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~ Conspiracy in the Court ~ DIRECTOR'S CUT
As reality derides my most fervent convictions,
and as my every aspiration becomes the seed of lamentable sacrifices,
~ Episode 6 ~
is my never giving up truly the answer?!
You have been exposed as well,
so we could say you are no longer of any use to us.
However,
you could just eliminate those who know about you.
Slay Inspector of the State Tribunal Park Sang Gyu.
Will you answer your calling?
I could easily find another way to deal with this.
It will be the very last venture proving your value to our cause.
May I suggest you briefly return to your chamber, Sire?
I am deeply concerned that direful complications might afflict you.
No.
It has been long since we were last informed of Her Highness's departure,
how much longer will His Majesty have to await?!
It seems troops dispatched from the Royal Guard Garrison...
are being deployed inside the capital.
Even Her Highness is making her return.
Will this herald a crimson tide sweltering us all?!
We already are basking in it.
Can't your eyes see the repentant blood dripping from those stones?!
Your Excellency!
We must find a way to survive through this!
Ha!
From where did all these vexatious quandaries originate?!
From where?!
Her Highness has made her return.
Did you experience any discomfiture on the way, Your Highness?
My visit to Gyeongbok Palace caused my belated arrival.
Did I not tell you how fervently His Majesty was awaiting her?!
There is no need for excessive reproach.
The reason we visited Gyeongbok Palace was...
to pray for long-lasting health and prosperity to bless Your Majesty and our Joseon.
It seems the physician His Excellency clamored for has been found,
so I shall soon fulfill your fervent wishes and regain my vigor.
Is that so?
How comforting.
She will join you from here on in.
She is still unversed in all vicissitudes of palace life,
so accord her your support in earnest.
As for Hang Shim,
she briefly returned to her hometown, tending to her late mother's rites.
Until she makes her return,
Na Young shall take over her duties here at the dispensary.
I will.
I come from the Office of Public Services. My name is So Ji.
You, too...
know Lady Jo?
What are you talking about?
Never you mind.
If you wish to escape from this life of yours,
all you can do is wait...
for someone else to take your place.
I heard that Hang Shim returned to her hometown.
So why are you still here, Milady?
For a traitor's offspring like myself,
a slattern victim of the most harrowing of debasement,
there is nowhere else to go.
Milady!
By any chance,
should I escape from these walls...
Would you be able to help me?
Of course!
I shall do everything for you.
I would love to leave this place myself.
Would you be able to protect me?
That...
If only the past long gone by could be awaiting beyond those gates,
I would eagerly cross them.
Are you confident you can do this?
I shall stake my life,
and help you in every way.
Were you looking for me, Your Highness?
Unfamiliar troops are being dispatched to the capital.
What on earth is happening?
It seems they are troops from Hwaseong,
summoned to meliorate security in the capital.
Then again, I am sure concern must be engulfing him.
But why is he incognizant of the fact that killing by the sword...
can only bring forth the rancor of even more vengeful blades?!
What are his subjects doing?
I am asking why they cannot even offer His Majesty any fruitful advice.
They are deeply involved with the renovation policies His Majesty clamored for.
Look.
Moved by the whims of the hands that feed them.
Throw food here, and here they come.
Sprinkle it over there, and soon they follow.
As if forced by the fateful hands of their puppeteer,
are not those subjects just like these fish?!
*Gyeongmyeon Jusa (Maercurius Sulphuratus Ruber)
It is a miraculous treatment known as cinnabaris*.
It is effective against a multitude of maladies, with almost immediate effect.
*Traditional Korean paper
Dried on Hanji* and singed,
should its fumes be used against the affected parts,
it will prove efficient in treating purulence.
Any successful precedent?
During the former king's reign, Vice Minister of War Seo Jeong Hwan...
was completely cured of all his purulence.
With one treatment per day administered at sunset,
and close observation of its effects,
five treatments shall suffice to see significant effects, Sire.
Proceed as suggested.
Sire.
With nobles from the provinces as its core,
a group protesting against the military levies is heading for the capital.
So that is what brought you here.
Even the former king attempted to force such levies upon the nobles,
but once he realized it was against our principles, he renounced such policies.
Or perhaps he did try to bring them into fruition,
but the regimental opposition of all the nobles holding power...
inevitably forced him to renounce his plans?!
Sire.
They are the same subjects who preserved our 400-year-long legacy.
Forcing your policies through brute authority is not the wisest course of action.
Recall what happened with Minister Lee?
The same man you so fervently cherished ended up betraying you.
- And he also... - That is enough!
Should even the same situation befall me,
I will gleefully make the same decision.
Sire!
Sire.
Inspector Park Sang Gyu seeks audience.
And what is that supposed to mean?
I shall serve your ringleader with utmost zeal and fervor.
Allow me to meet that person.
I do not seem to understand what you're trying to imply.
Let us not act this way, Lady Jo.
Your clan has been serving the royal family for generations.
I am not going to deny your limitless influence in the court,
but I also know you are acting on someone's behalf.
Such venturesome insinuations.
I shall accord you until the morrow to decide.
Even rats can bite a mouser, if forced into a perilous corner.
May you not...
make the same mistake.
You can no longer investigate?!
My ineptitude prohibited me from living up to your expectations, Sire.
And what's more,
as the wound in my back has relapsed, moving itself is strenuous.
May you...
appoint a more suitable candidate in my stead, Sire.
Everyone, leave.
Sire.
There is no precedent of a ruler engaging in solitary parley with a mere official.
He might have encumbered himself to...
Exactly because he is a "mere official," it is nothing of concern.
On the day I first met you outside these kingly walls,
you said you were looking for Minister Lee's daughter, right?!
Did you find her?
I could...
not find her.
So does your no longer being able to investigate...
stem from any involvement on her part?
It is not something she would ever be able to do alone,
so who is instigating her?
Sire!
Think your silence will shelter her?
Tell me who it is at once.
Why is Your Majesty...
only asking me who is instigating her?
Why are you not asking me whom they are after, Sire?
Is Eunuch Seo out there?
Yes, Sire.
I attempted with persuasion,
but all they did was deride my convictions, just cause as their only pretext.
It is now time I find the pretext and just cause they so fervently clamor for.
Yes, Sire.
If he is exposed to those fumes,
he will lose consciousness for half a day?!
Yes, Your Excellency.
Aside from His Excellency and Physician Choi,
is anyone else aware of this?
Nobody is, Your Excellency.
Your Excellency...
Half a day...
Half a day to accomplish our goals as he lies unconscious...
What are you doing here?
Have you forgotten your call already?!
Milady...
Even if let be, he is not going to cause any quandaries.
Is it truly necessary to slay him?
You slattern!
So you truly fomented devotion for that varmint?!
I did not.
I merely think it unnecessary to...
Whether it is necessary or not, that is for me to decide!
So all you need to do is follow my instructions.
Bear this in mind.
The path kindling our future legacy and avenging your parents' demise...
shall never be laden with personal intents.
Listen, Wolhyang.
Who on earth could it be?
I am well aware that only high officials are welcome here,
let alone people like us being able to enjoy a night of drinking.
So who could ever bestow such a feast upon us, not to mention the slatterns?
I merely proceeded as instructed.
So I asked, who on earth could have bestowed such opulent luncheon...
upon lowly military officials such as ourselves?!
You may be seated.
I am Chief of Mercantile Affairs Yang Man Oh,
daring to pay his respects to you esteemed gentlemen.
Ahh, and how could Your Excellency allow such miserabl...
To deal with expenses for the upcoming transfer of the capital,
the apportion bestowed to the Five Army Garrisons has been severely curtailed,
not to mention all the subordinates you lost to the Royal Guard Garrison,
so the pride and legacy of Joseon's most illustrious battalion...
has long hit its lowest point.
You little...
Your Excellency.
What makes a general are his sharp blade and all the men at his disposal.
However, as their subordinates worry about feeding their families,
and as generals frantically engage in abusive trading to fill their bellies,
it is only natural their blades would lose all sharpness,
their spears rotting like forsaken antiques.
You knave!
Therefore,
wondering whether I could assist you in any way, I organized this luncheon.
And who ever said we will accept help from a lowly merchant like you?!
Continue.
Is "lowly merchant" inscribed upon the crops you could feed your men with?!
How could glory and honor become a matter of upbringing?!
Should you endeavor to request any help of mine befitting your quandaries,
I merely ask that you commensurate for the support I give you.
Drink it all at once.
General!
Let's move!
*Also known as seom (approx. 47 gallons)
Five hundred seok* to the administration office,
six hundred to the cellars in Mapo,
for a total of eleven hundred seok.
We will also make sure your subordinates are provided for.
So what is it we must do to repay all this generosity?
You shall soon find out.
I shall keep in close contact.
I hear certain varmints are targeting crops, as of late.
Reinforce security.
Is that not the issue, after all?!
Master.
The reason I accorded you my trust was exactly to see...
an end to the famine forcing our people into thievery.
And how could I ever forget your wishes?!
However...
This is merely an inevitable process which shall lead to the completion of our goals,
its collateral effects soon to become a thing of the past.
Reflect upon what you just said.
Did not the yangban use these same words to inveigle our people,
for the last few centuries?!
Now that their silk and opulent abodes bedeck your livelihood,
did your mores change along with your garments?!
Treason, you said?!
Indeed.
As a royal subject cognizant of such developments,
should you not attempt to stop that?!
Me?!
And you believe I would have enough influence to do so?
Countless people may lose their lives over this.
There will be surely those who can help you,
amongst our recurrent patrons.
Would anything change, if I took a step forward?!
No matter who graces that throne,
our people's throeful appetence shall never concern him,
and neither will all the men lost on the battlefield return to their families.
If Ju Pil Hyungnim could come back to life, I would understand.
Naeuri!
It does not concern me.
I plan to soon leave this place.
Joseon's future.
Politics for the sake of our people.
That is nothing I should concern myself with.
Naeuri.
Someone is seeking your audience.
Milady!
Did you truly leave the palace?
It feels like a dream, Milady!
I received orders to slay you, Naeuri.
I...
even prepared everything to fulfill that call.
You know very well what this is, right?!
It is drenched with shikimi berries.
These needles of mine shall make you swoon,
and as I pierce the back of your head,
I will force you to drink this poisonous nectar.
Just in case you realized what I was to attempt,
I was prepared to pierce you deep down that fatal spot,
and open the gates of dissolution with this long needle.
Milady!
I must briefly head somewhere,
so you must not allow entrance to anyone.
I understand, Milady.
There is no way.
You would never do that.
The physician you attempted to rescue...
must be wandering the Hades by now.
They are the same people who slew His Excellency and many other innocent victims...
only to test the effects of this poison.
Think you would be able to intimidate them enough to stop this all?!
If you could only find refuge right now,
I would immediately seek audience with His Majesty.
I have evidence which Lady Jo cannot do a thing about.
Do you believe that what you just drank...
was mere wine?!
I...
merely was inebriated by it.
T...This...
I am forcing this unsightly spectacle upon you.
Why...
don't you bawl at me...
for poisoning those drinks with murderous intents, Naeuri?!
It cannot be...
I merely let those drinks inebriate me...
In no time...
that poisonous nectar will start to drench...
your every vein.
Milady!
I recall the past.
Nary a thing has changed about you, despite all these years.
As alluring as those adulations might be,
they shall not lift this skirt on their own.
I am well aware that a young fellow sweepingly stole your heart.
They are talking of treason.
As if treason was but a guileless jest gracing a moppet's lips.
I am not talking of the guileless jests you scheme in your outer quarters.
Countless innocent victims and the Minister of Personnel were sacrificed.
If whom they are after resides in the palace,
then what other words could describe their intents, if not treason?!
And whom would that be?
I have known Your Excellency for a decade.
I am sure that sagacious acumen of yours can suggest a possible culprit.
You might take what you wish for,
but should we not make sure neither side ends up tarnished by this all?!
You want me to help that young fellow?!
Ohh Ohh...
I still see something filling that cup.
How could nectars which never inebriate you be christened as "wine"?
Like the fatuous slattern that I am,
I shall rather gaze at the gleaming moon.
Milady...
Will you hold my hands?
I even endangered your life...
What a witless fool that I am.
His Majesty told me clearly.
That there is no best solution,
and the lesser evil is all you can choose.
But that is not what I believed.
I believed that saving you from the claws of dissolution was possible,
that it was the best and only solution...
Naeuri!
Are you trying to avenge your father, the former Minister?
So is that why you wish to slay the King?
You shall never be able to.
His Majesty is aware of who you are.
He is a chilling specimen.
He knew how much I yearned for you,
but he still orders me to capture you?!
Milady...
I wish to survive.
I wish to live along with you.
But should my survival cause you harm,
I shall gleefully perish instead.
The hopeless gloom which clouded my life...
is something...
you should have never basked in.
What has happened to you, Naeuri?
You so dearly yearned for her embrace.
Did you so easily renounce your life for her sake?!
If this had to be the answer,
why did you not let those who truly cherished you...
ask for your precious devotion instead?!
He is the leader of the varmints who penetrated the cellars in Mapo.
I wanted to let him go, but from what I hear, this was not their first time.
Are you telling me security was heedless enough to allow all this?!
Even if you employed the Grim Reaper at your service,
think you would stop the enraged onslaught of our famished people?!
Shut that gob.
Don't you realize leaving you to the authorities will spell your demise?!
Be it famine or lashes what consumes my last breath,
would ruffians sniveling under the yangban's might such as yourselves...
even realize what that means?!
Sniveling under what?!
Who else would become servile dogs fawning upon those yangban's whims,
spitting on our people's blood and sweat on their way to success,
if not reprehensible merchants such as yourself?
I only...
did that for the sake of our people.
So that not a single man would have to starve,
so that the day would come when prosperity will bless us all.
You deranged fool.
Your tongue lovingly fondles the very soil those yangban walk on,
and now their drivel even besmirches your parlance!
Speak no more, you varlet!
If we leave him to the authorities, he will not survive.
Think about it.
Make sure nothing like this repeats itself,
and reinforce security.
Did we not cross those yangban's gates to quench our hunger ourselves?!
We are no yangban!
I am just telling you that they see us as such.
Even some market chiefs are beginning to think like them.
Don't they know that the reason why finding crops is getting harder by the day...
is not because we closed our shops, but that it stems from failed policies by the court?!
Should any market chief harbor such sentiments,
we must either soothe them or threaten them otherwise.
Look, Man Oh!
I am the Chief of Mercantile Affairs.
- Master. - Leave us.
We got word that Park Sang Gyu perished.
Sang Gyu!
What happened to you, Sang Gyu?!
Sang Gyu!
You knaves!
Sang Gyu!!
Sang Gyu... Sang Gyu!!
Milord!
Your Excellency.
Your Excellency, how do you explain all this?!
My Sang Gyu was perfectly fine just yesterday, how could he perish?!
Your Excellency!
Your Excellency, what is this all about?
You wretched fool, leaving before your time.
What are you wailing for?!
What are you doing?
Take that body outside the capital gates and cremate him!
You cannot!
You can't do this to him!
No matter what he did, he still is your flesh and blood!
May you allow him a proper burial in our ancestral graveyard, Your Excellency!
Can we squander that land on just anyone?!
What are you waiting for?! Take him out!
Sang Gyu!
Inspector Park?!
What happened to him?
What caused his demise?
We heard that he suddenly perished on the street, after a night of drinking.
Did you verify his body?
His Excellency Park In Bin urgently took care of the cadaver.
So that is what happened to him?!
Sire.
Where shall we prepare the fumes for treatment?
*Inside Changgyeong Palace
At the Yeongchunheon*.
Check for any noxious herbs not listed in our registers.
Yes.
What brings you here, all of a sudden?!
Who gave you consent to investigate the Royal Dispensary?!
We received orders from His Majesty to investigate all herbs in the dispensary.
Who on earth did this again...
Your Excellency.
Treatment is going to start in Yeongchunheon.
It is time we deploy our troops.
It is the perfect chance to strike.
Just cause is what we need, just cause!
If we instigate a massacre based on differing political views alone,
what would become of this country?!
Your Excellency!
Excessive oppression can only bring insurgents together...
and foment a unified spirit bolstering their cause.
No matter how feeble the opponent might be,
allowing them enough space to move is what politics is about.
You need to find a way for your opponents to willingly submit,
even if it will cause you quandaries.
How could you even rummage the infusion chamber?!
How are we supposed to administer treatments?!
You can continue once our investigation is complete.
What are you?!
I am in charge of controlling herbs in the dispensary...
That is not what I asked!
What are you hiding behind your back is what I am asking you!
This...
You slattern!
This!!
Is this not palgak?!
How could you so heedlessly manage such precious goods?!
You paltry slattern!
I shall conserve these goods personally, so it is from me you shall take them.
Will you have a drink with me?
Master.
What happened to the Inspector is most lamentable.
Had we been born in another time and place,
we could have become loyal compeers.
Your Excellency.
Your countenance betrays the kind of disquietude which...
would befit a parent who just lost her child after nefarious occurrences.
A court lady would never have a child to begin with,
so all that disquietude must come from losing this, meseems.
Is this all you can muster to comminate me, Your Excellency?!
Baseborn he might have been, but he was nonetheless my flesh and blood.
Avenging the rancorous throes of one's offspring,
is that not what the great sages always clamored their followers to do?!
What on earth is it that you want?
Did it have any effect on the purulence?
Yes, Sire.
I shall administer you a tonic to restore your vigor.
This is the place where my father was born.
I spent days here, pledging to myself I would avenge his death.
The reason I adamantly demanded to be treated here,
was my fervent hope that a new light could kindle...
the path our descendants will walk on.
Just like a voracious wraith struggling to survive inside these ghostly abodes,
my ardent hope to free our grieving people from affliction through a new Joseon...
burns these walls in raging fire.
There is no force under heaven as strong and inflexible...
as those ardent wishes of mine.
Hence...
no blade nor malady shall ever bring me demise.
His Majesty is aware of who you are.
However,
there is no quelling party strife nor quenching our people's grieving throes,
for too engrossed they both are in blaming him whose pate the crown adorns.
Their only sin being that of aiding their king's cause,
my most cherished subjects' demise painted the streets in a crimson tide.
The new Joseon which blessed my nightly vagaries...
only feels like a distant chimera from a world only dreams can accord.
May they be sweltered by dread,
may their teeth grind in apprehension,
but nothing I subject them to can vanquish their might.
It is not just cause what echoes from their victorious drums.
My failure to convince our people is what heralded their triumph.
As reality derides my most fervent convictions,
and as my every aspiration...
becomes the seed of lamentable sacrifices,
is my never giving up...
truly the answer?
Na Young.
What would you do?
Sire.
It is time you leave these quarters.
Sire! Sire...
Sire!!
Then...
Are you telling me His Majesty lost consciousness?!
He still had not recovered as I was returning here.
Let us head there.
You devious scalawag.
You dare collude with court ladies behind our backs?!
Your Excellency!
If you confess who the court lady who conspired with you is,
I shall accord you my clemence.
Who was it?
You do seem to display exacting fealty, but...
Think of the days you spent amongst nobles like us...
as a daring reminiscence of the life we are about to quell.
Without my aid,
how are you going to provide supplies for all those troops?
Once we herald the new genesis,
opening the Tribute Bureau's cellars is all we will need.
Providing all the supplies you granted us so far is where it ends for you.
Your Excellency!
Ahh... we have no time to squander.
Was it not a mere half day?!
We shall not issue any order!
It is not the time.
If we deploy the Five Army Garrisons...
and gain control of the capital, would it not all end there?!
And if we issue the order,
but His Majesty regains his senses as the troops are still preparing for deployment?!
They will gain the perfect pretext to assault us.
Or if we issue the orders, and the troops refuse to deploy?!
You are not telling me...
that you cannot trust the Minister of War?!
The half day passing by whilst His Majesty is unconscious...
We certainly are not the only ones awaiting that fateful moment.
Did they not issue any order?
They are showing prudence.
Suits His Excellency Shim Min Gu, for sure.
You made a momentous decision.
Seeing our country falter under a ruler's own pompous vainglory...
cannot be tolerated by any decorous courtier.
You shall soon meet our ringleader.
I shall make sure your indomitable resolve does not remain unnoted.
If I may dare to, I have a request.
How insolent!
Did he not already entrust his own survival to us?!
Tell me, what else are you asking for?
I trust you hope they will renounce any transfer of the capital?!
If such will be the case,
I wish for all the exclusive licenses they stole from us to be returned.
If you keep fulfilling your call,
that is something you will gain without even asking for it.
My gratitude, Milady.
Once the new genesis is upon us,
and the garments of a high official bedeck yours truly,
my position will naturally pass onto you.
Your grace is immeasurable, Your Excellency!
Remarkable!
Remarkable indeed!
Aigoo...
Were it not for you, I would have lost this great opportunity!
- I feel abashed. - No... no need!
I should rather feel abashed, for judging you as a squirrelly merchant.
Which is why I shall accord you a gift to make up,
*Tubular hats worn by nobles in Joseon
a gat* of inestimable value from the Qing!
More than a gat,
I would rather like for you to open one of the side gates for me.
Ahh... that is no troublous request!
Let us maintain this good will amongst us, shall we?!
All right?!
How is His Majesty faring?
His pulse is now stable,
but he still has not regained his senses.
Ahh Ahh... What vexatious quandary!
How could this...
Naeuri.
His Excellency is here to visit you.
How could you always tempest gales of disquietude upon this old matron?!
Sire.
Until the moment I completed my treatment and was about to leave,
I do have a slight recollection, but...
Na Young once again rescued you, Sire.
She did...
So she is the daughter of Minister Lee?!
May you return to your berth, Naeuri.
He expunged all that you drank,
but not all the nectar's poisonous vim was removed from your body,
according to the physician.
Then...
Milady?!
She believes you met your demise.
- Did she truly... - You heedless halfwit.
Did she not follow Lady Jo's instructions to slay you?!
Forget her.
The humanity...
How will Minister Lee feel in the netherworld?!
I cannot believe a single thing.
Not that Minister Lee could be guilty of treason...
nor that something so harrowing could befall Lady Na Young.
Involve yourself in all this again,
and your life shall not be the only thing sacrificed at the stake.
Nobody will trail in the shadows of a wraith,
so leave the capital at once, and conceal yourself.
I...
shall inform your brother in Naju prefecture in due time.
I have a request.
They are clear signs of improvement, Sire.
As you wandered in the clouds of torpor,
your abscesses were cured at the root, Sire.
Is that so?!
With another few treatments, they will disappear completely.
My sincerest congratulations, Sire.
Our congratulations, Sire.
My gratitude.
You lifted a ponderous weight off my shoulders.
I shall clamor people to serve your favorite delicacies at once.
Hasten, Lady Park.
I will, Your Highness.
I must accord that lady a title, at least.
She rescued her ruler not once but twice!
I surmise we should do so.
I chose the carriers amongst those gifted with alacrity,
and made sure you will easily depart for Qing territory via boat at any time.
What on earth are we scheming here?!
That shall suffice.
In due time,
the price of all commodities in Joseon will begin to wildly fluctuate.
While we still can, let us purchase as many goods as possible.
Particularly any and all goods coming from the Northern District,
as its fortunes are quickly running to a dramatic end.
Listen, Master Yang.
There will be no transfer.
We shall recover control of exclusive licenses as well.
It shall soon come the day...
when everything under creation will be in our hands.
I asked a recurrent patron of mine from the state tribunal,
but what is this about, Naeuri?
Is the case which brought Minister Lee to his death written in detail here?
Naeuri!
I have another request to make.
*Shinbu: identification marker issued only to those allowed to enter the palace
Can you find me an entry permit* at once?
You cannot!
Should anyone notice your presence,
His Excellency's every effort will end in vain.
There is something Milady must know at all cost!
You cannot do it!
Are you asking me to send you into the flames of demise?!
I shall not do it.
Just a moment.
I shall only meet her briefly and return here.
This will be the last time!
Is it not conscionable, after all?!
As I crossed those palace gates, most people bowed before my passage.
Farcical as it may sound,
their sole reason for doing so were these garments of mine.
What brings you here?
Right as the king perishes,
immediately head for the side gates connecting Honghwa Gate and Gyeongmo Palace.
A carriage shall be awaiting your arrival.
I made sure neither gatekeepers nor any guards shall cause you discomfiture.
What is the reason you so dauntlessly venture against demise?
This varlet,
when your clan fell into ruin,
and you became just as lowly as I was,
rejoiced as if his heart was pounding him back into life.
And that is because...
not for a single moment...
has this heart of mine stopped fomenting ardent wishes about you.
There is no force under heaven as strong and inflexible...
as those ardent wishes of mine.
If you so ardently aspire for something,
can it really come true?!
Milady...
Would my being a merchant of faculty...
be what helped me endure all the harrowing throes I was subjected to?!
It was the beautiful world so fervently gracing your thoughts that did!
May you...
accept my devotion for you!
As reality derides my most fervent convictions...
The world I aspired for...
And as my every aspiration...
becomes the seed of lamentable sacrifices...
What is it, after all?
Is my never giving up...
truly the answer?
Now...
I do no longer even know...
what that was.
Even if the entire creation is bestowed upon me,
it will be providence devoid of your embrace.
I shall forever maunder the Hades cursing this cruel destiny of mine...
Master Yang, I beg you...
Milady!
No matter how, I wanted to find a way to help you.
You were alive?!
However...
I now see it was not something my support could ever accomplish,
as belatedly as it occurred to me.
When the heavens accord you divine providence,
you should know when to accept their benevolence.
I shall now leave this Hanseong.
I had one last thing to show you,
so here I am.
It concerns His Excellency Minister Lee.
I could not deduce whose fault it was.
Not His Majesty...
nor Minister Lee,
His Excellency Park In Bin or even Lady Jo.
All they do is walk wherever their own aspirations lead them to.
Seo Ju Pil Hyungnim,
Master Yang as well...
But why must it always be rancorous blades deciding our fate?!
I cannot understand why.
May you...
follow Master Yang's wishes...
and at least protect yourself.
Have you heard?
If he is the one,
you might even find...
everything that time so heartlessly stole from you.
How could your legacy...
be soiled by treacherous intents?!
My fervent conviction that our people shall govern themselves firsthand...
shall never change, Sire.
So a pillar of this court such as yourself...
besmirches the crown bedecking my pate, harboring insurgents?!
Just as it graced the pages of western history,
someone must write that first chapter for us all.
I merely ended up accepting the brush fate bestowed upon me.
Would aiding my cause in strengthening the throne...
and completing our reforms as we so fervently hoped...
not lead us to the righteous path?!
I shall never forget that you share my views...
and concern for our people's future, Sire.
I can certainly envision the great aspirations gracing the mind...
of him I so dearly admired and agreed with,
but those aspirations are still but a remote vagary,
one we are not ready to fulfill yet.
The reality of this Joseon of ours is what should have colored those dreams.
Sire.
Reality shall always becloud our convictions.
How could you ever fulfill your aspirations, without sacrifice?!
I shall leave the capital in the morrow.
How unencumbering it feels.
I will walk wherever my feet lead me,
and if I meet a lady unsoiled by all these shadows,
I shall farm with her and together we shall raise children...
That is the life which likely awaits me.
I came here to make you my final request.
May you speak.
I leave Milady to your care.
Aigoo... my child...
Aigoo... Sang Gyu...
Did you say...
you will leave in the morrow?
Can the wraith of a deceased man maunder the capital?!
And Milady?!
Did you meet her?
I...
should have never gone there to begin with.
Naeuri...
What would Ju Pil Hyungnim have said?
"This raucous reality of ours calls for change,"
he would have sprung up saying, with his unmistakable vim.
May it be even against your own father,
or someone you so dearly yearned for...
That would have been the righteous path, I trust?!
Changing this world!
Is it even feasible?!
How can I accomplish what even our ruler failed to?!
I am but a breathing cadaver...
Why should the dead be so involved with worldly matters?!
I shall prepare your berth.
I shall never...
forget what she meant for me.
I am not confident I can brave this night in solitude.
Should I summon a nightly companion?
Are you feeling lonesome?
More than I have ever been.
Are you inside?
It is me, So Ji.
What happened to you?
I could not see you at the dispensary, so I was concerned.
*7~9am
The hour of the dragon* already passed by.
Let us leave.
Right...
Is Physician Choi looking for me?
He is not.
Lady Jo asked for you.
I... see.
I had heard exacting praise lauding how meticulous you are,
but reality does not quite seem to be the case.
The seventh month shall mark our crown prince's momentous enthronement.
Bestow the task of finding a propitious day to the Office of Astronomy.
Yes, Sire.
As for the transfer,
spare no effort so that it will be completed within one month of the enthronement.
*Short for Ueuijeong, (Right State Councilor)
Are you heeding my words, Usang*?
Loud and clear, Your Majesty.
Word graced my ears that merchants purposefully engaged in speculation,
causing grave discontent amongst our people by closing shops.
I expect the Commissioner of Mercantile Affairs to solve this impasse with celerity.
Minister of War,
promptly alert people of the eight provinces on my wishes regarding military levies.
Should anyone fail to comply with my instructions,
immediately apprehend them and escort them to the capital prisons.
Sire!
Do not squander time with such histrionics!
Eunuch Seo... Where is Eunuch Seo?
Sire...
Eunuch Seo has disappeared.
Even you leave me alone in darkly shadows...
Who will aid my cause now?!
So, who would that be?
Who is attempting to mobilize the Five Army Garrisons besides us?
Meseems Lady Jo and Lady Han might be in cahoots with General Song Sun Chan.
Court ladies?!
Court ladies...
Not to mention...
the fact that they promised I would be introduced to their ringleader.
Ringleader?!
Yes, Your Excellency!
So this sect bent on carrying Joseon's legacy past a millennium did exist.
Past a millennium?!
I heard someone from within was instigating eunuchs and court ladies.
Wh...Whom...
would that be?!
Would such vexatious quandaries afflict me, if I knew?!
We received our orders.
So Ji shall be entrusted with preparing the infusion.
Na Young...
What would you do?
By any chance...
should His Majesty refuse any infusion,
how shall I proceed?
He shall not be able to say those very words.
I shall tolerate no misstep whatsoever.
Is that clear?
"Father!"
Yes.
What brings you here?
I buried the loss of my son deep down my grievous soul...
and brought you those poisonous berries,
not to mention informing you of the courtiers' every move.
Allow me to meet your ringleader, right now!
Today it shall not be possible.
And why would it be the case?!
Our ringleader did agree to meet you, so never you worry.
Speak to me at once!
Why is it not possible today?
You shall soon find out.
Brought to you by WITH S2 Written In The Heavens Subbing Squad
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Main Translator and Timer: MisterX
Timing QC: wichitawx
Editor/QC: thunderbolt
Coordinators: mily2, ay_link
~ On the Next Episode of ~ CONSPIRACY in the COURT
Our ringleader deigns you all.
What did you use for that infusion?
Licorice, black pepper, and finally palgak.
In only three days, the capital will be in our hands!
You must make a decision, Your Excellency!
If this keeps up, both you and I will only meet demise.
This slattern has perished!
Are you really planning to abandon her?
I shall not return.
Naeuri!
So who instigated you to slay His Majesty?!
The ringleader who instigated me...
is inside this council hall, Your Highness.
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