And so my struggles with facial recognition continue. I recognize the king easily because of the funny bunny ears on his king cap.

And I’ve gotten better identifying the two Sahaenbu Investigators. But now two elderly statesmen confuse me: the evil head of the Noron, Minister of the Interior aka Prime Minister Min and the fellow Noron member, Inspector General of the Saheonbu.

Prime Minister Min: bad guy

Inspector General: bad guy but might be enticed to go over to the good side with Lee Geum. He reminds me of Pontius Pilate and many bureaucrats who don’t want to deal with a mess that’s above their pay grade.

There’s also the Head Inspector. He’s third in-line at the Saheonbu.

Although he raised a hand against YeonJi for her insubordination, he understood that Prince Milpoong wasn’t qualified to be the next king. I’ve to keep an eye on him in this ever-shifting loyalties in the palace.

But apart from my difficulties distinguishing the characters apart, this episode posed no surprises. The titles of each episode were self-explanatory and hinted at the direction of the plot. So far, we had:

Episodes 1 & 2: The Lowly Prince
Episodes 3 & 4: Your Name is…
Episodes 5 & 6: The Misfortunes of the Virtue

For these Episodes 5 and 6, the game of chance “Seung Geyong Do” provided the key to interpreting the events.  To me, it was the metaphor for the episode.

The Good Investigator Han and his team were playing a more complicated version of the Monopoly boardgame. Instead of competing for prime real estate in Atlantic City, NJ, the players won coveted “positions” in the Joseon government depending on where their game tokens landed.

Ahbong (or the small, squat inspector) won a position and bragged that one of his privileges was dismissing high-ranking officers. His job description led the other players to worry about their own positions and to jockey to keep their spots on the boardgame.

Aiming for his sympathy, his friend said, “AhBong, I’ve regarded you as my own son.” His superior, the Good Investigator Han warned him, “I’m your boss.” And with a baleful glare, YeoJi dared him to take her piece off the board with “Do you want to die?”

Only the innocent MoonSoo had no power over him. “Not me! You know how I finally made a secret royal inspector after much toil. I’m Lord Moon Soo.” So Ahbong chose MoonSoo’s piece to be demoted from the game. MoonSoo complained, “You bastard! I held a secret royal inspector position only in a board game. Must you wreck that, too?”

But AhBong reasoned out that MoonSoo was the weakest piece among then, and an even bigger pushover than he was, so what could he do but target him.

To placate Moonsoo, YeoJi offered to give him his coveted Saheonbu inspector position if she won the next round, which she did.

See that?

To me, the point of the boardgame was to demonstrate that even among the virtuous people, a power play was unavoidable. Despite MoonSoo’s appeal to the better nature and to the goodwill of AhBong, he lost his spot on the boardgame because he was the weakest link.

That was just how it is with life. You win some and you lose some. And it’s just too bad, or tough luck! if you lose out. Hopefully, there’ll be friends, like YeoJi, to help you out.

And that’s what happened to Lee Geum in real life. He suffered a “misfortune” or a setback in this episode although in the boardgame, he accidentally won and became the King.

His newfound friends couldn’t believe that he won the game, against all odds. As a reward, he magnanimously appointed them to their “fantasy” or their dream roles in his “fantasy” kingdom.

To wit, he made AhBong and the other inspector in charge of the Capital Bureau to protect Hanyang because of their loyalty and diligence. The Good Investigator Han was designated the prime minister because of his conviction and fairness.

Hmmm… But Lee Geum forgot that to become the highest member of the state council, a prime minister also needed the backing of the strongest faction.

As for YeoJi, he said, “You are so meticulous that you’re tiresome, but you know the rules and principles,” so he named her “commissioner of the police bureau.” Last but not the least, he sent MoonSoo over the moon by appointing him Inspector General of the Saheonbu, to enforce the laws of the nation, because he believed in the equality as the true way of the world.

lol. Of course, everybody was mightily pleased with their positions because their skills and talents were recognized for the job.

And we viewers were also left with a feeling of satisfaction at seeing this unlikely team bonding. There was even this moment when Lee Geum joked about how handsome he was, and YeoJi looked away. lol. That was a signal for us observant viewers to expect a “loveline” between YeoJi and the Prince in the future, of course.

However, as I said earlier, the boardgame was a metaphor to life.  It’s only a simplified version of the real power play in politics and statecraft.

Soon enough, Lee Geumwould discover that he actually had much in common with MoonSoo in the game.  Although he was instrumental in jailing Prince Milpoong, because of his devious tricks and cunning tactic,

he wasn’t any different from MoonSoo. MoonSoo was demoted by Apbong in the boardgame because he was the weakest link. Likewise, Lee Geum would be “stripped” of both his role in the investigation and his position in the real world to guarantee his younger brother’s ascendancy to the throne.

He had been the “secret” weapon and the crucial witness, in taking down Prince Milpoong. At the meeting of the Noron council, the Prime Minister described him as the “nail” in the spot where they didn’t expect. The meaning behind the comparison to a nail couldn’t be any clearer. The nail, aka Lee Geum, caused them to stumble in their plans unexpectedly, but the nail could be hammered down. The Prime Minister said ominously, “But currents constantly change and we’ve been victors for a long time, and we know how to always win, do we not?”

Sure enough, the victory lap of Lee Geum and Team JungSeok was only short-lived. They were playing a game of chance after all. In the next move of the Prime Minister, Lee Geum was compelled to retract his testimony and to frame the Good Investigator Han. Against his will, he was forced to give up his role in the mission in order to ensure his brother’s enthronement as king.

Lee Geum asked the Prime Minister why he had to go through such lengths to destroy people. “You’re going to abandon Prince Milpoong anyway. So why? For what?”

The stark brutal answer was “Because that’s how we win, Prince Yeoning. Shall I tell you how we’ve prevailed so far? We need to plant fear into everyone. To demonstrate what happens when you resist and how it ends. If everyone in the world sees that, then no one will ever dare to come forward easily. That’s always the way to win, Prince Yeoning.”

So Lee Geum walked out of that encounter, overpowered and demoralized.

The image of him walking alone and meeting YeonJi is a scene we’ve witnessed before.

Remember? In Episode 1.

When inspector ByungJoo, the traitor, came out of HIS own meeting with the Prime Minister, he too had looked shaken and dispirited.

Both Lee Geum and ByungJoo were summoned to face the evil Minister. ByungJoo refused to partake of tea by the Minister because the action might be misconstrued and jeopardize his upcoming mission to arrest a minister.

To ByungJoo, the Minister said, “We’re all living lives hanging off the edge of a cliff. A slight push and we will plummet instantly. Do you know what one realizes when that instance comes? To lose power is akin to imminent death. However, it’s not just at that time, of course. (Referring to the King’s purge of aristocrats.) It’s possible that someone’s life is plummeting right at this moment, too. (Referring to the King’s discovery that the Crown Prince would have to be deposed because of his inability to conceive heirs.) In life, what goes around comes around.”

Then, he zoomed in on ByungJoo’s weakness, “You’re a dragon from a stream (meaning, ambitious but with no backers). Even though you placed first on the exam to your current ranking, since you’re from the Namin faction, you already know you cannot go high in your officialdom.” He added, “Do you know why that animal only exists in legends? Because in reality, it’s impossible to judge good and evil. That’s because in reality, only winner and loser, survivor and dead exist. But in this world, there are fools who believe otherwise.”

See the similarity? As with ByungJoo, the Minister exploited Lee Geum’s feeling of lowliness and powerlessness. ByungJoo lacked connections because he was poor and associated the wrong faction. Lee Geum lacked pedigree because he was born of a lowly woman and had no faction at all.

Thus, ByungJoo and Lee Geum walked in darkness after their encounters with Prime Minister. They were overwhelmed and horrified by their impotence against the machinery of great evil. They couldn’t protect people. They were too weak to fight so why bother?

ByungJoo was greeted by his good friend Inspector Han who was so happy to see him because he thought Byungjoo would join them in their mission. Inspector Han clasped his hand.

Lee Geum was met by YeoJi who wondered what he was doing there. He collapsed on her shoulder.

Both men received physical comfort. But the glaring difference between them (as far as I see now) was that ByungJoo hid his change of  heart and change of his alliance from his colleague while Lee Geum, in resting his head on YeonJi’s shoulder, was admitting to his own weakness and failure.

Burdened by the “misfortunes of the virtue,” as the title indicated, the good or virtuous men are separated from the bad men by their next course of action.

To be continued after I watch Episodes 7 and 8.