BASED ON THE KINGDOM OF THE GODS
Your Royal Highness,
why are you discarding this?
After eating nothing but this for days,
the mere sight of it makes me sick.
Exactly.
Why did you do something so dangerous?
You are reckless.
You did not need to put yourself through this.
I did not do it for my own sake.
If I am dethroned,
do you think my personal guards will be safe?
Your kind wife will also likely be killed.
Exactly.
You shouldn't have schemed such a thing.
You speak way too damn much.
Someone so noble like Your Royal Highness should not say "damn."
Where did you pick up such a term?
Where do you think?
You are the only person around me who speaks that way.
I see.
I must admit that you are quite a fast learner...
I must have been too nice to you. You just don't know when to stop.
Say one more word, and I shall annihilate your entire family.
I only said it in jest.
Do not be angry.
How could you jest about something like that?
How can the Crown Prince's personal guard
be so cowardly? You are useless.
How could I not be afraid
when the Crown Prince says
he would annihilate my family?
Does this amuse you?
What is so amusing about this?
Is this the right path?
They told us to head to Geumjeong Mountain.
This is Geumjeong Mountain, so we will get there soon.
You said that before.
If we do not arrive there within 30 minutes,
I shall annihilate your family.
Your Royal Highness, do you truly enjoy jesting about that?
I do.
Keep jesting about annihilating my family
if it amuses you, Your Royal Highness.
In return, please bestow me with some seaweed from Gijang if we survive.
I hear that is the best for pregnant women.
I would appreciate some beef, too.
It is very odd.
Pardon?
Your Royal Highness,
I left behind my pregnant wife who is due any day now.
Is it that odd of me to ask for some seaweed from Gijang?
That is not it.
It is too quiet around here.
I have not even heard an insect chirp for a while now.
Your Royal Highness,
there is a house up ahead.
JIYULHEON
I think this is the place,
but it looks odd for a clinic.
What is the blackish red thing on the stake?
Is that not blood?
Wait here, Your Royal Highness.
Your Royal Highness.
It is locked from the inside. I shall climb over the wall.
Mu-yeong, are you there?
Is there a problem inside?
Mu-yeong!
I think something terrible happened
to the people here.
Where is Physician Lee Seung-hui?
We came all this way.
We must find him.
Is anyone there?
It is dangerous. Stay close to me, Your Royal Highness.
Your Royal Highness!
Are you all right?
Are you hurt?
Pull!
- Why is it so heavy? - There are several.
- What? - Grab on!
One, two!
What brings a high military officer all the way here from Hanyang?
I heard Physician Lee Seung-hui was good, so I wanted him to examine my brother.
He looks fine, but he is not well.
My brother rushed out and forgot his identification tag. Please understand.
I understand.
Did you see anyone suspicious
when you arrived here?
I only saw the corpses.
We found all the corpses hidden under the deck of each building.
There are 48 in total.
Load them up on the wagon
- and take them to the magistrate's office. - Yes, sir.
His corpse is not here.
Pardon?
Physician Lee's corpse is not here.
He must be alive.
Is it okay for me to be so happy?
How about a little peek?
Okay, everyone!
Here is to our newly appointed
Magistrate Cho Beom-pal
of the Haewon Cho Clan!
Let us drink to him!
- Thank you. - Hold on!
Wait! Hold on!
- You must have drunk too much! - Damn it!
Let me bow before the magistrate
- on this glorious day. - Sounds great.
Sure!
May you live long and prosper!
My lord!
- Something terrible happened. - What?
How can I possibly believe you?
What is all this?
Are these all corpses?
They were found
in Jiyulheon on Geumjeong Mountain.
Not on my first day in office...
What about the culprit? Do we know who did this?
There is a suspect.
A man named Yeong-sin, who was being treated at the clinic,
has been gathering bamboo poles from all around Dongnae
for the past few days.
- Did you say... - Bamboo?
There were bamboo spears on top of the walls of the clinic.
Bamboo spears? Why?
Probably to keep people out,
so they would not find the corpses.
I checked his identification tag, and it belonged to a man
who died in a war three years ago.
That man is suspicious!
Rally up the troops and find him!
Hurry!
What is going on here?
How could something like this happen?
Please, my lord.
What have I done, my lord?
- I did not do anything. - Talk to the magistrate, not me!
I'm not who you are looking for.
Please hear me out, my lord.
He is not whom you seek.
What happened?
They are searching for a man named Yeong-sin, whom they suspect.
What about Physician Lee?
They are too focused on finding the culprit to think about him.
Where are you going?
I cannot waste time waiting here.
I must find Physician Lee,
even if I must turn Dongnae upside down.
I agree, Your Royal Highness.
We must find that physician so that I can return to my wife in Hanyang.
Any plan in mind?
Your Royal Highness just said
we shall turn Dongnae upside down.
Dongnae is tiny compared to Hanyang.
It cannot be that hard to find the physician.
We are almost there.
We will separate into three groups.
If you see the Crown Prince, take him to the magistrate's office.
GANGNYEONGJEON
Where is the covenant with the Crown Prince's signature?
What do you mean?
Take that covenant to Lord Cho Hak-ju.
Then you can prevent any more deaths of the scholars.
Have you lost your mind?
His Royal Highness abandoned us and fled.
We must find a way to survive.
That is enough.
Do you not know why Lord Cho Hak-ju,
who even went after the Crown Prince, is leaving you alone?
He wants you to submit to him.
If you, the head of Sungkyunkwan,
bring all of the scholars over to the Haewon Cho Clan,
he will at least spare the lives of the scholars.
That is enough.
My lord, we do not know when the Royal Army will storm in.
We must hand it over before it is taken away.
That is the only way we can survive.
My lord, you have a guest.
Show the guest in.
What brings the head court lady of the Crown Prince's palace here?
Come in.
A corpse was found in the King's palace?
I cannot believe it.
How could that be possible?
I feel the same.
Only royalty are permitted to enter the backyard.
How did you get in?
After hearing that something strange has been happening in the King's palace,
I risked my life to sneak in to see.
Please believe me.
How could I lie about something that my life depends on?
I understand.
You may go.
This gives us hope.
If what she says is true,
that means something terrible happened in the King's palace.
Lord Cho Hak-ju hid that from us.
If we find out what happened,
we may be able to destroy the Haewon Cho Clan.
We may be able to save the scholars, His Royal Highness, and ourselves.
DONGNAE
May I help you?
Are you Kim, the medicinal herb supplier?
I hear
you supplied medicinal herbs to Jiyulheon.
I know nothing about what happened.
No. We are here about something else.
We are looking for Physician Lee Seung-hui for something important.
Do you know where he is?
All I did was supply herbs. I do not know anything.
My apologies, but I am busy.
He is not done talking.
Do those of lowly birth not learn manners?
My elderly father
has not eaten all day because of all the fuss.
I shall at least bring him some water.
If you wish to flog me, go ahead.
I am going to draw water.
Sorry. My colleague is like that because he was spoiled as a child.
Please be understanding,
and tell me if you know anything.
I will compensate you generously.
I told you already.
I have not seen him in months.
Anything will do. Please tell me something.
It is for an important matter.
I will not notify the government.
Yesterday,
Seo-bi, a physician at Jiyulheon, came to see me.
There is a survivor from Jiyulheon?
Where is she now?
I do not know,
but she probably went to Frozen Valley.
She came to me
and asked all about the resurrection plant that grows there.
People say it can bring the dead back to life.
She was so out of it.
She did not seem normal.
What did you say?
A plant that brings the dead back to life?
Yes.
But there is no such thing in this world.
Where is this "Frozen Valley"?
It is called "Frozen Valley" since it is so cold there
that the water stays frozen all year round.
I heard it was in Gomi Mountain, on the north side of Dongnae.
Stay here, Your Royal Highness. I shall go by myself.
No. I'm scared to be left alone.
It already feels like winter here.
Your Royal Highness, stay behind me.
Your Royal Highness!
Your Royal Highness, it's dangerous.
That is what the dead female physicians at Jiyulheon were wearing.
Are you Seo-bi, the physician from Jiyulheon?
Come out.
It is okay. Come out.
Where is Physician Lee Seung-hui?
We came all the way from Hanyang in search for him.
Where is he?
Physician Lee
could not avoid the disaster.
What do you mean?
Is he dead?
It is...
all because of...
the resurrection plant.
He said that the plant
caused everything that happened in Hanyang and at Jiyulheon.
What do you mean?
Are you saying the deaths at Jiyulheon
are related to what happened in Hanyang?
How did you know that the people died at Jiyulheon?
Did you see them?
Yes.
They took the corpses to the magistrate's office to investigate the incident.
Did you move them out of Jiyulheon?
No.
No. Those people are not dead.
It must be stopped.
Damn it!
Who are you?
Stop!
I asked who you were!
Where are they?
Where did they go?
Why you...
Where are the people
who were here?
What happened?
It looks like a beast mauled her,
but the size of the bite marks is too small
to be those of a tiger or a wolf.
Then was it a fox?
No.
They do not look like an animal's bite marks.
They match bite marks of a human being.
What? Of a human being?
What? That is absurd.
How could a person bite another person to death?
Out of my way!
Move!
You cannot leave them here! You must lock them up!
Who are you to create a ruckus at the magistrate's office?
I am the man
you were looking for.
I saw everything!
These people are not dead!
He looks like the man we seek.
What?
He is the culprit.
What?
What are you doing? Arrest him!
These people are not dead!
They will soon wake up and attack people!
Please believe me!
Why are you not arresting that lunatic?
Arrest him now!
Oh, my. The corpses will catch on fire.
No!
Where do you think you are going?
There is no time. They will wake up soon.
This wench is insane.
The dead will wake up?
No. It is all true.
What were you saying?
You said that the plant caused something in Hanyang and at Jiyulheon.
My master said he saved a dead man in Hanyang with the resurrection plant.
The exact same thing happened at Jiyulheon.
The dead people came back to life as monsters.
We must go and stop them!
What were those people who died and came back to life like?
Did they have a stench and make sounds of a beast?
That is correct.
Do you have evidence to prove what you claim?
Physician Lee's journals are kept in the medicine shed at Jiyulheon.
Everything is written there.
He said if we find the resurrection plant,
we can figure out how to cure the disease.
I came here to find a cure for them.
Please believe me.
I do not have time.
We must go before the sun sets and prevent any further deaths.
I will go to Jiyulheon.
Go to the magistrate's office with her and confirm her assertions.
No. How could you believe a crazy wench and...
It is a grave matter.
Go and confirm whether it is true or not.
Lead the way.
Is this what you came for?
All the way here to Dongnae?
This is His Majesty's command.
"Upon interrogating the 89 scholars who distributed propaganda,
it was uncovered that the mastermind
behind it all was the Crown Prince.
Bring the Crown Prince to the Royal Investigation Bureau
and get the whole account
of the conspiracy."
I shall obey His Majesty's command and take you to Hanyang.
I will not bind you since you are the Crown Prince
of this nation, after all.
Please follow me quietly.
His Majesty's command...
Does this nation truly have a King?
What do you mean?
Why did you call Physician Lee Seung-hui to Hanyang?
He is the best at treating smallpox.
Then what did he use
the resurrection plant for?
Did my father pass away?
Of course he did not, Your Royal Highness.
His Majesty is...
still alive.
To tell you the truth, his mental capacity is not exactly there.
However, he will be fine until the Queen gives birth.
Do you want it that badly?
Do you want to covet power that badly?
Is that why you committed acts that someone who serves the King must not do?
Do you want it that badly?
What have you done, Your Royal Highness?
You were only lucky to be born as the son of the King.
You have done nothing.
And yet, you always looked at my father and me
with that look you have now.
As if you were saying, "I am different
from you disgusting insects."
You are correct.
You are insects.
You scorned the King and the royal family.
You brought misery upon the people!
That is what you, the Haewon Cho Clan, have done.
You told me to strike you, did you not?
I shall grant your wish today.
You said I was simply lucky?
No.
I was chosen.
With the power bestowed upon me by my father,
I shall...
punish you.
You cannot kill a person with that sword.
You should not have been born as the Crown Prince.
Confess right now!
- Why did you kill those people? - Say something!
How many times must I tell you?
They are monsters. They do not die.
We must all flee before the sun sets.
He has lost his mind.
Strike him again!
Excuse me.
My lord!
Please let me in!
I am a physician at Jiyulheon!
Send her in!
What he speaks is the truth.
These people are not dead.
Once the sun sets, they will rise and maul people to death.
You must lock them up right away.
Have they lost their minds?
Please believe me.
You must lock them up quickly.
Otherwise, all the people in Dongnae will be put in danger.
You must flee. Hurry!
Imprison those lunatics right this instant!
Lock them up!
My lord. My lord! You must evacuate the people!
You must flee right now!
Flee! You must flee!
- Why that... - Run!
She is so loud.
Why would we flee from the corpses?
It moved.
The royal physician was correct.
His Majesty...
has passed away.
Passed away? What are you saying?
His Majesty is alive.
One month from now...
Until the Queen gives birth to a prince,
he has to stay alive.
- Lord Cho. - Why are you hesitating?
It is the physician's duty to save the King.
All you must do is do your duty.
Do not fear anything.
Just do what you did
three years ago.
It moved!
What did?
Hey!
Hey, try lifting that up!
Go on!
- What... - Why that...
Just use your hand.
Be a man! Why are you such a coward?
What is that...
- The corpse is... - Honey!
Honey!
Let me go! That is my wife!
She is my wife!
Honey! Darling!
Honey.
Darling! Darling...