72 spoilers

Thank you, dear! It has confirmed many of our long-harbouring suspicions and hopes! Bottoms up

Thanks for this every time <3
I wonder if the deal is to return 704 memories or something Feeling sad that next chapter will be the last one for this season and then its a long wait qwq

Btw, one moment is still kinda unclear to me. 704's reference to GM's memory that killed him in the past. "Him" is a reference to GM, right? Given that, what does it mean? Is 704 talking about the time when GM didn't want to live after losing everything? But does he know about this? Or is "killed" just a metaphor to "the most painful memories"?

Yes! “Him” is referring to GM here. He overhears GM instruct San about reliving his most painful memory and then when GM gets off the phone 704 asks him (paraphrasing here) ~ “How about you? You must have a memory like that having lived for so long. The type of memory that kills you to even think about. Can you handle it? Are you confident you’ll survive confronting a memory that once killed you (Geumsun)?”

Since their relationship is almost all pure speculation still, my brain automatically supplied that memory as 704 being killed but 704 isn’t talking about himself here. He may have guessed it involves that “human” but he’s not being specific either. He’s just asking GS in the general sense. Though I’d love for him to try to dig deeper next chapter and ask GS more about it. Imagine the source of GM’s trauma unknowingly trying to help him overcome the source of his trauma.

Everything about GS killed me this chapter. 704 is so concerned about him and it’s the last thing he needs right now. Poor guy.

Another thing I forgot to mention: we were right on about the bow tying in with the “whoever holds the weapon chooses who is sacrificed” line! The line about it in this chapter is ~”whoever uses the bow sacrifices their life/body to bring an end to the calamity”. So literally using it is a sacrifice itself, I guess??? And it’s 704’s bow which makes me wonder how could he ever have memory of ever using it or know it’s his? Didn’t Chung use it already? Does something else need to happen with the bow for that “sacrifice”?

More importantly, was Yama ever serious about needing Chung to use the bow in the sacrificial sense against Hwan? Or was he always meant just as bait for 704? Because yikes, poor Chung. My ship is never leaving the dock.

Oh! Another theory! Re: never shirtless Geumsun. Perhaps a scar or mark on his back that might trigger 704’s memory? Maybe a stretch but Yama has brainwashed me into believing there are no such thing as coincidence lol

You’re welcome! That wait is gonna suckkkk.

       Thank you for the clarification! Oh, that scene struck me as sadly ironic as well. Let like be cured by like, so to speak! GM's facial expression was speaking for itself. No need for words. 704's question clearly took him by surprise! I still believe that we are right, and the plot's flow will eventually drift to "that human". 704 already knows that this person must mean a lot to GM, and perhaps it will click in his head that he (this person) is the most painful memory.
      All this time 704 has been pressing GM about things, and GM slowly and unwilingly has been giving in!
      As for the bow of fate: yes, yes! No other way around. I guess Chung just conveniently happened to have it. It wouldn't have made a shred of difference if it had been someone else. Chung is just another Yama's pawn on his chess board to catch Hwan. So I am sort of glad that this ship is not going to leave the dock.Chung deserves so much better!
     Maybe "activation" of the bow depends on the intention. When Yama gave it to Chung, he didn't have anything sacrificial on his mind. But when 704 stole it, it was clearly Yama's intention to get 704 involved in capturing Hwan so that he could sacrifice himself if need be. (Like Yama chose 704 to sacrifice)  And maybe it depends on the desire to sacrifice yourself for the cause as well! When Chung used it to save San, it wasn't like he was sacrificing himself.
     Oh, remember in chapter 35  704 mentions that the bow used to be his, wondering why Chung has it now. To which Chung says 704 lost the authority to own such things long time ago. He was punished for this "incident" with San I presume. So the bow was 704's initially, but I still believe it belonged to him before becoming a reaper.
     Your guess about GM having a mark/scar is very good! Never crossed my mind. Haha, also a stretch, but what if it somehow has to do with 704's brow scar? Because there is no such thing as a coincidence indeed!
     You have been right about GM, striking a deal from the very start!! However, its exact nature is another big unknown
     PS: on the face of only one chapter being left, which one will you prefer: hibernation or cryo chamber?
    


     
  

Ohhhhh wow, that makes so much more sense about the revoked authority over 704’s bow being San related and not past life related lol. The intention part of it also makes sense! for some reason I couldn’t shake the thought of the bow being taken away from 704 to prevent him from going on another self sacrificing rampage. although I guess that also make sense bc he really just can’t help himself

I really hate that you’re right about Chung deserving better lol. I’m so conditioned to excusing toxic characters in BL that just bc Yama hasn’t outright thrown him into the pits of hell my brain is doing that butterfly meme of is “is this true love?” haha

Can we quickly talk about just how bored 704 looks when Geumsun is talking about Eunjae and San? It feels a little like he went from questioning “do I actually care about San?” to “who’s San?” overnight lol. He never asks directly about San even though he knows the plan clearly involves using San as bait and San’s currently who knows where. Which ok, maybe he was just too anxious to get his horny emotional scientific experiment over with when he arrived but to not really press for more details even now or try to talk to San when he called, and keep steering the conversation back to GS and this human maybe goes to show just how wrapped up in GS he currently is and I’m HERE FOR IT but also...kinda odd? But also hilarious.

I noticed I ping ponged abbreviations for Geumsun as both GS and GM an obscene amount so thanks for rolling with it lol.

lmao which one are you choosing? hibernation and cryo chamber both sound way better than what I had planned which is finally finishing my Transmigration Through the Six Realms response LOL. gotta reframe my hypothesis around confirmed Yama deal which may be just what I had to wait on to not sound like a complete crazy person. also should maybe finish my War and Peace length ode to the tenderness of last chapter, brb

Btw, done fully translating 72 for fun. New link can be found from same link for 70&71.

Can you share the link with me?

     Waaaa, you did notice! Like the face 704 made when GM got on the phone in the middle of the moment. As though it was saying " Really? Am I just a joke to you?! Is some damn phone call more important than I AM RIGHT NOW? And when he is asking about San, it sounds as if he is doing this out of formality. Like "How has auntie Betsy been lately?" And when GM starts going too deep into "auntie Betsy's health-related issues", yes, 704 is clearly out of this and impatient to get the conversation back on track. But you did notice as well, right?! When 704 addresses the same question to GM, he is genuinely concerned! When he arrived, he was mostly angry at GM and angry at himself for being angry at GM! But now the anger is gone, being replaced with concern and some more gentle and subtle feeling. His horny emotional scientific experiment has gone far beyond just "self-actualization"
    But you know I can't even get mad at San for interfering in "the kiss that never happened". He is such a sweet boy! Especially considering what he is about to experience
    Well, my initial impression was that Yama wanted to get 704 out of the way, and chapter 60 confirmed it in a way. Besides, Yama was the one who ordered GM to send 704 to the Underworld. But remember when you mentioned that Yama played nice to 704 only in front of GM. Now it perfectly fits in the deal between Yama and GM (Part of which is obviously to keep 704 alive). So maybe Yama staged the whole "this is my reaper and I want to keep my reaper safe" act to trick GM into believing that 704's life is not in danger while having "evil plans" in mind. Haha, yes, probably 704 is just having one of these sacrificial spree days again!
    Btw, I has finally debunked the mystery why reapers are overflowing with yung energy as it used to make zero sense to me. Since they have no memories/emotions, they don't have to carry the burden of their past mistakes and overanalyze themselves: basically "animal realm" - satisfaction of the base of Maslow's pyramid. It stands to reason to believe if all you have to do is just eat, sleep, fuck and work, you will be crammed with positive energy. While goblins, who are burdened with eternal memory, are full of yin. Having too much self-awareness may be indeed frustrating!
    Then I am choosing your essays as a much more productive alternative!At least by the end of hiatus I will still preserve reading, writing and reasoning skills. Hibernation is not an option since the practice shows we clearly can't hibernate.

LMAO “Aunt Betsy” could not be a better analogy for 704’s attitude towards San right now. I definitely noticed and I could not possibly love this new lovestruck development happening to 704 more. 704 is done hiding his feelings for Geumsun behind concerns for San and he’s exasperated trying to convey as such while Geumsun still can’t fathom why 704 would care for anything other than San. It’s hilarious. Ironically, depressingly, hilarious.

I don’t think 704 has reached a conscious conclusion to his scientific experiment yet but I think he’s sort of given up trying to find a logical explanation for his feelings right now because well...he’s too busy feeling? Concern for Geumsun really has taken priority - concern for someone who he thinks hates him, by the way, or “plainly dislikes” him and last he checked he had felt incomprehensible anger towards for not “seeing” him.

San says that 704 does not seem like the caring type at one point (jk it’s ch 19 lol idk how I feel about having parts of this thing memorized yet) and his character profile in chapter 54.5 straight up confirms that. He’s described as “uncaring” and - it definitely feels that way towards Aunt Betsy San right now lol - but what we’re seeing from 704 right now is…perhaps unbridled care?

If our theory about 704’s secret sacrificial suicide and Geunsum’s “arrogance” is correct then I hope Geumsun can find some solace in witnessing the chaos that is 704 happening before him right now because it seems like 704 doesn’t have much of a choice either. Protective lover is just how he operates on pure instinct.

He really just stopped trying to understand and is ready to go. I really want to make a comment about how 704 is such a great “ride or die” but well…

Relatedly, I can’t say what I think Geumsun’s deal with Yama is quite yet but I can say for sure that I don’t think it’s about 704’s memories. It’s a solid guess but I think it has to be a little more than that.

We’ve seen San’s memories returned to him already and now Eunjae’s memories are taken away to presumably be given back one day as well. So it feels like lowered stakes at this point in the story if the deal was about 704’s memories alone.

Especially seeing how invested 704 already is without past memories, I don’t think they’ll add much more emotional weight to his current investment (because it’s already a lot). I do think he will get them back but they’re not like Eunjae’s memories who’s forgotten San completely. 704 has 20+ years of attachment already without his memories so it’s not really like they’re absolutely necessary for his relationship with GS to develop.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Geumsun actually already has 704’s memories in his possession as that would make what Chung alluded to make sense (implying he’s done this before), why he took Eunjae’s if he really feels as if memories are safer with him, and perhaps why withholding memories that belong to the underworld would make him uncooperative and therefore unregistered.

I think the deal has to do with 704’s reaper fate. I keep digging and digging but it’s still unclear to me whether or not Goblins are a part of Samsara, how cultivation works for Koreon folklore that’s more rooted in Confucianism than Taosim, and what other immortal options are there if not reaper. I also have yet to determine whether this is closer to xianxia or xuanhuan in genre so the rest of this thought is bookmarked and will be returned to in response to the 6 Realms essay (lol I’m sorry!!).

Sidenote- preemptively taking Eunjae’s memories of San, why is this necessary? Who asked for this? Am I wrong in thinking this may be all Yama being pissed enough to taunt San about being eventually forgotten by Eunjae anyway and then going out and MAKING THAT HAPPEN ASAP? He definitely feels like a mean girl who would follow through on cheapshot angry threats to get back at someone.

The whole Yama leveraging 704’s safety to make Geumsun fall in line is only more terrifying when you think about how at the end of chapter 67 Geumsun asks if Yama will send him a reaper and anxious-to-get-this-over-with/we-need-to-plan Yama is kinda vague about needing to send someone to the site in advance. Was he counting it on being 704? Is this what he means by “at the site in advance”? Will Geumsun realize that there’s no other reaper coming? Do you think Yama would call with bad news? Or is Geumsun supposed to figure out 704 is all he’s getting on his own?

“The kiss that never happened!!” We didn’t get the reunion we were hoping for because it’s not quite time yet but it’s insane how even this faux reunion is already so, so satisfying. So. Much. Tenderness. It’s going to be insane when they reunite for real. The anticipation is almost too much.

Your yang energy theory makes a lot of sense! Plays right into the 6 realms archetype theory! Look at us weaving all these threads together! Still a bit of a mess but slowly and surely taking shape. I originally thought it was more of what San said to Eunjae in chapter 17 about creating something new together since there’s nothing to draw out. It made sense but I thought it lessened their development a little bit because who WOULDN’T fall for 20 years of the only pleasure they’ve known.

It does make it feel a bit better for me if 704 already had yang for Geumsun to draw from. “Blessed are the forgetful” and whatnot. “To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss.” also applies.

As we reach the finale of season 2 shortly here and 704 just out of reach of trasmigating to fully human I realize there’s nothing I’d like more than maybe seeing 704 cry?


You likened witnessing 704’s emotional growth as a mom once and I feel the same way but at this point I have to wonder if my child is kind of an asshole while realizing that I love him all the same. But I also really wouldn’t mind if maybe someone made him cry so he can stop tip-toeing around the dread of existence and just dive right in.

Oh, btw! Do you have any name predictions? I shudder to think it’s Shui bi KKR Geng Sha like you’ve suggested LOL. The author did say in the Youtube Lehzin interview that she picked 704 because it sounded like numbers that would sound pretty in multiple languages so I have hope yet for his real name.

I’m going to guess Kim. Because I think it’s a joke that every Korean is named Kim but also Geumsun’s alias to Eunjae was Kim Sun and taking your dead lover’s name feels like it hurts just right. Also, perhaps….Jeong?

My explanation is I spent MONTHS trying to find the 3d background models of this webtoon so I could decipher what artwork within the artwork was deliberate and what was coincidental. I FINALLY found my answer today and narrowed it down to 3 Joseon era artwork placed there on purpose and not just included in the 3d model . Joseon era past, confirmed?

Anyway, here’s album of the curated selection: https://www.mangago.zone/home/album/222093/ lol

From chapter 4 in 704’s apartment, above his bed is “Inwangjesaekdo”, a famous Joseon painting by Jeong Seon, above his couch in the same chapter (in which we only see a corner and was absolute hell to find) is a bamboo painting by Joseon painter Yu Deok Jang ("편우령환첩-묵죽도" by 유덕장), and super skewed in the corner of 704’s old room and just in the edge of frame in chapter 59 right after they bang for yang the first time is Joseon calligraphy “Hogo Yeongyeong”by Gim Jeong-hui. Perhaps name hints for 704?

Speaking of names, learning more about Gim Jeong-hui taught me about Neo-Confucianism in Korea and something called the Four-Seven Debate. A famous debate in Korean Confucianism about the four basic human feelings (compassion, shame, respect, and the sense of right and wrong) vs seven emotions (desire, hate, love, fear, grief, anger, and joy). Feels a little too on the nose for 704’s reaper inner turmoil so perhaps they were lying when they said 704 just sounded pretty. If so, this definitely weaves into whatever we’ve got going on about 704 consciously entering the human realm.

One hour!!!!