(All characters, organizations, places, cases, and incidents...)
(in this drama are fictitious.)
(Episode 25)
Did something happen?
You despise him...
with all your heart and are desperately trying to kill...
that darn King.
He is the King's...
He is the son of that King.
No.
Nothing happened.
I was just exhausted the whole day.
I was busy and got tired.
That was it.
I see.
What about you?
Same here.
Work can get hard.
What about the beach?
Let us go some other time.
We can go there some other time.
I will go in.
What is it?
I will make sure we go to the beach...
next time.
Yes. That was the promise.
Go in.
You even went into prison to see His Majesty.
But you left without talking to him.
You must have found out who the prisoner is.
It seems as if you found out something worse than that.
Right.
As if abandoning his own son was not enough,
he was still desperately trying to kill his own son.
I doubt that you wanted to give him the evidence.
And whether or not I will change my mind depends on you.
Do not bother my brother.
And promise me that you will not go after the disbanded Muweol Corps.
If anyone gets hurt...
That will not be hard to comply with.
I will keep my eye on you.
However, there might be an easier way.
We can work together.
- What? - I will not have to worry...
that you have the evidence against me.
And you can guarantee the safety of the people you mentioned...
and avenge...
your father who abandoned you in the cruelest way...
with me.
Crazy jerk.
I will give you two days to consider my offer.
Consider my offer.
You may not enter.
When His Majesty is not inside,
no one can enter.
- Well, I... - It was his royal command.
I want everyone to leave me...
and Chief Administrative Officer Yeon alone.
Yes, Your Majesty.
So I heard you had something to report to me.
Yes.
However, it is no longer important.
What do you mean?
I was going to report to you...
that we detected a trace of Jung Yun Jeo in Hanyang.
But you saw that he was already arrested...
and went back.
Yes.
Did you hear it?
Yes.
However, I did not hear it.
What?
I did not hear the past incident which you do not want me...
to find out. However,
I just heard a story about your loneliness.
Will you give it a try?
Yun Jeo was the same way.
He noticed hardships of my life and my loneliness.
And he embraced me as a true friend.
However, it was all a lie.
I will not forgive him.
I will not be deceived anymore.
I will get that boy...
and kill him.
I will appoint you as a royal guard.
Will you stay by my side...
and protect me...
for a very long time?
I am forever grateful, Your Majesty.
I will gratefully accept it.
Is he not that chief administrative officer...
who visits at times?
Oh, my. When did he become a royal guard?
A royal guard?
He will stay by the King's side and guard him.
Did you not know that?
What are you doing?
We have so much work to do. Let us hurry.
Okay.
It is tough, is it not?
You tried so hard to work here,
but the workload is not that little, is it?
Yes. It is hard.
I want to give up on everything.
Poor you. I did think...
that Court Lady Kim made you work too much.
I had wanted to do this for a very long time...
and never thought of doing anything else.
I do not know what to do if I were to quit.
I do not know if I should quit.
I have no idea.
Why would you put your life on stake for this job?
You are doing well, so do not worry.
What are you doing?
What happened last night?
You must be tired, so let us go first.
I will explain once we get there.
No.
I will not go. I will no longer be at your mercy.
- Hwang Tae. - I told you not to call me that.
My real name is Jung Yi Hyung.
We are not related.
I want to retrieve my name, my family, and live my life.
Is that too much to ask for?
Why do you keep bothering me?
Father...
is locked up in the royal prison.
What?
I know that it is all because of me.
I will save him.
How?
Will you beg your biological father?
Everyone will know...
what the King did 20 years ago.
- What? - Then he will not be able...
to enter the prison.
That is when I will go save him.
You will tell everyone?
You will tell them about how you were abandoned...
and how your life was up until now?
No.
It will be quicker for Grand Prince Neungyang...
to take the throne and help me.
I will make that happen...
and save Father, so do not worry.
Hwang Tae.
(20 years ago...)
Eat up.
Thank you.
Hey, read this.
The King not only abandoned his son, but also tried to kill him.
I am telling you.
(20 years ago...)
What did you say?
Your Majesty, it is nothing but a vulgar rumor.
Who said it?
I want him to be killed before my eyes!
If you react to the rumor,
your people will believe that it is true.
Then what should I do?
You should not do anything.
Then the rumor will dissipate on its own.
Do you think so?
Yes, Your Majesty.
Also, since there are people watching,
I think you should refrain from visiting the royal prison.
If the criminal needs to be monitored,
I will do that.
There is a risk that he may say something untrue to someone else.
Yes. Do so.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Father.
Why are you here?
Get out this instant.
You should not be here.
If the King finds out...
Why did you do it?
What do you mean?
Why did you have to save me and get locked up in here?
- Nok Du. - Why did you let Mother die?
And for Hwang Tae...
Why did you take care of me?
Do not say that.
Just like what the King said,
I should have just died.
Stop it!
How dare you say that in front of your father?
You should know better!
You should have just abandoned me.
You seemed lifeless at first.
Then suddenly, you started crying.
That tiny body of yours was telling me that you were alive.
You were telling me that you were not dead.
What I did was neither impressive nor difficult.
I just did what I had to do as a human being.
But the consequence of your actions...
is very brutal.
Even if I could go back in time,
I would save you once again.
So value your life.
Leave the palace right now.
No. I will neither run away nor hide.
I am sorry to keep you here, Father.
I will save you soon.
Nok Du!
I came to see you.
I will go now that I have.
Let us go to the beach.
I thought you wanted to go to the beach.
I did not know it would be so far away.
We sneaked out during working hours, so we had no choice.
Did you want to go to the beach that badly?
I do not mind whether or not we go to the beach.
I have you beside me.
That is enough to make me happy.
Stop being so corny...
and just eat this.
I guess you made this yourself.
Why did you do that?
You are so fussy.
I knew it ever since we were at the village for widows.
You should try it yourself.
I am not hungry.
Have a bite.
No, I do not want to eat it.
I am not fussy, but you are temperamental.
You grabbed me by my collar the moment we first met.
You always pushed me and hit me.
And do you not remember how mean you were to me?
Hey, you were the one who treated me like a slave...
and asked me for all sorts of stuff.
Are you kidding me?
I applied ointment on you, did the laundry, and even cooked.
I did so many things for you.
You are unbelievable.
You are unbelievable...
for coming to that village and pretending to be a widow...
when you were a man.
Yes, I know.
I will tell you why I went there.
I had always been curious of whom I really was.
And I went there to find out.
I thought the person who knew about it would be there.
So...
did you find out...
whom you really are?
Yes, I found out...
about everything.
So I am planning to set things straight.
I need to protect my father.
We should go back now. It is getting late.
The battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin...
is becoming more and more serious.
Therefore, I think we should hurry up and send our troops...
for reinforcement, Your Majesty.
The people of our country have not recovered from the Japanese battle.
I cannot send them to another battle.
I refuse to send an army.
Your Majesty.
Have you forgotten the help we received?
The reason we were able to defeat the Japanese was because...
we received help from the Ming Dynasty.
"Help"?
No, they never helped us.
They just came because they did not want the battle to reach their land.
On top of that, they were not even interested in fighting.
They returned to their country after having done nothing...
but exploit my people.
Your Majesty.
How could you say something so terrible?
If it were not for the kindness of the Ming Dynasty...
"Kindness"?
How can you all be so sure of that?
I experienced the cruelness of that battle firsthand.
You were all busy running away!
Your constant disregard for our country's duty...
is exactly why people are spreading ugly rumors about...
What? "Rumors"?
Excuse me.
Court Lady Kim sent me here on her behalf.
Oh, I see.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
My gosh.
Please come here.
Lady Dong Joo.
What...
What did you just say?
Your Majesty.
I deserve to be killed.
She deserved a proper burial...
so that we could take care of the grave.
But we had to do it without anyone noticing.
We are very sorry.
Do not say that.
Thank you so much...
for burying her here.
You must have gone through so much.
You had to grow up in this harsh world all by yourself.
I am so proud of you.
By the way,
what are you doing in Hanyang?
And why are you working in the palace?
Why would you enter that scary place?
You are not...
thinking of doing anything foolish, are you?
Lady Dong Joo, that will put you in grave danger.
It is not over yet.
What do you mean?
A few days ago,
we were summoned by His Majesty.
He kept asking us if there were any other survivors.
You must leave.
If he finds out that you are still alive,
we will all end up dead.
Just like what happened back then.
Is that what he said?
Did he say he will find everyone and kill them?
You must get out of the palace right now.
Do not do anything.
You should go somewhere far away and stay hidden.
No. I will not run away.
It was so hard to get this far.
- Your Majesty! - Your Majesty!
How dare you...
speak of that nasty rumor...
in my presence at my palace?
So apparently, my son is alive.
Therefore, he is much more qualified to take the throne.
Fine. Is there more of this nonsense?
If any of you wants to mention any other false rumors,
go ahead and tell me.
Go ahead!
Escort His Majesty out.
And the rest of you, take care of the body.
- Right away. - Right away.
Your Majesty.
How... How could this happen?
Minister, we cannot turn a blind eye to this.
Do you not agree?
Father! Father.
No. Father.
Father!
How...
How could you do this to him?
Father.
Take him away.
Bring back my father.
Bring back my father! Father!
(The Tale of Nokdu)