Post by ajk on Aug 4, 2009 12:52:30 GMT -5
The Goryean troops were utterly unfazed by Hunae's threat to shoot the king--and now we know why. We see an old man sitting in the palanquin; it isn't Sungjong. Hunae has killed some poor old guy who was sitting in for the king, literally. Prince Gaeryeong, now lying on the ground, starts to look around and get up, but promptly lapses into a seizure. The rebels are quickly suppressed. Hunae looks down at her quivering, unconscious son and realizes that it's all over. As the troops cheer wildly, she goes to tend to the boy.
That evening: Sungjong gets the report from Choe Sum, Choe Ryang and Kim Shimun that the overthrow was squashed and the rebels arrested. (We did see Sungjong leave the palace; no explanation about when or how the decoy was switched in.) As for the ministers who aided Hunae, the king says he wants to interrogate them himself. Then Yi Yang enters to tell the king that Myeongbok Palace has been "suppressed." And has to deliver the bad news that Steward Yi and Escort Yun, who took care of him when he was a little boy, were killed in the process.
Queen Munhwa goes to visit Prince Gaeryeong, who's now back in the palace and fully recovered. The boy confesses he knew what was going to happen; he apologizes but begs Munhwa to help his mother. She can't, of course, since Hunae is now a criminal of high treason. But, she says, Maybe you can help her. "Beg the king," she advises; tell him you'll give up your succession right and go live as a farmer. Maybe that will spare your mother's life.
Hunae and Chiyang are in a cell together. (Seriously?) "They knew everything and set us up," she says, pondering where it might have gone wrong. We should have killed him earlier, Chiyang says. But it's all Monday-morning quarterbacking at this point.
Evening in the torture yeard: The king arrives to supervise things. Choe Sum is doing the questioning, and is annoyingly good at it. First it's the ministers. We see Han Ungong and Han Ingyeong; they've been caught up in all this, although it hasn't been explained to us how or why. They swear their innocence. But Yi Jibaek, he's there too and he fesses right up, and bravely argues that it was for the good of the country! (Wow, gotta love this guy's cojones.) You wanted to give up part of our country, he tells the king, and then you allowed the queen to reinstate the officials who wanted to surrender. "How can you expect the public to support you?" And Yi Gyeomui, sitting right next to Jibaek, tells the king that Hunae has the public's support and that he should abdicate! (Ditto.) Sungjong understandably blows a gasket and screams for the torture to begin, which it does. Then we see Park Yangyu, who as far as we know is in the same boat as the two Hans. I wasn't part of it, he tells the king, but I agree with what they're saying. And he warns the king about "misguided officials leading you astray with guileful tongues." But that only makes the king angrier: "Torture the offenders until they show remorse!"
Guards take Chiyang from his cell--but leave Hunae.
Now it's Gang Jo, Chiyang, Sa Gamun and Hyangbi in the torture yard. Sungjong glares at Gang Jo: "Do you expect to live after this?" "No I don't," Jo replies, so matter-of-factly that it unnerves the king and Choe Sum. But his men, they were only following orders, Jo says, so release them. And he even tries to take full responsibility for the overthrow plot and get Hunae off the hook. But that doesn't fly. Then the king turns to Chiyang. "Is it true that you had an illicit affair" with Hunae? Chiyang denies it; Choe Sum says they have witness testimony, but Chiyang says it's a setup. All right, Sungjong says; "Then Gang Jo and Cheon Hyangbi will answer the question instead." But surprisingly, Gang Jo says he knows nothing about it. And Hyangbi follows suit (even more surprising since she's a proven squealer). "I see," Sungjong says, convinced otherwise; "You're testing my patience. Torture them without mercy!", he orders.
Su No, who appears to be a Khitan attendant, and Yelu Dilie inform Xiao Zanli that the plot was foiled. The emperor acted in haste, she realizes, by spilling the beans to Wonsoong. She worries that Sungjong might now try to reestablish ties with Song China; if he does, she says, I'll have to kill him. She knows about the arrow poison in his system and that overexcitement could be fatal. "I will have no problem getting him there once I marry him." (!! Yeah, but then the undertaker can't get the smile off his face.)
In a courtyard near the torture yard, we see Prince Gaeryeong on his knees shouting to the king, begging forgiveness.
It's morning and the torture is still going. Specifically, Chiyang's. He blacks out. Choe Sum tries to get under Gang Jo's skin--"Doesn't it make you angry that the woman you worship had an affair with this piece of dirt?" Which is smart, but Jo only laughs. At that, the king ties to stand up, but he collapses back into his chair. He's been out there all night. Go Hyun tells him he needs rest, but Sungjong wants to see Hunae. Not here, though.
Hunae is brought to the throne room. On the way she sees her son in the courtyard and they shout to each other. Inside, her devastated and exhausted brother is waiting, alone. "Did you hate me that much?" No answer. "How could you have acted so caring and concerned and then stab me in the back?" I don't hate you, she says, but you're weak and you're surrounded by selfish men. I would have listened if you had come to me, he says, but she disagrees. And tells him that her vision of Goryeo is too different from his. We must be a strong country and we must reclaim all of our old territory, she says. He calls that a "pipe dream" and says it will only bring suffering to the people. "You have not seen the fearsome strength of Khitan," she tells him. He fires right back, "Is having an illicit affair with a Jurchen subordinate for the country as well?" Uh-oh, we could see it before, but he is really hung up on that.
Gang Jo and Hyangbi are in a cell. She asks him why he didn't reveal what he knew about Chiyang and Hunae. I don't care about Chiyang, he says, "but it would hurt the lady if word got out" and I can't do that to her. Loyal once again.
Back in the throne room: It's only platonic, Hunae tells Sungjong. But "I think of him as my lover." Ooooh, bad choice of words. "This is worse than high treason!" the king shouts. Hunae counters, "Jurchens are human too" and in the country of my dreams there will be none of your kind of discrimination. You're insane, he tells her; you came back from Khitan insane. Then she asks him for death, and even tells him that he needs to kill her to preserve his royal authority. But she also asks for lenience for Gang Jo and the others, and for her son. That's my last request, she tells him. "And if I could have one more wish, please put effort into strengthening the state. Take a little more interest in the national defense than in scholastics." (Had to laugh at that one.) Sungjong has a tantrum and overturns a table. Then he starts to mourn for the family members who have died in the past because of this kind of political drama. And now, he says to his sister, you want me to kill you?
Wonsoong is praising Jo Sun and Jo Du. Everything is going their way. They have trading rights with Khitan now--and with Chiyang soon to be dead, they'll have a monopoly. They stopped the overthrow. And soon the coin production will begin. Jo Du asks Wonsoong why he's so excited about the coin production. (I've been wondering that too.) He answers, "Who is to say only the government can produce coins?" Uh-oh. Wonsoong says he already has expert counterfeiters lined up.
Dae Dosu is before the king. You promised, he reminds him, that if we stopped the overthrow, you'd spare my subordinates. They're good men, Dae says, and rendered valuable service in the war (which they did).
Hunae is back in her cell with Chiyang (Seriously again? With the way the king feels about the two of them? Come on already) and relates her exchange with the king. "You are incorrigible, my lady," Chiyang says. You should be trying to find a way out of this; appealing to his weakness and sympathy. But instead you told him to kill you! We need to stay alive so that we can try another overthrow. Brave talk from a doomed man, but he implores her not to give up. And she finds it inspiring. And then she has to tell him, "Whether we live or die, I love you." They hug and he tells her he loves her too: "I love you so much that I've forgotten who I am." And they cry. (Okay, so that's the point of the scene, but still, their being in a cell together is preposterous. Sloppy writing.)
Posters are going up in public places, informing people that Hunae was arrested for treason and that anyone associated with her should be reported. Sa Illa, back from Sasu County, is in the street and sees the posters. Who should find her but Dokyun, having successfully fled from Myeongbok Palace. She tells Sa Illa all that's happened and that Chiyang probably will be executed. Sa Illa wants to go save him; Dokyun offers to help her. Why should Dokyun care? "My orders from the prime minister are to do business with your boss," she tells Sa Illa. "What am I going to do if he's dead?" Hmmm....
State meeting: The king is announcing his decisions regarding the attempted coup. Prince Gaeryeong is to be stripped of his right of succession; he's confined to Sungdeok Palace to live as a commoner. Park Yangyu, Yi Gyeomui and Yi Jibaek will be removed from their posts and exiled in Naju (in the far southwest). Han Ingyeong is acquitted but Han Ungong is removed from his post "for neglecting to come forward with the knowledge of the crime." (Again, we have no knowledge of this.) Gang Jo, Yu Bang, Choi Gil and Kim Hoon are stripped of their ranks but can remain in the military as rank-and-file soldiers. Chiyang is to be banished to a desert island. (Huh?! There's a shocker.) And as for Hunae...she deserves death "but she is my only sibling and a hero of war. So I hereby order her exiled to Heunglaebu (contemporary Ulsan) 250 miles away." Hyangbi is to go with her to be her attendant. No sooner does the king stop talking than Choe Sum pipes up and complains: it's unacceptable, he says; all of them are traitors and must be executed. The other Shillans speak up too. But Sungjong wants no backtalk. "Silence!", he screams. "I am the king and this is my decision! Do you have nay idea how I feel right now? I want to kill not just them but all of you as well!" He implies that they're partly responsible for the loss of public confidence.
Later, Sungjong is trying to rest, but Munhwa is telling him he's making a mistake by letting the soldiers live and return here to the palace. They won't be here, he says; they'll be guarding Prince Gaeryeong at Sungdeok Palace. And knock it off, he tells her: "I love the kind and gentle woman you were before. Do you know how much you've changed? Please don't disappoint me any further." Gaeryeong has been deposed, he says, so you got what you wanted. And Chiyang, he tells her, "will die on the way to his place of exile." Doink! "He is one man I can't forgive." So there. It just didn't make sense that Sungjong would leave it at banishment.
"They're going to kill him on the way?" Sa Illa gets the word from Mun Inui, Choe Sum's steward. Choe Sum just found this out from the queen. (Wow, word gets around fast.) So you'd better do something soon, he tells her, and save our master.
Hunae is in a prisoner cart, dressed in white and being taken through the public streets on her way to exile. Hyangbi, also dressed in white, is walking behind the cart. Crowds of sad citizens watch. Then Princess Sun comes running into the street; Hunae begs her to go find Gaeryeong and take care of him.
Elsewhere, Chiyang is in a different prisoner cart. Sa Gamun is walking behind. Suddenly the procession stops and Chiyang is taken from the art. He and Sa Gamun are about to be executed. Oh no, you can just feel the bladed boomerang coming...and yep, right on cue, whoosh and three soldiers instantly drop dead. Sa Illa and Dokyun come running in, with some Jurchen backup that we're not shown very clearly. The Goryean soldiers are quickly killed. Even the ones on horseback; another boomerang throw kills three at once (AAAUGH).
Choe Sum tells the king that Chiyang got away. Sungjong isn't happy, of course, but keeps his cool. Officially, he tells Choe, Chiyang is dead; increase the security around Hunae, in case he should try to find her; and "secretly hunt him down and kill him no matter how long it takes."
Munhwa has brought Yi Hyunoon to the king. Hyunoon deserves a reward, she tells him, for coming forward with the information about the overthrow. Maybe reinstate him as a general? "I don't think so," Sungjong says. He remembers Hyunoon's cowardly behavior during the war, "and this time you snitched on your peers." Go away, he says, or I'll tell the other soldiers you betrayed them. "This is not fair," he whines; "I was just doing as I was told" (and as irritating as he is, he's absolutely right). Then Go Hyun enters, to tell the king that Seo Hui and Gang Gamchan are back from the north.
Sungjong happily receives Seo and Gamchan, who rushed back to the capital as soon as they heard the news. You're lucky you were gone, the king tells them, because you probably would have been implicated if you were here. "I'm sick of politics now," he says; "I don't know who to trust any more." Then the king asks Gamchan to go north and bring Prince Daeryang back. "I'm going to have to install him as my successor."
Yelu Dilie is back in Khitan. He tells emperor Shengzong that the coup was thwarted and Hunae exiled. Shengzong is pleased, as we can see by his devious smile. In part, it's because his mother was wrong. (Of course, she might not have been wrong without his interference.)
Hunae is informed by the merchant Yi Jujeong that Chiyang was reportedly killed by the soldiers who were transporting him. She fears the worst but tries to convince herself that he survived.
"Prince Gyeongjuwon is dead?" Gamchan is back from the north (that was fast) and tells the king that the prince committed suicide. He left behind a note saying that Daeryang was lost at sea "and he could not bear the pain of losing his son." Sungjong is disconsolate. He wonders, "Then who sill rule this kingdom after I'm gone?"
Gaeryeong wants to go for a horseback ride. But Gang Jo won't let him, because the boy is under house arrest and can't leave. I don't care about getting in trouble for it, the boy says. Then Princess Sun shows up and he complains to her: "They plot an overthrow with no regard for what I want, and now I'm locked up like a criminal." Sun instructs Gang Jo to have horses saddled and tells him, "I will speak to the king if it creates a problem." And the two go riding together in the countryside. As they gallop along, we see them age what must be a good ten years at least. Time has passed, and now the two are young adults.
That evening: Sungjong gets the report from Choe Sum, Choe Ryang and Kim Shimun that the overthrow was squashed and the rebels arrested. (We did see Sungjong leave the palace; no explanation about when or how the decoy was switched in.) As for the ministers who aided Hunae, the king says he wants to interrogate them himself. Then Yi Yang enters to tell the king that Myeongbok Palace has been "suppressed." And has to deliver the bad news that Steward Yi and Escort Yun, who took care of him when he was a little boy, were killed in the process.
Queen Munhwa goes to visit Prince Gaeryeong, who's now back in the palace and fully recovered. The boy confesses he knew what was going to happen; he apologizes but begs Munhwa to help his mother. She can't, of course, since Hunae is now a criminal of high treason. But, she says, Maybe you can help her. "Beg the king," she advises; tell him you'll give up your succession right and go live as a farmer. Maybe that will spare your mother's life.
Hunae and Chiyang are in a cell together. (Seriously?) "They knew everything and set us up," she says, pondering where it might have gone wrong. We should have killed him earlier, Chiyang says. But it's all Monday-morning quarterbacking at this point.
Evening in the torture yeard: The king arrives to supervise things. Choe Sum is doing the questioning, and is annoyingly good at it. First it's the ministers. We see Han Ungong and Han Ingyeong; they've been caught up in all this, although it hasn't been explained to us how or why. They swear their innocence. But Yi Jibaek, he's there too and he fesses right up, and bravely argues that it was for the good of the country! (Wow, gotta love this guy's cojones.) You wanted to give up part of our country, he tells the king, and then you allowed the queen to reinstate the officials who wanted to surrender. "How can you expect the public to support you?" And Yi Gyeomui, sitting right next to Jibaek, tells the king that Hunae has the public's support and that he should abdicate! (Ditto.) Sungjong understandably blows a gasket and screams for the torture to begin, which it does. Then we see Park Yangyu, who as far as we know is in the same boat as the two Hans. I wasn't part of it, he tells the king, but I agree with what they're saying. And he warns the king about "misguided officials leading you astray with guileful tongues." But that only makes the king angrier: "Torture the offenders until they show remorse!"
Guards take Chiyang from his cell--but leave Hunae.
Now it's Gang Jo, Chiyang, Sa Gamun and Hyangbi in the torture yard. Sungjong glares at Gang Jo: "Do you expect to live after this?" "No I don't," Jo replies, so matter-of-factly that it unnerves the king and Choe Sum. But his men, they were only following orders, Jo says, so release them. And he even tries to take full responsibility for the overthrow plot and get Hunae off the hook. But that doesn't fly. Then the king turns to Chiyang. "Is it true that you had an illicit affair" with Hunae? Chiyang denies it; Choe Sum says they have witness testimony, but Chiyang says it's a setup. All right, Sungjong says; "Then Gang Jo and Cheon Hyangbi will answer the question instead." But surprisingly, Gang Jo says he knows nothing about it. And Hyangbi follows suit (even more surprising since she's a proven squealer). "I see," Sungjong says, convinced otherwise; "You're testing my patience. Torture them without mercy!", he orders.
Su No, who appears to be a Khitan attendant, and Yelu Dilie inform Xiao Zanli that the plot was foiled. The emperor acted in haste, she realizes, by spilling the beans to Wonsoong. She worries that Sungjong might now try to reestablish ties with Song China; if he does, she says, I'll have to kill him. She knows about the arrow poison in his system and that overexcitement could be fatal. "I will have no problem getting him there once I marry him." (!! Yeah, but then the undertaker can't get the smile off his face.)
In a courtyard near the torture yard, we see Prince Gaeryeong on his knees shouting to the king, begging forgiveness.
It's morning and the torture is still going. Specifically, Chiyang's. He blacks out. Choe Sum tries to get under Gang Jo's skin--"Doesn't it make you angry that the woman you worship had an affair with this piece of dirt?" Which is smart, but Jo only laughs. At that, the king ties to stand up, but he collapses back into his chair. He's been out there all night. Go Hyun tells him he needs rest, but Sungjong wants to see Hunae. Not here, though.
Hunae is brought to the throne room. On the way she sees her son in the courtyard and they shout to each other. Inside, her devastated and exhausted brother is waiting, alone. "Did you hate me that much?" No answer. "How could you have acted so caring and concerned and then stab me in the back?" I don't hate you, she says, but you're weak and you're surrounded by selfish men. I would have listened if you had come to me, he says, but she disagrees. And tells him that her vision of Goryeo is too different from his. We must be a strong country and we must reclaim all of our old territory, she says. He calls that a "pipe dream" and says it will only bring suffering to the people. "You have not seen the fearsome strength of Khitan," she tells him. He fires right back, "Is having an illicit affair with a Jurchen subordinate for the country as well?" Uh-oh, we could see it before, but he is really hung up on that.
Gang Jo and Hyangbi are in a cell. She asks him why he didn't reveal what he knew about Chiyang and Hunae. I don't care about Chiyang, he says, "but it would hurt the lady if word got out" and I can't do that to her. Loyal once again.
Back in the throne room: It's only platonic, Hunae tells Sungjong. But "I think of him as my lover." Ooooh, bad choice of words. "This is worse than high treason!" the king shouts. Hunae counters, "Jurchens are human too" and in the country of my dreams there will be none of your kind of discrimination. You're insane, he tells her; you came back from Khitan insane. Then she asks him for death, and even tells him that he needs to kill her to preserve his royal authority. But she also asks for lenience for Gang Jo and the others, and for her son. That's my last request, she tells him. "And if I could have one more wish, please put effort into strengthening the state. Take a little more interest in the national defense than in scholastics." (Had to laugh at that one.) Sungjong has a tantrum and overturns a table. Then he starts to mourn for the family members who have died in the past because of this kind of political drama. And now, he says to his sister, you want me to kill you?
Wonsoong is praising Jo Sun and Jo Du. Everything is going their way. They have trading rights with Khitan now--and with Chiyang soon to be dead, they'll have a monopoly. They stopped the overthrow. And soon the coin production will begin. Jo Du asks Wonsoong why he's so excited about the coin production. (I've been wondering that too.) He answers, "Who is to say only the government can produce coins?" Uh-oh. Wonsoong says he already has expert counterfeiters lined up.
Dae Dosu is before the king. You promised, he reminds him, that if we stopped the overthrow, you'd spare my subordinates. They're good men, Dae says, and rendered valuable service in the war (which they did).
Hunae is back in her cell with Chiyang (Seriously again? With the way the king feels about the two of them? Come on already) and relates her exchange with the king. "You are incorrigible, my lady," Chiyang says. You should be trying to find a way out of this; appealing to his weakness and sympathy. But instead you told him to kill you! We need to stay alive so that we can try another overthrow. Brave talk from a doomed man, but he implores her not to give up. And she finds it inspiring. And then she has to tell him, "Whether we live or die, I love you." They hug and he tells her he loves her too: "I love you so much that I've forgotten who I am." And they cry. (Okay, so that's the point of the scene, but still, their being in a cell together is preposterous. Sloppy writing.)
Posters are going up in public places, informing people that Hunae was arrested for treason and that anyone associated with her should be reported. Sa Illa, back from Sasu County, is in the street and sees the posters. Who should find her but Dokyun, having successfully fled from Myeongbok Palace. She tells Sa Illa all that's happened and that Chiyang probably will be executed. Sa Illa wants to go save him; Dokyun offers to help her. Why should Dokyun care? "My orders from the prime minister are to do business with your boss," she tells Sa Illa. "What am I going to do if he's dead?" Hmmm....
State meeting: The king is announcing his decisions regarding the attempted coup. Prince Gaeryeong is to be stripped of his right of succession; he's confined to Sungdeok Palace to live as a commoner. Park Yangyu, Yi Gyeomui and Yi Jibaek will be removed from their posts and exiled in Naju (in the far southwest). Han Ingyeong is acquitted but Han Ungong is removed from his post "for neglecting to come forward with the knowledge of the crime." (Again, we have no knowledge of this.) Gang Jo, Yu Bang, Choi Gil and Kim Hoon are stripped of their ranks but can remain in the military as rank-and-file soldiers. Chiyang is to be banished to a desert island. (Huh?! There's a shocker.) And as for Hunae...she deserves death "but she is my only sibling and a hero of war. So I hereby order her exiled to Heunglaebu (contemporary Ulsan) 250 miles away." Hyangbi is to go with her to be her attendant. No sooner does the king stop talking than Choe Sum pipes up and complains: it's unacceptable, he says; all of them are traitors and must be executed. The other Shillans speak up too. But Sungjong wants no backtalk. "Silence!", he screams. "I am the king and this is my decision! Do you have nay idea how I feel right now? I want to kill not just them but all of you as well!" He implies that they're partly responsible for the loss of public confidence.
Later, Sungjong is trying to rest, but Munhwa is telling him he's making a mistake by letting the soldiers live and return here to the palace. They won't be here, he says; they'll be guarding Prince Gaeryeong at Sungdeok Palace. And knock it off, he tells her: "I love the kind and gentle woman you were before. Do you know how much you've changed? Please don't disappoint me any further." Gaeryeong has been deposed, he says, so you got what you wanted. And Chiyang, he tells her, "will die on the way to his place of exile." Doink! "He is one man I can't forgive." So there. It just didn't make sense that Sungjong would leave it at banishment.
"They're going to kill him on the way?" Sa Illa gets the word from Mun Inui, Choe Sum's steward. Choe Sum just found this out from the queen. (Wow, word gets around fast.) So you'd better do something soon, he tells her, and save our master.
Hunae is in a prisoner cart, dressed in white and being taken through the public streets on her way to exile. Hyangbi, also dressed in white, is walking behind the cart. Crowds of sad citizens watch. Then Princess Sun comes running into the street; Hunae begs her to go find Gaeryeong and take care of him.
Elsewhere, Chiyang is in a different prisoner cart. Sa Gamun is walking behind. Suddenly the procession stops and Chiyang is taken from the art. He and Sa Gamun are about to be executed. Oh no, you can just feel the bladed boomerang coming...and yep, right on cue, whoosh and three soldiers instantly drop dead. Sa Illa and Dokyun come running in, with some Jurchen backup that we're not shown very clearly. The Goryean soldiers are quickly killed. Even the ones on horseback; another boomerang throw kills three at once (AAAUGH).
Choe Sum tells the king that Chiyang got away. Sungjong isn't happy, of course, but keeps his cool. Officially, he tells Choe, Chiyang is dead; increase the security around Hunae, in case he should try to find her; and "secretly hunt him down and kill him no matter how long it takes."
Munhwa has brought Yi Hyunoon to the king. Hyunoon deserves a reward, she tells him, for coming forward with the information about the overthrow. Maybe reinstate him as a general? "I don't think so," Sungjong says. He remembers Hyunoon's cowardly behavior during the war, "and this time you snitched on your peers." Go away, he says, or I'll tell the other soldiers you betrayed them. "This is not fair," he whines; "I was just doing as I was told" (and as irritating as he is, he's absolutely right). Then Go Hyun enters, to tell the king that Seo Hui and Gang Gamchan are back from the north.
Sungjong happily receives Seo and Gamchan, who rushed back to the capital as soon as they heard the news. You're lucky you were gone, the king tells them, because you probably would have been implicated if you were here. "I'm sick of politics now," he says; "I don't know who to trust any more." Then the king asks Gamchan to go north and bring Prince Daeryang back. "I'm going to have to install him as my successor."
Yelu Dilie is back in Khitan. He tells emperor Shengzong that the coup was thwarted and Hunae exiled. Shengzong is pleased, as we can see by his devious smile. In part, it's because his mother was wrong. (Of course, she might not have been wrong without his interference.)
Hunae is informed by the merchant Yi Jujeong that Chiyang was reportedly killed by the soldiers who were transporting him. She fears the worst but tries to convince herself that he survived.
"Prince Gyeongjuwon is dead?" Gamchan is back from the north (that was fast) and tells the king that the prince committed suicide. He left behind a note saying that Daeryang was lost at sea "and he could not bear the pain of losing his son." Sungjong is disconsolate. He wonders, "Then who sill rule this kingdom after I'm gone?"
Gaeryeong wants to go for a horseback ride. But Gang Jo won't let him, because the boy is under house arrest and can't leave. I don't care about getting in trouble for it, the boy says. Then Princess Sun shows up and he complains to her: "They plot an overthrow with no regard for what I want, and now I'm locked up like a criminal." Sun instructs Gang Jo to have horses saddled and tells him, "I will speak to the king if it creates a problem." And the two go riding together in the countryside. As they gallop along, we see them age what must be a good ten years at least. Time has passed, and now the two are young adults.