Physiognomy of the Immortal
Episode 9 of Lovers of the Red Sky begins outside Gyeongwon Pavilion as Ha-Ram seems to be possessed by the demon. After knocking Yangmyung down, it approaches Cheon-Ki, growling “You have my eyes.” However, the tiger spirit of Ho-Ryeong suddenly shows up and blasts the demon with brilliant white light. It’s enough to knock out Ha Ram, who ends up unconscious on the ground. The tiger, meanwhile, scurries away. Ha-Ram is tended to by Yangmyung and the physician, who watch over him and wait for him to awaken. Cheon-Ki is there too of course, and she’s understandably worried. Yangmyung shares her concerns and believes he needs to go to the Inspection Office, determined to get to the bottom of what’s happening. Cheon-Ki decides to stay with Ha Ram for the time being. With Yangmyung gone and Cheon-Ki falling asleep, Ho-Ryeong and Samshin both show up. The latter hands over a necklace for Cheon-Ki, determined to keep the demon at bay. In order to do that, Samshin needs Cheon-Ki to create a vessel to keep the demon at bay, something only her and Ha-Ram can do together. Using her magical powers, orange wisps swirl around Cheon-Ki, causing the trinket to vanish. In the morning, Ha-Ram can’t remember anything, so he and Cheon-Ki end up having breakfast together. Yangmyung soon shows though and informs Ha-Ram of the accident the previous night, including how Cheon-Ki got hurt. He’s not exactly happy and tells the scholar to stay away from Cheon-Ki for the time being. Cheon-Ki however, has her own issues. She notices the white tiger on the map inside the pavilion. Suddenly it bursts out the painting, turning into Ho-Ryeong and running around. Cheon-Ki can see her though and she eventually tells Cheon-Ki she needs to break up with the demon. When she’s given some work by a scholar, the white tiger disappears back onto the map again. After learning about the demon and the portrait for himself, Yangmyung accompanies Han-Geon as they watch Cheon-Ki start the outline of the King’s portrait. It’s tough work and as the night wears on, Cheon-Ki ends up fatigued. In the morning, she joins Ha-Ram for a tea, discussing the difficulty of understanding the physiognomy of the human face. Well, in order to help her out, Ha-Ram brings her to watch the physiognomist at work. After, the pair head out and fly kites together. Their happiness is quickly squashed though when Ha-Ram mentions how he’s going to go to the Inspection Office with Yangmyung. He promises that nothing will happen to him and hands over a jade ring. As he does, Ha-Ram reveals to Cheon-Ki that he loves her. As Cheon-Ki hurries to start working on painting the King’s portrait, Ha-Ram (donning his mask) shows up to play Go with Juhyang. Alone, he asks brashly why the Prince is looking for the demon. Ha-Ram manages to play his part well, learning that Juhyang intends to take the throne for himself and the key to this is finding the demon. And that demon is inside Ha-Ram…which Juhyang reveals as Ha-Ram tries to hold his nerve.
The Episode Review
Lovers of the Red Sky returns this week with a more urgent episode, leaning much more heavily into the demon and the main story of this fantasy k-drama. The love triangle is kept on the backburner for this chapter too, as Cheon-Ki, Ha-Ram and Yangmyung all come to understand what the demon is and what they need to do to stop it. Seeing Ha-Ram learn the truth about the king’s portrait right at the death there is a tough pill to swallow and it’ll be interesting to see if he holds his nerve going forward. Either way, this one’s shaping up for a very dramatic second half and quite what’s in store for our characters remains to be seen!
