The King: Eternal Monarch: Episode 2

by quirkycase

Our misplaced royal explores his new environment and enthusiastically tries to get to know the woman he believes is his savior. But one person’s quality time is another’s harassment, and she’s not keen on having this self-important puppy follow her around. Nevertheless, she can’t help but be curious about this strange man with a regal horse and clothes made of diamonds who claims to know her.

 
EPISODE 2

Getting over her shock, Tae-eul roughly shoves Gon away. She asks if he’s lost his mind. “It was a greeting,” Gon explains. He was happy to see her. She’s uneasy when he says he’s been watching her and even knows her rank.

Losing patience, Tae-eul again demands to see his ID. Gon pompously discloses he doesn’t have one, being who he is. He then gives her the absurd truth about who he is and how he got there. Gon ends by surmising this is a parallel universe.

Tae-eul looks at him like he’s delusional, but he plows on that he sees a key difference. He gazes at a massive advertisement for “Queen Yuna” (Yuna Kim) as he notes this universe has a different ruler. Pfft. Tae-eul looks at him in disbelief and sarcastically remarks their Queen Yuna is beloved by the nation.

“Like me,” Gon states arrogantly. He orders Tae-eul to escort him to the queen and provide water for his horse who is a seventh-grade official. Ha! If he wants to see Yuna, he needs a ticket, Tae-eul says with a clenched jaw. Gon notes something is going wrong in their conversation, which Tae-eul wholeheartedly agrees with.

She takes a beat to collect herself and summarizes his story. When he condescendingly assumes she doesn’t know what a parallel universe is, Tae-eul lets out a frustrated yell and calls him a “crazy bastard.” Gon is taken aback, having long envisioned a much gentler Tae-eul.

Getting down to business, Tae-eul lists his charges and manhandles him into custody. At the station, he’s uncooperative and won’t even give his name, so she calls him Kim Kae-ddong (kae ddong=dog poop). Tae-eul searches his belongings and seizes the massive amount of cash in his wallet on suspicion of fraud. Then, she forcibly fingerprints him amid his protestations that no one can touch him.

In the kingdom, Ok-nam frets about Gon. Prince Bu-yeong asks with amusement where he snuck off to this time, but Ok-nam only knows from Yeong that he likely went into the bamboo forest. Prince Bu-yeong laughs, prompting Ok-nam to beg him not to take it so lightly and talk to Gon when he returns. They debate the best excuse to give for his absence, clearly used to doing this.

Yeong and the guards are searching the forest. He’s baffled that Gon’s trail ends suddenly, and past that point, he’s not caught on any security cameras. He instructs his team to go over the footage again. Yeong remembers that Gon said he was going to check if “it’s a clock or a rabbit” before he left.

Yeong interviews the men who were arrested at the rowing competition. They tell him they were chasing a girl with no identity or home who stole their boss’s money. The officer confirms their story and adds that the girl is wanted for various charges, but they can’t locate her since they don’t know her face or name. She goes by Luna.

In the cell, Gon refuses to sit on the floor and demands a cushion. Tae-uel ignores him. Suddenly, Gon is struck silent as Yeong’s alternate, Jo Eun-seob, walks in the precinct. Hilariously romantic music swells, and Gon practically has hearts in his eyes as he looks at his friend. They lock eyes, and Gon calls out to him. “What’s your problem?” Eun-seob utters with contempt as the music screeches to a halt.

Gon keeps weirding Eun-seob out by referring to him as Yeong and saying he can’t believe he followed him here. Ha. And wow is Eun-seob’s personality the opposite of his alternate’s. Gon watches in horror and mutters this can’t be Yeong as Eun-seob lays on the aegyo and acts remarkably undignified.

Eun-seob goes on (in satoori) about the awesome horse outside and notices Gon’s nifty watch on Tae-eul’s desk. Right after Gon haughtily compliments him on his good taste, Eun-seob makes some corny joke using the word “horse” that has Gon turning away in embarrassment.

Officer KYUNG RAN (Song Sang-eun) informs Tae-eul that Gon’s prints aren’t in the system. She suggests checking with the juvenile division in case he went missing as a kid and didn’t have his prints registered. (Or he had a murderous uncle…)

When Tae-eul tries to swab him for DNA, Gon realizes he must not exist in this world. He shares that she doesn’t exist in his world either; all he has is her photo and birthdate. Disturbed, Tae-eul demands to know why he has her photo and why he acted like he was waiting to meet her.

Gon is frustratingly cryptic, leading Tae-eul to get increasingly angry. She goes still when he says he was curious, thought about her a lot, and she looks better in real life. He reveals Eun-seob’s alternate is the captain of his royal guard, so that shows some people exist in both worlds and others don’t, like them.

Tae-eul challenges him to prove his alternate universe theory, but he asserts he is the proof. He gazes at her intensely, making her wonder why he keeps looking at her like that. She tells him he has the gaze of a criminal, which sets him off.

He then goes on about how Einstein’s quantum mechanics is the foundation for the theory of parallel universes. He pedantically explains the theory, and Tae-eul uses it as an opening to slip the swab in his mouth. Heh.

In the kingdom, Seo-ryung comes out of a meeting complaining about all the idiots in her cabinet. Her assistant reminds her she selected them, but Seo-ryung only chose them so she could use them. In her residence, her assistant reports Prince Bu-yeong’s security has tightened, and Gon’s schedule is suddenly open. Seo-ryung knows that means Gon ran off again.

Her assistant suggests he might have a lover, but Seo-ryung hopes not. She’s trying make the public believe they’re in a relationship. She smiles to see the positive comments on a gossip article linking her and Gon romantically.

Back in the republic, Tae-eul releases Gon. In his short time in custody, he managed to get a lot of info about Tae-eul from Eun-seob. He gives her a luxury hotel as his contact if she needs to reach him. He plans to pawn one of his diamond buttons for the expenses.

Tae-eul thinks he’s bluffing. “If those are diamonds, then I’m Princess Diana.” She’s stunned when a jeweler confirms his buttons are indeed rare diamonds. Gon enjoys her embarrassment and bewilderment, teasingly calling her Princess Diana.

When she goes to leave, he asks her to stay. “It took 25 years to see you, so I hope today will last a long time.” Tae-eul coolly tells him to move aside. She gets a call regarding a case and takes off while Gon stares after her.

Tae-eul and Shin-jae meet the wife of the murdered man from the trunk. He was missing for a few weeks, but she just thought he went gambling after they fought. Since he borrowed money constantly, there could be any number of people who wanted him dead. His wife despairs of the debt he left behind.

After 13 calls from Gon, Eun-seob finally goes to meet Gon who brings him up to his ritzy hotel suite. Eun-seob’s hesitations disappear the second Gon tells him the several bags of expensive items he’s carrying are for Eun-seob. Gon asks to see a family photo from when he was little. Both Eun-seob and his father look the same as Gon’s versions.

A flurry of angry texts from Tae-eul come in as Gon holds Eun-seob’s phone. She’s livid that Gon sent Maximus to her house since he heard she has a big yard. Eun-seob tosses the phone away in fear after Gon hands it to him.

At home, Tae-eul’s dad JUNG DO-IN (Jeon Bae-soo) and her friend MYUNG NA-RI (Kim Yong-ji) discuss how rich the owner of the horse must be. Na-ri encourages Tae-eul to hold onto him.

At the end of her rope, Tae-eul rushes to Gon’s hotel and sends a message up to his room: he has 10 minutes before she sells his horse to the highest bidder. He makes it downstairs in the nick of time. He argues he’ll take care of Maximus; he just needs her yard temporarily.

Tae-eul wants to know when he’s leaving, but he’s not sure. He likes being with her. She agrees to keep Maximus until the DNA results come out, but that’s it. Gon panics when she starts to put her hair up – it’s a sign she means business – and warns him to behave. He only starts breathing again once she leaves.

The next day, Tae-eul and Shin-jae get a briefing on the autopsy results on Lee Sang-do. He died from head trauma three weeks ago which matches when he went missing. He and the suspect have similar head wounds from the same instrument, possibly a lever.

As Tae-eul investigates, Gon calls her from various phones he borrows whenever he has a question or discovery. Meanwhile, Rim is at a temple painting dancheong (traditional colorful patterns). Later, Rim comes up to a mother who’s crying after a group of awful children humiliated her son on his birthday merely because he’s in a wheelchair.

Rim asks what she prayed for, and she sobs as replies she prayed for her son to be able to walk. He bluntly states that’ll never happen. “But you can make those children limp.” Does she want to change her prayer?

A news report announcing the injury of three elementary schoolers who were hit by a truck plays in the flower shop where SONG JUNG-HYE (Seo Jung-yeon) buys flowers for her late son’s birthday. We flash back to when she saw Rim stand from his wheelchair years ago. While the police were banging on her door, Rim impassively stated that her son (Ji-hoon, in this universe) drowned, and her husband was killed in a hit-and-run. She’ll be under suspicion.

Now, as she places flowers on her son’s grave, Rim’s voice echoes. He calls her pathetic – she sinned by laughing once upon hearing of her husband’s death, and now she’ll never laugh again.

Tae-eul interviews Kim Bok-man who insists he didn’t kill Lee Sang-do. As for his matching wound, he got it around three weeks ago. He recalls waking up at home on a bloody floor. Tae-eul reveals the blood matches the victim’s, not his. She proposes that Lee Sang-do attacked him, and Kim Bok-man used that same weapon to kill Lee Sang-do, which he emphatically denies.

They go through security footage and find that Lee Sang-do followed Kim Bok-man to his apartment three weeks ago. What they need now is the weapon. Tae-eul finds it suspicious that Lee Sang-do was able to locate Kim Bok-man, seeing as he was deep in debt and would need to hire someone to get the info.

Upon getting home, Tae-eul tries to feed the horse, but Maximus won’t eat. She calls Eun-seob to locate Gon who is currently reading history texts at the library. He’s been doing this for three days.

Gon smiles brightly when Tae-eul plops down at his table as everyone around them wonders if she’s the hot guy’s girlfriend. He shares his recent discovery that Korea has a president here. Tae-eul gets up and walks out with Gon scurrying after her.

They go out to eat, but Gon is hesitant without someone tasting it for poison. That’s been Eun-seob’s job so far. Ha. Of course, Tae-eul is not about to comply, but he doesn’t ask her to. He says, if he dies from poison, these are his last words: “Thank you. Because you existed somewhere, I was less lonely for the past 25 years.”

Tae-eul stares in silence as he begins to eat. He shares his historical findings, namely that their worlds’ histories diverged after Prince Sohyeon. He passed early in this world, but in his world, he lived long and stopped the Qing invasion. Gon’s impressed at the rapid industrialization that’s occurred since the war in this world.

She accuses him of making up stories, and he thinks back to childhood when he’d wondered why he survived that night. He told Ok-nam he had heard a flute. Was it the Manpashikjeok? Ok-nam reminds him that flute makes no sound. Huh?

Gon insists he followed the flute sound to that room; it was even louder than the gunshots. He asks if she has the two items he kept from that night. Ok-nam hands over Tae-eul’s badge and the flute, which she’s hidden in a riding crop. They agree to keep this secret between them. Looking at the items, Gon wonders if the reason he survived is here.

In the present, Gon asks why Tae-eul won’t believe him. She responds she’s the suspicious type. Tae-eul tells him to stop the nonsense and do nothing until the DNA results come out. Gon wants to know why she’s helping him. “Just because,” is her reply. She’s a police officer. He hopefully asks if there’s more, but she stays silent.

Later, Gon melancholically peruses an exhibition of Korea’s monarchy from King Taejo to King Sunjong, the last monarch. Meanwhile, in the kingdom, Yeong returns to where he found Gon after he saw the “clock rabbit” (White Rabbit). Yeong sees someone in that same rabbit hoodie and grabs them, but it’s just a high school kid.

The kid says the hoodie is part of his class uniform, but they can probably be ordered online. Recognizing Yeong, he asks for a picture which Yeong flatly refuses. Elsewhere, Seung-ah is notified she made it to the final interview stage with the Royal Public Affairs Office. Before she can hang up, Yeong walks up to her.

Seung-ah is starstruck and gladly hands over her camera so Yeong can check the pictures from the rowing competition. She belatedly realizes she took several photos of Yeong, but he doesn’t acknowledge them and asks her to send all the photos.

Yeong updates Ok-nam on his progress and shares that Gon was looking for the woman from that day’s incident. She takes it as a sign her talismans might be working.

In the republic, Gon has already spent his money from the diamonds and can’t even buy coffee. He goes to see Maximus and gets excited when he sees Na-ri get out of a sports car – she’ll understand him. Alas, she doesn’t prove understanding enough to gift him a coffee.

Shin-jae gets his first peek at the handsome, delusional guy everyone is talking about while he waits for Tae-eul to come down. Gon enquires as to the nature of Shin-jae’s relationship with Tae-eul, like it’s somehow his business. They get into a pissing contest, and Shin-jae warns him he won’t be so nice next time.

Gon stares at Tae-eul’s window as she hangs laundry inside. In a flashback to 2006, Tae-eul finds a buttload of eggs on the table and chastises her father for being too soft. Despite having little money themselves, the family selling them was in need, so he bought an unnecessary amount. Tae-eul worries about their bills.

Cue Tae-eul posing unnaturally in the window trying to lure boys into her father’s taekwondo studio. Ha. Only one boy stops and stares like she’s a goddess: Shin-jae. When he shows up for lessons, Tae-eul gets her father to pay up. Guess he lost that bet.

In the present, Tae-eul runs into Gon on her way out. He tries to tag along, but she leaves him behind. She feels bad, though, and goes back. He chides her for treating him poorly when she’s the only person he knows in this world.

Frustrated by his comments, she asks why he keeps acting like he knows her. He explains he found her ID 25 years ago. Tae-eul reasons that she’d have been way too young for that card to exist. Gon claims the ID he has was issued on November 11, 2019, so he’s been waiting for that day.

Tae-eul turns serious and says he seems to be having delusions and should get psychiatric help. He must have family, and they’re probably worried. He intentionally misinterprets her words to confess that he’s single. And he’s just reached a decision.

Gon walks too close to her, again, to announce that he’ll make her his queen. “You just became the reason why I should stay in this world.” Tae-eul sighs that he’s completely nuts. He smiles.

 
COMMENTS

Seriously? Just last episode he went on about how he wasn’t interested in marriage, and now he’s proposing to a woman he’s known for a couple days. He’s assuming she’s his “savior,” but he doesn’t know that for a fact either. Unless he has some grand plan that we’re not privy to, this makes no sense. This “romance” feels super forced at the moment. Why does Tae-eul even put up with him? You’d think she’d be more wary of some guy who claims to have been watching her for 25 YEARS and continually harasses her. You’re a cop for goodness sake! Get a restraining order or something. Even if she thinks he’s harmless, shouldn’t she have arranged for some kind of psych evaluation? They can’t identify him, and he claims to be a monarch from a parallel universe, but they just sent him on his merry way.

I think part of the issue is that the characters are vague. All I know about Gon is he’s a haughty royal who hides behind a playful façade. I don’t know who he is as a person, and it’s making his motivations unclear. So that sudden declaration that Tae-eul should be his queen feels like it came out of nowhere. Tae-eul’s reactions aren’t making much sense partially because we don’t know much about who she is either. We know she’s a tough cop with a brash personality. That’s it. Honestly, most of the characters don’t feel like real, nuanced people yet. I’m hoping they’ll be fleshed out as we go because they have potential. Take Seo-ryung, for instance. She’s an ambitious female prime minister with murky motives who could be a great character, but she could also turn into the average, meddling second lead.

Once again, we didn’t get much plot movement. This episode felt less focused, and the bloated episode length isn’t helping. We got a lot of interaction between our two leads, but it felt kind of repetitive. I kept waiting to get some more answers or hints, but besides a few tidbits – like Yeong hearing about the enigmatic Luna – we kept focusing on things that felt random. For example, I have no idea why we’re spending so much time on Tae-eul’s murder investigation. I’m assuming it has plot significance since we keep focusing on it, but right now it feels like we suddenly get transported to a crime drama.

On the topic of crimes, Rim is going a little overkill (heh) with the murder. He’s axed most of his family at this point, killing his brother twice, his own alternate and his nephew. And when did he become an evil genie granting revenge wishes? He must be getting something out of it, since he’s not the type to do something for nothing. Is he just being your average criminal or is he somehow using the magic flute to accomplish his no-good deeds?

We got a little more info on our parallel universes this episode. Gon’s discovery about the historical point of divergence makes it seem like it was a single world that split because of a significant moment. If that’s the case, maybe there are more than two worlds. As for the alternates, I find it interesting how different Yeong and Eun-seob are in that it shows how one person can have the potential to go such different ways. From what we saw of Yeong as a child, he was emotional and not big on following rules. Becoming the king’s right-hand man made him strict and stoic, giving nothing away. Is Eun-seob who he’d be without intervention?

Oh, and a note on translation. Despite Gon’s actual title being “emperor,” I’ve chosen to go with the official subtitles and use “king” and the corresponding “kingdom” instead. This is mainly for consistency’s sake since the title of the drama is literally “The King.” I have no idea why they titled it that if there’s technically no king, but there you have it.

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