#kyeom

it was the first day of freshman year, and it had been a while since you were last in a classroom setting. your parents dropped you off at your dorm, wishing you the best for class and leaving you alone to set up. your parents gave you a fair allowance which, when added to the little money you saved up working jobs, allowed you to opt in for a solo dorm. for the past year or so, you had little to no interactions with strangers who you'd see for a long time, and this made you worry that your social skills were perhaps rusty.  

you saw seokmin near the back of class. the seat next to him was empty, and he was reading a copy of hamlet. you made your way over to him and cleared your throat, announcing your presence. he looked up, pushing his glasses over the bridge of his nose, a glimmer of curiosity in his eyes. you smiled and pointed at the seat next to him. 

“is this taken?"

he shook his head no and smiled, moving his bag to let you take a seat. he went back to reading his book in silence, and you took this as a cue to pull out your own copy of comedy of errors.  

“what's your favorite work of shakespeare?” he asked, after a moment of quiet.  

“oh, me?” he nodded. “it's either hamlet or this,” you said, nodding at the book in your hand.  

“what about you?”  

“either romeo and juliet or a midsummer night’s dream,” he answered instantly.  

“a big romance guy, i see,” you teased him, to which he giggled shyly. “what other books do you like?”  

“not a lot by shakespeare, but i do enjoy other classics like pride and prejudice, persuasion, sense and sensibility, and you get the idea. what about you? big on romances?”  

“hmm, i don’t know. i don’t have a specific genre i enjoy; i’m more interested in the setting of the book and the background highlights of it, you know?”  

seokmin nodded in agreement, and you felt a soft glow in your chest. you barely knew this guy, let alone his name, but already liked being around him.  

“i’m y/n, nice to meet you,” you said, holding your hand out for him to shake.  

“seokmin, and likewise,” he said with a charming smile, shaking your hand. “so, what made you join intro to theatre, y/n?”  

you hesitated to tell him about your gap year. you weren’t particularly ashamed of it, but you noticed that people didn’t react well to it, often resorting to comparing you to your siblings’ success. but your subconscious argued that this guy knew nothing about your siblings and family, so you decided to tell him the truth. to your surprise, seokmin had also taken a gap year to work as an actor in a local play and decided to go to college after wrapping up to polish his skills further.  

your similar past and even more similar taste in hobbies instantly made you take a liking to him. from asking each other to be partners, taking up almost all the same classes, matching schedules, late-night binge-watching tv, attending (and performing) plays in theaters big and small, you had seokmin by your side. you had seen every possible side of each other: sad, heartbroken, vulnerable, raw—you name it. he had seen it all and still decided to stick by your side. when you told him about your plans to do an mfa in playwriting and direction rather than performing on stage, he had given you utmost support and joked that you should cast him and give him his big break.  

and much less to your surprise, you found seokmin sitting there in your postgraduate class for creative writing. when questioned about his sudden plan to pursue the degree, 'i’m just following where my heart takes me,' was all he said.  

years passed, but your friendship with seokmin only grew. he was one of the closest people in your life, your best friend, and you knew you were his too. he met your family, who accepted him as one of their own and often teased the two of you about romantic ties. he had been your date to all your siblings’ weddings, saving you from sticky situations with pesky relatives, and at this point, everyone was convinced the two of you were endgame. however, whenever someone asked, you’d just politely smile and decline, saying you’re just friends.  

but now that you were twenty-five, and your parents were well in their seventies, they started to bring up the topic of you hopefully getting married. they never pressured you into going on dates or meeting their friends’ sons, not even once, but they did express how much they’d love to see their youngest daughter get married. that was until one night, when you were staying over at your parents’ house, you overheard a conversation.  

“i’m worried, you know,” your dad said. “i’m scared one day we won’t be around, and she’ll be all lonely.” 

your mum made her way from the vinyl shelf to her husband, taking a seat next to him. “she’s capable of taking care of herself, you know.” 

“i know she is, but still, as her father, i worry. i just really hoped to walk her down the aisle to a man i know will always keep my daughter happy. i would die a happy man.”

“yes, but she’s happy now. let her be. her happiness is all that matters, after all,” your mum patted your dad’s hand and squeezed it, giving him a small smile.   your dad nodded, accepting your mother’s words.  your heart absolutely burst into parts. with tears streaming down your face, you decided that you would fulfill their one wish in return for all the love they gave you.  

“i want to get married.”  

seokmin spit out the drink he was nursing at your sudden confession. after leaving your parents’ home, you called seokmin and asked him to meet you at your regular coffee shop.  

“so... so suddenly?” seokmin asked after wiping the corner of his mouth, his drink now forgotten.  

“yeah, it’s just—” you stopped. you knew he wouldn’t judge you, but you weren’t sure yourself. part of you wanted to wait for love like everyone else, but the other, much stronger part of you wanted to fulfill your parents’ wish. you told him about the conversation you overheard and looked back at seokmin to say, “it’s just that i want them to be happy, you know? they’ve done so much for me and let me explore myself into being this person with no pressures. i just want to give back to them.”  

seokmin nodded solemnly, and you could almost hear the gears in his head turning. after a moment of silence, he quipped, “we... could get married.”  

now it was your turn to stay quiet. marriage? with seokmin?  

in hindsight, it wasn’t a bad thought. you trusted seokmin with your life and knew he would never do anything to hurt you. your careers aligned, so you wouldn’t have to worry about what the other does or how it will affect them, and he had spent over enough nights to know the two of you could coexist very peacefully in the same space.  you slowly looked at seokmin and nodded. “are you sure, though?”  

in return, he just gave you his trademark smile and said, “yeah, i’m just following where my heart takes me.”  

the two of you decided to announce your ‘engagement’ to both your families by the end of the month. you tried to be more affectionate in public, in front of your friends especially, so the sudden marriage announcement wouldn’t come as a shock. you even started to show a more romantic side of each other on your social media. seokmin took you to decide on a ring, one that he had saved for, and booked the two of you a dinner cruise with his planned proposal. all he said was, “can’t let the romantic in me die now, can i?”  

now, in the car seat outside your parents’ house, with a ring on your finger, you were worried about how they would take the news. your entire family, siblings and their spouses too, were present for this dinner, and you couldn’t think of a better place to announce it.  seokmin opened the door for you and held your hand throughout. his presence felt like the comfort you desperately needed. your family welcomed the two of you with warm hugs and kisses, no one noticing the ring. when dinner rolled around, you and seokmin shared a look, deciding this was the right time to announce it. you clinked your glass with a fork, standing up and waiting for the room to quieten.

 “we... have an announcement,” you looked over at seokmin, who gave you an encouraging smile. “seokmin and i are getting married,” you smiled in your parents’ direction.  

the whole room erupted into cheers, your sisters fighting over to see your ring while the men patted seokmin on the back. your mom hugged you tight, a small tear sliding down her cheek, and you saw your dad discreetly wipe his own. in that moment, you saw seokmin and realized maybe he was meant to be yours all along.  

the next few months passed in a blur of wedding preparations. both your and seokmin’s families were excited at the news of their youngest getting married and pressed the two of you to plan the wedding of the decade. getting over your initial hesitance, you decided to fully enjoy the planning, and seokmin’s forever-positive outlook made even the tedious tasks seem enjoyable. one night, when you finally had some alone time with no deadlines to finish and no wedding meetings scheduled, you decided to look through your old photos and videos, backing them up and sorting them. you were honestly surprised at the amount of photos and memories you had with seokmin, some of which you didn’t even remember, and you were glad to have them saved digitally. looking at the picture of seokmin you took during freshman year, you felt your heart skip a beat and small butterflies erupt in your stomach.  

he looked so much younger than he does now, yet so much the same. he gave this signature toothy grin, posing with a bagel. you giggled to yourself as you saw more silly pictures of him, and you thought to yourself, ‘what if i like him more than a friend?’ you quickly shook it off because this was seokmin for god’s sake! he had seen you get drunk and throw up in front of your long-time crush, all while trying not to get sick himself. he was your closest confidant, but now that the thought entered your mind, you couldn’t help but wonder if it’s really such a bad idea to love seokmin more than a friend.  

the wedding planning was of no help to your already tumultuous thoughts and feelings that were growing for seokmin, and spending all your time with him, along with the romantic acts he did to come off as the perfect fiancé, took a toll on your poor heart. one week after you first had the thought, you had now realized that you may have been in love with seokmin all this time.  

you remembered precisely when it started: during your second year of undergrad, when your boyfriend broke up with you, and only seokmin was able to comfort you. he held you as you cried, got you ice cream, and binged cheesy sad romance movies with you. he was always there, just a call away, and you now realized that the adoration you held so dearly for him was actually love. no wonder you barely had any successful relationships after that, because all you searched for in them was seokmin, subconsciously comparing them all to your best friend. hell, when the two of you announced your engagement on your socials, everyone from your old university, including your exes, joked that they always knew you’d end up with seokmin. it has truly always been him.

seokmin wasn’t doing so great either. when he first proposed the idea of marriage, he thought he could keep his romantic thoughts to himself. but soon, seeing you in such a romantic and domestic light, all the feelings he had spent years suppressing started to bubble over the surface. he’d catch himself staring longer than a friend should and mentally reprimand himself for slipping. thank god you were always distracted by something to notice. sometimes he felt like he was betraying you by not telling you the truth, and these conflicting emotions led to him making a very stupid decision. or perhaps a great one, his subconscious argued.  

seokmin decided to confess everything during your rehearsal dinner party, finding it harder and harder to keep his feelings under wraps. he arrived at the venue beforehand to decide on the spot where he would confess. he figured if you accepted his feelings, it should be a moment that lived fresh in his mind for all his days, and if you were to reject him, he would at least like to be rejected in front of a pretty view. always such a romantic, your voice rang in his head, and a smile formed on his face. seokmin gave himself a small pep talk, texting you to meet him by the bench around the back of your venue.  

he saw you walk out, looking around in awe at the empty courtyard, with fallen cherry blossoms from the trees scattered around. your eyes met his, and you gave him a shy smile, making his heart skip a beat. you made your way over to him, and his heart started to beat faster.  “what's up?” you said, giving him a questioning smile.  “i—” seokmin’s words were stuck in his throat. for a second, he was so mesmerized by you, just you, that he forgot what he had prepared and just said, “i love you.”  

now it was your turn to be at a loss for words. seokmin took your silence as a cue to continue.  “i... i love you. and i’m not saying this now, just two days before our wedding, for the sake of it. i have been in love with you for so long. years, if i’m being honest. you own every corner of my heart. hell, you are my heart. my everything. that's why i felt compelled to be closer to you, to have you near me. you were the one my heart made me follow, y/n. i just don’t want to marry you, if you still want to marry me, under a fake guise that i am doing this to help you, and i couldn’t help but feel like i was betray—”  seokmin’s spiraling rambling was cut off by you softly pressing your lips against his.  

seokmin’s eyes grew wide, and he froze. when you felt him try to pull back, he grabbed the back of your head and kissed you back. his lips moved slowly against yours before you pulled back to take a deep breath, a smile gracing your face.  seokmin mirrored your smile and dived back in to kiss you again. this time, the kiss was filled with his desperation and longing for you.  “god, i fucking love you, you cheesy-ass romantic,” you whispered breathlessly when the two of you separated.  seokmin giggled and kissed your nose. “not as much as i love you, pretty girl.”  

Due to the length of this post, I will not be embedding the videos like I normally do. Also, I think I understood the first act better.

22 Long Ago and Far Way

Arthur / Guinevere

This is the much talked about Arthur and Guinevere marriage scene. Where Arthur and Guinevere are decked out in all white, the (prominent) ensemble actor who consistently plays the role of the priest (??) walks Arthur and Guinevere down the aisle. There are some rites, which I remember involve the priest giving Arthur a sword to kiss, and the same sword to Guinevere to kiss. Then Arthur goes down his knees and puts the ring on Guinevere, and vice versa. There’s a kiss (where for avoidance of doubt, I mean peck) at the end.

I don’t know what else is there to say. I think people crying about it on twitter would be more informative.

Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, Ector as well as villagers celebrate their wedding.

  23 How Deep The Silence                          

Lancelot

Lee Jee Hoon sang this at the mini live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjoLfp4XjW0

Sitzprobe at approximately 38:24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvg5_pFKDPE (sung by Park Kang Hyun)

As you probably already know, Lancelot has a thing for Guinevere too. And Arthur and Guinevere are getting married, so he is singing away his sorrow.

While Lancelot is singing at the side, Arthur and Guinevere (together with the villagers) are doing a slow dance.

After the song, Morgana and Merlin are at the side, and Merlin congratulates Arthur. Arthur tries to convince Morgana to dance with him (the same dance that pretty much everyone else is doing in the background – a different dance from the slow dance), which I don’t think he’s very successful though Morgana is moving in like the general direction.

Then Arthur decides it’s time to have a toast and picks up a cup, wherein Guinevere takes the cup from his hand and I believe suggests that Ector (as Arthur’s adoptive papa) gives a toast instead. There is a toast, Ector drains his drink, and well, the liquid in the cup is poisoned so Ector gets poisoned.

Merlin sniffs the cup and figures that the drink in the said cup is poisoned. I believe the conclusion (rightly or not) is that it was the Saxons that did it. For whatever reason, I get the impression that Morgana tried to poison Arthur but the job was botched ( due to Guinevere) so Ector got poisoned instead. Due to what I have heard subsequent, I’m quite sure Morgana was behind it.

In any case, Arthur is very upset about Ector’s passing, gets angry and basically pushes everyone (Lancelot, Merlin, Guinevere) away.  

24 Eye For An Eye

Morgana / Arthur / Wolfgang / Merlin / Ensemble

Sitzprobe at approximately 24:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvg5_pFKDPE

Aftermath of Ector’s passing. I think the main point is that Arthur wants revenge (on the Saxons for killing his father), but because Morgana and Wolfgang are also on the song, I wonder if these are the people who also want revenge (Morgana on Arthur for taking away what is hers, and Wolfgang on Arthur for killing his son).

Very cool scene where Morgana and Arthur are on the main level of the stage, with Wolfgang and the Saxons lowered in from above.

25 Go It Alone

Arthur / Lancelot

There is press call for this (first song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VyPBR64xz4

Alternative link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF65450Q3Co

The knights (including Lancelot) are arguing about a plan (probably battle plan). I think there is something about how Arthur managed to pull the xcalibur, with I think an implicit message that they should listen to him (to undermine Lancelot who I think is trying to tell them what to do). At some point Arthur walks in.

In any case, Arthur and Lancelot are not happy with each other. They end up fighting (with swords, while singing). Arthur wins (or maybe more accurately Lancelot gets hurt, and Guinevere intervenes). Arthur leaves and the knights follow him out. Guinevere does not follow Arthur out, asks if Lancelot is ok and tends to his wound. I think at this point, Arthur and Lancelot have fallen out.

26 Desire

Morgana / Merlin

There is press call for this (second song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VyPBR64xz4

Alternative link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RfjWRXeLD0

Sitzprobe at approximately 28:23 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvg5_pFKDPE (Shin Young Sook and Son Jun Ho instead of Jang Eun Ah and Kim Joon Hyun in the press call)

Due to my lack of understanding as to what is going on between Merlin and Morgana (I still wonder if they’re romantically involved or it’s complicated or something), I will let the press call speak for itself. My best guess is Morgana wants to recover from Arthur what she thinks is rightfully hers, but of course Merlin won’t let her have her way so they are not happy with each other.

Since then I think I have been led to believe that Morgana is Merlin’s former disciple, and there appears to be some kind of strange romantic thing going on between them, probably best summarized as it’s complicated.

27 Murmur of the Heart

Arthur

See: https://twitter(.)com/ivanmenchell/status/1143638854747901952/photo/1

Arthur is mourning the death of his father. Guinevere and Lancelot come to find him, but Arthur is very cold to Guinevere and pushes her away. Lancelot is concerned about the two of them but eventually leaves. Arthur pisses Guinevere off, she leaves, and he thinks about chasing after her but is too immobilized by pain.

This is the song that Junsu sang at the mini live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zguq_OAHsr8

For those so concerned, I think there are other Junsu performances of this song.

28 When Worlds Collide

Merlin

Morgana went to Merlin’s cave and is looking through Merlin’s stuff for something. Merlin catches her and is not happy, so at some point is holding her quite aggressively. I think my understanding subsequent is pretty much Merlin tries to finish Morgana off. Arthur barges in at this point, is very angry at Merlin and takes Morgana away.

Song starts at this point – what it is about, I have no idea. But it seems triggered by Arthur’s fondness for Morgana.

29 How Do You Make it Stay

Guinevere

Min Kyung Ah sang this in the mini live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBuJWVnO42U

This starts with Guinevere going to dip her feet in a small pool. Lancelot comes along, and they chat. What about, I think topics (amongst others, include Arthur, i think how to help Arthur and how Arthur is pushing her away).

As foreshadowed before, Lancelot likes Guinevere. After perhaps chatting (and at the end of the song), they come quite close to kissing, but (if I recall correctly) Guinevere pushes Lancelot away.

30 Eye for an Eye Reprise

Wolfgang / Arthur / Saxons

There is a press call for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izb7atfnBaw

Alternative link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t41VyZa61U0

Starts with the Saxons demonstrating their strength. Wolfgang and his many Saxons walk in (well most of the Saxons walk, Wolfgang doesn’t need to). I think this is one of the few (if only) video on the internet floating around on the internet which showcases the Saxons well.

Arthur and his knights are lowered in from the top of the stage (this is the same mechanism that is used in the earlier Eye for an Eye with the Saxons on top).

There is some mention from the knights that Lancelot is missing, but I think Arthur says that they have to go without him.

It says Eye of an Eye Reprise, but really I think it’s quite different. In the original Eye for an Eye, I don’t think there were solo ensemble lines this prominent (here the priest (a prominent Camelot ensemble) gets multiple solo lines, and the prominent Saxon (the one with the huge headgear) also gets multiple solo lines). Arthur and Morgana have solo lines in the original Eye for an Eye but none here.

31 Never to Love

Lancelot

There is press call for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQO9ePYiE5U

Alternative link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3P_dZN2SvA

Park Kang Hyun sang this at the mini live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHs23a7a8e4

Sitzprobe at approximately 32:00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvg5_pFKDPE (Lee Jee Hoon)

From the title, I guess he is mourning about Guinevere. Anyway, it is clear that he is depressed or at the very least not happy. At the end of the song, he takes out a dagger, and is close to slitting his wrist or stabbing himself. Guinevere finds him and stops Lancelot (this part is not captured in the press call). 

They embrace and I think they kiss.

32 This is How it Ends

Morgana / Arthur (Lancelot and Guinevere are credited on this on the OST listing but I’m not sure because they are in the scene kneeling, but as for singing, not sure) 

As foreshadowed earlier, Lancelot is not with Arthur and the knights, and I think here Arthur has come looking for Lancelot. However, Morgana revealed to Arthur that Guinevere was cheating on him with Lancelot. Arthur gets angry (at Lancelot and Guinevere, who are at this point kneeling on the floor). This is a back and forth song between Morgana and Arthur, very cool. Lancelot and Guinevere do not attempt to put up any resistance, and Arthur comes quite close to using the sword on both of them. In the end he doesn’t, and I think tell them to get out of his sight and never appear in Camelot again.

33 Telling of the Tale Reprise

Merlin

I think Arthur told Merlin about what happened. Merlin does some magic, which I think makes him look like Arthur (and has some damage reflect thing going on). Arthur (I think Merlin pretending to be Arthur), just offers himself up to Morgana to kill. Morgana does stab him, and has perhaps all of two laughs before she realizes that she is injured too (along with Merlin).

34 When Worlds Collide Reprise

Merlin / Morgana

Morgana is understandably angry at Merlin. But I think Merlin kind of comforts her, and as I understand it, they die in each other’s arms.

I still wonder if they are romantically involved.

35 What Does it Mean to be a King

Arthur

Kai sang this at the mini live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnrqZNZeWsY

Think Camelot (Arthur and his knights) are preparing to go to battle with the Saxons. Arthur then considers, as the title suggests, what does it mean to be king.

35A Battle

Saxons come in, and there is a battle between the Saxons and Camelot.

Scene starts with many people fighting, but at some point it’s Arthur versus Wolfgang and a few Saxons. Lancelot rushes in at some point, and together with Arthur, they successfully defeat the Saxons (yes and killing Wolfgang in the process). However, it seems that Lancelot has gotten critically injured in him assisting Arthur.

36 Field of Glory

Arthur cries heartbrokenly over Lancelot’s death. Has to get pried away by the ensemble in charge of the rites. Lancelot get carried off stage in what must be his funeral rites, with Arthur following along like a lost puppy.

37 Long Ago and Far Away Reprise

Guinevere / Arthur

At the tail end of Lancelot getting carried off, Guinevere (now a nun) appears. Arthur begs her to go back to him. Guinevere declines because she cannot forgive herself. They sing for a little bit, and it seems that Guinevere bids him goodbye and leaves.

38 Remember This Night Reprise

Left with no one now (Ector dead, Lancelot dead and Guinevere alive but does not want to go back to him), Arthur climbs back up the rock formation.

This is similar to the last scene in the first act. This time, perhaps, Arthur is more fitting as king. At the end of the song, lights again, more intense and Arthur thrusts his sword into the air, very much mirroring the end of the first act.