In Korea during the age of The Three Kingdoms, conflict and espionage ran rampant across the Korean peninsula. When King Munmu took the Silla throne he did so in the middle of a long war with the Baekje and Goguryeo kingdoms. As such, the first years of his reign were spent trying to defeat Goguryeo. After several failed attempts, he was successful in this feat and was the first ruler ever to see the Korean peninsula unified. However, this is not something that he accomplished on his own. King Munmu had the aide of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Namely, that of a spy named Izami.
Izami was the middle born of six children to parents who owned an inn in rural China. Being the middle in such a large family, Izami was often overlooked or ignored. While it bothered her initially, she eventually adopted the circumstance as a talent rather than a hindrance. In her adolescence, Izami would have constant run-ins with the law for petty thievery and eavesdropping on matters that were of no concern to her, pocketing and selling the information later on.
Eventually, her constant troublemaking was quickly becoming such a nuisance the governing bodies of her province, opted for her exile, if not execution. By a stroke of luck, however, the spymaster Zhang Min elected to take Izami under his wing. He thought that her talents should be honed and utilized rather than cast out and shunned. It wasn’t as if there was no place for them, there was just no place for them there.
Under Zhang Min’s tutelage, Izami found her purpose in life and turned what was once a burden into a gift. Zhang Min thought her not only to see without being seen, to hear without being heard but to kill without being killed. Now as a young adult and an established workhorse of the Tang military, Izami was shipped over to assist the Silla kingdom of Korea where Munmu now ruled. While at war with the much larger Goguryeo kingdom, espionage and guerrilla warfare were essential. Izami was perfectly fit for this task.
Her briefing was simple, infiltrate enemy territory and silence one of their commanding officers in wake of a battle that the Silla military recently lost. The idea was that in their victory, the enemy platoon would have their guard down as they celebrated in triumph. Izami’s higher-ups were completely correct in this assumption. Izami’s target was field officer Jolbon. Jolbon has had his fair share of battles and as such knew his way around the battlefield.
Now a bit older, he grew to finally enjoy the pleasures of life when he had the opportunity. His taste for revelry would unknowingly be his downfall. Jolbon frequented The Dragon’s Head Pub after battles, and this is exactly where Izami was headed. The night before leaving for her destination Izami prepped one of her preferred methods of assassination, a tiny glass needle filled with the sap from the grounded-up seeds of the antiaris, also known as the poison arrow tree.
Izami’s plan of attack is to hide the needle in her own mouth, clenched behind her teeth. A risky endeavor, but the risk is mitigated by Izami taking an antidote she brews herself to combat the poison should it leak. While usually favoring the hidden blade, the combat ferocity of Jolbon makes this discrete approach an absolute must. Izami can’t afford to have this attempt go awry, or else the planned attack by Silla goes up in smoke. Everything hinges on the success of this mission.
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Appearing to be unarmed is an essential part of entering the presence of the officer. The other part would be posing as a lady of the night, not an unfamiliar thing for Izami to pretend to be as her parents did an inn of their own. With her needle soaked and her plan out, Izami retired for the night.
That next night, from her camp Izami donned a short-cut white and red hanbok, and a heavy coat of makeup and made her way into town. The guards are at the door though nothing of her and she made her way through the front door. She sat down and looked around but was careful not to draw too much attention to herself. She sipped on a nice rice wine as she waited for Jolbon to show up. Not too long afterward, she got her wish.
Jolbon and his platoon had arrived on the scene and the ruckus began. As he was walking in, he and Izami locked eyes and Jolbon gave her a dastardly smile. After some time had passed in the evening, Jolbon sent one of the servers over to Izami, “That gentleman over there would like an…audience, my lady.”, the server says. Izami gathers herself and walks over to Jolbon’s table. “You requested my presence, sir?”, Izami says and she bows to the officer. Before answering, Jolbon’s men pat Izami down and direct her to sit at the table.
“I saw you looking at me when I walked in…something catch your eye?”, Jolbon says inching closer to Izami. Izami smiles and looks away bashfully before saying, “You could say that.” Cutting the chase Jolbon responds, “Well I think I could say the same. Why don’t we step away and get to know each other better…” Izami turns back to Jolbon and rubs his thigh while whispering in his ear, “If you can make it worth my while.”
Jolbon leads Izami out of the pub area past his men and upstairs to his suite room. Pushing the door open for her Jolbon says, “Make yourself at home little vixen.” before walking off to the washroom. Izami sits down on the bed and pulls her top down. When Jolbon walks back in she says, “I’ve been waiting on you.” Jolbon drops the top of his armor and joins Izami on the bed. In the middle of their embrace Izami flips Jolbon over on his back much to his surprise, “Ooo feisty aren’t we?” he asks.
Izami kisses his lips, his cheek, and then makes her way to his neck. Izami releases the grip of the needle from her clenched teeth and rests it between her puckered lips to inject him with the poison. “Hey!”, Jolbon explains, knocking Izami off the bed. “I’m sorry! I thought you would like it…”, Izami explains. “What’s there to like about being bit!? Get out of here!”, Jolbon orders. Izami bows gathers herself and scurries her way into the hallway.
With no one in sight, Izami lunges out of a nearby window and climbs up to the roof. From here she jumps across to a neighboring building where she can get a clear view of Jolbon’s room through his window. Jolbon has ordered more drinks to be brought to him, along with a new girl for the night. Shortly after arriving, however, Jolbon starts to pant heavily before violently convulsing on the bed. Scared, the girl runs out of the room, and Jolbon’s men run in shortly after to see him take his final breath.
One drags the other girl back to the room to interrogate her before letting her go. They know that no assassin would be foolish enough to stick around. That said, with her job done, Izami wipes the makeup off of her face, and sneaks her way back to camp, disposing of her overclothes on the way.
In the following days, King Munmu’s forces of Silla attacked the town that Jolbon’s military might had ruled over for so long. With their most experienced leader gone, Silla’s occupation was easily acquired. Although not credited as such, half of the battle was won by Izami, and her kiss of death.