Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow (Hwanhon: Bichgwa Geurimja / 환혼: 빛과 그림자)

ALCHEMY OF SOULS PART 2

You…

Who are you?

I am exactly what you see.

I am a soul shifter

with blue marks in my eyes.

What?

When the blue marks happened to reappear,

I remembered who I was.

I am not Jin Bu-yeon.

My soul…

belongs to someone else.

Someone else?

I ran away because I did not want to get caught.

But here we are.

What will you do now?

Jang Uk.

Did you find her?

Yes, I did. She is safe with me.

Is she hurt? Are you all right?

She was just startled by the wraiths.

She is calming herself down.

Do not worry.

Is that so? There are wraiths?

Come to think of it, this is one dreary forest.

The marks are only detectable from this close.

I will decide what to do with you.

No one else should know.

Keep it in mind.

Only I am allowed

to come this close.

Fine.

Only you are allowed…

to come this close.

Are you saying Naksu realized who she truly was?

I believe so.

Now that Naksu has regained her memory, will her soul leave the body?

Will the body be Bu-yeon's entirely?

Seo Yul told me.

I will not blame you for deceiving me, so please tell me.

If Naksu's soul leaves the body

and she becomes Bu-yeon again while she is in Gwido,

will she be able to come out of there alive?

She will be fine.

Bu-yeon's soul has immense powers

that even I fail to fathom.

The one who attacked me earlier was the wraith of this corpse.

Unlike the other wraiths that avoided me,

this one chased me.

What is that blue object?

This is an ice stone.

An ice stone? I did not know there was one in Gwido too.

That ice stone has no energy of the sky.

It is different from Uk's.

It desires to absorb human energy

like a soul shifter that has run wild.

It is best that we let it be.

Someone with an ice stone who died here…

This body must belong to that mage of the Choi family.

That mage held deep resentment toward Jin Seol-ran.

You were likely attacked as it sensed that you were her descendant.

It seems so.

The wraith must have noticed that this body belongs to the Jin family.

Hold on.

-How did you two find me? -I thought you summoned us.

What do you mean?

-I summoned you? -Yes.

I went to tell Jang Uk about this after you had entered Gwido.

You summoned us here, so we came to your rescue.

After you and Jin Mu agreed to throw me in here,

you came to rescue me?

Does that mean you went all the way to North Fortress

to tell him about me?

I was never

at North Fortress to begin with.

I never sided with Jin Mu either.

I am on his side.

You do not need to come so close.

Stay still.

I offered to join hands first

since I am the Crown Prince.

I will hide behind Jin Mu like you said,

and I order you to go far away.

It sounds like

you and Jin Mu can only begin your scheme once I leave.

That is right.

I will remain here and uncover those behind his power.

His secret organization?

He has made countless soul shifters with the Soul Ejector,

and they are still aiding him.

I do not know how many there are or their identities.

But I know that they need the ice stone to prevent themselves from running wild.

We need to wipe out his entire secret organization

if we want to stop him.

And you are the only one who can do just that.

Are you saying

that you want to join hands with me?

Tell them you will go to North Fortress.

Then return immediately.

Meanwhile, I will gather all the soul shifters

in one place so you can annihilate them.

You could gain great power if you side with Jin Mu.

So why have you decided to go against him?

He got rid of my turtle.

Your turtle?

I am not going to add a grand pretext for my decision,

such as wanting to save the world.

The moment he got rid of my turtle,

I decided to abandon him as well.

What is it?

Is my trivial reason too unbelievable?

You have decided to go against him because of a single turtle.

That sounds more believable than a grand justification.

So did you find your turtle?

It is nowhere to be found.

It is a smart turtle,

so it should be able to find its way back.

It may have died.

Jang Uk of the Jang family

will be appointed as the general of North Fortress.

No one will know that you did not leave for the time being.

I have sent one of my men to get on that boat.

So no one will know that you are missing until the boat arrives at its destination.

Stay here and wait for Jin Mu to make his move.

Dang-gu and Yul will take turns and stop by.

Could you not have found a cleaner place for me to stay in?

Look at this place.

-There are so many spiderwebs. -My goodness.

He does not seem to like this place either.

-There are still spiderwebs here. -Please be careful, Your Royal Highness.

How am I to go through them?

Goodness.

I thought you did not like how he was slowly crawling toward you.

But I guess you opened your heart.

He did not want us to be hostile toward each other anymore.

So I told him to stop bugging me and to step aside.

Goodness.

I want Songrim to give full support to Jang Uk.

As for me,

I will hide and make way for us.

Bring them in with the gifts for the King that get imported from the volcano.

Jin Mu's items will be brought in alongside the gifts for the King.

Do not inspect them and just let them in.

-Yes, my lord. -We need to place them

throughout the canals before the rite.

Will you allow me to do that, Your Royal Highness?

I will inform the men of the Night Watch who guard the city at night.

You may use them.

These are the areas where the Night Watch placed the earthenware.

We can retrieve the earthenware from those places later.

The earthenware will help the fire bird

become stronger once it awakens.

It is similar to adding fuel to a fire.

Once the Unanimous Assembly begins, Jin Mu will go for Jinyowon.

And I will help him.

Once he gains Jinyowon, he will try to bring out the fire bird.

His secret organization will get to work within the next few days.

Is Bu-yeon staying in Jinyowon right now?

Does she know that you are here?

No, I did not tell her.

I see.

If she finds out that you left for North Fortress without her,

she will be hurt.

Right.

You did not tell the shaman?

Why not?

She is not a shaman, Eunuch Go.

Did you two fight?

That was why you could not tell her.

Goodness.

Why?

Why did you argue?

She told me a few things about your relationship

during my eunuch days.

So tell me.

Did she

mention me often?

She talked about you all the time. She was heartbroken because of you.

How ridiculous. That is rich coming from her.

What is it?

Did she break your heart this time?

Did she cheat on you as well?

Seriously?

I was just joking. Has she really fallen for someone new?

He is not new.

Then a former lover.

So? Did she go to him?

No, she did not.

He does not recognize her, and she cannot go to him.

Is that so?

That must mean he is…

-married. -Married?

Married?

That must be why he is ignoring

and rejecting her.

Darn it.

Seeing how he is not giving in, he must be a good man.

She is the dangerous one.

She is ready to abandon you and act like a moth to a flame.

She is not a moth.