Deep Rooted Tree Episode 5

The investigation really gets underway as another scholar is taken away by the assassin in the mask. Chae Yoon tries to hide his special skills that he learnt while he was in the north, but he can’t hide his passionate personality and this is what gives him away in the end -Finally his true identity is discovered. We see more of the king and his quirky research and some cool ‘flying’ skills from Chae Yoon and the mysterious assassin as the mystery develops.   

Chae Yoon is told to solve the case, but Mu Hyul is irritated by his behaviour and attitude. (He doesn’t realise this is all an act!) As Chae Yoon turns to get dressed, Mu Hyul notices the scar on his arm. The shape of the cut means it was made by Mu Hyul’s own sword. So he realises that he must have saved Chae Yoon in the past but he doesn’t remember him. He’s about to say something to Chae Yoon but thinks better of it.

Chae Yoon bumps into Cho Tak, a soldier he knew from the north. He has been sent to the kyomsa department too. Another guard, Park Po, comes along and insults him for coming from the north and the two men start to fight. Chae Yoon has to break them up.

All the guards then assemble at the kyomsabu and the captain tells the three guards to work together on the case. They all set off to see the coroner. But the light-hearted comedy music doesn’t suggest they have much chance of solving anything!

Mu Hyul and Jeong In Ji find the king at the Sangrimwon (where the palace plants, flowers, and crops are grown). Jeong In Ji covers his nose from the smell of fertiliser. They ask one of the nobi where the king is but the nobi doesn’t answer.

At first they are annoyed but when the nobi turns around they see that he IS the king! (Nobi always wear white) He’s fertilising the plants himself. The king seems to be doing all kinds of research including research on fertiliser and he’s frustrated about how slow the progress is.

 

He turns their attention to a nobi slave who is ‘barking’ with a dog!  Apparently he’s practising 구희 gu-hui – when people try to copy the sound of animals or musical instruments with their voices. (This must be related to the king’s research for the creation of hangul?)

The king is trying to find out what sound the dog makes. Is it ‘wol wol‘ or ‘ak ak’ or whatever? He makes Mu Hyul and Jeon In Ji and the court ladies have a go at barking too – which they do rather self consciously!

One of the ladies thinks the dog’s bark sounds like ‘wang wang’ The king looks offended  (‘woof woof’ actually IS ‘wang wang’ in Korean but ‘Wang’ also means ‘King’. That’s amusing.) She begs for mercy worried that she’s angered him, but he’s only joking.

Chae Yoon and the guards go to Banchon to see the coroner (who’s also the butcher). But on his way he bumps into To Dam Baek, the head nobi. He tries to hide his face in case she recognises him. She glances at him but then moves on. (the coroner’s job was low status because it meant dealing with dead bodies.)

The king is hands on in the investigation too. He wants everyone to think that Chae Yoon is in charge of the investigation but really plans to have someone else in charge.

Meanwhile the coroner seems to have a dodgy bodyguard. hmmm. Anyway, he explains that the blue marks on the body suggest suffocation but there are no marks around the neck or signs of a struggle. Chae Yoon’s expression suggests he has an idea how this happened. This is an assassination method of suffocation using water – a master’s skill.

Now we are introduced to the name of Master Lee Bang Ji. He can fly through the air knocking out soldiers single-handedly. Chae Yoon met him in the north and begged him to teach him. He refused. At first.

Mu Hyul knows him too. He was the only man he has ever lost a fight to. And that time Lee Bang Ji refused to kill him.

In the 사옹원Sayongwon (the place that supplies the palace with food) the court ladies are checking the meat for the king. The coroner/butcher has been called but doesn’t know that he is really there to see the king. The king wants to confirm that the scholar’s death was murder and asks the coroner about the cause.

The coroner has kept the information secret as instructed and tells the king about the assassination method known as koniksu-sagon – a man can be drowned with drops of water – a technique used in the north and China.

Master Lee Bang Ji showed Chae Yoon the assassination method and Chae Yoon practiced blowing a drop of water through a pipe through a target.

We see the assassin in the mask using a calligraphy brush to blow a drop of water into the scholar’s nostril – this technique stops him breathing.

Jeong In Ji wonders if the scholars should be told about what they are really doing in the Institute of Learning but the king insists that the real reason be kept secret. Meanwhile, Lee Shin Chok tells the captain of the kyomsa to report all the updates of the investigation to him. Hmm. Suspicious.

At the temple the young scholars bicker with each other. The young scholars have heard rumours about the murder. They are told to go back to the Institute of Learning the next day, but then they notice that Yun Pil is not there.

The head nobi is with a mystery man. They read the name written on a piece of paper – Yun Pil, a scholar at the Institute. She burns the paper to destroy the evidence.

It means Yun Pil will be disposed of this evening…

Jeong In Ji arrives to see the king but is surprised to hear a woman’s groans coming from inside! But it’s the King and his son inside. The scholar tells the King that Yun Pil has disappeared.

Yun Pil has sneaked into the Institute of Learning and is checking around the crime scene – the desk of the dead scholar. He finds what he’s looking for hidden under the table. Meanwhile, Chae Yoon and Cho Tak arrive at the institute. When they go in, Chae Yoon realises that someone else is there.

Yun Pil hides under the desk but then makes a sound and rushes through the paper screen doors to get away. Chae Yoon runs after him. A cool move – as Yun Pil throws some evidence on a fire, Chae Yoon flies through the air to grab the paper before it burns. Meanwhile, Cho Tak kicks a small metal ball that hits the man getting away on the back and knocks him out.

They are surprised to see that it’s Yun Pil. The owl hoots and from the sky little daggers fly down with the assassin in the mask. He grabs Yun Pil and flies back up into the trees with him. They realise that this is chul sang sul – the technique of ‘flying’. Other guards are coming so Chae Yoon hides the paper he saved from the fire.

The king is informed that Yun Pil was taken away. He turns to ask a court lady behind the screen what she thinks. The lady – So Yi – can’t speak so she writes it down. The king agrees and burns the paper.

Meanwhile Chae Yoon and Cho Tak try to figure out the puzzles. Who can do the art of flying chul sang sul? What does the riddle on the paper that Yun Pil tried to throw away mean – gun-na-mi-yuk? How far can the assassin jump? Could he still be in the palace? (I’m enjoying the camera angles in this drama…)

Our new character So Yi has the king’s seal which lets her go past the guard and into the chuchaso – the place where the characters are made for printing books.

She goes in and starts looking for something through the metal characters. Someone from behind demands to know who’s there.

Chae Yoon and Cho Tak also go to the chuchaso telling the other guards they came because they saw something suspicious. They smell burning and Chae Yoon rushes over convinced that the assassin is inside the building. He pours a bucket of water over his head and puts a straw mat over himself and runs into the building. But he pulls out a court lady.

It’s So Yi. He grabs her by the collar and demands to know who the assassin is. Just then Mu Hyul arrives and as he watches the angry and passionate Chae Yoon he remembers a young boy shouting at one of the guards just like this. Finally,  Mu Hyul realises who Chae Yoon is…

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A longhaired assassin in a mask? With the ability to fly through the air with the rain of tiny daggers and assassinate men with a single drop of water? I love it. Beautiful colours and scenes. But also several unusual characters. What’s going on with the coroner and his dodgy and silent guard? The plot thickens.