Jo Jung-seok and Shin Se-kyung seduce each other in teaser

6 December 30, 2023January 14, 2024

Jo Jung-seok and Shin Se-kyung seduce each other in teaser

by Jenzy

The latest teaser for Captivating the King drops us right into the relationship between the mad king Jo Jung-seok (Hospital Playlist 2) and our cross-dressing, baduk-playing spy Shin Se-kyung (Arthdal Chronicles: The Sword of Aramun), leaving us to ask who exactly is seducing who.

The teaser opens on King Lee In (Jo Jung-seok) daydreaming of an encounter he had back when he was a prince playing baduk with a man named Mong-woo (Shin Se-kyung), whom he tenderly calls his “misbehaving brother.” We then cut to them present day — Lee In as a king and “Mong-woo” now back to her original identity Hee-soo — as they think of one of their final encounters. Hee-soo as Mong-woo had given Lee In a small stone to watch over while she left, promising to come back for it by the next rainfall.

We don’t know what went down in their final meeting, but when we cut to our characters in present day, Lee In wastes no time telling Hee-soo what he’s always felt: “Mong-woo, I like you.” Then comes an emotional flurry of scenes from their past as the music swells: them playing baduk, walking together, and goofing off. All to end on the final scene where Hee-soo tells Lee In in the voiceover that she has a wish as she leans in to kiss him.

While we do know their love story will eventually become polluted with revenge, subterfuge, and political scheming, it’s nice to initially ground ourselves in the leads’ chemistry and get an understanding of how things must have been before things soured. I’m also just so excited to see Jo Jung-seok playing an earnest, melodramatic role again as I have been waiting for literal years for him to return to his King 2 Hearts-level pining.

Written by Kim Sun-deok (The Crowned Clown) and directed by Jo Nam-gook (The Good Detective), Captivating the King will premiere January 21 on tvN.