Original subtitles

We cannot afford any mistakes.

If the prediction is wrong, His Majesty becomes

an inferior King who can't decipher the will of Heaven.

If the prediction is wrong, we will have a golden opportunity to tame the King.

Was the prediction inaccurate?

Will Heaven forsake the King?

Then another great calamity could consume the Kingdom.

What is the meaning of this?

His Majesty the King is present!

I see that, Minister Park.

The country is in state of such disarray that we're forgetting our manners.

Had we known His Majesty were here, we would've been more reverent.

Forgive us, Your Majesty.

But if you had listened to the high ministers' counsel and closed down

the Hall of Worthies yourself, none of this would be happening.

I said I would not close down the Hall of Worthies.

We advised very strongly against closed-door and inner-circle politics.

Minister Jo!

Heaven has turned against you.

You'd turn the ministers against you as well?

We will close down the Hall of Worthies send the scholars

back to their principal duty.

Ministry of Military Assistant Section Chief Jeong Inji!

Yes, sir.

I believe you're supposed to be at the city square right now.

The city square? Why?

Merciful Buddha...

What is this?

The state rejects Buddhism!

How dare you publicly defy the state?

What are you waiting for?

Arrest them at once!

Stop!

Stand back!

You're talking to a Royal Prince!

Bow. This is Prince Hyoryeong.

Your Highness, you mustn't mix with those who delude

the world and deceive the people.

They comfort the public and bring relief to the sufferers!

I guess 500 year-old faith does not die easily.

I see they managed to brainwash you with Buddha's nonsense.

General Park!

We will keep you safe from now on, Your Highness.

What are you waiting for?

Escort the Prince and Councilor Byun out of here and arrest these people!

I have not ordered you to suppress the people!

The former King would called

this enforcement of state policy against Buddhism.

If you intend to disregard state policies, I'm afraid we will not

be able to obey your orders.

Would you have us obey the former King's orders against yours?

Who is the sovereign King of this state?

Jo Malseng that bastard!

How dare he, a royal subject, attempt to tame the King!

Call Jo Malseng at once.

I'm afraid I can't, Your Majesty.

Royal Attendant.

You must leave state affairs to the others and tend to your health.

You are my shadow and shadows do not judge.

I gave you an order and you are to obey it.

I refuse, Your Majesty.

Do you wish to die?

I will not obey even if it brings me death.

Don't you know the mess this country is in?

The country is the last thing on my mind right now, Your Majesty.

What?

Your health is more important to me than this country.

It is your job now to set our childish King straight, Minister Park.

Close down the Hall of Worthies yourself.

I do not want you getting hurt.

I taught you everything I know, and here you are openly threatening me.

Do you want your thirty year political career to go to naught?

Of course not.

This is preciously why I like you.

It gives me great joy every time I learn something from you and

a problem gets solved.

Your Majesty. Your Majesty.

Your Majesty.

Step aside!

If you will not call him, I will go to the Conference Hall and find him myself!

Your Majesty, I beg you to consider your health...

Shut your...

Your Majesty...!

Send the others away. Now.

Your Majesty...

Death is certain anyhow.

I don't intend to slow down.

In fact, the closer I get to death, the less time I have to sit back and be idle.

This country is everything to me.

I would die a thousand times to protect my cherished country Joseon.

I need to see her running smoothly or I will never be able to rest in peace.

What do you want?

Do you want my spirit to wander the Hades forever?

Call Minister Jo.

Type Foundry

Are you making progress?

I'm afraid not yet, Your Majesty.

It s not an easy job.

It will take countless trial an error to bring a new technology to life.

Your Majesty...

If we can develop a new printing technology, research results from

the Hall of Worthies could be quickly disseminated as well.

You have my confidence, Vice-minister.

I will do my best, Your Majesty.

Your Majesty.

I heard about the Hall of Worthies.

Are you doing all right?

Trail and error does not happen only in engineering.

It happens in politics as well.

Let us each do our best.

I'm sure we both can overcome our challenges.

You must have too many things on your mind.

I thought you were infallible, but you moved the troops without my go-ahead.

What has you so restless?

Have I made you angry?

You've always been firm about preserving the anti-Buddhism policy,

so I did not feel it was necessary to acquire your permission.

I never imagined you'd question my judgment...

No, you did the right thing. I'm not questioning your judgment.

A man of your rank should be allowed to take some matters into his own hands.

Thank you, Eminence.

So let's hear your assessment of this situation.

I'm told Hyoryeong is at the center of these Buddhist activities.

What do you intend to do with him?

I would be overstepping my authority to put my oar in that matter.

Oh?

Maintaining public order is a government officials job,

but maintaining order in the Royal House is the King's job.

Do you want my order?

Perhaps you should allow the young King to decide this.

His capacity as King is under scrutiny right now due to the ill-timed eclipse,

and public attention is turning toward Prince Hyoryeong.

Whether they want it or now,

Prince Hyoryeong is now the King's biggest political enemy.

Wasn't it your wish to teach the King how to deal with his political enemies?

What would you do if the King does not wish to punish Hyoryeong?

I will adhere to your wishes. What would be in best service of the King?

Would I be able to protect the Hall of Worthies if I struck my brother down?

Aren't you going to leave?

This is where I belong.

This will put some pressure on the King.

I'm taking care of those who seek Buddha's compassion,

but these are the King's people as well.

May I stay with you?

You've already expressed enough devotion with your offerings.

So go back to the city.

You could lose your job trying to protect me.

But Buddha will be pleased.

The King needs good men around him.

I will go to him if he is willing to accept a Confucian scholar with Buddhist beliefs.

It's been very difficult for a very long time.

Studying the teachings of Confucius,

I struggled hard to cut off my love for Buddha.

I don't think it's something you can stop just because the country does not allow it.

What is to happen to us now?

Buddha will take care of us.

The high ministers are trying to strike Hyoryeong down?

To be more accurate, they want to make the King strike Hyoryeong down.

This is great political pressure for the King, Your Highness.

Perhaps you could talk to Prince Hyoryeong and get him to stop.

It's too late.

If they have set Hyoryeong as their target,

what is important is King's intention, not Hyoryeong's actions.

What does the King want?

I'm told you've been working closely with him lately.

You must know what he is thinking.

Perhaps it would be better if you asked him directly.

He entered the former King's palace a little while ago.

Strike Hyoryeong down, my King.

If you let this slide, the ministers will have no fear of you.

More importantly, it is not advisable to allow Hyoryeong to gain popular favor.

Do you believe he can harbor ambition?

The world will constantly prod him.

And chances are Buddhist monks will use him to revive their influence in this state.

Does this mean Hyoryeong and I are political enemies?

A King must learn to be stern with his political enemies may

it be his own brother.

But he would be a beast from that day forward.

Would you strike your own brother with whom you share your blood?

I am asking you if you're going to put blood on your hands.

Mother...

Answer my question.

He is being driven to a corner by both the public and the retainers.

If he does not show decisiveness now, the authority of the Royal will...

Stop!

I will not hear it. I already know your stance on this.

What I want to know now is my son's thoughts.

I want to know what the son l gave birth to intends to do with his older brother.

Answer the question, my King. What will you do with your brother?

I've made no decisions. I will consider very carefully, and...

What is there to consider and what is there to decide?

Does this need consideration?

"Should I kill my brother of not?"

Are you the kind of person that can consider such a question

and come to a decision in the end?

Sure, you are. Of course, you can.

If you weren't, your father would never have chosen you to succeed him as King.

Mother...

But I won't be idle. I will protect my son Hyoryeong.

Not from my third son Doe, but from the high and mighty King of Joseon.

Mother, what are you doing here?

Women are better than men at nursing the sick.

Mother...

Here you are giving yourself selflessly without asking for anything in return,

but your brother is so cruel...

He'll understand me someday.

Let us hope that he does.

Your Majesty...!

Where are you going?

Your Majesty...

To the Queen Mother no doubt.

Are you going to tell her that I have a terminal illness and to go easy on me?

Yes, that's you.

Come.

Your Majesty...

Take it.

Are you... throwing me out?

It's not nearly enough for everything you've done for me.

Leave the palace.

I refuse, Your Majesty.

This is not an order. This is my first and last request to you.

Your Majesty...

This will happen again if I keep you near me.

You are a kindhearted man, so you will feel sorry for me

and make another attempt to do what you tried to do today.

Can you guarantee me that you won't?

And like it or not, you will end up a villain that clipped my wings,

and I will have no choice but to kill you as well.

I wish to die by your side protecting you.

Don't be cruel to me like the others have been.

Let me have the pleasure of saying warm goodbye to at least one man

at least one man out of so many men that served me.

You're the only one left that I can do that with.

Dispense with the long goodbyes. Just go.

You're not leaving for good.

I could call you back anytime.

So leave as if you're going to see me tomorrow.

Your Majesty, please take care of yourself.

Why are you here?

Because you're angry with the King for failing to protect your father and

you want to get him back somehow?

Would that be wrong?

Of course it is wrong.

You are the mother of this state.

Mother...

The mother of the state is the mother of the people.

Only acceptable reason for your presence here is compassion and

concern for your suffering children.

But the fact is, I...

I never had such compassion.

All of my attention was always at the Audience Hall.

I may be a woman, but my political ambition was greater than most men.

So instead of being a wife, I wanted more to be the King's political partner.

But the former King never allowed it.

Were you angry?

Yes, I am angry.

Not so much at the former King but at my self.

I don't think I ever really knew what the Queen's role was.

Perhaps the Queen's role isn't keeping her interest in politics

observing the games and manipulating the players.

Perhaps her true role is in seeking out and taking care of the people

that the King's hands can't reach.

Mother...

I am here to put pressure on the King.

But you have to be different.

If you are not here to perform the Queen's role, go back to the palace now.

Thank you for your teaching,

but I, too, am a human being, and it's hard to let go of my resentment, Mother.

Go back to the palace now. And...

Won't you help me?

I will take care of the sick and try my best to let go of my resentment.

Permit me to stay and learn the true role of the Queen from you.

The Queen Mother has joined the relief efforts?

To protect Prince Hyoryeong?

That's how it appears.

I guess the Hall of Worthies is done for.

She knows that's the best way to save Hyoryeong.

Is this fun for you?

What do you mean?

Is this fun for you to put the King atop a tree and

shake him as you please?

Watch your words, sir.

We're not trying to shake the King.

We're trying to teach him how to

bring stability to Joseon and restore his declining prestige.

Why did you call us together at this late hour, sir?

If I told you there was a way

to protect the King and protect the Hall of Worthies as well, would you take it?

In this room you'll find documents and

and records containing detailed information about

high ministers' present estate holdings.

Are we investigating Jo Malseng?

From relatives to in-laws to holdings of their servants,

don't leave a stone unturned.

I see you're working hard.

You do know that it's over between you and Jo Malseng once it gets out

that you investigated him, don't you?

Of course, sir.

Do you doubt me, sir?

What do you think?

If the last two years have changed you,

why couldn't it change me?

I, too, prefer to live as a proud member of

the Hall of Worthies than someone's stool pigeon, sir.

How could he be so clean?

Not just himself but his entire clan doesn't have a speck of dirt on them...

Does this mean we have no choice but to let them take the Hall of Worthies?

How can you be so nonchalant?

The Hall of Worthies is the verge of being shut down!

That devil Jo Malseng is suffocating the King!

Did you expect the crafty old ministers to just accept His Majesty as a sage King?

No, but I'm still mad!

This is your problem.

Pardon?

You're too emotional about everything.

Men with fickle emotions can't succeed in the field of engineering.

Failure leads to success if you endure it, but it's just failure if you give up.

His Majesty is just going through trial and error right now.

You were griping about your transfer to the type foundry like yesterday.

Since when did you become such a Zen master?

Darn it!

Sir.

Are we ever going to get this right?

That's it!

Sir?

This is it! This is it! I got it!

You got what?

We can make the types to fit into the frame like this!

Joseon will have a new printing technology now!

Aren't you happy?

Typecaster! Typecaster, where are you?

Chuck all the types you made so far!

- We're going to cast them all over! - Talk about having fickle emotions!

Oh, those poor guys at the type foundry are going to have to pull

a few all-nighters again.

Youngsil, you're so lucky to have an easy going guy like me as your boss.

Hey kid, say something. Will you?

You have friends at the Bureau of Astronomy, don't you?

Hook me up.

It's scary over there.

The whole department might get canned because of the wrong eclipse prediction.

But l made a promise to His Majesty that I'd make him a very powerful weapon.

Then go to the Bureau of Weaponry. What do you want with astronomy?

The enemy we have to fight is the heavens.

The heavens?

I have to know my enemy to make the weapon, right?

Are you mocking us?

You want to study astronomy and find the problem in the prediction method?

Yes, sir.

Get out of here. It's not something a lowborn can do.

Why would it be wrong if there is no problem?

Get out of here, I said. There is no problem.

We did nothing wrong.

We calculated the time a hundred times using the Datong method from Ming.

If anyone is at fault, it's the Ming Chinese who made the calendar. Not us!

I beg your pardon?

I said get out of here!

A calendar from Ming?

You don't even have basic knowledge, and you want to learn astronomy?

We get the calendar from Ming because Ming overseas the heavens.

Now do you understand, you idiot?

If you show me that calculation method, I swear to you I will find out why

the prediction was wrong.

Give him a chance. What have you got to lose?

Who knows? He might find the answer and save you from being thrown out.

And if you can't find the answer?

I'll give you my hands.

Hey!

Are you telling me I could cut off your hands?

Yes, sir.

Visible enemy was easier...

Tsushima... the enemy you can fight with swords was easier to conquer.

Your Majesty...

If I had not aspired to fight the heavens,

if I had listened to the ministers and prayed to the gods...

I may not be pressured to shut down the Hall of Worthies

or be forced to strike my own brother down.

Heaven...

What merciless and fierce enemy it is!

This is new printing technology.

We abandoned the old method in which wax was used to fix the types in place

and chose a fitting method to keep the types down.

Using this type, we can print five times faster than the previously cast Gyemi Type.

Now all that's left is for you to win, Your Majesty.

Second Minister off Works Yi Chun, I express my deepest gratitude for

your silent obedience and hard work.

I will name this type Gyeongja Type.

Gyeongja Type...

1420, second year of Sejong's reign,

a new printing technology was born.

Goryeo had developed movable metal type in 1234 but it was not widely used.

And Gyemi Type was developed in 1403 under Taejong's orders,

but it, too, was not widely used because it relied on melted wax to set

the types resulting in lack of type stability and slow output.

Gyeongja Type, named for the year of its birth, solved these problems by fitting

the types into bamboo frames securely.

This was indeed a ground breaking idea at the time.

Not only was Gyeongja a model for Gabin Type,

the most beautiful of all Joseon developed types,

but it served as an important tool in cultural development by enabling quick

production and dissemination of cultural and political literature.

Gyeongja Type was a signal flare starting the era of cultural evolution, an era marked

by greatest achievements in Korean's 5.000 year history, era of King Sejong.

Like Minister Yi Chun said, all that's left now is for me to win.

Your Majesty...

The Hall of Worthies must be strong for Gyeongja Type to be put to use.

Sometimes... Sometimes I wish I was that throne.

It has no emotions, so making decisions might come easy.

Are you feeling pressured to strike down Hyoryeong?

Protecting the Hall of Worthies will require a sacrifice.

Using my own brother to bargain way...

How cruel are the Kings?

Your Majesty...

I think I understand my father to some degree now.

I'm impressed.

I don't understand what you mean.

I investigated you inside and out. Do you know that?

Did you now?

There's no one I can't get when I set my mind to it.

I even ended Prime Minister Ha Ryun's career.

Yes, I know.

A tactician like you knows very well how important money is in politics.

You have to be hiding quite a bit of wealth somewhere.

If you say so, perhaps I am.

But you slipped through my fingers effortlessly.

That's one thing I want to praise you for.

Somehow I don't think "thank you" is in order.

Then how about accepting my surrender?

Minister Park.

Strike me and end this.

I'm the director of the Hall of Worthies.

So destroy me and leave Hall of Worthies alone.

Don't take this small desk from the King.

You're my political mentor. I don't want your career ending this way.

Are you refusing my request?

Minister Jo.