Post by ajk on Nov 2, 2012 23:04:08 GMT -5
"I've always been taught to focus on the entire situation," Bojong explains. "A commander who fails to do so kills those under him." "Perfect," Munno says. Bojong wins the first event. Gotta hand it to him; nice work. One down, two to go.
Outside, later, some of Bojong's Hwarang are trash-talking, badgering the DFers about Bojong's inevitable win.
Seokpum is already congratulating Bojong on winning the competition. Bojong wisely doesn't buy into that. Even Imjong is aware of Bojong's martial arts prowess and seems to think it's pretty much decided now. "All the same," he says, "I heard Yushin gave you a little trouble in Iseo." A little? Seokpum makes an excuse about Bojong's hand being wounded then--and it was; remember Deokman poked it with her little dagger--and that was why "he wasn't at his best." But Bojong speaks respectfully of Yushin and knows it won't be a cakewalk if he has to face him.
Mishil and Seolwon are smiling because the day's events remind them of what King Jinheung used to say: "Never focus on one thing; observe what's around you." And they're pleased to see that Munno is being as impartial as he said he'd be.
Bidam pays a visit to Munno, the conversation he overheard between Munno and Sohwa (in the previous episode) still ringing in his head. He wants to confront Munno about it...but now that he has the chance, he doesn't. He's never asked before, and he's still afraid to ask. Tries to make small talk about what the second event will be--Munno doesn't budge on that. Munno can tell there's something on else his mind, but Bidam smiles and waves it off.
Day number two: Back at the competition; now we'll find out the second event. Hopefully it's something a little more substantial. Munno steps forward...and it sounds like he's asking history trivia. King Jijeung gave the kingdom the name "Shilla," he says, and King Jinheung said that within the name are three essential traits of a Hwarang. "This is the second event," he says. "You have three days to identify the three meanings hidden in the word 'Shilla.'" Hmmm....This doesn't sound very wise at all. Isn't this just going to send teams of people scurrying around doing research for their various favored contestants? Is this really going to test the contestants themselves? And doesn't it sound like the kind of thing that at least a few people would know the answer to, or know where to find it? Well at least the contestants don't know the answer, as the puzzled looks on all of their faces show.
"It's something to do with iron." Yeah, here we go already. Deokman and Alcheon are trying to figure it out for Yushin. Shilla was founded by ironworkers from the north, and the name "Seorabeol" sounds like the word for iron-field. Shilla's iron products are renowned--particularly their weapons. "Military strength," Deokman reasons. "That's the first trait of the Hwarang."
Elsewhere, Bojong and Seokpum are working on it, and all of their Hwarang are helping them. "The second meaning has to do with root words." Bakui is talking; apparently he knows something about all this. The "Shil" is related to a word meaning pruning and creating new blossoms. Dukchung adds that the "la" means "a net of many strands"....
Deokman and Yushin and Alcheon have gotten that far as well. "A definite allusion to the founding of Shilla," Yushin realizes, and Alcheon sees it as the six founding clans banding together to name Pak Hyeokgeose--who was a stranger to them--as the new nation's leader. What else? Refugees have always been welcome in Shilla, and new things are embraced. All of this suggests "nurturing a new breed of warriors" as the second Hwarang trait. Seems like a long way to go, but they think it makes sense. Especially because, as Alcheon points out, Jinheung chose Munno, Seolwon and Mishil to do it, and none of them were male nobles. Which would be consistent with this second meaning.
"But this third meaning..." Bojong and his entire group are standing there silently, all stumped....
Deokman and Yushin and Alcheon don't know either, but they're hardly letting it stump them; they're aggressively poking and probing for the answer. Maybe those first two things are part of an ultimate goal, which is the third thing. But what's that?...Deokman thinks back to her conversation with Munno in the previous episode. "What should a ruler do, do you think?"...Deokman wonders if the third trait is the answer to that question.
Mishil, sitting with her cabal, is angry with Munno. The first two meanings, apparently lots of people know them. But the third, well, "No one...NO ONE can find the answer." Well this is news. It's such a long-impenetrable mystery that she doesn't even want Bojong trying to solve it any more. Just tell him to worry about winning the third event, she instructs Seolwon. But why is Sejong sitting there so quietly, staring off into space? And now Mishil has that same sort of look on her face, like the two of them know something after all.
That evening Sejong goes to see Mishil. "Don't let it bother you," Mishil tells him. "No one else knows the answer but us." Doink! Then why say no one knows it? Something weird is going on here. Even Munno doesn't know the answer, Mishil is certain. "He's only guessing." She thinks that Deokman might actually figure it out--"she's no dummy"--"but if she does, she'll know why it can never come out." Sejong says he heard the answer from his father, Isabu, who was King Jinheung's general and strategist. Sejong sighs. "That impossible dream."...Now a series of flashbacks begin. First we see King Jinheung. Been a while! He's talking to Isabu and Noribu (we saw Noribu in Episode 1; he was leader of the Council of Nobles.) "King Beopheung's final bequest is an impossible dream," he tells them. (Beopheung was Jinheung's predecessor.) And it's still impossible, they reply, so you pass it along to future generations yourself, and let it be attained gradually, over multiple lifetimes. Fine, Jinheung says, and as part of it, "command Gochilbu to write the first history of Shilla." Gochilbu--wait, that's Munno's father...Then we see Jinheung instructing Gochilbu to write the history of Shilla's 500 years. "Share the dreams of our ancestors"....we see teams of researchers poring over records under Gochilbu's supervision, and writing busily. Volumes of the history are piling up high, literally in stacks...Wait a minute, now we're seeing King Jinji lift the infamous glowing levitating egg at his coronation ceremony, which we saw in Episode 1. Why this again?...Now we see the research room again, and it's been ransacked. Volumes of the history are scattered all about, and pages have been damaged. Noribu tells an angry Gochilbu that King Jinji ordered this, utterly disrespecting the royal house's legacy...Now we see a younger Mishil meeting with Noribu and Gochilbu. The two men speak of sedition, furious about Jinji's betrayal of the long-passed-down dream that they themselves share. Mishil is grateful for their support; she has her own beef with Jinji, as we learned in Episode 1...Which we now see again: the emotional scene of Jinji breaking his promise to name Mishil queen, which, as we now realize, shattered her life's dream. And then her abandoning their baby: "I no longer need you." Rough stuff...Next, the scene from Episode 1 in which Munno declines Seolwon's invitation to ally with Mishil...Now a new one: Mishil, Noribu and Gochilbu are meeting; Sejong enters. "My father's condition prohibits him from participating, but he sends his support." News warmly received. Then Seolwon enters with news that Munno won't join them but won't interfere either. Which will keep the Hwarang out of it. Mishil beams...Now the scene we've already seen from the end of Episode 1, with Jinji summarily kicked off the throne by Mishil...Now another new one: A dying Isabu consulting with Noribu and Gochilbu about Mishil being named queen. It should be a simple formality, but Noribu and Gochilbu are concerned about "strange things" they heard about her on the day that Jinheung died. It may well just be false gossip, Isabu says, and he argues that making her queen would ensure her total devotion to the king and the royal house. (Yeah, right.) Noribu nods in agreement, but Gochilbu still has reservations....Next the scene of Maya's reappearance after six months, on Mishil's coronation day, in Episode 2....Now a new one: Mishil meeting with Gochilbu, just after Maya's reappearance; he tells her that "it may not be your destiny to be a queen." And besides, he tells her, isn't your real goal simply to see King Jinheung's legacy fulfilled? It's not really about who becomes queen, is it? Of all the dumb things to say to Mishil...Mishil smiles at him--you know the smile. "So never mind about being queen, just get back to business--is that it?" It is for him, because he immediately switches gears and talks about wanting to make the Shillan history public as Jinheung had wanted. But she won't. It was just part of a power grab by Jinheung, she tells him--the kind of thing that strengthens the monarchy at the nobles' expense. And she says that she'd work for Jinheung's legacy if she were queen, but she isn't. Which shocks Gochilbu; he thought they were allies and never saw this coming. Frustrated, he tells her he'll make the Shilla history public with or without her support. To his surprise, she says she won't stop him. That is, as long as he makes "a few small adjustments." For one, not revealing the third meaning behind Shilla's name! The very idea of it makes Gochilbu visibly angry. "It would distort history," he snarls, and refuses outright. Mishil replies simply, "I'm glad we understand each other," and gets up to leave. But Gochilbu isn't finished: "The day Jinheung died, what did you do?" Uh-oh. She turns to face him. There's no proof, he says, but the plant next to his chair withered and died as the king died...A flashback-within-a-flashback to Episode 1, Mishil discovering Jinheung dead and, not needing the poisoned drink she brought for him, pouring it into the nearby planter...And what about "mobilizing the guards and the strange disappearances that night?" Gochilbu better watch it. And Mishil tells him just that: "That suspicious nature will be the death of you." Yikes. They glare at each other...
Back to the present: Mishil angrily challenges Munno about the question he's asked the Hwarang contestants to answer. The third meaning is lost to history, she tells him. Turns out, Munno knows about the Shilla history; he knows it has 48 volumes (news to us) and that Sejong has reproduced the first volume but no others. The third meaning must be in that history, he says, but the rest of it "was said to have been destroyed in Jinji's time." And he stares at her, as if to blame her. Munno finds it odd that Gochilbu died at around the same time....Flashback to Mishil and Sejong talking, just after Jinji spurned her. "You must head the Council of Nobles," she tells him. And then something about Gochilbu being "filled with suspicions and concern." So what? Apparently what's implied here is that Gochilbu heads the Council at this time....Now we see Munno, who's been summoned this evening to see Gochilbu. His father hands him a paper to give to the king (Jinpyeong). So he takes it...and learns that the king is with his wife, who's in labor. He hands the paper to the head attendant, and tells her to give it to the king when he returns. And he heads back to Gochilbu, who we see sleeping in bed already. But he doesn't respond to Munno. Munno checks for a pulse, and his eyes widen..."So you think I killed him, do you?" Mishil laughs, and points out that Gochilbu helped her depose Jinji. Which Munno acknowledges, and also says that he himself supported the action as well. "But we all did it for different reasons." Well, back to the matter at hand. "You have no idea," Mishil says, "what Jijeung's impossible dream is." "You're right," Munno answers; "I don't." It was lost to history. "But I asked the question hoping someone would be clever enough to discover it." Seriously? "Then you'll have to keep hoping," Mishil fires back smugly. Why? "Mishil--you know the answer," Munno says, with his usual calm but with certainty. "Of course I do," she acknowledges.
Now we listen to the DFers trying to figure it out. Stuff about silk uniforms and fishing nets; Jukbang thinks he's got it: the Hwarang become a net to "catch all those Baekje and Goguryeo ruffians!" Godo wonders if it's really so simple that Jukbang could figure it out. To which Jukbang explains that it's exactly what Munno's doing--being deceptively simple. And now they're all giddy; they've got the answer. Of course they do.
Bojong and Seokpum are in one of the government libraries studying old documents. Yushin and Alcheon enter. "You had the same idea," Bojong says; "Jijeung named our country so you want a peek at his records." But we're here first to you'll have to wait your turn. Gee, looks like there are plenty of records for everybody; no need to wait in line...but now here comes Seolwon. He wants Bojong and Seokpum to go with him somewhere. "But we have to study," Bojong says. "You already won the first event," Seolwon answers; "let them have their chance." Huh? Really? None of the four Hwarang can believe it. Seolwon has seen the cover of the book Bojong was reading: It's the Volume 1 of the otherwise-lost history. Does he have reason to know that it's useless for the task? Hmmm...The three of them leave.
Outside, Seolwon relays Mishil's instruction to Bojong to stop trying to answer the question, because it can't be answered. Forget the whole thing, Seolwon tells them. The two Hwarang don't look too comfortable with this...but hey, orders is orders.
Later, back in the library: Yushin and Alcheon have been scouring lots of books. No luck. Looking a little downcast, they are...But wait a minute: Yushin notices that one of the books has what looks to be an incorrect seal on its cover. It's the Volume 1. It's not the same official seal that was affixed to other, contemporaneous books. What's the reason? Deokman enters and is shown the discrepancy.
"Volume 1 was destroyed in a fire." Straight from the king's mouth. "A different minister sealed the new version." So there. He tells Deokman that it happened just after her birth, right around when Gochilbu died "and Sejong replaced him as head of the Council of Nobles." (This is a mistake--a continuity error. In Episode 1 Noribu was identified as head of the Council at this time.) He doesn't know the specifics of the fire, but "Sejong compiled the information and wrote a new version." (Aaaaaand there we have it; Sejong and Mishil kept the third meaning to themselves and kept it out of the official record, just as Mishil had wanted.) And that third meaning, Jinpyeong says, didn't survive. He doesn't know the real story. "Gochilbu's entry in 'The History of a Nation' only had two meanings." (It didn't.) He wonders why Munno would even ask the question. He also mentions a note that Gochilbu left him just before he died (must be the note we saw Munno deliver). Deokman asks to see it. It still exists? (Anybody see what's coming? Like, hidden meaning in the note?) An attendant brings him some personal papers; he sorts through them and finds the note.
Deokman goes back to Yushin and Alcheon. She wants to know what happened to Gochilbu.
So Alcheon goes to Yongchun and Imjong, of all people, who tell him about Gochilbu being a favorite and trusted aide of Jinheung's who helped establish Buddhism in the country. And he was an accomplished military strategist, too.
Yushin asks his father, who talks about Gochilbu having a noted intellect, particularly as a writer. Worked with 20 scholars at Heungnyun Temple to produce that national history.
"Misaeng is like him, in a way." Really? Deokman has asked her mother and Manmyeong, who gives her (and us) a surprising reply. "If I remember right, he was quite eclectic." And multitalented. But "he also had a playful side," Manmyeong adds. He created that drinking game with the 14-sided dice. (Juryeonggu--we saw Jinpyeong playing it in Episode 6.) A good enough craftsman to inscribe the characters on the dice; he could also inscribe in stone. "He had a talent for the thin brush as well." He gave her a small wooden statue once with tiny characters on it; she still has the statue but she can't read the characters anymore; they're too small for her eyes. (Okay, so where is it?)
Deokman, Yushin and Alcheon are together again, and Yushin finally smells the rat they all should have smelled right off the bat: Why would Seolwon just let him read those records? "Bojong never came back to the archives," Alcheon adds. They figure that if Mishil knows the answer, wouldn't she just tell Bojong? Obviously she didn't tell him, or they wouldn't have gone looking for it in the first place. So they figure that she knows but can't reveal it for some reason. Deokman concludes, "that means the answer has something to do with her." These are completely unfounded conclusions, but whatever....They decide to head to Heungnyun temple.
It's been a while, but we get back to Bidam. He's just done it, at last: asked Munno who his parents are. He never asked before, he explains, because he felt abandoned by them and consequently didn't care in return. "But now I'd like to know." Why?, Munno asks...Bidam remembers the conversation he overheard...and answers, "Because I'd like to be a Hwarang." Bidam, a Hwarang? (Great--we've got the Rising Phoenix Corps and the Dragon Flower Corps--now we'll have the Weird Chicken Corps.) "A Hwarang like Yushin," he adds, "so I can serve the princess. But I wonder if I'm from the right kind of family." Even if he's telling the truth, it's not really why he wants to know; the conversation he heard is why he wants to know. Munno is understandably surprised by all this.
Heungnyun Temple: Deokman, Yushin and Alcheon are shown the workroom where Gochilbu and his scholars worked on the national history (and yes, it is the same room we saw in the earlier flashback). It's still a busy place, full of records and hard-at-work scholars. "We've kept it unchanged to train new scholars," the head monk explains. They notice a sort of palindrome written geometrically on a displayed sheet of paper. "It's a magic square," the monk explains. Words about sun shining brightly on the people; they read the same horizontally and vertically. Okay, cute but so what? They've kept it there because it's Gochilbu's; he created the things as a sort of diversion while he was working on the history. Then they're shown some of the original source material he used in compiling the history. Most of the source material was placed in the royal archives, but a few things were kept here. It's mostly those old wooden-stick scroll things.
"Why did you ask that question?" Uh-oh, is Munno in trouble? The king is asking him point-blank, and doesn't sound too happy about it. Gets Munno to admit he doesn't know the answer. And then reveals that he's been looking for the answer himself for years! "I've wondered if it had something to do with Jinheung's impossible dream," he says, whatever that dream is. But he admits dejectedly, "I have no idea. What is this dream I'm supposed to dream?" Munno explains that he asked the question because he wants to find the answer. "I suspect Mishil's the only one who knows the third meaning." Jinpyeong connects the dots: "That means she altered the records to keep it hidden?"
"No one will find out." Mishil tells Seolwon and Hajong, and says it like she means business. "Sejong and I are the only ones who know the answer. And after we die no one will ever know." Even if Deokman finds the right materials and pieces it together, "what good will it do if she doesn't talk with me first?" A question that they don't understand, and neither do we, not yet. "It must remain a secret," Sejong adds, "for the good of Shilla."
Back at Heungnyun Temple: Nighttime and they're still looking through those old records. You go home and let me worry about this, Yushin tells Deokman. But Deokman is taking this personally; she wants to prove to Munno that she knows enough to be worthy of the throne. "I must find the answer to know what a ruler should do," she says, obviously taking Munno's earlier conversation very seriously."
Now Yushin is outside, walking in the night air to clear his head...
Deokman is back home, still thinking about the mystery...Suddenly she springs up and grabs a document behind her. That's Gochilbu's note to the king, isn't it? (Hey, you think she's trying to read it horizontally instead of vertically? This ain't rocket science, folks.)
Well, finally! Manmyeong shows her son the statue that Gochilbu gave her. "I thought it might help so I brought it out." Yushin examines it...and he has a flash of inspiration. Not from the writing on the statue--he only looked at it for a moment--but from the "thin brush" technique that was used to print it. He runs out...
Deokman's eyes are getting wider and wider as she reads the document. She runs out of the room...
...and to Deokman's chambers. Deokman just left, of course. So he runs out of there...
Eventually they reunite in the temple workroom; they've simultaneously found some great clue in the combination of magic squares and thin-brush calligraphy.
They go back to her chambers, where Gochilbu's note lies on the table. "The last note he wrote before his death," Deokman believes, "would not be a simple message." They start reading the note again--horizontally--and put words together. "Your...royal...dagger...look." As in, look at your royal dagger? Quickly Deokman retrieves the little dagger she's had since her birth but apparently never examined closely before (UGH!!! Seriously?), and spots some thin-brush calligraphy in the metalwork of the handle. Using her magnifying crystal she reads the writing...and gasps.
Outside, later, some of Bojong's Hwarang are trash-talking, badgering the DFers about Bojong's inevitable win.
Seokpum is already congratulating Bojong on winning the competition. Bojong wisely doesn't buy into that. Even Imjong is aware of Bojong's martial arts prowess and seems to think it's pretty much decided now. "All the same," he says, "I heard Yushin gave you a little trouble in Iseo." A little? Seokpum makes an excuse about Bojong's hand being wounded then--and it was; remember Deokman poked it with her little dagger--and that was why "he wasn't at his best." But Bojong speaks respectfully of Yushin and knows it won't be a cakewalk if he has to face him.
Mishil and Seolwon are smiling because the day's events remind them of what King Jinheung used to say: "Never focus on one thing; observe what's around you." And they're pleased to see that Munno is being as impartial as he said he'd be.
Bidam pays a visit to Munno, the conversation he overheard between Munno and Sohwa (in the previous episode) still ringing in his head. He wants to confront Munno about it...but now that he has the chance, he doesn't. He's never asked before, and he's still afraid to ask. Tries to make small talk about what the second event will be--Munno doesn't budge on that. Munno can tell there's something on else his mind, but Bidam smiles and waves it off.
Day number two: Back at the competition; now we'll find out the second event. Hopefully it's something a little more substantial. Munno steps forward...and it sounds like he's asking history trivia. King Jijeung gave the kingdom the name "Shilla," he says, and King Jinheung said that within the name are three essential traits of a Hwarang. "This is the second event," he says. "You have three days to identify the three meanings hidden in the word 'Shilla.'" Hmmm....This doesn't sound very wise at all. Isn't this just going to send teams of people scurrying around doing research for their various favored contestants? Is this really going to test the contestants themselves? And doesn't it sound like the kind of thing that at least a few people would know the answer to, or know where to find it? Well at least the contestants don't know the answer, as the puzzled looks on all of their faces show.
"It's something to do with iron." Yeah, here we go already. Deokman and Alcheon are trying to figure it out for Yushin. Shilla was founded by ironworkers from the north, and the name "Seorabeol" sounds like the word for iron-field. Shilla's iron products are renowned--particularly their weapons. "Military strength," Deokman reasons. "That's the first trait of the Hwarang."
Elsewhere, Bojong and Seokpum are working on it, and all of their Hwarang are helping them. "The second meaning has to do with root words." Bakui is talking; apparently he knows something about all this. The "Shil" is related to a word meaning pruning and creating new blossoms. Dukchung adds that the "la" means "a net of many strands"....
Deokman and Yushin and Alcheon have gotten that far as well. "A definite allusion to the founding of Shilla," Yushin realizes, and Alcheon sees it as the six founding clans banding together to name Pak Hyeokgeose--who was a stranger to them--as the new nation's leader. What else? Refugees have always been welcome in Shilla, and new things are embraced. All of this suggests "nurturing a new breed of warriors" as the second Hwarang trait. Seems like a long way to go, but they think it makes sense. Especially because, as Alcheon points out, Jinheung chose Munno, Seolwon and Mishil to do it, and none of them were male nobles. Which would be consistent with this second meaning.
"But this third meaning..." Bojong and his entire group are standing there silently, all stumped....
Deokman and Yushin and Alcheon don't know either, but they're hardly letting it stump them; they're aggressively poking and probing for the answer. Maybe those first two things are part of an ultimate goal, which is the third thing. But what's that?...Deokman thinks back to her conversation with Munno in the previous episode. "What should a ruler do, do you think?"...Deokman wonders if the third trait is the answer to that question.
Mishil, sitting with her cabal, is angry with Munno. The first two meanings, apparently lots of people know them. But the third, well, "No one...NO ONE can find the answer." Well this is news. It's such a long-impenetrable mystery that she doesn't even want Bojong trying to solve it any more. Just tell him to worry about winning the third event, she instructs Seolwon. But why is Sejong sitting there so quietly, staring off into space? And now Mishil has that same sort of look on her face, like the two of them know something after all.
That evening Sejong goes to see Mishil. "Don't let it bother you," Mishil tells him. "No one else knows the answer but us." Doink! Then why say no one knows it? Something weird is going on here. Even Munno doesn't know the answer, Mishil is certain. "He's only guessing." She thinks that Deokman might actually figure it out--"she's no dummy"--"but if she does, she'll know why it can never come out." Sejong says he heard the answer from his father, Isabu, who was King Jinheung's general and strategist. Sejong sighs. "That impossible dream."...Now a series of flashbacks begin. First we see King Jinheung. Been a while! He's talking to Isabu and Noribu (we saw Noribu in Episode 1; he was leader of the Council of Nobles.) "King Beopheung's final bequest is an impossible dream," he tells them. (Beopheung was Jinheung's predecessor.) And it's still impossible, they reply, so you pass it along to future generations yourself, and let it be attained gradually, over multiple lifetimes. Fine, Jinheung says, and as part of it, "command Gochilbu to write the first history of Shilla." Gochilbu--wait, that's Munno's father...Then we see Jinheung instructing Gochilbu to write the history of Shilla's 500 years. "Share the dreams of our ancestors"....we see teams of researchers poring over records under Gochilbu's supervision, and writing busily. Volumes of the history are piling up high, literally in stacks...Wait a minute, now we're seeing King Jinji lift the infamous glowing levitating egg at his coronation ceremony, which we saw in Episode 1. Why this again?...Now we see the research room again, and it's been ransacked. Volumes of the history are scattered all about, and pages have been damaged. Noribu tells an angry Gochilbu that King Jinji ordered this, utterly disrespecting the royal house's legacy...Now we see a younger Mishil meeting with Noribu and Gochilbu. The two men speak of sedition, furious about Jinji's betrayal of the long-passed-down dream that they themselves share. Mishil is grateful for their support; she has her own beef with Jinji, as we learned in Episode 1...Which we now see again: the emotional scene of Jinji breaking his promise to name Mishil queen, which, as we now realize, shattered her life's dream. And then her abandoning their baby: "I no longer need you." Rough stuff...Next, the scene from Episode 1 in which Munno declines Seolwon's invitation to ally with Mishil...Now a new one: Mishil, Noribu and Gochilbu are meeting; Sejong enters. "My father's condition prohibits him from participating, but he sends his support." News warmly received. Then Seolwon enters with news that Munno won't join them but won't interfere either. Which will keep the Hwarang out of it. Mishil beams...Now the scene we've already seen from the end of Episode 1, with Jinji summarily kicked off the throne by Mishil...Now another new one: A dying Isabu consulting with Noribu and Gochilbu about Mishil being named queen. It should be a simple formality, but Noribu and Gochilbu are concerned about "strange things" they heard about her on the day that Jinheung died. It may well just be false gossip, Isabu says, and he argues that making her queen would ensure her total devotion to the king and the royal house. (Yeah, right.) Noribu nods in agreement, but Gochilbu still has reservations....Next the scene of Maya's reappearance after six months, on Mishil's coronation day, in Episode 2....Now a new one: Mishil meeting with Gochilbu, just after Maya's reappearance; he tells her that "it may not be your destiny to be a queen." And besides, he tells her, isn't your real goal simply to see King Jinheung's legacy fulfilled? It's not really about who becomes queen, is it? Of all the dumb things to say to Mishil...Mishil smiles at him--you know the smile. "So never mind about being queen, just get back to business--is that it?" It is for him, because he immediately switches gears and talks about wanting to make the Shillan history public as Jinheung had wanted. But she won't. It was just part of a power grab by Jinheung, she tells him--the kind of thing that strengthens the monarchy at the nobles' expense. And she says that she'd work for Jinheung's legacy if she were queen, but she isn't. Which shocks Gochilbu; he thought they were allies and never saw this coming. Frustrated, he tells her he'll make the Shilla history public with or without her support. To his surprise, she says she won't stop him. That is, as long as he makes "a few small adjustments." For one, not revealing the third meaning behind Shilla's name! The very idea of it makes Gochilbu visibly angry. "It would distort history," he snarls, and refuses outright. Mishil replies simply, "I'm glad we understand each other," and gets up to leave. But Gochilbu isn't finished: "The day Jinheung died, what did you do?" Uh-oh. She turns to face him. There's no proof, he says, but the plant next to his chair withered and died as the king died...A flashback-within-a-flashback to Episode 1, Mishil discovering Jinheung dead and, not needing the poisoned drink she brought for him, pouring it into the nearby planter...And what about "mobilizing the guards and the strange disappearances that night?" Gochilbu better watch it. And Mishil tells him just that: "That suspicious nature will be the death of you." Yikes. They glare at each other...
Back to the present: Mishil angrily challenges Munno about the question he's asked the Hwarang contestants to answer. The third meaning is lost to history, she tells him. Turns out, Munno knows about the Shilla history; he knows it has 48 volumes (news to us) and that Sejong has reproduced the first volume but no others. The third meaning must be in that history, he says, but the rest of it "was said to have been destroyed in Jinji's time." And he stares at her, as if to blame her. Munno finds it odd that Gochilbu died at around the same time....Flashback to Mishil and Sejong talking, just after Jinji spurned her. "You must head the Council of Nobles," she tells him. And then something about Gochilbu being "filled with suspicions and concern." So what? Apparently what's implied here is that Gochilbu heads the Council at this time....Now we see Munno, who's been summoned this evening to see Gochilbu. His father hands him a paper to give to the king (Jinpyeong). So he takes it...and learns that the king is with his wife, who's in labor. He hands the paper to the head attendant, and tells her to give it to the king when he returns. And he heads back to Gochilbu, who we see sleeping in bed already. But he doesn't respond to Munno. Munno checks for a pulse, and his eyes widen..."So you think I killed him, do you?" Mishil laughs, and points out that Gochilbu helped her depose Jinji. Which Munno acknowledges, and also says that he himself supported the action as well. "But we all did it for different reasons." Well, back to the matter at hand. "You have no idea," Mishil says, "what Jijeung's impossible dream is." "You're right," Munno answers; "I don't." It was lost to history. "But I asked the question hoping someone would be clever enough to discover it." Seriously? "Then you'll have to keep hoping," Mishil fires back smugly. Why? "Mishil--you know the answer," Munno says, with his usual calm but with certainty. "Of course I do," she acknowledges.
Now we listen to the DFers trying to figure it out. Stuff about silk uniforms and fishing nets; Jukbang thinks he's got it: the Hwarang become a net to "catch all those Baekje and Goguryeo ruffians!" Godo wonders if it's really so simple that Jukbang could figure it out. To which Jukbang explains that it's exactly what Munno's doing--being deceptively simple. And now they're all giddy; they've got the answer. Of course they do.
Bojong and Seokpum are in one of the government libraries studying old documents. Yushin and Alcheon enter. "You had the same idea," Bojong says; "Jijeung named our country so you want a peek at his records." But we're here first to you'll have to wait your turn. Gee, looks like there are plenty of records for everybody; no need to wait in line...but now here comes Seolwon. He wants Bojong and Seokpum to go with him somewhere. "But we have to study," Bojong says. "You already won the first event," Seolwon answers; "let them have their chance." Huh? Really? None of the four Hwarang can believe it. Seolwon has seen the cover of the book Bojong was reading: It's the Volume 1 of the otherwise-lost history. Does he have reason to know that it's useless for the task? Hmmm...The three of them leave.
Outside, Seolwon relays Mishil's instruction to Bojong to stop trying to answer the question, because it can't be answered. Forget the whole thing, Seolwon tells them. The two Hwarang don't look too comfortable with this...but hey, orders is orders.
Later, back in the library: Yushin and Alcheon have been scouring lots of books. No luck. Looking a little downcast, they are...But wait a minute: Yushin notices that one of the books has what looks to be an incorrect seal on its cover. It's the Volume 1. It's not the same official seal that was affixed to other, contemporaneous books. What's the reason? Deokman enters and is shown the discrepancy.
"Volume 1 was destroyed in a fire." Straight from the king's mouth. "A different minister sealed the new version." So there. He tells Deokman that it happened just after her birth, right around when Gochilbu died "and Sejong replaced him as head of the Council of Nobles." (This is a mistake--a continuity error. In Episode 1 Noribu was identified as head of the Council at this time.) He doesn't know the specifics of the fire, but "Sejong compiled the information and wrote a new version." (Aaaaaand there we have it; Sejong and Mishil kept the third meaning to themselves and kept it out of the official record, just as Mishil had wanted.) And that third meaning, Jinpyeong says, didn't survive. He doesn't know the real story. "Gochilbu's entry in 'The History of a Nation' only had two meanings." (It didn't.) He wonders why Munno would even ask the question. He also mentions a note that Gochilbu left him just before he died (must be the note we saw Munno deliver). Deokman asks to see it. It still exists? (Anybody see what's coming? Like, hidden meaning in the note?) An attendant brings him some personal papers; he sorts through them and finds the note.
Sire: Your unworthy servant fears the royal house may fall. A dagger points at the heart of Shilla. Look after our homeland, I beg you.He was simply concerned about the country's future, Jinpyeong says; that's all. (Oh you poor naive...He'd write a note to the king for that? No, no, no. "Dagger"--come on, doesn't that mean something more?)
Deokman goes back to Yushin and Alcheon. She wants to know what happened to Gochilbu.
So Alcheon goes to Yongchun and Imjong, of all people, who tell him about Gochilbu being a favorite and trusted aide of Jinheung's who helped establish Buddhism in the country. And he was an accomplished military strategist, too.
Yushin asks his father, who talks about Gochilbu having a noted intellect, particularly as a writer. Worked with 20 scholars at Heungnyun Temple to produce that national history.
"Misaeng is like him, in a way." Really? Deokman has asked her mother and Manmyeong, who gives her (and us) a surprising reply. "If I remember right, he was quite eclectic." And multitalented. But "he also had a playful side," Manmyeong adds. He created that drinking game with the 14-sided dice. (Juryeonggu--we saw Jinpyeong playing it in Episode 6.) A good enough craftsman to inscribe the characters on the dice; he could also inscribe in stone. "He had a talent for the thin brush as well." He gave her a small wooden statue once with tiny characters on it; she still has the statue but she can't read the characters anymore; they're too small for her eyes. (Okay, so where is it?)
Deokman, Yushin and Alcheon are together again, and Yushin finally smells the rat they all should have smelled right off the bat: Why would Seolwon just let him read those records? "Bojong never came back to the archives," Alcheon adds. They figure that if Mishil knows the answer, wouldn't she just tell Bojong? Obviously she didn't tell him, or they wouldn't have gone looking for it in the first place. So they figure that she knows but can't reveal it for some reason. Deokman concludes, "that means the answer has something to do with her." These are completely unfounded conclusions, but whatever....They decide to head to Heungnyun temple.
It's been a while, but we get back to Bidam. He's just done it, at last: asked Munno who his parents are. He never asked before, he explains, because he felt abandoned by them and consequently didn't care in return. "But now I'd like to know." Why?, Munno asks...Bidam remembers the conversation he overheard...and answers, "Because I'd like to be a Hwarang." Bidam, a Hwarang? (Great--we've got the Rising Phoenix Corps and the Dragon Flower Corps--now we'll have the Weird Chicken Corps.) "A Hwarang like Yushin," he adds, "so I can serve the princess. But I wonder if I'm from the right kind of family." Even if he's telling the truth, it's not really why he wants to know; the conversation he heard is why he wants to know. Munno is understandably surprised by all this.
Heungnyun Temple: Deokman, Yushin and Alcheon are shown the workroom where Gochilbu and his scholars worked on the national history (and yes, it is the same room we saw in the earlier flashback). It's still a busy place, full of records and hard-at-work scholars. "We've kept it unchanged to train new scholars," the head monk explains. They notice a sort of palindrome written geometrically on a displayed sheet of paper. "It's a magic square," the monk explains. Words about sun shining brightly on the people; they read the same horizontally and vertically. Okay, cute but so what? They've kept it there because it's Gochilbu's; he created the things as a sort of diversion while he was working on the history. Then they're shown some of the original source material he used in compiling the history. Most of the source material was placed in the royal archives, but a few things were kept here. It's mostly those old wooden-stick scroll things.
"Why did you ask that question?" Uh-oh, is Munno in trouble? The king is asking him point-blank, and doesn't sound too happy about it. Gets Munno to admit he doesn't know the answer. And then reveals that he's been looking for the answer himself for years! "I've wondered if it had something to do with Jinheung's impossible dream," he says, whatever that dream is. But he admits dejectedly, "I have no idea. What is this dream I'm supposed to dream?" Munno explains that he asked the question because he wants to find the answer. "I suspect Mishil's the only one who knows the third meaning." Jinpyeong connects the dots: "That means she altered the records to keep it hidden?"
"No one will find out." Mishil tells Seolwon and Hajong, and says it like she means business. "Sejong and I are the only ones who know the answer. And after we die no one will ever know." Even if Deokman finds the right materials and pieces it together, "what good will it do if she doesn't talk with me first?" A question that they don't understand, and neither do we, not yet. "It must remain a secret," Sejong adds, "for the good of Shilla."
Back at Heungnyun Temple: Nighttime and they're still looking through those old records. You go home and let me worry about this, Yushin tells Deokman. But Deokman is taking this personally; she wants to prove to Munno that she knows enough to be worthy of the throne. "I must find the answer to know what a ruler should do," she says, obviously taking Munno's earlier conversation very seriously."
Now Yushin is outside, walking in the night air to clear his head...
Deokman is back home, still thinking about the mystery...Suddenly she springs up and grabs a document behind her. That's Gochilbu's note to the king, isn't it? (Hey, you think she's trying to read it horizontally instead of vertically? This ain't rocket science, folks.)
Well, finally! Manmyeong shows her son the statue that Gochilbu gave her. "I thought it might help so I brought it out." Yushin examines it...and he has a flash of inspiration. Not from the writing on the statue--he only looked at it for a moment--but from the "thin brush" technique that was used to print it. He runs out...
Deokman's eyes are getting wider and wider as she reads the document. She runs out of the room...
...and to Deokman's chambers. Deokman just left, of course. So he runs out of there...
Eventually they reunite in the temple workroom; they've simultaneously found some great clue in the combination of magic squares and thin-brush calligraphy.
They go back to her chambers, where Gochilbu's note lies on the table. "The last note he wrote before his death," Deokman believes, "would not be a simple message." They start reading the note again--horizontally--and put words together. "Your...royal...dagger...look." As in, look at your royal dagger? Quickly Deokman retrieves the little dagger she's had since her birth but apparently never examined closely before (UGH!!! Seriously?), and spots some thin-brush calligraphy in the metalwork of the handle. Using her magnifying crystal she reads the writing...and gasps.