When Tae-eul was little, she'd begged her dad to take her to Seoul Grand Park. There had been a parrot show that day, and Tae-eul sat spellbound as colorful birds flew around her head and performed balancing tricks that amazed her six-year-old eyes. She was instantly in love, and wanted more than anything to join the zookeepers on stage. At least that's what she thought. When the show ended, children from the audience were invited to come up and get their photo taken with an impressive blue macaw. Her dad turned to her and asked if she wanted one, but Tae-eul froze. "Say yes!" her brain shouted, but the words didn't come out. After building up the dream so clearly in her head, the idea of actually getting close to a parrot had overwhelmed her. She'd refused to budge from her seat, and had spent many years afterwards wondering why she'd been so scared.

Present day Tae-eul could have taught her younger self a lot. It was shocking to finally be offered something she'd wanted so desperately for so long, but somehow worse when the thing she longed for was an audience with the King. The nerves she'd felt as a child were nothing compared to the panic that hit her now.

"How do I look?" she whispered to Hyeon-min as they followed Jo Yeong down the hall.

He glanced at her with startled eyes. "That's what you're worried about?" Hyeon-min had volunteered to carry the bear for the final stretch, and was clutching it with white knuckles.

"Be honest," she demanded, "on a scale of one to ten - one being hideous and ten being Go-Jae-Hwa - how do I look?"

"This feels like a trap," Hyeon-min muttered. "I'm going to pass."

"Is it that bad?" He saw Tae-eul's crestfallen expression and backpedalled.

"No, I mean, you look fine." He pushed a hand through his hair, shrugging awkwardly. "I don't know what to say. You look like Luna."

"But Luna on a good day?" She pushed.

"Well," he hesitated, "you kind of look like you've been through a forest."

"I knew it!" she wailed.

Jo Yeong shot them a curious look over his shoulder.

"Hold on," Hyeon-min stopped walking and stretched a hand out towards her. "May I?" Tae-eul nodded.

"There," he said, plucking a small leaf from her hair. "Now no one will realise."

"You're lying! I can tell!" The air in the corridor suddenly felt stuffy. Had the walls always been that close or were they closing in? Tae-eul started gulping for air, but couldn't seem to get enough. The thought of meeting Gon with crumpled clothes and disheveled hair and ultimately looking like a fool made tears well up in her eyes.

"I knew this was a trap..."

From further up the hall Jo Yeong cleared his throat.

Tae-eul wanted to sink into the ground. Her heart was pounding so fast she could barely form coherent thoughts. She pressed her hands to her face and willed the world to disappear. Perhaps this was what it felt like to die from fright.

She could hear Jo Yeong's footsteps as he walked back towards them.

"Jeong Tae-eul?" She peeked out through her fingers. Jo Yeong's expression was apologetic, his eyes kind.

"I'm so sorry," Jo Yeong said earnestly. "I should have recognized you earlier. I was convinced you were Luna... I made a mistake."

It was hard for Tae-eul to process the words, but the gentleness of his tone helped to calm the whirlwind of her thoughts.

"He did search for you," Jo Yeong said softly.

It took a few seconds for Tae-eul to register what he meant. She'd been waiting so long for a clue - any clue - that Lee Gon still remembered, and now she had five words.

She had always imagined jumping up and down with excitement at that moment, but the reality was less glamorous. She completely broke down.

"Hey!" Hyeon-min cried out in alarm. He turned on Jo Yeong angrily. "What are you doing? You made her cry!"

Tae-eul had never felt so relieved. Her sobs were making it harder to breathe, but she didn't care. Lee Gon remembered her. She was finally going to see him.

Jo Yeong and Hyeon-min were both hovering with panicked expressions, unsure of what to do.

"He really… searched for me?" she managed to choke out between sobs.

"He did!" It sounded as though Jo Yeong would have promised her anything at that point, just to distract her.

"Tae-eul, is this jerk bothering you?" Hyeon-min was glaring at Jo Yeong. "We don't have to do as he says, you know."

Tae-eul shook her head. It felt like a huge weight had lifted off her. She tried to focus on her breathing, and her sobs gradually subsided.

"It's okay," she sniffled. "I'm okay. I just need a minute… Um, is there a bathroom I could use?" She hated crying in front of others. Hyeon-min would definitely deem her unstable now.

"Yes, of course!" Jo Yeong jumped into action and guided her to a door further down the hall.

Tae-eul stalled in the bathroom for as long as she could. She washed her face and combed her fingers through her tangled hair, wondering how noticeable it was that she had been crying. The woman that stared back at her from the mirror might as well have been Luna, for all Tae-eul recognised her. She looked pale and nervous. "Will Lee Gon even recognise this person?" She couldn't wait forever to find out.

When she returned to the corridor she found Jo Yeong and Hyeon-min standing against opposite walls, sizing each other up.

"I'm sorry about before." She wasn't sure how to fix the situation, but she guessed that talking was better than silence.

"How do you know this man, Tae-eul?" Hyeon-min had clearly shaken off his hangover. His voice was steady and cool.

"He's Jo Yeong - the Unbreakable Sword. Hasn't everyone heard of him?" She'd tried to say it in a light-hearted way, but she could see from Hyeon-min's stance that he wasn't in the mood for games.

"That's not what I'm asking." Hyeon-min looked keen to test the "Unbreakable" part of Jo Yeong's title.

"He's a friend," Tae-eul admitted.

Hyeon-min and Jo Yeong both looked at her in surprise.

Tae-eul hadn't spent much time with Jo Yeong in the past, but he had managed to find a way into the small group of people that Tae-eul trusted and counted as close friends. She knew Jo Yeong was brave and fiercely loyal. She admired him in more ways than he knew, and there had been times since the night with Lee Gon where Tae-eul had wished she could have asked him for advice.

"I missed you, Jo Yeong." Her comment caught him off-guard. She could see uncertainty in Jo Yeong's eyes, and could imagine the questions that were racing through his head. "Is she here to stay? Will she put His Majesty in danger? Is she strong enough to handle what comes next?"

What surprised Tae-eul was his reply.

"It's good to see you, too." Tae-eul didn't know what conclusion Jo Yeong had reached in those short few seconds, but the answer must have reassured him, because the slightest of smiles reached his eyes. For a man that didn't show much emotion, it was as obvious as a grin.

Tae-eul couldn't help it; she found herself grinning back.

Hyeon-min looked back and forth between them, shaking his head. "Let me get this straight - you're friends with the Captain of the Royal Guard? Next you'll be telling me you're on first-name terms with the King..."

Jo Yeong raised his eyebrows and Tae-eul bit her lip.

"We still have some way to go," Jo Yeong steered them back on track. "If you're ready now, let's continue." He started walking again.

Tae-eul patted Hyeon-min on the shoulder, saying "I'll explain everything later," and trotted after Jo Yeong.

"You keep saying that!" Hyeon-min called after her. "This is getting ridiculous!"

"How do you two know each other?" Jo Yeong asked curiously as Tae-eul caught up.

"Oh, there was a bit of a mix-up." Tae-eul tried to explain. "I thought he was Shin-jae, and he thought I was Luna."

Jo Yeong studied her as they walked. "And that's why you hugged him?"

Tae-eul felt her cheeks flush. "Wait, what?" She knew exactly what he was referring to, but hoped that she had somehow misheard.

"Earlier today, when you met him."

"That was a complete misunderstanding!" Her face felt hot. Then the realisation hit her. "That was you in the car?"

Jo Yeong nodded and looked away. "A woman was spotted on CCTV footage near the bamboo forest last night. The image was blurry. It looked a bit like you, but we couldn't be sure... His Majesty asked me to locate Luna so we could eliminate her from the list of possibilities," Jo Yeong was speaking quickly, and Tae-eul's thoughts raced to keep up, "but Luna wasn't at her apartment, and she hadn't used her credit cards for almost a week, so I had to get some help from the special ops team. There are cameras all over the city, you know. You can find almost anyone with the right resources. Around midday Luna's image was picked up at an internet cafe. I went to confirm the sighting myself."

Tae-eul was staring at Jo Yeong in disbelief. She had never heard him say this much in one go, and she couldn't believe the timing of events. Fate really had a strange sense of humour.

"When I saw you meeting Kang Hyeon-min like that, I was certain I'd found Luna." He didn't meet her eyes.

Tae-eul's blush deepened. "It was just a hug! Nothing happened!" she cried.

Hyeon-min, who had been trailing some distance behind them, looked up. "What are you two talking about?"

Tae-eul shot him a frustrated look. Of all the times he could have picked for a public display of affection… She cringed at the memory.

"Anyway," Jo Yeong continued, "the rest of your activities fit with Luna's routine, so I ended up drawing the wrong conclusion."

"But what about in the interview room back there?" Tae-eul hadn't been able to make sense of his reaction.

Jo Yeong looked regretful. "I'm really sorry. I knew the chance of Luna knowing about the flute was low, but I needed to make sure... I needed to be certain His Majesty hadn't told anyone else. I was going to contact the King and confirm, but then-"

"I brought up Eun-seob."

Jo Yeong nodded. "That's when I knew I had made a mistake."

They reached a closed door and waited for Hyeon-min to catch up.

"I'm sorry for putting you through all that," Jo Yeong said quietly. "I hope you can forgive me." Tae-eul had never seen him so apologetic.

"Of course, don't worry about it." She didn't blame him. A lot of strange coincidences had led them to this point. "It was a bizarre day for both of us." Jo Yeong looked relieved.

"This door better not lead to an even longer corridor," Hyeon-min huffed when he reached them.

"I'm afraid things might get a little hectic from here," Jo Yeong said as he swiped his security pass against a scanner and pulled open the door. "Are you ready?"

Tae-eul took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "Lead the way."