Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth

Chapter 02

After stopping the bully from beating his friend Mak Mun to a pulp, Moo-myung neatly divests him of his sword and uses it to slice a circle into the floor around him. He announces that if their law is to kill a low-born who enters the town without a pass, then his law is to kill any aristocrat who crosses this line.

Over in the storeroom, king-in-hiding Sammaekjong has cornered a scared Ah Ro — but rather than ravish her as she fears, he instead tells her that he wants her to help him go to sleep with her stories. She takes offense that her stories could lull anyone to sleep, but he asks where else she's going to make money tonight.

Ah Ro changes her tune when Sammaekjong tosses her a bag of coins before he tries to take it back. She can't let go, no matter how much he tries to pry her fingers off the bag. She finally says she'll do it even though he seems like a pervert, but only until he falls asleep.

Out in the main room, Mak Mun's attacker crosses Moo-myung's line, and Moo-myung beats the tar out of him with only a blunt club, avoiding his sword completely. During a lull in the fighting, pretty boy Su-ho asks rival Ban-ryu why he's not helping his friend, which goads one of Ban-ryu's lackeys into lunging at Su-ho. But Ban-ryu says for them not to get involved, and leaves.

The bully goes after Moo-myung again, and Moo-myung delivers a series of blows that drive him to the ground. He kicks his sword away and steps on his hand, and calmly asks if anyone else wants to fight. When nobody comes forward, Moo-myung gently helps the injured Mak Mun to his feet, and they leave together.

As they leave, Mak Mun jokes that he'd have won the fight of Moo-myung hadn't come so soon, ha. He gives the building a longing look and tells his friend that he saw something inside, but he's ready to go for now.

The queen regent's guard Hyun Chu reports that a low-born (Mak Mun) saw the king's face on the night the assassin attacked, so Queen Regent Jiso orders the man killed. Men are dispatched with drawings of Mak Mun's face with instructions to find him.

The merchant Joo-ki goes to see the healer, Ji-gong, and tells him that he met someone who has a necklace just like Ah Ro wears. It looks like the one Ji-gong's son had, he adds, and Ji-gong asks where he saw it.

Ah Ro tells Sammaekjong one of her racy stories (while wielding a heavy candlestick just in case, ha), and he nods off. He dreams of entering his throne room to find his mother sitting on his throne, and as she angrily asks why he's here, he reverts to his young self, crying.

Sammaekjong wakes with a start, and breathes, "I lost again." He looks over to see Ah Ro conked out, snoring loudly. Pfft. He takes her candlestick and chuckles that he's the one who should be scared.

Ji-gong follows the necklace's trail to the club, but the matron says that there was a fight, and the low-borns left. She says she didn't see their faces well but both were tall, which seems to excite Ji-gong as he rushes out to look for them.

Hyun Chu's men have no luck finding Mak Mun, but one reports that a man fitting his description was seen heading towards the East Gate. Hyun Chu spurs his horse in that direction, intent on killing the man who saw the king's face.

Mak Mun and Moo-myung make it to the woods outside the city and decide to rest for the night. Mak Mun looks sad when Moo-myung returns his necklace, and he tells Moo-myung that he saw someone wearing one just like it. But Mak Mun just sighs that there are many necklaces like his in the city.

Moo-myung refuses to let his friend mope and says that they still need to confirm it. He pulls Mak Mun back to his feet, and they head back towards town.

Sammaekjong and his guard Pa Oh go for a ride outside the city, and though it didn't work very well, Sammaekjong says that he thinks he'll need to see Ah Ro again if he wants to sleep. Pa Oh wonders if she'll help him again, having heard her call Sammaekjong a pervert, hee.