episode's kiss scene between Sung Yeol and Yang Sun, then maybe the way to defeat the vampire in them is "love." It wouldn't be a shock to me if it came out at the end that Gwi falls in love with Hye Ryung, much in the same manner that Sang Yeol seems to be falling for Yang Sun (them being attracted to their smell). If this is true, then Sang Yeol and Yang Sun can live happily ever after as humans together, and Gwi's end will be satisfying in that he falls in love and experiences emotions when he feels he's above everything. I'm calling it now!!

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Is this the first ever Kdrama in which one of the leads is a full time and enthusiastic porn merchant? Yobi is so good at selling the erotic literature!

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There is a lot of sexual stuff shown/mentioned this drama, no? It looks quite sexual when Gwi eats the concubines or smells Yang Sun, Yoon makes erotic drawings, Yang Sun sells books like that....and by ep 2 we already got Sung Yeol watching Yang Sun undress and then pretending to the guards that he is going to sleep with her. And even the earlier Crown Prince teased him about 'wedding night before the wedding'.

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Redfox was right about this writer being a pervert lol.

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After watching five episodes, I am more convinced than ever that Yu Bi made a conscious acting decision to not even try to act like a man or a boy. She's throwing out the modern girly aegyo in every scene, even if she's just walking around the market.

The thing is, everyone else in the cast, from leads to extras, is playing Joseon men or Joseon women--which is to say, a little bit stiff and dignified. So, not only is Yo Bi playing something not resembling a Joseon woman, she is stealing every scene she's in that isn't a close up of Jungki or Changmin.

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. . . Also, OMIGAWD but that is a FABULOUS Jun Ki impersonation!

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this episode had way too much cuteness, can't wait for the next episode !!!

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I've watched the Ep 6 ......without sub. Can't wait for the sub & recaps .....
Leeyobi is so cute & adorable . And Leejunki looks so beautiful & handsome. I think every body plays their roles perfectly. Even changmin acting has improved a lot ......
That's why this drama is very amusing ...... to watch.

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Btw thanks JB for the nice recaps .... your recaps really captured my heart .

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Yang Sun is pretty and soooo adorable especially when she's drunk. no wonder Sung Yeol can't resist to kiss her!!!

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He is going to confess sooner or later because he's not the only one falling for our little bookseller.

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This show does pass the Bechdel test. Yang
Sun trying to return the money to the gisang is about her family's poverty, not a man.

Also, Yang Sun and her sister have a conversation that is not about a man. They talk about finding a doctor to heal her leg. And while we can assume that the doctor is a man, we don't know that for sure.

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I'm so curious at Kim so eun's character. I'm more focused on her thay the lead one. I ship her more with Lee Jun Ki, teehee. Anyway, I feel like she's Myeong Hee still like she wasn't really dead or she was dead but was revived and erased her memories. I. Don't. Know. But either way, I have this huge feeling that it's still her and that in the end, she'll remember and go back to Seongyul (the spelling of his name !!! ?). But in the end, he has fallen for the other girl already. I dont know it's just my guess. Who knows.

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Am I the only wants to ship Crown Price LY & Yang Sun :3?

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@wanderer, i know! when I saw Kim So Eun appeared again I'm like "whaaa". So I went to dramawiki to look up the cast & she's playing two characters. I'm also with you that a bit of her is Myeong Hee b/c when Gwi asked her in ep 4 if a man has came up to her she said no...but why would she defend Sung Yeol, hmmm.

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5 stars for this episode

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What ep does Gwi and Kim Sung Yeol meet on the rooftops?

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