subtitle By MetaAgatha original from ONDEMANDKOREA This movie is based on one of many creation theories on the Korean alphabet
MegaboxJoongAng PLUS M presents
A Doodoong Pictures production
THE KING’S LETTERS
This day in the year of 1442,
I, LEE Do, King of Joseon,
SONG KANG-HO
beseech the Yongshinho of Baegaksan...
PARK HAE-IL
If you use Chinese, will the gods of this land understand?
CHUN MI-SUN
Say it in Korean.
O, God of Rain!
We’re on the verge of dying from drought.
The masses have thirsted for rain for 6 months.
Is this your punishment...
because of an unworthy king?
O, God of Rain!
Wearing black robes in this heat, I’ll take the punishment.
Please put all the fault on me
and bless the land with sweet rain!
Take my robes.
You’re better than me.
What is the matter, sire?
You’ve worked tirelessly to make those books.
You even included pictures for those who can’t read.
They’re useless pieces of paper.
I lived in vain and wasted time making such rubbish!
How is that rubbish, sire?
No matter how many books I make,
the common people can’t read them! They’re rotting in storage.
That makes them rubbish!
That’s why
you’re working hard on creating letters that are easy to learn.
I think making new letters is beyond my abilities.
Why struggle alone when you have clever court ministers?
They are the ones who’d be most against the letters.
Knowing how to read Chinese have given them power for generations.
They won’t lose their privileges.
Your Majesty.
Along with our visit,
we’ve been blessed with rain.
Heaven must be pleased with
Joseon and Japan’s ties, sire.
Why have you come this time?
Your Majesty! Please spare our lives!
What do you mean?
If we can’t bring Buddha’s Tripitaka,
we swore we wouldn’t return alive
and came across the sea, sire.
But I gave you printed copies whenever you came.
It is not the books we want,
but the original wooden blocks.
Your Majesty.
What?
You want our national treasure?
Joseon has rejected Buddhism
and worships Confucius, sire.
It is not needed here.
The late King Jeongjong promised to give it to us,
so we’ve built a temple to preserve it, sire.
If a late king’s promise isn’t kept,
how could Joseon be a civilized country, sire?
How refreshing.
Father, what will you do about the Tripitaka?
Buddhism this, Buddhism that.
Su-yang? An-pyung? Let’s drink.
Just one drink!
Liquor is poison to diabetes.
Just one.
How long must we wait?
If you can’t give us the Tripitaka,
just kill us, please!
Kill us, please!
Why hesitate to give it to them, sire?
Since we can’t burn all the temples and kill the monks,
getting rid of the Tripitaka
is what we, as Confucians, must do.
The people still believe in Buddha. It will cause uproars.
If we weed out the roots of Buddhism that commoners believe and rely on,
there will be no cause for uproars.
Though the Tripitaka is but 80,000 wood tablets to us,
it could be a powerful symbol for the Japanese who believe in Buddha.
If the country unites around that symbol,
who knows what they’ll do next?
It’s a complicated problem.
Discuss more. Let’s talk tomorrow.
Tomorrow, sire?
Why not just tell them to scram, sire?
You’re one to be firm in seeing to what you want.
But you seem to have lost interest in the court, sire.
Sit down and speak.
For instance, the rain ritual.
You delayed it till you had no choice. Now, it won’t stop raining!
DAEJA-AM TEMPLE, GYEONGGI-DO
The Tripitaka isn’t merely a collection of Buddhist Scriptures.
It means much more.
The small group of Confucians in power debating over the Tripitaka
is treating the people’s sweat and tears like an old shoe!
What can we do?
There is a man who can resolve this, but he’s a stubborn fool.
I’ll see to the rest, sir.
HAEINSA TEMPLE, STORAGE HALL OF TRIPITAKA KOREANA
Master!
It’s a letter from the head monk of Daeja-am Temple.
Hak-jo.
Let’s go to Hanyang.
JAPANESE ENVOY RESIDENCE
Are you Shin-mi?
Thanks for coming all this way.
Save us, merciful Buddha!
Joseon must keep its promise.
Save us, merciful Buddha!
Joseon must keep its promise.
Are you beggars?
Who might you be?
Me?
I’m the protector of the Tripitaka at Haeinsa Temple.
I’m Buddha’s disciple.
Have mercy, sir!
If we can’t take the Tripitaka back with us again,
our families will be killed, too!
I can’t give it to you, and you can’t return.
So, let’s just die here.
The owners of the Tripitaka are not the king,
the court ministers, or the monks,
but the people of Joseon.
If you must take it, get their permission first.
Have mercy on us!
China, Tibet, Khitan, and Corea.
The native peoples made their own.
You should make your own, too.
Even a great country like Corea,
took 16 years to make it.
We don’t have to ability to make it.
Even if it takes 100 years, if it’s not made on your own,
it’s nothing but pieces of wood.
You may beg for food, but not truth.
Please come in.
Why aren’t you bowing to me?
Have you seen a dog bow?
The court treats monks as dogs. We’re just following the law.
How about some tea, sire?
What kind of tea is this?
It’s really sweet and bitter. It’s great!
It’s Omija tea, the pride of my palace.
Would you like more?
Yes, please.
You’re the lad who chants the strange Buddhist prayers?
It’s the Sutra of the Heroic One in Buddha’s native Sanskrit.
Sanskrit?
Did you persuade the Japanese monks in Sanskrit, too?
A good monk can speak it regardless of what country he’s from.
Monk Hak-jo?
May we hear the Sutra, too?
Can you write what you said?
Monk Hak-yeol is the best at writing.
Are they phonetic letters?
NO SPEAKING IN TRAINING
Do you know other phonetic letters?
Master Shin-mi reads Buddhist scriptures in Tibetan and Phagspa letters, too.
They’re all phonetic letters, made by monks, based on Sanskrit.
If the root of all phonetic letters is Sanskrit,
there must be a principle behind it.
1500 years ago,
some monks of India categorized sounds and letters.
The principle is written in the Tripitaka.
What?
Do you know that principle, too?
I read through all Chinese books on phonetics, but couldn’t find a clue.
You must help me.
I’m the son of a traitor.
I became a monk to survive.
You’ve destroyed my temple, my home. Why seek my help?
Master Shin-mi?
I’m the daughter of a traitor.
It saddened me each time I went to the temple.
How great it’d be for anyone to read Buddha’s teachings?
Then his sermons from 2000 years ago
could be seen before our eyes
and ring loudly in our ears...
I wear the mask of a king,
and you claim to be a dog.
But we both owe our bread to what the people offer.
Will you help me?
Under one condition, sire.
Say it.
Please build a temple inside the capital.
What?
Build Buddha’s house in the heart of a Confucian country?
Can’t a king even do that?
Fine. I’ll build it.
I’ll leave Confucius behind and go.
You come with Buddha aside, too.
No.
I’ll come on Buddha’s back.
Please come on Confucius’ back.
You must be punished.
Must you always do things so clamorously?
Pretentiousness!
That’s your illness.
I’ll take 2 of the 3 hits, sir.
‘Seokyeong’...
‘Yukseoryak’...
All these books on Chinese phonetics...
You’ve wasted your time.
How dare you!
Why wrestle with Chinese characters to make a phonetic alphabet?
Hak-jo!
What did you hear?
Well,
I heard sounds that came out from his throat
and rung in his mouth then came in my ears.
Not hopeless. Good.
Before these men memorize all those letters,
don’t let them out of this temple.
Yes, master!
Here.
Give this to the king.
How can the relationship between sound and letters be so organized?
And it was all within the Tripitaka?
He said the principles and framework of the letters are there
and explained why we weren’t able to gain progress.
Why is that?
Chinese characters
indicate a sound by the front and end only.
Thus, for ‘Gang’,
they use the ‘g’ of ‘gap’ and the ‘ang’ of ‘jang’.
But Sanskrit notes ‘ang’ differently.
They divide it as ‘a’ and ‘ng’.
Not ‘gang’ but ‘g-a-ng’?
They call the middle sound a vowel.
They call the ‘g’ and the ‘ng’ as consonants.
Sanskrit notes the first, middle, and end sounds.
They use vowels and consonants to make words?
Thus, they can capture all sounds with a few letters?
How many vowels and consonants?
Sanskrit has 50 letters.
Phagspa has 41 letters.
Tibetan has 34 letters.
They’re far too many, and they look complicated.
As you said, we’ve categorized
all consonants according to the phonological hierarchy.
What is next?
I’m not sure.
From here on, it’s new to me too.
Who knows but you?
Let’s collect and classify the sounds of our language,
and fill the empty sheets.
Should we record them in Sanskrit? That’s easiest?
And sounds we can’t note in Sanskrit?
Let’s try with Phagspa or Tibetan script.
If that doesn’t work,
we’ll just have to store in someone’s head.
Let’s start with molar sounds.
Galoot.
Gap. Game.
Garbage.
Galley. Gag.
Keeper.
Kick! Kite!
Caw! Caw! Crow?
Ca! Ca! Qu?
Quiet.
Tongue sound!
Navy.
Nirvana.
Nice.
Nasty.
‘Namu Amida Butsu...’
God rest his soul!
That starts with ‘g,’ a molar sound!
Again!
Dame. Dog.
Dharma.
Dairy.
Delicious.
Deli meat.
Down the drain.
There are more vowels than that.
What about ‘ya’ or ‘yo’?
You know?
Old. Oil.
Omija. Oak.
This will take forever.
Oar. Oath. Obey.
O... o... okay!
Ogre!
The Jiphyeonjeon seems different.
It’s the same here. Your Majesty has changed.
I published many books and drank much with you here.
Since that day, people are doubting your actions, sire.
What day?
When a mere monk made a fool out of the court, sire.
What I see, won’t the other ministers see too?
What do you see?
Please be careful, sire.
I’ll always take your side except on Buddhism, sire.
Is that so?
You asked to meet in secret to threaten me?
Though I may be weak, don’t test my royal anger.
The scholar-gentry class has a line that even the king can’t cross.
I fret my eyesight is weakening quickly and can’t sleep.
From now on, work face to face with me.
Why do you wish to make letters so?
For the dynasty to last.
No dharma talk, please.
Corea was ruined under the pretext of Buddha,
because monks monopolized on knowledge, wealth, and power.
The Confucians won’t be any different.
I plan to crush the exclusivity with the new letters
and let the people have access to all the world’s knowledge.
Great.
I read the Sutra of the Heroic One.
It’s far from the Seven Confucius Classics.
It was difficult.
Who is an owner and who is a traveler?
A hundred years ago,
kings bowed to monks.
Who would bow to whom a hundred years later?
There is no owner nor traveler.
Just people traveling on their own wheels of life.
Su-yang.
An-pyung.
Regard Master Shin-mi as your teacher.
They’re guests invited by His Majesty.
Before they leave my palace, they must not be known.
What they do must not escape these walls.
I trust you all.
Where are you going?
To sweep the yard, ma’am.
Why would you do that?
Change into this.
A eunuch’s robes?
Eunuch?
-This is wrong. -Let’s wear it.
Let’s just wear it then.
We’ve divided all the sounds of our words
into 26 consonants and 13 vowels
using Sanskrit for now, Your Majesty.
I want fewer letters.
Su-yang.
Hak-jo.
Do you know how many stars are in the sky?
A gazillion, sire?
There are more stars than grains of sand in the beach.
But they were compressed into just 28 constellations
in an astronomical chart.
I think the same for letters.
People’s verbal sounds are many, but they can’t be more than stars.
Still, we should put sounds to letters, not the other way around, sire.
The new letters must be simple and easy!
If they weren’t, the busy people will never have time to learn them.
Now, it’s time to design the shapes to capture these sounds.
I’m listening, sire.
The book you gave me says that letters can be made with dots and lines.
With that good principle, Sanskrit was made like this?
I studied mathematics and geometry.
Mathematics pursues simple and concise principles.
Geometry expresses the principles in dots, lines, and also facets.
Please go straight to the point, sire.
Are all monks feisty or is it just you?
Make the new letters with just dots and straight lines.
Draw in one stroke.
He said no curves.
I don’t care.
Draw in two strokes!
Draw in three strokes!
-Stop copying. -They’re different directions.
Draw in four strokes!
What kind of meat is that?
Is it tough to chew?
Why? Will you chew it for me?
Monks don’t eat meat.
There’s no benefit to living in the palace...
In doing difficult work, we can’t just eat vegetables.
What is the matter with His Majesty that he doesn’t come to court meetings?
I said he isn’t feeling well.
The rice plants in the field grow upon the farmer’s footsteps.
What about us?
We must see the king to gain strength and work on the court’s affairs.
Oh my.
I shall deliver that word for word to His Majesty.
Ga. Ka.
Kka.
‘Ung-ah’.
They’re similar sounds and seem to have similar shapes.
What’s the relation to this sound and this shape?
Though they appear to have some regularity,
we don’t know what they’re based on.
Molar sound is said to be a velar sound.
How can a sound come from a molar?
It must mean the sound comes from the molar area, sire.
Maybe I am straining the molar area...
It’s refreshing.
Good. Put it down.
Jin-a.
Put your finger into my mouth.
Go on.
How dare I...
I order you!
Heavens!
Spare my life, Your Majesty!
Hak-jo?
Any movements in the molar?
Feel anything?
Whenever I make the sound,
my tongue feels like
it is bent back to the cleft palate of my mouth, sir.
Like a scythe or pickaxe.
A scythe or pickaxe!
Why waste your time?
Why sweep every morning when it’s clean?
What is this?
Open it.
I’d love to learn the letters from you.
Molar sound ‘g’.
Tongue sound ‘n’.
Lip sound ‘m’.
Incisor sound ‘s’.
Throat sound ‘e’.
What’s next?
We made basic shapes based on the vocal organs.
The rest is only a matter of time, sire.
Time is what I don’t have.
How about a break, sire?
Let’s start over.
Enough!
You’ll break the kid’s jaw.
You can’t talk.
Listen to me, master.
Your Highness?
Could you pluck the string again?
Not the drum.
Press it hard, then pluck, sir.
See? That’s it!
Don’t you get it?
Listen.
The ‘ding’ is the basic letter.
Do it again.
Again!
That’s it!
‘Ding’!
‘Dding’!
As it goes up, add another line.
When the sound gets stronger and higher, draw a line.
How frustrating!
‘S’, ‘C’, ‘Ch’ works, too.
‘Ding’.
‘D-ing’.
‘D-i-ing’!
‘Hak-jo’.
‘Fool’?
‘KKK’
What?
‘Na... Nu... Nuroungji! (crispy rice)’
T? Ta... Th... Thanks?
That little monk!
A Buddhist funeral, 20 years after being framed as a traitor and killed...
My father’s soul has finally found a place to rest.
What a pity.
The queen has to hide Buddha deep inside the palace,
and pray for her late father’s soul?
What about you?
What about me?
You, a proud disciple of Buddha,
are hiding where women live
and making strange sounds with an ailing king.
‘Gang’.
‘G-ang’.
Not ‘g-ang’, but ‘g-a-ng’, right?
Don’t you resent the king?
I could never do that.
It’s all my fault.
Why is it your fault, Your Majesty?
Claiming to stop your family from politics, his father killed them.
My husband never wanted to be king.
As he is clever
and upright in heart, I said he should be king.
I urged him.
I’ll do it. Wait outside.
What’s gotten into you?
Allow me to scrub your body.
Sit back, please.
It hurts. I really hurts!
Stop exaggerating.
When you were 12 and I was 14, you hated being washed so.
I miss those days.
When you were with me, everything was a delight.
I was so happy.
Master Shin-mi told me
the Sanskrit words for firewood and worry are the same.
Firewood burns the dead’s body,
while worry burns the heart of the living.
-Why don’t you come in? -Oh please.
You’ve missed me so?
How could the king deceive his subjects, sire?
We heard you were sick from diabetes, but you look radiant
and walk so briskly!
Who’d believe you’re sick?
That’s good to hear.
Your Majesty.
A strange rumor is circulating the capital at present.
What is it?
Inside the queen’s palace, where it is the most private,
there are disgraceful rumors of Buddhist prayers being heard.
How dare you show contempt of the queen!
There is a witness, sire.
Bring the witness.
It is more important whether it’s true or not, sire.
Let us search the queen’s palace and prove the rumor wrong.
Everyone knows that the queen is infatuated with Buddhism.
By chance,
if she did let the filthy monks into the palace,
we must discuss again on impeaching the queen, sire.
Instead,
impeach me.
You eat meat.
Why not liquor?
Do you know the difference between monks and eunuchs?
Eunuchs don’t do things because they can’t.
Monks don’t do things even if they can.
What is your true intention in doing this?
True intention?
Having the king’s favor, there is something I’ve come to want.
Any good monk
would dream of a land that reads and practices
Buddha’s teachings, don’t you think?
You!
Stop what you’re doing and return to where you belong.
Only then will you and our royal family live.
Even if the king says to stop, I can’t now.
What?
You do what you must do.
I’ll do what I must.
Please quit drinking, sire.
Instead, please eat much of boiled, fatless meat.
He has quit drinking.
He won’t eat without meat, so that’s not to worry either.
Please refrain from doing anything that gives you stress, sire.
If you overuse your eyesight, you’ll go blind in your left eye, too.
You may go.
When it’s almost done...
They’re so suspicious. We can’t keep working here.
If you stop, you’ll worry and harm your health more.
Why not do it outside the palace?
There’s good mineral water for the eyes in Chosu.
What if we send Shin-mi first to nearby Bokcheonsa Temple...
Dear!
I’ve been busy
with my sons in making letters for anyone to learn and use easily.
No more misunderstandings.
That’s preposterous, sire.
Why do something so important without consulting us first?
Do you have the skills to do it?
What do you know about phonetics?
Do you know how many consonants and vowels there are?
I’ll go to Chosu to treat my eyes.
Don’t disturb the people there and prepare my trip modestly.
BOKCHEONSA TEMPLE NEARBY CHOSU
‘I long for?’
You long for that court maid?
No! It means I loathe!
I raised you since you were a baby!
You may fool Buddha, but not me!
Why you!
It stings!
And I can’t breathe.
The bubbles in the mineral water must stimulate the retinas
to treat the eyes, sire.
One more time, sire.
Father!
Welcome.
Any news of the creation of the vowels at the temple?
It’s not easy, sire.
Shin-mi said he won’t come down until he’s done.
Tell him I’m not going back either until he comes down.
Design all vowels with a dot...
CHOSU TEMPORARY PALACE
Congratulations, Your Majesty!
Whenever you bowed towards Beijing during the Manggwollye Rituals,
your faded robes saddened us.
Now, the Emperor has sent new robes for you, sire.
I told you not to come here.
We fret some things are greatly wrong and came to do right, sire.
About what?
First, you are becoming ill
because of making useless letters, sire.
Second?
If everyone can use such simple letters,
who’d learn the difficult Chinese to study Confucian ways?
Continue.
When the barbarians took over China,
new letters were made to oppress the Chinese civilization.
Should the Emperor of China suspect us,
it could be a diaster that jeopardizes the fate of Joseon.
You’re set on destroying me with the Emperor on your back?
To the Emperor, Your Majesty and we
are the same subjects, sire.
Go back.
I shall wear this
and do the ritual-dance towards Beijing.
Your Majesty!
No!
Sire!
Your Majesty!
Physician!
Your Majesty!
He’s developed urinary stones from diabetes, Your Majesty.
The pain has subdued,
but it could return with stress at any time.
If it hurts, say so.
Don’t just bear the pain.
Master?
Why are you obsessed with the dot?
Are you doubting me?
There’s no time to lose, but you insist on the dot.
Sometimes you may compromise.
Sometimes you must stick to principles no matter what.
We’re making letters that must last a thousand years.
Still, how long must we make dots?
Like the letters from Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Phagspa,
can’t we make vowel symbols similar to the consonants?
If it was to make such lousy letters, I wouldn’t have started this at all.
And the king as well.
Take charge and lead me or follow me.
Or leave here at once!
The easiest and most beautiful letters in the world...
Why can’t we make them?
Let’s use one more line.
17 consonants and 11 vowels.
We made 28 basic letters, sire.
It’s unprecedented!
Using the principle of letters in the Tripitaka,
you’ve created new letters with just lines and dots!
Let me hear the sounds.
Is something wrong, sire?
Although the first sound expressed in the dot is used often in Korean,
It sometimes sounds like ‘ah’ and sometimes ‘eu’.
Perhaps it’s in all of them.
It is the root of all vowels, sire.
It arises deep in the throat and reverberates through the mouth.
Leave it out.
The sound is profound but too complex.
It’s like a flaw in the simple yet perfect set of vowels.
Letters can be containers of sound,
but they can also kill sounds.
If a sound is killed, the sentiments in it also dies.
Letters should not be made to satisfy just the maker.
What is your reason for making the letters?
You know why!
Claiming it’s for the people, you’re insisting a general standard
to solidify royal authority, are you not?
The king must set the standard.
No matter how beautiful that standard is,
if you oppress and kill the people’s norms,
it’s violence under the guise of goodwill.
What?
Your Majesty.
When I hear
a cow crying,
it reminds me of
a mother I don’t even know, and I like it.
Whenever I say the same sound
in reciting the Sutra,
it feels great, too.
All the stars were categorized into 28, right?
If we leave out this letter, it’ll be just 27, sire.
Leave it in.
Something is not right.
Chinese characters may be difficult, but it can be read easily.
But this seems disorderly.
Joint letters!
Still, something seems lacking.
Tibet!
In Tibetan,
if the first letter is a vowel, a silent letter is added before it.
Perfect!
‘Om Mani Padme Hum’.
Of our 17 consonants, that’ll be the letter with no sound value.
That will signify the round throat sound.
It’s the geometry facet I spoke of earlier.
Now, our songs’ lyrics can be recorded as they sound.
Your favorite, this ‘Song of Cheongsan’, will never be forgotten.
Just one drink, sire.
That’s Hak-jo’s!
I was afraid you didn’t come.
Why?
I wanted to give you something.
LEE JIN-A
It’s your name.
It’s pretty.
There are two circles.
When we return, let’s test the new letters.
They say, when a hen cries a house is ruined.
‘Gak-shi-mi’
I don’t think that’s right.
I think a hen must cry for the house
‘Saeng-gak-shi’
and the country to thrive.
How much longer must we not know to write
to send letters and ask if our mothers are well?
You must learn it well
and teach it to the women in your families and spread it.
Yes, Your Majesty.
You worked with the monks on creating new letters?
You lack the knowledge of language
but the monks, who you think of as dogs, have the skills to create the letters.
You always talk about being loyal to China.
Has anyone offered more to science than me?
That’s why Joseon exists today, sire.
I’m tired of it.
I want to make a country that can surpass China.
Impossible, sire.
Why not!
A country where everyone can read and write...
Where everyone learns and lives out the teaching of the sages...
China could never let this happen!
What do you wish to say, sire?
The new letters...
You, Confucians, may take it.
Only then, can such a country be made.
You want the monks to do that too?
How was testing and using the new letters?
Writing Buddha’s words in our easier letters
made it seem more vivid.
And you? An-pyung?
If the Confucian scriptures are also written in our new letters,
the people will be able to learn and apply them, too.
Now, we’ll compile a book on the creation and usage of the letters.
I think it is time to bring in the Confucians.
Pass everything on the new letters to the young scholars of the court.
Why would you collude with them now?
They see you and I as colluding.
They have the power to destroy the new letters at will.
We must give the credit to them for the letters to last forever.
When Your Majesty dies,
do you think the court’s seal will keep the letters alive?
Say what you wish.
You always speak of the people, but do you believe in their power?
If we complete the letters and plant them in their hearts,
they’ll become iron stakes that no one can root out.
I know.
Your goal is to plant Buddhism in people’s hearts
with the new letters and turn Joseon to Buddha again.
Is that wrong?
Joseon was established on Confucius.
How can the king set aside Confucians and plan for the future?
You’re the one who told me to come on Confucius’ back.
So, this is what happens to a dog when the hunt is over?
I never once thought of you as a dog.
Is this how you were
when your father-in-law was framed after he made you the king?
What?
You’ve trapped his daughter, the queen, to rot in court!
Is this how you work?
Enough!
Pretending to be good and not greedy,
you hurt people who help you with that innocent face of yours!
If you’re on the throne, do your job properly!
You...
Is that all you were made of?
You beg Buddhists for help and implore to Confucians!
You’re a beggar behind the mask of a king!
What?
Would letters created so abjectly be able to survive?
Be gone!
I hope you make a good country.
I’ll take my remaining one hit, then return to Haeinsa Temple, sir
One won’t do. You deserve 3000 hits.
Go and shave!
How long will you live like that?
What?
The people can no longer wait for you.
Why fret the court now?
Call Master Shin-mi back.
There’s nothing more I can do beside you here.
I’ll move to Su-yang’s house.
Mother?
You haven’t eaten in more than 2 weeks.
Father hasn’t been able to do anything, either.
I’ll pass the throne to you.
No, Your Majesty.
Whatever time I have left to live,
I’ll exchange it for the new letters.
But you’ve already made them.
More than making the letters,
it is more difficult to protect and spread them.
Please don’t abdicate the throne.
My eyes...
I could go blind any day.
Father...
I...
Even after I die...
they must last...
My son...
Will you help your father?
The sun is bright.
Please return to the palace.
No.
I don’t want to die at the palace.
Mother left a message for you.
She said if you must go, finish to the end.
She said you mustn’t stay where you’ve fallen,
but arise and press forward.
Is that all?
She said to keep eating meat.
Call Shin-mi.
You’ve been called back here
not by me, but by the queen.
I guess she was the brave one.
She brought two cowards back together as she left.
How about some tea?
Let’s make a book on the creation and usage of the new letters.
Will you take charge of it?
I’ll summarize everything.
Let the Confucians publish and distribute it, sire.
I guess monks hold grudges too.
You said only then will the letters survive.
As promised, I’ll build a temple
and hold a Buddhist funeral to console the queen’s soul.
Is saying Buddhist prayers in a funeral really what she wants?
I recently learned
she taught the letters to court maids and had them teach their families.
I think she would want us to continue spreading it more.
You’re right.
But I have a condition.
What is it this time?
Until the letters are officially issued,
you and I must promise not to die.
We have a long road ahead.
This should be enough to make a book.
It was difficult to be born. We should give it a good name.
It’s our custom to give a dear child a humble name to live longer, sire.
How about ‘Eon-mun’?
It means common and crude, but it can also mean strong and tough.
‘Eon-mun’.
Great.
The queen’s funeral
will establish a pact of workers to preserve and spread the new letters.
The late Queen So-heon will receive tribute
and a small temple will be built beside her palace to console her soul.
In broad daylight,
filthy monks were allowed to walk into the palace!
Now, you’ll weaken our nation’s roots
by building a Buddhist temple in the palace?
I regret being unable to listen to your rightful cause.
You do what you must do.
I’ll do what I must.
When these letters spread amongst the people,
don’t you see, it could threaten the dynasty, sire?
If it’s a dynasty that sucks on the people like a leech,
it is better to perish.
This country isn’t yours alone, sire!
I want to erase the traces of the Buddhist monks.
You may change the text into Confucius’ context.
-The book’s title is... -We’ll decide that too, sire.
I’ll write the preface, you write the postface.
Winter of 1443,
His Majesty created 28 new letters
and called them, ‘Hunminjeongeum’.
The letter shapes were based on Chinese letters and phonetics.
They are also based on Chinese cosmology and philosophy.
The speech of this country
does not match the Chinese letters.
Therefore, even if illiterate people wish to communicate,
they cannot state their concerns.
Saddened by this,
I’ve had 28 letters newly made.
It is my wish that all the people may easily learn them daily
and live more comfortably.
How many words are there?
109 words, Father.
Make it one less.
‘daily’
Please stop the Buddhist funeral at once!
Your Majesty.
Hear the cries of Confucian scholars throughout the country!
Can you not see their joint petition, sire?
Please stop the Buddhist funeral at once!
Carry on.
Please destroy the temple by the palace, sire!
Please destroy the temple!
Or hit our necks with this axe, sire
To pray for Queen So-heon’s soul,
this is a song that His Majesty had written with his new letters.
How long must we listen to that hideous noise, sire?
That is a requiem to console my wife’s spirit.
Will you truly turn Joseon back to a land of Buddha, sire?
Both Confucians and Buddhists are all peoples of this country.
You know why Corea was ruined, sire!
Everyone was enticed by that filthy heresy, so it was ruined!
I’ve heard enough!
Who here hasn’t offered a Buddhist rituals?
What?
Seeking for higher positions and more riches,
you’ve all sent your wives to hold prayers and rituals, too!
Why you!
I hate such hypocrisy.
I think Buddha’s teaching is the truth, too.
The world is not ruined by the truth.
It falls due people pointing fingers at others for selfish gains.
Even if the world crumbles,
white is white and black is black, sire.
Had Confucius met Buddha,
he wouldn’t have done this.
We’ve formed a pact here
to protect the new letters
and vow to let them be spread throughout Joseon.
Let us pledge together.
Let us never forget our oath today till the day we die.
Even after everyone dies,
may the ‘Eon-mun’ blossom and bear fruit.
Even as those in power
belittle and curse it as vulgar language for women,
let it be a blessing that overflows in the most humble and lowest places.
By writing our names and burning our skins,
let us keep our vows to protect the letters to the end.
May the small fire planted on our forearms
grow into an explosive wildfire.
Will building a small temple beside the palace ruin Joseon?
This country belongs to you, Confucians.
If you don’t stop that atrocious ritual,
we can no longer be your subjects, sire.
I’ve brought the Hunminjeongeum which we’ve completed as commanded.
Your Majesty.
We’ve brought the completed Hunminjeongeum.
Distribute them.
I am not a Confucian nor a Buddhist.
I’m just an old and ailing king who can’t do a thing without your help.
It is my final request.
This book...
Don’t let it rot in storage, but let it be spread.
I implore you.
Dear.
I’ve come.
HUNMINJEONGEUM
Let us bow.
I thought the people couldn’t express their thoughts for they can’t write.
But I was the one who couldn’t express my heart.
I owe you so much.
I’m so sorry.
And I thank you.
You’ve already given me a great gift.
You wrote Hunminjeongeum’s preface in 108 words
to be free of the 108 worldly desires and attain Buddhahood.
In my 30 years as king,
I leave but one book.
Everyone knows how many seeds there are in a peach,
but no one knows how many peaches come from one seed.
‘Eon-mun’ is the Tripitaka carved by Your Majesty for the coming world.
Though it captures words of Confucius and Buddha now,
should another great man appear in the future,
it will be able to deliver his words and wishes, too.
THE KING’S LETTTERS
SONG KANG-HO
PARK HAE-IL
CHUN MI-SUN
Directed by CHO CHUL-HYUN
The late CHUN MI-SUN, the beautiful actress, will always be remembered