Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi

Welcome back to *Hallyu Reviews!* We hope you enjoyed Sabrina’s review of **"My Roommate is a Gumiho"** last week. If you missed it, be sure to go back and have a read!

This week we take a look at **“Korean Odyssey.”**
**SPOILERS AHEAD!!**

A monkey, a bull, a girl who can see spirits, and a threat that could destroy the world, what can possibly go wrong?

OMG! I love this series, does it stall out towards the middle, yes, but it is still such an amazing series. There are so many fun characters and twists, granted, truth be told some could be avoided and the story would still be just as awesome, but still…

Synopsis

A girl can see ghosts from the time she is born, so she carries with her a yellow umbrella to ward off evil spirits. As she is walking home from school one day, she meets a mysterious man who vanquishes the evil spirit harassing her and offers to trade her walking sticks if she will perform a small task for him. He wants her to go to this place where only “special” humans can see and bring back this magic fan, but she cannot talk to anyone while she is there, and she should get out quickly. Of course, Jin Seon Mi (Oh Yeon So), the little girl, accepts the offer from the magical “fairy” and sets off on her task. There, in the “Marble Mountains” she meets another man who tricks her into blowing out the candles on the table in exchange for his protection from the evil spirits. They make a pact; just call my name, Son O-Gong (Lee Seung Gi), and I will be there to protect you. Jin Seon Mi sets Son O-Gong free from the prison he is in, but as soon as he is free, he strips the girl of the memory of his name and leaves with the fan to put out the fire on the mountain. Before he leaves, he does at least admit that he is a bad guy and, unfortunately, that she will probably be punished for setting him loose. He is right. The Heavens punish Jin Seon Mi for setting Son O-Gong free by making her the Sam Jang. Sam Jang’s lotus-smelling blood has special powers, but Sam Jang’s tragic destiny is to be a sacrifice for the human world.

25 years later

The Main Characters

Jin Seon Mi/Sam Jang is all grown up. She owns Hanbit Realty which deals in purchasing haunted locations and then reselling them. She still uses the yellow umbrella to chase away evil spirits, but you see her either help the spirits to find peace and move on, or vanquish them, depending on their energy. She is rich, having acquired much money from this process.

Son O-gong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, is a deity, a mischievous monkey born in a volcano. He often argues with the Spiritual Realm - depicted by Master Subori - and Devil Ma Woo. He frequently plays pranks on Ma Woo’s bull statue that become comedic scenes in the series. He cannot drink although he has a love of alcohol and collects them as trinkets to store in his home, the Waterfall Cave.

Devil Ma Woo (Cha Seung Won) – the mysterious man/magical “fairy” from when Jin Seon Mi was younger - is the owner of Lucifer Entertainment, as well as the star of a talent show where he basically shouts “you pass” in Korean. He wants to become a deity. He feeds on the energy of humans by collecting their energies in marbles and has a small marble on his ring. He is a bull character and has a bull statue in the house that he shares with his friend Son O-gong.

Jin Seon Mi’s assistant, Lee Han Joo (Kim Sung Oh), is fabulous. He provides not only comedic relief, but also some general life advice throughout the series. He has two kids and is a great dad. He and Son O-gong don’t seem to like each other at first.

The Side Characters

Devil Woo has a secretary, Ma Ji Young (Lee El). Ms. Ma is a dog demon who loyally and obediently does everything Devil Woo asks. I love her because when people get on Devil Woo’s nerves, her first question is always, “Should I kill them?”

Jeo Pal Gye (Lee Hong Ki) - or PK, as he is known by his fans - is a K-Pop idol of Lucifer Entertainment. He is a pig demon who helps Devil Woo collect energy from his adoring fans. PK also causes tons of mischief, especially at the end of the series.

Lee Se Young plays multiple characters in “Korean Odyssey.” Jung Se Ra is an idol trainee of Lucifer Entertainment who dies, and then becomes a zombie (Jin Bu Ja/Ritchie) from Sam Jang’s blood. In later episodes of the series, her body is possessed by an evil spirit named Asanyeo. Asanyeo is an evil priestess who wants to gain power and destroy the world.

Kang Dae Sung (Song Jong Ho) is the jerk who killed Jung Se Ra. He wants to become President, infuse the spirit of the Black Dragon - oh, and eventually destroy the world.

Then there is also the voice of reason from General Winter and Summer Fairy, a brother and sister whose souls are in the same body. They are played by the same actor (Sung Hyuk) but take on different appearances when they play different roles. General Winter runs an ice-cream establishment during the day and Summer Fairy comes out at night and owns a bar.

The Story

25 years later, Jin Seon Mi and Son O-gong finally meet again. Son O-gong finds out that Jin Seon Mi is really Sam Jang, a powerful human with lotus-scented blood who, when eaten, will give the monster that eats her great energy and power, making them unstoppable. Son O-gong wants to eat Sam Jang, literally, but he is unable to harm him because of the contract he made with her as a child. This gives Devil Woo the opportunity to trick Jin Seon Mi and Son O-Gong with Geumganggo. Geumganggo is a powerful golden bracelet that, when worn, causes the person who wears it to fall in love with the person who put it on them, feeling extreme pain when they are sad or hurt. Jin Seon Mi gives Son O-Gong the bracelet as a Christmas present during one of their outings, but does not activate it with a kiss until they are trapped within a photo. Jin Seon Mi kisses Son O-Gong and Son O-Gong returns her memory of his name, so that she can be freed and can call him out of the photo.

At first Son O-gong makes jokes with Jin Seon Mi about wearing the bracelet. He announces to her what a huge problem he has, because since Geumganggo is now on his wrist, he is completely in love with Sam Jang and will protect her from being hurt at all costs. Which let’s be honest, I don’t think either one of them could stand at first. She feels like she is inconveniencing him and realizes his emotions are not real; he still really wants to eat her and tries to convince her in all types of ways to remove the bracelet so that he can kill and eat her. Son O-Gong actually warns her never to take off Geumganggo because he doesn’t protect her, the bracelet does. The moment she takes it off, he plans on killing her.

Things begin to shift, however, when Son O-Gong stands up to Jin Seon Mi’s family. Jin Seon Mi sees her brother-in-law drunk driving with her pregnant sister in the car. Son O-Gong gets to the scene before a huge car accident happens and saves everyone, but also threatens her family if they ever mistreat Jin Seon Mi again. This is what I believe and when Jin Seon Mi voices how nice it is to actually have someone that she can depend on for a change, she starts to develop feelings for her guardian. Especially since all her family seems to want from her is money. There is even an adorable popcorn scene regarding her deceased Grandmother’s memorial table, which is super cute. At this point too, Son O-gong is giving Jin Seon Mi the one-handed Korean heart and telling her he loves her - it is so cute - while also constantly begging her to take the bracelet off. She tells Son O-gong to be careful what he is saying because she is catching feelings. Jin Seon Mi admits to Son O-gong that she doesn’t call for him because she feels bad for putting a leash on the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He tells her “My love will end someday and vanish without a trace, so let me pour my love on you.” It’s bittersweet though, because he also tells Jin Seon Mi that his feelings aren’t real, and it is only because of the bracelet that he loves her.

Swoon-worthy Moments

As Jin Seon Mi is shopping at the market, she meets the Shopkeeper’s Grandson who says that she wishes to see her. She gets transported to the shop and there is a magical pot that reveals the kiss between her and Son O-gong. However, the magical pot is cracked and leaking a glowing fluid. The pot suddenly bursts open with a bright light and Jin Seon Mi sees a vision – she is standing on a tall building watching fighter jets destroy bridges and buildings with missiles. There is a huge explosion, and she comes back to the store. Master Subori (Sung Ji Ru), a deity who knows hints of the Heavens’ plans, tells her that what she saw is the misfortune that will befall humans. While everyone else gathers to celebrate the New Year, Jin Seon Mi sits on her deck and watches the snow, eyes glazed with tears. She calls for Son O-Gong and this is the first sincere moment that we see from him, where she asks him to protect her, and he says he will, “even if the world is falling down.” He has vowed to protect her before, but this time, he looks at her and says it sincerely. It’s a great moment, and a huge turning point in their relationship especially because he calls her by name.

In the gym, Jin Seon Mi calls for Son O-Gong for the first time to help her defeat the gym's evil spirit. The sex-crazed evil spirit in episode 5 is funny, it provides a comedic moment between Son O-Gong and Ji Seon Mi where the spirit only comes out when it senses people are having sex, so they pretend to get close to each other and Son O-Gong gets mad when the spirit comes out. He vanquishes the spirit and continues to make a pass at Sam Jang.

Son O-Gong gets Jin Seon Mi peanut-flavored ice cream, and she tells him she hates peanut flavored ice cream, so he asks her to tell him what she likes. He genuinely wants to know about her likes. She tells him she likes strawberry ice cream and the color green. His face lights up, he seriously has the cutest smile, and it is like his whole world is bright again. He says he also likes green and that knowing what she likes is important to him so she should tell him all the things that she likes from now on and he will pay attention and make them happen. When she wakes up in the movie theater after Song O-Gong rescues her from an evil spirit in a film, she is wearing a green dress and eating strawberry ice cream. With each evil spirit that Jin Seon Mi and Son O-gong vanquish, their relationship strengthens and they become closer to the realization that they are actually in love with each other.

Swoon Worthy Moment – General Winter offers to freeze time so that Devil King can eliminate Ji Seon Mi and break Son O-Gong from his curse, but as he keeps bringing it up, Son O-Gong keeps finding excuses not to do it. Ji Seon Mi complains about not knowing Son O-Gong true feelings and General Winter offers her the same result to freeze Geumganggo so that she can ask Son O-Gong how he really feels, uninfluenced by the bracelet. As they stand in front of the wall of lovers’ keys, the snow is falling and Jin Seon Mi and Son O-gong are looking at each other. She asks him if he thinks she is pretty, he responds with “yes, you are pretty, because I love you.” The bracelet is frozen showing that he really thinks that way. It’s the first glimpse into Son O-Gong’s real emotions and lets the audience know that he really has started to develop feelings for Jin Seon Mi as a person, not just as Sam Jang, whom he previously wanted to eat.

Throughout the rest of the series, we see the adorableness that builds between Jin Seon Mi and Son O-Gong as she learns to love and rely on him, and as he learns what love is and how it hurts to lose the one you love. I can’t talk about this drama without describing this moment though because it is so essential. At first, Jin Seon mi has control of Geumganggo, and Son O-Gong wants her to remove it, but towards the end of the series, Jin Seon Mi no longer has control of Geumganggo. Son O-gong now controls Geumganggo, which means that he loves Jin Seon Mi with his own freewill and is no longer “trapped” by the powers of the bracelet. He holds out on showing her until after they defeat the dragon together, but he doesn’t get that chance.

Bromance

The banter between Son O-Gong and Devil King Woo is great because it is affectionate, comical, friendly, and argumentative at the same time. They have the best bromance. Son O-gong constantly does things he knows will annoy Devil King and then acts sweet about it too. All the while, the antics between Son O-gong and Devil King make it hilarious, for instance when Son O-Gong gives Devil King Sam Jang’s blood and Devil King tries to set up Sam Jang with Jonathon to make Son O-Gong jealous.

The end of the world

Remember when I said Jin Seon Mi/Sam Jang has extremely powerful blood? Well yea, she does. Apparently when Son O-Gong whacked her blood away, it flew like a butterfly and landed on a recently deceased Jung Se Ra who is being buried by two thugs amongst the trees. When Sam Jang’s blood lands on Jung Se Ra, she is no longer deceased but becomes a Zombie, which she will be for about half of the series. When she goes to confront her killer, Kang Dae Sung, he locks her in a storage bin until she opens a marble tomb which is how she becomes the Priestess Asanyeo, who plans to swap bodies with Sam Jang and unleash a Black Dragon to take over the world. Which is a huge part of the actual plot of the story, but not really what I wanted to focus on the blog. Haha

Devil Woo’s Background

Jin Seon Mi signs a contract with Lucifer Entertainment to help collect evil spirits. While looking on the computer Devil Woo notices that he is trending and people are noticing a picture of him from 100 years ago, it is the first glimpse into his past. Devil Woo is standing proud and tall by a car with Ms. Ma faithfully as a dog beside him. He has a flashback where he is standing with tears in his eyes, a woman being shot to the ground. In present time, he walks down a hallway and unveils a hidden wall with her portrait. He sits and stares at her for long while, signifying her obvious significance to him. She is referred to as Queen Mother, a former deity who lost her power after giving birth and feeding her child a human soul to keep him alive. She is sentenced to 1000 years of living a miserable life, only to die painfully. The only thing that can break the cycle is for Devil King to gain enough points and become a deity to break the reincarnation cycle, or so we are told. It is later revealed that he has to carry out 99 reincarnations or be hit with 99 stars for her misfortune to end. It is a ritual that Asanyeo convinced Devil Woo to complete so that she could get Sam Jang’s blood, but Sam Jang ended up completing instead. Devil Woo also finds out about his son and is reunited with him in the end.

Final verdict: MUST WATCH

Yes! This is my must watch. I have actually watched this drama 4 times. I love it. I love the music, it is saved on my playlist. I love how the romance builds between Jin Seon Mi and Son O-gong. I love the bromance, it is definitely in my top 5. I love how the side characters all support each other, but also how Summer Fairy and General Winter are not afraid to call out their friends on their poor decisions and give them great counseling and life advice. MUST WATCH!!! Needs a SEASON 2!!!

So there it is, our review of “Korean Odyssey.” What did you think?! Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Have a favorite K-drama you think we should review, comment down below!! We look forward to seeing you back again next week!

Up next, “Beauty Inside”

Beauty Inside

My Roommate is a Gumiho

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