A Primer on the Tantalizing 2017 K-Idol Supernatural Romance

A Korean Odyssey

화유기 Hwayugi

Now You See It

A Korean Odyssey kicks off with three essential adversities. Don’t blink or you’ll miss the second one.

The cold open features the first story threat: wildfire. This is a background issue in Act 1, and it is the plot motivator that brings together the key characters in this episode (and, for all intents and purposes, the entire series). With this established, the story gets right to character introductions.

Jin Seon-mi is an obedient, if not spooky, elementary school student who is bullied by her classmates for reasons the series won’t reveal until much later. For now, it’s enough to know that Seon-mi doesn’t deserve the guff she gets, but she’s made an outsider for it anyway.

In the scene where these traits are illustrated, the camera captures the teacher as she enters Seon-mi’s noisy classroom, cheerfully greeting the students. At the podium, the teacher instructs the students to stand.

So, What’s the Spook Factor?

This shot blinks by quicker than it should. I missed it on my first watch. Seon-mi stands center in the shot, wearing an attention-grabbing, burgundy color, felted coat. In the background, the dark chalkboard hangs unobscured. Where’s the teacher?

Here’s another thing I didn’t know about A Korean Odyssey when I clicked into it—this show features some grisly imagery. I’ve seen people ask, “is this show scary?” Dial it back. It can definitely be startling. If you’ve consumed any sort of eastern folklore or horror prior to this sit-down, then you know what to expect. There are no real jump scares, but in this first scene, the spook is sudden. In retrospect, the speed at which the changes between shots occur is possibly to facilitate this (at the risk of confusing some blinking viewers, like me).

This scene culminates in the ultimate picture of Seon-mi as she winces before the ghostly spirit in the classroom and opens her yellow umbrella baring dangling talismans and magical wards. Her peers flee in fear of her, rather than the ghost—because they can’t see it, while Seon-mi stands, quietly pleading to be left alone.

After the changeover, we find Seon-mi walking home on a forest path. The spirit from the classroom pursues her but is driven off by a man whose black umbrella features the likeness of a bull.

Classic Chinese Novel Figures

While he introduces himself merely as, “a fairy,” I will go ahead and tell you now that this is Woo Hwi-chul (more often called Woo Ma-wang, translated as ‘Devil King Woo’), the immortal bull. The signage on screen pretty much indicates that you should recognize him in this way. His character is representative of the antagonistic “Bull Demon King” in the original Journey to the West, although his role here is less opposing and more exploitive.

Against an idyllic rural backdrop, this man in dark clothes meets sunny Seon-mi. In the west, viewers might reflexively brace for a sinister, stranger-danger style confrontation, but this is not that. Here, A Korean Odyssey establishes the peculiar act of deal-making with immortals. If you have ever sat and considered the intricate language necessary to make a successful (read: unpunished) wish to a genie, you will reel at Seon-mi’s trusting naivety in dealing with Woo Ma-wang. His umbrella seems to drive away ghosts with ease, and something like that would make her life a lot easier. She just has to do one little thing for him in return.

The Incentive to Keep Watching

Remember the wildfire? Ma-wang wants a special fan that can put out those fires. (Why? You’ll find out later!) It happens to be kept in a special house that immortals cannot enter and humans cannot see… except Seon-mi can see it just like she can see spirits. She’s the perfect person for this task.

There’s just one tiny caveat. “No matter what you see or hear,” Ma-wang tells her, “you must turn a blind eye to all of it.” What could go wrong?

Oh, right. Son Oh-gong, Great Sage Equal to Heaven. The Monkey King. He takes Seon-mi for a fly at first, attempting to swat her flat with his hand fan. (This thing has a special name given in a later episode. I’ll edit this when I find it again.) Upon learning that she made a deal with someone without setting any terms, Oh-gong warns Seon-mi that monsters may beset her when she leaves the house.

The Set-Up for the Series’ Act 1

Seon-mi and Oh-gong make their own deal. He takes it upon himself to protect her. How noble! All she must do is call his name. In return, Seon-mi agrees to break the spell which is keeping Oh-gong from leaving the house.

As soon as the candles are out, the spell is done. The house disappears, and Seon-mi quickly learns her final lesson in dealing with immortals: sometimes, you can’t reason with the reckless and powerful. Oh-gong reveals that he was imprisoned there, a symbolic version of the Marble Mountains, for a heinous crime (that won’t be revealed until the very end of the season)! He’s actually a totally bad guy! To prove it, he plucks the memory of his name out of Seon-mi’s head. She can’t remember his name to call it, so he never has to fulfill his end of their deal.

And then, he ditches her, whirling away with the fan she was meant to retrieve for Ma-wang. Watch closely. He puts out the fire on the mountainside as he tears off.

Cue the music!

Twenty-five years later, we meet Seon-mi again. She is a successful real estate agent who uses her spirit sight to buy up properties in need to some TLC… or exorcism. Evidence of her sustained emotional baggage is present in that same old yellow umbrella. She’s still using it to protect herself from spirits. It’s all she’s got.

Multiple Plot Lines and Satisfying Cerebral Juggling

By the way, welcome to Act 2 and the episode “B” plot: haunted office building. She asks Mr. Lee, her associate, to take the owners out as she checks the room. She knows there’s a spirit here.

Re-watching this scene puts it in a different perspective. Seon-mi displays characters traits here, and in other parts of this first episode, that she does not ever again. For instance, she tosses some kind of ghost confetti that brings the local spirit here to heel. Thereafter, we see Seon-mi sit down and talk with the spirit. It’s clear that Seon-mi is no zero-tolerance ghost buster: she’s an intelligent, benevolent medium seeking peace for all parties.

With respect to the time skip, we’re reintroduced to Ma-wang in his modern domain, a Korea’s Got Talent styled singing competition show where he features as the paramount character judge, complete with fan-dazzling catch phrase.

Classical Figures Communicated into Modern Roles

On stage, an aspiring idol sings her heart out entirely off-tune. Seeing through the charade, Ma-wang passes her and meets with her in his private room after the show. Once again, western audiences may reel as this scene begins, but let me remind you, this is not that. Rather, Ma-wang asks the singer if she is satisfied, and he reveals for us that the young woman is possessed by the same ghost Seon-mi earlier counseled. Appeased, the spirit stands back, waves, and departs. (This is a somewhat awkward show of goodbye that do not reoccur in later episodes.)

Development Beyond Traditional Character Roles

The takeaway here is Ma-wang’s genuine sorrow for the spirit. Later, at his home office, we observe his secretary, Ms. Ma, the dog immortal, notifying Ma-wang that the young woman who was possessed has recovered. The character portrait of Ma-wang is nearly complete as he utters, “I’ll become a deity soon.” Here is the reason for his benevolent deeds, made no less benevolent for the fact he is purposefully working toward promotion in the spiritual realm. This is why he wanted the fan to put out the fires. He’s been working toward deification for a long time.

Departing from the serious tone, A Korean Odyssey addresses the final matter of the time skip. Ms. Ma hands Ma-wang a handful of speeding tickets incurred by Ma-wangs housemate.

Promising the Meet-Cute

Son Oh-gong arrives at the scene of another possession, costumed as a priest, pursuant to his own goal of re-deification. He is, or was, a god, but he’s still locked out of the spiritual realm and banned from drinking liquor due to his misconduct. Inadvertently, he learns from the evil spirit that Samjang, the reincarnation of the Buddhist monk, walks the Earth again. It is said that consuming Samjang gives an immortal the power greater than that of a god. This is the shortcut that will propel Son Oh-gong through the plot from here on.