Kim Jun is the son of an escaped palace slave, who gets raised by monks. Years later, after being torn from his home during wartime, Kim Jun must renounce hispacifist ways to partake in a deadly game that could be his ticket to freedom from his masters, Choe Chung-heon's clan. During the Mongol invasions of Korea, Kim Jun rises in the ranks to become the top military official, and eventually rules the Goryeo empire for 60 years in place of its king.