Placed side by side, these images become even more ridiculous.
Hak: “The day will come when you will understand the joy of being subjects of Princess Yona.”
Later: “To get here, we suffered bandit attacks, cracks in the ground, and rockslides. In any case, it took us a very long time. We thought we had sent enough supplies and personnel, but it wasn't enough. Meanwhile, in the remote regions, many people were looking for work and supplies, and discontent continued to mount. There has to be more… Some way to resolve this.”
Later, Yona: “When we traveled, I understood better how people lived.”
Excuse me, but Hak praises Yona based on what? On the newly discovered epiphany that reality exists outside the palace?
She comes from the following journey: Childhood in the palace: lives isolated and is unaware of the kingdom. Journey through Kouka: supposedly discovers hunger, corruption, slavery, abuse, and inequality. Return to the palace: in two months, she loses touch with everything again. Solemn reflection: she discovers that, from the palace, she doesn't see people's lives so clearly.
That's not political growth. It's going all the way around only to return to the starting point, only now wearing a ceremonial cape and with her hands clasped.
And what's lacking isn't abstract intelligence. It's applied learning. After having lived abroad, she should return knowing precisely that the palace distorts information. The logical thing would have been for her to organize from day one: liaisons with each tribe; independent local officials; verified reports; regular tours; channels for receiving complaints; unannounced inspections; people whose job wasn't to tell her she was trying incredibly hard.
But it seems that didn't occur to her until they had already miscalculated the supplies and discontent was growing. Fantastic administrative debut.
And the expressions make it worse, because the drawing shows no shame at having lost touch, no frustration at the system's failure, no sense of responsibility, and no fear of repeating the blindness of his childhood. She displays a kind of delicate contemplation, as if she had grasped a profound truth: “Outside the palace, you see things you can’t see from inside.”
Yes, Yona. You also notice the rain more when there’s no roof. Record that in the annals of the kingdom.
And Hak remembers it with that gentle, approving smile, without questioning a thing. He, who is traveling the roads, observing the needs and doing the fieldwork the government doesn’t know how to organize, decides that the moment demands admiration. Not analysis.
The two feed off each other, and that is perhaps the most irritating aspect. Hak promises the people that they will be happy under Yona. Yona accepts that faith as something natural. Yona states the obvious with solemnity. Hak receives it as proof of wisdom. Neither introduces friction into the other.
He doesn’t say to her: “Then the system you have isn’t working.”
She doesn’t say to him: “You can’t travel the entire kingdom alone doing my job.”
No. She thinks. He smiles. Then he sets off on a walk of another 500 kilometers without a horse.
And the propaganda slogan comes across even worse: “The day will come when you will understand how fortunate we are…” This demands enormous confidence in Yona’s abilities. But the gaiden itself is showing that she is unaware of the magnitude of the needs, has sent insufficient resources, lacks reliable information, discontent is growing, and depends on Hak to find out what’s happening.
And is Hak already proclaiming future national happiness as dogma? This isn’t reasoned confidence. It’s faith. And that’s why he seems brainwashed: the reality he himself observes doesn’t alter his preconceived notion. Yona will be a magnificent queen because she is Yona. The facts will be incorporated later, when they have some free time.
A ruler who rediscovers the existence of the people every two months, and a bodyguard who turns every governmental deficiency into early proof of greatness. The kingdom is in magnificent hands. They just need a network for information, transportation, administration, self-criticism, and maybe a shared brain for emergencies.
Jesús, qué tropa.
Well, all of these governmental shortcomings are things we already saw during Soowon's reign. It seems that he also faced a lack of reliable local administrators and effective information networks, so he would often leave the castle and travel the country to see things for himself. At times, he even had to personally step in and resolve local issues.
Normally, it is not a king's job to act as a roaming inspector or vigilante, same for their personal bodyguard, but Kusanagi keeps reusing the same template, and to me, the reason is a mix between Kusanagi's ignorance of certain aspects of governance (in this case, the importance of local officials and information networks) as well as her deliberate choice of downplaying these aspects to create a more compelling storytelling. Because be fair, it IS compelling to watch Soowon travel through the kingdom and investigate its problems personally. Fans see it as evidence of his sense of duty and commitment to his people. The same applies to Yona. She might not be making these journeys herself anymore, but sending out her personal bodyguard (who also happens to be the man she loves) is proof of her earnestness and a way to maintain that direct connection between the throne and the common people. It is also proof of Hak's personal investment in his country's well-being. If this man revolved solely around Yona, instead of spending two months away from her, he would've prioritized his job as her personal bodyguard and entrusted this mission to someone else. Instead, he is racing to Awa to secure supplies of Senjutsu for the remote towns that suffer from medicine shortage, which also affects the health of his sick little brother.
On another note, I believe the horse issue is just an oversight on Kusanagi's part. She had the happy hungry bunch roam the country on foot for several months. They rarely relied on horses even in urgent situations. Hak and Yoon were also sent to bring the Senjutsu, the anticipated remedy for the King, without horses, despite the importance of their mission. The dimensions of Kouka kingdom remain unclear. It looks big on the map, but seeing how characters move fast between cities without a need for transportation, it might not be as big as we think.
