King Gyeongjong of Goryeo was so sick of his father King Gwangjong’s reign of terror—where people were killed like bugs—that he decided to focus on 'filial piety' during his rule. When the regent Wang Seon asked for a law that would let people legally take revenge for old grudges, Gyeongjong just went 'sure, whatever' and approved it without thinking twice, all in the name of filial piety.
And so, the Great Era of Vengeance began in Goryeo. Whether you bashed someone’s skull in with a club in broad daylight or sliced them into minced meat with a sword, it was all legal as long as it was 'revenge.' Goryeo turned into a total madhouse where everyone from commoners to nobles started killing anyone they had a beef with. The climax was when Wang Seon, the guy who invented the law, ended up offing Gyeongjong’s own uncles (King Wang Geon’s sons). Only then did Gyeongjong realize that even the royal bloodline wasn't safe from the stabbing spree; he abolished the law after just one year and sent Wang Seon into exile.
"Netizens are losing it over the 'Goryeo Purge,' joking that society must have been peak polite when anyone could legally turn you into minced meat over a grudge."
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