Episodes

King for All · 삼한왕검 632–676 3 Parts 99 episodes

Part I The Three Kingdoms 삼국시대 632–642

Arc 1 The King for All 삼한왕검 632–642

Chapter 1 Silla 신라

  1. 1 Queen Sunduk 선덕여왕 Silla 632 11 min A Queen? Ridiculous.
  2. 2 Harmony Council 화백회의 Silla 632 6 min Six nobles. One brazier. Nobody stands up until they all agree.
  3. 3 Jinheung, the Cloud 진흥왕, <법운> Silla 554 4 min Ask anyone in Surabol about the Cloud King and they’ll tell you about his stones. Ask anyone in Sabi and they’ll change the subject.

Chapter 2 Baekje 백제

  1. 4 Prince Euija 의자태자 Baekje 632 12 min Thirty-two is late to be named crown prince. By then the clans have had years to decide which of his sons they own.
  2. 5 Eight Great Clans 대성팔족 Baekje 632 8 min Satek. Yunbi. Jinmo. Mokli. Hae. Baek. Guk. Ahn.
  3. 6 Gunchogo, the 13th 근초고왕 Baekje 371 2 min A Baekje king marches north, and a Goguryeo king dies on his own wall. In seven hundred years, it never happens again.

Chapter 3 Goguryeo 고구려

  1. 7 Commander Yeon 연개소문 Goguryeo 634 6 min Everyone in the north has a story about the Eternal General. None of them are bedtime stories.
  2. 8 High Summit 제가회의 Goguryeo 634 6 min Five commanders, one king, one room. Pyongyang already knows the sound of his hooves.
  3. 9 Gwanggaeto, the Great King 광개토대왕 Goguryeo 400 2 min His stele lists sixty-four fortresses. It does not list the nerve it took.

Arc 2 The Five Principles 세속오계 641

Chapter 4 Two Treasures 두 보물

  1. 10 Bupmin 김법민 Silla 641 3 min Fifteen is old enough for the headband, and too young to invent a country alone.
  2. 11 Sadaham 사다함 Silla 560–564 9 min Every yard has its ghosts. This one has two, and they have never missed roll call.
  3. 12 Gotaso 김고타소 Silla 641 4 min A young girl is going to do what she’s going to do.
  4. 13 Pumsuk 품석 Silla 641 4 min Pumsuk asks for the girl. Chunchu asks for something else.
  5. 14 Munhee 문희 Silla 625 8 min It starts with a dream, and the dream is sold.

Chapter 5 Three Sons 세 아들

  1. 15 Academy 태학 Goguryeo 641 4 min Yeon has three sons. They could not be more different. There is only one seal.
  2. 16 Stele 광개토대왕릉비 Goguryeo 641 3 min Every Goguryeo boy is raised on the Great King’s stone. Nobody tells them what it weighs.
  3. 17 Dosuryu 도수류 Goguryeo 641 3 min In thirty years, old Dosuryu has never once kept his boots on in this house. Tonight he does.

Chapter 6 Five Princes 다섯 왕자

  1. 18 King Euija 의자왕 Baekje 641 7 min The court will style him Righteous and Merciful. He has a sense of humour about that.
  2. 19 Yunchung 윤충 Baekje 641 4 min There was only one man Euija knew he could trust to deliver.
  3. 20 The Severing 단 (斷) Silla 553–554 4 min The sad thing about betrayal… is that it never comes from your enemies.

Arc 3 Iron Will 불굴의지 642

Chapter 7 Daeya 대야성

  1. 21 Gumil 검일 SillaBaekje 642 7 min In Silla, bone decides how high a man can climb. Gumil has climbed exactly that high.
  2. 22 Maehwa 매화 SillaBaekje 642 4 min A man is measured by his self-control.
  3. 23 Siege of Daeya 대야성 SillaBaekje 642 6 min Gumil doesn’t ask his wife if she’s hurt. He asks for the story.

Chapter 8 Supreme Commander 대막리지

  1. 24 Yeon’s Massacre 연개소문의 정변 Goguryeo 642 7 min All summer he has bowed. Now he’s hosting a banquet, and the king is coming.
  2. 25 Chunchu & Yeon 자의악마 SillaGoguryeo 642 6 min To save Silla, Chunchu has to walk into Pyongyang and ask the most dangerous man in Samhan for a favour.
  3. 26 Euija & Yeon 해동증자 BaekjeGoguryeo 642 6 min Two new strongmen, one table. Yeon is surprised the King of Baekje came himself.

Chapter 9 Kim Yushin 김유신

  1. 27 Nangbi 낭비성 SillaGoguryeo 629 6 min Kim Yushin — a name that strikes fear in all of Samhan. Maybe this is why.
  2. 28 Forty Fortresses 마흔 성 SillaBaekje 642 3 min In Baekje’s markets they spit when they say his title. They add, quietly, that Gyebek hasn’t met him yet.
  3. 29 The Eastern Star 동쪽 별 SillaBaekje 642 3 min He doesn’t ask forgiveness for the hall. He asks for witnesses.

Epilogue 에필로그

  1. 30 Emperor 에필로그 · 황제 Tang 643 3 min Far to the west, a man who owns half the world hears a new name. He turns it over on his tongue, like a grape he hasn’t decided to eat.

Part II The Dawn of War 임전무퇴 643–660

Arc 4 The Seventh Invasion 고당전쟁 643–645

Chapter 10 Emperor 황제 황제

  1. 31 Four Dragons 사룡 (四龍) Tang 643 8 min The Heaven-Sent General. The Khan of Heaven. He has many names, and he is running out of countries.
  2. 32 Sima Yi 사마의 (司馬懿) TangGoguryeo 238 10 min A young king of the hills hears of a man in the West who outwaited Zhuge Liang. He rides a thousand li to meet him, and makes a friend he cannot afford.
  3. 33 Yodong 요동성 TangGoguryeo 645 6 min Goguryeo spent fourteen years building a wall. The Blue Dragon simply walks around it.
  4. 34 Boiling River 동천왕 Goguryeo 244 2 min A king picks a fight over a diplomatic spat. Then he picks a battlefield he hasn’t looked at.

Chapter 11 Guardian 성주 성주

  1. 35 Stallion Mountain 주필산 TangGoguryeo 645 9 min A farmer in a white coat walks onto the field as a name on a muster roll. The Emperor is watching.
  2. 36 Colossal River 을지문덕, «수호신» Goguryeo 612 3 min Ulchi Munduk surrenders seven times on the way south. Every time, the river gets closer.
  3. 37 Ansi 안시성 TangGoguryeo 645 9 min Ansi dances all night, follows a man with a lazy eye, and answers to no one. Now the emperor is at the gate.

Chapter 12 Jumong 주몽

  1. 38 Haemosu 해모수 Goguryeo -59 7 min Every day the sun crosses the sky on the same road. Today he looks down.
  2. 39 Buyeo 부여 Goguryeo -40 8 min Dogs won’t eat it. Hooves step around it. An axe won’t split it. Nobody in the hall wants to say what it is.
  3. 40 Jolbon 졸본 Goguryeo -37 15 min He’s still wet from the river when the spears find him. The chieftain’s daughter is sharper than the spears.

Arc 5 The Chunchu Era 춘추시대 643–654

Chapter 13 Bidam 비담

  1. 41 Gi (起) 기 (起) SillaWa 645 13 min Bidam takes the Council’s first chair and keeps his hand down alone against the queen’s cousin. The queen falls, the gate shuts, and on the first day the black headbands go up on the Radiance wall.
  2. 42 Suro 가야 연맹 Gaya 42 18 min Before there is a Gaya, there is a ridge, and a sky god who looks at it too long.
  3. 43 Seung (承) 승 (承) Silla 647 10 min Five nights of tea between the camps, and a score still tied. On the fifth, Bidam asks the one question Yushin has never answered in Surabol.
  4. 44 Muryuk 김무력 Gaya 532 11 min A king promises his youngest son everything the sun touches. Then Silla comes shopping.
  5. 45 Jeon (轉) 전 (轉) Silla 647 9 min The sixth night’s tea turns to insult, the cavern throws Bidam out, a white horse burns for a falling star, and Yushin leaves the gate for one night to sit by his father.
  6. 46 Seohyun 김서현 SillaGaya 593 30 min Before there is a Yushin there is a road, and a man on it who should be looking where he is going.
  7. 47 Gyeol (結) 결 (結) Silla 647 14 min Three Gaya men wait for Yushin in the steam, and one of them doesn’t finish his sentence. Then the gate opens from the inside, and the score finally breaks.

Chapter 14 Seungman 승만

  1. 48 Queen Jinduk 진덕여왕 Silla 647 3 min The crown was made for her cousin and has to be padded at the temples.
  2. 49 Huangdi (皇帝) 황제 SillaTang 648 21 min Everyone on earth wants something from the Son of Heaven. Most of them bring tribute. Chunchu brings an offer.
  3. 50 Jiabeng (駕崩) 가붕 (駕崩) Tang 649 3 min The empire does not wait for grief to finish its sentence.
  4. 51 Royal Secretariat 집사부 651 13 min One seal. One speed. Fewer uncles.

Chapter 15 Chunchu 춘추

  1. 52 King Muyeol 무열왕 Silla 654 3 min For seven years the crown has sat on the Queen. The work has sat on her nephew’s table.
  2. 53 Jahee 김자희 Silla 644 4 min The quay doesn’t care that he’s a prince. She has already decided his arithmetic is sloppy.

Chapter 16 Hyukgose 혁거세

  1. 54 Hyukgose 혁거세 거서간 Silla -57 6 min A white horse kneels by a well and cries. Six chiefs start digging.
  2. 55 Talhae 탈해 Silla -19 11 min A chest washes in on the tide with a magpie crying over it. What climbs out is a con man.
  3. 56 Alji 알지 Silla 65 5 min Roosters don’t crow at night. In the woods west of the city, one does.

Arc 6 The Fall of Euija 해동증자 655–660

Chapter 17 Tamla 탐라

  1. 57 Exile 유배 BaekjeTamla 655 7 min Three years of mourning, by the rite. Everyone in Sabi knows exactly what can be done inside them.
  2. 58 Heaven–Earth King 천지왕 Tamla 태초 7 min In the beginning there were two suns, two moons, and nobody ever got a decent night’s sleep.
  3. 59 Sulmun 설문대할망 Tamla 태초 2 min Before the island there is a woman, and she is enormous.
  4. 60 Three Princes 삼성혈 Tamla 태초 2 min Three princes climb out of a hole in the ground. A chest sealed with purple clay is drifting toward their beach.
  5. 61 Stone Lady 산방덕 Tamla 태초 2 min Sanbangduk came down out of the rock to love a poor man. The island remembers how that went.
  6. 62 Gardener 할락궁이 Tamla 태초 4 min At the far end of the west, where the maps run out, there is a field of flowers that put the dead back together.
  7. 63 Kangrim 강림 Tamla 태초 3 min A magistrate sends his strongest man down alive to arrest the judge of the dead. The judge keeps him, and a crow loses the book of everyone’s hour.
  8. 64 Tribute 탐라와 백제 498 4 min The tribute boat comes home from Sabi with the king’s news. None of it has Gyebek’s name in it.

Chapter 18 Euija 의자

  1. 65 Coup 혁명 Baekje 657 5 min He calls the assembly the way a gambler calls a final hand.
  2. 66 Descent 삼천궁녀 Baekje 657 12 min Eight grudges, forty-one sons, and not one loyalty he didn’t create by decree.
  3. 67 Nine Omens 망국 Baekje 659 4 min Every omen is real, in the sense that people saw it. That was always the only sense that mattered.
  4. 68 Onjo 온조왕 Baekje -18 5 min Nobody in their father’s hall ever mentions Buyeo. Then a boy with a sling turns up.

Chapter 19 Three Loyalists 삼충신

  1. 69 Sungchung 성충 Baekje 660 2 min Two armies are coming for the capital, one by sea and one over the hills. The markets already have a name for it.
  2. 70 Heungsu 흥수 Baekje 660 5 min The king sends for the one man he sent away for being right.
  3. 71 Gyebek 계백 Baekje 660 5 min Somewhere in the fourth year he notices he has stopped counting the days. Then a boat comes.

Epilogue 에필로그

  1. 72 Three Realms 삼계 TamlaSilla 태초 3 min Once a year the gods meet in a pavilion on the clouds. This year the reaper comes late from a swept yard in Baekje, with a question about the dead.

Part III Kingfall 흥망성쇠 660–676

Arc 7 The Fall of Baekje 백제멸망 660–661

Chapter 20 Fall of Baekje 백제 멸망

  1. 73 Yellow Mountain 황산벌 BaekjeSilla 660 13 min Five thousand men against an empire and a kingdom. Gyebek has already done the arithmetic.
  2. 74 Sabi 사비성 · 웅진성 Baekje 660 9 min Euija’s first move is to send the Tang a feast. The oxen come back untouched.
  3. 75 Buyeo Euija† 부여의자, 죽다 Baekje 660 3 min In the Tang capital, a confession is already written. There’s a space at the bottom for his name.
  4. 76 Kim Chunchu† 김춘추 TangGoguryeo 661 3 min The man who arranged all of it is fifty-eight, and cannot get out of bed.

Chapter 21 Baekje Restoration Army (BRA) 백제 부흥군

  1. 77 Ungjin Commandery 웅진도독부 TangBaekje 661 4 min The Tang throw a net over the country. A sixty-year-old in white comes to mend it.
  2. 78 King Pungjang 부여풍 BaekjeWa 661 7 min Baekje is finished, says everyone except Baekje. Its last prince has lived across the sea for twenty years.

Arc 8 The Final Stand 삼한일통 661–668

Chapter 22 Four Beasts 사신

  1. 79 Pyongyang I 평양 TangGoguryeo 661 4 min A red gate on a grey ridge. There is only one gate anyone remembers.
  2. 80 Snake River 사수 전투 TangGoguryeo 662 6 min The White Tiger still believes rivers are roads. Yeon Gesomun has been waiting for a man who thinks that.
  3. 81 Tamla Surrenders 탐라 항복 TangGoguryeo 662 3 min Two envoys, one fire, and an island king who won’t pick only one side.

Chapter 23 Kudara 구다라

  1. 82 Rebellion 내사지성 SillaBaekje 662 2 min Nineteen generals are named for the campaign. Two of them call in sick, and are seen at a gyuku match.
  2. 83 Betrayal 배신 Baekje 663 3 min The general who crowned Baekje’s king is sick in bed and asking for a visit. The king remembers another supper.
  3. 84 White River 백강 TangSillaBaekjeWa 663 8 min For the first time, the West, Samhan and the East meet in one mouth of water. The tide is nobody’s friend.

Chapter 24 Brothers 형제

  1. 85 Yeon Gesomun† 연개소문, 죽다 Goguryeo 665 3 min The Eternal General is dying.
  2. 86 Brothers’ Coup 형제의 난 Goguryeo 666 3 min Three brothers, one seal, and men whispering in both directions.
  3. 87 Pyongyang II 평양성 함락 TangSillaGoguryeo 668 5 min When the ring closes, the city needs one man nobody can buy. They pick a monk.

Arc 9 Silla-Tang War 나당전쟁 670–676

Chapter 25 Protectorate-General 안동도호부

  1. 88 Mount Gain 취리산 회맹 TangSillaBaekje 665 4 min The night Pyongyang falls, Munmu goes to look at an oath. Three summers earlier, the empire made him swear it over his uncle’s white horse.
  2. 89 Dangun & Old Joseon 고조선 Long ago 5 min Before there are any kingdoms, there is a son in heaven who keeps looking down.
  3. 90 Anseung 안승 GoguryeoSilla 670 2 min Geom Mojam raises Goguryeo’s flag and finds a royal to stand under it. They disagree about dying, and only one of them sees the morning.
  4. 91 Letters 답설인귀서 TangSilla 671 5 min Xue Rengui would like to win this war by post. The king does not go to bed.
  5. 92 Stone Gate 석문 TangSilla 672 3 min Silla wins the morning, then makes the mistake that costs the year: it chases.
  6. 93 Wonsul 원술 Silla 672 2 min Wonsul came home alive from Stone Gate. His father asks the king to execute him, and the king answers with something he said at fifteen.

Chapter 26 Supreme Marshal 태대각간

  1. 94 Kim Yushin† 김유신, 죽다 Silla 673 3 min Old now, Yushin still finds the cavern. The three in the steam look exactly the age they always looked.
  2. 95 The Wanggeom's Guest 단군왕검 Silla 673 3 min The day after the funeral, Munmu signs a traitor’s death warrant, then finds his uncle’s spring. Something older than any kingdom is waiting on the water.
  3. 96 Maeso 매소성 전투 TangSilla 675 3 min Xue Rengui comes back by sea. His guide is a Silla boy whose father the king killed.
  4. 97 Final Ford 기벌포 전투 TangSilla 676 2 min At the river mouth where the Tang landed sixteen years ago, a captain who has never won anything loses twice on purpose. Xue Rengui watches his fleet sit down in the mud.
  5. 98 The King for All 삼한왕검 Silla 676 5 min On the morning he becomes king of all Samhan, Munmu opens the hall to the yard. Five summers later, Kangrim asks him the question.

Epilogue 에필로그

  1. 99 Balhae 에필로그 · 발해 Goguryeo 698 4 min The winter after Pyongyang falls, an old man carries a piece of a crown through the snow.