THE RETURN

Haek Ga hurriedly walked through the quadrangle, his eyes wide open and his entire self sweating profusely.

He couldn't halt as he made it across the courtyard of the Manor through to the main building where the study of his master stood.

Reaching there, he found a couple of guards standing on either side of the doorway.

Upon looking at him, they moved aside.

"Is His Excellency inside?" Haek Ga asked.

"Yes." The guards replied in unison.

Haek Ga opened the doors and then he walked inside where he found his master seated and practicing some calligraphy.

"Your Excellency." Haek Ga said as he bowed his head before his master.

"What is it?" Galmunwang Baekban asked. "Did everything go according to plan?" He added.

"Your Excellency." Haek Ga said as he bowed down his head in disappointment.

"What?" Galmunwang Baekban asked.

"Our entire squad was slain and nine survived." Haek Ga replied.

"What?" Galmunwang Baekban asked.

"Yes Your Excellency." Haek Ga replied.

"How am I supposed to believe that twenty men couldn't kill one armed man?" Galmunwang Baekban asked.

"His Excellency was saved by another team." Haek Ga replied.

"Are you implying that someone else saved my brother?" Baekban asked.

"Yes Your Excellency." Haek Ga replied.

Baekban clenched his fist and then he struck the table before him.

"Calm down Your Excellency." Haek Ga said.

"How can I calm down, it appears that my brother is quite lucky to have survived the jaws of death." Baekban said.

"His Excellency and his wife might have survived but their child did not." Haek Ga said.

Hearing that Baekban calmed down.

"How?" Baekban asked.

"Before our men were subdued, they had set the manor on fire, Gukban was busy fighting them off and others were so scared they did not go inside.

Lady Wolmyeong went in to find the child but she passed out before she succeeded their baby was thus left behind and the flames which consumed the manor took its life along with it." Haek Ga replied.

"So he is not really fortunate at all." Baekban said.

"Your Excellency, much as he wasn't killed at least their child did not survive." Haek Ga said. "I believe that on your side, this can be considered as a good omen, it is merit of a very high order and something that we could use to our advantage." he added.

"You are right." Baekban said. "I could use it to my advantage." He added.

"What shall I do Your Excellency?" Haek Ga asked.

"Nothing." Baekban replied.

"What?" Haek Ga asked.

"Nothing." Baekban replied.

"But why Your Excellency?" Haek Ga asked.

"Someone made an attempt on the King's brother and the King is very suspicious at the moment who it could be, the corpses of the men that we sent perished at the hands of the people who decided to rescue my brother.

It's natural that they would investigate the last people those murderers came into contact with and try to identify the families to which they belonged.

Before that happens and before they can do anything I need you to tie some lose ends." Baekban replied.

"What do you mean Your Excellency?" Haek Ga said.

"See to it that any witnesses are permanently quietened and do not do anything that could make you go public.

We must remain flawless and clean in the eyes of the others and when the time is right if Gukban does happen to come down to Seoraebeol, we shall use it as an opportunity to take advantage of his hatred and aim it in the perfect direction that we want." Baekban said.

"Yes Your Excellency." Haek Ga replied.

Galmunwang Gukban lay on his bed as his wife watched him from the side.

He had been unconscious for a while and she was the first person to awaken from her own awful dream and nightmare that would certainly haunt her for the rest of her entire life.

As she stared at her husband a part of her quite thankful that he had survived the night and the other remorseful that he hadn't even let her in on the position where she had hidden their child before the fire that consumed their manor had come to life, he started to move his head slowly side to side.

"My dear." She called as she moved closer to him.

"My daughter." Gukban called. "My child." he added as he started to shake his head violently.

"Gukban?" Lady Wolmyeong called as she got hold of her husband by his shoulders that he eventually opened his eyes and the first thing that he saw was his teary wife.

He sat up almost immediately.

"Be careful." Lady Wolmyeong said as he felt some pain at his lower abdomen.

"What happened?" Gukban asked his wife.

"You were cut at your lower abdomen." Lady Wolmyeong replied.

"How is our daughter?" Gukban asked. "How is our baby." He added as he looked at his wife curiously that she only looked aside at the small window where the sunlight shone over the both of them.

Her eyes were instantly filled with tears at that moment.

"Before she could even walk, before she could even say her first words as mother and father, before we would watch her become a beautiful young woman and marry her off to a very good man." Lady Wolmyeong said as she wiped a tear from her face.

"What happened to our daughter?" Gukban asked again his face full of worry.

"Our daughter perished in the fire." Lady Wolmyeong replied.

"What?" Gukban asked as he stared at his wife in disbelief.

"Impossible." He said.

"I wish." Lady Wolmyeong said. "I wish too my dear." She repeated herself.

"You must be mistaken, there's no way that our daughter would have perished." Gukban said.

"The flames that consumed our house and Rose from it's foundation to it's roof, it was those very flames that claimed the life of our infant daughter." Lady Wolmyeong said as she stood and walked closer to the window that she looked out through it.

"How could I be so unfortunate, how could heaven be so cruel, my child is cursed that on the very day we'd celebrate her birth, it was the same day we'll forever grieve her departure from us all." She added.

Gukban got put of his bed as he approached his wife from behind.

"She wasn't here and she won't be there when I see for her the most beautiful dresses myself, she died so painfully and all alone without even her mother or father to cling to.

Life had to be this unfair and fate played such a big joke on us both." Lady Wolmyeong said when Gukban embraced her.

"We couldn't even see her learn how to write, we couldn't smile at her when she is smiling back at us, we couldn't go for a family picnic." Gukban said.

"All this misery in the name of what?" Lady Wolmyeong said.

"Perhaps heaven has never been on our side or our parents had such great misdemeanors that heaven shall never forgive us all." Lady Wolmyeong added.

"Don't say that." Gukban said as he turned his wife around and looked her in the eye.

"Why?" Lady Wolmyeong asked. "Is the truth really that painful?" She added.

"It's all my fault." Gukban said, "I couldn't protect you and our daughter and I am the reason that she parted from us so soon, soon that she did not know who her real parents were." He added.

"As a father you tried." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"I tried but not hard enough." Gukban replied.

"If you'd gone beyond that I would have lost you too." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"And I would have perished in peace knowing that my daughter could still grow up and walk this earth." Gukban said.

"It's those vicious men, those monsters that are so heartless, father's but unable to take the example of their children at all." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"They were men from Seoraebeol that wanted to badly kill both of us and our baby." Gukban said his tone changing from one which was sombre to one which was enraged.

"They succeeded after all." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"No they did not." Gukban replied.

His wife curious asked him.

"What are you thinking?" She said.

"I can not let my daughter's death go unpunished." Gukban replied and at once Lady Wolmyeong pulled apart from his embrace.

"You are out of Your mind." She said.

"You expect me to believe that those men rounded themselves together and they were driven by massive excitement to come murder me and my family?" Gukban asked.

"No." Lady Wolmyeong replied.

"There was someone that was behind the attack and they were only servants and minions living up to their master's will." Gukban said.

"That's why I don't wish for you to get entangled in this given that whoever was behind this well orchestrated is a very powerful person." Lady Wolmyeong.

"And I'll get for myself all that power." Gukban said.

"No." Lady Wolmyeong said. "I have had enough already." She added as Gukban looked at her.

"Can't you at least have some pity towards me, can't you at least consider my feelings for you.

It's already hurtful and quite saddening that I have lost my daughter to the grave, I am not willing to let my husband follow in her footsteps." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"How can I live with myself if I can not avenge the death of my daughter, how can her soul be at ease when the very people that wanted her dead proudly and confidently walk the earth?

Every injustice done has its perpetrator, this was an injustice to our family that we can not undermine and pretend as though nothing had happened." Gukban said.

"The path that you are choosing to walk right now is one that is set through fire, it is drenched with blood and filled with very many thorns and sharp stabbing Spears.

To surrender you to such a life in the name of vegeance, I'd rather die and lead you to the grave before seeing it destroy you for myself." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"So much guilt weighs on my heart as I realized that had I perhaps been powerful I would have been in position to command troops to protect my daughter.

I am only fearful that if I was unable to protect her yesterday without any power in the near future I can not protect you without it as well.

As you have said for yourself my dear that the pain of losing our daughter is enough even I, here I am, I can not bear to lose a wife as well." Gukban said.

"Why must you care so much to this point, we can simply go to the ends of the world and start a new life living there in peace." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"The men who hunted down and murdered our daughter are gluttonous and can never find satiety and contentment in any of our actions.

Even if we retired to the end of the world to live a simple and a free life, they'd follow us there and hunt us down until they eventually cease the opportunity then they would butcher us both." Galmunwang Gukban said.

"There is no escape from this." Lady Wolmyeong said as she walked to the bed and sat down demoralized.

"On one side there is a cliff the other there's a lion that is waiting to devour us." Gukban said.

"If we risk and fall off the cliff we could die a very painful death, yet if we face the lion there is a greater chance of survival." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"Yes my dear." Gukban said.

"Now what are you going to do?" Lady Wolmyeong asked as she looked up to her husband who looked back down at her.

"I'm going to do what I should have done ten years ago." Gukban replied.

"And what is it?" Lady Wolmyeong asked.

"I'm going back to SEORAEBEOL." Gukban replied confidently as he clenched his fists that his wife embraced him.

"I'll go back to Seoraebeol and stand with you, I shall fight with you and face all odds with you, I won't stop to care and to support you, until both death do us part and our daughter's soul has rested in eternal peace." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"Thank you my dear." Gukban said as he held her tightly.

"Forgive me my dear that you have to endure all this because of me, it's the only way I could find to protect the very child both you and I deeply cherish." Gukban thought inwardly.

"Really?" King Jinpyeong asked Ichan Seulbu.

"Yes Your Majesty." Ichan Seulbu replied. "The men could only save the Lady Wolmyeong and her husband Galmunwang Gukban, their newborn child did not survive the night." Ichan Seulbu replied.

"How is that possible?" King Jinpyeong asked.

"By the time that our men arrived at the place, someone had already initiated an attack on his family and as he fought to prevent the enemy from entering his Courtyard, the enemy set his house ablaze with fire arrows." Ichan Seulbu replied.

"He really was unfortunate my dear brother." King Jinpyeong said as he nodded his head in disbelief.

"We would have at least tried to save the child as a second thought but who had known that heaven willed it this way?" Ichan Seulbu asked.

"It's unbelievable but good enough nonetheless, it can on our side surpress the rumors that talk about my brother's child being the last carrier of the Hallowed bone." King Jinpyeong said.

"Your Majesty, as far as I know you have two brothers." Ichan Seulbu said.

"You mean Galmunwang Baekban?" King Jinpyeong asked.

"Yes Your Majesty." Ichan Seulbu replied. "The child of your brother Gukban could have perished but that is not good enough a reason for us to be at ease as well because the future is uncertain and anything can happen." He added.

"You are saying that even Baekban can have a child?" Ichan Seulbu said.

"Up to now Your Majesty have you not been curious enough to wonder who could have decided to harm your brother in the first place.

If the real culprit behind the attack was not caught then it could certainly be anyone and as far as I know anyone amongst all the people you should be worried about includes your brother." Ichan Seulbu said.

"It's in your nature to be suspicious." King Jinpyeong said.

"That's why I have survived in the political sphere all these years." Ichan Seulbu said.

"I see that you are by far so concerned." King Jinpyeong said.

The Kingdom is not so strong and us gradually being weakened by constant wars with Paekche in the South and Gorguryeo in the North, we must ensure that we strike a perfect state of equilibrium between the various factions in the court to ensure that the Kingdom remains inwardly stable.

Only if Shilla is stable Your Majesty can we stand strong enough to thwart the threats of other foreign powers." Ichan Seulbu replied.

Galmunwang Gukban and his wife Lady Wolmyeong walked from the small shelter where they had spent the night.

Their maids and valets were waiting outside and along with them there was a group of soldiers that added up to roughly a thousand men.

"Your Excellency." One of the soldiers said as they all bowed their heads.

"What's this?" Gukban asked.

"We received orders from the King to escort you and the rest of Your household back to Seoraebeol." The man replied.

"Who are you?" Galmunwang Gukban asked as he descended the stairs and walked up to the man who was speaking.

The man looked down.

"My name is Choi Damju." He replied.

"Damju?" Gukban called.

"Yes Your Excellency?" Damju replied.

"How many soldiers are here?" Gukban asked.

"One thousand." Damju replied.

"Very well then." Gukban replied as he turned back and looked at his wife who descended the stairs and taking her husband's hand they faced the soldiers.

The soldiers parted ways as they created what was a very small and narrow aisle that led to a small palanquin.

The two walked to the palanquin which was opened and they entered, once it was closed, the troops and the servants organizing themselves marched as the rest of the people in Chopalhye spectated .

Baekban was still seated in his study and it was then that Haek Ga entered.

"Your Excellency." Haek Ga said as he bowed his head and saluted him.

"What have you found out about my brother?" Baekban asked.

"The King sent him nearly a battallion of one thousand soldiers to protect him." Haek Ga replied.

"It makes no sense for the King to protect an already dead man." Galmunwang Baekban said.

"I have heard from reliable sources that the King intends to bring him back to Seoraebeol and bestow upon him some of the titles that he had lost before." Haek Ga replied.

Baekban who was painting halted and then he placed the paint brush on its stand as he admired his portrait.

"Do you know what is in this picture of mine?" Baekban asked.

Haek Ga looked and he could see an eagle that had snatched away a chick while the hen was fighting against it to defend it.

"Three birds, two of which are fighting over one." Haek Ga replied.

"No." Baekban said. "Not at all." He added as he turned around and looked at Haek Ga.

"It's not the animals." Baekban said.

"What is it then Your Excellency?" Haek Ga asked.

"It is war." Baekban replied. "It is a bloody war." He added as he turned around and looked back at his painting.

"The Eagle goes to war to possess what is not his, the hen on the other hand is at war to defend it." Baekban replied.

"Thank you Your Excellency, I thought so shallow." Haek Ga said.

"Aren't you going to ask me who is who is the painting?" Baekban asked.

"I think I already know Your Excellency." Haek Ga replied.

"Then tell me who is who?" Baekban said.

"The Eagle refers to you Your Excellency and the Hen refers to His Majesty the King." Haek Ga replied.

"No." Baekban replied.

"It's not as you think." he added.

"Enlighten me Your Excellency, for I can not see as perfectly well as your eyes can see and I can not discern what you can." Haek Ga said.

"As you are aware the chick in the painting is Shilla." Baekban said.

"Then I am in awe and wonder." Haek Ga said. "If not for his Majesty then whose is Shilla?" He asked.

"Shilla is His Majesty, the question is on his behalf who is going to fight for it, in the picture a rooster would fight for the young of it's children, if it's the hen that fights then it's on behalf of the rooster which can care or can not care less.

His Majesty has had me for a companion all these years ever since he ascended the throne and became the ruler of this our heavenly kingdom.

When Ichan Seulbu was elevated to Sangdaedeung, he must have noticed that I was a threat to His Majesty's powers that he knew he could not contend with me alone.

Have you not wondered at all why my brother was saved on the day we chose to make an attack, or perhaps you did not really know why I chose to Target him in the first place?" Baekban said.

"His Majesty and Seulbu plan to use his to contend with your might." Haek Ga replied.

"Yes." Baekban said. "He wanted to bring him back to Seoraebeol and if he can restore and bestow upon him the titles, he could entirely popularize him and give him the power he needs to match up to my might.

The King wants to use my brother as his sword and he wants to replenish the old hand of his that had withered." Baekban added.

"I now see Your Excellency." Haek Ga said. "The chicken in your painting is your brother Galmunwang Gukban." He added.

"Yes." Baekban replied.

"What must we do Your Excellency?" Haek Ga asked.

"There is only one way that we can counter this threat that is rising against us all." Baekban replied.

"How Your Excellency?" Haek Ga asked.

"If we can not stop him from rising to power then we can on the other hand turn both the King and his brother against one another." Baekban replied with a ghastly smile.

Haek Ga smiled.

"You know what you must do now." Baekban said.

"Yes Your Excellency." Haek Ga replied as he bowed his head and then walked out if the room.

"Let's see brother." Baekban said to himself as he looked at the painting that he had drawn. "Is heaven on your side or against you?" He added.

"Is everything ready for my brother's reception?" King Jinpyeong asked Seulbu.

"Yes Your Majesty." Ichan Seulbu replied. "Your brother left Chopalhye in the morning and we can expect him here in Seoraebeol before noon." He added.

"How is the security?" King Jinpyeong asked.

"It's tight, I put him in the care of one thousand soldiers to escort him here and he shall be led right to the Palace first." Ichan Seulbu replied.

"Have all the officials there are here in Seoraebeol informed that they should all gather at the assembly hall as soon as possible." King Jinpyeong said.

"Yes Your Majesty." Ichan Seulbu replied.

"I want every one to do nothing but accept him." King Jinpyeong said.

"Don't worry Your Majesty." Ichan Seulbu said. "I already took care of that." He assured.

"Good." King Jinpyeong remarked. "Let's herald him well." he added.

The entourage made its way through the streets of Seoraebeol as the people watched the Procession and wondered who it could possibly be.

Lady Wolmyeong peeping out through the windows could tell that so much had changed in the last ten years that she had spent away.

"It's been a while." She said to her husband. "I had never thought about it even once that I'd come back here to Seoraebeol, the very city that I grew up ever again in my life." She added.

"We could not foretell the future, ten years of running about that we could flee Seoraebeol for good, and now it seems that no matter how we tried, each and every road that we took has only led us back." Gukban said.

"This March is one I am still uncertain of." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"We can only be victorious if we are ready to risk putting everything on the line." Gukban said.

"Still this place is filled with old enemies as it is filled with old friends, to survive or not depends on how ready we are to live here." Lady Wolmyeong said.

"No." Gukban said.

"Why?" Lady Wolmyeong asked.

"To survive means to rise above everyone else." Gukban replied.

The entourage eventually halted and those that had been carrying the palanquin put it down.

"We are here." Galmunwang Gukban said.

Hardly had he mentioned it when the small door of the palanquin was opened and the two walked out as Lady Wolmyeong looked at the solid gate that stood right ahead of her and the very high wall that defined the palace throughout the city.

It was beautified with banners that were flying high with all colors and the uniforms of the Royal guards had not changed at all.

Gukban looked at the place itself and the rest of the commons gathering around started to exchange rumours.

"Who is he?" He heard them asking.

"I don't know." Another replied.

Lady Wolmyeong heard that too that she looked at her husband.

"We are nothing." She told him.

"It's been ten years and our presence was long forgotten." Gukban said as he led the way inside and his wife followed.

Walking through the Courtyard of the palace it had not changed at all, he'd still remember how he used to run around it when he was still a very young boy.

He smiled.

"What is it?" Lady Wolmyeong asked.

"It's just that there are some good childhood memories that this place brings back." Gukban replied as he continued.

The officials in the court had gathered and a number of them were murmuring amongst each other.

"What could be so urgent that the King summons us all now?" They said.

Ichan Seulbu only stood right next to the throne and kept quiet as his eyes darted across to Galmunwang Baekban who was busy fanning himself with a peacock fan.

The two looking at one another showed every bit of dislike and Ichan Seulbu even looked to the side as Baekban kept his gaze on him unwavered.

Seulbu didn't feel intimidated as he chose to ignore until eventually the King's presence was announced.

"His Majesty deigns you all with his presence." They heard and at once, the officials took their respective positions in the assembly hall.

King Jinpyeong made his way through the doors and walked down the aisle the Courtiers bowing their heads as he walked by.

Reaching the stairs that led to the throne, he mounted them and positioning himself right in front of them all.

"At ease." He said as they all stood upright, King Jinpyeong sat down and ceased his throne by its arms.

There was a great deal of silence that lingered throughout the room for a while and the King looked at all of them before he finally spoke up.

"I am sure that you are all wondering what forced me to call for this abrupt meeting." King Jinpyeong said.

"Yes Your Majesty." The courtiers said in unison as they bowed their heads while Baekban and Seulbu exchanged deadly glances at one another probably trying to read each other's minds.

Ichan Seulbu smiled.

"Today I summoned you here urgently because I wished to introduce to you someone very familiar and I am sure that you know this person very well." King Jinpyeong said.

The Courtiers at once began murmuring amongst themselves on who the mystery person could be.

"Who could it be Your Majesty?" Galmunwang Baekban asked as he bowed his head with a smile on his face that the King looked at him.

"Let him in." The King ordered and at once the doors of the hall were opened and all the courtiers eyes turned and faced their direction only to see someone looking down.

Raising his face they were all alarmed as he was fully dressed just as the Courtiers themselves were.

"Galmunwang Gukban?" A number of them started speaking to themselves with surprise while a few of the young Courtiers we're quite puzzled on who he really was.

Galmunwang Gukban walked down the aisle his head held high as he looked at the King in a distance while he closed the gap between them both.

Some of the Courtiers staring at him as though he were a ghost he simply ignored and showed no concern until he was standing right there in front of his brother the King.

"Your Majesty." Gukban said as he bowed his head and paid his homeage to his brother.

"You may rise." King Jinpyeong said.

"Your Majesty." One of the Courtiers said.

"You may speak." King Jinpyeong replied.

"It is in deed a very good thing that we have been graced by the presence of Galmunwang Gukban today and it is something that we the Courtiers can not take for granted." The courtier said.

"And what is it that you wish to inquire?" King Jinpyeong asked the Courtier.

"Galmunwang Gukban left the Royal court ten years ago and he was stripped of some of his titles and powers the moment he resigned the politics of the country." The Official said.

"I am aware that you must be wondering why I summoned him and why is it that he is dressed as you are even when he was stripped of his powers as an official." King Jinpyeong said.

"Yes Your Majesty." The Courtiers replied.

"My ascension to the throne at a very tender age was something that came to me so unexpectedly, when I had taken the reins of power from my grandmother Queen Sado, I had promised you all that I shall take all the talents there are in Shilla and I shall integrate them for the prosperity of this nation and to the service of the people." King Jinpyeong said.

"Yes Your Majesty." The Courtiers said in unison.

"During the times of Songmyong as the King of Paekche and then in the early regime of his successor King Mu, when war ravaged our country and tore it's borders, I can not forget the military genius of this brother of mine who stirred us all with our Generals through a number of war victories.

Not only that he was the perfect man that helped us repel the might of Gorguryeo and their conquest of our North, when Shilla had just established itself as a state that was very strong in the reign of my Grandfather, he was one of the cornerstones that saw to it that Shilla maintained it's prestige among the three Kingdoms." King Jinpyeong said.

"I am grateful for the praise Your Majesty." Galmunwang Gukban said.

"Recently as we all know that Sui is doing it's best to absorb Gorguryeo, we can not ignore the fact that at any time Paekche shall strike us when we least expect it." King Jinpyeong said.

"I called my brother back to the Court to bestow his old titles back to him, not only to help us guard against Paekche and Gorguryeo but to also make this Shilla of us that we fervently cherish to flourish once again." King Jinpyeong said.

The courtiers started to nod their heads in approval and the King pleased at the sight had started smiling.

"Your Majesty." One of the Courtiers suddenly spoke up before the situation would settle with everyone else.

"What is it?" King Jinpyeong asked.

"What about the prophecy?" The Courtier said.

"Yes Your Majesty." Another spoke up. "As it has been in the Capital the past months, news has spread about the entire Kingdom concerning the prophecy that foretells the advent of the last Seonggol." He added.

"There is no need to worry about a baseless rumour that is thought to be a prophecy as you might not all be aware but none of my brothers here in your midst possess children of their own." King Jinpyeong said.

"It might not have happened your Majesty but that is a possibility that we should guard against." Kim Seohyeon said.

The King knew it very well that it was a trap that the courtiers were trying to lay for him, not all of them had been aware that Gukban had had a child with his wife while in Chopalhye, even if he would tell them that Gukban's one and only daughter had perished in the fire they would be convinced to turn against him one way or another as it would further show the possibility that he could be a potential Enemy to the throne.

He was not willing to take that risk as he wanted an alliance instead and he did not wish to make the courtiers get rid of his brother because he needed him as a political shield against them.

Seulbu having realized that it could have been a scheme devised by Baekban raised his eyes and then he looked at him.

Baekban only smiled back at him.

"Your Majesty." Baekban eventually said but the King halted him.

"When Bak Hyeokgyeose founded Shilla back in the heart of Saro-guk, he reigned with us as a King amongst men and when his time could be extended no more, the first Seonggol returned to heaven to live with God.

No one is immortal and our life in this world is limited, should the time come when we can no longer be of service, all of us the Seonggols shall return to heaven and there we shall live with God even the last." King Jinpyeong said.

"Your Majesty is Sage." Seulbu said and the officials bowed their heads.

"How can I abandon this talent of my father and the blood of my own, how can I not reward his merit for the greatness that he has brought to this Kingdom when he was in service to us all?" King Jinpyeong asked.

"It is upon this that I have realized Shilla is not Shilla without Galmunwang Gukban and from this point he shall assume his position of General supervisor of all departments and Ministries within Shilla." The King said.

"Thank you Your Majesty." Gukban said.

"This assembly is adjourned." King Jinpyeong added as he stood up and walked from the throne while Gukban moved to the side and let his brother walk out.

When his brother had vanished from all their sight, the officials turning to look at him, he smiled as he walked outside as well.

"You took so much from me." He thought inwardly. "Wherever you are in here, I am going to take everything from you." He added as they turned to follow him out.