Who is Heo Yun-ok? Alchemy of Souls character explained

In ‘Alchemy of Souls’, Yun-ok is Master Heo’s granddaughter. She developed feelings for Jang Uk the first time she met him. She is played by Hong Seo-hee.

In the first part of ‘Alchemy of Souls’ Yun-o’s character did not seem significant. She was a minor character who was in love with Jang Uk. She was considered to be the perfect bride for him, but he chose to marry Mu-deok instead.

Unfortunately, in the second part as well, her character did not play an important role. She continued to be on the sidelines.

Yun-ok’s unrequited love

Yun-ok comes to Daeho from the Wol Fortress to work with the royal infirmary. She is the granddaughter of Master Heo Yeom of Sejukwom.

When she is going to the inn with her loyal companion, Sun-i, she thinks she is being stalked by Jang Uk. He meets her at the inn, where Sun-i confronts him about following them. 

Jang Uk denies following them. In fact, he bluntly tells her that her looks do not impress him, so he has no reason to stalk her. This visibly perplexes and even upsets Yun-ok.

When she is changing in her room, she gets attacked by a soul shifter. Jang Uk rescues her in time, and she realizes that Jang Uk had been following the soul shifter all this time.

Alchemy of Souls Yun-ok
Jang Uk comes to Yun-ok’s rescue

She meets him again when Jang Uk is brought to her grandfather, drunk out of his wits. Master Heo tells her that Jang Uk is a genius and leaves her to take care of him all night. It becomes clear that she is attracted to him.

She tries to get close to him but to no avail. Maidservant Kim thinks she is perfect for Jang Uk, even Mu-deok gets jealous of her, but he never pays attention to her.

She tries confessing her feelings to Jang Uk when they are alone, but his dismissive attitude discourages her. He clearly tells her that he was comfortable with her taking care of him because he had mistaken her for Mu-deok.

When Jang Uk decides to marry Mu-deok, she watches them from afar and realizes Jang Uk never had any interest in her.

Does Yun-ok move on?

There are a few occasions when Yun-ok is seen as more than a girl smitten with Jang Uk. When they are all trapped in Jeongjingak due to a barrier, she acts quickly to rescue Yul and So-i from a soul shifter.

She takes care of Yul and helps cure him on more than one occasion. Even when Yul is recovering after the blood parasite is extracted from his core, she is the one who takes care of him.

In fact, she stays back and does not return to the Wol Fortress because she has been entrusted with taking care of the body in which the queen’s soul resides.

She keeps bringing Jang Uk medicines when he cannot sleep because of the wraiths, even though he never thanks her. Maidservant Kim and Master Heo convince her to move on from Jang Uk.

When Jang Uk marries Bu-yeon, Maidservant Kim tells Yun-ok that she does not need to take care of Jang Uk anymore, and Bu-yeon takes the responsibility of bringing Jang Uk whatever he needs.

Yun-ok then takes it upon herself to dissuade Bu-yeon from hoping to be loved by Jang Uk. She tells her to call Jang Uk using Naksu’s blue jade, which makes him angry.

However, she witnesses Jang Uk and Bu-yeon’s developing relationship. When she discovers that Bu-yeon is Naksu, ignoring Master Heo’s advice, she tries to separate them for the last time by trying to get Bu-yeon to remember her true identity.

She calls Bu-yeon to meet her in the Dark Forest and throws a medicine, which is used to reveal invisible marks on corpses, on her to show her the soul-shifting marks on her body.

Alchemy of Souls Yun-ok
Yun-ok throws the medicine on Bu-yeon but Yul intervenes

Yul stops her, and when she argues that Naksu hurt Jang Uk once and that she cannot let her hurt him again, he tells her that Naksu’s soul will disappear soon, which finally puts an end to her efforts. However, it still separates Bu-yeon from Jang Uk temporarily.

A year after Jang Uk and Naksu’s marriage, Master Heo thinks of getting her married to Go Won, but he finds out that she is already seeing someone. 

The identity of her suitor is not revealed, but Master Heo is told he was her handsome patient, who continued sending her flowers every day even after he healed. In the end, she finally moves on from Jang Uk.


Also Read: Who is Gwanju Jin Mu? Alchemy of Souls character explained

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