Post by ajk on Mar 28, 2014 23:01:10 GMT -5
Wow, Gongmin is actually so angry he's smiling. You know, maniac smile. Fortunately Lee Je Hyeon shows up and gives them all a good scolding. Reminds them of Noguk's sincerity towards Goryeo and its welfare. But they only care about her Yuan ancestry.
"Dethrone me?" Wow, Noguk is taking this all very well. She figures it's only natural that people might think about this (and of course we've heard it several times previously so it's not exactly a surprise). And she and Pyeonjo and even Eunuch An know that it's all a front for an attack on Pyeonjo and the Directorate. Don't be distracted by this from doing your work, she tells Pyeonjo when he visits her.
A giddy Inspector Kim reports to the queen dowager that they're working the Yuan-queen angle to get what they want. And that officials of higher and higher ranks are turning in their resignations. (Hmmm...Isn't that sort of what Gongmin wants?) Your support means everything to us, he tells her. And she's still in the palm of his hand, huffing and upset about the whole situation.
They're still at it outside of Gongmin's office. "Dethrone the Queen!" Inside, Gongmin tells Le Je Hyeon that he's changed the title names of some of the recent past kings. He's removed the "Chung" prefixes that mean "loyalty," as in, loyalty to the Yuan, and replaced them with "Hyo" suffixes, meaning "filial piety and virtue." He's very happy to have done this at last, and Lee is very pleased as well. It's a big step for Goryeo away from Yuan domination. He asks Lee to oversee the preparing of name-change documents and the revising of the ancestral tablets.
WOW--look at this: Noguk is on the porch outside Gongmin's office, facing down the whining officials. Tells them she agrees with them! "Would it make any sense that a Yuan woman like me would sit on the throne as your mother of state?" And here you all are risking your careers and maybe even your lives over it. "My admiration for your courage pierces the sky." They don't know what to say to that...so she goes on, and now she's not so nice. Where has all of this resolve been, she asks them, for all of the decades that the Yuan have been oppressing this country? "If this was what you were truly made of, the Yuan would have ceased their oppression long ago. Why did you endure those years of humiliation without moving a finger?" Ouch!
One more question for Lee. There are two queen dowagers in the palace these days: Gongmin's mother, and Princess Deoknyeong. Gongmin wants to proclaim one of them empress dowager...but which one? Of course your mother, Lee answers. Which apparently is what Gongmin was thinking; he just wanted confirmation.
"Is serving and living with a Mongol princess so shameful?" Now she's really glaring at them. "If dethroning me can make such shame vanish, then I shall step down." An offer she's made before...but from the way she's looking at them she doesn't have any intention of doing so. And when Lee walks out of Gongmin's office and shouts at them to go home--"You should be ashamed of yourselves!"--all they can do is skulk away silently with their heads down.
Gongmin heard it all from inside and now he's laughing like crazy about it. "You really are fearless," he tells Noguk as she comes in. But she came to give him a message. "Even if you abandon me," she says, "you must never abandon Pyeonjo. Even if that costs you to lose the entire court, you must establish the Directorate at all costs, and earn your people's devotion." But he's already fully committed to that and assures her that he's not going to abandon either one of them.
Kim Yong is disappointed with the officials for buckling.
Even Yeom Je Shin is rolling his eyes about it. "How could they anger His Majesty by mentioning the Queen?" Exactly; it was stupid. And Lee Je Hyeon tells him it's inevitable now: "All of us need to be prepared for a visit to the Directorate."
Pyeonjo checks with Gongmin one more time: are you sure you're okay with my going after Kim Yong? Yes, he's totally okay with it. I forgave him for his conduct during Jo Il Shin's insurrection, Gongmin says, so I no longer owe him anything. But then Pyeonjo says he has another target: Yeom Je Shin! "He arouses many suspicions." Pyeonjo still hopes the high officials will be shamed into coming forward voluntarily...but if they don't? "We need to get rid of them," Gongmin answers. Even if every single one of them is guilty? "Don't I have my people?" Great answer. But what if the people don't go along with this? Gongmin answers without hesitation: "Then, I shall be the one to step down." The king's absolute 100 percent commitment to cleaning up all of the corruption, it moves Pyeonjo to tears.
Won Hyeon and the inspectors are preparing to move in on Kim Yong. But Pyeonjo tells them to first bring back and question those six ministers he was questioning the other day. "We need to find concrete evidence before we summon Kim Yong." So apparently they don't have it yet. The inspectors don't like it but Pyeonjo tells them they need to proceed carefully...and then makes them much happier by telling them the Directorate has the king's okay to go after the very highest officials. So they head off excitedly and round up the six. We see them actually grab two them and physically haul them away! Frankly, that kind of manhandling seems excessive.
Now Jung Se Woon barges into Pyeonjo's office; he saw the Military Minister taken away and angrily tells Pyeonjo he's going too far. But in the next sentence he's angry about he himself becoming a suspect! This is news to us (and hard to believe because he's always seemed totally clean and honorable). He's really barking at Pyeonjo, but then he tries to appeal one more time for clemency for Kim Yong. Pyeonjo is surprisingly empathetic: "You're a man of fealty and devotion, so you must be in agony" over your friend's plight. But he gives Jung a message for Kim Yong: "He shall give back all the land and slaves he stole. After that, he can bid His Majesty farewell, retire to his hometown, and quietly spend the rest of his days." And the intense glare in his eyes, and the authority in his voice, we've never seen this from him. His confidence and drive have never been higher.
Jung relays the message and Kim doesn't like it. He even accuses Pyeonjo of taking bribes and being corrupt! And thinks he's going to bust him for it. Jung knows that's nonsense and tells him so.
Choseon's estate: Her head man Park tells her that the merchants in the market are talking all kinds of slander against Pyeonjo. Choseon is shocked, because he's done so much to improve their business climate. Why would they be doing this?
Oh, now we know why--because we see a group of merchants meeting with Kim Yong. Kim is telling them all sorts of lies about meeting with the king and what the king said. And they're eating it all up. "Pyeonjo will not last long. Help me expose his corrupt ways. His Majesty is waiting for a just cause to abandon him."
Directorate office: Pyeonjo and Won Hyeon are back at it, questioning another official. But this time they find a guy from the military ministry who's recorded everything accurately and shows no signs of having stolen anything. So Pyeonjo compliments him and lets him leave. The guy goes outside and gushes to those in line about how pleasantly it all went and how Pyeonjo is being misunderstood...but then we hear Won yelling from inside, because they're already on to the next official and they're already confronting him with a list of his stolen assets. Won gets so angry at him that he runs up to him and slaps him so hard he falls off his chair! That is NOT good, and Pyeonjo is shocked. We see the official, shaking with fear, and now back inside Pyeonjo is glaring at Won like he wants to rip his head off.
"Are you telling me that man is a monk?" Word of the slap has already made it to the queen's palace, and Princess Deoknyeong doesn't like it. "They've crossed the line," she tells Noguk.
And now it gets to Gongmin--eunuchs Choi and An tell him that the court is in an uproar over it. And Gongmin cracks up laughing! Thinks it's just the kind of scare the officials need. Then, he gives An a promotion. "From now on, I shall entrust supervision of the royal palace to you." Which seems to be at Choi's expense, doesn't it? Then Gongmin gives An a message for Pyeonjo: "he should hurry and capture Kim Yong."
Choi rushes to Kim Yong with the news. "I won't take this lying down," Kim says.
Master Bou has summoned Pyeonjo to the royal temple. Why?
Gaetae Temple: Wolseon is refusing to eat. He just sits there, staring at the floor.
"He will not live long." Bou gives Pyeonjo the bad news and also tells him that Wolseon asked Bou to ordain him. "He wants to see you bedecked in a kasaya on the day he bids farewell to this secular world. You must fulfill his wishes. Isn't he like a father to you?" The news staggers him to the point where he nearly falls down the stairs on his way out. But is he happy about it?
Hey--it's Lee In Bok! He's alive--and home again! How did this happen? We get a flashback...to Yanjing, and he's before Empress Gi. She tells him she doesn't want to cause bloodshed in her native land, and that she will want Goryeo's support in trying to get her son named emperor someday. "These are the reasons I did not send an army to make you pay for your misdeeds; I implored His Majesty to close an eye on your king's insolence." And that's not all. She discontinues the tribute payment requirement, and she officially gives Ssangseong to Goryeo. Plus, "I will even close an eye on your slaughtering my brethren." There's just one condition: if your troops cross the Amnok River again, "I shall unleash the flames of my vengeance upon Goryeo until not a single weed is left." And one final thing: "If my son becomes the Yuan Emperor, then I shall bestow on Goryeo its independence. Until that day, you shall treat us as your mother nation." Lee tries to take issue with that, but before he can say anything she shoos him away. "You may leave, before I change my mind."...Flashback ending, Lee has come straight to Gongmin with the good news. Well it's not all good news...there's one thing we didn't see in the flashback. One more condition. Those posthumous titles of the previous kings that Gongmin changed? Change them back. That's the Yuan emperor's condition. Somehow he got word of it and apparently it made him so angry that he went ballistic and threatened to "deploy an army of 800,000 and obliterate Goryeo from the map." Well, the Yuan can't send anything close to 800,000 troops, but still...so Lee accepted the condition on his own, without Gongmin's direction. "You made a wise decision," Gongmin tells him, to his immense relief. Gongmin says that it isn't an important enough matter to stand in the way of the good things Goryeo was offered. And he's absolutely right.
Now Choi Young is updating Lee on what's been happening in the capital. Particularly the Directorate and the infamous slap of the taxation minister. "They say the Board of Taxation appropriated a very significant part of the collaborators' assets." Lee nods his head. "So, he deserved it?!" Lee is serious but it's laugh-out-loud funny. Choi adds that there are increasing numbers of pirate attacks in the south and the government needs money to repulse them--which is why the king is having the Directorate press hard for asset recovery. "We can't approve of Pyeonjo's social rank," Choi's aide tells Lee, speaking for the Board of Military Affairs, "but what he's doing is right." Then Lee meets Lee Seonggye, who's standing there in a group behind Choi. In Bok is surprised to learn that he and his father are living in the capital now. He doesn't approve. "A general must spend his days on the battlefield," In Bok says. (All of them? That's a weird statement.)
Lee Seonggye goes home. "I think going back to the Ssangseong Commandery is out of the question," Seonggye tells his father. "There is no way they will entrust you the Commandery." Clearly he did pick up on that weird vibe from Lee In Bok. "No matter what," his father advises, "you must show fealty for Goryeo. That is the only way we will survive all this." Hmmm...plenty going on here that we don't know about yet.
Now Lee In Bok goes to Lee Je Hyeon...and gets a very sobering assessment from the old man: "His Majesty must be on the verge of abandoning us all." Yow-wee. "Still, what he's doing is certainly appropriate." But In Bok isn't as charitable about it. Because of Pyeonjo's social standing, he says, "those guilty of misdeeds won't accept him, so the only end result will be the entire court turning its back on His Majesty. We need to stop that from happening." That will even endanger Gongmin's throne, he believes. "I shall take a step forward," he says, "so all I need is Your Excellency's support." What sort of step?
Evening: Lee In Bok goes to Choseon's estate to see Pyeonjo. They sit down together, and Lee paints a much more dire picture of the Yuan situation than he painted for the king, and reminds Pyeonjo of how the Yuan picked and chose kings. Suggesting that Gongmin is being placed in a dangerous position by the Directorate's going after Kim Yong. "It is time you stop," Lee says; "at least until the king's authority is stronger." But Pyeonjo politely disagrees. "What you don't do today shall be more difficult to do tomorrow." And adds that he was hoping for Lee's support. Lee gets frustrated..."If all the court rises in revolt, His Majesty will fail!" Pyeonjo fires back, "They will have to go over my dead body first!" (Which most of them wouldn't hesitate to do, of course.) And adds that the king will have plenty of time to step back after Kim Yong's investigation is finished. Lee argues that condemning Kim Yong won't solve any larger problems and will only risk destabilizing a nation facing foreign invasion. His frustration rises until Pyeonjo abruptly stands up and glares at him threateningly. So Lee stands up and storms out in frustration.
Later that evening, Pyeonjo starts to leave for his ordination tomorrow. Apparently he'll spend the night at the royal temple. But Choseon is standing outside in the yard; she's heard about his ordination and is desperate to stop him. "If you get ordained and go back to Gaetae Temple, you will never come back here. The Master will bestow on you his kasaya and bowl. You think you will come back to the secular world after that?" Fear not, he tells her. "After I bid the Master farewell, I shall be back." But she doesn't believe him. "Embrace me one last time before you leave," she says, choking up. "You will never be back." (One last time? So there were previous embraces?) So he does. And now we finally see a sincere, honest moment between them. And then it's over, and he heads off as she stands there with tears in her eyes.
Next morning: The inspectors head off to apprehend Kim Yong.
We see Pyeonjo being ordained. They're cutting his hair! It's a requirement. Actually they're only cutting it shorter; Wolseon had wanted to cut it himself so they're leaving the rest for him to do later at Gaetae.
The inspectors reach Kim Yong's estate and rush the place, shoving Kim's guards aside. Amazingly, Kim steps outside and calmly confronts them. "I spared your life!", he angrily reminds Won Hyeon. And he calmly strolls among them, trying to cow them into submission with his arrogance. "You vile vermin," he mutters. And Won Hyeon goes bonkers--grabs a wooden club and knocks Kim down with a blow to the back! Kim is arrested and is rather roughly escorted to the Directorate office, as a cheering public watches.
Choseon arrives at the royal temple as the ordination is taking place inside. She offers silent prayers for Pyeonjo's well-being.
A letter of resignation arrives at Gongmin's office. It's Kim Won Myeong's. The secretariat supervisor who's been making trouble lately, so maybe not a surprise. Eunuchs announce its arrival...but inside, Gongmin doesn't even bat an eye, because he's already staring at a whole pile of resignations! Bring it in, Gongmin shouts. "I shall accept them all!"
Word of this reaches the queen dowager and she's in a snit in seconds.
We learn that the resigning officials are all leaving the capital!
Another resignation arrives. This one sends Gongmin into a fury: It's Yeom Je Shin's. And then an even more stunning one: Lee Je Hyeon's.
We see Lee Je Hyeon, alone and looking very ordinary without his minister's robe, walking out of Gwanghwamun Gate. A very sad sight after so many years of wise, valuable public service. Will we ever see him again?
Pyeonjo leaves the temple to find Choseon there waiting for him. They exchange prayer-bows and he walks past her without a word.
Gongmin walks into what's supposed to be a state council meeting but the place is almost deserted. Spots Lee Je Hyeon and shouts "Are you responsible for this?" Jung Se Woon is there, too; he's stayed loyal. "Fine," Gongmin says. "If everyone wants to step down, I shall proclaim Pyeonjo as the Assistant Administrator!"
"Dethrone me?" Wow, Noguk is taking this all very well. She figures it's only natural that people might think about this (and of course we've heard it several times previously so it's not exactly a surprise). And she and Pyeonjo and even Eunuch An know that it's all a front for an attack on Pyeonjo and the Directorate. Don't be distracted by this from doing your work, she tells Pyeonjo when he visits her.
A giddy Inspector Kim reports to the queen dowager that they're working the Yuan-queen angle to get what they want. And that officials of higher and higher ranks are turning in their resignations. (Hmmm...Isn't that sort of what Gongmin wants?) Your support means everything to us, he tells her. And she's still in the palm of his hand, huffing and upset about the whole situation.
They're still at it outside of Gongmin's office. "Dethrone the Queen!" Inside, Gongmin tells Le Je Hyeon that he's changed the title names of some of the recent past kings. He's removed the "Chung" prefixes that mean "loyalty," as in, loyalty to the Yuan, and replaced them with "Hyo" suffixes, meaning "filial piety and virtue." He's very happy to have done this at last, and Lee is very pleased as well. It's a big step for Goryeo away from Yuan domination. He asks Lee to oversee the preparing of name-change documents and the revising of the ancestral tablets.
WOW--look at this: Noguk is on the porch outside Gongmin's office, facing down the whining officials. Tells them she agrees with them! "Would it make any sense that a Yuan woman like me would sit on the throne as your mother of state?" And here you all are risking your careers and maybe even your lives over it. "My admiration for your courage pierces the sky." They don't know what to say to that...so she goes on, and now she's not so nice. Where has all of this resolve been, she asks them, for all of the decades that the Yuan have been oppressing this country? "If this was what you were truly made of, the Yuan would have ceased their oppression long ago. Why did you endure those years of humiliation without moving a finger?" Ouch!
One more question for Lee. There are two queen dowagers in the palace these days: Gongmin's mother, and Princess Deoknyeong. Gongmin wants to proclaim one of them empress dowager...but which one? Of course your mother, Lee answers. Which apparently is what Gongmin was thinking; he just wanted confirmation.
"Is serving and living with a Mongol princess so shameful?" Now she's really glaring at them. "If dethroning me can make such shame vanish, then I shall step down." An offer she's made before...but from the way she's looking at them she doesn't have any intention of doing so. And when Lee walks out of Gongmin's office and shouts at them to go home--"You should be ashamed of yourselves!"--all they can do is skulk away silently with their heads down.
Gongmin heard it all from inside and now he's laughing like crazy about it. "You really are fearless," he tells Noguk as she comes in. But she came to give him a message. "Even if you abandon me," she says, "you must never abandon Pyeonjo. Even if that costs you to lose the entire court, you must establish the Directorate at all costs, and earn your people's devotion." But he's already fully committed to that and assures her that he's not going to abandon either one of them.
Kim Yong is disappointed with the officials for buckling.
Even Yeom Je Shin is rolling his eyes about it. "How could they anger His Majesty by mentioning the Queen?" Exactly; it was stupid. And Lee Je Hyeon tells him it's inevitable now: "All of us need to be prepared for a visit to the Directorate."
Pyeonjo checks with Gongmin one more time: are you sure you're okay with my going after Kim Yong? Yes, he's totally okay with it. I forgave him for his conduct during Jo Il Shin's insurrection, Gongmin says, so I no longer owe him anything. But then Pyeonjo says he has another target: Yeom Je Shin! "He arouses many suspicions." Pyeonjo still hopes the high officials will be shamed into coming forward voluntarily...but if they don't? "We need to get rid of them," Gongmin answers. Even if every single one of them is guilty? "Don't I have my people?" Great answer. But what if the people don't go along with this? Gongmin answers without hesitation: "Then, I shall be the one to step down." The king's absolute 100 percent commitment to cleaning up all of the corruption, it moves Pyeonjo to tears.
Won Hyeon and the inspectors are preparing to move in on Kim Yong. But Pyeonjo tells them to first bring back and question those six ministers he was questioning the other day. "We need to find concrete evidence before we summon Kim Yong." So apparently they don't have it yet. The inspectors don't like it but Pyeonjo tells them they need to proceed carefully...and then makes them much happier by telling them the Directorate has the king's okay to go after the very highest officials. So they head off excitedly and round up the six. We see them actually grab two them and physically haul them away! Frankly, that kind of manhandling seems excessive.
Now Jung Se Woon barges into Pyeonjo's office; he saw the Military Minister taken away and angrily tells Pyeonjo he's going too far. But in the next sentence he's angry about he himself becoming a suspect! This is news to us (and hard to believe because he's always seemed totally clean and honorable). He's really barking at Pyeonjo, but then he tries to appeal one more time for clemency for Kim Yong. Pyeonjo is surprisingly empathetic: "You're a man of fealty and devotion, so you must be in agony" over your friend's plight. But he gives Jung a message for Kim Yong: "He shall give back all the land and slaves he stole. After that, he can bid His Majesty farewell, retire to his hometown, and quietly spend the rest of his days." And the intense glare in his eyes, and the authority in his voice, we've never seen this from him. His confidence and drive have never been higher.
Jung relays the message and Kim doesn't like it. He even accuses Pyeonjo of taking bribes and being corrupt! And thinks he's going to bust him for it. Jung knows that's nonsense and tells him so.
Choseon's estate: Her head man Park tells her that the merchants in the market are talking all kinds of slander against Pyeonjo. Choseon is shocked, because he's done so much to improve their business climate. Why would they be doing this?
Oh, now we know why--because we see a group of merchants meeting with Kim Yong. Kim is telling them all sorts of lies about meeting with the king and what the king said. And they're eating it all up. "Pyeonjo will not last long. Help me expose his corrupt ways. His Majesty is waiting for a just cause to abandon him."
Directorate office: Pyeonjo and Won Hyeon are back at it, questioning another official. But this time they find a guy from the military ministry who's recorded everything accurately and shows no signs of having stolen anything. So Pyeonjo compliments him and lets him leave. The guy goes outside and gushes to those in line about how pleasantly it all went and how Pyeonjo is being misunderstood...but then we hear Won yelling from inside, because they're already on to the next official and they're already confronting him with a list of his stolen assets. Won gets so angry at him that he runs up to him and slaps him so hard he falls off his chair! That is NOT good, and Pyeonjo is shocked. We see the official, shaking with fear, and now back inside Pyeonjo is glaring at Won like he wants to rip his head off.
"Are you telling me that man is a monk?" Word of the slap has already made it to the queen's palace, and Princess Deoknyeong doesn't like it. "They've crossed the line," she tells Noguk.
And now it gets to Gongmin--eunuchs Choi and An tell him that the court is in an uproar over it. And Gongmin cracks up laughing! Thinks it's just the kind of scare the officials need. Then, he gives An a promotion. "From now on, I shall entrust supervision of the royal palace to you." Which seems to be at Choi's expense, doesn't it? Then Gongmin gives An a message for Pyeonjo: "he should hurry and capture Kim Yong."
Choi rushes to Kim Yong with the news. "I won't take this lying down," Kim says.
Master Bou has summoned Pyeonjo to the royal temple. Why?
Gaetae Temple: Wolseon is refusing to eat. He just sits there, staring at the floor.
"He will not live long." Bou gives Pyeonjo the bad news and also tells him that Wolseon asked Bou to ordain him. "He wants to see you bedecked in a kasaya on the day he bids farewell to this secular world. You must fulfill his wishes. Isn't he like a father to you?" The news staggers him to the point where he nearly falls down the stairs on his way out. But is he happy about it?
Hey--it's Lee In Bok! He's alive--and home again! How did this happen? We get a flashback...to Yanjing, and he's before Empress Gi. She tells him she doesn't want to cause bloodshed in her native land, and that she will want Goryeo's support in trying to get her son named emperor someday. "These are the reasons I did not send an army to make you pay for your misdeeds; I implored His Majesty to close an eye on your king's insolence." And that's not all. She discontinues the tribute payment requirement, and she officially gives Ssangseong to Goryeo. Plus, "I will even close an eye on your slaughtering my brethren." There's just one condition: if your troops cross the Amnok River again, "I shall unleash the flames of my vengeance upon Goryeo until not a single weed is left." And one final thing: "If my son becomes the Yuan Emperor, then I shall bestow on Goryeo its independence. Until that day, you shall treat us as your mother nation." Lee tries to take issue with that, but before he can say anything she shoos him away. "You may leave, before I change my mind."...Flashback ending, Lee has come straight to Gongmin with the good news. Well it's not all good news...there's one thing we didn't see in the flashback. One more condition. Those posthumous titles of the previous kings that Gongmin changed? Change them back. That's the Yuan emperor's condition. Somehow he got word of it and apparently it made him so angry that he went ballistic and threatened to "deploy an army of 800,000 and obliterate Goryeo from the map." Well, the Yuan can't send anything close to 800,000 troops, but still...so Lee accepted the condition on his own, without Gongmin's direction. "You made a wise decision," Gongmin tells him, to his immense relief. Gongmin says that it isn't an important enough matter to stand in the way of the good things Goryeo was offered. And he's absolutely right.
Now Choi Young is updating Lee on what's been happening in the capital. Particularly the Directorate and the infamous slap of the taxation minister. "They say the Board of Taxation appropriated a very significant part of the collaborators' assets." Lee nods his head. "So, he deserved it?!" Lee is serious but it's laugh-out-loud funny. Choi adds that there are increasing numbers of pirate attacks in the south and the government needs money to repulse them--which is why the king is having the Directorate press hard for asset recovery. "We can't approve of Pyeonjo's social rank," Choi's aide tells Lee, speaking for the Board of Military Affairs, "but what he's doing is right." Then Lee meets Lee Seonggye, who's standing there in a group behind Choi. In Bok is surprised to learn that he and his father are living in the capital now. He doesn't approve. "A general must spend his days on the battlefield," In Bok says. (All of them? That's a weird statement.)
Lee Seonggye goes home. "I think going back to the Ssangseong Commandery is out of the question," Seonggye tells his father. "There is no way they will entrust you the Commandery." Clearly he did pick up on that weird vibe from Lee In Bok. "No matter what," his father advises, "you must show fealty for Goryeo. That is the only way we will survive all this." Hmmm...plenty going on here that we don't know about yet.
Now Lee In Bok goes to Lee Je Hyeon...and gets a very sobering assessment from the old man: "His Majesty must be on the verge of abandoning us all." Yow-wee. "Still, what he's doing is certainly appropriate." But In Bok isn't as charitable about it. Because of Pyeonjo's social standing, he says, "those guilty of misdeeds won't accept him, so the only end result will be the entire court turning its back on His Majesty. We need to stop that from happening." That will even endanger Gongmin's throne, he believes. "I shall take a step forward," he says, "so all I need is Your Excellency's support." What sort of step?
Evening: Lee In Bok goes to Choseon's estate to see Pyeonjo. They sit down together, and Lee paints a much more dire picture of the Yuan situation than he painted for the king, and reminds Pyeonjo of how the Yuan picked and chose kings. Suggesting that Gongmin is being placed in a dangerous position by the Directorate's going after Kim Yong. "It is time you stop," Lee says; "at least until the king's authority is stronger." But Pyeonjo politely disagrees. "What you don't do today shall be more difficult to do tomorrow." And adds that he was hoping for Lee's support. Lee gets frustrated..."If all the court rises in revolt, His Majesty will fail!" Pyeonjo fires back, "They will have to go over my dead body first!" (Which most of them wouldn't hesitate to do, of course.) And adds that the king will have plenty of time to step back after Kim Yong's investigation is finished. Lee argues that condemning Kim Yong won't solve any larger problems and will only risk destabilizing a nation facing foreign invasion. His frustration rises until Pyeonjo abruptly stands up and glares at him threateningly. So Lee stands up and storms out in frustration.
Later that evening, Pyeonjo starts to leave for his ordination tomorrow. Apparently he'll spend the night at the royal temple. But Choseon is standing outside in the yard; she's heard about his ordination and is desperate to stop him. "If you get ordained and go back to Gaetae Temple, you will never come back here. The Master will bestow on you his kasaya and bowl. You think you will come back to the secular world after that?" Fear not, he tells her. "After I bid the Master farewell, I shall be back." But she doesn't believe him. "Embrace me one last time before you leave," she says, choking up. "You will never be back." (One last time? So there were previous embraces?) So he does. And now we finally see a sincere, honest moment between them. And then it's over, and he heads off as she stands there with tears in her eyes.
Next morning: The inspectors head off to apprehend Kim Yong.
We see Pyeonjo being ordained. They're cutting his hair! It's a requirement. Actually they're only cutting it shorter; Wolseon had wanted to cut it himself so they're leaving the rest for him to do later at Gaetae.
The inspectors reach Kim Yong's estate and rush the place, shoving Kim's guards aside. Amazingly, Kim steps outside and calmly confronts them. "I spared your life!", he angrily reminds Won Hyeon. And he calmly strolls among them, trying to cow them into submission with his arrogance. "You vile vermin," he mutters. And Won Hyeon goes bonkers--grabs a wooden club and knocks Kim down with a blow to the back! Kim is arrested and is rather roughly escorted to the Directorate office, as a cheering public watches.
Choseon arrives at the royal temple as the ordination is taking place inside. She offers silent prayers for Pyeonjo's well-being.
A letter of resignation arrives at Gongmin's office. It's Kim Won Myeong's. The secretariat supervisor who's been making trouble lately, so maybe not a surprise. Eunuchs announce its arrival...but inside, Gongmin doesn't even bat an eye, because he's already staring at a whole pile of resignations! Bring it in, Gongmin shouts. "I shall accept them all!"
Word of this reaches the queen dowager and she's in a snit in seconds.
We learn that the resigning officials are all leaving the capital!
Another resignation arrives. This one sends Gongmin into a fury: It's Yeom Je Shin's. And then an even more stunning one: Lee Je Hyeon's.
We see Lee Je Hyeon, alone and looking very ordinary without his minister's robe, walking out of Gwanghwamun Gate. A very sad sight after so many years of wise, valuable public service. Will we ever see him again?
Pyeonjo leaves the temple to find Choseon there waiting for him. They exchange prayer-bows and he walks past her without a word.
Gongmin walks into what's supposed to be a state council meeting but the place is almost deserted. Spots Lee Je Hyeon and shouts "Are you responsible for this?" Jung Se Woon is there, too; he's stayed loyal. "Fine," Gongmin says. "If everyone wants to step down, I shall proclaim Pyeonjo as the Assistant Administrator!"
