Want to get started on ‘The King: Eternal Monarch’? Here’s a quick guide to help you out

MANILA, Philippines – K-dramas have been one of the pillars of Pinoy lockdown culture, and if you’re looking to jump on that train, Netflix has a lot of options for you – from the recent hit Crash Landing on You, to the K-drama classic Weightlifting Fairy.

Also on the streaming platform is The King: Eternal Monarch, which stars Lee Min-ho, Kim Go-eun, and Woo Do-hwan. By now, the show is 10 episodes in, with new ones being released weekly. The show – which unfolds in two worlds – takes a lot of twists and turns, and whether you’ve been watching weekly, or just about to catch up to it, here’s a quick guide to help you understand it better:

Two worlds

The story unfolds in two parallel worlds that mirror each other, with identical people living different lives in each world. 

Lee Min-ho plays Emperor Lee Gon, who rules over one world, which is under a monarchy.

Kim Go-eun plays Detective Jeong Tae-eul from the second world, which is pretty much present-day Korea.

How did the two worlds collide?

When Lee Gon is 8 years old, his evil uncle Lee Lim (Lee Jung-jin) kills his father to claim ownership over a magical flute. Lee Gon discovers his dying father and ends up breaking the flute in half as he saves himself. 

Lee Gon is eventually saved by a mysterious figure, who leaves behind Jeong Tae-eul’s detective badge from 2019. Lee Lim manages to escape with half of the magical flute, which enables him to discover the parallel world of modern-day Korea.


25 years later…

Lee Gon is all grown up, and discovers the portal to the parallel world with his half of the magical flute. He realizes that the other is filled with people that look exactly like people from his world – basically, their doppelgangers.

While there, he meets Jeong Tae-eul, and gets excited knowing that she has something to do with saving his life when he was 8 years old.

At first, she thinks he’s crazy when he tells her he’s an emperor from another world, but eventually, he is able to actually take her there so she is able to see his world with her own eyes. 


Of course, a romance is bound to blossom – and the two slowly catch feelings for each other. 


Evil lurks

While the two leads are busy catching feelings, the bad guy Lee Lim – who hasn’t aged at all thanks to his half of the magical flute – is luring people to his evil cause by promising them a better life. All they have to do is find and kill their doppelgangers.

Lee Gon catches wind of his evil uncle’s plan, and prepares to stop him. At the same time, Jeong Tae-eul is determined to investigate all the murders that have happened because of people killing their doppelgangers. The two team up to protect the people from both their worlds as they continue to fall in love. 


What’s next?

Evidently, more of everything. There’s more romance, more action, and more doppelgangers as Lee Gon and Jeong Tae-eul fight evil, and also fight for their love.

New episodes of the show are released on Netflix every Friday and Saturday, at 10:30 pm. – Rappler.com