190.too many enemies.
There were too many enemies.
No—every direction was the enemy.
More precisely, no one knew who the enemy was.
"Your Majesty, this place is dangerous!"
Lee In-jung's shout struck the ceiling of the throne hall.
"What would you have us do?"
"We must move. Inside this hall we cannot distinguish friend from foe.
The Signal Guard is waiting outside. We will go to them."
Beyond the windows, flames were already leaping crimson.
If pressed, these men would burn everything.
Perhaps because they believed this would never again be the place where they would live.
The rebels' shouts drew nearer.
A massive door collapsed.
From the far end of the corridor, soldiers drenched in blood staggered toward them.
The king rose to his feet.
At that moment, a eunuch at his side drew a blade.
"Your Majesty… forgive me."
The words were deferential, but the eyes were not.
The gaze carried a settled cruelty.
In those days, it was said, a man's face and his heart were not yet so far apart.
A traitor wearing a eunuch's guise drove his blade toward the king's nape.
Clang—!
A flash of steel knocked the blade aside with ease.
It was Park Seong-jin.
His swordtip skimmed the eunuch's neck as it passed.
The body reacted a beat too late.
It was only a graze, yet the carotid was severed.
Blood sprayed toward the king.
The cut breath fell to the floor.
The king recoiled in shock.
Park Seong-jin's hand was already soaked in blood.
"Step back, Your Majesty."
"You—"
The king's words broke off.
Behind them, screams and shouts tangled together.
More than half of the guards had already mixed with the rebels.
The collars were the same.
The eyes were not.
In the instant of trying to tell them apart, the enemy's blade moved first.
Park Seong-jin placed himself ahead of the king and queen and drew them into a narrow corridor.
From the rear, Lee In-jung's commands poured out.
"Left and right guard! Protect His Majesty!
The rest—form a defensive line!"
At the far end of the corridor, enemy shadows stretched long.
They were close.
They did not rush.
They followed at a measured distance.
Park Seong-jin turned his sword and struck the leading spear shaft.
With such force that the thick wood split like dry straw.
Steel rang, tearing the night air.
The stench of blood clawed at the throat.
Firelight collided from all sides.
He moved front and back, left and right, cutting away every blade aimed at the king as if erasing them.
When steel brushed his shoulder, a body fell.
Another neck dropped an instant later.
There was no time to count the dead.
The king's robe fluttered just behind his back.
Park Seong-jin did not yield a single step.
His body burned as if aflame.
The sword had already become part of him.
"Your Majesty, this way!"
A court lady cried out—then fell silent.
She was with them.
A spear pierced her side.
Her slender body collapsed without strength, blood scattering.
Through that gap another guard rushed in, blade raised.
Park Seong-jin's eyes flashed.
"A traitor!"
His sword drew a half circle and took the man's head in a single cut.
The blade struck a torch as well, scattering sparks in all directions.
Fire brushed his shoulder.
He did not look back.
He seized the king's arm and pushed him forward.
"Run, Your Majesty."
From behind came Lee In-jung's shout.
"Hold the rear! The formation must be maintained!"
The remaining soldiers fell one by one, buying time.
Park Seong-jin half-carried the king as they broke out of the hall.
The sky was dark red.
Flames rose from every palace roof.
Tiles burst like shells, raining down.
Fire spilled across the blood-soaked courtyard.
Outside, the king's breath came ragged.
"You… what was your name?"
He already knew it.
The warmth of the hand that had saved his life still lingered.
His mind clung to that fact as if grasping for ground.
"I am Park Seong-jin."
"Seong-jin… Park Seong-jin…
Seong-jin, the cluster of stars?"
The king looked at him with unfocused eyes.
Fear remained there.
Beneath it, trust was beginning to take shape.
---*
The Night of Rebellion — Breaking Through the Palace Gates
Scarlet flames swallowed the roof of the throne hall.
Red fire stained the night sky.
Buildings burst as they failed under the heat, tiles scattering in all directions.
Park Seong-jin led the king and queen across a long gallery.
The stone floor was slick with blood.
Behind them, pursuing shouts and dying screams tangled together.
The battle of the throne hall spilled into the corridors.
Men in the same uniforms doubted one another.
Trust collapsed before steel did.
The Gyeonryong Guard, meant to protect the king at the closest distance, had betrayed him.
Only Lee In-jung's Signal Guard could be trusted now.
"Straight ahead!"
Lee In-jung's voice came through the flames.
At the end of the passage leading to the South Gate, a palace door stood faintly open.
Spear-bearing soldiers stood like a wall before it.
They wore the uniforms of the palace guard.
But their eyes—
"Block them! Do not let His Majesty pass!"
At the shout, the king's shoulders trembled.
More traitors.
How far did the enemy reach?
Park Seong-jin stepped in front of the king.
He drew a short breath.
"Your Majesty, step back."
Lowering his stance, he drew up his inner force.
The swordtip did not waver.
In the firelight, the blade flashed.
He shattered the first man's spear shaft.
Pierced the second through the chest.
The third tripped over his foot and fell—
his neck taken with a short scream.
Flame, blood, and the stink of iron surged together.
The enemy was many.
The narrow corridor became a single path that bound their feet.
The arc of Park Seong-jin's sword burst like silver light.
He scattered spearheads flying in from both sides.
Turned his body and cut again and again.
Blood ran down the blade.
From behind, Lee In-jung drove the troops forward.
"Left wing, charge for the palace gate!
Protect His Majesty!"
Spearmen checked the rebels.
Park Seong-jin broke through, tearing the opening wide.
"Your Majesty—now!"
The king turned and ran.
The queen gathered her robe and ran with him.
Robes whipped through blades, fire, and sparks.
The shadow of the palace gate loomed before them.
At the final breach, another wall of spears rose.
Park Seong-jin steadied his breath and raised his sword.
At that moment, the king's voice came from behind him.
"Will you take my rear?"
"My blade guards Your Majesty's back."
With the words, he threw himself forward.
Spearheads flashed like lightning.
Fire burst, shadows reeled.
He set the blade at an angle and forced his way through.
One step.
Two.
At last, the palace bar shattered open.
The king and queen escaped first.
Park Seong-jin followed, covering them.
Outside, the Signal Guard's formation was already in place.
Troops Lee In-jung had deployed in advance.
"The Signal Guard! Open the way!"
Armor gleamed.
The wind beyond the walls drove away the stench of blood.
The king drew a deep breath.
Park Seong-jin lowered his blade and knelt.
"Your Majesty, you are outside the palace now.
We will hold here."
The king looked down at him for a moment.
In his eyes was no longer fear, but firm trust.
"Seong-jin. You have held this night."
Park Seong-jin bowed his head.
"Loyalty."
Behind them, flames surged again from the palace gates and shouts erupted.
The king was safe.
In that instant, the night of rebellion crossed into the dawn of history