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Haechi: Episodes 31-32

Things are changing so fast for our crown prince in particular and the kingdom as a whole, and Yi Geum wastes no time taking advantage of his good fortune while he can. Sadly, his good luck comes at a steep price, and there could be a great loss if he can’t get into the mind of his enemy and head them off before they can enact their plans for revenge.

 
EPISODE 31: “The Trace of Evil”

Yi Tan crouches outside his home, hiding from the guards and muttering, “What did I do wrong? What did I do that was so wrong??” He hears a young child’s voice, crying out apologies to his father, and he’s torn back to his own childhood.

His father had been furious that he couldn’t read, yelling that Yi Tan would never claim the throne if he’s stupid. Despite his tattered clothing and filthy cottage, Yi Tan’s father had insisted that he was royal blood, and the country belonged to his family. Yi Tan clearly got his rage issues from Daddy.

Yi Tan is caught by a guard, and he goes terrifyingly cold as he walks up to the man and stabs him to death.

Yi Geum learns that Yi Tan is in the palace and orders the guards to block the exit gates. Covered in his victim’s blood and still carrying his dagger, Yi Tan wanders the palace until he finds King Kyungjong, who’s come out to see what’s going on. He fixates on the king, not even seeing the guards, until Yi Geum bellows his name and he turns to look at his nemesis.

Yi Geum holds his sword to Yi Tan’s throat, and Yi Tan drops his dagger and kneels. Chuckling madly to himself, he says he’s not here for the king, so he’ll go with Yi Geum. He declares that he won’t die alone — when he dies, he’s taking Yi Geum with him.

To save her from harming herself, Dal-moon has locked Yoon-young in a room, but she screams that she’ll die anyway if Yi Tan isn’t made king. She sobs that she’d rather die than return to being Bok-dan.

In the aftermath of Moon-soo’s raid on Ji-kwang’s gibang, Ji-kwang and all of his underlings are arrested by Yi Geum’s guards. Ji-kwang is led right past Byung-joo, and despite being tied, he manages to break away from his guards and punch Byung-joo. Jang-dal and Ah-bong grab Ji-kwang and Moon-soo walks over to squeeze his family jewels, warning him calmly to behave. I didn’t think I could like Moon-soo more than I already do, but I was wrong.

Moon-soo also kneels down to tell Byung-joo that now, he’s being looked down on even by lowlifes. He growls, “That’s why you should have lived right when you had the chance.” Byung-joo sends one last pleading look to the Saheonbu officials, but not one of them speaks out for him.

In the morning, Geon-tae tells Dal-moon that Yoon-young has calmed down. He says that Yi Tan has been arrested, and Dal-moon asks if the guards were looking for anyone else. Geon-tae says that he doesn’t understand why Dal-moon cares about a woman like her, but he promises to protect her until it’s safe.

Dal-moon says he knows it’s wrong to hide Yoon-young, because she’s a wicked woman who will do anything to get her way, and she even urged Yi Tan to do evil things. But he continues that Yoon-young might not have turned out this way if she’d been born into a better situation. He tells Geon-tae that he hasn’t done anything to give her what she wants, but he can’t just watch her die.

Yi Geum calls together the king’s guards to discuss the possibility of any coups or rebellions, but the guards says that last night’s “attack” on the palace was just Yi Tan by himself. Security has been strengthened in the palace and in the city, and Yi Geum tells them to keep it up until further notice.

Byung-joo refuses to confess his crimes, but he asks Moon-soo, if their situations were reversed, how long he could remain a strong, righteous officer. He asks if Moon-soo could stay so upright if Yi Geum fell and he lost his connections. He maintains that if he were acknowledged for his capabilities, he wouldn’t have become corrupted.

After the meeting, Minister Lee tells Yi Geum that the Saheonbu’s interrogations of Byung-joo and Ji-kwang will end soon. Yi Tan is still holding out, so Yi Geum goes to talk to him personally, telling him to confess to killing Yi Hwan because he was going to be made crown prince instead of Yi Tan.

Yi Tan says it wasn’t him, but then he whispers the words he said to Yi Hwan as he stabbed him: Remember, you’re dying because of your hyung. He tells Yi Geum, “The one who killed Prince Yoon-ryong is you. If you hadn’t interfered with me, poor Yi Hwan wouldn’t have died.”

Yi Geum lunges across the table at Yi Tan, who asks how he’s any different from Yi Geum. He snarls that if a peasant like Yi Geum can take the throne, then he should have it instead, but Yi Geum just yells that he’ll make Yi Tan pay for his crimes. Minister Lee begs Yi Geum to calm down and let Yi Tan be judged by royal law, so Yi Geum reluctantly lets him go.

They turn to leave, but Yi Tan starts to laugh again like this is the funniest damn thing he’s ever seen. Unable to hold his tongue anymore, Minister Lee says that the reason it’s Yi Geum and not him is because of the choices Yi Geum and Yi Tan made, and the people they became because of them. He tells Yi Tan that if he doesn’t understand what he’s saying, then there’s no hope for him.

Once they’re alone, Minister Lee apologizes to Yi Geum for overstepping, but Yi Geum just asks what he meant about different choices. Minister Lee says that Yi Geum always acts for the sake of a cause rather than for himself, and that that’s one of the reasons he and Minister Jo chose to support him as the future king.

Minister Min and Chief Justice Jo and the palace officials gather to hear the king’s decision on the treason accusations. King Kyungjong concludes that there was manipulation of evidence with the intention of falsely accusing the crown prince, but that the scholars involved did commit treason outside of those facts, and he sentences them to exile.

Noron Minister Lee and Prime Minister Kim are found guilty of treason when King Kyungjong himself was crown prince, and are sentenced with poisoning. As for Yi Tan, he’s convicted of manipulating the case for his own selfish ends, and he’s sentenced to being exiled in a thorn hedge then death by poison.

Minister Min arranges to talk with Noron Minister Lee and Prime Minister Kim as they’re being led to their punishments. He says kindly that any of them could end up like this, and asks them not to leave this world with regrets.

Prime Minister Kim says that during Sukjong’s reign, his father was made to drink poison, and that he told his sons not to become court officials but he ignored that request. Minister Min promises to help their descendants as much as he can, and they thank him tearfully.

But Minister Lee says that they’ll be forgotten soon and nobody will learn from what they’re going through, not even Minister Min. Agreeing, Minister Min asks how they would change things when everyone seems to live for power. As they’re led away to their deaths, Minister Min bows to them one last time.

EPISODE 32

Dal-moon hears that Yoon-young is refusing to eat so he brings her food. She says he was always too nice to her and calls him stupid, and that she won’t thank him for it. She yells at him to leave her alone, and he says he will since he doesn’t want to cling to someone who left him, he just wanted to make sure she’s alive.

He stands to leave, but Yoon-young backhugs him and says he’ll regret letting her live, because eventually she’ll hurt him. Dal-moon says it’s okay as long as she’s alive, and behind his back, Yoon-young’s eyes go hard.

Yi Geum leaves the palace to visit Moon-soo and Dal-moon, and Jo-hong asks cheekily if they’re planning a wild night since Yeo-ji is away on Saheonbu business. Yi Geum is all innocence, but Jo-hong keeps poking at him for a reaction to Yeo-ji’s name. He notices that Ja-dong is missing, and Jo-hong says he’s at the Royal Infirmary — evidently a mysterious bloodstain showed up on a post, freaking out the court ladies.

Moon-soo, Ah-bong, and Jang-dal are drinking at Dal-moon’s hideout, and they pass the wine to Moon-soo and tell him to apologize to Dal-moon for believing he was a traitor. Moon-soo protests that Dal-moon should have told him what he was planning, and things get silly when Dal-moon complains that Moon-soo nearly broke his neck so Moon-soo blows on it like a sore booboo. LOL, Dal-moon is ticklish!

Yi Geum shows up and quips that Moon-soo blew in his ear, too, and Dal-moon jokes back that he heard about Yi Geum being gay. Yi Geum says that was just a rumor, but Moon-soo isn’t married… Moon-soo turns to Jang-dal and Ah-bong for backup, but Ah-bong says he has doubts and Jang-dal points out that the only female Moon-soo is close to is Yeo-ji, his “sworn brother.” LOL, Moon-soo jumps on the table, threatening to drop his pants and show them exactly how manly he is.

Dal-moon and Yi Geum wander away to talk, leaving Moon-soo still ranting about how extremely not gay he is. Yi Geum thanks Dal-moon for his help, and Dal-moon apologizes that he couldn’t tell Yi Geum his plans. He says he has another secret, but that he can’t reveal this one, and Yi Geum accepts that he must have a good reason.

Dal-moon asks when Yi Tan’s sentence to drink poison will be carried out, thinking that the sooner, the better. He says that the look on Yi Tan’s face on the day he was exiled worried him.

The king notices that the lights are on in the Royal Palace, and when he enters his chambers, he sees Yi Geum wearing the king’s royal scarlet robes. Yi Geum sits on the throne, glaring at King Kyungjong… and then King Kyungjong wakes up.

Again, he wonders if he persecuted Yi Geum just because he was scared. Eunuch Jo finds him clutching his chest in pain, and King Kyungjong orders him to summon the chief royal secretary. In the morning, King Kyungjong tells Queen Inwon his plans and asks her a favor, and with a smile on her face, she delivers a message to Yi Geum from the king.

King Kyungjong tells Minister Min and Chief Justice Jo that he’s making a special order — as of today, he’s ordering that Yi Geum will govern the country vicariously. He says it’s not a trap for Yi Geum, but a plan to calm the confusion in the palace.

Yi Geum objects, but Queen Inwon says that she was sent to convince him because the king knew he’d protest. She and King Kyungjong know that King Sukjong wanted Yi Geum to be his successor, and since Yi Geum wasn’t raised in the palace, King Kyungjong wants time to teach Yi Geum how to rule.

Queen Inwon tells Yi Geum that King Kyungjong is very serious about this, and asks him to accept it graciously as the late king’s will. She adds that she wants to see the brothers working together for the future of the kingdom, and Yi Geum finally relents.

He visits his father’s memorial and remembers how Sukjong was disappointed in his frivolous ways. He’d argued that that was all he was worth, but his father had said that Yi Geum had the right qualities to be king. He’d asked Yi Geum to show the world those traits, and now Yi Geum cries that he wasn’t able to do that before Sukjong died.

He collects himself and enters the council room, where King Kyungjong announces that he will be governing vicariously from now on. Yi Geum takes his seat in front of the king, and he tells the court that he has a lot to learn, and looks forward to learning from them.

As his first action, he says he will be conducting personnel appointments of the three government agencies, beginning with replacing the Saheonbu’s chief inspector with Minister Lee. Nobody looks more surprised than Minister Lee himself, but it’s Minister Min who speaks up. Yi Geum asks if Minister Min plans to argue with him on his very first day, then calls Minister Lee forward to be appointed.

He says that the country has become corrupt because the Saheonbu has failed to do its job of monitoring government officials and fairly enforcing the law. He gives Minister Lee the responsibility of reforming the Saheonbu, and Minister Lee swears on his life to do everything Yi Geum asks.

The Saheonbu line up to meet their new chief inspector for the first time, but the first thing now-Chief Inspector Lee does is do away with the “empty formality” of bowing to him every morning. Instead, he says that there will be a meeting every morning.

The inspectors wonder what he means, but Hyuk shows up to translate: he’s telling them to put their energy towards working hard. The guys are thrilled to see Hyuk back and in Saheonbu uniform again, wearing the team leader insignia, and Hyuk says that Chief Inspector Lee asked him back.

Minister Min tells Yi Geum that even though it’s tradition to accept the first decision made by the king’s proxy, he was surprised that Yi Geum used the opportunity to strike at the Saheonbu. Yi Geum says he only wants to restore discipline to the Saheonbu, and when Minister Min says that can’t be done with just a new leader, Yi Geum retorts that he’s only getting started.

Minister Min says that this is why Yi Tan shouldn’t have been caught that night. He tells Yi Geum that he saw Yi Tan in the palace and wondered why he didn’t run, and Yi Geum asks what he means. A few minutes later, Yi Geum asks Minister Jo what time the special judiciary committee guard witnessed Yi Tan that night. He realizes that Yi Tan had plenty of time to escape, and wonders why Yi Tan would stay instead.

Exiled and guarded behind the thorn hedge, Yi Tan thinks that Yoon-young knows what to do now. He smiles to himself and mumbles, “This is not the end for us…” Meanwhile, Yoon-young leaves her safe room and tells Geon-tae that she’ll be back, but Geon-tae doesn’t trust her and follows.

Yi Geum sends Minister Jo to the Department of Justice for every bit of information he can find on Yi Tan. He recalls Yi Tan saying that he knew Yi Geum would come for him and how easily he surrendered, and that if he dies, he’s taking Yi Geum with him. He’d had plenty of time to run, and Dal-moon had noticed a strange look on his face the day he was exiled — it certainly feels to Yi Geum like Yi Tan is up to something.

King Kyungjong’s chest pains are getting worse, until one makes him faint while he’s drinking his medicine. The royal physician doesn’t know what’s wrong with the king, and Yi Geum yells at him for it.

While he’s at the Royal Infirmary, Ja-dong shows Yi Geum where the mysterious bloodstain was found. Yi Geum puts the clues together and guesses that Yi Tan was in the infirmary the night he was captured, and he comes to a horrific conclusion.

The king is coughing up blood, barely conscious, and he only seems to get worse when Queen Seonui has him drink some medicine. Yi Geum bursts in, knocks the medicine out of her hand, and issues an order that King Kyungjong is to have no more medicine from the Royal Infirmary.

 
COMMENTS

Wow, a lot happened in this episode! Haechi just gets better every week as Yi Geum steps into his power as crown prince, and now vicarious ruler. I’ve been looking forward to this since the first episode — getting to see Yi Geum rearrange the country’s political landscape into one that benefits the people first instead of those already in power, and do it in a way that nobody can argue that he’s making the changes for all the right reasons. Even Minister Min is going to have trouble opposing Yi Geum, especially since we saw that he used to be idealistic and hopeful too, before the previous regime destroyed his family. I still don’t trust him, but I think that Minister Min may end up being Yi Geum’s strongest supporter before this is all over.

One of the biggest changes is Moon-soo who, in just a few episodes, has gone from over-eager hanger-on, to competent inspector, to king badass of the Saheonbu, and I love it. He’s even got the Saheonbu officials dancing to his tune. Early in the show, I had wondered how such a goofball could ever change so much that he becomes one of Joseon’s most famous anti-corruption officials, but now I see it. It’s sad that it took the murder of a friend to give Moon-soo the conviction and motivation to do what he can to make sure it never happens again, but I think that Jung-seok would have gladly given his life voluntarily if he’d known the effect it would have on Moon-soo in particular, and the Saheonbu as a whole.

Yi Tan is truly insane, and from that flashback to his childhood, he probably never had a chance at a normal life. His father seemed to be nearly as unstable as Yi Tan is, screaming at a child and putting the entire weight of a throne on his small back. Yi Tan was told at a young age that it was all on him to restore their family to their rightful place in the palace, so it’s no wonder that he grew up obsessed with taking the throne back for his family. It seems obvious that he broke into the Royal Infirmary to lace the king’s medicine with poison, the one he was told has no antidote, but I’m not quite sure how poisoning the king furthers his plans. And he’s also got Yoon-young doing something for him, which I’m sure will be very bad, and will break poor Dal-moon’s heart even further.

It’s a measure of his insanity that Yi Tan doesn’t understand what makes Yi Geum a better future king, and even just a better man, than him. As Minister Lee said, Yi Geum makes his choices based on what’s best for the cause or the country, and not what’s best for himself, and that’s what makes him the right man to be king (and it was kind of adorable that Yi Geum didn’t even know this — it’s so ingrained in his personality that it never even occurred to him to be different). Yi Tan has only ever had selfish reasons for wanting to be king, and in the end, those selfish wishes will probably be what brings him down.

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I know it's too good to be true when they showed us how the good guys win the "battle" this time around and the Crown Prince being reunited with his close friends in their light-hearted banter and teasing. Now that King Kyungjong's health is being compromised right after he appointed Yi Geum in his vicarious governing decree, it would be another turbulent times for our crown prince. History told us how confusing and controversial the sequence of events surrounding the king's death was, so I'm looking forward to see how it would be translated in this drama.

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so true @ gadis, its was jst 2 good to be true, I was totally expecting smthin bad 2 happen after yi tan promises to bring down along with him
this episode got really angry, I wish I could strangle all bad guys, den I remember dey are jst actors playing bad roles really well
@ lollypop keep d good work

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I know the tide will turn against our ~adorable~ Crown Prince and his friends again so I'll take every banter and teasing we get before things go haywire. Jung moon-sung plays the evil roles a touch too well. I just got over him being the evil CEO in Life and now he's back as an unstable evil murderous Prince. Yikes! I love him tho~ It would be great to see him in a rom-com lead one day.

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I'll take every banter and teasing we get before things go haywire.

That's my exact reason for suddenly going on GIF-ing spree again this week. We got no adorable scenes last week, and only tons of stress-inducing events. And I foresee next week eps to be just as stressful. *sigh* At least, we'll see Yeo-ji again. I miss her.

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Yas! I love your GIFs~ Preserving the best moments so we could look at them fondly while holding back tears.

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Can I just say that I love and hate Dalmoon so much? I love him because he's like Hong Gil Dong to Yi Geum. Plus can I just say he's very swoony with that mane of glory and every time he turns on his fight mode, I go googly eyes.

But I also hate (well, hate's a strong word) him because he clearly sees the crimes of the woman he loves yet he still loves her. Or maybe that's just what makes it more tragic? Sometimes when it's clear in the scenes that he loves her, I always wonder what he sees in her...

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Beware of Rampant Speculation

Part 1 of 4

Thank you for your recap and comments, @lollypip. I totally agree that HAECHI continues to put the pedal to the metal. By the end of this episode, I was left wondering what Yi Tan and Yoon-young have up their sleeves besides their arms. Whatever it is, it cannot be good. We got confirmation that Prince Mil-poong is mad as a hatter. His concubine seems to have been dropped on her head as a baby. She’s just totally warped. I don’t know what her problem is. Is it severe PTSD from her traumatic past? Or is she just a sociopath? And Dal-moon, heaven help him, is putty in her hands the other kind of Noble Idiot. So what is his back story?

The triumphant Good Guys whoop it up over booze so bad they name it after former Executive Inspector Wi. Does Wi-Wi [wee-wee] work as a bilingual pun? (I think I’ll just stick to “rotgut,” thank you.) When Dal-moon comments that Moon-su was going to break his neck for slandering Seja, the inspector proceeds to blow on it to make it “all better.” Bad move, buddy. Without even being crocked yet, everyone suddenly reverts to junior high. They proceed to bust his chops for blowing in Dal-moon’s ear. Very smooth, Inspector Park – especially after grabbing Ji-kwang by the family jewels when he punched Wi in the kisser. Hanging out with “manly” sworn hyungette Yeo-ji hasn’t enhanced his reputation, either. Even His Highness gets on Moon-soo’s case because it’s such fun watching him react like an indignant meerkat. I’m having flashbacks to seventh grade just listening to them.

In the opening scenes, unless I missed something, it looked to me as if Yi Tan never goes back home to his natural wood, tile-roofed hanok. He is at the palace the whole time. The guards, including the one he stabs, are all searching the palace grounds for him after his presence is reported. After the alarm is sounded, the guards who are searching his residence and environs return to the palace. Later, we see his activities play out in a series of flashbacks that are purposely confusing – which I think is intended to underscore the misdirection of his feint.

- Continued -

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Part 2 of 4

In this hour, we see several flashbacks to Yi Tan’s traumatized childhood, complete with raving, alcoholic father, as demonstrated by all the liquor bottles on the front porch of their hovel. A demanding perfectionist, he throws his young son’s book into the fire because he is still unable to read. (NOT because it is pointless for him to be educated as a member of a branch of the royal family that has been consigned to ignominy – which was what I thought was happening when I watched it raw.) We’re finally seeing some of the events that warped the young prince’s life. But I suspect that his mental health was already compromised by his father’s substance abuse, if not by heredity. Given his early programming, it’s no wonder his concubine has gotten her hooks into him so deeply.

Dal-moon manages to spirit Yoon-young away from Yi Tan’s residence and locks her in a safe house – Geun-tae’s home? She stages a hunger strike, and practically promises to make him rue the day he rescued her again. I just hope that Geun-tae isn’t implicated in Dal-moon’s hare-brained scheme. The guy is so loyal, he’ll probably go down in flames with his boss.

Based on his conversation with Yi Geum in the interrogation room, Mil-poong will not go quietly. I predict that he will escape to wreak more havoc over the remaining 8 episodes. It goes without saying that Dal-moon’s attempt to keep Yoon-young in protective custody will also fail. She will make a beeline to her meal ticket to the palace. I suspect that she will incite Yi Tan to make a final attempt at usurping the throne, or die trying. It’s also possible that she will kill him in utter frustration and despair.

Wi Byung-joo continues to be as unrepentant as the delusional Yi Tan. After Ji-kwang punches him out on his way to the hoosegow, I suspect that the gibang owner will sing like a canary. We haven’t heard much of his testimony yet. I’m wondering if Ji-kwang were privy to the murder of the Saheonbu official at his establishment that was blamed on Yi Geum. I’ve suspected that Minister Min was behind it, as he would have been old enough to remember the original outbreak of “murder the master” killings. But he’s so cagey that he would have insulated himself with intermediaries to provide plausible deniability.

What is the deal with that bloody smear on the pillar at the palace? It looks like the one the “murder the master” assassin left at the gibang. Perhaps we’ll find out that Yeo-ji has been investigating the murder offscreen. Maybe she’s working in conjunction with Yoon Hyuk. He has also been conspicuous by his absence after stirring up a hornet’s nest by announcing the forthcoming review of all managers and employees of the Samsa. I haven’t forgotten that proclamation. Let’s get on with draining the swamp! The Saheonbu honchos are quaking in their boots, as are the Justice Department functionaries.

- Continued -

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Yi Tan had a rough childhood. Being a direct descendant of Prince Sohyon, his father carried a grudge against the present king because he felt the kingship belonged to him and his lineage.

Btw, I just rewatched The Return of iljimae, and in that drama Iljimae (Jung Il Woo) meets Prince Sohyon. I remember when I first watched this 10 years ago, I liked this Prince so I checked and was disappointed to find out he was dethroned in favor of his younger brother. Interrrresting!

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Part 3 of 4

I can’t help but sense foreshadowing in the scene of Minister Min saying farewell to his condemned former Noron colleagues Lee Yi-geum and Kim Chang-joong for their plotting against King Kyungjong when he was Seja. It’s particularly telling that Kim’s own father had been executed, and had advised him to steer clear of politics. I guess his father cut a deal to save him and his brothers the same way he and Lee have negotiated with Min to spare their sons. And the beat goes on.

King Kyungjong’s chest pains are really worrisome. I wager that he has been poisoned for a long time, in addition to having been injured by his whacko mother. His nightmare – or is it his guilty conscience? – wakes him up, and he resolves to appoint Yi Geum to govern in his stead. But this time he assures Daebi that he is not trying to entrap his brother. Minister Min doesn’t let on how he feels about vicarious governing by Yi Geum Seja when the King informs the Noron and Soron leaders of his intentions. Chief Justice Jo, however, freaks out. I’m puzzled by how strongly he reacts.

Seja doesn’t take the news too well, either. He’s always the last to know when it comes to Late King Sukjong’s wishes. The scenes of Kyungjong enlisting Daebi’s assistance in explaining the situation to Yi Geum are very moving. So is the latter’s visit to his father’s spirit tablet in the family shrine, and the flashbacks to his conversations with King Dad. Once again, Seja is put on the spot and expects that he will be criticized mercilessly for coveting his brother’s throne.

Oddly enough, when his first day of vicarious governing arrives, there is no opposition. That is, until he commences with his first order of business: implementing Section Chief Yoon Hyuk’s personnel recommendations by appointing Soron Vice Minister of Taxation Lee Gwang-jwa as the new Chief Inspector of the Saheonbu. He tasks Lee with reforming the agency and returning it to its original mission. This gets a visible rise out of Minister Min. The new Chief Inspector looks thunderstruck at the enormity of the power that has been invested in him.

The Saheonbu’s current honchos discover that their new boss has no patience for the empty formality of bowing and scraping, and just about faint when he calls them out on it. Then Yoon Hyuk shows up in his Team Leader uniform as the Chief Inspector’s first personnel appointment. They all realize they’re dead meat. I love it. Go right ahead and pull that plug on the swamp, gentlemen. Heh heh heh.

- Continued -

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Part 4 of 4

Claiming that he had been unaware of Yi Tan’s crimes when they met earlier, Minister Min informs Seja that Mil-poong had hung around the palace the night he was caught when he could have gotten away scot-free. Way to rain on Yi Geum’s parade, Min. After confirming the times of the sighting and later capture of Yi Tan, Seja notes how long he was at large on the premises – and begins to worry over what deviltry he was up to before he turned himself in.

Ensconced behind the thorny hedge surrounding his house of exile, Mil-poong muses that Yoon-young had better get cracking on her next steps to bring him closer to the throne. Why hasn’t he already been given his very own bowl of Ye Olde Royal Poison by now?! Dang! Back in the capital, Dal-moon has let down his guard, and Yoon-young leaves Geun-tae’s house. He tries to stop her, to no avail. I guess I should be glad she didn’t stab him with her hair pin or something. She tells him she’ll be back. Nooooo! She’s up to no good.

Cut to the King drinking something, and suddenly clutching his chest in agony. Meanwhile, Yi Geum and Minister of Justice Jo Hyun-myung discuss the apprehension of Mil-poong. They are ill at ease regarding his exact whereabouts during the time he was at large in the palace. Seja then recalls Dal-moon’s comment about the look on Yi Tan’s face as he was carted off to exile.

Just then, the King’s eunuch urgently calls for Yi Geum with news that his brother fainted while drinking his medicine. To Seja’s consternation, the royal physician doesn’t know what is wrong with Kyungjong’s. Just then, Ja-dong happens by and informs his old master about the blood that had been smeared on a nearby post. You can see the wheels turning in Seja’s mind as he deduces that Mil-poong was up to something at the Royal Infirmary before he allowed himself to be caught, and may have tampered with the medicinal herbs.

Kyungjong drinks his medicine and suddenly begins coughing up blood as his wife freaks and Chief Justice Jo’s eyes bug out. Queen Seonui then encourages her husband to drink more of the stuff. Is she nuts?! I’m beginning to wonder about her family’s political affiliation. The Chief Justice is just as bonkers. They both have a hissy fit when Yi Geum barges in, hollers at her to stop, and grabs the bowl from her. He tosses it across the room.

I cannot forget the super duper poison Do Ji-kwang imported from China for Yi Tan. You know – the one for which there is no antidote. Isn’t that stuff supposed to be undetectable? Or am I confusing it with a poison in a different drama? Help! – It wouldn’t surprise me if the King has been administered a cumulative poison that is finally reaching fatally toxic concentrations after months or even years. Or maybe it does nothing until another substance is added that triggers an interaction. Horrors! I’m beginning to think like Yi Tan.

-30-

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