The teacup slips from the King's hand and hits the floor, the noise of it breaking is loud in the silent room. The King looked down at the broken teacup, he feels his heart tighten as he watches the lady who quickly comes to clean it up. The Queen is also watching as she is propped sitting up in her bed while Jang Bin was monitoring her pulse. The King can feel the gaze of the Queen and is startled when he meets her eyes that are staring straight at him. He feels his heart catch and tries to not look away which would be an admission of guilt and meets the gaze of those eyes with a coldness in his face. The Queen asks, "The covenant of a Goryeo warrior is like life, right?" The King does not answer and resists the eye contact that persists. "He made a promise in the name of a Goryeo warrior, was the commandment a test to see whether he would choose to disobey the commandment or break his promise and die. Could it be that you want Choi Young to die regardless of the choice he makes? The result of both means for him to die?" The King asks annoyed "Are you criticizing me now?" The Queen answers in a factual manner "I am just organising my thought Your Highness as to whether you really wanted to kill him." She finishes talking but her gaze stays steadily looking at him the heavenly cloth still visibly attached to her long neck where the heavenly doctor had placed it. Her posture upright, her big eyes are cold and haughty as she is looking at the King yet also looking past him somewhere other then him. The King wants to scream in frustration say what you want to say, why do you always do that. Hide the meaning of what you want to say in words that go around in circles. Why is only I that can say what I want I mean? I can see my reflection in your eyes, yet where are you looking? I do not want to look in your eyes for so long because of how it could be perceived. The King looks away from the Queens gaze feeling judged and found lacking. The Queen is the daughter of Botashri the King of Wi of the Yan Dynasty and they have been married for a year. Their marriage was arranged and was the provision he need to meet to have their support to be crowned King of Goyreo. He tries to ignore how hurtful he finds her gaze and see himself in a good light, yet it is hard not to feel inferior when his country is smaller, and he was taken as hostage ten years ago as prince and it is only through this marriage, he was crowned King and now returns to his homeland to an unknown reception.
The King walks to the other end of the room to escape the Queen's laughter which not only follows him to the other side of the room but also echoes through his self-conscious of testing the loyalty of the captain Woodalchi, who he wanted to become his person, and which would also bring the influence of the Woodalchi who the pride Goryeo warriors and Kings are, which he also coveted. The Woodalchi are mainly composed of nobles that if you can get your hands on a unit called Woodalchi, your influence will be that great and the cunning power play for the throne between those people who want to control the loyalties of Goryeo will be tamed. The King more then anything wants the loyalty and support of their Captain Cho Young, who he has observed is different from anyone he has ever encountered, he has no greed and is sincere in everything he says. A clever King knows what he has and what he does not have, by testing the loyalty of the captain he can determine whether he has his heart. If he, does it will last a lifetime as the semblance of royalty was risking one's life every day in these war-like days, which the King learned over the past decade, in the line of succession to the throne, there is something to be gained if he has the support and loyalty of Choi Young. From the sincere look in his eyes and words, to how he risked his life for him, the King knows that Young is the one-person unwavering loyalty he must have and to do this he wanted proof, so he tested the captains' loyalty. However, the unexpected result of the captain being stabbed with his own sword by the Heavenly Doctor made everyone freeze in disbelief and astonishment.
The King could not believe it, everyone froze in astonishment until Taiwan moved first to jump to the captain's aid. He jumps at Eun-soo who was holding Choi Young to physically move by pushing her away roughly as she is the one that intentionally injured the captain. The evidence of the sword protruding from Choi Young's abdomen is the confirmation of the moment he witnessed when the sword penetrated the captain abdomen. Seeing the confirmation enrages Taiwan and he attempts to attack Eun-soo but is stopped by Chung-Seok who grabs his clothing at the back of the neck and with a clean movement, Taiwan is roughly driven to the floor. When he quickly regains his footing all he can see right now is the heavenly person who attacked the captain hovering over the person she tried to kill. Taiwan renews his effort to protect his captain to attack who he sees as the killer. Chung-Seok catches Taiwan and using the momentum of the attack to redirect him physically so that it seems like he is thrown further away this time. Taiwan caught off guard staggers and falls, rolling to stand up again to renew his attack to run towards Eun-soo, until Chung-Seok yells "STOP!" Taiwan complies barely stopping himself, as he trembles with anger as Jo Il-shin comes to stand in front of him and rebukes him saying "How dare this crazy bastard attack the one that comes from Heaven." Taiwan unknowingly bares his teeth and growls like a beast, which Jo Il-shin responds with "Are you going to attack me now?" Chung-Seok approaches and grabs Taiwan by the scuff of the back to move him physically to bring him close to the captain saying "Stop! Our captain is not dead yet." Taiwan sees that the captain is breathing heavily as he is lying on the ground as he looks up at the sky, clear evidence that he is alive. What surprises him the most is that the woman from heaven who he pushed aside is looking concerned and upset. Jo Il-shin approaches her to stand in front her in such away that it blocks her sight from the injured Choi Young. Taiwan is pulling his hair in frustration and feels like he is losing his mind, he cannot believe that the captain could be stabbed, let alone with his own sword. It was hard to believe that the captain could not escape the heavenly woman's attack and if the captain dies, Taiwan will not be able to live, his life will have no meaning and no direction, like it dies before he encountered the captain. Chung-Seok approaches Eun-soo saying while holding out his hand for her to take "Heavenly Doctor His Highness is waiting for you. I will accompany you." Eun-soo pushes the middle-aged man who stands in front of her, aside yelling ""Get out of the way! Let me look at him" She makes her way crawling as her legs are still weak from the shock to look over the Psycho and sees he is still conscious with the sword stuck in his stomach. Eun-soo is assessing the injury and sees judging from its location, is near the liver, where the sword is embedded the blood is clogged and only surgery can be an option to save him, so she will need her tools. Chung-Seok approaches her cautiously and stands behind her to look at what she is doing when she screams sharply "Be careful. Do not let the sword move as the injury is barely bleeding right now. I cannot be sure of what the sword pierces without it being removed and I need to work out how I can do a blood transfusion when it does come out in case there is a possibility of him bleeding a lot. Choi Young says to those that surround him "I don't have time to be like this. We do not know when they will attack again. They are not just after His Highness but also after the Heavenly Doctor." Eun-soo ignores him and asks the men "Is there some kind of tape here?" All of them look at each other confused "Te…what is it? Eun-soo noticing this says "Rope, cloth or something I can tie the sword that enters here…." where she indicates the sword handle with her hand and then continues moving her hand over Choi Youngs shoulder to where the swords blade pierces out of the back of his body as she explains " where I am going to tie it to the other side so that the sword does not move." Chung Seok tries to intervene again saying "There is no time for this. You must go immediately." Eun-soo is ignoring him and is tying the cloth handed to her by the Psycho's men who refuse by responding "The Heavenly Doctor is treating the captain; we will not leave." she finishes what she is doing by saying "There that should be enough to stop it from moving, unless it is directly hit." Chung Seok says in frustration "Leave him. It will be what he wants." Eun-soo cannot believe what she just heard and looks around at the Psycho's men who mirror her disbelief as tears glisten in their eyes, as they look at the middle-aged man who stands over their injured captain. Chung Seok decides to prove his point and demands "Captain, answer me if you have the spirit. We all will be in danger especially your King if we are delayed, because of you. Do you agree that we should leave without you?" The troops hearing his words murmur to each other "What is he saying?" Choi Young who are still lying on the ground commands weakly "Go." His troops respond disbelievingly "Leader!" He struggles to command urgently "Leave" He is aware of them of their vulnerability when the assassins will renew their attempts, it is better for them to leave him where he lies to leave the area as soon as possible as it is not just His Highnesses that are their target, but also the one from Heaven. Jo Il-shin cannot hide how pleased he is with this response when he says, "I will leave a couple of guards with you." Which Choi Young says "No. Do not make me keep telling you, as it hurts, and it is annoying. Take everyone with you." His troops start to talk like crazy, when Eun-soo interrupts them loudly saying "I can operate on this man, but I will need at least two people to help me. I will also need my tools and we will need to move him." Jo Il-shin intervenes with "Heavenly Doctor, you do not seem to understand the current situation…" Eun-soo replies "I understand the situation. I will become a murder if this person who I stabbed dies. I will not become a murder. I did this and I can operate on him to save him." Jo Il-shin impatient to move her says "Then let's do this." In the next moment he moves towards the sword that is imbedded in Choi Youngs abdomen and grabs the handle to pull it out in one motion. Blood gushes out of the spot where it has been removed. Eun-soo quickly covers the area with her hands pressing with both hands to reduce the bleeding. Jo Il-shin says "Now it is I who have killed the captain. Stop sitting there, get up now, leave him and I will escort you."
Eun-soo screams "I need my instruments for surgery." The armored man next to her calls out. "Taiwan go and prepare." Eun-soo quickly give instructions to the bomb-headed child who is about to run away. "I need a lot of clean cloths and water that has been boiled and cooled. Prepare it." The bomb-headed child screams "Plenty of clean cloth and boiled water." As he runs away. Eun-soo than urgently says "Someone press here." The men in armour rush to comply while Eun-soo grabs the cloth around one of their necks for them to use to tie it as a temporary bandage around the wound they press on. Jo Il-shin is beside himself and says impatiently to the men in armour rushed at him, and one of them was Eun-soo. "What are you doing? Everyone, listen to my command. We must leave right now, with the one from the sky." The man in the armour who was holding down the bleeding screamed out loud. ""The One from heaven commands for us to Press here!" The road people walk is made by the most popular path which is a flat place which wind here and there and various paths leads to the mountains and fields. The path Taiwan chooses between the gate of Heaven and to inn is more rugged and rough, because it was a more of a direct route which he uses on all fours running like a beast, using his hands to grab the vines as he runs up the slope using both feet. The leaves that brush past his cheeks are left with wounds that will scar when they heal. He is crying and running so fast that the tears that track down his wounded cheeks are blown off before the drip off as for as long he has followed the captain which was 4 years,… no it is 5 years he has never seen him seen him hit let alone injured to such an extent I've been following the captain for four years The captain was always the first to run to the most dangerous places, and his men most of the time are ordered to wait behind while he goes alone.
Taiwan who devotedly followed the captain, would be lost without the captain. Among the members of the Woodalchi unit, most of which are descendants of well-to-do families, he was the only one from a background without roots, everyone acknowledged him because of his role to liase between the captain and his fellow subordinates. Taiwan that the only other one who know everything about the captian apart from his own mother is the doctor Bin Jang. The captain has never had a life-threatening injury before regardless of the danger. No matter how badly he was injured if he did get cut on his arm or thigh, it would be a minor injury where when you apply the medicine of Mr. Jang bin, it will heal completely within days. Taiwan's tears dry at the sight of the inn comes into focus. Taiwan tries to forget that the Heavenly Doctor was responsible for the condition his captain is in as it will be her that will save him, and only then will the captain live, and he will be able to forget about it. The Guard that stands vigilantly at the entrance of the room that has the King inside blocks the entrance holding a long spear pointed at the disturbance that can be detected down the stairs and recognises Taiwan as he suddenly appears at the bottom of the stairs to quickly climb them towards where he stands. Recognising the urgency of Taiwan's movements, he stops pointing the spear at the stairs and stands to the side to allow his entrance through the open doorway.
Jang Bin, who was in the room, had become nervous at the unexpected sound of movement coming from downstairs, to on the stair and suddenly at the entrance of the doorway. He is relieved to see it is Taiwan and notices the child is uncharacteristically panting clearly out of breath from running which makes him ask "What's the matter?" Jang Bin watches Taiwan who ignores his question to uncharacteristically move towards the bed where the Queen lies and then seems to stare down at the Queen before he suddenly starts to gather up the Heavenly tools together that have been used by the Heavenly Doctor to put them on the cloth initially used to transport them. Jang Bin grabs him by the wrist which makes the bottle of antibiotics roll off and drop unnoticed by both men to the floor as he demands "What do you think you are doing?" which Taiwan answers "I am here to get the tools. The Heavenly doctor told me to prepare all of them." Jang Bin asks "Why?" then demands "Who is hurt?" Taiwan shakes off the hand roughly as he answers in desperation and tears "The captain was stabbed by a sword." The statement takes everyone in the room by surprise. The King is first to break the silence as he asks "The captain is hurt? Did he disobey my order? Who is the one who attacked him? Was it you?" Taiwan answers belligerently "NO..... who among us can kill the captain, even if we all attack none of us will be able to kill him? I must take it so that the captain does not die...…He cannot die...…. I must take it" the last two statements are said more to himself then the King and with determination he ties the cloth so that the Heavenly instruments are secured in it before he picks it up and is about to leave when the King blocks him by standing in front of him and demands "I want to know if the Captain of the Woodalchi Choi Young disobeyed my order." Taiwan whose face is full of frustration and anger barely contains the rebellion that wants to burst forward as to him the captain is more important than the King and replies "Uh…. He obeyed your command and now he is dying.... So please...." It was then that the Queen intervenes with "Go. I permit you." Which Taiwan obeys as soon as the Queen has spoken and passes the King, stepping on the antibiotic bottle which shatters without anyone noticing as he rushes off.
The King looks towards the Queen who is deliberately not making eye contact with him and commands softly yet firmly "Jang Bin, go and see how you may be of assistance in saving the captain. After all he did save the life of the Queen" Jang Bin lowers his head and answers "Yes, Queen Mama" he glances at the King head still lowered who watches but does not contradict the Queens commands, so she continues "Leave now, go and save him." The Kings' displeasure intensifies with her last statement, his anger is barely being contained as the Queen challenges him by quietly saying in an unchanging tone "Is it okay if I give you an order like this, Your Highness?" Jang Bin remains head lowered waiting for the Kings' permission, after all he has been a witness to the relationship between the two for more than a month now including the preparation period for departure and he has observed enough to get a sense of what is going on between two of them. For a moment, the King and Queen's eyes met, and all sound stopped finally the King gave permission "Go to the doctor." Jang Bin lowered his head further in acknowledgement and quietly turned around and left the room to make his way down the stairs, at the same time the door to the inn is thrown open. Jang Bins' eyes open wide in shock as Choi Young is being brought in on a stretcher which is being carried by a couple of his troops. The Heavenly Doctor rushes in escorted by Chung Seok following the injured captain and approaches Jang Bin to request his help with the dying captain. The widening of his eyes at her words reflects shock and disbelief at her words, as he nods and follows her into the side room that the captain has been taken. Eun-soo quickly checks the captain's vitals and sets up her equipment to start the surgery, Jang Bin had who had been present during the treatment of the queen watched as the surgical instruments he prepared by sterilising where all placed neatly on a clean white cloth by the bed taken from a pile of clean white cloth and on the fireplace next to it boiling water waiting to be used and cooled water that had been boiled.
Eun-soo instructs "Please help me move him to the bed by lifting together when I count to three. One, two, three" After lifting the captain to lie on the bed the men step back so that she can come closer to him, allowing her to proceed. Eun-soo then cuts open the shirt close to where the sword penetrates the body and takes the rest of the shirt off before observing that the blood loss does not appear to be as bad as she expected as if the aorta was injured the bleeding does not stop, she winces as the one lying on the bed moan while breathing hard and tries to stop thinking of the consequences of her actions. She quickly glances at him to observe that his eyes are open, but they appear glazed and cold like frozen snow as it dead that do not see anything. She recalls how his eyes had still seemed alive as his men had quickly cut down the trees to make a stretcher, while she somehow had managed to stop the bleeding. He had been angry and not like someone dead as he grabbed one of his men by the collar, sword still protruding out of his stomach to urgently command him "You must leave me, if you really want to save me, just leave me alone. Take the King and Queen to Goyero. The assassins will make another attempt on their lives." Eun-soo tries to interrupt this tirade and tried to pull the collar, loose from his grasp but found it impossible due to the tight grip that he had on it. So, she manages to insert herself between the man and the captain and shouts at the captain "Shut up." This takes him by surprise which enables her to remove his hand roughly and responds with "What?" which she retaliates with "Listen. The order goes like this. First, I will save, after that you can go wherever you go to die or not alone. The last look he gave her haunts her memory it was one of despair and resignation, before he looks away as he is carried by his men on the stretcher he has said no more. That look made her more scared then his obstinance to be left behind.
Eun-soo tries to provoke some response out of the captain by saying in his ear while she checks his pulse at his neck "Hey, can you hear me?" I notice his pulse is weak but still present so goes on to say "I will save you. I will save you, so do not even think about going against my words." Apart from a slight flicker of his eyes behind the closed eyelids that indicates he is still conscious there is no other movement which makes her heart feel strange as it shakes and tremble pounding loudly in her own ears. So, she closes her eyes, takes a deep breath to focus as she prepares to proceed with the surgery that WILL save his life. Eun-soo opens her eyes and says determinedly "Light all the lights. You have to make it very bright." She stops mid check of her surgical instruments as she notices something missing "Antibiotics, I sure I had one left…" she looks at the bomb head kid as she asks "Have you seen a bottle of antibiotics?" she notices the look of confusion on his face as he has no idea what she is talking about, so explains "It's like a little bottle that is this big." As she holds her fingers to indicate how small the bottle should be. The bomb head seems to recognise what she is talking about and makes a sound indicating that with "Ahhh! I broke it accidently when I dropped it and stepped on it in my rush to bring the heavenly instruments. Eun-soo is becomes worried as she explains it importance to Jung-Bin as the kid listens "I cannot do open surgery without antibiotics; this person will die of infection." In her frustration as if she does not operate the captain will die of his injury if she does not operate, she looks around to notice how it has become crowded with his men, who are obviously worried about him. Knowing that they are worried about him she says, "All of you need to get out, you all have germs, if you want him to live do not even come close" At these words everyone rushes out of the room leaving the oriental doctor and the heavenly doctor. Eun-soo goes to ask the oriental doctor "I need antibiotics and an anaesthetic. Do you have anything similar?" The oriental doctor frowns and stares, like hearing it for the first time in his life. Eun-soo's mind is trying to grapple with the reality that she is not in a dream and that this world is not a movie set, but a world which she is unfamiliar with and where she cannot believe that she has stabbed someone. She gets confused again trying to grapple with not knowing where she is with the reality of the man that she stabbed lying on the bed and trying to communicate what she needs in a way that the other can understand to facilitate a substance that something like what she needs exists, just in a different form.
Eun-soo eyes that have been looking around trying to find a solution finally stop at the sight of the man lying on the bed and decides that she has t worry about the other things later and save this person first. While she is thinking of the things that she will need to address during the surgery like no devices to keep track of the pulse, blood pressure and how to do a blood transfusion. The man on the bed thinking that the woman has given up, sighs closing his eyes and shutting down his consciousness and lying still. Eun-soo finds the words to communicate with the oriental doctor about what she needs and says, "Do you have anything that will help put him to sleep and something that will fight infection." The oriental doctor Jang Bin rubs his neck in thought and then goes to his medicine box to take out a bottle. He shows her the bottle as he explains "I made this Mabisan which can be used as an anesthetic." She sighs in relief and nods "You have made it you should give it to him now, so that I can operate on him." She observes the oriental doctor administer the anesthetic while monitoring the patients' vitals to assess when he has been anesthetised enough to enable her to operate, to clarify how long it takes to take affect she asks, "How long will it take for him to lose consciousness?" as she utters these words Choi Young closes another door in his consciousness to retreat into the deeper, darkness of his mind the only indication is the woman's voice which fades into silence, it is then she utters in amazement "He is asleep."
Choi Young has given himself up to the whatever fate the heavenly doctor will decide for him, it is the price he will pay since breaking his vow. From the time he allowed her to be stabbed by him with his ghost sword, a sword that he had not left his side from since his master had given it to him, seven years ago. The thought alone of how long it has been and what he has been through reinforces how tired he is reinforces the belief that it is not a bad way to die. It has amazed him that the woman who he thought would not be able to last long in this place, as at times it seemed to be too much for her would not give up. She would not leave him despite Jo Il-shin's insistence and no matter how much he tried to urge them to leave him with whatever strength he could muster. The Heavenly woman would not listen her stubbornness and defiance were used in full force against his urging determined to save him, even though she had used his sword to stab him. Choi Young's last remaining conscious thought is the smell of her red hair that had been almost in his face as she had yelled at him.
Eun-soo picks up a scalpel she examines the area that was penetrated by the sword and says, "I'm going to cut along this part of the wound with this." As she explains she places the scalpel on the bottom part of the wound preparing to cut, when suddenly the oriental doctor snatches her wrist and demands "What are you doing?" Eun-soo says in exasperation "I told you. I am going to cut along that part of the wound." The oriental doctor challenges "You said you would heal the person who you stabbed, yet you are preparing to cut open a healthy stomach?" Eun-soo demands "Let go!" as she tries to free her hand, but fails when he challenges "How can I trust your words? When you have already proven by your actions your intention." She is speechless for a moment as she grapples with the reality that this world has no awareness or concept about surgery, so to save time she simply says with conviction "They say I'm a doctor from heaven, so believe me." The oriental doctor looks at Eun-soo as he continues to hold Eun-soo's wrist so she says with certainty "If this patient continues to bleed like this, any longer it will be past the time that I can save him, and he will die. She tries speaking as professionally as possible, but could not help but feel nervous, waiting for a response, her words seemed to have persuaded the oriental doctor and he releases her wrist. Eun-soo prepares to cut where she initially intended and places the scalpel on the area and seems to pause as she gathers herself. No matter how many surgeries she has done up until this moment the first cut into a living person with a scalpel is the scariest moment as there is no going back once you start. Responsibility is in her hands as she pierces the scalpel at the same time as drawing it in on fluid action and then places it on the white cloth next to her, she then selects the hooks to place at either side of where she has cut, to open the cut and directs the oriental doctor to "Hold it" The oriental doctor complies holding the two hooks on either side to keep the cut open, while she checks the site for internal bleeding.
Eun-soo is assessing the areas around the wound, following where the sword has penetrated and finds that the stomach is fine, pancreas is fine, liver is fine, kidneys fine, all large vessels are fine. After inspecting the laceration, she decides to seal it up thinking what good luck they have had that there were no other injuries, as there is no blood transfusion packs and no antibiotics. She decides to sew up the area in a way that manages to catch and seal the small blood vessels one at a time, with the best technique she can while closing the open wound to minimise scaring
Hovering at around the front of the door of the room where the captain is being treated by the heavenly clinician, is Taiwan the bomb headed child anxious about the captain being treated by the Heavenly Doctor who inflicted the injury yet reassured that the oriental doctor Jang-Bin was present so that the safety of the captain should be alright. At the same time, the knowledge that the injury was caused by someone from heaven must mean that there is a deeper meaning. The fact that she meant to kill him by stabbing him and then trying to save him makes Taiwan's head hurt with the conflicting thoughts and doubts about Jang-Bin being able to intervene if the lady of Heaven really wanted the captain dead. All these competing thoughts are interrupted when a guard from the port comes running to report to Deokman who was standing guard next to him but outside the room of where his Highness was "The ship is ready. You can leave anytime." Deokman worries about what to do, it is already approaching afternoon and if they do not hurry, the sun will set, but if they leave now, they will have to leave the injured captain behind. Should he leave the captain? The captain had ordered them to leave him, but can he really leave the captain behind? Deokman recalls 7 years ago before he met Choi Young when he first heard a kid who was only 22 years old is appointed as captain.
At that time, Chungseok was the leader of Gapjo and the senior manager at the time was hated by the late King Chunghye, who was the chief merchant, and died after eating poison. All the members of Woodalchi vomited their anger that he was not going to be beheaded by a samurai, he is going to die by drinking poison, but no one stepped forward to voice their anger. The position itself was not popular as the Kings position as precarious and its consequences hidden behind the guise of grace and power that it portrays. The reality is that if you oppose the sea chief, the people who support the sea chief will act privately to exert their control and will even forcibly take possession of other people's possessions including land. The Woodalchi are no different as there is no law that prevents access to their training ground. At that time Chung-seok was in charge, he was serious in the training of the troops as one and there were not many crew members engaged in crab training. The acceptance of his approach and the seriousness of his behaviour had a positive effect on the troop and their acceptance of his leadership. So, to hear that a new captain had been assigned to the Woodalchi unit by His Highness personally, they had to accept, but to hear it was a 22-year-old kid their hearts were twisted. Some troop members even made their displeasure quite vocally, "It isn't right that Chung-seok should be the next captain?" Chung-seok was relieved not taking on the position of captain of the Woodalchi as it means putting your head on the chopping block. He worries now that the problem of the position of captain will resurface if the captain dies and that there are individuals within the Woodalchi that have connections that will lobby for the position for them. One of them is Ren because he is from the Jusang family whose name is quite influential and he worries about who he can trust to leave in with the dying captain who will not be tempted to take advantage of the situation.
Chung-seok reports to the king about the boat and the captain's situation. Seeking clarification, as he remembers how the captain had urged them to leave without him, he states "I'll prepare for departure right away." He remains head bowed the awaiting a response from the King what his command will be. The King is silent as he contemplates what to do, he feels the weight of expectation in the Queen's gaze as she silently observes the interaction. The King feels bitter that the decision is left to him, so he decides with ""I will wait. We can leave when the captain can move and leave with us." The manager looks up at him with surprised eyes as he tries to convey the urgency of their vulnerability "There may be a third raid with more people than last time that may surround us to enable a master of internal skills to attack us. It will be harder for us to escape and harder for us to protect you." The King commands firmly "I said. I'll wait." The manager bows his head in acceptance of the order and then leaves to prepare for the worse. The King has noticed the look of relief that flickered in the other man's eyes before he bowed his head and that the other Woodalchi members who guard the room look at each other, they all know that leaving for the boat straight away is the best course of action to take to protect the King, but their loyalty to the captain is immeasurably deep and his decision makes them silently relieved that this strange King has decided not to leave the captain alone. The King's decision is a calculated one, he knows by doing this he will gain the trust of the Woodalchi troops, even if their powerful captain does not survive, he of course wants both. Unknowingly the King turns his head to the side as he looks towards the Queen whose penetrating steady gaze has watched all this interaction. Her silence that accompanies it make him feel uncomfortable, as he has known her for a long time, and she will never complain about anything to the King. The King thinks of how he has never thought of having a Queen as he stands to move towards the window with enough distance to be able look out it, but to also allow for him not to be a target for those who may be outside waiting to attack with arrows. The King is watching a woodpecker as it fly's to land and then hops around on the windowsill to and thinks of how he has nothing if the captain does not survive. The King is hoping that the captain will know how much he is valued when he hears how the King has waited for him to recover and has put himself at risk of attack. The King thinks that it is in this way he might be forgiven for testing the Warriors Vow. The thoughts of the King are willing the captain to live and are being repeated like a silent mantra "You will know how sorry I am. I am King and You are my subject. As King, you will appreciate my love. So, the King commands you to WAKE UP."
The night has passed, fortunately with no raids attempted. It seems that the enemies were also sacrificing a lot and need reinforcements, which take time to send and receive them. The Woodalchi troop are also reaching their limits, as they have been marching for 20 days before arriving at the Inn and defending the Royal entourage from attack. Joo-sang and the people around him slept the night, but the other troops take turns night and day guarding the King and Queen, the Inn and monitoring the surrounding area, which meant that they hardly slept, on top of worrying about their captain recovering from his injury which continued for 2 days after their initial arrival. It is then that Choi Young is showing signs of regaining consciousness little by little he feels the warmth on the left side of his face and wonders if it is the morning sun, he tries to hear what is going on but can only hear silence all around and he tilts his head to detect any sound but finds none. He tries to assess his body condition while lying down and keeping his eyes closed. He slowly moves his hands, arms, feet and legs, which seem to have nothing wrong with them and he does not feel the slightest bit sick at all. Next, he tries to move his body, which proves all together different as a sudden burning pain can be felt where the sword had been imbedded in his abdomen, which is now empty, and the wound sewn shut.Should he open his eyes? He hesitates as he assesses that he is unbelievably alive in this world makes him want to laugh. Choi Young opens his eyes and squints in the glare from the morning light thinking with acceptance and regret that if only he could have left so easily and died right away, instead he is looking at the empty space in front of his eyes as they adjust to the light and the reality of the situation, he is back again. In acceptance he thinks "A new day is beginning and today the weather is clear." Choi Young tries to get up and groans without realising it, hesitating he leans against the table almost sitting bent over with his hand over his stomach as he notices the woman sleeping curled up asleep in the chair not far from the table. The morning air is cold, yet she sleeps soundly her face pale with weariness, her hair scattered across her face. Choi Young wonders if she has been there all night to take care of him and the wonders when she will wake up and is relieved that she appears to be safe and well. He then looks down at his abdomen to see a white cloth rolled around it is covering his injury, judging by its appearance the woman from Heaven must have tied it. Choi Young decides to move carefully as not to wake her up and carefully negotiates the distance from where he is to the clothes, he can see folded on top of a little table that is against a wall next to the woman sleeping, but close to the doorway. Moving towards the table and lifting his clothes proves to be painful event though he notices that they have been washed as they are not stained with blood. It is when he turns to make his way to the doorway that he staggers and bumps into the table that had just had his clothes on, which causes a shooting pain to streak through his body making him take a deep breath. The commotion causes the Lady to stir, making him look at her to see that she has woken up and is holding a small knife, which appears to be one of the sky medical instruments with both hands in a way that is pointing at him as she threatens "Do not move." The whole scenario comes across as ridiculous to him and he says calmly "Put down that knife. If not...? What are you going to do?" He watches the woman hesitate and notices the fear in her eyes and finds it comical and challenges her "After treating me are you going to stab me again, treat me and then stab me again?" The woman quietly lowers her head in embarrassment as she also lowers her hand holding the knife, Choi Young's amusement clearly reflected in his eyes. It is at this moment the door bursts open, and Taiwan enters jumping to push the woman aside making her fall to the floor and says "Leader." Choi Young is exasperated by his actions and thinks "That Kid." But that kid is clearly exited to see that he is up and about as he moves around the captain saying again and again "Leader…. Leader...." As the captain gets himself dressed, he is too excited to think of anything else. So, Choi Young asks in attempt to focus Taiwan "How long have I been unconscious for?" It takes a second before the question penetrates Taiwan's consciousness and he answers "Ha... it is overnight. It's dawn now." Choi Young then asks, "His Highness must have left?" he waits for an affirmation but there is no response which makes him realise that they have not left, and he states not hiding his annoyance "He is still...Why?" Taiwan answers "His Highness said to wait..." Choi Young's penetrating gaze is watching Taiwan assessing the validity of the answer and realises it seems it is so in frustration of the situation is such that he says, "Damn it!" and starts to move towards the door, clutching his stomach.
The woman taken by surprise at his movement towards the door asks, "Where are you going?" He ignores the question and moves through the door as Taiwan opens it. The woman is trailing behind and demanding it. "Are you crazy? Look you are a patient, that is recovering." Choi Young keeps moving which makes his men aware that he is up. Joo Seok comes running first to present himself saying "Leader.", which triggers a few more run after them, to surround Choi Young bringing him to a stop. The number of guards that he notices in turn makes Choi Young concerned with why so many of the guards have been placed on the first floor. He commands Taiwan to help him put his armour on and asks, "Where is His Highness?" Which one responds with "He is upstairs" Choi Young then says "Deokman" and is met with "Yes" It is when he was about to give the man his instruction that the Sky woman comes running out yelling "Can you not hear me?" She pushes through the soldiers standing around, showing no fear to stand right in front of him to say, "You need absolute rest right now!" He is amazed at her audacity as she continues to convey the urgency of the situation "What if everything I managed to seal up bursts?" He ignores her and commands "Go. Prepare the Boat. We will leave right away." The men respond with "YES" The woman attempts to stand on her tips of her toes so that her face is level to his trying to make him aware of her presence instead of the men that surround him. She has an angry face as she tries to convey the urgency of his physical situation "I managed to stitch together the tears in your stomach and liver, they are barely being held together." Choi Young continues like he has not heard her by continuing to with issuing instructions to his men, "Track down the horses and put them on the boat." The men respond with "Yes" Eun-soo exasperated by his seemingly ignorance of the severity of his physical wellbeing loses, lack of response, even recognition to her warnings, loses her temper and grabs his collar and makes him look at her. The action takes him and his subordinates by surprise as she yells "GO BACK TO BED RIGHT NOW! YOU CAN ONLY MOVE WHEN I TELL YOU TO!" Choi Young notice his men all around him looking at each other wondering what to do and the woman takes advantage of the silence as she issues more orders "Until you can fart. You know farts? Pass wind? You should not eat anything, until you can fart properly" He hears the breathing of his men as they wait for his reaction, but she continues with "You need to do what I tell you to do and minimise movement until you are healed." She is interrupted as he suddenly staggers forward from the surging pain to slump onto her balancing his weight with his arm over her shoulder as she taken by surprise supports him from below and is effectively silenced.
Choi Young leans on her shoulder, clearly in pain as he conveys the situation they are in "The problem I cannot fight with this body and if I cannot fight then we must run away. I mean if one cannot even eat until they fart, how do they fight? If we do not run away right now, we will all die. " Eun-soo taken aback by this asks "Why" but he avoids answering by commanding one of his men "Someone get her a pair of shoes from the Queen; she will wear them." The statement triggers Eun-soo frustration who mutters "This person really is…." as she tries to free herself in anger from under him by lifting his body and tries to shake his arm off her, hoping that the process will release his weight off her. However, Choi Young was able to anticipate her attempts and manuvoured his body to avoid her body in advance, making the womans struggle to free herself fail as she is moved against her will to be turned and placed so that she faces him with her shoulders in his hands as he stands opposite to her bent to look at her face as he says "It is best we run away now while we can, before the ones that took you captive before will come and attack. They know who you are and will try to take you again." Eun-soo's eyes get wide at this information as she is reminded of how she was captured earlier, that there is more then 1 person after her asks "They?" Choi Young nods to indicate she heard right and then explains "I do not know how many there are or how far they are, but I do know they stick together again, and they will make another attempt on the Queen and take you or possibly kill you. It is best we runaway now before any of this happens."
Eun-soo grapples with this and in her confusion as she knows that she has nowhere to go asks "Why am I running away? Where can I runaway to?" Choi Young sighs in exasperation, the men surrounding them watch in awe as no-one ever questions a command, instruction or request from their leader. He explains patiently "I vowed to return you to where you belong. You must be alive for me to fulfill my vow. I will protect you until I fulfill my vow, to do this you must stay by my side." He pushes her away as soon as he is finished talking to her indicating that there is no more to say and will not entertain anymore questions or interruptions from her. He moves to the bottom of the stairs and commands his men as he starts up the stairs "Prepare the carriage. We will escort His Highness and the Queen to the port." Behind him, the woman screams "Where are you going?" He tries not to show his pain as he walks up the plank that is being used since the stairs were destroyed using the banister to support and pull himself up with the movement to enable him to walk up it. Eun-soo is following him saying "I cannot go. The hole we came through is in this town. I can go back to it and wait for it to open again. I am not going." Choi Young continues making his way up the plank as he ignores her, he calls "Taiwan". Taiwan comes running in and stops at the bottom of the stairs awaiting further instructions. Choi Young pauses at the top of the plank and asks him "What do you do?" Taiwan answers "I checked with the others. The guards have prepared the boat and the horses ready to leave, there have been no sign of the assassins." Choi Young nods in response. Choong-seok having watched him barely walk up the plank approaches Choi Young clearly happy as he asks "You are awake? Your body…?" Choi Young instructs him find someone you can trust in this town and get them to monitor and guard the spot where the Heaven's Gate opened, and to report immediately if there is even a slight problem or change to Gae-yeong." Choong-seok answers "All right." He the directs the next instruction to Taiwan "I want to hear what anyone is saying when they say they know something about the Sky Gate. It does not matter if it is coming from the old, young, poor, sick, man or woman I want to hear all of what they are saying or whatever the information is." Choong-seok asks "What is it do you want to know exactly?" Choi Young answers simply "I need to know when it will reopen." The vow he made to the woman weighs heavily on his conscious which holds with it his shame of escaping death, result being more the determined to return her as he promised no matter what.
Meanwhile the silk shoes are brought to Eun-soo as the captain had commanded and as she puts them on, wonders why he worried about what she wore on her feet. The fit seemed to be right even if they felt a bit hot. She looks at the shoes she initially wore in her hands, one has the heel broken off while the other is a little damaged due to the traipsing and running about on the rocky, unstable roads and soft soil on the hills. She wonders what to do with them as she is hesitant to throw them away as she thinks of money that she still needs to pay on them. The psychological whiplash she feels that she has experienced from the treatment of that person as he cares nothing for other people's feelings but takes care of a kidnapped woman's bare feet. Eun-soo decides psychopath who gets worried about the physical wellbeing of the person he kidnaps must be a low-key psychopath. She had enrolled in a psychology subject at college, even splitting her tight timetable to enable her to listen to lectures and participate in the requirements to complete the course instead of having fun. At the time doing the course was purely to understand and learn about things that related to herself, enabling to dissect myself and finding that I had nothing but shit inside myself. She concluded at the time that no one should care that much about psychology to continue studying it and she avoids peeling the layers of others like a Russian Doll to get into the mind of others.
Now she wonders if she had studied to the end, would she have been able to analyse it a bit more to identify the unclassified psychos. Eun-soo dismisses the thought thinking "Anyway, it's over with him." She will go to the place where they had emerged and wait for that so called Sky Gate to reopen. It must be like in the sci-fi genre Stargate which is a portal, and it might have a way to open it, she just needs to find it. Determined to go back to her world, she finds her bag and puts it on to head out the door, as she moved the men in armour bow as she passes them. Eun-soo cautiously passes them, as they appear more polite than before and are making no move to stop her, so she decides to hurry pass them before the psycho notices and takes matters into his own hands. The Woodalchi members are now convinced that she is a doctor from heaven and the move out of her way and bow moderately low to show their deference and respect their doubts proven wrong. Every one of them has witnessed themselves how he invaded that heavenly world, emerging with her clearly against her will and how the captain was stabbed with his sword by her, when she was not allowed to return. The captain is said to be the best warrior in the world, was unable to defend himself and even added his own strength to the sword to imbed it deeper into his stomach. They have witnessed how deep the sword went in, how the blood gushed out and they all knew he will never survive. The witnessed the miracle how the Heavenly Doctor then saved their captain as she had saved the Queen from death. She had no fear of the captain, even going as far as to physically grab him by his collar. They are of the belief that only the captain has the authority to intervene with her actions and words since he has taken the responsibility of whatever heavenly punishment will be dealt with the kidnapping of one of their people. So, in awe of her and fear of the repercussions of getting in her way and do not detain allowing her to pass them. Only one of them did not have this same thought it was Taiwan, who makes an appearance after she has left the Inn and is walking along the path to the heavenly gate, he stands arms crossed, with a serious face blocking her way. Eun-soo tries to step around him but he does not allow her to pass, so she tries a different path, but he darts quickly to cross in front of her to cut her off. She turns around quickly to run, but she is chased by him, so she gets angry at him and yells at him, but he does not budge, continue to block her path with a serious face of determination and crossed arms. In the end, Eun-soo gives up and sat down on the path with her head in her hands, hair falling over hands, mumbling in frustration, wondering why she can not escape the psycho and his men. She does not even know where the sky gate is, will she have to stay and wait first? Tearing out her hair she remembers how Gilchi offered her a position as salaried doctor in a large plastic surgery hospital in Gangnam Yoji, now she is stuck in this world that does not even have a hospital. She worries about being absent from work with no explanation and having no way to contact them and hopes that if this is a dream/nightmare that she will wake up soon.At this time Choi Young is standing, head bowed in front of the King. The King is both relieved and concerned, it had been reported that the sword wound to his abdomen is serious. The King is hesitant to ask the warrior about it as he watched the man enter with a pale face and wonder whether he should even be moving as he stands in front of the king with no expression on his face as he comes to a halt and bows his head. said something at first glance. The King has always found it hard to read Choi Young and it is no different now. So, after an awkward silence the King says "I heard you were delayed because of God. Forgive me." Then he asks, "Are you feeling well?" Choi Young answers "Movement is not affected at all." The King then asks, "Are you thinking of leaving right away?" Choi Young answers "We need to move right away. It will take time for us to escort the carriage to Pogu and then on a boat for about three days to reach our destination." The King then asks, "How are you planning on bringing the Heavenly Doctor?" Choi Young answers "The enemies target is you and your appearance makes it easy for them to keep track of you. If you and the Queen allow it, I would like the Heavenly Doctor to travel in that carriage only." The King nods and the Queen answers, "I allow it." The captain bows his head towards the queen. "I will proceed." The captain does not look toward the King again before leaving. The King watches the captain sadly as he finished what he was saying, bowed and as he turned to leave sees a hand go to his abdomen, the only indication of the pain that he is constantly enduring.