Jang Okjung Live in Love: The Lost Episodes - Final Part II
Disclaimer: I own nothing. And though historical figures are mentioned in this work of fiction, remember that this is a work of pure, unadulterated fiction and is therefore in no way related to the factual historical events that surrounded them. There will be blatant historical inaccuracies so read at your own risk.
Standard rating of PG15 applies. There will be strong language and adult concepts. You’ve been warned.
Jang OkJung, Live in Love:
The Lost Episodes
The Final Episode Part II - Return of the Queen
After the queen regent had retired to her quarters the evening prior, Soon summoned Hyunmoo and Prince Dongpyung to his private chambers and set his plan underway. In the dead of night, Choi Sukwon and all of her accomplices had been captured and and their confessions tortured out of them. And now, with the sun high in the sky, the king held their lives in his hands.
Every single member of the Western faction, all of the maid servants involved, and Choi Sukwon herself knelt on the cold, hard stone floor in front of the main palace, begging for their lives. Except for Choi Sukwon who stubbornly refused to admit her wrongdoings. “Your Majesty, how can you do this to me when I have done nothing wrong!? I only reported to you what I was told by the ministers of the Western faction and my maids! How can you punish me for that?”
Enraged by her bold-faced lies Soon slammed his fist loudly on the arm of the throne that had been brought outside. “SILENCE! You claim to have done nothing wrong, yet I have evidence and witnesses who can account for your wrongdoings! I have confessions from all of those who were involved in all of your schemes! And yet you DARE to sit there and tell such LIES?!”
Unaffected by the king’s words, Choi Sukwon held her head up high and stared defiantly at Soon. “I have done nothing wrong. I don’t deserve this Your Majesty.”
Soon smirked and spoke in a deathly calm voice. “You’re right. You deserve much worse. Hyunmoo, bring me the scroll.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” A golden scroll changed hands three times before Hyunmoo finally handed it to the king.
Silently, he unfurled the scroll and tossed it down the steps to the prisoners awaiting their punishments. And again, his deathly calm voice carried out into the courtyard. “For engaging in a crime tantamount to treason, each member involved shall be stripped of their titles and beheaded or banished as seen fit to their crime and three generations of each family shall be marked as traitors.”
All lesser members of the Western faction and Choi Sukwon’s maids were dragged away screaming and begging for their lives, leaving only Choi Sukwon, Kim Mangi, and a handful of lesser ministers to face their punishments.
At that moment, Soon rose from his throne and descended the steps towards his prisoners, stopping a mere five steps above them. As he looked down at them, he saw no sign of remorse, and if he had perhaps he would have spared them, if not for the gravity of their crimes. “For the sin of conspiring to murder the mother of the Crown Prince and coveting the seat of the queen, I, King Sukjong of Joseon, hereby sentence Choi Sukwon of the Choi Clan, on the 9th day of the 4th lunar month in the year of the Metal Horse, to death by poison, to be carried out immediately.”
And then he turned his attention to Kim Mangi. “In light of the fact that we were once family, and because of your daughter, I am going to spare you a gruesome death, though we both know you deserve it. On this day, the 9th day of the 4th lunar month in the year of the Metal Horse, I, King Sukjong of Joseon, hereby sentence Minister of Defense Kim Mangi to death by poison. He shall be stripped of his title, his name eradicated from the royal registry, and five generations of his family to be marked as traitors. His punishment too, shall be carried out in concurrence with Choi Sukwon.”
The two accomplices glowered angrily as the king dictated his final rulings on the lesser ministers and burst out angrily as Hyunmoo went to bring the poison that would put an end both of their miserable existences. “Your Majesty! You can’t do this! You cannot turn your back on us like this!”
Soon scoffed and lowered to his haunches, locking eyes with the man who had once been his father in law. “You would do well to remember that I was never on your side. I was only choosing the lesser of two evils. But before you die, I will allow you to meet the woman who shall henceforth be my queen and the mother of this nation.”
Several audible gasps echoed throughout the courtyard as a woman rounded the corner carrying a bowl of poison on a tray, dressed in an imperial gown of the deepest shade of purple and crimson red, closely followed by the queen regent now turned 1st rank Bin, carrying a second bowl of poison. Soon smirked victoriously at his ex-father-law and stood up, turning to greet his one and only queen. “Welcome home, Okjung-ah.”
Okjung, showing signs of an early pregnancy, descended the stairs with all the grace of a true queen and stopped to greet her king. “It’s good to be back, Your Majesty.”
With a triumphant smile, Okjung looked down at Choi Sukwon, the woman who had tried to take her family from her, and set the bowl of dark liquid in front of her. For a moment thereafter, everybody froze, unsure if what they were seeing was a vengeful ghost. “You see, after the shrine was discovered and Okjung was confined to Chwiseondang, a royal physician came to me and informed me that she was carrying my second child. So how could I, by my own hand, kill the woman I loved and our unborn child? I couldn’t. So I created a way out for her and kept her hidden while I gathered enough evidence to condemn you and bring her back to my side, where she belongs.”
Okjung grinned smugly and took hold of her husband’s hand, lacing their fingers together tightly, her free hand coming to rest on her protruding belly. “And now the time has come for you to face your judgement. I won’t say it’s been fun, because it hasn’t. Good bye Choi Musuri, I wish you better luck in your next life.”
Thus, on the 9th day of the 4th lunar month in the year of the Metal Horse, Royal Consort Choi Sukwon and all one thousand of her accomplices lost their lives. Those who had been fortunate enough to escape death were banished to the furthest corners of the kingdom, and their families left to deal with the consequences.
In the days following Okjung’s subsequent inauguration as queen, it was confirmed that their second child, Prince Joon, was in fact the boy who had been born outside of the palace; and six months thereafter, Her Royal Highness Queen Okjung of the Jang clan, beloved wife of King Sukjong, gave birth to their third child, a healthy baby girl whom they would go on to name Princess Jungyi.
To that end, Lee Soon and Jang Okjung, lovers brought together by fate and by that same hand torn apart, spent the rest of their days happily married. The kingdom flourished under the reign of a kind, warm-hearted king and queen, and when King Sukjong passed away some decades later, he left for his son a Joseon more perfect that what had been left for him by his own father; and for his people, a love story to last the ages.
~The End~