Officer Min, please.
Are you addicted to being the center of attention?
Come on. Let's please let this one slide.
Don't get involved and wreak havoc.
Get ready.
-I need you to go to Daejojeon. -Hey!
I beg your pardon? Daejojeon?
That is His Majesty's bedchamber.
Officer Min. The female historians have never entered the bedchamber yet.
First we should ask permission--
Since when did we, historians, need permission to do our job?
The Second State Councilor is there.
You must enter the chamber
no matter what.
So?
Why did you request an audience with me this time?
Any progress in tracking down
the remnants of Seoraewon?
Since disappearing in Pyongan Province,
they've completely fallen off the face of the earth.
However,
I have found out who the mastermind behind them is.
What did you say?
Tell me at once.
Who has the audacity to gather traitors in my kingdom?
The Queen Dowager.
We have confirmed that her chief lady-in-waiting met with Mo-hwa.
Apparently, they exchanged letters.
Your speculations proved to be right after all.
The Queen Dowager and her retinue
have been in league with the remnants of Seoraewon.
Due to Her Majesty's connection to this matter,
I cannot make any rash decisions.
I will follow your orders, Your Majesty.
EPISODE 11
Hello, sir.
I am a female historian.
I'm here to record His Majesty's meeting. Please let His Majesty know.
How dare a female historian set foot in here.
Leave at once!
I heard the Second State Councilor is having an audience with the King.
-I must enter the chamber-- -What are you waiting for?
What are you doing?
Let go. I'm a historian too.
What is all this ruckus about?
It is nothing, Your Majesty.
Drag her out at once.
Okay, I understand. I said I can walk out of here on my own.
Let go. Gosh!
You must enter the chamber
no matter what.
Then I will proceed accordingly, Your Majesty.
I'd like to ask you a question.
Is there anything about Prince Dowon
that you are hiding from me?
Who's there?
You brazen wench! I clearly told you to leave.
How dare you eavesdrop on His Majesty's conversation?
Step aside.
What did you write down?
I asked you what you wrote down!
This is a sachaek.
Therefore I cannot tell you.
What did you say?
Officer Min!
Officer Min.
What did you just say?
Who is where?
What happened?
Apprentice Goo.
She was dragged to the Royal Investigation Bureau
for disobeying a royal order.
What do you mean? Why did they take her?
What kind of royal order did she disobey? How? And why?
I don't know yet.
Your Highness, please calm down first.
I will go and find out the details.
No.
My royal robe.
-Bring my royal robe. -Your royal robe?
Yes. I shall go have an audience with Father. Hurry.
Please don't get yourself in trouble.
What will you do if you get to see His Majesty?
I must try everything in my power.
I can't just sit back and do nothing.
You must stay out of this.
You have no grounds for getting involved.
I have no grounds?
I can tell him that...
Tell him what? "I am head over heels for that lady, Father.
Please forgive her just this once."
Will you whine like that?
Your Highness, you are well aware of how His Majesty is.
When someone gets on the wrong side of him,
he never changes his opinion of that person
no matter how hard you try to shed light on the truth.
Even if you step in now,
it won't help Apprentice Goo at all.
It'll further ignite His Majesty's wrath, if anything.
Please don't worry too much.
Apprentice Goo is a historian, after all. Nothing will happen to her.
She will be released soon. I'm sure of it.
Can you guarantee it, though?
If anything bad...
happens to Hae-ryung...
The criminal, Goo Hae-ryung, shall drink the poison!
Poison isn't enough.
She should be beheaded.
Let's just get it over with, okay?
I can't just wait here.
I shall get on my knees and beg.
You can't go, Your Highness.
You absolutely mustn't get involved, Your Highness.
If you keep this up, you'll get in trouble too.
Let go before I get mad at you.
I ought to go and save Hae-ryung.
Gosh, please worry about yourself first.
Why are you just standing there?
Hurry up and nail down the doors or something.
-Yes, sir! -Yes, sir!
Your Highness, you cannot leave.
-I won't go easy on you anymore. -No, please!
Your Highness!
Lord Min.
I heard the Office of Royal Decrees' female historian
was put behind bars at the Royal Investigation Bureau today.
That is correct.
She wasn't even willing to back down in front of His Majesty.
She reminded me of you when you were young.
She is a lot like you.
What a daring young lady.
You knew?
It is all my fault for I coddled her as I felt bad
that she had to grow up without her parents.
Please help her.
She is my only family.
She was caught while eavesdropping on the King's conversation.
There is nothing I can do to help her.
All we can do is wait for His Majesty to change his mind.
Lord Min.
You fool!
I clearly told you to just let it slide.
Why must you be so bullheaded for your own good
and cause all this trouble? Shouldn't you know better by now?
It is not Officer Min's fault, sir.
It is our duty as historians to sit in on the King's meetings with his subjects.
That's not what she did. She practically spied on the King.
She's one fearless girl.
How dare she eavesdrop at Daejojeon?
Then what about the historian, Min In-saeng?
The historian during the reign of King Taejong.
He eavesdropped through the doors
and even from behind the folding screens.
That's why he's still highly respected as a historian to this day.
Why are you calling Apprentice Goo a spy?
I completely agree. Apprentice Goo simply did her duty as a historian.
His Majesty should have allowed her
to sit in on the meeting in the first place.
Hey, Clerk Heo. You and your mouth...
-Watch your mouth! -Everything I said is true.
I really don't think we should let this slide.
All of you shouldn't let your guard down either.
The first time is the hardest.
Who knows which one of us will get arrested next time?
Hey!
Even so, we're legitimate historians.
We are too.
We passed the civil service exam as well.
I'm sorry.
So what's our plan?
Will we protest against the King and demand her release?
It is time we filed an ultimate petition.
I will go bring an axe!
Hey, calm down.
He always talks about an axe...
Stay put.
In any case, it is true that Apprentice Goo disobeyed the royal order.
If we side with her now, it won't end with just her being exiled.
All of us could be reprimanded, sir.
But we can't just sit back and do nothing about it.
A historian was arrested, which is unprecedented.
I've made my decision.
What? After much consideration,
did you decide to make Officer Min make the final decision once again?
No, you punk!
As historians, we ought to...
Why aren't the historians here yet?
Chancellor, go bring the historians at once.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Chancellor.
Lads, what are you doing here?
You've kept His Majesty waiting for 15 minutes. Come in.
We'd like to go in, of course. But what should we do?
We've completely run out of paper at the Office of Royal Decrees.
We cannot go in empty-handed.
We're truly embarrassed.
You've run out of paper? Don't give me such nonsense.
Okay, fine. Then why didn't you contact the Procurement Office
and put in a request for more paper before you ran out?
Apprentice Goo Hae-ryung is in charge of managing the inventory of our supplies.
But...
because of what happened to her...
Please wait just a little longer.
Our clerks are washing ink out of our daily records at Segeomjeong.
They're removing ink?
Then will you not be joining us until they remove ink
and dry all the paper?
It is a sunny day, so I believe two hours will be enough.
It might take about four hours.
My goodness.
Officer Yang!
Officer Yang.
Hey, have you finished the records of royal orders?
Can you hurry up? The Chief Royal Secretary keeps asking.
-What? -The records of royal orders.
Oh, right. You said it was urgent.
It's very urgent. Hurry up already.
What are you doing? Get moving!
-Shall I get started? -Yes, please. You're so good at your job.
Come on. Hurry.
Gosh.
-Hey, what's wrong? -My stomach...
-Are you all right? Hold on. -My stomach. Gosh!
I must go relieve myself. Don't wait.
All right, hurry up.
-Hey. Jeez! -My gosh, is it coming out...
-Gosh, quick! -No, it's not.
I'm really about to...
No!
Officer Son! Jeez.
Officer Son! How come you haven't sent the document yet?
It has already been four hours.
What? Hey, what's wrong?
Officer Son.
-Get back here. -We're talking to you here.
Officer Son!
I have to relieve myself.
My stomach is upset. I should...
Are you going to the privy?
Wait, lads.
Lads, where are you going?
What on earth is happening?
Goodness.
Officer Min,
did they all eat something weird?
What is the matter with them?
You, too?
What's going on?
Number two?
Gosh, number two...
Oh, no. I pooped my pants.
Don't wait for me.
First they said they couldn't join us as they had no paper.
Now, they're saying they can't complete the records as they're all ill.
How dare they mock the King like this?
Do they think that I am a complete fool?
They are obviously doing this to protest against me.
No, Your Majesty. Please don't get the wrong idea.
They're all so young and passionate that--
I see.
You belong to the Office of Royal Decrees as well.
Will you take responsibility for their duty dereliction?
I usually work at the Office of Special Advisors,
so I am not that well acquainted with the historians.
Those insolent fools.
Come to think of it, historians are like rogues of the royal court.
They come at me, saying they must record my flaws,
but they never show their records to anyone.
Thus, who knows if what they record is true?
And who will record their flaws?
I shall teach those punks a serious lesson.
-Chief Royal Secretary. -Please calm down, Your Majesty.
You are well aware of how historians are.
They even record speech errors
to humiliate all of us for generations to come.
That is why people say that no king
can win against historians.
Fine.
Then I shall be the first king in history to win against historians.
-Chief Royal Secretary. -Yes, Your Majesty.
Go to the Office of Royal Decrees.
Yes, Your Majesty.
The Royal Secretariat! They're on their way here now!
Chief Royal Secretary, what brings you all the way
to the humble abode of the Office of Royal Decrees?
I came to take care of something.
Obviously not because I wanted to see you.
Then let's hear it. What is it about
that you had to bring all your minions?
His Majesty has ordered us to inspect the Office of Royal Decrees.
I need to take the administration record.
Clear the way.
"The administration record"?
Why are you being like this when you're well aware of how things are done here?
The administration record is what makes up the annals.
No king in history has read our administration record,
and it must stay that way.
Please leave now.
Are you saying
you wish to disobey the royal command?
As historians,
our priority is obeying the law of this country.
Fine. If you won't clear the way, we will have to force our way in.
All right. Officer Son.
Sir, that's the guy.
The Black Bear of Bukchon. Back in his Sungkyunkwan days,
he used to smash inkstones with his bare hands.
It is His Majesty's royal command!
We must get our hands on the administration record.
We are historians who preserve history.
Do not back down!
-Let's go! -Let's barge in!
Hey, Gyeong-muk. Can't you do better?
Good. That jerk. Get him.
You piece of...
Officer Min, did you learn that?
You, come here!
Officer Son, no! Don't kill anyone, please.
-Are you all right, sir? -Get him.
He's the Black Bear.
What are you doing?
Must we really do this...
We must, since it is His Majesty's order.
Here I come.
Hey, Jegal Tak. What do you want?
-I'm sorry, buddy. -What?
Gosh, Si-haeng. Are you all right?
Let's just buy some time, okay?
Hey, a man should never...
Now, you're doomed for life!
I am a historian of Joseon!
Are they...
Are they our superiors?
You're so dead, you prick.
-Gosh. -Get lost.
Go. Just go.
I said, just go! Hey!
It hurts!
-I said, it hurts! -Show them, female historians!
Fight!
-It hurts! -Keep it up!
-You little... -Let go!
Hey, I'm sorry. I said, I'm sorry!
Do not tell anyone that I'm here!
Keep going!
Keep it up!
Goo Hae-ryung.
Your Highness.
Are you all right? No injuries?
Yes.
I'm all right.
You should leave, though.
If anyone sees you, you'll get in trouble as well.
Don't worry about me.
I bet you haven't eaten anything.
I didn't know what you'd like, so I brought all sorts of things.
I brought this so that you can sleep comfortably.
And...
Give this to the guard when you get thirsty.
He will bring you some water.
What else did I bring?
Why are you laughing?
You are probably the only prince in the world
looking after an imprisoned woman.
And you are the only woman who makes a prince do these things.
Don't worry too much. Nothing bad will happen to you.
I'd like to think so...
but I should prepare myself mentally.
After all, I ended up behind bars here for disobeying a royal command.
I cannot expect to be released unpunished.
Whether it's being kicked out of the palace or banishment from Hanyang,
I will be punished.
Then I will go with you.
If you are dismissed,
I'll leave with you and be your next-door neighbor.
If you are sent into exile,
I, too, will leave Hanyang and follow you.
And if...
This would be the worst-case scenario,
but if the punishment is even worse than that...
I will run away with you.
Do you really mean it?
Yes.
We'll hide somewhere deep in the woods or in an uninhabited island.
I'm sorry, but I don't want to.
I mean, you can write, but there is nothing else you can do.
I saw that you don't know how to make a fire, and you can't split firewood.
I'll probably end up doing everything.
I can learn those things--
Gosh, I'll grow old and die before you can learn all those things.
Forget it.
I'd much rather live all by myself than live with such a burden.
How dare you call me a burden?
What burden looks this exquisitely handsome?
Take a good look. I'm a treasure, not a burden.
Your Highness! Time is up.
What are you doing in there?
Oh, I was just...
I just wanted to see how sturdy these are.
-This is built well. -Anyway, we should leave at once.
That guard is such a money-grubbing pig.
He'll start counting. He wants one nyang each time the number goes up.
Hurry, let's go.
My gosh.
Okay.
I'm on my way.
I am.
Your Highness.
Have a safe journey back.
-Come on. -What do you mean, you can't do it?
Here.
Of course I can do this, you fool.
LOVE
Hey, watch it.
I should have thrown him out of the palace.
Password?
If I can destroy my enemy, I will even risk my life.
This is all I could get in a hurry. Eat up.
Great work.
Here.
What about the Royal Secretariat clerks? Are they still outside?
Yes.
They're roaming about looking for a chance.
It looks as if they will come in and take the administration record
as soon as we go home.
Those tenacious jerks. Let's show them what we're made of.
None of you are going home today.
No, until His Majesty takes back his order,
we are not taking a step outside of this room.
Let us die in hunger protecting history,
instead of becoming a coward who gave up the administration record!
-Yes! -Yes!
Hey. Gyeong-muk, Hong-ik, and Chi-guk.
Why aren't you answering me?
Aren't you historians?
Of course we're historians.
We are.
But you don't have to go that far.
It's not like His Majesty told us to rewrite the daily records.
We can just
let them take a peek at the administration record.
And you keep mentioning the law, but the law can always change
this way or that way.
But if you lose your life once, you can never get that back.
If you think about it, my life might be more important
than my pride as a historian.
On top of that, I am
an only son of three generations.
Hey!
All of you.
You're all talking nonsense just because you have that hole in your face.
Do you...
Do you think I'm doing this just for the sake of our pride?
Okay. Let's say we let him read the administration record this once.
You think His Majesty will read it and say,
"Goodness, you have such pretty handwriting!"
Would he let it go like that?
No way. He'll ask, "Why did you write this here? What about this?"
It's the beginning of never-ending nitpicking.
After he makes a couple of amendments there,
he'll move onto the daily records, then annals.
That's how you end up becoming a puppet that only humors your superiors!
Hey, do you think historians have always entered halls freely
and written sachaek at ease?
Ever since the foundation,
it took 100 years for a historian to sit down.
And it took 300 years for us to look straight into His Majesty's face.
Our predecessors wrote petitions,
were exiled, and fought hard
to make that happen!
If we...
If we let him read the administration record...
who knows if it'll take 10 years or 100 years for that to be corrected?
Hey,
what's wrong?
I'm sorry, Officer Yang.
I know the importance of the administration record...
but I was too scared.
I missed my wife...
and I wanted to go home.
That's why I said that. I apologize.
Officer Kim.
Hey. You.
Don't cry.
Who said we can't go home?
We will surely walk out of the Office of Royal Decrees...
and go...
Hwang Jang-gun.
What's with you too?
All of you.
Remember your tears.
The tears that protected history!
Come here.
Come here, my boys.
Cry as much as you want.
The tears that protect history are noble!
Let us protect!
-We'll protect! -We'll protect!
Cry as much as you want.
-Let us protect! -It'll be a long night.
-I agree. -I'm proud of you guys.
Let us protect!
The administration record?
Isn't that something
that the historians made by gathering all the daily records?
Yes.
His Majesty asked to read the administration record so he could
inspect the Office of Royal Decrees.
That's quite a reckless move even for His Majesty himself.
None of the previous kings asked to read the administration record.
So,
how are the historians reacting to this?
Apparently, they are holding out with the doors locked.
And people keep sending petitions regarding the matter.
I see.
It's because they all know that this is a very serious issue.
This is going to be very interesting.
I can't believe this is happening.
The historians shouldn't be doing this.
-Look at that. -My goodness.
What should we do?
-My gosh. -What is going on?
There are more petitions?
Yes, this is about half of the total amount.
I already received enough in just one day.
Stop bringing them to me.
-There's no point in reading them. -Your Majesty.
They're all the same.
They're all telling me I made a mistake.
"Don't turn your back on the historians. Please withdraw your royal order."
Tell them to have a dozen historians
follow them around all day long and see if they still feel the same way.
So,
how did the morning meeting go?
Were people in support of the Office of Royal Decrees?
Well, the Crown Prince refused to hold a meeting
without the presence of a historian.
So they all had to go back.
And it's not just the morning meeting.
The official documents written by the Six Ministries and Three Offices
need to be confirmed by the Office of Royal Decrees first.
But they can't do anything
because the historians aren't working.
We're also having trouble receiving reports from the suburbs.
Are you saying the entire royal court
can't do anything because of the historians?
Your Majesty!
Your Majesty.
Your Majesty!
Please withdraw your royal order regarding the inspection
of the administration record!
If you refuse to do so,
you can go ahead
and behead me with this axe.
My gosh, I can't believe he's crazy enough to risk his life.
Shouldn't we be joining him?
Hey, do you think that axe is a joke?
He's literally risking his life.
He's telling His Majesty to kill him if he's not going to do as he asks.
That's...
My goodness, I can't believe Officer Min is...
Your Majesty!
If you go against the law
and decide to inspect the administration record,
it'll forever remain as a flaw to you!
So please withdraw your order!
Officer Min!
What do you think you're doing?
How could you bring an axe to the royal palace?
Please get up.
This isn't something to be stubborn about.
Do you think
I'm incorrect?
As the Chancellor and historian of this country,
do you really have nothing against
the inspection of the administration record?
-I mean, I'm just-- -Get lost immediately!
Just because it was against the law,
historians were free from being restrained for hundreds of years.
And you're trying to go against me
just because you don't agree with my order?
That is more of a reason why we cannot give in.
I'm sorry to say this,
but why do you think the law and our previous kings
decided to protect the historians for such a long period of time?
It's because they wanted us
to record historical events
without having to succumb to authority.
I never asked you to succumb to authority!
All I want to do is check if you're doing a proper job!
Is that so revolting and incredulous?
You have no right...
to read and inspect the administration record!
What?
-My goodness. -That little...
I have "no right"?
How dare you say that to the King!
How dare you!
-Your Majesty! -Please calm yourself.
-Your Majesty! -Let me go!
I will show you what kind of right I have.
-Let go! -Your Majesty!
-Please calm down.
They're scholars from Sungkyunkwan, Your Majesty.
Officer Son, isn't that your cousin?
He's the Sungkyunkwan chief.
It's the wailing protest.
WAILING PROTEST: A PROTEST CARRIED OUT BY THE SCHOLARS OF SUNGKYUNKWAN
The 400-year-old history of our honorable country
is at risk in the name of inspection.
The future of this country is dark and gloomy.
How are we going to endure this sadness and sorrow?
If the King takes the life of a historian just because he makes him feel uneasy,
our lives as scholars will equally be considered worthless.
How are we, the scholars of Sungkyunkwan,
supposed to respect our King in this kind of situation?
I'm sorry to say this, Your Majesty.
But I think it might be best for you to withdraw your royal order.
I am saying this for your sake, Your Majesty.
Right now, it's just a couple of dozen scholars from Sungkyunkwan.
But as time goes by,
more scholars from all over the country will join the protest.
Then it'll be too late for you to withdraw--
I don't want to hear it!
You call yourselves my subjects, but you don't care how I feel.
You just care about saying what's right.
Get out of here! I want nothing to do with you!
Why aren't you leaving?
Are you also going to disobey my order?
Your Majesty.
Did you forget how this all started?
The female historian got locked up for secretly eavesdropping
on our private conversation.
If this becomes a bigger issue,
people will start to wonder about
what she heard and wrote that day rather than what happened to her.
It's not beneficial for you to attract more attention to this issue.
You should withdraw your order.
But like you said,
I haven't even confirmed what she wrote and heard
that day.
Officer Yang.
If you're here to convince us, just know that it's not going to work.
That's enough.
His Majesty has withdrawn his order.
Are...
Are you serious?
Yes.
He promised to never meddle with the administration record.
So you should get up and go back to work.
Is that all?
Did His Majesty
really change his mind that easily?
Ladies.
Apprentice Goo, we won.
His Majesty is going to allow us to enter all the chambers
with no limits!
-Even Daejojeon? -Yes, even Daejojeon.
You'll never have to go through something like this again.
But what happened?
What happened overnight?
You should go home and get some rest for now.
-Let's go. -Okay.
Come on.
-My lord. -My goodness, she's here.
Lady Hae-ryung.
If you ended up dying, I was going to die as well.
I even looked into a nice spot for your grave.
A place that gets a lot of sunlight
and where there aren't a lot of animals.
-Jae-gyeong. -You must be tired.
You should get some rest.
Let's go, Lady Hae-ryung.
You didn't get to eat a single grain of rice, did you?
Well...
-No. -No wonder.
Your face is all dry and bony.
You look ghastly.
I'll cook tofu soup, braised tofu, and tofu pancakes.
I'll cook up a feast.
Forget about what happened and just start anew as a virtuous subject.
Your Highness.
Something feels very odd.
You chewed on stone earlier while you were eating rice
but you didn't even get angry about that.
You keep smiling for some unknown reason.
And you look so happy.
Did you get possessed
or bewitched by something?
It's neither.
It's just that
I finally realized how beautiful
this world is.
You may leave if you're done.
I should go to sleep early tonight.
Why? Is tomorrow a special day?
Hae-ryung got released.
It's been a while since she came by,
so I should get a good night's sleep
and greet her with a glowing face.
Your face is already glowing like the sun.
You can't possibly glow any brighter.
Are you trying to become the moon or something?
"The moon"?
That doesn't sound so bad.
I'll be able to look down and see my love every night.
What a bunch of nonsense.
Your Highness, you should hurry up and go to bed.
Get a good night's sleep so you can wake up feeling refreshed.
Girls, come on out.
His Highness wishes to go to bed!
Why is it so hot?
Jae-gyeong.
Why aren't you sleeping yet?
I must've gotten used to prison already.
I can't seem to sleep at home.
Gosh.
It was just a joke. Don't pull a straight face like that.
It's not too late.
You should quit.
No one can be safe in the royal palace.
People act polite on the outside,
and they talk about being moral,
but anyone in the palace can suddenly become...
as cruel as an animal if they need to be.
I should never have let you enter such a dangerous place.
I won't force you to get married anymore.
I'll let you do anything you want.
So please quit working there.
It's not just because of what happened.
-If anyone finds out about you-- -No.
Hae-ryung!
All my life,
I was jealous of you.
You always had somewhere to go every morning.
And you had a job to do once you left the house.
It may not be anything grand, but you still had a life.
Meanwhile...
I could only see the world through the books I read.
I wanted to live like you
for at least just one day.
I wanted to become someone useful even for a short moment.
I've been longing that for so long.
And now, I'm living...
the kind of life I longed for.
If my longing
wreaks havoc in any kind of way...
I will endure it wholeheartedly and just think of it as a consequence.
Your Highness! Wake up!
Your Highness!
Who's here at this hour?
This is His Majesty's command!
I'm sorry for making you go through all this trouble.
I must've been really disobedient in my past life.
I want to push through.
He's quite intelligent and ambitious.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
I grew up outside of the palace.
I know I'm no longer able to spend time like I used to.
I come out once in a while
so that I won't ever forget who I used to be.
I haven't seen you ever since you ran away that day.
You disloyal punk.
When will he get a chance to drink with a nobleman?
If you can't tell me what you wrote that day...
I'll grant whatever wish you have!
Are you really willing to grant me
whatever I ask of you?