Young-gyu was still starstruck with all the rare trinkets at the market, but Bang-won saw something: behind the splendour of the city’s main road, there were smelly corpses hidden at the back alleys. He was taken aback and suddenly, someone threw a sack over him. As for Ddang-sae, he saw the messenger hiding a letter inside a pillar before going back to Young-gyu, but Bang-won had gone missing. Curiosity got the best of Ddang-sae, and he saw the symbol on the letter. The beggars were taking away Bang-won’s clothes, but lucky for him, his bodyguards managed to track him down. However, Ddang-sae confronted the messenger, demanding to know where he hid his mother and showed the letter to everyone. Bang-won recognized the symbol and realized that the messenger was the real spy, but the guy managed to escape with the letter. Bang-won wondered what Ddang-sae would do if he got hold of the letter, but the not-so-bright Ddang-sae was again, without any plan in his head. They only knew Yi In-gyeom’s name and thank God, Gap-boon knew where his house was. 
Tae-mi, in between munching the super delicious meat served in front of him, wondered why In-gyeom was so worried about Yi Seong-gye, when he’s the one who had Choi Young and the entire court in his grip. According to him, General Yi was hard to read because he displayed no greed and had no weakness; hence, it was hard to control the man without the knowledge pertaining either one of the two things. 
The kids went inside In-gyeom’s house through the drain hole sans Gap-boon, and they saw lots of food in front of their eyes since they were at the kitchen. The three of them – Ddang-sae, Boon-yi, and Bang-won – stuffed themselves with lots of food, including meat of young pigs, and all of a sudden, they saw Gap-boon’s mother being dragged to a room. They secretly followed after and what they saw was shocking: a number of women nursing piglets inside the locked room. That was the secret behind the tender meat O.O 
In-gyeom went back to his study and realized that someone had dropped by to give him the letter, possibly containing what he’d like to see at that moment. Servants were ordered to find the messenger and the gates were closed, forcing the kids trio to be separated. Boon-yi and Ddang-sae were accidentally locked inside a storage room while they were hiding, and Bang-won was caught. Thanks to the beggar clothes he was wearing at that moment, he was mistaken as one and released, but he went back to the beggar’s abode only to see them mourning over the death of Gap-boon’s sibling, who was hungry without his mother’s milk. Bang-won was disgusted with the knowledge that a life was lost because of the piglets, and he cried in despair. 
General Yi and the rest of the family finally reached the capital, and Tae-mi went out of his usual way to greet them at the city gate to convey In-gyeom’s invitation to a feast on that night. Bang-won told his father about what he saw before, but their discussion was interrupted with Poeun’s presence. Poeun wanted to know if his friend had the same intention with him in avoiding the war with Ming and focusing on their suffering nation, and General Yi assured him that they’re on the same page regarding the matter. 
The Yi family attended the feast at In-gyeom’s house and Bang-won made sure his face was clearly seen by the nasty man. Of course, In-gyeom recognized him but denied the accusation made by Bang-won. They were ushered to their seats and Bang-won threw away the meat he saw on the table. The highlight of the feast was a play, but the content was aimed to make General Yi uncomfortable. In-gyeom clearly knew the real message while General Yi’s right-hand man, Yi Ji-ran, also looked disturbed. Only Bang-won seemed to notice how tense his father was, despite not understanding the real message of the play. 
The play illustrated the event in which General Yi (mokja 木子 refers to the Hanja character of Yi family name 李) ‘betrayed’ his sworn brother Jo So-saeng (Jeongrang in the play), and General Yi almost lost his temper right there. In-gyeom knew that the secret not known to many was the reason why the brave general stayed away from the central government, and General Yi had to give in, without knowing that Bang-won was there to witness the whole exchange.. [END of Episode 1]
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Post time 5-10-2015 09:50 AM
