dangermousie | Like cursed princes, political infighting, angsty OTPs and many many swords? Come right in!

This drama is so pretty:

Also, why is the Hero's family so awesome?

I have age-inappropriate attraction to his father, King Yuri, who is super-intense and tough (surviving multiple assassination attempts) and good with the sword, and also loved his wife, Hero's Mother, and managed to save Hero even after it was prophesized Hero was cursed to kill him. And when he finds out his youngest son is not interested in military matters but only in making ornaments (!!!!) he is all 'fine, if that's what makes you happy, I'll get you an apprenticeship.' He is all for his kid being out-n-proud :P

And I ship Prince Haemeyong and Lady Decorator so much! Crown Prince is super awesome to begin with and loyal, and apparently Lady Decorator was his older deceased brother's attendant and she was supposed to be buried with him as per custom but he saved her. So people think he lusts after his brother's woman, but they are totally in love but she doesn't want to see him to save him from dishonor and he agrees to stay away to protect her. OMG.

We are not even going to get into Hero's awesomeness, cheekbones and other positive qualities. Plus, did I mention that he's been cursed to kill his parents (partially happened: Mom died in childbirth), siblings, son, and destroy the country. I foresee aaaaaangst.

King Yuri, whom I sort of crush on even if he is way older than me, with infant version of Hero. Awwww.

Crown Prince is happy with baby brother too. Btw, a beard makes a huge difference. When we see Crown Prince in ep 2 and he is angstoriffic and has a beard, he transforms from 'awesome guy but not hot' into HOTTIE!

Showing baby off to sister:

Happy parents!

Baby is kidnapped by Chief Sorceress who says she read the baby's fortune and it's terrible. Not only will baby destroy the country, but also be cursed to kill his siblings, parents, and even his son. King Yuri: "WTF? What did an infant do to earn something so horrid?!" Sorceress: "You wanna argue with the Gods, bub?"

And then she tells him he has to kill his kid for the good of the universe.

And kills herself. Nice way out, lady!

But King Yuri can't!

He takes the baby home instead.

He comes back to discover his wife died from afterbirth complications.

Like the Sorceress said!

There is huge unrest and borderline rebellion because of Sorceress' death and the prophesy so King Yuri proclaims he will do a public ceremony killing his son (he has to also confine the Crown Prince who declares this to be monstrous). But he hides it from Princess and lets her say goodbye.

Ceremony:

And after clearly nobody dares mess with him any more. He has no opposition left.

BUT! It was all a trick! Actually the baby was drugged and blood was fake and actually King Yuri won't kill his child even if it dooms him and the Kingdom. You go, awesome crush object!

He has the Crown Prince take the baby far away and leave it somewhere where it will be raised as a commoner, with no connection to the Royal family, and no contact either. Clearly he has not read Oedipus, but he is much nicer than Oedipus' dad, that's for sure.

He takes the baby to a remote cave, which is the gigantic and mystical tomb of King Jumong, founder of Gogureyo, names it Muhyul, and leaves it there with Hae Ap, Chief Decorator of the tomb. He tells her he will not see it again and there is no connection between them. It will be brought up as a slave decorator of the tomb.

UNSPECIFIED NUMBER OF YEARS PASS...

Lady Decorator. I adore her with the passion of a thousand suns and want for her and the Crown Prince make conscience-filled, kick-ass-fighter babies together.

She is looking for Muhyul but he is out gambling (and cheating).

Mob boss notices but lets him and his friend leave for the time being.

Side note. Mob boss is hot. I want to see more of him.

On the way back to the caves, Muhyul and his friend get ambushed by the mob who want their money back, with interest.

"Yes, it's me and my very gay posse. Want to join?"

Muhyul is OK enough with giving up the winnings but when Mob Boss tries to take medallion around his neck (which was placed there by his sister but he doesn't know it) he goes berserk.

So slashy. Seriously.

Ahahahahahaha. Superninja AKA Lady Decorator to the rescue. Our hero just got rescued by a woman.

And then she orders them beaten for escaping.

Muhyul is all 'if you think we are so unworthy, why not let us leave?' He hates being trapped in the cave his whole life.

He escapes again only to see enemy soldiers kill the guards at the tomb. I love that he hesitates about going back to warn Lady Decorator. Yay!

She gets her sword and rushes to fight, telling him to stay in her room. Heh.

She is doing a great job but there are way too many of them and she gets disarmed.

He tries to rescue her:

But fails.

They tell her to show them Jumong's burial place or they will kill Muhyul and she agrees.

Evil Ninjas are after Jumong's scared sword but the cave is rigged with all sorts of devices and ninjas that go in all die. So Evil Ninja head wants Lady Decorator to go in and get it and she says no to which Muhyul replies that what is the point of protecting a dead man's honor (Yes, pragmatic!) and he will go so she won't be executed.

Meanwhile Muhyul's friend was able to run for re-enforcement and Crown Prince (who'se been in a fortress nearby for some time) is there and they kill the Ninjas. Also, the scene bristles with UST.

She tells him she thinks Muhyul is dead.

But he is super-good and after some hair-raising experiences he gets the sword.

Yay, Muhyul is alive!

CP is hot in his joy. He also figured out ninjas were sent by neighboring kingdom of Byuo.

Which is ruled by this tough old dude who is about to be very pissed off by his failure.

Meanwhile King Yuri is just as awesome as ever.

His youngest son (by another wife).

So, let's see. Yuri had to send away his competent tough Crown Prince to the border area. He's had to give away his second son, who unbeknownst to him, is made of pure tough and awesome. He is left with his youngest son who only wants to make ornaments and tells him he melted the sword Yuri gave to him, to make decorations out of it.

A lesser Medieval King would be pissed.

Yuri is all 'if you like that sort of thing, I'll apprentice you to chief ornament worker if you so desire. Also, bring your boyfriend over for dinner.'

But his ambitious wife is pissed even if she pretends not to be.

Hong Gil Dong chief robber! Yay! He is one of the main soldier commanders for the Crown Prince!

This scene was so angsty and perfect. Because she was his older dead brother's attendant (i.e. concubine) and he saved her from being buried with bro, as per custom, and got in a lot of trouble because people thought he was a shameless brother-neglecting lech, lusting after his brother's woman. And they love each other. And she made him stay away so as not to cause him more trouble and he agreed because he thought it would protect her but now he won't any more because he stayed away and she was almost killed. OMG.

Make out already!

But instead she asks him who Muhyul is (and he says he can't say) and she tells him Muhyul is aching to get out so they should let him, and CP agrees. Oh, I love the both of you so much!

Now they will be trained as soldiers (Muhyul and his friend).

Yes, much hotter without the bandana.

Training is about to begin! (Why am I seeing slash in everything lately?)

Oh, Muhyul, your hotness warms my heart. But not as much as your shirlessness would.

And then I had to run, but not before finding out that near the end of ep 3 he is captured and tortured for information. Kdrama makers, stop hitting my kinks!