The Most Heartbreaking yet Beautiful Webtoon No One Talks About - 'Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid'
Sometimes you see a plot description that gives you the wrong first impression about a series - this is exactly what happened to me when I first came across 'Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid" on Webtoon. Contrary to my expectations, this work had no mermaids or any other fantasy elements in it; instead, it's a realistic story about war, loss and the power of human connections.
Set in 1926, when Joseon was under Japanese colonial rule, the story follows a girl named Su-a who discovers a wounded man washed up on the shore. Su-a, who was sold as a servant to a rich pro-Japanese household at the age of five, realizes that the stranger is an independence fighter wanted by the police. When she recalls a whale that once died before her eyes, Su-a decides to help the man instead of handing him over to the authorities. Uihyeon, as she later learns his name, had been tasked with delivering explosives to a safe location before he was separated from his comrade and fell into the sea. Uihyeon compares Su-a saving him from drowning to the protagonist in Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid'. This analogy sets the stage for the tragic events that follow, changing the life of the innocent young woman who becomes entangled in the Korean independence movement.
>FROM HERE ON, I WILL INCLUDE SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENTIRETY OF THE WEBTOON, INCLUDING ITS ENDING! PLEASE DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID DISCUSSIONS ABOUT FUTURE PLOT DEVELOPMENTS!<
A life of suffering and misfortune gives way to conviction
Su-a's actions are discovered by her mistress, who turns a blind eye to her crime but orders Uihyeon to leave. Su-a wishes to see him one more time, so she decides to go to the independence movement's meeting point to deliver Uihyeon's secret letter that he left with her. However, she accidentally eavesdrops on an important conversation between two individuals involving the movement's future plans. They judge Uihyeon's letter to be genuine, but they have no way to verify the truth of Su-a's words. To ensure that no confidential information gets leaked, one of them, a man named Haesu, forces her to drink lye mixed with opium. Su-a survives but she loses her voice, which renders her unable to communicate as she can neither read nor write.
Despite objections from her father, Su-a's mistress makes Su-a stay and teaches her simple signs to use so she can still work as her maid. However, tragedy soon strikes when the lady of the house is forced to marry a Japanese officer. She wants to fight for her freedom of choice, but her father leaves no room for negotiation. Before taking her own life, she tells Su-a to go so far away that she can even forget who she used to be.
This is the start of an overarching theme in the story - Su-a wonders how people like Uihyeon and her lady can throw away their lives for their convictions. Su-a thinks of herself as a fish, and her mistress as the ocean - the "water she breathed". Su-a feels content with the salty air and the sound of the waves, she doesn't think she needs more in life, until her "ocean", the young mistress, dies. Su-a is suddenly a fish out of water, a person without purpose. Holding on to the scissors her lady used to end her own life, Su-a sets out to find the man who took away her voice and seek revenge.
With the help of a kind student, Su-a arrives at 'Whale Star', the tea shop that the independence fighters use as their secret base. She encounters Uihyeon who is horrified to learn what happened to her. To Uihyeon, Haesu was like a comrade and a brother; nevertheless, Uihyeon cannot find it in his heart to forgive him for what he did. After confessing his sin, Haesu receives a letter from the leaders of the resistance fighters: Su-a can decide what to do with his life. Haesu proposes to drink lye, but gives the opium to Su-a. Despite the pain she feels about what happened to her, Su-a stops him at the last moment, thinking about how she cannot proudly claim her death like the people around her, and how the death of that man would not make him suffer as much as she did. Su-a is put under surveillance and starts working at the tea shop while living with Uihyeon.
In the webtoon, we follow the tragic fates of many different characters. Uihyeon, the lady Su-a served, Haesu - they are all ready to die for what they believe in. They turned the pain they suffered into conviction, and for them, their conviction is proof of their autonomy and agency.
The same goes for Yeongyeong, the other independence fighter who was with Haesu when they met Su-a. Her husband was captured by Japanese soldiers, but did not live long after returning home. Yeongyeong gave birth to their baby as a young widow. With her younger brother, they joined the fight for independence. She never shows any sign of regret about her actions; to Yeongyeong, her determination is stronger than her relationships. She leaves her son knowing that she cannot take care of him, and takes her own life when she gets captured. She only allows herself to cry once in the story, before she leaves everything behind. As a cruel twist of fate, her brother betrays their cause when she's captured in order to save her life, but by then she's already dead.
Similarly to Yeongyeong, Haesu never apologizes for what he did to Su-a, but throughout the story his actions keep haunting him. Haesu lost his entire family at a young age at the hands of Japanese soldiers, and like Yeongyeong he wanted to believe that the end justifies the means - that for the sake of their nation, silencing one girl was a price they had to pay, even if it was a vile thing to do. At the same time, he knows what he did cannot be forgiven. In their relationship, Su-a is a victim, and she never forgets the pain that was inflicted on her. Not once in the story does she refer to him by his name, she always calls him "that man", and she's repulsed by his touch. While she can never forgive him, they spend a winter together and she extends him the courtesy of respecting his last wish before he dies. Haesu's feelings for Su-a are complex, rooted in guilt and self-hatred, but also in the admiration of Su-a's innate kindness that she shares with Uihyeon.
Uihyeon, as later revealed in the series, is the son of a famous pro-Japanese judge. While studying in Japan as a student, he experienced the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. In the wake of the tragedy, he witnessed the murder of ethnic Koreans, and only avoided the same fate because of the help of the family he was staying with. Crushed by his inability to help the victims, he looked up at the sky and was reminded of the words his mother spoke about how the moon looks the same from both Joseon and Japan - but instead of comforting, he found the situation cruel because the moon truly looked beautiful, despite the tragedy occurring on the ground. It was the moment when he decided he wanted to see the moon of a free Joseon. Upon returning to his homeland, Uihyeon sold the lands under his name and joined the independence fighters, becoming close friends with Haesu.
Uihyeon and Haesu serve as great foils who go through vastly different experiences throughout the story. After their first meeting, Haesu quickly realizes that Uihyeon is different from him, and that makes it hard to trust him - Uihyeon hesitates when he is asked to kill, and feels immense guilt upon pulling the trigger, while Haesu already lost everyone close to his heart and can be more rational. Uihyeon is an emotional person, characterized by the love for his country, in his words "Joseon is [his] mother, [his] friend, [his] brother, and [his] lover." Haesu tells him that Uihyeon can have his great romance, while he will be the "venomous one", foreshadowing their future relationship with Su-a as well who lost her voice because of Haesu. Haesu endlessly distrusts people because of his past, but Uihyeon still has the mindset that he had as a kid - a hope for a better future, like how Uihyeon talks about the scent of rain that Haesu was curious about when he was younger. Uihyeon's "great romance" (idealism) and Haesu's "venom" (pragmatism) are both challenged by the narrative when Uihyeon is forced to kill, and Haesu is saved by the person he deeply hurt.
Ignorance and the mindset of the privileged
To avoid suspicion about Su-a's identity, Uihyeon claims that she is his relative while the two of them live together. Uihyeon teaches her how to read and write, and in exchange for returning home to visit his father, he asks someone working for his family for information about Su-a's former household. At the same time, Uihyeon's father tries to force him into a marriage with Haruko, the daughter of the Japanese family he stayed with in 1923. Haruko used to watch Uihyeon sitting under her window while she was playing the violin, and once he even told her he liked the song that she was playing. However, after the earthquake Uihyeon stopped listening to her music, and soon went home to Joseon.
Haruko tells her father that she would be happy marrying Uihyeon, but unbeknownst to her she is mistaking Uihyeon's amiable personality in the past for genuine romantic interest. Uihyeon is upfront with her about not wanting their union, and claims not to remember interacting with her in the past. For Uihyeon, everything about himself that was true before he went to Japan has become irrelevant, like how he doesn't reply to Haruko when she's talking about the music he used to like - in Uihyeon's heart there's no place for anything else other than the love for his country.
Haruko's conversation with Uihyeon highlights the difference in their priorities. Haruko, coming from a rich Japanese household, appears to be in a privileged position compared to the less fortunate people of Joseon. She has wealth, social standing and musical talent, as well as the freedom to choose a marriage partner whom she loves. Uihyeon is someone who has already become disillusioned with her world - he left his family, along with his status and wealth, and he wants to live and die for the people of his country. On the other hand, Haruko is not someone who can understand his pain and determination - for Haruko, musical recitals are still the main conversation topics, while the independence fighters are "rioters" and she believes Uihyeon couldn't possibly "be like them."
In spite of her naivety, Uihyeon refers to her as a kind person he never had feelings for and won't in the future either. Haruko is insistent that he might come to love her if they spend time together, but she doesn't understand that her ignorance about the suffering of Uihyeon's fellow countrymen is not something that he can overlook. Although Uihyeon doesn't blame her for having been born into a privileged position, he cannot relate to her after the tragedies he witnessed and cannot remain indifferent either. To him, giving false hope to Haruko and making her miserable as a result would be like committing yet another sin.
The Little Mermaid, and her prince who loved another
Some of the best love stories are ones that do not focus on romance. Su-a and Uihyeon's relationship is a tragic retelling of Andersen's famous fairy tale, 'The Little Mermaid'. Their bond is central to the plot, even if they spend most of the series separated from each other - the story starts and ends with them, thereby giving it a frame structure.
Su-a is only a servant girl when she finds Uihyeon washed up on the shore. She's someone who values life and that's why she decides to save him instead of calling the police. When Uihyeon first regains consciousness, he falls into the sea and it's Su-a who pulls him out. Uihyeon compares her to Andersen's mermaid princess, while Su-a thinks of herself as a fish who only wants to swim in the sea. She recognizes Uihyeon's good nature, thinking that someone with "[his] tone, [his] voice, [his] eyes" cannot be a bad person. Even though she's a servant, he treats her with respect and kindness. She tells him about herself, and wants to know more about him. But before she can put a name to her feelings, Uihyeon has to leave.
Su-a wants to see him again, even if for one last time, and her decision comes with the cost of losing her voice. Just like The Little Mermaid, Su-a cannot return to her "ocean", because her young mistress soon dies. Su-a doesn't know what she should do, she is unable to kill the man who took her voice, and she feels like there is no place for her anymore. When she reunites with Uihyeon, he is heartbroken to see that she got hurt because of the cause he is fighting for. Just like Su-a, Uihyeon also wanted to meet her again one day and thank her for saving his life, but she lost everything because of him. Uihyeon offers to let her live with him, and teaches her how to read and write. They share a room and walk home together every day. Uihyeon finds her company comforting and wants to be there for her when she needs him, and before he realizes it his feelings start to turn into romantic love.
However, Uihyeon's conviction for the independence of Joseon outweighs everything else. He knows that choosing to love and fight for his country means "keeping death a close companion"; therefore, he cannot commit to a relationship with Su-a even if he's unable to let her go. He tells her that she saved him so half of his life is made up of her, and promises to find her again in the future wherever she is, no matter how many times it takes. At the same time, Uihyeon is not aware that his father was informed about his participation in the independence movement and alerted the police about their hideout. As a result, the resistance fighters are forced to flee after Su-a warns them about the imminent danger - some of them get imprisoned or hurt, while Uihyeon is dragged back to his family home.
Uihyeon's father tells the police that his son was a spy in the organization, which leads to him being perceived as a traitor by his comrades. Uihyeon loses his will to live, blaming himself for the tragedy, but eventually steels himself to fight until his last breath after he sees the brutality that happened in the tea house. Pretending to go along with his father's wishes, Uihyeon announces his engagement to Haruko and returns to school, all the while conducting a plan to eliminate his own father. Su-a saves the life of Haesu and the two of them hide in a temple during winter. When Su-a overhears Haesu's decision to kill Uihyeon if he turns out to be a traitor, she disguises herself as a man and sets out to find him before Haesu.
Haesu ends up being the one to find him first, but Su-a saves Uihyeon's life by killing a soldier, getting shot in the process. Haesu sacrifices himself so the two of them can escape, and he thinks about how, if even for a moment, he wanted Uihyeon to become tainted, for Uihyeon to feel the desperation that followed him throughout his life. However, when he sees Uihyeon's eyes, he realizes he is still "Su-a's Uihyeon", meaning that his innate good qualities could not be completely erased even after what he experienced. Su-a says something similar to Uihyeon when she witnesses him burning his clothes after taking the lives of Japanese officers - that he's still the same person she met back on the beach. Uihyeon doesn't want Su-a to see how he "comes back with a new layer of filth" every day; how he loses his humanity after taking the lives of others. They both continue to accept and see the best in each other, while being afraid that the other could find their darkest parts.
Not allowing himself to love Su-a because of his commitment to his country and his sense of guilt, Uihyeon makes preparations to send her abroad with all the money he can give her. His goal is to use Haesu's bomb and kill his father, along with other high-ranking officials, ending his own life in the process. And one day, when they meet again, he wants to ask Su-a how beautiful the moon looked in a complete Joseon, implying that he can only reunite with her after death. The day before he plans to die, Uihyeon wants to make Su-a hate him, so he claims that he never loved her and she should forget about him. However, Su-a came to know of his plan and uses opium to make him fall asleep, taking the bomb with her and completing Uihyeon's task in his stead.
Su-a's journey is one of self-discovery: she initially thinks she's content with "living like a fish", until she realizes there's more to life. She keeps contemplating her purpose, about why the people around her can proudly give up on their lives for their beliefs. She understands it at the end of the story, when she not only saves Uihyeon's life once again, but also protects him from having to kill his own father. Su-a realizes that Uihyeon's greatest "love" is for Joseon to be a free country - just like in the story of 'The Little Mermaid', the prince already had someone else in his heart. Her mistress told her to go far away until she can forget who she is, but Su-a ended up learning more about herself, and through her love for Uihyeon she also grew to love Joseon just as much as him.
For Uihyeon, the commitment to love his country was so great it prevented him from acting on his feelings for Su-a. There's deep respect, longing and passion between them, and the story manages to convey the depth of their feelings even without them ever being intimate with each other. Uihyeon's "lover" can only be Joseon, but Su-a also ends up symbolizing their country - she lost her voice, she lost her freedom, and she was even forced to kill; yet dies for the one she loves of her own accord. All the symbols in the series: the scissors, the opium bottle that Su-a carries, the moon - they represent the conviction of the characters, the freedom that they long for.
The ending of the story is powerful - we never see Uihyeon's reaction to Su-a's sacrifice, and no one knows what happened to him. A few months after Su-a's death, Uihyeon sends a letter that is described as if it were written by a child; this is likely the letter Su-a left with him, explaining her decision. Whether Uihyeon took his own life after that, or whether he stayed alive, continuing to fight for independence honoring Su-a's decision to save his life - it's an open ending. The last scene seems to be about the two of them reuniting after death, with Uihyeon looking at the moon at the beach where they first met and greeting Su-a. It's possible he kept his promise and found her again, even if it was only in the afterlife, but under the skies of a free Joseon.
I could still write about other important characters and plot points, but my post is getting way too long haha All I want to say is that this is a beautiful webtoon that stays with you, and I hope more people can read it and appreciate its deep themes. Also, I'm aware this is a famous work on Naver, but I wish I could see more English discussions about it, that's why I wrote "no one" talks about it (just to clarify).
So now, time to cry :D
