I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
But you've come.
I heard you're going to Hanyang.
The academia can no longer condone the king's trespasses.
If the appeal is sustained,
your father's honor and your family name will be restored.
But what if it is rejected?
To lead a virtuous life, one cannot evade the right path out of fear.
This adversity will end for you soon.
Please wait until then.
Sir, when are you leaving?
In two days.
Can you come to see me off?
It is the day I go to the market.
I can go see you off.
It breaks my heart to leave you behind.
But it's for your sake hence I will not falter.
Sir.
Where have you been?
Yeon-hwa.
I asked you where you've been.
How can you do this to me?
How dare you, a mere...
What?
A mere what?
Because I'm a serf?
We were together even before your marriage was arranged.
Since when? And how?
I wrote poetry and he replied to them.
We exchanged verses, that's how we met.
We are enamored with each other.
You steal your friend's prospective husband.
You commit a taboo,
and you're telling me you like each other?
You are arranged to marry him but the one he truly loves is...
How dare you mention love?
You're mistaken.
He's nobility and you're a peasant.
That's not it.
That's not what this is about.
Is that why you sent him to Hanyang,
spurring him on, making him call off the wedding?
I was concerned about you.
It was harrowing to think of your reaction.
I still don't know how to break the news to you.
Then stop.
Just stop.
You're a noblewoman and you have everything you want.
But me... all I have is the love I have with Myung-jin.
He is my last hope, my sole raison d'etre.
Are you telling me you won't yield?
I... love him.
It isn't ironed properly.
Redo it.
Again.
Do it again.
You... you think you can take me for a ride?
That's uncharacteristic of her. I wonder what's gotten into her.
She was planning to get married to Mr. Myung-jin
in a carriage adorned with flowers.
And now, all that's kaput.
She's rightfully devastated.
Still, she seems like an entirely different person.
Now do you get the drift?
Our lives depend on the owner's whim.
You're just an unremarkable serf yourself. Got that?
Keum-young.
Yes.
Stop by the doctor's on your way to the market.
If you tell them it's for Miss Yeon-hwa,
they'll know what to do.
Yes.
Where are you going?
I'm sending her to the market.
Go after you wash my sheets.
It's unbearably damp.
Why don't you have her do it some other day?
Keum-young does it well.
Her wash is immaculate.
All right then. You may go after you do the laundry.
Yes.
Wash all the ones in the closet, as well.
Sir, when are you leaving?
In two days.
Can you come to see me off?
We should be off, Myung-jin.
Hand it to me.
No use barking up the wrong tree.
I told you when he's leaving
so you can see him for the last time.
Forget about him now.
It's disheartening to want too much in life.
Peasants like us have our own way of living.
Who's that?
Oh, my God.
What do you mean she and Wan-bo are intimate?
I saw them together.
No, really?
He fell for her because she's got a pretty face. Men...
My goodness.
Are you saying that she's seeing the traveling peddler?
It seems like it.
She used to leave at night.
That's enough.
A noblewoman should not intone such things.
I'm sorry, Mother.
Come out with it.
Where am I going?
Follow me.
Give her instructions.
Yes, My Lady.
Follow me.
Domestic work is the same wherever you go.
The rice will be delivered.
Your primary duties are preparing his meals three
times a day and brewing his medicine.
You know how to brew herbs, don't you?
Whose medicine?
He lies there all day.
Check in on him from time to time.
My Lady!
He's a distant relative with no family.
Take good care of him.
I refuse. Why are you doing this to me all of a sudden?
Did Yeon-hwa say something?
You refuse?
The gall.
How dare you talk back?
You're a mere servant!
Do as you're told!
Let's go.
- My Lady! - Take your hands off!
Do as you're told before you're plum thrown out onto the streets!
I can't believe that Keum-young would conduct herself that way.
Are you suspecting Yeon-hwa of telling a lie?
Even if it is true, you should reproach her,
not banish her to somewhere so odious.
We didn't accept her into our home to treat her that way.
We cannot allow someone like her to associate with Yeon-hwa.
Didn't I object from the beginning?
I had my reservations about her since they were children.
More alert and sharper than
Yeon-hwa, she was superior in everything.
Dear, please.
And only unfortunate events have befallen us since her arrival.
- Let go! - Come here.
What is it?
You know full well. lf you're going to see each other,
you should do it on the sly.
You want to know where Keum-young is?
You're here?
What brings you here?
I was just passing through.
I'm sorry to hear that you got sent here because of me.
It's not your fault.
I'd have been thrown out anyway.
You won't be able to sell any silk to them anymore.
Losing one customer isn't going to do me in.
I've been around the market since I learned how to walk.
Even my parents died on the street.
My so-called parents sold my younger sister, my only sibling,
into serfdom, for two bowls of barley during a famine.
When I first saw you, I wanted to ask you if you were my sister.
That's why I wanted to talk to you.
You resemble her.
Don't be too discouraged.
Even someone like me is surviving.
Stay alive if only to meet the one you long for.
Someone paid for this for you.
What do you want?
Wait!
I'm telling you I have to see Keum-young!
And l'm telling you she's not here!
She's not here, I tell you.
What brings you here?
I said what is it that you want?
I will relay it to her.
Be off.
I'm sorry?
Yes.
Bring his letters to me from now on.
Miss Keum-young,
I have been uneasy for having left without seeing you.
We have arrived in Hanyang at last after a long journey.
I am trying to do my part as an academic,
but the results are uncertain at best.
I am apprehensive and unnerved.
The thoughts of you are my only solace.
If you receive this letter, please send me a reply.
I want to see your exquisite brushstrokes once more.
It must be hard for you.
Place it inside.
Yes.
Give that to me.
Where did you get this?
You wouldn't have the money to buy something like this.
I asked you where you got this.
Give it back.
No!
Is it that precious?
What do you intend to do?
The arranged marriage is still valid.
I can marry him as soon as he returns.
But you're in no position to be holding out like this.
You submit.
What?
You can marry another man from another prominent family.
But he's all I have, so you yield.
How can love become so unconditional?
What kind of spell did you cast on him?
You don't know how utterly hopeless I was.
I was laughing, but I always wanted to cry.
I was sitting beside you, but I was your servant.
I have no hope in life other than my love.
He is my raison d'etre and my light.
You wouldn't know.
I fear you.
It's about time you gave in, about time you gave out.
I'm truly fearful of you.
And I hate you.
You were always that way.
You would pluck the prettiest flower while I was dawdling.
You would pick out the nicest ribbon while I was wavering.
While I was merely thinking about it, you'd do everything,
have everything, grow tired of it and abandon it.
I really envied and hated you, always a step ahead of me.
lt still hasn't changed.
I'm sick of it.
Dear Miss Keum-young...
It is yet uncertain whether our loyalty will be heeded.
When I think that it concerns you directly,
I wish for the appeal to be sanctioned all the more adamantly.
I long for you.
I long for you, Miss Keum-young.
Get out of the way.
Give it back.
You'll get hurt.
Let me know if you need anything.
I'll fetch anything for you.
I don't need anything.
Still...
Are you going to bring me silk?
I just sell it.
I've never worn it myself.
If you're seen frequenting here, you'll ruin your life.
A drifter like me can't be ruined any further.
I'll be off.
Sir, I trust you are well.
I can bear the disappointment of your failing to send word,
but I cannot suppress my longing for you.
I write and rewrite a letter I cannot send.
I long for you.
I long for you, sir.
What are you doing?
Let go!
Let go of me!
What? Hanyang?
You said you've been to all 8 provinces,
then you must know the way to Hanyang.
Accompany me just up to where you are able to go.
After that, I can...
It's takes scores of days in a carriage or on horseback.
A woman like you can't go.
I can.
You'll die en route.
I don't care if I die.
All the better. I've already died.
What do you mean Keum-young vanished?
The house is stark empty and the money chest is gone, as well.
I knew this would transpire.
She's done it.
I'm certain that she eloped with him... that traveling merchant.
As it concerns house servants, leave it to me.
She's on the run? Where to?
What am I to do?
Miss, Kun-bok is here.
Let him in.
The letter is a bit belated this time, Miss.
Tell me if you need to rest.
I'm all right.
I said I'm all right.
Let's catch our breath.
Um...
Let's go.
If we just negotiate that hill,
they won't be able to catch us.
Stop right there!
Let's go that way.
Get them!
- Stop! - Stop right there!
Think yourself fortunate that I only went to this lengths.
Never be seen anywhere near here again!
Throw him out!
Yes, My Lady!
Are you not aware what a great sin it is for a serf to flee?
How dare you elope with a man?
Is this how you repay kindness?
Ungrateful wench.
Don't just stand there!
Beat her to a pulp and detain her.
Yes.
Miss Keum-young,
it appears that our voice will not be heeded.
I do not know when I will be able to see you again.
Miss, let me convey to you what I wanted to tell you in person.
I hope we never meet again.
If I return safely, I cordially ask for your hand in marriage.
I will forsake family or nobility if I can be with you.
It doesn't concern me if I earn a living as
a day laborer or a fisherman.
You are my destiny, my other half.
Are you awake?
Please have drink.
You'll recover soon.
This is where I stay when I travel.
It might not look like much, but it is adequate.
You weren't even able to open your eyes for three days.
Let me go sell some grain at the market.
I was waiting for you to wake up.
Aren't you sick of me?
You got hurt because of me
and you won't be able to stay in business.
Don't you hate me?
Have you ever blamed that nobleman for anything?
Likewise.
He's accused of inciting a rebellion.
You must be hungry.
It will be ready shortly.
There is a village named Woonjung
about thirty miles across the river.
A friend of mine has settled down to farm.
He wants me to join him.
Would you like to go with me?
Just think about it.
I'll be back.
You shouldn't be going anywhere in your condition yet.
I'm all right now.
Please listen to me!
He's dead.
Lord Yun's son, Yun Myung-jin, was executed for treason.
That's what people said.
His family's been torn asunder.
Look...
Read them. They're written with his heart.
I don't know why I kept them from you.
I shouldn't have.
He held out till the end after everyone else had submitted.
Until the very end.
lt must have been for you.
I envied you hearing that, receiving that kind of love.
I even wished I was a servant.
Don't you think I'm pathetic?
I think I understand him.
He must have been enamored with you as I was with him.
He must have truly loved you.
That is why the road he took was the only path available.
What a cruel twist of fate it is for us.
We just loved someone and it had to culminate in this.
Where did things begin to take a wrong turn?
Or was this meant to be?
Then what are we?
I want to leave now.
I'm going to learn to farm over the shoulder and start
on my own from next year.
Farming shouldn't be too daunting.
It must be better than peddling merchandise.
Thank you for everything.
And... I'm sorry.
I left something behind in the cottage.
I'm sorry.
You just looked at my back all along,
but I no longer have anyone to behold.
Jung-hwa, you will wake up at the count of three.
Slowly. Very slowly.
One, two three.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
Ki-su.
Hi, Soo-hyun.
I called because I wanted to see you.
All right. Is Jung-hwa improving?
Does she seem as if she isn't getting any better?
She used to be severely jittery before.
She's a lot better and can even sleep now.
But I don't think she's improved all that much.
She's improved a lot but not a great deal?
Is that what I said?
I think she's developed another form of depression.
What exactly is her problem?
I'm analyzing her from various angles.
Ki-su, is Jung-hwa...
Don't be offended.
Is she normally not fully cognizant of reality?
What do you mean?
For instance, a tendency to
believe that her imaginations are manifesting in real life.
Wait a minute.
Actors have a rich imagination.
She believes that she's the illegitimate daughter
of a tycoon or that all guys invariably fall for her?
Did she mention something like that?
No, they're just hypotheticals. Does she have such tendencies?
Why do you ask?
Mentioning something like
she was madly in love with someone in her previous life.
Jung-hwa may be oblivious,
but she does not intentionally lie or exaggerate.
She's just ingenuous.
She never mentioned anything like that.
Did she to you?
No, she didn't.
Then why do you ask?
Just for reference.
Then the scenes she witnessed,
the story she recounted, what were they?
I had a long dream that night, long and vivid.
The clapping of horses...