God, Hwaryun is such a Chad.

He's so cool. I respect his mental strength so much. The lesson of this chapter is that you cannot have everything you want--when you want it and how you want it. Life does not fall into our favor( instead, we fall into the hands of life and have to dodge all the shit thrown at us. The only thing we can change is our attitude and mindset towards life. Instead of running away and feeling sorry for ourselves, we can work with what we've got to view things more positively, to act with deliberation and ferocity. We act and live with conviction instead of fear.

My interpretation of Hwaryun asking Suu to come to the palace with him and staying there until they die is not as depressing as it may seem to some. Suu first asks, "and you want to take me with you to that ending?" Hwaryun replies with a, "yeah, so badly." Some people might think Hwaryun is being arrogant, but I have to disagree. These two characters have a fairly strong mutual understanding of each other so there's room for reading in between the lines. Hwaryun knows that Suu has tried for so long to achieve happiness away from the palace, away from slavery, and away from working under others. Suu has tried these things but to no avail because happiness does not exist in the external world; happiness exists in the internal world and it is something you have to work hard to find within yourself. We all know that money cannot buy happiness; this story is a very clear depiction of that lesson. Another example of how the story applies this lesson is through Hwaryun's response after Suu asks why Hwaryun doesn't want to leave together to start a millet farm: "I've gone through too much to just leave everything to start a farm... are you sure you're not mistaken? I've never wanted this life either."

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I call Hwaryun an absolute Chad. Who would be able to give up their desires and dreams to accept the weight of their position and fulfill their duty? Not just anyone has the strength and depth to be able to do this. You and I sure as hell wouldn't be able to do this. Imagine living in Hwaryun's position. God damn, I'd say, "fuck you," to Rahan so fast and run the other way.

Hwaryun also presents the broad logistics of what would happen if Suu came back to the palace with him. Here, Hwaryun proposes an alternative for Suu: come to the palace where they can be together and where Suu can take charge of his life (Shrine Master has lots of freedom in terms of politics). They might die and things may not go so smoothly, but at least they will have each other--this time without the lies and manipulation. This time, Hwaryun is being open about his longing for Suu and his plans to secure the throne from the Noble Consort. Suu is obviously somewhat conflicted because he has never thought about things the same way as Hwaryun. To Suu, he has always worried about the next thing and the next thing after that, as if accumulating his possessions and steps will secure him a happy future. He has to kill the horse, make sure he doesn't get caught killing the horse, report back to the Noble Consort, collect his money, find another job, get paid for that too, check up on Nadan, etc. It was always like this for Suu. Sometimes, he would check how much money he saved up to gauge how far along he is in terms of his long term plan, which is really sad and pathetic if you think about it; it's basically the equivalent of counting how much money you have to determine how happy you will be in the future because Suu equates money as freedom as happiness. It's nonsensical, right? Up until now, Suu has only considered short term goals, which is why he seems to lack purpose/direction and, therefore, a long term plan. If you question why I say this, then I urge you to read back to the chapters when he would think about escaping Rahan with Nadan and his adventure with Sahara. He doesn't know what comes after the escape because he doesn't have a purpose or sense of long-term direction. Why doesn't he have a sense of purpose? Because his goals are poorly defined and misplaced. How are his goals poorly defined and misplaced? He thinks that happiness is the endgame, but he defines happiness as a possession that belongs in the external world where, in truth, it is something you need to develop within you; it is a part of the journey.

For this scene, Hwaryun presents an alternative in which there is a long term goal, there is a purpose, and there is direction, as well as a ticket for room and board. That being said, Suu has a lot to think about. I think the last sentence in this scene from Hwaryun, "I've never wanted this life either," really hit the nail on the head for Suu, especially after they both acknowledged that Suu looked into Hwaryun's past. HINT HINT, I WONDER WHY THE AUTHOR PUT THAT IN THAT SCENE. I WONDER WHY THE AUTHOR KEPT BRINGING IT UP AS IF SHE WASN'T TRYING TO BE OBVIOUS THAT IT IS AN IMPORTANT DETAIL. WINK WINK, COULDN'T BE MORE OBVIOUS, NO?? Also, notice that Hwaryun is being pushy but not demanding. This leaves room for flexibility in terms of their options on how to proceed further, as well as Suu's options for his future. In essence, things could take a turn, but I highly doubt it ╮(￣▽￣)╭ All in all, I think that Suu has a lot to learn from this conversation and I hope that these two come to a solid resolution.

**Edits: fixed the sentences that got fucked over by mangago. Inputted the conclusion that went missing from my original writeup.**