Woots! I love the userpic<3

Just to refresh your memory, Sun Joon put the ring on Yoon Hee’s finger and kissed her.
 

Then they overhead the conversation between Yong Ha and Jae Shin, whereby Yong Ha asked if Minister Lee was the mastermind behind the murders.

 

Yoon Hee and Sun Joon entered the room in shock, while Yoon Hee asked for confirmation of what she just heard. Jae Shin, who wanted to hide the truth from her, walked out of the room, leaving Yong Ha to answer their questions. Yong Ha took out the land deed that the murderer had in return for killing Jae Shin’s brother and Yoon Hee’s father, and told them that if they could find who gave the land to the murderer, they would find the person responsible for the deed. Sun Joon, the ever so upright man, took the land deed, and told them that if his father was the one, then he would be the best person to ask his father about it.

 

Jae Shin was drinking by himself, when Yong Ha came and drank with him. Yong Ha asked Jae Shin if he purposely hid the fact that he knew Minister Lee was the one behind that for Yoon Hee, so that she would not be sad. Jae Shin didn’t answer and continue drinking, but Yong Ha saw through him, and sighed. He asked when Jae Shin knew that they were together, but Jae Shin didn’t answer.

 

Sun Joon went to confront his father about it. Minister Lee took a look at the land deed and acknowledged that that piece of land was originally his. Sun Joon who had already suspected that, was not too surprised. Minister Lee went on to say that he was always loyal to Joseon and that whatever he did, he thought of Joseon in mind. He knew that the emperor had told them to find Guem Da Ji Sa, but he wanted Sun Joon to stop. He also told Sun Joon that he didn’t have anything to do with the murders but Sun Joon told him that he could no longer bring himself to believe him like he used to, and that from then on, they would be political enemies, since Sun Joon was on the side of the emperor while Minister Lee opposed the emperor.
 
 

Yoon Hee was super worried even as she read the books in the library. She kept thinking about Sun Joon and fingered her ring, when Jae Shin came and lightened her mood with a joke. "If you read till too late, you will never grow in height" He joked and Yoon Hee smiled. Jae Shin helped her bring the books back to her dorm, and she asked Jae Shin if there was a misunderstanding about Minister Lee.

 

Jae Shin reassured her with a smile, told her not to worry and simply wait till Sun Joon came back so that things would be clarified.

 

Something not mentioned in the previous recaps:Jae Shin only just knew that his father did not exchange his silence for Jae Shin’s brother’s death in replacement of his wealth and status. Instead his father had been faithfully watching Minister Lee and the Minister of War for the past ten years and noted down all their dealings and actions. His father had not forgotten his brother’s death and was in fact, planning for revenge. Jae Shin realised that his hatred towards his father for all these years had been uncalled for.

The next day, before the 4 of them were supposed to meet in the secret room, Jae Shin found Sun Joon and took him aside to talk. Jae Shin told him that he didn’t want to hunt out the masterminds anymore and that Sun Joon should stop as well. Sun Joon refused to, but Jae Shin told him"When you have someone that you want to protect, you will become weak as well. Kim Yoon Shik.. isn’t he someone that you want to protect?"Sun Joon replied that before he could ask for forgiveness, he thought he should atone for his father’s mistake, which was why he was so adamant about finding out who was the mastermind. "Besides, Kim Yoon Shik is not the only one that I have to ask for forgiveness right?" and Jae Shin let him go, knowing that Sun Joon was referring to himself. Sun Joon then entered the room and told Yoon Hee that his father had indirectly admitted to being the culprit of the murders. Yoon Hee ran out of the room and told Sun Joon, who had chased after her, that she needed some time alone to think.

 

Yoon Hee went back home and wanted to ask her mother how her father died, but her mother didn’t want to tell her anything, in fear that that she would hate the world. Yoon Hee asked then, if her mother admitted that the way her father died would make her hate the world. Her mother looked at her in shock, because it sounded like Yoon Hee knew how her father died. Yoon Hee left the room and sat down on the step. Her brother came to join her, and Yoon Hee told her brother that now she could not remember how her father looked like. When she was young, all she could do was to listen to her father reading to her brother and now, she could only remember her father’s shadow as he listened from outside of the door. Yoon Hee’s brother asked if she really didn’t know, that all those years, their father purposely sat near the door and read in a super loud voice so that Yoon Hee could hear, and that her father always chose books that were too hard for him to understand. Their father, had not been teaching Yoon Shik, but Yoon Hee. Yoon Hee cried while reading her father’s diary, that her father wondered if it was right to teach her daughter, who might not have a place in this world.

 

Minister of War met up with Minister Lee and told him that he had managed to give the murderer a sum of money for him to leave and hide from those who were searching about his background. Minister Lee told him to ask his son [ In Soo]  to keep a watch on Sungkyunkwan’s students.

Yoon Hee now wanted to find Guem Da Ji Sa more than ever, and she told the other three, that according to her father’s letter/clue, Guem Da Ji Sa should be in Sungkyunkwan. They took Sungkyunkwan’s blueprints and pondered over where Guem Da Ji Sa might be. Sun Joon noticed that Yoon Hee was no longer wearing the ring and Yoon Hee told him that she thought that was the right thing to do. All those years, she had been complaining that her father looked down on her, but she realised that she’s the one who didn’t understand her father. She wanted to find Guem Da Ji Sa since it’s the first time, and probably the last time, that she could know her father. Sun Joon told her that he understood and that Guem Da Ji Sa would definitely be found.

 

Now fuelled with this desire to find Guem Da Ji Sa, Sun Joon worked extra hard to find the murderer but he got punched by someone in the gambling den. Angered, he punched that person back, but Sun Joon was no match for all the people in the gambling den who started punching and kicking him just for fun.

 

Yoon Hee, Jae Shin and Yong Ha were shocked to know that Sun Joon got himself in a fight. Yong Ha told Sun Joon that if they found Guem Da Ji Sa, he probably wouldn’t be able to live on as the Minister Lee’s son. Sun Joon replied that at least that would have been better than living as the son of someone who killed his friends’ brother and father.  After hearing that, Yoon Hee ran out of the den and Sun Joon chased after her. Yoon Hee told Sun Joon to stop and that her heart broke for him whenever he did something like that. Sun Joon hugged her from behind and told her that he wished to make it up to her. All the years that she had been out acting as a man trying to earn money, he had been comfortably sitting in school learning things. If he could, he wanted to go back and take her place for her. Yoon Hee cried while listening to him.

I know it’s super touching and all, but I just can’t help but go The darn hats, look at that awkward angle that Sun Joon had to tilt his head!

 

Yong Ha told Jae Shin that Sun Joon had changed and that he was actually fighting against his father, with all his might and efforts. Yong Ha looked at Jae Shin and went "As you know… hating one’s father is a torture" since Jae Shin had hated his father so much last time, and I get a feeling that Yong Ha was speaking about himself as well.

 

Sun Joon found the murderer and followed him out of the gates. There was only the murderer and him on the road, but suddenly, the fake Red Messenger shot an arrow and leapt down from somewhere. It was actually Cho Sun who had orders from the Minister of War to kill the murderer, but Sun Joon defended the murderer. Cho Sun looked like she was going to win, when suddenly Jae Shin appeared and fought her.

 

Jae Shin managed to throw her weapon away, and Cho Sun ran away from him. Jae Shin wanted to know if it’s really Cho Sun and gave chase,

 

while Sun Joon just looked at what happened in shock. The murderer wanted to slip away but Sun Joon stopped him.

 

Jae Shin fought Cho Sun and managed to tear her mask off her face. Cho Sun quickly ran away, but Jae Shin already saw her face.

 

Now that the murderer was caught, Jae Shin and Sun Joon questioned the murderer who didn’t want to say anything at first. Jae Shin wanted to beat him up, and told him that he should know why Cho Sun was sent to assasinate him. The murderer laughed and said that things were getting interesting. On the other hand, Yong Ha managed to find out that the Minister of War was the one who frequently met up with the murderer. The murderer told Jae Shin and Yong Ha that the one who sent him escaping right then was Minister Lee, but the one who gave him orders to kill Jae SHin’s brother and Yoon Hee’s father, was actually Minister of War. Minister Lee was the one who gave him the land deed AFTER the entire thing happened to shut him up.

 

Jae Shin was relieved and told Sun Joon that they should tell the news to Yoon Hee. He told Sun Joon that it was lucky because he thought that it might be tiring to hate Sun Joon for the rest of his life. Yoon Hee was still in the library trying to find out where Guem Da Ji Sa was, and suddenly, something struck her — that it might be in the temple where the previous emperors’ ashes were. She tore off the blueprint of the temple off a book and ran out of Sungkyunkwan. In Soo saw her and suspected something was up — he already learnt from his father that they might be trying to find Guem Da Ji Sa. In Soo found her books in the library and gathered that she was going to the temple. He ordered the guards to go to the temple as well.

Later, Yong Ha saw the guards heading towards the temple, and quickly rushed back to the library to tell Jae Shin and Sun Joon. Jae Shin said that he would go distract the guards, while Sun Joon should go and warn Yoon Hee. Kinda reminds me in that episode when Yoon Hee dressed up as a girl. Jae Shin knew that the best way to distract the guards would be to appear as the Red Messenger and the guards halted to fight him, even though the commander ordered a smaller group of guards to continue on their way to the temple.

 

Yoon Hee was in shock when she heard the door of the temple opened, but it was only Sun Joon, who rushed forward and hugged her. On the other hand, Jae Shin fought a fierce battle with the commander, who managed to make Jae Shin lose his sword, and a dramatic moment caused me to shriek as the commander brought his sword up and then down in a swipe at Jae Shin’s chest. OUCHD:

 

Thus ended episode 18. Episode 19 went on from we left off, except they showed that Sun Joon realised Yoon Hee was wearing the ring as a necklace. He grabbed her hands and ran out of the temple, thus safely escaping from the guards. Jae Shin stood up and tried to fight the commander once more, but suffered more injuries. He was going to be in serious danger, when other guards came and sorta stopped the commander from killing Jae Shin. Jae Shin ran away and hid.

 

As he clutched at his chest in pain, someone appeared in front of him and he looked up. The next scene was Yong Ha asking the servant to carry Jae Shin as quickly as possible. As long as they made it back to Sungkyunkwan, they would be all right. Yoon Hee and Sun Joon waited in anxiety,back at Sungkyunkwan, when Yoon Hee turned and saw Yong Ha helping Jae Shin to stand.

 
I wonder how many hearts broke because of Jae Shin?

Ooh, my favourite instrumental music played, while Yong Ha lay Jae Shin down on the mattress. He was then unconscious. Yoon Hee waited outside the room.

 

In Soo, and the Minister of War, did not want to concede defeat and In Soo used his authority as the president of Sungkyunkwan to allow the guards to enter Sungkyunkwan, something which was not allowed. The guards were brutal in the way they searched and they finally reached where Yoon Hee was. Sun Joon and Yong Ha heard the guards from inside and Sun Joon told Yong Ha that he wanted to take the place of Jae Shin to be arrested. Given Jae Shin’s condition, he could really die if he was detained.

 

Even though Yong Ha was reluctant, he saw the truth in what Sun Joon said and this was why, when In Soo ordered the guards to enter the room to catch the Red Messenger, both Yoon Hee and him were surprised to find that the guards took Sun Joon out. Even though In Soo knew that the Red Messenger was Jae Shin, the Minister of War wanted to arrest Sun Joon anyway, because he bore a grudge towards Minister Lee for not wanting to allow his son to marry Hyo Eun anymore. Yoon Hee looked on in disbelief and shock as Sun Joon nodded reassuringly at her before being brought away.

 

Yong Ha tried to reassure Yoon Hee that everything would be all right, but Jae Shin heard and wanted to get up. He couldn’t believe that Sun Joon actually got arrested for being the Red Messenger for him. However, his injuries were too serious, and he couldn’t get up at all. Yong Ha told him that nothing would happen to Sun Joon, because after all, he’s the only son of Minister Lee.
 
 

The next day, Yong Ha and Yoon Hee learned that Sun Joon got sent to Jae Shin’s father. Yoon Hee was worried that Jae Shin’s father might do something to Sun Joon in revenge, but Jae Shin suddenly appeared and told them that he wouldn’t allow that to happen. Yong Ha and Yoon Hee rushed forward for they were both worried for his injuries as well. Jae Shin was like "Who would believe that clumsy Sun Joon is the Red Messenger? Isn’t the real one standing right here?" and he walked forward.
 

 

Yet Yoon Hee put her arms out and stopped him from walking a step further. "So are you going to confess right now? In your state?Someone already took your place because he is reluctant to hand over you who are injured. If you go ahead to spoil other’s good intentions, I will not forgive you…Because I would have done the same thing if it’s for you"

 

"So…you should let me go.. only if you let go can I go and tell my father that Minister Lee wasn’t the one behind the murders" Jae Shin replied and smiled at Yoon Hee.

 

He walked off, turned around and asked if Yong Ha would really do something to punish In Soo for abusing his authority and allowing the guards to enter Sungkyunkwan. Yong Ha said "Of course! Because…" "You’re Gu Yong Ha" Jae Shin finished his sentence for him.
 
 

Jae Shin went to find his father and requested him to let Sun Joon go. Since his father already knew that he was the real Red Messenger, and that Minister Lee wasn’t the one to blame for the murders, then there’s no need for Jae Shin’s father to take revenge using Sun Joon. His father flatly refused to and Jae Shin asked if his father was going to be despicable like those people. If he was, he would not let him succeed, "for the evidence that I’m the Red Messenger, is right here!" he said as he tore his shirt opened to reveal his wound. He threatened that he would be going to confess, but his father asked his guards to stop him from leaving.
 
 

Yong Ha decided to lead the school for a petition for the release of Sun Joon and a protest sort of thing for an apology from the guards for barging into Sungkyunkwan. Yong Ha told In Soo that he’s welcome to join them and that there would be a meeting that day to see if In Soo would apologise to students. As long as In Soo apologised, they would not hold him responsible.
 
 

In Soo, instead of being intimidated, laughed and whispered in his ears, that he knew Yong Ha actually didn’t have a background as good as he made it sound like, and that he was actually just the son of a merchant. Yong Ha’s eyes widened in shock as In Soo asked "I guess I wouldn’t be seeing you today then?" Then he walked off. Everyone asked Yong Ha if he was all right and what In Soo had told him. Yong Ha didn’t reply and just walk off. He laughed mockingly at himself and remarked that things were looking to be interesting. Usually, Yong Ha would be very amused when these things happened, but he laughed at himself, because it is now happening to himself.

 

Yoon Hee followed Yong Ha and asked if he’s all right, but Yong Ha told Yoon Hee that he might not be able to turn up for that meeting to make In Soo apologise [ for fear that he would spill the beans about his background] Yoon Hee didn’t know why though, and just looked at him in dismay.

 

The time for the meeting started but Yong Ha was still not there. He was sitting in his room and he recalled what Sun Joon said to him before getting arrested for being the Red Messenger, that "It has always been my belief to do things according to my principles in Joseon". Yong Ha got up, opened the doors of his room and left the room.

In the end, Yong Ha still went for the meeting and In Soo told him that he would not apologise because he didn’t do anything wrong.
"That’s too bad then… you cannot be the president of Sungkyunkwan, because we cannot acknowledge someone who did things that trampled on our dignity"
"I don’t think you have the rights…" Yong Ha looked at In Soo in trepidation as he knew what In Soo was going to say. Everyone buzzed and murmured as the papers went down and on the paper, the truth about Yong Ha’s background was revealed, that he wasn’t some bigshot but just a very normal merchant’s son.
 

Yong Ha took a step forward and said "Generations and generations of my family… have been merchants. The grandfather I said I had, didn’t exist. So as to give his son a bright and good background, my father used money to buy the ancestry. That is who I am, the one standing in front of you all now."

 

He then passed on his rights as the leader of the protest on to Kim Yoon Hee, "I don’t have the rights.. not because of my background… but because I’ve once been ashamed of myself. I’ve decided not to be like this anymore."

 

Yoon Hee smiled at him with tears in her eyes, and Yong Ha nodded. He then walked back to In Soo and said "I’m telling you.. that your threats are not going to work on me anymore, Ha In Soo, because this is Sungkyunkwan… and I’m Gu Yong Ha" I AM SO PROUD OF YONG HA! -more about this later, once I get started I don’t think I can get on with the recaps anymore:P-

 

Yong Ha reassured Yoon Hee that she would be able to succeed in getting Sun Joon out, and that she had the most rights to lead this protest, because she’s the one who wanted to get him out the most. Yong Ha also told Yoon Hee that Jae Shin was most probably locked up in his house, because there had been no news from him.

 

Yoon Hee thus tried to get other students to sign the petition for the release of Sun Joon, but people either rejected her because they didn’t trust Yong Ha, and hence they couldn’t trust that Sun Joon was not the Red Messenger, or they were scared of In Soo, who turned up and threatened that whoever who signed the petition would be setting himself against him.

 

Yoon Hee complained to Yong Ha how students could not tell that Sun Joon couldn’t be the Red Messenger, but Yong Ha was like "Not being able to even tell what your dorm mate’s thoughts are… that’s how humans are like" which I got a feeling that he’s referring to Yoon Hee not knowing that Jae Shin liked her. The headmaster, who we know is a fan of Sun Joon, heard them and told them what they should do to get Sun Joon out , by using the real Red Messenger.

Yong Ha complained for having to dress in all black because he’s too white and he looked horrible in black.

 
OMG I DIED LAUGHING.

Then Yoon Hee laughed and told him that he still looked super awesome, and that Yong Ha was pacified. HAHA.

 

Jae Shin was super angry to know that he was locked in and he threw all the things on the floor. Hearing the disturbance, his father came in and told him not to aggravate his wounds. Jae Shin begged his father to let him and Sun Joon go and that his friendship wtih Sun Joon had not even fully started. "Please.. please let me not hate you anymore. I don’t want to live in that kind of hell anymore". His father teared but still walked out of the ware house.

 

This following part is super cute!:P The servant of Sun Joon was like "There are guards in front of the warehouse, quickly chakata chakata use your brains" 

Yong Ha tsked at him and smiled a devil smile
 
 

before giving the servant’s butt a hard push such that he flew out right in front of the guards. The servant ran and the guards chased after him. Yong Ha "There! I’ve chakata chakata used my brains" and he grinned.<3

 

Finally, they got Jae Shin out and then he wrote lots of messages to distribute around the village to prove that the Red Messenger was still uncaught. If the real Red Messenger was still at large, by default, this proved that Sun Joon could not be the Red Messenger. Yong Ha wanted to change into more vibrant colours and asked Jae Shin and Yoon Hee not to visit Sun Joon without him. However, Jae Shin still let Yoon Hee go visit Sun Joon on her own and Yoon Hee thanked him before rushing into the place. Sun Joon noticed that she’s wearing the ring asked for her forgiveness but Yoon Hee said"What I could give you.. is not forgiveness.. but a heart. A heart of a woman.. so I wish that you will not give me a heart of someone who has done wrong…but a heart of a lover" They looked into each other’s eyes, but neither noticed that Hyo Eun, who had come to visit Sun Joon, heard everything.

 

Yong Ha found Jae Shin waiting outside and sighed. "In the end, you still let her go in alone.." Jae Shin smiled and walked "Forget her.. as time goes by it will become a habit… Staring at her from afar, let this be the last time"Yong Ha told Jae Shin and he put his arm around his shoulder while they walked off together.
 
 

The next morning, thanks to Jae Shin, now everyone believed that Sun Joon could not be the Red Messenger, and they all turned up to head to palace together[for the very civilised protest]. They were all wondering where Jae Shin was, when he turned up and everyone oohed and aahed over him because it’s the first time they’ve seen him dressed up so formally.

 

He laughed shyly as Yoon Hee complimented him, and the both of them smiled at him with the look of like Hey I’m so super impressed

 

As they headed off for the palace, In Soo suddenly stepped in front of them and shouted that whoever dared to oppose him would suffer. Yoon Hee rocked because she was so calm and asked if In Soo was joining them. No? Then they would well be on their way then. In Soo’s eyes looked like they were going to drop out as the whole school followed her, Jae Shin and Yong Ha. Ultimately, even In Soo’s sidekicks left except for one.

 

And so they headed to the palace to show a representative the petition that they had, and they started their protest in a super civilised manner. 😛

 

As the music played, I felt very touched because I love scenes where everyone believed in one common thing and worked hard towards it, no matter how cliche these scenes might be. Yoon Hee was also quite touched, but halfway she went back to fix the puzzle that once belonged to her father. The puzzle was orignally a square, but once can reorganized it such that it looked like a person reading a book. As Yoon Hee looked at the word carved on the puzzled "Door"/"Gate", she suddenly remembered that Jae Shin once told her that the main gates of Sungkyunkwan did not face the palace but towards the poor village of Joseon, Ban Chon. She thought it might be there and ran towards the mains gates. At the same time, Hyo Eun returned home and was exclaiming about Yoon Hee being a woman, when In Soo overheard and asked her what she meant.

Yoon Hee dug the soil and after a while, finally found a box. She opened the chest and read the letters inside. With a face of amazement, she said "Guem Da Ji Sa… I’ve found it, father!"

 

-the end-
 

 

Fine, I will admit it, I only added in Sun Joon’s screenshot because I was feeling guilty:P

The location where Guem da Ji Sa was in didn’t surprise me one bit. Actually to be honest, I was pretty sure it would be there ever since Jae Shin told Yoon Hee about the main gates thing around 4 episodes back. Or was that 5? Even though I expected it, I thought it was pretty cool that Guem Da Ji Sa is there.

I AM SO PROUD OF YONG HA! I cried for him. If this had happened in real life, I think I would have been bawling my eyes out, just because I am so proud. Instead of always observing things at one side, Yong Ha finally took the courage to admit who he really is. I like how he told In Soo that he’s still Gu Yong Ha. It might not be obvious in my recaps, but "Who am I? I’m Gu Yong Ha" is Yong Ha’s favourite phrase whenever he wanted to show how brilliant or smart he is. The fact that he told In Soo that was like a way to show In Soo that he’s still Yong Ha no matter what, regardless of his background.

Jae Shin also got me sad. Even though I know that he doesn’t mind it, but I sigh for him when Yong Ha told him to forget Yoon Hee. You know, it’s like different from You’re Beautiful when I told myself Hey, Shin Woo can do so much better than Go Mi Nam. Forget it that Yong Hwa can’t really act, you know Shin Woo is an awesome guy and that someone smarter will suit him better but in Sungkyunkwan, I actually don’t mind Yoon Hee. In fact, I think she’s really quite cute in terms of her behaviour and she’s not in the least stupid, though like almost all other female leads, they always took a long time/never knew that the second leads liked them.

Putting romance aside, I really like how the story is not going to be JUST about the triangle love. With Yong Ha around, it sort of brings out the amazing friendship that the Jalguem Quartet has. Yoon Hee might not like Jae Shin, but hey, who ever said you have to like someone in order to show your care and love for him [ referring to her saying that she would have done the same thing for Jae Shin so that he would not get arrested]. Sun Joon definitely isn’t gay, but because of the friendship they shared, he’s willing to sacrifice himself in a way. I’m pretty sure it’s because Jae Shin viewed Yoon Hee and Sun Joon as super important friends, that he didn’t ever once try to confess.
 

Here’s wishing you all out there, that you will find the wonderful friends that accept you no matter who you are, and are willing to be there just for you, just like the Jalguem Quartet!:D

<3thoughtsramble