The year is 1690. The King ascends the throne amongst turmoil throughout his kingdom. Crops have failed, pestilence wreaks havoc unchecked, and the Southern and Western factions are on the edge of a knife. There will be civil war, or there will be peace. Within three months, the King brings peace.

The year is 1697. The King’s first child is born to a concubine, Royal Consort Sowon, rank 4. The child is a boy, and is named Jin. The Southern faction rally around the child, petitioning the King to hail him as heir to the throne. The Western faction rally against, in the Queen’s favor, as an heir can only be born to the Queen herself. The King’s loyalty to the Western faction wavers in sight of his newborn son.

The year is 1699. The rice crops fail. The country is thrown into chaos, despair and worst of all, hunger. Rice prices from China are exuberantly high. Pirates raid the islands from their safe burrows near Japan. There is civil unrest the government is not prepared for.

In the winter, there is a raid on the palace, the last place in the capital Hanyang that holds vegetables that have not been spoiled. The King is almost murdered in the stampede of starving citizens. Bandits are sent to kill the King during the uprising, but are halted by his personal bodyguard. The ministers of the Western Faction come to the King’s aid with a personal army of 2000 strong, saving him and his family from certain death.

The King’s personal bodyguard dies three days later of his injuries.

In the trials for rebel leaders that would kill the King and ransack the palace, 128 men are hanged, and 75 are banished. Among them is the leader of the Southern faction, against whom no real evidence could be conjured.

The year is 1701. The King’s second child is born to the Queen. The child is a boy, and is named Yoongi. The child is immediately hailed as heir to the throne, satisfying the Western faction’s need for a hold on the next heir to Joseon. The Southern faction accepts their defeat – for now.

The year is 1705. While the four-year-old Crown Prince sleeps peacefully, assassins break into the palace to make a swift end to his life. A young guard-in-training slips into the Prince’s room and makes quick work of the would-be murderers. When morning comes, attendees find the Prince gripped to the trainee, unwilling to let go of his savior amidst the bled-out bodies on the floor.

The year is 1712. The Crown Prince is eleven years old. At his birthday party, an attempt is made at his brother’s life: two days later, an attempt is made at his own. Prime Minister Yang Hyunseuk, leader of the Western faction, explains that if the Prince wishes to be King, he must obey the Minister in everything.

It is the first time the Crown Prince realizes his life is little more than a pawn in a game, and if he wishes to keep it, he must play the game as nobody has before.

The year is 1713. Park Jimin, the Prince’s bodyguard, is sent away to head up a military expedition to Busan, where public unrest is but one of effects of constant pirate raids. The Crown Prince, who is not permitted to speak to his older brother, is alone for the first time in his life.

                In the winter, there is an attack on the Crown Prince’s life. All evidence points towards his brother, fifteen-year-old Jin, having ordered the attack himself. The King refuses to banish the Prince, but moves him to live outside the palace.

                The first and only words the brothers speak to each other are at the palace gates. “I would not harm you,” says Jin, “my only brother.”

                The Crown Prince simply replies with: “I know.”

The year is 1720. King Yoongi ascends the throne. Park Jimin is recalled from Busan.

“My King, I offer my services and my life to your wellbeing.”
“Good,” the King answers softly, voice heavy and dream-like. “I will need you, in the end.”