Thanks a bunch OP! You're a gem!
ahhh thank you so much!!!!!
(transcribed from the page pictures posted)
This is the coda to the end of the book, so don't read it if you haven't read the book first. Sadly, the Collector's Edition doesn't seem to be available on Kindle so. Arrrr matey.
Download link for EPUB file at the end.
....
HENRY
“I am not asking you to believe in it, or even to like it,” Henry says stonily. It’s been a long morning already. He is beginning to perspire. “I am simply asking you to show a modicum of respect.”
“To–to your quiche?”
“Yes. To my quiche.”
Bea puts down her tape gun and wipes her eyes. “Pez!”
“Yes?”
“Henry says he’s going to make us a quiche!”
Pez’s squawk of a laugh bounces down the stairs. “Pull the other one!”
“I make them all the time for Alex,” Henry insists. “They are perfectly edible.”
“So, when you promised us breakfast if we got up early to help you.” Bea says, “you meant that you were going to make us breakfast?”
“Yes!” Henry says hotly. “Stop laughing!”
Scenes from Trailer v. the book --
CAKEGATE
FIRST KISS
DO YOU FEEL FOREVER ABOUT HIM?
WE CAN FIGURE OUT A WAY TO LOVE EACH OTHER ON OUR OWN TERMS.
I headcanon Uk calling Mu-deok “Naksu” during their intimate moments
Alchemy of Souls can neatly be divided into 3 acts.
We've seen 2 so far.
Act I was Naksu escaping death by possessing Mu-deok's body and meeting her pupil Jang Uk. While for Jang Uk, he meets his master and works hard to enter Songrim under her guidance. They both face obstacles and battle doubts to finally come to trust and rely on each other absolutely.
This was episodes 1-10 ➡️ call to action ➡️ obstacles ➡️ doubts ➡️ end of act
Act II was Naksu and Jang Uk (who've both lived focused on their own goals all their life) falling deeper in love and facing the question of what happens if Naksu gets her powers back or if everything goes to crap. Do they risk all for love or power?
This was episodes 11-20 ➡️ obstacles ➡️ plot twist ➡️ more obstacles ➡️ crisis ➡️ end of act
Act III will happen after our protagonists have gone through their lowest point which is where we leave them at the end of Season 1.
Jang Uk and Naksu are separated, Mu-deok's body has begun to petrify, the prince has been turned against the pair, Jin Mu has gotten back his power.
Now, we wait for Act III to commence.
I elaborate a lot more on this here:
I know yall like softened characters or whatever, but are we forgetting how crazy Mudeok/Naksu actually is?? The dangers she's put Jang Wook through lmao, it was a brilliant way to get to know her character. Memory loss or not, I don't think her underlying fun psychopathy is going anywhere. I hope NOT. This is literally how Jang Wook and Naksu connected.
He'd always affectionately call her his crazy Master. Why would her chaotic core personality not make it through S2, in some capacity, for Jang Wook to feel some familiarity? This is how they'll reunite, no? Maybe a little differently but still from the same foundation, like come on.
I'm not letting this narrative go because... just like Jang Wook, this is exactly why I fell for Naksu's character.
Also, there's no concrete evidence that memories alone can account for one's personality. So there's that ijssss💀
She calls this checking for the energy, I call it abs check. But seriously, him trying to breathe, that was cute while she had her hands on his stomach.
Three stages of a hug - Alchemy of Souls edition, Part 2:
1. SHE hugs HIM.
2. HE hugs HER back.
3. THEY HUG EACH OTHER! 😍
interesting point I noticed is the use of colors in Cho Yeong's outfits.
Her original colors as Naksu are a mix of bold red and blue, these colors fade as she becomes powerless.
Majority of Mudeok's clothes were hues of blue, matching Jang Uk's colors to display their alliance and belonging on the same side.
her last scene where Naksu's assassin instinct was forcefully awakened, she was dressed in pink (light red) — the complete opposite of Jang Uk's.
We meet Buyeon in shades of pink, uniform of the Jin family where she now belonged (or held captive).
right after she recalls her memories as Naksu/Mudeok, she reverted to dressing in blue — now moving in opposition to the Jin family.
now all she needs is her sword and the Jin family's blood tainting her blue outfit to finally bring Naksu back.
When Jang Uk asks MuDeok if he looks good in his new uniform and she says how would she know?? So Uk changes his question asking, "master, how do you think I look?" And MuDeok promptly answers with "yes, my pupil looks the best in his new uniform"....yeah..... understated poetic cinema moment
He's a 10 but he head-over-heels and bound by fate with an enemy assassin who soul-shifted in a light-sensitive person's body that became his master but has to pretend to be his maid who is doomed to be petrified but like the body she is in now is actuall–
cho yeong's last memory as mudeok is stabbing the person she loved, the first person who loved her and looking at her hands in devastating realization that killing is all she can do — and jang uk made sure in his last breath to hold her bloodied hand to say it's okay and she could never truly hurt him and i love you
the last time he left his girl sleeping alone, he never saw her again...
he'll never do that again.
You did not visit the cliff where she met her death, did you? See for yourself and then mourn for her.
The fact that Jang Uk has never been to the cliff where Mu Deok died, for the past 3 years is so sad to me. He probably couldn’t accept the fact that Mu Deok is now gone. By going to the cliff, it means that he’s finally trying to face the truth and he’s trying to come into terms with it.
But he doesn’t cry when he’s at the cliff. He gets teary-eyed but not a single tear drops.
When he’s back at his house, you get to know why he doesn’t cry.
He’s suppressing his feelings.
By crying-by mourning for her in that cliff, Jang Uk is acknowledging that Mu deok is now gone. But he’s just not ready to let go of her just yet.
Season two is making me realise that it’s so beautiful that Naksu would like/fall in love with Jang uk no matter her circumstances; first she was an assassin with high ambitions and very little time for feelings and she still fell in love with him, and now she doesn’t have any memories and believes herself to be Jin Buyeon, she STILL starts to like Jang uk like—