Chapter 123
Chapter 123
The Imperial Seal (5)
“Like this, right here… Wow, you’re really good.”
“I think we can go straight into filming.”
Ahead of the action scene, Yu Yeon-seo practiced the moves with a stunt actor. As he went through the motions, he calculated the camera positions and angles, then spoke to the director.
“Is it okay if I modify the moves slightly?”
“As long as you stick to the blocking, you can do whatever you like.”
“Then I’ll do one more rehearsal.”
“Of course. You can do two.”
The director, grinning from ear to ear, nodded at whatever Yu Yeon-seo suggested. Thanks to “The Imperial Seal,” JSTV’s OTT subscriptions had hit an all-time high, and the entire staff had received bonuses. A company trip to a resort was even planned for after the drama finished.
In truth, Yu Yeon-seo wasn’t satisfied with his romance acting, so he was pouring his efforts into action scenes, which he felt more confident in. But in the director’s eyes, the lead actor’s enthusiastic dedication was nothing short of admirable.
“Oh…”
The director’s mouth fell slightly open as he watched Yu Yeon-seo slide across the hood of a car and deliver a kick to the stunt actor.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
Yu Yeon-seo, who had been staring blankly into space for a moment, nodded.
Upon hearing that Lee Seo-eun has been kidnapped, Seong Hyeon-woo loses his composure.
“It’s a trap. You know that, Director.”
“…”
“If you go now, you’ll both be in danger.”
“I have to go.”
Despite his aide’s attempts to stop him, Seong Hyeon-woo drives recklessly toward Lee Seo-eun’s location. His aides follow close behind.
“Princess, where is the Imperial Seal?”
“…”
Meanwhile, Lee Seo-eun, who has been kidnapped and is being held in an abandoned warehouse, keeps her mouth tightly shut as her captor interrogates her. The Imperial Seal should be with my uncle, so why are they asking me? Her eyes wavered.
Taking her silence as defiance, the kidnapper raised his hand. Lee Seo-eun, whose upper body was tied to a chair, squeezed her eyes shut.
“You’re not going to talk?!”
“Wait. Go outside.”
The man who stopped him from touching Lee Seo-eun was Lee Kang’s aide, Head Eunuch Hwang.
“Doesn’t this place look familiar?”
“Head Eunuch Hwang. Did Lee Kang send you?”
“I told you not to harbor false hope.”
The snake-like Head Eunuch Hwang warns Lee Seo-eun.
“I’ll give you ten minutes. Otherwise, you will die here. This is an order from His Majesty, the Emperor.”
“What?”
“You’d better remember well.”
Head Eunuch Hwang closes the door and leaves, leaving Lee Seo-eun alone. She has no idea what she’s supposed to remember, and the fear of her impending death washes over her. Breathing heavily, she scans her surroundings. Then, she rocks her body, toppling the chair she’s tied to.
The scene changes. Seong Hyeon-woo arrives at the abandoned warehouse where Lee Seo-eun was taken and confronts the group of kidnappers.
“Who are you?!”
“Get him!”
The action scene reflecting Yu Yeon-seo’s input begins. He throws his head back to dodge a punch, quickly twists his opponent’s arm, and swings his long legs in a kick. Outnumbered, he takes a few hits, but Seong Hyeon-woo’s aides arrive late and join the fray.
“Seo-eun!”
Seong Hyeon-woo, bleeding from a cut on his forehead, leaves the remaining thugs to his aides and throws open the warehouse door.
She’s not here…
But Lee Seo-eun was nowhere to be found.
Having barely escaped, Lee Seo-eun fled from her pursuers.
What is this?
The path felt familiar, as if she had seen it in a dream. Perhaps because she knew the way so well, she quickly shook off her pursuers and headed toward a secluded house.
I know this place.
The un-oiled gate creaked open with an eerie sound. The garden was overgrown with weeds. There were no signs of life. But as if possessed, Lee Seo-eun approached the front door, entered the passcode, and cautiously stepped inside.
“…Gasp!”
Lee Seo-eun gasped at the familiar interior, and the scene changed. The screen took on a slightly yellowish hue, as if showing the past, and the camera focused on an orphanage.
“I told you to do it right!”
Smack! The sound was so loud it made anyone who heard it flinch. A young boy, knocked to the floor, glared up at the director.
“How dare you glare at me!”
“Director!”
“What is it?!”
“Th-there’s a visitor… he seems important.”
“What?”
The orphanage director, who had raised his hand again, huffed and glared at the fallen child.
“Seong Hyeon-woo, you clean this place spotless by the time I get back!”
The boy, left behind, stared at the door the director had exited through before looking around.
The screen briefly shows the orphanage’s surroundings. A deserted mountain village. The sound of someone whispering can be heard.
“Did you hear the news? It’s about Hyeon-woo…”
“What about him?”
“They say he’s the illegitimate son of the Cheon-oh Group’s president.”
“Really?”
“Yes, they said he’s here to pick up the child now.”
“Oh no. Didn’t the director just punish him?”
The orphanage is thrown into chaos by the unexpected arrival of such an important figure. The director and other adults search for Seong Hyeon-woo, but…
“The boy is gone!”
Seong Hyeon-woo had escaped the orphanage long ago.
Unable to endure the abuse any longer, young Seong Hyeon-woo had run away, sprinting aimlessly, afraid someone would come after him. And then, he got lost.
“Ah…”
To make matters worse, it started to rain. Eventually, Seong Hyeon-woo collapsed on the street from cold and hunger.
Just then, a little girl in a raincoat poked him.
“Are you okay?”
“…”
“Don’t you have a home?”
He didn’t even have the energy to answer and just stared blankly at the girl. His eyes grew heavy.
“Dad! Someone collapsed over here!”
The girl’s clear voice, a man clicking his tongue in pity. And then, young Seong Hyeon-woo lost consciousness.
“What’s your name?”
Waking up in a strange house, Seong Hyeon-woo stared at the man who kindly asked him his name while handing him a cup of cocoa.
“…Woo-hyeon.”
The boy lied, not wanting to use the name given to him by the mother who abandoned him.
“I see. Where do you live?”
“…I don’t have one.”
“What? What about your parents?”
“I don’t have any.”
With a maturity beyond his years, Seong Hyeon-woo knelt before the man.
“Can’t you please let me live here?”
The man hurriedly helped the boy to his feet. In reality, he was the crown prince of the Daehan Empire, but he had eloped due to his father’s opposition to his marriage. His wife had passed away from complications after giving birth to Lee Seo-eun, and he had been living a quiet life with just his daughter.
“…Alright. Let’s do that.”
Unable to turn away a child with nowhere to go, Lee Hun nodded. Seong Hyeon-woo blushed as a hand gently stroked his head.
And so, their life together began.
“Woo-hyeon, want to play catch with me?”
“Don’t do it like that… do it like this.”
“Woo-hyeon, do you want to be my son?”
Seong Hyeon-woo, who had never known parental affection, gradually began to act like a child again thanks to the love Lee Hun showed him.
“Look at that!”
“Seo-eun, that’s dangerous.”
And he looked after Lee Hun’s daughter, Lee Seo-eun, like his own little sister. If she hadn’t found him, he would have died on the street.
Seong Hyeon-woo wanted to grow up quickly. He decided that when he became an adult, he would repay Lee Hun and Lee Seo-eun for taking him in.
But the family, which he thought would live peacefully, was suddenly attacked by mysterious assailants. Lee Seo-eun screamed and fainted, and Seong Hyeon-woo held her tight.
“Woo-hyeon, listen carefully. Take Seo-eun and run.”
“Mister…”
“You know our secret hideout, right? Wait there until sunrise, and a friend of mine will come.”
Lee Seo-eun’s father, Lee Hun, gripped Seong Hyeon-woo’s shoulders and pleaded.
“Mister!”
“Seo-eun… please take care of my daughter.”
With those words, Lee Hun lured the assailants away. Left behind in the hideout, Seong Hyeon-woo trembled in fear, holding Lee Seo-eun.
“Seo-eun, are you awake?”
“…Where’s Dad?”
“If we stay here, he’ll be back soon.”
“Dad!”
“Seo-eun!”
But Lee Seo-eun, now conscious, sensed something was wrong and ran outside. Seong Hyeon-woo chased after her, and the place he followed her to was an abandoned warehouse.
“We have to be quiet. Okay?”
He knew the stubborn Lee Seo-eun wouldn’t go back with him easily. In the end, Seong Hyeon-woo led her closer to the warehouse.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince. So this is where you were.”
“Head Eunuch Shim. Why have you, who should be serving my brother, come all this way?”
There was Lee Hun, forced to his knees and surrounded by burly men. Seong Hyeon-woo instinctively covered Lee Seo-eun’s mouth.
“I already told my brother I would renounce my royal status.”
“It’s not something you can simply renounce. Where is it? The Imperial Seal.”
“If I give it to you, will you leave peacefully?”
Head Eunuch Shim’s eyes glinted dangerously. So they never planned to let me live, Lee Hun thought, swallowing hard. If I’m going to die anyway, I won’t let my brother have his way.
“I don’t know the location of the Imperial Seal either.”
“Then I have no choice.”
Head Eunuch Shim points a gun at Lee Hun’s forehead. And then…
Bang!
“Aaaah!”
Seong Hyeon-woo quickly covered Lee Seo-eun’s eyes, but she must have guessed her father’s fate from the gunshot. Hearing her scream, the men stirred.
“They’re over there! Get them!”
“Seo-eun, this way!”
Seong Hyeon-woo runs, pulling Lee Seo-eun with him.
“Let go!”
But it was easy to catch up to a child’s pace. A man grabbed Seong Hyeon-woo by the collar. He struggled and bit the man’s hand.
“You little brat!”
Thrown to the ground by the man, Seong Hyeon-woo saw Head Eunuch Shim recognize Lee Seo-eun before he lost consciousness.
“…”
When he opened his eyes again, he saw a white ceiling. Seong Hyeon-woo quickly left the hospital room to find Lee Seo-eun.
“…Who are you?”
But he was a step too late. Lee Wook, Head Eunuch Shim, and their bodyguards were already surrounding Lee Seo-eun. Seong Hyeon-woo quickly hid behind the door.
“I’m your uncle, Seo-eun. Your father’s older brother.”
“…”
“I saw you when you were little… don’t you remember?”
Of course, she wouldn’t remember, as she was just a baby then. But Lee Wook smiled as kindly as he could. He had searched his brother’s house thoroughly, but the real Imperial Seal was nowhere to be found. Only a cryptic note was left behind: ‘Brother, you will not be able to harm my daughter.’
I’ll keep her with me until her memories return… If I coax her gently, I might be able to find the Imperial Seal someday.
His calculations complete, Lee Wook stroked Lee Seo-eun’s head.
“I’ll protect you in place of your late father, Seo-eun.”
“…”
Lee Seo-eun, staring blankly at Lee Wook, nodded.
Seong Hyeon-woo, who had been eavesdropping, realized Lee Wook was behind everything. Seeing that Lee Wook had found Lee Seo-eun first, he concluded that the friend his “mister” had mentioned was either non-existent or wouldn’t be coming.
I need to get stronger.
As a child, he couldn’t protect Lee Seo-eun properly anyway. So…
Just wait a little longer.
And so, he returned to the orphanage on his own and revealed that his father was the president of the Cheon-oh Group.
Lee Seo-eun woke to the sound of boiling water. The house was quite dusty, but the interior was familiar. It was the house where she had lived with her father.
“You’re awake?”
Seeing Lee Seo-eun’s eyes open, Seong Hyeon-woo rushed to her side.
“Don’t get up just yet. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“…”
Lee Seo-eun stared blankly at Seong Hyeon-woo. There was dried blood on his forehead from a cut. That must hurt…
Seong Hyeon-woo looked at the silent Lee Seo-eun with concern. Is something wrong? Was she too shocked?
“Were you very scared?”
“Woo-hyeon.”
Seong Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened. The drama’s main OST began to play, a gentle piano melody, and his eyes instantly glistened with tears.
Overwhelmed with emotion, he let out a short breath and gave a soft smile.
“Yeah.”
Another iconic scene was born, and with it, the 15th episode of “The Imperial Seal” came to an end.