Arang and the Magistrate

Dead

Arang moves in for the kiss... and just as their lips meet... Eun-oh wakes up from his dream. Drat! You and your vivid dreams. He wakes up saying he's gone insane, and in thoroughly modern slang at that.

He sends trusty servant Dol-swe to deliver a letter to young master Joo-wal (Arang's pre-ghost fiancé) asking for a meeting today, and Dol-swe just asks how long he's going to keep "playing magistrate," like he's twelve and making pillow forts. Eun-oh assures him it won't be long.

The Jade Emperor and the King of the Underworld have a lovely afternoon fishing up in heaven, and Jade Emperor tsk-tsks that Hades has upped his wrinkle count lately. Well now you're just rubbing it in.

Hades says it's all those renegade ghosts running amok on his watch that are messing with his energy, and then chides, "What about those souls that disappeared? It's been four hundred years!"

Jade Emperor clears his throat guiltily and pats his hand, "I do feel sorry about that." Hades says he promised to go down and fix it, but why hasn't he done that by now?

Jade Emperor: "Do you know why you're so slow to mature but so quick to age? It's that hasty temper of yours. Just wait." Hahaha.

Hades warns that if he doesn't take care of it soon, he'll do things his way.

Kinda-shaman Bang-wool brings in a brand new hanbok and makeup for Arang, who lights up at all the pretty things she gets to have. She ditches her old worn clothes and puts on the finest from head to toe and makes up her face... only to check the mirror and still not see anything. She pouts.

Outside, Eun-oh paces back and forth, wondering what's taking her so long. She finally comes out... and he goes slackjawed at the pretty. It's so cute.

She and Bang-wool both ask expectantly if she looks any better, and he blusters that whatever, she just looks like a slightly less terrible-looking ghost. Mmm-hmm. He tells her to stay put until he comes to get her.

Bang-wool pleads with Arang to leave her alone now—isn't it enough that she made her into a thief? Were they enemies in a past life? Doesn't she have a conscience? Arang quietly slips away, hanging her head. Aw.

She decides to go wait for Eun-oh and daintily picks up her skirt hem so it doesn't touch the ground. Eun-oh shakes his head as he walks through town, muttering to himself that he can't get used to it—it was better when she was hanging upside-down and being a scary ghost.

He credits the clothes, saying they really are like wings. He sighs, "That's it, I have to stick around. Who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause? Until she regains her memory, even if I don't want to, we have to be together."

Pffft. You just keep telling yourself that it's for HER good. He whirls around and heads back.

Arang heads into town and realizes a plan that doesn't involve the magistrate—she can just take the magic herbs that make her corporeal and figure out her own mystery without Eun-oh. She figures that she'll just be moving on to the afterlife anyway; what's the harm in bending the rules for a bit?

So she goes to see the blackmarket dealer, not realizing that she's picked up three angry ghosts on her tail. They ambush her in the abandoned barn, upset about her getting involved in that scuffle over the appeasement food.

She scoffs at the petty dispute, and throws the first punch. I love this girl. They attack and the thing she's most upset about is them ruining her new outfit. She puts up an impressive fight... but more and more of this gang's ghosts appear and soon she's thoroughly outnumbered.

She knocks them down, kicks, head-butts, all the while screaming, "I said don't step on my clothes!" But soon she's getting slapped around, and they hold her still for the leader to raise his arm...