Our Blooming Youth 2023 Episode 12

Episode 12 of Our Blooming Youth begins with Myung-jin having breakfast with his family and learning that the Crown Prince is in confinement. He later walks to his lab and runs into Tae-gang dressed in disguise and unwilling to chat. Myung-jin finds it strange and shares his concern with Ga-ram. On the other hand, Ga-ram is worried about Eunuch Soo-dol as he is close to the Crown Prince.

In the palace, the Crown Prince and Min Jae-yi find a way to sneak out letters. In the first letter, the Crown Prince asks Tae-gang to find a man named Park Han-su. Han-su was the deputy of the Ministry of Justice ten years ago. As he is not from the Jo family, the Crown Prince is hoping he will find out more from him about what happened in Byeokcheon.

Tae-gang sets out to find Han-su but is unable to find him. According to the rumours, Han-su retired and turned his focus on buying land after his wealthy uncle died and left him a hefty inheritance. Unfortunately, no one has recently seen Han-su.

The palace attendants and the Princess are also worried about Prince Myungan who is refusing to eat. The King visits the Queen who swears her allegiance and asks him to withdraw the confinement of the Crown Prince. She also talks about her uncle’s greed and how hard it has been to control him. The King assures her that he is not as stupid as people think and he knows very well what Jo Won-bo’s intentions are.

The news of the Queen pleading on behalf of the Crown Prince reaches Jo Won-bo who lashes out at her. The Queen makes the mistake of saying she considers herself the Crown Prince’s mom. Jo Won-bo loses it and gets a tad violent with her while ordering her to think carefully about whose side she is on. He reminds her that he made her queen and she is clearly shaken from the encounter.

On his way out, Jo Won-bo runs into Min Jae-yi who was running a secret agenda for the Crown Prince. He remembers that he was the eunuch who announced his entry and stopped him from eavesdropping on the conversation between the King and the Crown Prince. He is also aware that  Eunuch Soon-dol is fake and tells Min Jae-yi as much when he grabs her by the collar.

He insists on seeing the letter that he assumes the Crown Prince gave her to deliver. Luckily, Sung-on arrives and saves Min Jae-yi and stops Jo Won-bo from taking the letter. Sung-on asks him to stop his irrational behaviour and condemns him for trying to read the letter. Jo Won-bo insists that his loyalty lies with the King because the Crown Prince is yet to take the throne. He accuses Sung-on of serving two kings and Sung-on asks him to stop going overboard. Jo Won-bo leaves after warning Sung-on to be careful.

Min Jae-yi delivers the letter to Sung-on who promises to do as instructed. Min Jae-yi returns and commends the Crown Prince for thinking of such a grand idea. She also tells him about her interaction with Jo Won-bo but he asks her not to worry. He believes that Jo Won-bo is yet to figure out that she is Min Jae-yi. She is however worried that Jo Won-bo might be saving the information as a weapon to use later. The Crown Prince promises that they will protect each other and send her along with Sung-on to sort out something outside the palace.

At Myung-jin’s lab, Ga-ram and her mentor prepare for a mission on their own. They dress as scholars and head out to spread rumours among the scholars that the Crown Prince will attend the formal archery ceremony.  Sung-on hears the rumours and follows them to scold them for spreading rumours.  He chastity Myung-jin for being expelled from school and running around town spreading rumours about the Crown Prince. Ga-ram is shocked that Myung-jin lied about being expelled.

Min Jae-yi sees their interaction and stops Sung-on. She formally introduces them to each other. Ga-ram is surprised to see Min Jae-yi walking around with the man who was supposed to marry her but says nothing. Min Jae-yi has been keeping her feelings in check even after he bought him a beautiful hair ribbon to take to his fake sister. (Remember that Sung-on sees Eunuch Soon-dol as a man.)After finding out who Sung-on is, Myun-jin scolds him for being good at everything and causing him to suffer as his mom always compared him to Sung-on.

Later, the group part ways and Sung-on and Min Jae-yi meet with a scholar from the Jo family and asks him a favour. In order to help the Crown Prince leave his confinement, they ask him to lead the scholars to make a formal plea to the King to use the Crown Prince’s library to enhance their studies. They also ask to have the Crown Prince attend the formal archery ceremony and insist they will need his help in the restoration of the Confucian books.  The king agrees to honour their request and ends the Crown Prince’s confinement.

The book restoration goes smoothly under the watch of the Crown Prince. Sung-on drops by to check on the Crown Prince and asks Soon-dol if his sister liked the ribbon. Soon-dol replies she did but the Crown Prince gets jealous. He asks why Min Jae-yi why she didn’t tell him about it or asked him to buy her the ribbon.  He asks her to keep her distance as he is angry with her.

Later that night, Tae-gang arrives and updates the about Han-su after digging deeper, he found out that Han-su has become a gambling addict. He tells the Crown Prince that he plans to visit the Gambling house Han-su lives in. The Crown Prince asks him not to approach Han-su and to only watch him. He plans to speak to Han-su personally

The day of the formal archery ceremony arrives and the King and the Crown Prince lead the celebrations. The Crown Prince wonders if the King was testing him and if he liked how he solved the issue and freed himself from the confinement.  The Crown Prince does exceptionally well during the ceremony and everyone is impressed except Jo Won-bo. The Left State Councilor Han Joong-eon points out that the Crown Prince is the perfect future king. This annoys Jo Won-bo.

He is unhappy in particular because the Crown Prince plotted and escaped his confinement. He gets more aggravated that a man from the Jo family helped the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince tells the man that he reached out to him even though he is from the Jo family because he knew he was a better man. He tells the man that family doesn’t necessarily define who he is. The elders of the Jo family try to harass the man but are stopped by Jo Won-bo who explains that the man is their grandfather’s cousin. They are forced to bow their heads to the man who laughs at them.

At the gambling house, Tae-gang watches Hansu as people confront him about paying his debts.

Min Jae-yi and Scholar Park visit Myung-jin’s lab and catch up. Scholar Park treats them to a meal at Man-deok’s tavern. Bok-soon informs Scholar Park that the kids have never stopped by to get their food. He asks them to keep the money as the kids might come after they use the money he gave them. After the meal, the Crown Prince buys a bracelet and Min Jae-yi wonders if he bought it for her.

They return to the palace and Tae-gang reports back to the Crown Prince. In the meantime, Min Jae yi tries to remember the details of the days that led to her family’s death. She desperately tries to recall and remembers that Tae-gang was the man who delivered the wedding gifts. She rushes to tell the Crown Prince. Elsewhere Myung-jin also tries to find out why Tae-gang was dressed in disguise and pretended not to know him.

Min Jae Yi arrives at the Eastern palace but is told the Crown Prince left to go for a walk with Tae-gang. She rushes to him, worried he might be in danger.  She finds Tae-gang informing the Crown Prince that Han-su is in debt and it is likely his uncle didn’t give him an inheritance. The Crown Prince asks him to trace the source of Han-su’s money.

Min Jae-yi runs to the Crown Prince and implores him not to trust Tae-gang. She draws Tae-gang’s sword and points it at Tae-gang’s throat. Min Jae-yi explains that Tae-gang was the messenger who came to her house. He brought the wedding gift and the secret letter.

Tae-gang refuses to admit it and grabs his sword back from Min Jae-yi. He asks permission from the Crown Prince to kill Min Jae-yi. Min Jae-yi realizes he is also the man who she chased along the streets the day the red letters were spread in the capital.

The Episode Review

Tae-gang is suspicious and he is probably from Byeokcheon but it makes no sense that he is the hooded man that got away the day the letters were spread. He was present at the shaman’s interrogation. How could he possibly be at two places at once? I think the writers forgot this part as they showed him standing beside the Crown Prince during the whole interrogation. This only makes sense if he has an identical twin brother.

We are only eight episodes away from the finale so things are starting to get more interesting. I can’t wait to see what the Crown Prince will do next in light of this revelation!