Kingdom of the Wind (Episode 5 - 8)

Muhyul is a sharp shooter when it
comes to using his bow and arrow

Lots of action in these episodes. So many turn of events that i find it hard to keep the recap of each episode short. I am liking Jung Jin Young's performance very much. He portrays the stout hearted King Yuri who is much misunderstood. Still seen as only a commoner and slave, the young Muhyul is showing signs of becoming a fine warrior.

In an unusual turn of events, Muhyul and Maro join the Black Shadows - yeah for real and not as spies.


EPISODE 5

Muhyul gets caught by the Buyeo Fortress guards because they recognize him as the one who hastily stole Yeon away. In the prison cell, he meets a Hwangnyong spy who asks him to deliver a parchment to a merchant at Buyeo market.

When Yeon finds out that Muhyul has been captured, she requests to see him. This is the first time Muhyul and Yeon exchanged words.

Yeon and Muhyul exchange words for the very first time

Yeon: "Who are you? When i first met you, you were wearing a Goguryeo uniform. Why is a Goguryeo soldier in Buyeo Fortress? Are you a spy?"

Muhyul: "No, I am not a spy. The first time you saw me, I was a Goguryeo soldier. They were after me for trespasing the border so I ran away and eventually ended up in Buyeo."

Yeon offers to help Muhyul settle down in Buyeo. But Muhyul declined, telling her that he is staying with a merchant from Goguryeo. All he asks is that they let him go.

Meanwhile, upon returning from spying on the Black Shadows, Prince Hae-myeong divulges to the Goguryeo merchant and Gweyu that he has plans to assassinate King Daeso.

Prince Haemyeong: I plan to kill that good for nothing King Daeso!

Looks like King Daeso isn't popular with the neighboring nations either. His confidants find out that a lady spy from Hwangnyong tried to assasinate King Daeso by adding poison into his thermal bath. Daeso is being poisoned slowly by the thermal baths. No wonder his health has been suffering lately. Livid with this revelation, King Daeso orders a search of all foreign merchants in Buyeo Fortress to capture Hwangnyong spies.

Prince Hae-myeong and party have to flee Buyeo Fortress because of this. Hae-myeong decides to go back to Gungnae Fortress to visit King Yuri and to reveal what he has discovered on his trip to Buyeo. Hae-myeong tells his father that he intends to kill King Daeso before the Buyeo king takes over Goguryeo.

Meanwhile, Muhyul and Maro successfully deciphers what is written on the piece of parchment. "King Daeso, on the tenth day of the tenth month, will secretly head for Jipaehyeol." [Jipaehyeol is where the royal palace of Hywangnyong is located.]

Muhyul shows Hae-myeong the secret message written on the parchment from the Hwangnyong rebels who tried to kill King Daeso.

Dojin, leader of the Black Shadows writes a letter to Yeon and asks her to visit their camp. Yeon arrives to treat the many who are injured during training. Dojin seems to harbor feelings for Yeon.

Dojin requests for Yeon to visit the Black Shadows camp to treat poisoned victims and those injured during training

Prince Hae-myeong recruits mercenaries to form his troop and heads off to assassinate King Daeso. Muhyul recruits his smuggler friend (Kim Jae Wook) to join as well.

The night before the battle to kill King Daeso, Hae-myeong gave Muhyul a talisman which King Yuri gave him on the day of his first battle. Hae-myeong told Muhyul "It shall be a difficult battle, but you need to survive."


EPISODE 6

Muhyul and Hae-myeong attack King Daeso and his entourage. The brothers approach the King in his carriage and each jabs at him with their swords.

King Daeso being stabbed from both sides

Despite his old age, King Daeso avoids the piercing blades and jumps out of his carriage and is carried off by one of his men on horseback. Hae-yeong attempts to throw a spear at the escaping King, but his injured arm prevents him from doing so. He passes the spear to Muhyul who then sends the spear directly towards their target. King Daeso, stabbed from the back, falls off the horse.

Prince Hae-myeong suffers an injury from the battle. Muhyul, Maro and Chilbaro (Kim Jae Wook) escorts the prince to the Cheif Decorater Hye Ap.

Prince Haemyeong is injured, but alas, King Daeso is dead!

Prince Hae-myeong sends Muhyul on an errand to Gungnae Fortress. Muhyul is to break the news to King Yuri. Upon hearing the news from Muhyul that King Daeso has been slain, King Yuri gathers his army generals and Commander in Chief to be on alert.

Meanwhile, back in Buyeo, the leader of the Black Shadows declares war with Goguryeo. Hye Ap nurses Prince Hae-myeong back to health from the injury he suffered at the battle. She asked the prince what is his relationship to Muhyul. To which the prince replied, "Muhyul is a Goguryeo Prince. He is my younger brother." Hae-myeong tells Hye Ap that he intends to reinstate Muhyul as prince of Goguryeo soon.

King Yuri does not take Muhyul's word as Gospel truth and investigates the death of King Daeso. The King does nothing and Muhyul waits anxiously. On the fifth day, the King gets word that Buyeo troops are approaching the border. Finally! Proof that King Daeso is dead. King Yuri rounds up his Chieftains and declares war with Buyeo. With King Daeso dead, it is the opportune time for Goguryeo to strike.

Meanwhile Baeguek goes to the Goguryeo border to investigate. He sees the Buyeo troops camp and moves in closer. Baguek sees that King Daeso is alive!

Wesaja, Yeon and Dojin visit King Daeso. Yeon asks if the King is injured in any way and the King laughed and said that the silly Goguryeo troops killed is double! Ha ha ha! Laughs the King in triumph!

Wesaja, Yeon and Dojin visit King Daeso -
who is very much alive!
They killed his look-a-like.

King Daeso sends a message to King Yuri and threatens that if the King does not slay his own son Prince Hae-myeong in front of his eyes, he will slay every single person in Goguryeo. The anguished King Yuri now faces a tough decision. Buyeo troops leave a Goguryeon villages in flames as they approach. Sangga and Baguek is furious and blames Prince Haemyeong.

Muhyul races back to tell Prince Haemyeong the grave news. Prince Haemyeong is deeply grieved at the outcome of events and intends to go back to the Capital and not hide. Muhyul and the rest urges Prince Haemyeong to protect himself and they go off to find Changmun (Gweyu) for backup.

Prince Haemyeong refuses to leave this insufferable weight on King Yuri's shoulders. He leaves Hye Ap and the caves and goes back to the Capital, leaving Hye Ap a note.

Prince Haemyeong asks his father to send him to King Daeso to meet his doom.

King Yuri replies: "What father would sacrifice his own flesh and blood to preserve the crown he's wearing? What father would harm his own son to protect himself? Can a crown price so easily wish for his demise? You shall survive. I shall bear the blame for this."

King Yuri vows to protect his son

EPISODE 7

King Daeso executes hundreds of Goguryeo troops whom he has captured. Upon hearing this devastated news, King Yuri dressed in war armor leads his Central Guards to Pyeongcheon plains where King Daeso and his Buyeo troops have set up camp.

Prince Hae-myeong leaves Gungnae Fortress in secret and heads for Pyeongcheon plains alone. He passes Jolbon land where he meets Baeguek on the way to the border. When told that Hae-myeong plans to surrender himself to King Daeso, Baeguek is delighted and offers to escort Hae-myeong to the plains. He also advised his men to kill anyone who tries to stop Hae-myeong from meeting his death (what an evil man).

Muhyul and friends go after Hae-myeong and finds him being escorted by the Lord of Jolbon's (Baeguek) men. They ride after him and are suddenly attacked by Jolbon troops. Muhyul, leading the pack, gets shot by an arrow right in the chest.

Muhyul gets shot in the chest.
Evil Ubon (Baegeuk) orders his guards to kill anyone
who tries to stop Prince Hae-myeong from
sacrificing himself to King Daeso.

Baegeuk happily escorts the Crown Prince to meet his death. Baeguek and the Chieftains are glad to get rid of the prince. That leaves it easier for them to overthrow King Yuri.

King Daeso hands Hae-myeong a dagger and exclaims that in all his years at war, this is his most valuable war prize. In a tragic scene, King Yuri arrives just in time to see the Crown Prince take his own life.

Evil Baegeuk (in background) secretly happy
to see Prince Haemyeong meet his death.

When Muhyul learns of this, he is confused. Why does King Yuri not protect his own son? Disappointed and angry, Muhyul vows to avenge the death of Prince Haemyeong.

Evil Baeguek is still not satisfied that Hae-myeong is dead. He wants to kill all of Hae-myeong's followers too. Baeguek schemes and tracks down Muhyul and friends. He approaches General Yeonbi and on the pretense that King Yuri has summonded them and wishes to escourt them to the Capital.

On the way, he sends troops to kill them. Hye Ap orders Maro to bring an injured Muhyul to safety as he can't possibly fight in his condition. Maro and Muhyul escape Baeguek's men only to be captured by the Black Shadows.

One year later...

Rebels are dominating Hwangnyong and Jipaehyeol (the palace) will fall under the rebel's control soon. King Daeso is mad as this would make him loose Hwangnyong. An unknown source has been providing the rebels with weapons and supporting their campaigns.

King Daeso soon learns that King Yuri is the one supporting the rebels and moreover has formed an alliance with Xin dynasty (China). He is furious and sends the Black Shadows to slay King Yuri.

Meanwhile at the Black Shadows camp where they experiment with deadly poisons on slaves, Muhyul has survived over ten poisoning experiments. In this latest experiment, they let a venemous snake bite him and Muhyul almost succumbs to death.

In a painful operation, Yeon removes the
snake poison from Muhyul

Yeon who happens to be visiting the Black Shadows camp recognizes Muhyul and helps him recover from the affects of the poison. The Wesaga (Yeon's father) is curious why this particular slave can survive so much tortore. The weather beaten Muhyul explains that he cannot die because he is seeking revenge on King Yuri who slayed those who raised him and his closest friends.


EPISODE 8

Muhyul , full of hatred for King Yuri confessed to the Wesaja that the Goguryeo King is no longer his King. They test Muhyul to see if he really mean what he says. Muhyul passes the test, and the Wesaja decides to train Muhyul and of course his sidekick Maro to become Black Shadows.

This is how Muhyul looks like after one year of captive
and surviving 10 poisoning attempts.
The Wesaja tells him, "If you wish to survive, become a Black Shadow."

Muhyul finds out from another nurse that Yeon is the Wesaja's daughter and also a Princess of Buyeo, enjoying His Majesty King Daeso's good graces.

Meanwhile, seeking diplomatic ties, King Yuri marries off his only daughter Princess Seryu to the Gisan tribe. King Yuri is rounding up alliance left and right, starting with Hwangnyong, Xin, Yilou and now Gisan.

Trying to remain in the power struggle, Sangganim and Baeguek scheme and come up with a plan to marry Prince Yeojin with a maiden from the Biryu clan (their own clan) to secure good graces with King Yuri.

Muhyul and Maro train to become
Black Shadows - Buyeo's secret army

Muhyul and Maro begin their arduous training at the Black Shadows camp. Training is indeed difficult. To start off, they have to run for three consecutive days in all kinds of terrain! Yes without rest or nourishment. Then, upon reaching their destination, they run back but within 2 days!

On the 5th day, the Wesaja and Yeon await the return of the Black Shadows from their 5-day run. Dojin and his charge Muhyul returns ahead of the pack. Dojin tells Muhjul that he needs to go through this once every month! Seriously crazy training!

Muhyul and Dojin returning from their tough training.
5-days of running non stop!

On the day of Hae-myeong's death anniversary, the Queen chose to pester King Yuri to make her son Prince Yeojin the Crown Prince. Bad timing, as the King just ignores her.

On the way to the late Prince Haemyeong's burial grounds King Yuri is ambushed and attacked by Hae-myeong's loyal survivors - led by Hye Ap and Gweyu. All these while, they thought that King Yuri was the enemy, sending his own son to death at King Daeso's feet. They also thought that the King had ordered them to be killed later. Little did they know, the order to kill them was done by the deceitful Baeguek.

All this was made clear when Hye Ap and Gweyu talked to King Yuri's general. When King Yuri found out the truth, he is angry and confronts Baeguek.

Ah, finally King Yuri sees that Baeguek is evil and is only concerned for his own Biryu clan.

At the Black Shadow's camp, Muhyul gets into a bit of trouble and both Muhyul and Dojin gets punished. They get hanged upside down for one whole day and night. Although both resilent men did not suffer any injuries, Yeon who inspected their health gave them a day of rest from training. The threesome spent some time together by a stream and when Yeon found out Muhyul is an artists, she commissions him to draw a portrait of her.

Dojin and Yeon find out that Muhyul has not met his parents.

Nurse Yeon gives both Muhyul and Dojin a day of rest

Prince Yeojin is filled with dread when he thinks of becoming the Crown Prince. All those before him who had been given the title have met their death. The brother he didn't get to meet - Dojeol, and we all know how Prince Hae-myeong met his death.

King Yuri shows his favour upon Hye Ap by entrusting her to discreetly act on his behalf in foreign diplomacy affairs.

Princess Seryu, now happily married into the tribe of
Gison arrives for the ceremony to appoint
the new Crown Prince - Prince Yeojin

A ceremony to appoint the new Crown Prince of Goguryeo will be held at Gangnae Fortress soon. Dojin, Muhyul and Maro are assigned to infiltrate the event and slay the Xin troops. They infiltrate Gangnae Fortress by acting as a delegation from Yangmaek. Yeon also joins in this mission and she becomes one of the maids in waiting at the Capital.

After all these months of waiting to take his revenge on King Yuri, Muhyul is finally in the palace grounds. At night, he finds King Yuri alone and armed with a dagger, he moves forward to kill the King...

Next:
Kingdom of the Wind (Episode 9 - 12)

Previous:
Kingdom of the Wind (Episode 1 - 4)