Original subtitles

Surrender! Surrender immediately!

Surrender! Surrender immediately!

Surrender!

Surrender immediately!

Surrender!

Surrender immediately!

Rebels are ordered

to disarm and surrender immediately!

Failure to do so will result in the execution of those who contributed

to treason by serving the merchant organization.

Surrender?

Make them pay for this! Rip those rebels to pieces!

Please bring my father back! Bring my father back!

This has been going on for days.

Are we supposed to just let this continue?

Slayers are hereby executed in the name of the Royal House of Goryeo.

The next target of execution is...

the principle offender of the mass slaughter Yi Bangwon!

Are you going to the audience hall?

Your Majesty...

What is your plan to do there?

You have the audacity to enter

the audience hall after allowing the rebels to disgrace this country?

Forgive...

"Forgive me", "I am to blame", "Punish me by death"!

Aren't you tired of it?

Left State Councilor.

Yes, Your Majesty.

Dismiss the Royal Inspector and take over the post immediately.

I don't care how many you have to kill or torture.

Bring me the head of the rebel leader.

But Your Majesty, if more civilians are killed, the public sentiment will...

And if anyone speaks of public sentiment without offering

better solution, strike him as well!

Understood?

Yes, Your Majesty.

Now that Park Eun has the sword again, the city will reek of blood...

Shouldn't we consider postponing the hunting ceremony in these conditions?

Don't be absurd.

That's no way to talk for a leader of the six ministries.

Minister Park.

Am I wrong, Minister Hwang?

Minister Park is right.

It's too late to stop now.

Ming ambassadors have already crossed the Uiju border...

And the Japanese ambassadors will leave from Tsushima Island by tomorrow.

When are they due to reach the capital city?

In about twenty days.

That means we have twenty days to ferret out the rebels.

Tomorrow at noon, we will execute ten of the Wangs that changed their

surnames to Jeon and Ok to hide their identity.

Which of the three military headquarters is best suited to set up an ambush?

That would be the Right Army Headquarters.

Then the Right Army will carry out the execution.

Very well.

The rebels will surely attempt retaliation,

so have the entire force rally at the Right Army Headquarters tomorrow night.

Do it under strict secrecy. Is that understood?

Yes, Minister Park.

More executions?

What did you expect?

How can you say that when you've seen them with your own eyes?

I say this because I've seen them.

They probably want to kill the rebel leader more than the King does.

But soon they might turn bitter against the King.

They're being wrongly punished and the King is the one who issued the executions.

Stop.

Don't you think you're getting too involved?

These are people who don't even know what a revolution is.

How much longer do you think the public will tolerate this outrageous sacrifice?

If they don't tolerate it, we will suppress them by force.

It's better than allowing the regime to fall.

If you're thinking about going to the King, don't.

He might put a sword to your throat first the moment you mention the public.

So don't go there.

I wasn't going to go to him.

Then are you going to round up the junior officials and the Confucian scholars again?

Do it if you really want to.

But remember one thing.

A King can strike his parents, his siblings and his children as well.

He doesn't even have to lift a finger to kill off a few scholars.

I wouldn't put the King in that position.

Are you saying you have another solution?

Where there is a will there is a way.

Do you wish to save your uncle?

I have people that I wish to save as well.

Why don't we look for a way together?

Chief lantern lighter eunuch Jeon Ilji has disappeared?

Since the day the roundup was ordered for Jeons and Oks...

That means he was the rebel spy that was working from the inside.

What do you know about him?

He was a very quiet man, so...

Perhaps you could call Prince Choongnyeong's attendant Um Jachi.

Not only were they closest buddies,

Jeon was also teaching Chinese to Prince Choongnyeong.

Teaching Chinese to Choongnyeong?

Yes, Your Highness.

Are you saying you have another solution?

Where there is a will there is a way.

They had him locked up in here.

Choongnyeong... What is he thinking?

Negotiation?

Choongnyeong proposed a negotiation?

If Foreman Jeon is your uncle, is the leader your father?

I told you before. I lost my parents to an enemy.

An enemy...

From my point of view, your father would be the enemy leader.

How should I call you?

I take it you don't like how you're being addressed now.

Do I have to tell you?

You've been a prince longer than I've been a member of the Royal house.

You should know the Royal customs better than I do.

Do you think your leader is willing to negotiate?

My master has deeper love for the people than your father does.

Love for the people...

We will meet at eleven o'clock tonight.

I will decide the place.

Are we really going to negotiate?

What do you think?

He'll meet you.

Punk! Watch how you talk to the Prince!

Tonight at eleven.

We better hurry if we're going to get there on time.

He wants you to come alone.

What? Alone?

His Highness is not walking into the rebel's den alone!

Lead on.

You, I'll kill you.

If you do as much as touch a hair on his head, you're dead. You got that?

Hey, Jeon Ilji!

Your name...

What's your real name?

Be... careful.

Where is Choongnyeong?

Your Highness, I...

If I have to ask you again, you'll have to answer me in hell.

You're not as courageous as I thought you were.

I'll let you go if you want to go back.

It's your last chance.

You'll be walking into the enemy camp alone.

Great danger could be waiting for you.

I won't change my mind.

Are you arrogant or foolish?

Foolish, I think.

I opened my heart to an enemy who was biding his time for revenge

and made him my mentor to boot.

You know what's even more foolish?

When this is all over, I plan to ask for his teachings again.

He was a pretty good teacher.

Choongnyeong is doing what with the rebel leader?

Where? Where is this negotiation?

They are likely to have chosen a temple.

Our only clue is that it is to take place at 11:00 pm.

Prince Choongnyeong left Mt. Mokmyuk at 5:00

Ogryusa and Inwansa are the only two temples reachable by 11:00.

Accordingly, soldiers have already been dispatched.

Rebels are causing enough trouble as it is,

and now a Royal Prince is adding to the headache!

Has there been any word from the Three Armies Command?

Can we save the Prince?

If you're so worried about your son-in-law,

you should've kept him tied to the ground.

Then he wouldn't have done something as foolish as this.

Someone had to step up and find a way to stop this mass slaughter.

Step up? You call this stepping up?

Stop the act of vengeance.

Your king must stop the slaughter first.

There will be no more slaughter if you agree to disarm and surrender.

Killing me and the revolutionary army is not considered slaughter?

I will persuade the King.

I will find a way to save you and your men.

You will persuade him?

That's a pretty weak card to come to the negotiation table with.

If you agree to surrender, I will have leverage to negotiate with the King.

Your father will never agree.

You don't know that yet.

You and your men, more importantly, the safety of the people is at stake.

One of your men believes that you have greater love for the people

than my father the King of Joseon does.

Don't disappoint him.

I will need time to consider.

Prince Choongnyeong is perfect bait for the rebels.

He has given leverage to the enemy, not to us. Don't you see that?

Leverage?

Hostage?

We are not common thieves. If we agreed to negotiate, we must...

I never said I wouldn't negotiate.

Master.

I just won't negotiate with that child.

I will negotiate with Yi Bangwon.

Negotiate?

If they are holding Prince Choongnyeong hostage...

We must be prepared to negotiate...

You call that an advice?

You should be advising him to execute the rebel leader's right-hand man

and display the authority of the Royal House.

But if we don't compromise, Prince Choongnyeong could...

We cannot compromise even if it means Choongnyeong's life.

A Royal King cannot negotiate with the rebels.

Am I wrong?

The Crown Prince is right.

Sir, you didn't know about this either?

What is to happen to the Prince now?

Can he return to us safely?

Hostage?

They're holding him hostage?

It can't be Okryusa or Inwangsa.

There is no way out.

Even if negotiation is their intent,

they wouldn't choose these locations unless they're fools.

Darn it!

Wipe out the rebels!

Order the soldiers to retreat!

Retreat! Retreat!

Retreat!

I knew you were a warrior, but I didn't know you were a strategist as well.

How did you know they would not be at the temples?

They were never interested in negotiating in the first place.

So they chose a location that's difficult to find but easy to slip away from.

Are you all right?

I'm sorry for causing...

Pathetic fool!

I saved you only because you're my brother.

If you were my subordinate or my adviser...

I would've never saved you.

In fact I would have killed you myself.

What is the meaning of this?

How could you put the master in this danger?

This is what you call reaping the fruit of your own actions.

Isn't that right, sire?

Goryeo, the land we're trying so hard to resurrect...

It is a wonderful place, isn't it?

It's worth the torture my uncle is going through and worth this girl

sleeping with a man she doesn't love to revive Goryeo, isn't it?

Answer me! Answer me right now!

Take your hand off of him!

Please tell me, sire.

Tell me that innocent citizens are not dying in the crossfire for nothing.

Tell me that Goryeo is

a wonderful place that's worth every bit of the sacrifice we are making.

No. Goryeo is not such wonderful place...

Goryeo... At least the Goryeo that I lived in...

was a weak and corrupted regime...

Then why do we have to continue this fight?

It is not acceptable for violence and tyranny to replace corruption and weakness.

Then we should never have taken Prince Choongnyeong hostage.

"The ends justify the means no matter how many lives are lost in the process."

That's butcher Yi Bangwon, the man you loathe.

Isn't it?

The rebels are to be executed at noon tomorrow.

You will carry out the execution with your own hands.

But Father...

Do not defy me. And don't say you can't do it.

A Royal Prince cannot take his sword to his people.

You are not a Royal Prince.

A Royal Prince would never benefit the enemy with cheap, idealistic delusions.

What did you think you could change with your guileful tongue?

I was counting on you, Father, not me.

I believed that you believe violence is not the only answer,

that there are better ways to suppress an enemy even if they are rebels.

And I'm sure you believed in the enemy as well.

You believed they're reasonable men who will honor the rules of negotiation.

You were naive enough to believe you could convince them to surrender.

But they turned hostile and took you hostage.

This is the world and the cold and ugly thing called reality.

Be that as it may, we can't retaliate using the same method.

Cut the rubbish and just kill the prisoner!

- Father. - This is the only way...

to redress your failure to discern the reality.

What happens if I refuse?

Every last Jeons and Oks we arrested will be killed before your eyes.

Don't make me a father whose enemies include his own son.

Your Highness, why...?

I just wanted to see that he is all right.

Carry out the execution?

A Royal Prince cannot be made an executioner.

I couldn't agree more.

If he has any conscience, he should assume responsibility for the chaos

he created and offer his head instead.

What did you say?

I'm just saying this is a slap on the wrist for the crime he committed.

Prince Choongnyeong, an executioner...

I guess this tiresome game of "Who gets to be the next King?"

is coming to an end at last.

If Prince Choongnyeong accepts this punishment,

that will be the beginning of an even bigger battle.

Are you weighing the two boys?

Or...

Is this a final test?

It's punishment.

Punishments. It's a strange punishment to say the least.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

This is an opportunity that will never come again.

King has given you another chance

to prove yourself worthy as his successor.

You must kill the rebel.

The killings must stop.

You must learn to make small sacrifices for greater gain.

If you don't kill him, hundreds of innocent civilians will die.

I will find a way to stop it.

Then we will lose you as well.

Do as he says.

The King stands firm.

If you defy the King, you will be hurt as well.

This is not just for your safety.

We're trying to protect the future of Joseon.

If that is true, you shouldn't be urging him to do this.

You must hold fast to principles and find a better solution.

We have to face the reality.

Blood begets more blood.

Someone has to break the cycle.

I know, but this is a lost cause.

Some things cannot be compromised.

If something doesn't work, we must give it up quickly. It's for the future.

What kind of future?

The future that is a continuation of the atrocities of today?

Then you shouldn't brother talking about the future of Joseon.

We already have Crown Prince Yangnyeong if you want tyranny to continue.

We're leading with Prince Choongnyeong to go against

his principles just this once so we can stop that from happening.

Once is all it takes.

Once the principles are broken, they will crumble uncontrollably.

Yes, you're right about that.

Here, drink up!

Minister Hwang.

What brings you here?

Leave us.

I am commending my subordinates for a job well done.

You're not a common warrior.

Subordinates are for warriors. A king only needs his royal retainers.

Those men risked their lives out there.

If you wanted to reward them, you should've issued an order.

We could drink with them all night if that is what you want to give them.

Do you think you've won?

You're not naive enough to think that your position is secure now because

you've earned the King's trust again with your heroic act. Are you?

Minister Hwang...!

His Majesty has not given up on Prince Choongnyeong yet.

Ordering him to execute the rebel is not a punishment.

Like a tiger pushes her cubs to the cliff, this could be a test to make him

stronger since decisiveness and guts is what Choongnyeong lacks most.

You cant protect your Crown with fearlessness alone.

So don't attend military trainings and don't commend the soldiers personally.

Leave that to our servants.

Go back to the Royal study hall and learn how to embrace the world.

Should I lead or would you, Master?

Your Highness...

Come to the East Palace in the morning.

I'll wait for you with some nice hot soup.

Alert the Defense Ministry and the Three Armies Command.

They're to carry out a sweep of Mokmyuk and Inwang mountains

upon execution of rebel Jeon Pansuk at noon tomorrow.

Yes, Your Majesty.

Choongnyeong is to execute my uncle himself.

Their military is launching punitive action as well.

What happens if Choongnyeong doesn't go through with this?

He will.

A beast's son is a beast as well. Violence is passed on by blood.

And they will pass on that violent nature to the next generation as well.

Do you see?

This is the reason why

cannot stop fighting though we may all die defeated in the process.

Punitive action...

Is it time to make a final decision...?

If you don't like the King's sword,

I can give you this one.

Sitting there with that frown isn't going to change anything.

Just cut off the rebel's head with this and get it over with.

And from now on, don't stir up bastards like me with your smooth-talk

and don't pretend like you care so much about the people.

Kill or be killed; that's life.

Struggling isn't going to change that.

Would you forgive me if I put blood on my hands and held you again?

You're a butcher's son after all.

Proceed with the execution!