Deep Rooted Tree Episode 7

It’s all happening in this episode. The king learns more about milbon and realises that it’s going to be hard to trust anyone in the palace. He has to stop his secret work for the time being. Chae Yoon finally comes face to face with the assassin. There’s another murder but Chae Yoon is inching closer and closer. 

The king writes ‘milbon‘ in hangul. Hidden Root. And he says the dreaded name as though he is about to explode. (it must be even more upsetting for him since he tried to help Jeong Gi Jeon years ago). Then there’s more bad news – the dead body has disappeared.

Meanwhile, the two young scholars Soong Sam Moon and Park Peng Nyeon are with the bodies. The assassin in the mask is hiding in the doorway. Creepy. ( the assassin’s mask  reminds me of a baddie in a comic like Bat Man and Robin, but seeing him hiding there still sends a cold little shiver down my spine!)

Sim Jeong Soo can’t read the coded hangul message but is aware that milbon has been outed. He is concerned that their plans are compromised but still he is given orders to continue from their mysterious leader.

He reads out a scholar’s name- Hae Gang –  with surprise. He looks pleased and decides to visit this scholar – they need him on their side.

The assassin arrives and informs them that the young scholars also have tattoos. The assassin is told to watch Soong Sam Moon. 

Chae Yoon and the other guards are still wondering what happened to the dead body. They try to work out the meaning of the characters on the paper that Yun Pil tried to burn, but one of them can’t even read the Chinese characters never mind work out the meaning!

Chae Yoon just looks at him in despair! He has worked out that the dead thief must be a scholar from the Institute of Learning – someone who wanted to look at the tattoos. Mystery music plays as the camera shows more clues written on the papers: a court lady and a bracelet pattern..

They have to find the bodies and return them to the families for the funerals. They work out that if the scholars took the bodies they will return them directly to the families afterwards. So the guards plan to watch the two family homes.

The nobi taking part in the king’s research (he was making dog sounds before) is in front of the king doing a demonstration of a musical instrument (I think) The king looks serious and deep in thought.

Suddenly he sends for Jo Mal Seng. They meet in private. Jo Mal Seng kneels before the king and gives him a scroll with orders from King Taejong for Jo Mal Seng to help the king if anything weird starts happening in the palace. And weird things are definitely happening.

He wants the king to believe that milbon really does exist. So he takes him to Jeong Do Gwang’s old house with the secret underground passage where Taejong also saw Jeong Do Jeon’s writing on the wall –  treasonous words against the king. Mu Hyul suggests Jeong Do Jeon is dead now so there should be no problem. But the king is concerned.

Sim Jeong Soo wants to recruit the scholar Hae Gang to the milbon. But Hae Gang gets angry at the mention of milbon – since Jeong Do Jeon is dead who could possibly lead the group? Sim Jeong Soo looks unconcerned. There is still one member living – his nephew, Jeong Gi Joon.

At the same time down in the underground passage, the king is asking the same questions. Jo Mal Seng hands the king notes on Jeong Gi Joon. It seems he has had him watched all these years. There’s a sketch of Jeong Gi Joon too and the king looks distraught. It’s his old nemesis come back to haunt him.

Chae Yoon goes to see the grieving family of the scholar Ho Dam. They are wearing mourning clothes and he respectfully leaves his sword at the gate. He promises that the body will be returned soon and sees a small boy crying by the alter. It must remind him of his own childhood when his father died.

He asks about the parcel given to Ho Dam and is told that is was a book – biba saron. Chae Yoon realises that three people have already died because of this biba saron. But the contents are written in Sanskrit so no one can read it.

However, there is someone at the library in Banchon who can read it… The captain is still worried about returning the body to the families but Chae Yoon fobs him off and goes to investigate at the library.

I LOVE THIS NEXT SCENE

Chae Yoon goes to the library and oooh – a young man, the ASSASSIN (without mask) is working there!

Chae Yoon doesn’t know this at first and the young man tells Chae Yoon that the manager is not there at the moment. But as he’s talking, Chae Yoon notices the pattern on his bracelet and realises that he must be the assassin!

That atmosphere becomes tense… Then Chae Yoon tries to act natural while he reaches for his sword but remembers he left it at the gate at the funeral. So he starts to laugh and puts on his ‘I’m an idiot’ act again saying he’s forgotten to bring money, but he’ll be back. Of course the assassin knows the game is up.

As Chae Yoon walks away slowly humming towards the door, a sword is thrust to his neck but Chae Yoon merely comments about the young man’s unusually deep voice. The sword is pushed closer drawing blood. (But why is there already blood on his collar?) There’s a horrible squidgy sound effect as the sword goes even deeper into Chae Yoon’s neck.

Just in time Cho Tak arrives and uses his little metal balls (I don’t have a more technical term for these yet!) to hit the assassin. The assassin leaps out of the window and escapes using the art of chul sang sul. He’s Yun Pil’s murderer so they all chase after him.

The coffin arrives at the funeral place but the men carrying it almost drop it saying it’s so heavy. The captain is shocked since he didn’t think the body was in there.

Cho Tak and Chae Yoon lose the assassin and Cho Tak suggests they try to find Chae Yoon’s martial art master to help them. But Chae Yoon doesn’t think he can find him.

Meanwhile, the king is alone in the pyeongjeon and thinks back to the writing on the wall in the underground passage. He gets in a rage kicking things and shouting to himself as So Yi watches sadly from a distance. So Yi is going to meet the scholar Chang Song Soo at the library in Banchon. The king wants her to pass on a message – burn the evidence of what he has been working on. They have to stop for now.

The kyomsa guards go to the library and trash the place demanding to know where the young man (the assassin) is. Another manager is there now and has no idea. Meanwhile, outside the nobi are busy preparing food for a party. But they grab weapons and go to see what’s going on. The guards do not have permission to enter Banchon.

The head nobi (she’s not to be messed with) demands to know what’s going on. The guards want Yun Pil’s murderer, but the head nobi merely demands to know if they have permission to be there. They don’t of course and the nobi prepare for a fight.

Chae Yoon spots So Yi approaching a scholar, Chang Song Soo. She meets the scholar secretly. Chang Soo Song will meet her that evening and give her what he has been working on. But later he is surrounded by some men dressed in green.

The king hears what happened at the library and that the kyomsa believe the assassin is there. Jo Mal Seng believes the milbon are everywhere and he doesn’t trust anyone. Not even the scholars. He wants to be in charge of the investigation. But the king laughs – if he can’t trust anyone, that includes Jo Mal Seng. But Jo Mal Seng is not offended. He WANTS the kiing to be less trusting. Jo Mal Seng has grown on me recently. At least he does genuinely seem to want to protect the king. 

On his way out he bumps into Lee Shin Chok.  When Jo Mal Seng asks him if he believes in the milbon Lee’s expression changes. He tries to laugh off the idea that milbon exists but after Jo Mal Seng has gone, his expression changes – he looks worried.

The king is lying down on the floor thinking. Mu Hyul rushes over thinking that something is wrong! But the king is reflecting over his conversation with Jo Mal Seng and trusting people.  He seems to have a heavy heart.

The head nobi can’t understand how Chae Yoon recognised the assassin. She orders him to not make any mistakes with the next murder – Soong Sam Moon.

Meanwhile, the men in green have brought Chang Soo Song before the head scholar Choi Man Ri. He is accused of reading shameful material! Joseon porn? But as the books are thrown to the ground in amongst the papers is something that looks like it could be related to the biba saron. Chang starts to cry but it may be an act.

Chae Yoon and Cho Tak go to see the old man who got the dead bodies for the scholars. He is with his grandson but Cho Tak takes the boy away pretending that they will hurt him if he doesn’t tell them who asked him to get the bodies. The trick works –  Cho Tak even smears chicken blood on the door to make it look like he has hurt the boy – oh that was mean. The old man is so upset and tells them what they want to know – Soong Sam Moon ordered it.

Scholar Chang is on his way to meet So Yi in the dark when he finds Soong Sam Moon waiting for him. Soong Sam Moon has ideas about why people are being murdered but Chang pretends not to know what he’s talking about. Soong Sam Moon sees the tattoo on his neck and shows him his own tattoo. This surprises Chang who agrees to tell him what he knows.

But the assassin is waiting for them in the trees. Chang  who is carrying the book for So Yi comes face to face with the assassin and manages to shout a warning before he is killed. The assassin has his book. Chae Yoon hears his warning and realises the scholar is dead. He tells So Yi to hurry back to the palace.

Cho Tak gets injured by the assassin. (He could have killed him but didn’t) Then Chae Yoon comes face to face with him too. The assassin has the book. So Yi hurries to the palace and tells the king Chang Song Soo is dead.

The assassin tells Chae Yoon that he’s not interested in him and chul sang suls away but Chae Yoon follows him. Chae Yoon’s sword slices the assassin’s mask in half leaving a scar on his face. They have a chul sang sul fight.

 

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It’s an exciting end to this episode!

“Who are you?” the assassin demands to know.
“I thought you weren’t interested in me”, Chae Yoon replies. Are you a little bit interested now?? 

Ha Ha Love it. They draw their swords ready to fight.