Goong 8

So Hee Park – Yen Press – 2010 – 24+ volumes

Sigh. I fell in love with the premise and drama in this series, but I’m becoming uncomfortable with the way the plot seems to be running in circles, and that none of the characters can catch a break from one another, least of all Chae-Kyung.

With the Queen’s pregnancy, she is taken off active palace duty, and her usual responsibilities are delegated to Chae-Kyung, who is still too ill and not well-prepared to take over as Queen. As expected, the court ladies bully her, Yul’s mother plots behind the scenes to gain the Queen’s powers, and there are about a thousand misunderstandings between Chae-Kyung and Shin.

Aside from the fact that nobody treats Chae-Kyung well, not even her mom (she’s not allowed to at this point), it’s the misunderstandings that make me most angry. Shin blows up at Chae-Kyung when, while waiting for him in his study, she picks up the phone after Hyo-Rin leaves an insulting phone message and tells her to stop badmouthing her little brother. Shin walks in at the end of this exchange, then yells at Chae-Kyung to stay out of her business. When Chae-Kyung explains to Shin that she doesn’t think he set the fire in Yul’s mom’s place, Shin gets mad that her trust comes from Yul’s version of events and not his own.

And yet, it’s pretty clear that Shin is finally falling in love with Chae-Kyung. There’s a scene in this volume where the couple kiss, and both come away from it pretty… aroused. He needs to take a breath and step away from the conversation before he says something horrible and demeaning. He needs to treat Chae-Kyung better, and he needs to stop being such a jerk.

Yul continues to move in on Chae-Kyung, too. He knows exactly how, and gives her all the attention that Shin should be. And Shin gets mad. Instead of doing the things that Yul is doing (checking on Chae-Kyung’s health, bringing her snacks, being genuinely nice), he gets mad at Chae-Kyung for cheating on him. Bah.

There’s also this whole business with Chae-Kyung wanting a divorce after a few years. She won’t be able to divorce Shin if he remains crown prince, especially now that his mother is having a baby. If she does, it will bring shame and ridicule on herself and her family, something she won’t be able to escape the rest of her life. Her solutions are constantly shot down. This is dangerous stuff she’s contemplating here, and Yul is feeding her a lot worse solutions to her problem. On the other hand, she’s so miserable that she deserves a way out.

Parts of it are still funny, though. So Hee Park’s sense of humor is bizarre, and she finds just the right times to slide jokes into the story. My favorite scene in this volume is where Eunuch Kong and Lady Han are helping Chae-Kyung come up with clever put-downs for the sharp-tongued ladies of court, then suddenly bail on her when they begin to fool around with each other instead. It’s the absurd and mildly disturbing sense of humor that is keeping the series readable among all the drama.

I’ve got the next several volumes available (they’re 2-volume omnibuses from volume 9 on, which is amazingly nice), and I’m hoping that reading a huge chunk of the story all at once will make me see that the narrative is moving forward, and that it’s not all about the misery of Chae-Kyung. Maybe… maybe Shin will get nicer, and things will turn more romantic, too. I would fall in love with it again it if that happened.