Discreetly and hastily, she pulled her silver hairpin. Grasping it like a dagger, she stabbed it at Minister Gi's leg. "For my grandfather!" she shouted. The old man shrieked and howled in pain. He dropped the dagger and was forced to let Mun-He go.
He fell to the ground writhing in pain, but when he saw Kwan standing over him with a menacing look, he tried to reach for the dagger. Kwan was faster, and with a flick of his sword, he cut off four fingers from the old man's hand. Minister Gi howled while he twitched and rolled on the ground from the pain.
"Guards over here," Mun-He shouted as she waved to several palace guards, catching their attention.
The guards came in their direction, Kwan pointed to the old man, and they got Minister Gi to his feet. "I will not grant you the mercy of death," he told the old man
He then addressed the guards, "Take him to the infirmary, tell the physician...that this old man must live to face judgment for all of his sins to Chiongsun," he instructed them with a calm voice.
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers replied. They hoisted the old man and quickly moved him to the infirmary.
Once Minister Gi and the guards were no longer in sight, Kwan collapsed to the ground and began to sob. Mun-He knelt beside him and took him under her embrace. "It's okay. Everything will be all right now. You have given everyone peace. There is no more need for tears." With a tender voice, she expressed how much all of Minister Gi's victims were at peace because of him.
Young-Sik, Jin-Ri, Min-Jae, and his family arrived at the throne room. Before opening the doors, Young-Sik reminded them, "He is alone, frightened, and most likely he thinks we are here to gang up on him. Just let me talk to him." The other nodded to the prince's suggestion
Young-Sik pushed the doors wide open, leading everyone into the throne room. There, they discovered Man-Ju seated on the throne, a sword resting in his grip. "Brothers! Welcome to my throne room!" he joyfully announced. "Are you here to bow before me and declare your loyalty to the one true King?"
"Man-Ju, please stop this..." Young-Sik started to say, but was abruptly interrupted.
"That's King Lee Man-Ju, you pathetic worm!" he shouted. "You are in my domain, and I will not allow you to show me disrespect in front of my subjects!" He declared, pacing angrily on his pedestal.
"Chiongsun is no one's domain, not even the King's Young-Sik yelled back at him. "Please step down, our country is in so much chaos right now. I know you did your best, but let someone else take the reins."
"NO! YOU LYING BASTARD! There are no dissidents in Chiongsun, they are all happy because of me." He clutched his head and fell onto the throne laughing, "You are making up stories, trying to make me feel small and insignificant." He stood up once again, "But I won't fall for your lies!"
"Listen to yourself, Man-Ju...this is not how a King should think. You should think about the welfare of your people!" Min-Jae interjected, trying to make his brother understand
"Seo-Joon?" He thrusts his sword toward Min-Jae. "What do you know about ruling a nation? You've spent your days cowering behind your wife's skirts. You're blind to the true weight of the crown. Only I understand the sacrifices that come with being a King!"
"What sacrifices have you made since you sat on the throne?" Jin-Ri interjected boldly. "All you've done is cling to your power! Have you even dared to step outside your palace walls? If you had, you would see the suffering and destitution your people endure!" She gestured, pointing to the general direction of the villages.
"Jin-Ri, not you too," he said, his heart heavy with sorrow. "Why do you turn against me? I wanted you to be my Queen, yet you betrayed me. YOU BETRAYED ME FOR MY BROTHER?" His voice rose, filling the throne room with the weight of his despair.
"I stood with you when you threatened Young-Sik's life, and that was a grave error I refuse to repeat!" she proclaimed fiercely, grasping Young-Sik's hands with unwavering resolve. "But Young-Sik? He never coerced me, never offered me riches, nor did he ever intimidate me... I am with him because I chose to be; that choice is mine alone." She asserted to Man-Ju.
"No one here betrayed you, brother, we all care for you, and we all love you," Young-Sik explained to Man-Ju, hoping that his words would reach Man-Ju's heart.
"NO! Lies! Lies, Lies, LIES!" He charged with his sword, ready to kill anyone he thought threatened his rule. "You are all here to steal my throne away from me, and I will kill all of you!"
Young-Sik met Man-Ju's charge head-on. The screeching sound of metal grinding against metal filled the throne room. "Stop this insanity, brother, you know you are no match for me. I don't want to hurt you!" Young-Sik pleaded to Man-Ju
"Min-Jae, what is happening to him? Why is he acting like this?" Ha-Rin asked her husband, concerned with how Man-Ju perceived them.
"He had let his mind slip into depression; he allowed greed to fully take his mind," Min-Jae explained to his wife. He then stepped in front of his family, shielding them from the battle that raged between his siblings.
Man-Ju, with two hands, pushes down on his sword, determined to get the upper hand. "I am no match for you? YOU ARE BENEATH ME!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. He then kicked Young-Sik in the abdomen to force him to back away a couple of steps.
"You want my throne, Young-Sik? Then you will have to kill me! This I swear, should I live beyond this day I will hunt your family down, I will skin them all alive, slit their throats, and leave their flayed carcasses for the wild beasts to feed upon!" He then pointed his sword at Jin-Ri, "But her...I will ravage her; I will violate her very soul and essence. Once I had fun with her...I will rip her to pieces and send them to you in a box," Man-Ju laughed hysterically.
Young-Sik roared with pure rage and fury at Man-Ju's declaration. He charged at full speed, which Man-Ju was ill-equipped to defend against. Though Young-Sik had no lethal intentions, he did not hold back. The sound and impact of the punches he released upon Man-Ju reverberated throughout the area.
Young-Sik roared at Man-Ju, "You say that I betrayed you?" He unleashes a right punch. "Yet you're the one who betrayed me!" He lets loose another right punch. "You're my brother, I love you!" A left punch connects. "I protected you!" he targets the midsection with a right punch. "You had everything, yet you coveted what little that I had." He unleashed a lightning-quick kick to the chest.
With a devastating blow, Young-Sik sent Man-Ju sprawling to the floor. Yet, the prince's wrath was not sated. He drove his knee into Man-Ju's chest, pinning him down with relentless force. A tempest of fury erupted as he rained down vicious punches. "You will not inflict pain on anyone ever again! You will not lay a finger on the people that I cherish! You will never hurt HER!" he bellowed, his anger a raging inferno.
"Yong Stop!" Jin-Ri pleaded with the prince to stop his assault, and even Ha-Rin turned herself and the child away from Young-Sik's savage onslaught.
He raised his sword above his head with two hands, ready to deliver the killing blow. Jin-Ri was about to run and stop Young-Sik, but Min-Jae stopped her. "What are you doing? We need to stop him before he does something..."
She could not finish what she wanted to say when Min-Jae interjected, "He needs to figure this one out on his own," he explained. The tension in the room was thick, almost suffocating. They held their breath, waiting, anticipating.
Young-Sik drove his sword downwards with a deafening crash, prompting Man-Ju to shut his eyes tight. Jin-Ri gasped, her hands covering her mouth, while Min-Jae exhaled heavily, a sound of resignation. Man-Ju cautiously opened his eyes, and he turned his head to the left, spotting the blade lodged in the wooden floor, perilously close to him. He then glanced up to find Young-Sik towering over him, fury blazing in his red eyes, his face quivering with rage, and his breath coming in quick, sharp bursts.
Young-Sik pulled out his sword and tossed it aside, where it skidded to a stop right by Jin-Ri's feet. He stood up and turned away from Man-Ju. "This is the end, Man-Ju, whether you want to believe it or not. You can remain here and cling to this throne if that's your choice. But don't be mistaken, Seo-Joon is now the King. I'm finished with you." With that, he strode away from the former King and approached Jin-Ri.
In a moment of betrayal, Man-Ju seized his sword and lunged, not at Young-Sik, but at Jin-Ri. "You have taken everything from me; now I will claim what is most precious to you!" he shouted.
Young-Sik spun around just in time, positioning himself between the blade and the woman he cherished. The sword plunged deep into his left side.