Mu-deok becomes a servant in the Jang house
Mu-deok wakes in Jang Gang's house as a servant Uk bought from the brothel, and decides he must have fallen for her.
Maid Kim Do-ju
Every Alchemy of Souls moment featuring Maid Kim Do-ju, in story order. Played by Oh Na-ra.
86 moments · 3h 15m
Uk won't let Yul carry his maid
Too weak to carry Mu-deok himself, Uk refuses to let Yul do it, hands her to Maidservant Kim and leans on Yul instead.
Maidservant Kim and Park Jin trade old heartbreaks
Maidservant Kim raises the rumor that Park Jin is Uk's father; he brings up her acorn jelly for Jang Gang, and both admit to old, unhealed loves.
Uk talks Maidservant Kim into drinking his ginseng
Kim sulks that Uk saves everything for Mu-deok; he flatters her into keeping the wild ginseng tea and brags about joining Songrim.
Uk buys off Heo Yeom with dark wine
Called in to have his energy taken back, Uk apologizes for the goats in the herb garden and presents rare wine, then more bottles.
Uk breaks his silence after being cast out
Mu-deok and Maid Kim worry Uk is heartbroken after his banishment, but he has been quietly practicing and vows Songrim will beg him back.
The torrent of energy boils then freezes Uk's bath
Uk's flogging makes the stolen energy surge early; his bath turns scalding then icy while Mu-deok covers with a medicinal-herb excuse.
Park Jin and Maid Kim argue over who is better-looking
Nursing a wound he chose not to dodge, Park Jin muses about claiming to be his father; Maid Kim's jab about his looks turns into a grudging truce.
Uk flees before Cheonbugwan can take him
Royal guards come for Uk after the duel challenge; warned he could lose his arm or life, he slips away to Sari Village with Mu-deok.
Heo Yeom's old master breaks the barrier
Debating the Jin marriage, an elder admits he once left his master for love; then an intruder breaks the barrier and Heo Yeom greets his master.
Uk's girl is a bird egg on top of a tree
Uk refuses the marriage, admitting to Maid Kim he cares for a girl who has only him; she vows to pay the girl off.
Uk asks Maid Kim who his real father is
Urged to vow marriage before his mother's portrait, Uk asks Maid Kim if he is truly his father's son and says he will not sit still.
Mu-deok vanishes in Jinyowon
Uk is summoned to Jinyowon, where Mu-deok meets someone familiar, and the Jin family accuses her of stealing the yin-and-yang jade.
Maid Kim asks Park Jin if he would lock her in too
Maid Kim asks if he would lock her in like Jinyowon's leader; he will not lie to her, and only admits too late how it would break his heart.
Uk vows to find out who he really is
Scolded for entering Jinyowon, Uk uses the mirror's lesson on illusion to explain why he will stop proving himself and find his own path.
Park Jin asks whether Jang Gang practiced soul alchemy
Park Jin asks about Jang Gang's secret spell training before Uk's birth, and the talk turns to a shocking claim about whose son Uk is.
Maidservant Park gets permission to slap Park Jin
Shaken by fears for Uk, Maid Kim plays at being someone else; Park Jin offers his back, admits he never wants to hurt her, and asks her to keep it up.
Uk shows off his uniform and thanks his master
Maid Kim tells Madam Do-hwa the news while Mu-deok recalls their first meeting; Uk asks how he looks and thanks her with a crushing hug.
Park Jin chases Maid Kim with a hangover pill
Uk and Mu-deok split Master Heo's pill, and Park Jin keeps trying to hand his to Maid Kim as she walks away.
Master Heo blames Park Jin for losing Do-hwa
Drunk Master Heo reveals he brought Do-hwa to Sejukwon to match her with Park Jin, who never said the words; his shrug at lost love sends Maid Kim off.
Maid Kim's petal-picking ends in Master Lee's arms
Picking petals at Chwiseonru, Maid Kim slips and is caught by Master Lee, who came only for food; untangling them leaves him rattled.
Uk wakes up to Sun-i instead of Mu-deok
Hungover Uk asks for Mu-deok and gets the maid from the inn, learns who Yun-ok is, and Maid Kim says she reminds her of Madam Do-hwa.
Park Jin and Maid Kim's lover's quarrel, and slow-witted Dang-gu
Park Jin's logic sets off a spat with Maid Kim that everyone can read, and Dang-gu gets scolded for trying to follow Uk and Yun-ok.
Maid Kim visits trainee Uk and tells him to leave Mu-deok be
Uk starts basic training under the regulations; Maid Kim beams with pride, then lists everything Mu-deok did for him and says she is better off without him.
Mu-deok fears Uk has abandoned her
Mu-deok worries he has dropped her like 12 past masters, scoffs at a servant recruitment contest, and hears Uk's message is to enjoy the flowers.
Mu-deok realizes she is the bird egg Uk loves
Maid Kim asks who Uk loves, a woman like a single egg atop a tall tree; Mu-deok recalls the jade eggs and her rule, while Uk says he misses her.
Maid Kim's bird-egg theory and Mu-deok's private vow
Maid Kim clears Uk's room, guessing he loves a refined lady; Mu-deok calls their bond a shell she will leave once she hatches.
Park Jin and Maid Kim fall out over a bribe
Park Jin scolds Maid Kim for gifting a scarf to get Mu-deok into Songrim; wounded pride turns it into a falling-out neither wanted.
Maid Kim gives Master Lee a warm coat
Heo Yeom fusses over Master Lee's thin clothes, then Maid Kim arrives and gives Master Lee a coat as a thank-you gift, not a bribe.
Maid Kim tells Uk his father is irrelevant
Uk learns people now call him his father's son; Maid Kim says she raised him and will cherish him whether he succeeds or not.
Park Jin brings weeds, Master Lee brings flowers
Master Lee visits Maid Kim with flowers; Park Jin shows up worried and empty-handed, and she tells him she wants flowers, not weeds.
Maid Kim realizes Yun-ok is the egret
Among Park Jin's flowers, Maid Kim hears Yun-ok praise Uk's warmth, decides she is the lady he loves, and invites her to visit often.
Park Jin denies Jin Mu a honey biscuit
Jin Mu reminisces with Maid Kim about serving Jang Gang and asks to share biscuits with Uk; Park Jin refuses and sends him away.
Maid Kim remembers Cho Chung and the daughter Jang Gang searched for
Maid Kim recalls Jang Gang's friend Cho Chung and his lost daughter, believes the girl is dead, and wants to drive off her lingering spirit.
Fake probation and the legend of the Golden Fish
Master Lee finds Uk home on 'probation'; Uk refuses to fish so he can train, until Mu-deok hears about the Golden Fish and volunteers him.
Mu-deok sees her own name on Maid Kim's memorial oration
Maid Kim prepares a memorial for an ill-fated girl, and the oration names Cho Chung and Cho Yeong, which Mu-deok says is her own name.
Mu-deok weeps at the memorial for her father and herself
Maid Kim explains the memorial, Mu-deok thanks her on the spirits' behalf, then cries for her father while a watcher blames himself for her fate.
Withered flowers bloom again at Maid Kim's house
Over quince tea, Maid Kim's dried wildflowers come back to life, and she wonders whether the man she loves simply does not like her.
Park Jin tells Maid Kim that Mu-deok is hiding something
Park Jin explains the bodies at the ferry inn to Maid Kim and warns that Mu-deok fled instead of proving her innocence.
Maid Kim offers Mu-deok money to run away
Mu-deok slips home; Maid Kim asks about her secret and tells her to flee, but Mu-deok refuses to leave Uk and asks to be taken to Jinyowon.
Dang-gu takes Cho-yeon's hand in front of both families
Ho-gyeong rejects a match and eyes the Crown Prince for Cho-yeon; Cho-yeon refuses, Dang-gu declares himself, and both get thrown out.
The runaway couple's awkward 'get a room' moment
Cast out with nowhere to go, Dang-gu suggests an inn and panics over how it sounds, until Maidservant Kim comes looking for Uk.
Maidservant Kim and Park Jin misread each other's crush
Park Jin fishes for whether an older, plainer man has a chance; Kim thinks he means himself, while he thinks she means Master Lee.
Cho-yeon the impossible houseguest
Cho-yeon rejects dish after dish as too greasy, salty or sweet until the staff notice she is just as fussy as Uk.
Dang-gu and Cho-yeon refuse to sign the separation pledge
Offered a way home if they swear never to meet again, the couple admit they had doubts but cannot give each other up.
Uk corners a stranger who knows his father's sword
In Gaema Village a man who recognised Jang Gang's sword calls him a madman; Uk explains why he still carries it, and the stranger recalls Do-hwa.
Master Lee leaves a blank letter for Jang Gang
Expecting Jang Gang to surface, Master Lee gives Maidservant Kim a blank page for him and explains why Seo Gyeong's pupil stays away.
Jang Gang comes home and remembers Jin Mu's betrayal
As Maidservant Kim waits, the Gwanju returns to Cheonbugwan and recalls sparing Jin Mu after Cho Chung's death, a choice he now regrets.
Maidservant Kim comes face to face with Master Jang
Maidservant Kim meets a man she has not seen in years and recognizes him as Master Jang.
Jang Gang's letter reveals Uk's real father
A message from Jang Gang tells Maidservant Kim and Park Jin that Uk was conceived when the late king shifted souls; they vow to keep it secret.
House hunting turns into Maid Kim's confession to Park Jin
Touring houses, Maid Kim describes her dream home; when Park Jin offers to gift it for her wedding to Master Lee, she tells him he is the one.
Maid Kim's furious 'lovingly' outburst
Hurt that Park Jin never noticed, Maid Kim shouts about the balsam-dyed fingernails she imagined, then storms off demanding a 100-room house.
Uk tells a tearful Maid Kim he is marrying Mu-deok
Uk comforts Maid Kim, who guesses Heo Yun-ok is his secret love, then stuns her by revealing his bride is Mu-deok.
Maid Kim accepts Mu-deok and learns Park Jin is a fool
Maid Kim tells Mu-deok to stop doing chores as Uk's future wife, and Mu-deok's assumption about Maid Kim and Park Jin leaves both exasperated.
Park Jin's balsam seeds: an answer at last
Uk tells Park Jin he may take Maid Kim away for good; Park Jin finally stops her with balsam seeds and asks her to wait for them to bloom.
Jin Ho-gyeong traces Mu-deok's past to Sari Village
Haunted by So-i's claim, Jin Ho-gyeong asks Maid Kim about Mu-deok's origins and learns she grew up in Sari Village.
Maid Kim begs to stop the funeral fire
Barred from mourning properly, Maid Kim pleads to stop a body being burned like a criminal's, and Park Jin says Songrim has no say.
The wraiths that swarm Jang Uk each night
Maid Kim worries over her young master, and after using the ice stone's power he is beset by wailing wraiths, the price of the sky's energy.
Park Jin's kimchi obsession and Maid Kim's tearful thanks
Retired Park Jin makes crocks of kimchi nobody wants; Maid Kim tries to slow him down, then cries thanking him for stepping down.
Jang Uk brings Bu-yeon home as his future bride
Bu-yeon sizes up Jang Uk's house, he introduces her to a stunned Maid Kim as his bride-to-be, and tells Bu-yeon to make herself at home.
Maid Kim learns Bu-yeon did the proposing
Lending her old clothes, Maid Kim probes the stranger and is stunned to hear she proposed and that Jang Uk agreed to marry again.
Three days of medicine buy Bu-yeon three more days
Maid Kim says Jang Uk sat by her all night and ordered three days of medicine; Bu-yeon learns why wicked things swarm him.
Park Jin vows to make meju from red beans
Park Jin sets out to prove a proverb wrong, he and Maid Kim volley 'red beans' versus 'soybeans', and news of Jang Uk's bride shocks him.
Bu-yeon chooses to go back for her mother's sake
Taken by Jinyowon's people, Bu-yeon asks for three days; recalling why she refused to run, she returns to a tearful embrace from her mother.
The tracking thread: Bu-yeon refuses to go home
Her mother pulls the thread sewn into her flesh; Bu-yeon endures the pain and begs Maid Kim not to send her back.
Maid Kim begs Uk to destroy the red bird egg
Uk tells Maid Kim to marry; she asks him to throw away the egg and the jade tied to a dead girl. He keeps them to know she is gone.
Bu-yeon reads the energy of Uk's friends
Meeting Master Heo and Dang-gu, Bu-yeon owns up to the fake pregnancy, sizes up their energy and sniffs out eavesdroppers.
Maid Kim and Master Heo's racing hearts
Discussing Uk's push for her to wed, Maid Kim and her suitor admit their longing in a tender embrace.
Uk races to the jade's call and finds Bu-yeon
Uk rushes out when the jade calls; Bu-yeon greets him with a regained memory that the two of them have long liked each other.
'Go home and protect your wife'
Uk hides at Jeongjingak; his physician friend teases him that Bu-yeon toppled the tower, and Maid Kim invites herself to stay.
The Queen's banquet and Maid Kim's dress-up marathon
The Queen schedules a banquet on Naksu's day; Maid Kim gleefully makes the invited Bu-yeon try on outfit after outfit.
Dang-gu entrusts the Dragon's Tears for Cho-yeon
Dang-gu asks Maid Kim to deliver costly diamonds to Cho-yeon, fearing rejection but choosing to bite into his rice cake of destiny.
Bu-yeon goes missing after taking in the cold
The household finds Bu-yeon gone and ill; Maid Kim scolds Uk for knowing nothing about her, and he realizes she absorbed the wraiths' cold for him.
The chicken and the dog
Uk tests holding Maid Kim's hand, gets scolded for upsetting Bu-yeon, and offers a clumsy apology about chickens, pheasants and dogs.
Uk refuses Jinyowon, then learns what it cost her
Bu-yeon asks Uk to visit her mother and he declines; too late he learns Lady Jin offered to forgive them and Bu-yeon went alone.
Park Jin fakes illness to keep Maid Kim
Told Maid Kim might tend to Master Lee, Park Jin suddenly develops stomach knots and a fever so she stays by his side.
Caught at night, Park Jin proposes
Park Jin and Maid Kim hide from late visitors, laugh about feeling young, and he proposes to Kim Yeon of Wol Fortress as the household cheers.
Maid Kim tells her young master she is engaged
Maid Kim announces her betrothal to Park Jin; Uk struggles for words until she says he is like a son and he congratulates her.
Park Jin asks who Maid Kim would save first
Park Jin sulks that Uk always comes first and poses the drowning question; Maid Kim turns it back on him, and both admit how much they care.
Maid Kim scolds Uk for sending Bu-yeon away
Learning Bu-yeon never came home, Maid Kim snaps that she is not an object to return, and laments Uk's stubbornness.
Maid Kim catches Park Jin stopping Yul's help
Park Jin admits he told Yul to stay out of it; Maid Kim calls him out, and Uk vows to win over Lady Jin.
Jang Uk leaves Jeongjingak for the north
Maid Kim wants to follow Uk north, Park Jin protests, and Uk tells her to stay with his uncle.
Uk says goodbye to Maid Kim before the wedding
Leaving for North Fortress, Uk tells Maid Kim she is his top priority and asks her to be the prettiest, happiest bride.
The too-small ring on Maid Kim's pinky
Park Jin offers to move north after the wedding and notices her ring on the wrong finger; she keeps it anyway as a promise.
Park Jin must seal the door with Maid Kim inside
As relics escape a collapsing Jinyowon, Maid Kim, trapped inside, begs Park Jin to seal the door, calling it what must be done.
One year later: Maid Kim babysits the twins
Maid Kim dotes on Dang-gu's twin boys while Park Jin grumbles about newlywed trips, until a sudden queasiness hints at news.