'The King: Eternal Monarch' Episode 4: Lee Min-ho's Lee Gon and Kim Go-eun's Tae-eul enter Corea together
After getting back to his world, King Lee Gon (Lee Min-ho) sets the record straight in the Kingdom of Corea by making a few public appearances to clarify all the rumors that had spread so far in his absence. In 'The King: Eternal Monarch' Episode 4, the first thing that Lee Gon did once he was back in Corea was to put Prime Minister Koo Seo-ryeong (Jung Eun-chae) in her place.
She has been trying to undermine the king's position for a while now, and she believes that if she caught the palace red-handed while they tried to hide the fact that the king was not in the palace, she would have a bargaining chip. To her surprise though, she finds Lee Gon and Jo Yeong, both in the king's study when she forces herself into the room. Lee Gon successfully manages to thwart her plans.
Then, Lee Gon attends the funeral service of a senior military official's father. With the help of the press, Lee Gon manages to squash the rumors about his health and his crown is safe again. However, none of this helps the Chief Court Lady feel any better. Considering the weird thing that she found in Lee Gon's coat -- a coupon for a fried chicken place, a tiny stuffed toy and a book of poems published in Korea -- the Court Lady is left with a gnawing feeling of unease.
This causes Lee Gon's security to keep an eye on him 24/7. And during one of those days, when he steps away for some fresh air and is followed by Jo Yeong, time stops again. The time that had only stopped twice before, did so again for about 2 short seconds. As everything stops to freeze, Lee Gon is left with nothing to do but count the seconds. Once time begins to flow again, Lee Gon tries to confess to Yeong about how the time stopped but is faced with a similar reaction as Jang Tae-eul (Kim Go-eun). So, Lee Gon is frustrated.
Meanwhile, in Korea, Tae-eul is left to deal with Lee Gon's absence. Something about it is amiss and Tae-eul feels it in her gut. When a forensic expert calls her to explain how the currency that was with Lee Gon the day he was brought to the station was real and made in a bank, Tae-eul has no way to explain any of it. She also keeps thinking back to how the ID card that Lee Gon claims to have of hers was issued on November 11, 2019. She lost her ID card recently and it had to be reissued. However, because she was uneasy about this coincidence, she double-checked with the police administrator to confirm that the ID would be reissued in October.
However, after a fortnight, it is Shing-jae (Kim Kyung-nam) who hands the reissued ID card to her and this was issued on November 11, 2019. This is the final straw which pushes Tae-eul to consider what she had thought was impossible. The existence of a parallel universe.
Lee Gon, on the other hand, continues to suffer from the side-effects of traveling between two universes. The burning feeling on his right shoulder blade that he had felt in Korea, is felt again in Corea as well as lightning and thunderstruck in the background. When Yeong sees the effect for himself, he tries to get the royal doctor to visit and in this gap, Lee Gon sneaks out. He rides to the other universe, meets Tae-eul, and this time her reaction is completely different. She tries to counter his claims and asks him about the photo in her id that he has. When he tells her exactly how she posed, Tae-eul is overwhelmed.
She is shocked further when Lee Gon invites her to go to his world. She is frustrated and needs an answer right away, so that's how she ends up accepting his request and rides on Maximus' back to the bamboo forest that they had earlier visited. This time, however, because Lee Gon has a piece of the flute and he manages to take Tae-eul with him to Corea where Tae-eul comes face to face with Yeong, who looks exactly like her friend Eun-seop.
Is this part of Lee Gon's plan to convince Tae-eul to be his queen?
'The King: Eternal Monarch' is originally aired in South Korea on SBS at 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The show can be streamed on Netflix in the US.