Tree with Deep Roots / Deep Rooted Tree

I had the greatest fortune to get to watch this amazing drama during my 12D Europe Trip with Hong Thai Travel. The travel/tour guide played this drama during all the long hours of driving from one country's border to another.

I swear you to that I am not sure where the intense attraction came from, but every minute & every episode made me drawn to the story and all its characters ENTIRELY. I was totally sucked into it... There wasn't even loveline to speak of - ok maybe just a small portion. I teared almost every episode and it isn't even a tragedy or tearjerker!!! That is how the dialouges & the show moved me!

Even as I'm typing this out and as I recalled all the scenes I've watched, I got goosebumps because it is THAT amazingly awesome to me. It caused HUGE ripples in me. It gave me a lot to think about how a person - more specifically, a ruler of a country, come to invent something for the livelihood of its ppl and what exactly loyalty means.

When I found out that this was based on a novel and isn't a true story, I was disappointed because it felt really real to me!

The show is about how he go about building the Joseon he had envisioned. In short, it's basically King Sejong's mission to introduce the Hangul characters to it's ppl but he met up with a lot a lot of troubles, hardships, betrayal. He had a tyrant father, his queen isn't understanding, his officials aren't doing their job, there were oppositions & threats everywhere but he didn't want to be a tyrant king like his father.

Without further ado, I'm dying to tell everyone about this 10/10 drama in my book.

Storyline (in my own words):
In the beginning of the show, Kang Chae Yoon (Kang Hyuk), an imperial guard was carefully planning his martial arts routine. Turns out, he was on a mission to assassin the King Sejong (Han Suk Kyu) whom he believed to have killed his family.

Flashback to his childhood: Ddol-bok (young Kang Chae Yoon) and his childhood sweetheart Dam (young Shin Se Kyung), were born in the family of slaves - more specifically the slaves for the Young King Sejong's (Song Joong Ki) father-in-law.

Due to a twist of political power struggle between King Sejong and his tyrant father, King Taejong, Ddol-bok's family was imprisoned & eventually killed. There were written letters exchanged because as slaves, they do not know how to read and were eventually sacrificed. (This gives us a sense of reason why the rest of the story was so important - TO KNOW HOW TO READ!)

Ddol-bok escaped to the north and eventually learn how to fight in wars and learnt martial art from a highly skilled martial artist. Dam was taken in by the Queen and became a court lady. However, she blamed herself for the death of Ddol-bok's family and was unable to speak ever since that massacre.


Several years passed and King Sejong is a down to earth King, very much well-respected by everyone in the palace as well as his people. However, he felt that there's a need for the low-class/slaves to know how to read & write and be able to protect themselves. The massacre still left a hole in his heart for many years and he felt that as a King , that's what he can & should do to protect his people.

The Joseon during that time practiced Confucius teaching and the language used across the country was Hanja and only high-class/nobleman who went to school were able to read & write. Farmers or butchers wouldn't have the time to do that - they have so many chores to do and a livelihood to make.

King Sejong was determined to make his Korean Hangul characters creation see the light and Dam/So-yi (Shin Se Kyung) was also part of this project.

However, this secret mission (It's secret because it cannot be known before it's completed) has been hindered by a group of scholars called "Mil-bon or Hidden Root". They may very well be considered as an opposition party against the government. 几个读书人自以为博学多才. They were formed as they feared that the King's powers will grow too big or that the government will become too corrupted so they're sort of there to remind the King of 'his position'. Why?

Because, we have to flashback to the past during tyrant King Taejong's reign. This king was only capable of hunting, going to war, killing. So then, who were the people doing all the admin/official/building empire work? His scholars/philosophers/ministers (majority from SungKyunKwan) are the ones who did all the groundwork while King Taejong enjoy his feasting/heinous/corruption pleasures.

Apparently the founder of Mil-bon is called Jung Do-jeon. He was eventually captured & killed by King Teojong's men. He was survived by his son, Jung Ki-joon, who, you've guessed right - decided to take revenge on King Sejong to protect his father's name.

We see King Sejong had been wanting to know Jung Ki-joon's whereabouts to 'recruit' him to work for the government because King Sejong had always been sorry for what his father, King Taejong has done to Jung Do-jeon. However, nobody knew where Jung Ki-joon is.

A series of murders happened in the palace where a lot of King Sejong's scholars working for him on his secret mission had been sacrificed. Kang Chae Yoon (Jang Hyuk) was brought in to investigate the murders. The King knew that the Mil-bon was coming on strong and realised that there may be moles amongst his ministers and declared a few times that he welcome opposition parties to question about his ruling but Mil-bon was only capable of doing 小动作 without showing their faces.

The rest of the show is basically watching about:
1. King Sejong VS Mil-bon and who managed to gain the upperhand and how they counter-attack or guessing each others' moves in each episodes.

2. The struggles of King Sejong on whether to stop or continue his plan of announcing the Korean Hangul alphabets to his people at the expense of so many of deaths of his scholars and even his own son - the Crown Prince. He had broke down so many times.


3. Dam/So-yi going ALL THE WAY OUT for her King. She is basically the database memory of all of his creation - she knows the project inside out and willing to do anything and lay down her loyalty for the King because she believes in him and the empire/world/Joseon that he will bring to his people.

4. Kang Chae Yoon struggling to whether to believe his childhood belief that King Sejong killed his whole family or embrace the fact the King he believe he knew was the king who was going to help the future/people of Joseon.

5. Of course the baddies and their schemes and their downfall.

Verdict: 
There are some spoilers. But here goes...

I was totally bought over after the first episode. Jang Hyuk did a great job! Song Joong Ki did a great job! Even Shin Se Kyung, who was playing a mute in the beginning and had to rely on her eyes & expression did a great job! Even the bad guys - the antagonist Gari-On (Jung Ki Joon himself!) was awesome as an undercover bad guy!

A few scenes that still left me with deep impressions:
1. King Taejong wanted to kill the young Ddol-bok but young King Sejong (Song Joong Ki) wanted his father to spare the young boy's life. King Taejong insist on killing but King Sejong said something like, "To disobey me is to disobey the King of Joseon." He then asked his bodyguard to draw his sword and said something like, "Mu-hyul ah, kill anyone who attempts to kill me, for my life is the future of Joseon. Bear no mercy to anyone even if he's my father."

2. Gari-On was a slave and gained the trust of the King, So-yi & Chae Yoon. I will never forget the shock when I found out it was all on a specific, precised plan to oppose against the King! Because HE IS FREAKING JUNG KI JOON!!!!

3. When Chae Yoon discover So-yi was Dam! They cried and I cried my heart out with them.

4. When Dam finally managed to talk & convince Chae Yoon that the King is a good King and his plan of coming with the Korean alphabets will help EVERYONE in Joseon.

5. And the oh-so-sexy Yoon Pyung (played by model-turn-actor Lee Soo Hyuk) totally made me swoon with each & every of his appearance! Where can you find such a hot Joseon assassin who's so fashionista, you tell me? Even got time to have different kind of hairstyle! No wonder this character is played by a model! HAHA!

He started off as a mask assassin who smuggled into the palace and killing the King's scholars. You can't really tell how he looked like since it covered half his face but one things for sure, he's a pretty boy and it makes me wonder how a pretty boy could be a killer/assassin.


His hairstyle change pretty often. He also has a deep voice to go with his tall built & pretty boy looks.

There is also a really minor minor lovelife between this dude & So-yi. He had captured her a few times but he didn't bear to kill her. Towards behind when the court maidens were "exiled", he suggested to his Mil-bon leader if they could capture the court maidens to be on their side.

Someone even made a fan-made video on YouTube on them! LOL! It's cute la though it's just miserably 30seconds!!!


But beyond the cuteness, it's really a show about loyalty. If you're into those comrade kinda shows and palace conspiracy and struggles of a potential powerful figure. This is really something intriguing for you.

It's my 10/10 and I hope it's a 10/10 for you as well! It's a very rare gem that I believe not many K-drama fans would commit to and able to write such a wonderful piece of review to just get you to watch it! Haha! SO TRUST ME!