It was between Sungin Gate and Seonui Gate.
At the moment when the night air tightened with unusual pressure, sudden news spread.
There was unrest at the East Gate.
The expressions of Lee In-jung, the king, and those gathered in the private hall hardened all at once.
"Who has entered by the East Gate?"
The king's voice was low and firm, a fine thread of tension running through it.
Before a precise report could even arrive, sound reached them first from the direction of the East Gate.
Not mere movement, but screams and the clash of metal.
The noise was not coming from outside the walls.
It was spreading clearly from within the gate.
Before the darkness had fully thinned, the area around the East Gate descended into chaos.
A courier came running, gasping, and shouted,
"The enemy is assembling in front of the East Gate!"
The air of the private hall froze.
The king lifted his head.
"What? Again—already?"
Lee In-jung's eyes flashed sharply.
"It seems they were hiding inside the city."
Moments later, a more detailed report arrived.
Some of the troops assigned to guard the East Gate had risen in revolt, changed their banners, and opened the gate.
They were gathering internal forces.
They were clearly collaborators within the palace—men who had either colluded with outside rebels or acted under Ki Cheol's direction.
Lee In-jung stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, this is not yet over.
Those we met at the North Gate were only a portion.
The main force is likely at the East Gate."
The king met his gaze.
"Whose doing is this?"
"Today was likely the day of action.
What we crushed at the North Gate was probably a decoy."
The king clenched his teeth.
"Go. Go and smash them."
"Loyalty!"
Lee In-jung bowed deeply and hurried out of the private hall.
At that moment, Park Seongjin—who had followed almost without thinking—caught his eye.
Lee In-jung stopped and seized his shoulder.
"So you were here."
"Yes, Senior Brother. I barely understood anything and somehow ended up here."
Lee In-jung thought for a moment, then turned back inside and called out loudly,
"Your Majesty!"
The king, who had been exchanging glances with the queen, raised his head.
"What is it?"
"I beg leave to speak out of concern.
I wish to leave one of my men here."
"Whom do you mean?"
"He is in fact my junior disciple.
He fought with me at the North Gate.
If the enemy has infiltrated as far as the East Gate, the safety of the palace cannot be guaranteed.
For today alone, please permit this boy to remain at Your Majesty's side."
Park Seongjin's breath caught.
That his senior brother thought of him in such a way made his chest heave.
It was the moment he asked himself whether he could bear this place.
Lee In-jung added briefly,
"He is a master."
The king fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
"So be it."
"Loyalty."
Lee In-jung tapped Park Seongjin's shoulder and spoke low.
"There is no mercy here.
Do not ask. Do not hesitate.
At this hour, anyone who appears in the palace with a blade is the enemy.
If need be, cut them down.
No questions. No distinctions. Just cut them all down.
I will take responsibility."
Park Seongjin pressed his fist to his chest and bowed deeply.
"Loyalty!"
"Loyalty."
Lee In-jung returned the salute and disappeared into the darkness.
When his footsteps faded, a brief silence settled over the private hall.
Outside, the low roar of troops began to rise.
With darkness came flame, and between Sungin Gate and Seonui Gate the light of war spread.
Even after Lee In-jung departed, the lamps in the private hall were not extinguished.
Under their light, the king held the report from the battle at the North Gate.
It was a short document, with little more to see, yet he read it again and again.
With nothing else to do, he seemed to be using it to master his anxiety.
A note had been added: Ki Cheol's remnants had fled beyond the city walls, and some were being pursued.
The king folded the document slowly.
Grand Princess Noguk was watching him.
There was no agitation on her face.
"In a country where the Empress's kin has raised rebellion, who can truly share that responsibility?"
After pressing her lips together briefly, the Grand Princess spoke in a low voice.
"Ki Cheol is not my blood kin.
Yet the problem is that his name is bound to mine.
This matter will reach the Yuan court as well."
"And what do you think should be done?"
"I fear Your Majesty may become isolated.
After Tokto was driven out, the Empress Ki's power has only grown firmer.
They say that these days she even urges the Great Khan to abdicate in favor of Bali."
The king rose from his seat and walked slowly toward her.
Lamplight fell across his cheek.
"I am grateful for your concern.
But from this point on, the affairs of Goryeo will be borne by me."
Their gazes met briefly.
In her eyes lay a cold recognition of reality;
in his, a pride long held down.
The Grand Princess turned her gaze aside and said,
"If you intend to remove the Ki clan, do it thoroughly.
Leave even a single shadow, and another rebellion will rise."
"Of course."
Park Seongjin stood one step away from the king and queen, motionless at attention.
The Grand Princess's gaze shifted to him.
"If Lee In-jung has recommended you, you cannot be ordinary.
What do you say?"
"I am still young and lacking."
"Have you killed a man before?"
"I have not killed people.
I have cut down enemy soldiers."
"An unusual answer."
He distinguished between people and enemy soldiers.
Though both were living beings, the psychological burden borne by the one who harms them is vastly different.
Park Seongjin added briefly,
"I did not violate the law of the realm."
At the awkward but upright reply, both the king and the queen showed small smiles.
The air of the private hall, heavy with civil war, loosened for a moment with that laughter.
The rough honesty of a young warrior stirred hearts.
"Which battlefields have you stood on?"
"The Liaodong siege and the battle of Sumsu.
In Jiangnan, I fought at Gouwu and Liuhesheng."
"You look young to have seen so many fields. How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Are you good?"
"I won them all."
The Grand Princess's eyes narrowed.
Unbidden, she recalled what she herself had been doing at that age.
It was much like what we think when we behold prodigies—
What were we doing then?
That vast, upright spirit pressed upon the chest.
I won them all.
The king asked again,
"Lee In-jung said he is your senior brother?"
"We did not study together.
We shared the same master at Mount Guwol.
The age difference is great.
I am only grateful that the general acknowledges me as a junior disciple."
The king smiled with interest.
"Then if the two of you were to fight, who would win?"
"I would."
The king's eyes widened.
He had clearly expected the opposite answer.
"What?"
Then the king laughed loudly.
Park Seongjin hurriedly added,
"If our swords cross, my senior brother will yield.
So I win."
The king and the queen burst into laughter at his candor.
It was because the warmth between senior and junior disciples was almost visible in his words.
Park Seongjin, however, had no leisure to dwell on what he had said.
After only a few exchanges, his mind was already blank.
Before the king's questions, he could not hesitate; the words had simply come before thought.
Soon, the talk turned to family.
His father, his household, how he had lied about his age to enter the army in place of two elder brothers who had fallen in battle.
The Grand Princess's eyes reddened.
Clear, clean tears slid down her pale face and fell with a soft sound.
Seen this way, she was truly a warm-hearted person.
Under the lamps of the private hall, war still stood outside the door,
and the boy stood at its very center.
Sunginmun (崇仁門) and Seonuimun (宣義門) were the principal eastern and western gates of the Naseong (羅城), the outer city wall surrounding Gaegyeong (modern Gaeseong), the Goryeo capital.Sunginmun functioned as the eastern main gate, and Seonuimun as the western main gate, with the road connecting them serving as the city's primary east–west arterial thoroughfare.