Hong Gil-dong
Hong In-hyeong
Gildong's older half-brother
The upright, gentle legitimate son who is sent to arrest his own brother and chooses to appeal to his heart.
In-hyeong is the legitimate son of Minister Hong and Lady Yu, a scholar and government magistrate. He is gentle, honorable, and fond of Gildong even though the social rules keep them from calling each other brothers. He is torn between loyalty to the crown and his love for his brother.
In-hyeong is the person who can speak to Gildong without threatening him. He understands that Gildong's heart is too vast for the narrow world around him, and he does not simply hunt him down. He is the one person in the story whom Gildong trusts enough to obey, and he repays that trust by speaking for him to the King. He stands for the idea that family loyalty and public duty can be answered with persuasion rather than force.
“My foolish brother! Why did you choose this dangerous path?”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
When the King threatens the entire Hong clan, In-hyeong asks to be made Special Royal Investigator. He posts proclamations across the eight provinces pleading with Gildong to come speak with his brother. Gildong appears one night in his tent, and In-hyeong embraces him in tears.
At Gildong's request, he escorts his brother to the capital in bonds, pledging to plead for his life with his own soul. In the courtyard seven clones turn to straw. After Gildong wins the post of Minister of War, In-hyeong is among the family reunited. Later, Gildong's fleet brings him and Chunseom across the sea to Yuldo, where he joins Gildong at the memorial shrine for their father.
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