BASED ON THE KINGDOM OF THE GODS BY YLAB
What should we do?
We will do everything we can to ensure Your Highness can escape to safety.
Where does that leave you?
I won't let you all die.
- Not for my sake. - Your Highness.
Someone has to survive tonight.
The people need to know the truth.
Bring fire! They are afraid of fire!
Father, are you watching?
You see?
They will take nothing from me.
There's a chance we can get Your Highness out through the rear garden.
The main gate is blocked off.
The garden is the last option we have left.
Your Highness, there's no time.
Let us escort you to the rear garden.
The rear garden.
How many bullets do we have left?
Not many, Your Highness. We don't have enough to take them all out.
The bullets are not for them.
If we become the bait ourselves, this may work.
Keep your eyes open! Don't look at the ground!
Watch your step.
It looks like they sealed off the gates.
Your Highness,
what on earth is going on inside the palace?
Dongnae,
Sangju,
we failed to stop the plague.
I won't let that happen again.
I will stop it, no matter what it takes.
Do it now! Fire!
No, no, no!
Don't touch me! Get away from me! Stay back! Stay back!
Ah! Oh!
Help me!
How did we survive that?
We all got bitten by them.
I do not know...
but we're alive.
Your Royal Highness. Long live our new King.
Long live our new King!
You Highness, I'm glad you're safe.
Please tell me, what on earth happened last night?
Send more troops we have left to the palace.
Bring my men down from the walls, as quick as you can.
Have you completed pulling the bodies out of the reservoir?
Yes, sir.
Seo-bi...
You're serious? The plagues spread into the palace?
Who lived through the night?
Did everyone die except for Your Highness and your guard?
Including the Queen...
and all of the ministers too?
Yes.
What news do you have?
We were not able to locate the prince's corpse.
We must find him.
Princes cannot simply disappear.
I know there were guards that escaped last night.
Also, many rural magistrates support the Haewon Cho Clan.
If that child is alive,
those who support him will be sure to revolt in the future.
For Your Highness' survival...
this child must be put to death by your hand.
YEONGYEONG GATE
This room...
it was built to house portraits...
as a way to honor kings, of past and present.
This is my bloodline.
These portraits are placed on the throne as if they were alive.
We perform our ancestral rites...
to honor their legacies.
But there are two shrines that remain empty.
This one here was made for my father.
And the other...
This last one was built for me.
Therefore...
you shall come out at once.
Let me see him.
Show me this child.
This child has been bitten?
He has been bitten, yes, but he is not a monster.
Trust me, sir.
This child is not stricken with the plague.
You must not kill him, please.
Don't do this, sir.
I know that you do not want to end his life.
Highness, you asked me to protect him.
I've done it for you.
Go to the Queen's side...
keep watching her baby.
You mean, the prince? The Queen's newborn, Your Highness?
Sir, there is something I have to tell you.
It has to do with the Queen and her newborn son.
- The child is not... - I already know the truth.
That child is Mu-yeong's son.
So, I...
I need you to watch over him.
Highness, you said that no one else should get hurt, remember?
So please, spare this child's life.
The plague will come to an end.
And this will be a bad memory.
Winter will be spring.
This nightmare will be done.
No.
As long as this child lives...
this terror will never end.
HONGCHI GATE
THE CITADEL OF SANGJU
3 MONTHS LATER
JONGMYO SHRINE, 7 YEARS LATER
Begin!
Highness.
It's time for us to head back.
Someone told me that Your Majesty
would like to see the records from seven years ago.
But surely, you already know,
we seal the records of that time
so not even the Kings can know what happened back then.
No one will tell me how my family died.
My parents, my brother, both passed seven years ago.
All anyone tells me, is it was the plague.
Now the plague killed all the court ladies and the guards.
However, neither you nor uncle...
no one here will tell me anything about who they were.
So, who should I ask about this?
The royal lecture will begin shortly, Your Highness.
The lessons you'll learn there
will be valuable in helping the country thrive.
The more you learn, the better you can lead the royal court
and look after the people of Joseon.
Escort His Majesty.
Our young King misses his parents more and more by the day.
It would be too much...
for him to learn what really happened to them back then.
He'd be devastated.
We must do what we can to ensure His Majesty never finds out.
HANYANG
Oh? Oh, wait, wait, wait! I know you!
Yeong-sin? It is you, isn't it?
It's been a while, my lord.
Good to see you.
Oh, stop being so formal.
- Talk to me like your friend. - You're drinking so much.
Haven't you had enough?
I'm only drinking this much because I'm having dinner with you.
Ha! Loosen up, will you?
All right, fine. Then I will.
Huh? I'm the Second State Councilor.
Somebody! This guy's getting chummy with me!
And speaking of titles...
what would people say if they saw a court official sitting there,
eating up all their food, huh?
You couldn't be more right.
I don't know how I ended up here.
You know, back in Dongnae, I only took the magistrate position
because if I didn't, my uncle said,
he'd make me a eunuch.
But I am the Second State Councilor now.
But you know what, it's a lot of responsibility.
I got to look good all the time,
and I never get to drink like this.
But you're doing great things. Order has been restored.
Gyeongsang has recovered.
This country has overcome so much.
I've seen it first-hand.
That's enough.
Don't make me talk about serious matters with you, okay?
Just enjoy the wine.
How's the King? Is he in good health?
He is growing up well.
He may be young, but he's already finished
The Four Books and Three Classics.
He'll grow up to be a wise king. I'm sure.
I'm doing my best.
After all, this is what His Highness wanted.
Tell me right now, can I trust you?
Are you sure this child...
is not sick with the disease?
I'm sure of it, sir.
The monsters left bites all over his hand and feet.
I put him in water and saved him.
I saw the worms come out of him myself.
Do not spare him!
That child is the legitimate heir to the throne.
He is the only threat to your rule.
You'll bring chaos across the country.
Two cannot rule, there can only be one.
Just kill the boy at once.
I'll accept that you're right about one thing.
Between the two of us,
one of us will need to be put to death.
That said...
which of us truly deserves to die?
He is a prince and the only legitimate heir.
And I...
I'm not even the Queen's son.
I killed my father with my bare hands.
If you must choose between the two of us,
which one do we need more to rule this starving,
plague-ridden country torn apart by war?
I ask you, which would you choose to live?
This child...
...maybe the only hope left for our kingdom.
The ones who intended to use him
to cease power for themselves have all been killed by now.
So, please...
guide this prince to rule.
...so that he can become a wise and fair king.
I trust you with this.
And the Ministers...
who are virtuous and loyal to you.
We can't do this.
What if that child...
is not the descendant of the former king?
He is.
I assure you.
I am his brother and he has the blood of a king.
Please write that the war killed my father.
As well as the Queen whom I called mother.
I was killed too.
That is how the history should read.
This is the gift that I offer this land...
as a descendant of the royal blood.
I wonder how His Highness is.
I mean,
he's got Seo-bi hanging around him, so I'm sure he's well.
- What is that? - It's a journal.
It contains all of her notes on the plague.
The plague began when a handful of dead
were revived with the resurrection plant.
The eggs of the worms on the plant seized control of the brain
thus raising the dead.
The resurrected lose all ability to reason,
they feel no pain, and quickly develop an insatiable hunger
for human flesh and blood.
A bite from these monsters,
transfers the worms into the new host's bloodstream,
but it does not transform them.
However, it will lower the body's temperature
until they eventually die.
The disease initially began spreading at Jiyulheon in Dongnae.
The people there cooked and eat the flesh
of someone who have died after being bitten by a plague victim.
Those who ate that person suffered convulsions before dying,
and became monsters themselves.
After this particular interaction,
all those who are bitten immediately turned into mindless beasts.
Not everyone who is bitten turns into a monster.
If a bite victim plunges their wound in water before death,
it will remove the worms before they can reach the brain,
thus eliminating the disease.
In addition, newborns are immune to the disease even if they are bitten
because their brains are not yet fully developed.
The worms thrive in colder temperatures, so they lie dormant in spring and summer.
In autumn and winter,
their active hours are limited to when the sun is up.
Then from the winter solstice to the first day of spring,
the monsters remain active throughout the day and night.
But in all my research,
I still have not found the answer to one question.
It is a certainty to me that the worms favor cold temperatures,
but for some reason, extreme heat causes them to thrive.
and spread even more viciously.
There must be a secret.
Something still hidden behind the resurrection plant.
Seo-bi is still trying to determine what causes the disease?
The plague was wiped out seven years ago.
No, not completely.
The plant doesn't just grow in Sangju,
it has also been found elsewhere.
- In which region? - Well, there's been many.
Gyeongsang, the Three Provinces, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Hwanghae.
We found the resurrection plant all over the country.
RESURRECTION PLANT
This is the resurrection plant.
My lord!
I brought the elder and his son from the nearby village.
These plants...
when did they start growing here?
Oh, yes.
Well...
We planted these a while ago.
What do you mean by that?
You planted these?
Who exactly gave you the seeds?
Well...
my son here followed a merchant to China
to earn some money.
He got those plants near the Yalu River.
We planted them, thinking we can make money off of them.
Is that true?
Yes, my lord.
I was told it brings back the dead.
I thought I could make money off it.
I couldn't sell it because no one believed me,
so I just left them.
Are you certain someone sold that plant to those men?
Yes, I'm sure.
He even knew exactly what to do with the plant
to bring the dead back to life.
Whoever it was, gave him instructions.
Who would sell such a dangerous thing?
Good question.
His Highness thought I should come here and let you know about this matter.
And I was told to give this journal to you
in case there's another outbreak.
Where is His Highness? Where is he going?
He's gone to the Northern Region...
to track down the person behind this.
HWANGHAE PROVINCE
HAMGYONG PROVINCE
- Where is it? - Here, sir.
Everything is been left behind, but the people seem to have vanished.
I found the plant.
"There must be a secret.
Something still hidden behind the resurrection plant."