Original subtitles

I am here today...

at Saheonbu's Supreme Court...

because I want to say...

that a new era of Joseon...

should begin here at Saheonbu.

The three agencies of this kingdom...

Especially the Saheonbu has been corrupt for a long time.

Who trusts the Saheonbu?

And who else trusts its fairness any longer?

- Your Majesty, I apologize but... - Stop!

I am not done speaking.

I will...

no longer ignore the long-standing illnesses of Saheonbu.

That is for the sake of this kingdom...

as well as for the officials at Saheonbu.

As of today, at this occasion,

I will abolish the section chief of personnel,

who had power over all three agencies for a long time.

- Abolish? - Hear my proclamation.

I will completely reform the old system.

Let the entire kingdom know.

He is going to abolish the section chief of personnel,

the position that has power over the Saheonbu?

Your Majesty.

What do you mean by that?

You are going to abolish the section chief of personnel?

It means exactly what I just said.

Starting from this moment on,

I am going to get rid of the entire personnel authority...

the section chief of personnel has.

And by doing so, I will completely reform the personnel system...

of the three agencies, including the Saheonbu.

Prime Minister, read out the announcement.

Up until now, the section chief of personnel had the authority...

to recommend personnel...

to the three agencies which are the Saheonbu,

Saganwon, and Hongmoongwan.

You cannot do this, Your Majesty.

This is violence!

- At the same time... - You may be the king,

but this is wrong!

You are suppressing us!

You are oppressing the Saheonbu!

Please withdraw your royal command!

Stop this right now!

You are speaking in front of His Majesty!

His Majesty is announcing his royal command!

- Stop the commotion! - The corruption...

- among the officials... - Your Majesty!

You must withdraw...

- your royal command, Your Majesty! - This is wrong!

- You are in front of His Majesty! - This is unacceptable!

The section chief of personnel will be abolished.

- Your Majesty! - Your Majesty!

And the overall personnel authority will be improved.

And by doing so...

- This is unacceptable! - Your Majesty!

Your Majesty.

The Saheonbu...

will have to face a period of utter chaos.

But at the same time, it is what we have all been waiting for.

Inscrutable are your favors, Your Majesty.

Yes, Your Majesty. You can trust us with the Saheonbu.

Please do me a favor.

Your Majesty!

I think you should quickly return to the palace.

Prince Mil Poong entered the palace...

and is causing a ruckus.

What?

Throw this man into jail immediately.

- Hurry. - Yes, sir.

How dare you arrest me?

Open the way to the Royal Palace.

I will go sit on the throne in the Royal Palace.

I will sit on the throne!

No.

I am the king.

I am the king!

Prince Mil Poong.

- Your Majesty. - Your Majesty.

Yi Geum...

All of us live lives on the edge of a cliff.

Falling down by a slight push can happen in an instant.

Do you know what you realize when that moment draws near?

Losing power...

means your death.

It is Prince Mil Poong. Prince Mil Poong came on his own.

Protect the throne!

Protect the throne, soldiers!

- Yes, sir. - Yes, sir.

- Your Highness. - What happened?

Prince Mil Poong has broken into the palace armed.

What?

There might be trouble,

so please stay inside.

Yi Geum.

Prince Mil Poong.

How dare you?

This might be a scheme from the rebellion.

- You should quickly... - Wait!

He must listen to me.

I came here to see you.

You should at least listen to what I have to say to you.

You imbecile!

Shut your mouth.

To be honest,

I cannot understand it well yet.

Why is it you...

instead of me?

Min Jin Heon...

The Sorons, and Namins...

Why did all of them end up being on your side?

How come you get everything...

I was never able to attain?

What are you waiting for? Immediately...

Why?

Why did you...

walk into the palace by yourself?

Tell me, Prince Mil Poong.

You could have escaped.

But why?

I came...

to die as a king.

I would have been caught anyway.

I wanted to die like a king.

I wanted to be proud!

I came to die like that.

That is what a king would do.

Because a king has to be like that!

You are scared...

a lot.

Even still,

you came to die...

proudly as a king?

Right.

If you were able to make more fearful decisions...

and more difficult decisions...

If you could have done that in the first place,

perhaps the throne...

would have been yours.

What?

However,

you were late.

And you were wrong, Yi Tan.

You committed too many evil deeds...

for too long.

I will make sure to keep my promise...

in punishing you for your sins.

Without further due,

you will pay for your sins with your death.

- Leader of the king's guards. - Yes, Your Majesty.

Drag away this criminal.

Yes, Your Majesty.

No.

I will not die.

I will not die by your hands.

Yi Geum!

Your Majesty!

Your Majesty!

Yi Tan.

Prince Mil Poong.

Fine.

You win,

Yi Geum.

I...

I...

I lost.

I will be there first.

Do not be so scared when you come.

I will wait for you...

on the other side...

as queen.

I hope...

you will come...

as king.

I will die as a king.

My last moment...

as king...

Eventually,

this happened.

Eventually...

Yi Tan...

Prince Mil Poong killed himself?

They say so.

They took care of his body.

How can this happen...

I brought him to use him...

as Noron's puppet.

We needed a king that followed orders.

That was my mistake.

I thought...

I lived my whole life for the palace.

But all that remains...

is regret.

They say regret never comes first.

I feel empty.

Well.

A life without regret...

could be even more terrible.

Life is futile.

He tried all his life to become king and now he is gone.

I hate him until the last moment.

He does not even deserve to kill himself.

He should have been torn to pieces.

He is dead already.

There is no need to talk.

Yi In Jwa...

and Wi Byung Ju will be executed too, right?

There are still remaining rebels, Your Majesty.

You have to make your decision regarding them.

April, 1728.

I will give the verdict...

on the rebels who killed innocent people...

and brought confusion in the palace.

Yi In Jwa, head of the rebels, started the revolt...

and shed blood all over the kingdom.

He took the lives of numerous people.

His abominable crime shall be repaid with capital punishment.

Wi Byung Ju, murderer of Inspector Han Jeong Seok,

escaped from his place of exile, and joined the revolt.

He shall be beheaded for his abhorrent crimes.

Carry out the punishment on the criminals immediately.

Now, now. Hurry up.

Today, there is something more important than my story.

Today is the day...

the rebels' heads will be cut off.

Let us see how well...

the executioner dances.

Let us go!

- Let us go! - They deserve to be punished.

Yi In Jwa.

This is all your fault.

- Your arrogant... - Shut up.

If you fought for a great cause,

face death proudly.

"Proudly"?

There is no such thing before death.

The world I dreamed of...

If you had chosen to be a human and not a beast...

when Jeong Seok asked for help,

you could be on the other side today.

Do you not think so?

Namins like you are being appointed...

and offices are open to those who are competent...

in this new world.

Yes.

You are right. But remember.

Do you think you would have acted differently?

Someday, you will also...

be kneeling down like me...

at the execution place.

That is possible, of course.

But at least...

I will not shake from fear like you.

I will have no regrets.

Begin the execution.

You cannot do anything.

Eventually, power is everything.

The Norons rule the world.

You should just side with them and live.

How could I do that, Byung Ju?

The world we see is so different.

If you had chosen to be a human and not a beast...

you could be on the other side today.

Do you not think so?

Goodbye, Bok Dan.

In the next life,

have no regret...

or resentment.

As you wished,

be born again as Cheon Yoon Young, wearing silk clothes.

You tried hard enough.

I figured today must have been a rough day for you.

And I thought maybe you could use some consolation.

Fear.

I am...

also scared.

As long as I am the king,

such things will keep happening.

I will have to either punish...

or...

kill people.

I wonder if I will always make the right choice.

Will I be able to avoid making wrong decisions?

It will constantly question...

my qualification as king.

I am sorry to interrupt,

but may I say something, Your Majesty?

The fact that you are asking yourself those questions...

already show that you are qualified to be the king.

You may sometimes make bad decisions.

But at the same time,

you will constantly be asking yourself the same question.

Therefore, you will easily...

be able to return to the right path again.

That is why...

I trust and respect you.

That is also why...

I love you, Your Majesty.

Yeo Ji.

He is practically declaring war.

The King has brought chaos to the Saheonbu.

How can he abolish the section chief of personnel?

Did you not expect this to happen...

when His Majesty appointed...

Yi Gwang Jwa as the prime minister?

- What? - His Majesty...

finally succeeded in repressing the revolt.

And he is even loved by the people of this country.

There is no justification...

for you to fight this.

That is why you need to step up and help us.

Why should I?

You are the ones who told me...

that I am unqualified.

There is not enough space for my servants to place my books.

Will you please excuse me now?

Or you can stay and help if you wish.

Is today's meeting agenda almost ready?

Yes, it is almost ready.

Is everything ready?

The meeting is going to start soon.

It will not take long.

What about His Majesty?

He spent the night in his office and went to sleep...

about two hours ago.

Again?

Then I think we should delay today's meeting or...

What are you talking about?

I cannot let anyone criticize me with something like this.

- Your Majesty. - Your Majesty.

If everyone is ready for the meeting,

let us get moving.

But Your Majesty...

You have not gotten any proper sleep for days.

I am worried that you might get sick.

There is no need to worry.

When a wolf is hunting,

it does not give any time for its prey to rest.

The King arrives!

- Your Majesty. - Your Majesty.

I shall now begin the morning meeting.

Today's agenda will be about the abolishment...

of the section chief of personnel...

and the reformation of the three agencies again.

This is an appeal saying we support the personnel reformation...

His Majesty had announced.

A lot of inspectors...

and high-ranking officials who used to work at the Saheonbu...

have participated in writing their names.

I know very well that this is a hard decision to make.

But if you truly wish for the Saheonbu to change,

we must step up and take the lead.

Why are you hesitating?

If the section chief of personnel gets abolished,

we can start working based on our competence...

instead of having to flatter our higher ups.

No way. Did you write your name on the appeal as well?

Of course.

I have longed for a change in the Saheonbu for a long time.

I should obey the team leader.

Goodness, Inspector Joo.

Thank you so much.

Wait.

But I do not see Inspector Joo's name here.

What?

You are right.

There is a Joo Young Hoon, but no Joo Young Han.

That cannot be true.

Are you serious?

My goodness, why is it written like this?

I am sure I wrote my name, "Joo Young Han".

Why is it written as "Joo Young Hoon"?

Here you go.

Write your name again.

- Again? - Of course.

You can write it again.

Really?

Gosh, I was worried for nothing.

Then I guess I should write my name again.

Again.

The brush is a little...

- My gosh. - I will write my name.

But Your Majesty, the reason we gave...

personnel authority to the section chief of personnel...

was so he could stop the tyranny of the high-ranking officials.

Although it was made to get rid of tyranny,

it only ended up becoming corrupt and degraded.

And that is why I want to abolish it.

Then how can you be sure...

that the reformation will be free from corruption?

I made detailed regulations to prevent that from happening.

Are you sure you read everything thoroughly?

Goodness.

I guess the meeting must have lasted for quite a long time.

I think we have been talking for two hours already.

Yes, that is correct, Your Majesty.

I must have gotten carried away.

You must be tired from having to stand for so long.

I should have been more considerate.

- Inscrutable are the King's favors. - Inscrutable are the King's favors.

Okay, then.

Let us finish the morning meeting.

Let us take a short break. And after about 30 minutes,

we will continue the meeting in the afternoon.

Yes, Your Majesty. We will see you then.

Was that too much?

It was.

But 30 minutes later? Will you be okay?

Of course. Since I am the king,

I am sitting on the throne all the while.

This is what is good about being the king.

How many days has it been?

Daily meetings, morning meetings...

Morning lessons, afternoon lessons, and evening lessons.

Many times a day we hear, section chief of personnel, Saheonbu...

My voice does not even come out.

But we have to hold out, my lord.

The King wants us to get exhausted and give up.

Then why do you not speak too?

Are you all mute?

It is an appeal from the former and current inspectors of Saheonbu.

Hundreds of people are supporting the reform.

They were all laying low.

Many people were waiting for a time like this.

I heard the King is also working day and night.

This time,

Saheonbu might accomplish the long-awaited reform.

It should. There is no question about it.

Your Majesty, this is...

What do you mean public conversation?

Are you really going to do this?

Yes.

Public conversation.

I want to go outside the palace and listen to the people.

But Your Majesty...

The past rulers of this kingdom...

considered the people as those who should be ruled.

They did not listen to the people.

For them, the people...

were beings who worked, offered a labor force,

and paid taxes.

I know what you are saying. But...

it is not easy for the king to meet the people face to face.

I spent more time...

in the streets with the people than in the palace.

Half of my blood...

comes from a peasant's.

What king would be better at such a thing...

than me?

What is that?

- What is that? - What is it?

"Public conversation"? What is that?

What does it mean?

Are you illiterate?

It says right here.

"The king comes out..."

"to listen to the people."

Why would the King listen to us?

I know.

Is this good news?

His Majesty is coming out to the streets?

To hear their opinions on mandatory labor?

Yes, the people are going wild.

A king listening to the people.

Can you imagine that?

I might lose my job.

If the King gathers the people in the market,

what should I do?

His Majesty is making bold moves as befits a king.

The King of the palace...

is trying to become the King of the streets too.

What kind of nonsense...

Why do we have to listen to the people about taxes...

such as land tax and tax law?

- Right. - Of course.

The people are the ones who pay the taxes.

Of course we should listen to them.

But what do they know?

They are ignoramuses who only know how to farm.

Yes, we are just...

ignorant farmers.

But we know all there is to know.

- Yes, that is right. - Of course.

We are...

the ones who do mandatory labor.

We would know better about it than anyone else.

That is right.

This is...

an occasion to listen to the voices of all people.

Your social status does not matter.

Tell me...

all of your difficulties...

without hesitation.

Until this hour?

It has been an hour already and it is still not over?

The dispute between the peasants and aristocrats got bigger...

and it does not seem to end soon.

How could this happen?

Hurry up, please.

The public conversation is getting longer...

and they need food for the people.

Yes, we are trying,

but we do not have enough people.

Where should I leave this?

Court Lady Cheon.

Put it there.

What happened? Why are you here?

They needed more people.

I am not good at cooking but I am pretty strong.

I came to do the manual work.

Goodness.

I wondered where you were all day. Here you were.

- Queen Dowager. - Queen Dowager.

This is how Court Lady Cheon is.

She is always helping out with the King's affairs.

No, Your Highness. That is not true.

Court Lady Heo.

It is time you took Yeo Ji to the King's Palace.

She always looks after the King and leaves me behind.

Why would I keep her at the Queen Dowager's Palace?

If you do not need her any more, should I do that?

No, Queen Dowager.

That was not what I intended.

I am joking. You look startled.

From the first moment, I planned to send you...

near the King when the time comes.

- Pardon? - I told her about his feelings.

Who else would know about it?

Court Lady Heo.

Anyway, the kitchen must be really busy.

We will help too.

The court ladies and maids of Queen Dowager's Palace?

Me too.

I used to be a pretty good cook before coming to the palace.

- Your Highness. - Okay, let us see.

So the biggest difficulty...

is military taxes?

Yes, Your Majesty.

For the other taxes, we can farm as much as necessary.

But we need people to farm.

Whether in or out of the palace,

how does he not ever get tired?

It will soon be 11pm.

I hope we are not staying up all night in the streets.

I see.

I will bear that in mind.

Your Majesty, that is ridiculous.

Reduce the people's military taxes by half...

and have the aristocrats cover it?

Why is that so ridiculous?

Why cannot land owners pay taxes for what they own?

If every land owner pays 36kg of rice...

per gyeol of land,

tax revenue will be filled even if we reduce...

the people's military taxes.

Will the military tax really be reduced by half?

So the tax will be imposed on the land owners?

That will not do!

How could an aristocrat pay taxes?

- That is not reasonable. - What are they saying?

- Your Majesty. - Listen to yourselves.

Your Majesty.

Pardon me, but this public conversation is not right.

You are being backed by the people...

and imposing unreasonable policies.

Backed by the people?

Really?

Okay, let us say that is the case.

But what is wrong with that?

- Pardon? - Without the people,

there will be no kingdom either.

The king and the officials...

should be backed by the people and embrace them.

Therefore,

I will listen to each and every person here.

Those who are here...

I want you to decide what you want.

Head to the southern gates if you agree to the mandatory labor.

If you oppose to that, head to the northern gates.

That is how I will decide.

I will follow the majority on that decision.

Now, all of you...

should show what you think.

What are you waiting for?

Maintain order so that the people may move to their desired gates.

- Yes, sir. - Yes, sir.

Hurry up. Let us go quickly.

We have to go that way.

Hurry up. We must get to the gates.

Let us go.

We should obviously go to the southern gates.

Of course.

Our military taxes will be half of what it used to be.

I feel like I am dreaming.

Let us quickly go.

- Let us go. - Let us go.

Gosh, we can finally live!

Long live Joseon!

What is that?

That sign...

is an announcement His Majesty has given himself.

- What does it mean? - What?

What is written there?

"Kyoon gong ae min".

"Jeol yong chook ryeok".

"Love the people with fair taxation..."

"and build strength by saving tax"!

His Majesty will make us pay fair taxes...

and love his people?

Yes, that is right.

That is what our king, His Majesty, is saying to us.

Right.

- My goodness. - So that is what it says.

- I see. - Gosh, this is frustrating.

I want to read what it says myself.

You are so ignorant.

Anyway, that means our taxes will be halved.

- Right. - That is good.

- Long live the King! - Long live the King!

- The beggar from last year - The beggar from last year

- Came back without dying - Gosh, that is good.

- Look at how the world goes around - Look at how the world goes around

- It keeps going around - It keeps going around

I certainly saw it with my own eyes.

Really? Here. Take this. You should each take one of these.

Here. Here you go.

Okay.

Okay.

Here you go. Here.

Please continue.

So, did Officer Choi's servants...

really steal rice from the government office?

What? Are you doubting my eyes?

No, I am not doubting you.

But why are you speaking so rudely to me?

When it comes to beggars,

we might forget people who fed us,

but we do not forget people who slapped us.

Think about it. If we saw rice being stolen,

would we forget that or not?

Right. I saw that too.

Right. Put that on the records.

500 sacks of rice go to Yangju, and 300 sacks go to Seobinggo.

- That Officer Choi... - Hurry.

is stealing the kingdom's rice as if it were his own?

Then would it be right to strike today?

The candy is really sweet. It is very sweet.

Would you like to have my candy too?

Somehow, he looks familiar.

Here. Quickly take this too.

But until when am I supposed to be doing this?

Just eat that candy.

Go away. My goodness.

Okay. Move over.

Okay. Jang Dal. Ah Bong.

Come on. Are you that upset about this?

His Majesty keeps saying that there should be no discrimination.

But why are you not disguised as a beggar alone?

I met such a nice master.

Out of my 50 years of my life,

it is my first time to be disguised in such humiliation.

Hey, look. Think about it.

Since my face is so flawless, covering my face in dirt...

will not make anyone believe that I am a beggar.

This is all about tactics and strategies.

Come on. At least our plan worked.

Here. Have a drink.

So when will you strike...

that thieving Officer Choi?

The fruit is ripe.

We should grind him into juice now.

This is it, Your Majesty.

He is staying here these days.

I will skip saying that I am always in debt to you.

I heard you are coming out for a public conversation again.

How many times has it been already?

Why? Are you worried?

Do you think I will take over the streets too?

Be satisfied with the palace.

I am the king of the streets.

I think I have told you that.

Look at this.

How dare you call yourself a king in front of a king?

No matter how much time has passed,

you are such a rude beggar.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

Thank you.

Let us go.

It has been a long time, Min Jin Heon.

What brings you to my humble home?

I am honored, Your Majesty.

I could not hear any news about you,

so I did some background investigation.

As you know, I have a competent informant.

You must be speaking of Dal Moon.

You are keeping that man by your side...

for such a long time.

I want to do the same to you.

Why do you keep refusing the summons from the palace?

It is because I finished my duties.

You have many competent and young people by your side.

- But Jin Heon... - I do not remember when that was,

but I...

discussed the disbanding of Saheonbu here before.

Haechi.

The legendary beast that differentiates good and evil.

But do you know why that beast exists only in legends?

It is because it is impossible to differentiate good and evil...

in the real world.

That is how it is, Your Majesty.

Differentiating good and evil in the real world...

is impossible.

No matter how much you dream of it.

That is why...

I gave up on that dream a long time ago.

I once thought that there were only winners and losers,

those who win and those who lose, in the real world.

I used to think that losing power meant that I lost...

and that it would lead to death.

It was because I was easily exhausted...

and disappointed.

To be honest,

life and politics...

are all about dreaming the impossible...

and slowly progressing one step at a time.

Min Jin Heon.

One day, even you...

might get exhausted...

and disappointed like me.

Even you...

will have to take a step back one day.

However, I just hope...

with all my loyal heart...

that that moment will come...

very slowly and as late as possible.

And I think...

that might be possible with you.

That is because you are not alone.

You are surrounded by friends...

who share the same dream.

Who are you?

Me?

Where is it?

Wait a minute.

The royal inspector!

Park Mun Su!

- He is here! - He is here!

You know what I am going to say, right?

You are all dead now.

Let us move.

We need to gather information for the King's next plan.

We need every little information we can gather.

- Yes, Captain. - Yes, sir!

Okay, then. Let us go!

- Yes, sir. - Yes, sir.

As I walk this road, I shall not...

easily get exhausted...

or disappointed.

Your Majesty.

You are always having meetings and discussions.

And you come outside so frequently. Are you not tired?

The King should be tired.

What can you do?

You should just think of it as my fate.

Pardon?

Your Majesty.

And if I come outside, I get to hold hands with you like this.

This is what you call "Killing 2 birds with 1 stone".

But you still should not do this.

What if someone sees us?

Why are you worried? No one is here.

Your Majesty.

Goodness.

That was so slow-witted and foolish of me.

You should continue what you were doing, Your Majesty.

No, Ja Dong. We were not doing anything.

I told you so.

That is...

This bridge has a lot of problems.

We should reconstruct this bridge.

Reconstruct?

Do you mean we should rebuild the bridge?

A lot of people use this bridge.

But it looks weak and seems like it will collapse soon.

But there are peasants living underneath this bridge.

What will happen to them...

once the bridge gets reconstructed?

Then I should ask them their opinions...

on what they think regarding the reconstruction of the bridge.

Pardon? Right now?

Your Majesty, you cannot do that.

Your Majesty.

You cannot walk away on your own like that.

Please call the king's guards. Please hurry.

Okay.

Your Majesty, it is dangerous.

Wait for me.

Let me ask you something.

Is there anything uncomfortable about using that bridge?

Let me ask you something.

Is there anything uncomfortable about using that bridge?

Am I bothering you?

- No. - No.

As I walk this road, I hope I will not...

easily get exhausted or disappointed.

After all, both life and politics...

is all about slowly progressing...

one step at a time.