Imagine a second world, much like ours, somewhere out there and time is the only thing that differentiates our world from their’s? This very world exists in “The King: Eternal Monarch.”

“The King: Eternal Monarch” is an original drama written by Kim Eun-Sook. It comes with one season filled with 16 episodes, short right? But this is not abnormal for Korean dramas as most of their shows are short, especially modern ones.

*Be warned there are spoilers in this review.*

The drama presents two different worlds: the first world is South Korea and the opposite world is the Republic of Corea ⏤ a kingdom ruled by a young King. Notice the difference in the spelling of both countries?

The story takes us back to 1994, when the King of Corea is murdered by his brother, Lee Lim, who wants to take the Manpasikjeok ⏤ a legendary flute with supernatural powers. Lee Lim also attacks the King’s son, Lee Gon, and stabs him in the neck, but the prince survived. But on the night of the incident, a mysterious man intervened to save a young Lee Gon with Lee Lim escaping with only half of the broken flute.

The next day, eight-year-old Lee Gon is appointed as the next ruler of the Kingdom of Corea while mourning his father’s death.

Twenty-five years later, Lee Gon governs the kingdom as its benevolent leader but he is still haunted by what happened to him as a child and still holding on to the police badge left behind on the night of the assassination. The badge was issued in 2019 for Lieutenant Jeong Tae-Eul, a detective in the Violent Crimes Division in the Republic of Korea.

And now you’re probably wonder, how did 2019 badge end up in 1994?

Well fast forward again to 2020 as a Lee Gon riding a white horse in the busy city of Seoul. While in the city, a police detective prompts Lee Gon for his identification but he is not paying attention to what she is asking at. Soon enough, he decides to hug them; Tae-Eul, the detective, is confused as to why the guy she is about to arrest is hugging her.

But Lee Gon knows her (or so he thinks): she is the owner of the badge he kept the night his father was killed.

When Lee Gon fails to identify himself, Tae-Eul decides to take him to the police station to question him. The detective tries to figure out who he is but she cannot identify him. Lee Gon tries to explain that he comes from another world and came to Seoul to find Tae-Eul, believing she is the one who saved him when he was young. But she refuses to believe him, thinking he may be mentally unstable.

Eventually, Lee Gon realizes that Tae-Eul did not; he was saved by a man who happened to carry the detective’s badge.

Lee Gon and Tae-Eul fell in love and that is when Lee Gon continues to travel back and forth using the Manpasikjeok, since it has the power to open the door to both worlds, visit the woman he loves and catch the traitor who killed his father.

This definitely a Korean drama that won’t leave you disappointed. It is available to be stream on Netflix.