The Sins Of A Father
Episode 10 of Bulgasal: Immortal Souls picks up with Hwal wrestling with the truth about Do-Yun. Understanding that he’s actually A-Chan reincarnated, Hwal immediately tries to ring the boy. Only, Do-Yun’s not picking up. Instead Hwal rings Eul-Tae, who stalks their house and watches Si-Ho from afar. He claims to be a friend but Si-Ho immediately senses something amiss, especially when he invites himself inside and starts asking about Sang-Un. The thing is, she’s inside the house and hiding in a hidden compartment behind the wall. Si-Ho tries to convince him that Hwal and Sang-Un are together, which works well to distract him. Meanwhile, Eul-Tae’s secretary stops in her car alongside Do-Yun, offering him a lift to Eul-tae’s place. This is obviously Dueoksini and she stares at him, unblinking and crazed. Hwal eventually returns home and finds Eul-Tae lurking about. He manages to talk the other Bulgasal around and convinces him to head outside for a drive. After crashing the car intentionally and sending the evil man flying out the windscreen, Hwal crunches his arm with his boot and demands to know what Eul-Tae’s connection with Do-Yun is and where the boy is located. It doesn’t take long for Dueoksini, to ring and promise Hwal that she’s going to put an end to everything. She’s acting independently of Eul-Tae now and intends to harm Do-Yun. Eul-Tae offers his help, pointing out where Hwal should look next. Specifically, he mentions the Hyeongrim-Dong case that occurred back in 2001. So naturally, Hwal has Kwon fish the police station for more information. Detective Ham eventually does hand over the files, which details Sang Hui’s history. As we soon learn, Sang Hui’s parents were brutally murdered while their daughter was allegedly sound asleep. Her unusually calm demeanor is certainly a deciding factor here, but given how brutal the murders were, she was released. Another murder occurred for her in-laws 3 years back, where Sang-Hui was the prime suspect. Only, she was released due to a lack of evidence available. The thing is, Dueoksini is well known to manipulate thoughts and minds, which would explain her release and how she’s getting away with these murders. On the way to finding Do-Yun, Kwon’s car breaks down. So out of all the people to stop, it’s Eul-Tae. He offers to give him a lift, pointing out that Do-Yun is the most important part of this right now. According to Eul-Tae, he actually feels guilty and worried about Do-Yun. He goes on to say he really did try to save Do-Yun’s brother but when he died, he couldn’t tell Do-Yun, and as such ended up manipulating him. Through all of this, Eul-Tae smiles sadly and retorts that he doubts Do-Yun will ever play with him again now. Meanwhile, Hwal and Sang-Un go hunting for Dueoksini in her forest. This stretch of land has been unchanged for 600 years and thanks to Sang-Un’s senses, she manages to find their foe. Unfortunately she’s not alone, with a Monster holding a crossbow lying in wait. The monster goes after Sang-Un, who promises to give herself up if he reveals where Do-Yun is. When he divulges Do-Yun’s whereabouts, he snickers and mentions his father’s house, where traces of their blood lie as a constant reminder of his savagery. Just before the Monster kills Sang-Un, Hwal appears and saves her life, killing the monster. Only, he ends up with a crossbow bolt through his heart for his troubles. After falling off the cliff with Dueoksini a little earlier on, Hwal hurries off to find the boy. In their absence, Eul-Tae catches up with a bloodied and bruised Dueoksini, who makes it back to her car. When she finds out Do-Yun is going to save the boy, she cackles and reveals that she’s told him about Eul-Tae killing Do-Yun in his past life. Shocked and angry, Eul-Tae moves on the monster in a flash, drinking her blood. Do-Yun awakens in the monster’s house and immediately heads outside. The first person he rings is Hwal, admitting he’s the strongest person he knows and needs help. The pair have a really touching chat, with both of them apologizing for what happened in the past. However, Do-Yun mentions something odd about his past. Just before revealing it to him, Eul-Tae appears and crushes his phone. He wants to talk to Do-Yun private. Eul-tae brandishes a knife and stabs his friend while they embrace, tears running down his cheeks. When he leaves, Kwon finds Do-Yun lying motionless on the ground. Hwal and Sang-Un show up next and find the boy on the floor. Just like the past, Hwal is forced to watch his son die before him. As he cradles the boy, the future is left uncertain.
The Episode Review
Bulgasal: Immortal Souls returns with a much stronger episode this time around, focusing on the fate surrounding Eul-Tae and how time seems to be repeating itself again. The heartbreaking ending for Do-Yun is perhaps inevitable but it’s still a massive hammer blow – for us and for Hwal. Poor Hwal though. After pushing his son away, he’s been forced to relive that same painful memory involving A-Chan, and that’s thanks to Eul-Tae showing his true colours. Killing Do-Yun may well be fated (we’re not sure for now if that’s a certainty though) but now Hwal is going to be out for blood and that definitely doesn’t pose well for Eul-Tae. This series has been a really enthralling watch over the weeks and despite yesterday’s slower paced chapter, this is a return to form for Bulgasal, leaving things hanging on a precarious knife-edge going into next week.
