I was reminded by that I had this series, right? Let’s set a limit. How about 17?
Falling in Love with Lee Gon, part 1
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There’s one montage in Episode 16 that I thought encapsulated Lee Gon’s (and therefore KES’) concept of love. Can you guess?
It’s this one.
It’s a montage of the many times he searched for her. You could hear his footsteps as he approached her.
The first pic is from their meeting. He looked at her ID and said, “Finally, I met you, Lieutenant Jeong TaeEul.”
The second frame is from Episode 5. She missed her train because she didn’t have enough money for the fare back to Busan. He ordered his helicopter to go to Seoul and when he walked up to her, he said, “I heard you were looking for me. Seventeen times.”
The third still is from Episode 8. He annoyed her so she’d make a quick visit to his hotel. She waited by her car and he walked over to her. He was proud that he got to her in good time. “Eight minutes and forty seconds. I came down right away.”
The fourth time is from Episode 11. She’d been abducted and brought to Corea. On his way to find her, he prayed that she would hang in there. “Hang in there, Lieutenant Jeong. I’m coming for you. I promise you I will find you.” When he found her, she spoke first, “Let me skip the thanks.” He replied, “You’re skipping so much.” But she skipped the gratitude so she could express how much she missed him, “I miss you. I miss you. I miss you.”
The fifth time is from Episode 15. She was waiting outside the hospital when she spotted him running towards her. She couldn’t believe it at first. “He’s here. He’s over there.” Once he had her in his arms, he said, “How have you been? You’ve been waiting for me?” She answered, “I missed you. I missed you so much.” He apologized, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for keep making you wait. I’m sorry.”
The montage was incomplete. There were a few more moments that were omitted, like these:
From Episode 4:
His first words were in reply to her question, “Where were you?” He answered, “My world.”
From Episode 7:
His first words were, “How have you been? Have you been waiting for me?”
From Episode 10:
His first words were when he embraced her were, “Have you been waiting here?” She asked him whether he was really there, and he answered, “Not yet. Not entirely. I missed you so much like crazy. So I was going to just hear your voice and leave.”
But we got the point. I told you about the importance of “yeogi.”
They were having their chicken dinner date by the river in Episode 9 when the word came up.
TE: Hey, where are you? I’m here by the —
LG: (suddenly appearing to drop his coat on her shoulder) I’m here, too. Next to you. Right here.
I wrote this:
Knowing that they’ll soon be separated in this story, little words like that “yeogi” takes on deeper meaning. Please include this word in your Korean dictionary (and, while you’re at it, delete that contrived “oppa” from your vocab, lol).
“Yeogi” means “here.”
The interesting thing about “yeogi” is when you have two people living apart, for instance, TaeEul is in Korea, and Lee Gon is in Corea, then they obviously have two different “yeogi.” TaeEul’s “yeogi” is in Korea, and LG’s “yeogi” is in his kingdom.
But when LG said, “I’m here, too. Next to you. Right here,” he was essential re-defining what his “yeogi” was. It meant “next to TaeEul.” His “yeogi” meant BESIDE TaeEul.
The implied context here is that no matter where he is, his center is where TaeEul is. He can be in the next city, parallel world, or another universe entirely, but his “yeogi” is, and always will be where she is. He’ll be the one to close the gap, and move next to TaeEul.
source: The Timeline
And that’s essentially what love is. Love means losing your heart and giving it to someone else. And here, Lee Gon left his heart with TaeEul.
That’s why his new center or his “yeogi” was TaeEul. No matter how far he was from her, he was always going to journey back to her because she kept his heart.
To me, the drama showed this in several ways. I’ll mention three because I’m pressed for time.
1. According to @Summerwind525, TaeEul’s name in hanja means the Northern Pole Star or Polaris.
So, to LG, JTE is his home. Additionally, across all cultures, Polaris provides direction to lost travelers. If LG gets lost during all his time travelings, JTE will be the guiding star to provide him the direction to return home.
2. In that rescue scene in Ep 12, TaeEul was in the intersection. Yoyo Kid talked about axis of time and space in that weird No Man’s Land — that’s well and goo. But out here, in the real world, the axis of time and space for Lee Gon is TaeEul.
Edited 6/18/202 to add this comment from @JT7. Thanks, JT7!
I esp liked how you referred to TE as the intersection of both axes for LG. I couldn’t resist slipping in another math reference: TE was assigned the identity zero by LG. In most graphs, the intersection of the x and y axes is zero. 😊
From all the different camera shots, we knew that she stood in the middle. And it was Lee Gon who was coming down the line (literally and figuratively speaking).
3. TaeEul talked about gravity.
TE: My earth has become round as well.
LG: Really? Because of me?
TE: As if! Because of gravity, obviously. And that’s the reason apples fall to the ground.
lol. Like she’s HIS center of gravity. That’s the reason he falls for her every time, and searches for her through the universe.
LG: What else?
TE: It’s also what creates tides.
LG: What else?
TE: I love you.
LG: My goodness. Why am I startled every time I hear this? Me, too.
lol. TaeEul is a cool chick. She doesn’t like to say “I love you” in a sweet and sentimental way. She likes to slip in it when he least expects it. Remember, in Episode 8, she was issuing instructions when she suddenly said, “I love you,” then shifted conversation again.
TE: I haven’t eaten yet, so I’m irritable now. I’ll add one more to the 17 rules. No cheesy comments when I’m hungry. I’m glad everything is good. I’m off. I love you. Yeong is in the hotel room, right?
LG: Hang on…. I’m still mesmerized by what you just said…. Yeong went out. He just walked by. Didn’t you see him? He has to…No, That’s not important. I mean, you just said –”
Although Lee Gon was a genius, he could be flustered, too. Here, he couldn’t hold two thoughts at the same time. He answered her question about Yeong while he was processing what she said about loving him. Internally, he was going, “Wait. What am I saying? Why am I talking about Yeong?!”
And TaeEul pretended as if she didn’t mess him up on purpose.
TE: I told you he can’t go out. Find him and go back in.
LG: Jeong TaeEul. Me, too.
So here, in Episode 16, she was talking about science and how she’d become more scientific, when actually what she really wanted to tell him was that she loved him. She knew that she was very important in his life – they even traveled back to 2000 so she could be introduced to his uncle, Prince Buyeong – and she wanted him to know that she loved him, too.
That’s why I believe the ending was a good one. Don’t let the naysayers tell you otherwise. They just don’t get it.
The story came full circle. It started with Lee Gon’s search for TaeEul. He found her over and over again. But each time, fate had other plans for them.
TaeEul told him, “There’s no way that fate can be broken so easily. The larger the fate, the more you need to walk to reach your destination. We just haven’t reached our destination yet.”
Each time, the bar for him was raised.
But despite the increasing burden on him, he did what he must do to get back to her. It’s this indefatigable spirit that makes him heroic. When TaeEul and Lee Gon said that they would love each other “tirelessly,” the word “tirelessly” meant that they would always persist. Just like Lee Gon never got exhausted from opening doors in the universe to find her again, they would never become weary of loving each other.
Love this! Quick request, if you have the time, could you do a character analysis of tae-eul too? she’s one of my favorite heroines in kdrama land bc she’s extraordinary. sounds cliche but she really is. thank you!
😍😍😍 This is why LG made it to Best Boyfriend Status because he never got tired of opening doors of the universe to find TE. That’s bravery, courage, determination and love for me. Who wouldn’t love him? ☺️
Thanks! Love this! 🍪🍪🍪
Hey, pay up front!
If you’re going to request a character analysis of TaeEul, I want my usual cookies.
What is this? You think this is free fan service? 😈 😂
Right? That’s why he’s BBDB. Bitchesoverdramas’ Best Drama Boyfriend.
Thanks for the cookies.
Thanks @pkml3 especially when you’re still so tied up with work. Nicely done! 🥰
To sustain you for the long haul (of work and writing!)
🍪 🍪 🥛 cookies and milk or 🍜 🍵 ramyeon and cha. You get to choose. 😉
You’re very welcome! ☺️
Lord Xiao Nai and King Lee Gon as BBDB! Nothing but the best! 🥰🥰🥰🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
This made me go “Ah, that made complete sense!”, once again. Love the imageries and your keen eyes in catching them. Thanks so much, as always, @pkml3.
I knew LG/JTE would be one of my favourite fictional pairings of all time by the end of Ep. 1, and you outlined the reasons excellently here.
So sorry that I can’t offer anything more substantial except a million thanks and some virtual cookies🍪🍪🍪 and tea 🍵. Many thanks, again.
More 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪 for you @packmule! Thank you for this, LG was def deserving of the BBDB!
I esp liked how you referred to TE as the intersection of both axes for LG. I couldn’t resist slipping in another math reference: TE was assigned the identity zero by LG. In most graphs, the intersection of the x and y axes is zero. 😊
Woahhh 😮😮😮😮
I love it. Thank you admin for sharing another entry of The King. You are the best. Kindly dont refrain yourself from doing so juseyo. I love reading your writing 😍😍😍
I think you are one of the best in terms of reading and interpreting our writer Kim Eunsook’s mind. Really !!!
Thank you 🥰🥰🥰
Lee Gon is truly the gold standard as Best Boyfriend. Period.
Time and again, I think that you’re KES’s alter ego @packmule3 How can you be so in tune with her! Thank you so much for all your time and effort – here are some 🍪^ infinity to last you for eternity! In LG’s words, “Because you and this blog existed, I was less lonely this entire time”.
And kudos to you @JT7, I especially love your reference to the origin of the xy-axis 👍🏼 To me, it reinforces the extra effort the show has taken to connect all the elements and I find that simply beautiful… it’s a notch above.
Wow another revelation for me! You did it again! That magnificent rescue scene at the intersection got new depths now with your analysis.
I see it now. TE was at the centre of it all.
Not only for dramatic purposes but because she is the axis the “yeogi” the centre of his gravity like you said and LG will always be running / walking towards her!
@packmule3 you should write a compendium to this drama and KES better give you credit rights! I really wonder if the majority of viewers especially Koreans themselves picked up all the clues and hints like you did. If not it would have been such a lost effort on behalf of the KES writing team.
Thank you for showing all the pivotal scenes. And as I just learned belatedly here I have to give you cookies as payment.
So here’s my favourite salted caramel choc cookies🍪🍪🍪🍪 and a NY cheesecake 🍰 and an earl grey cuppa ☕
Besides LG having the BBDB award. I think TE deserves a well earned title too please? 😁
I will give you more cookies 🍪🍪🍪🍪 and some fruits 🍒🍑🍍🥭 for advance payment.
7@JT l learnt something new too from you. My maths is definitely improving in here😉 Thanks.
There were also the funny pink cardigan meeting in the hotel when Tae-Eul threatened to sell Maximus, the search for her bedroom in the palace and the ghostly first blue flowers visit when we thought one of them would die. Ah, the first two probably don’t count.
Thank you for pointing out the pull of Tae-Eul – a new force. There was just an article about how a black hole has a ‘heartbeat’. It made me think of this drama.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/12/world/black-hole-beating-heart-scn/index.html#:~:text=Black%20hole%20heartbeats%20don't,witnessed%20in%20a%20black%20hole.
I liked how she flustered him, too. The scene in the palace bedroom when she said ‘take it off’, on the walk outdoors when she said she wanted to live for the day and act scandalously (‘Do you even know what that means?’) and in the next visit to KoC when she wanted him to look at her shoulder. 😆 He eventually paid her back in her own coin, though, didn’t he? Beheadings and melodrama, right?
Thanks again @packmule3! As I continue to read this blog, I feel like reading a master thesis of TKEM at Kdrama University! Thanks to all the brilliant mind here.
If I’m not married, I would have keep on searching for a guy like LG and I guess it would not come ha ha ha! I need to go to the parallel world in KOC!His love for TE and whenever he longs for her seems like a pure love coming from within. How can anyone not fall for King Lee Gon? He would abandon all the glamor and willing to break rules if possible all for TE’s sake!
More power to this blog and to all the bitches!
Thanks! It was on my notes to mention that she was (0,0) on the Cartesian plane. I was originally going to write about the cinematography on this scene but ran out of time. ⌛️
Will edit my post to include your comment. 👍
@packmule3 yay! 17 in the series! Truly makes my day.
I did not notice that TE was in the crossroads in that scene. You are so incredibly insightful.
For me, the concept of time travel is not new- my fave book is the Time Traveller’s wife, and the concept of perpetually repeating events until things are corrected is not new, example: Live Die, Repeat.
For me, the absolute best thing about The King is how much Lee Gon loves TE. Unwavering and unconditionally. Makes me believe in Soul mates again.
Also, I loved, LOVED your post about Yeogi (thanks for posting again here so I can read it again). It’s now one of my favourite words. Next to Wondrous.
@Fern: Thanks for sharing the link, wow, amazing that even a black hole can have a heartbeat!
@Dreamer @carolstar: Yes I agree KES took pains to link many elements together and the mathematical symbolism in the show is simply beautiful. Sorry, let me ramble bit more about math, because I just thought of a few more things that made me so excited:
@nrllee mentioned that she spotted the significance of the Korean 2 (이) being made of the number 0 and 1 earlier on in the show, and that 이 is part of LG’s name. Initially I saw 이 as LG’s solution to his root symbol problem: TE (as 0), and himself ( as the 1), both kill LL, and both of them TWOgether (sorry couldn’t help it) solve LG’s problem of loneliness. Adding a 2 as a superscript to any number in a root symbol squares it, releasing it from being trapped. The show even gives a nod to this concept in the timestops: the duration of each timestop is a square of prime number, deja vu events occur at time stops 1, 4, 9, 16 (squares of 1, 2, 3, 4), there are in total 36 time stops (square of 6) (please refer to my time stops table to see the patterns).
But I just realized the symbolism of 이 doesn’t stop there! LG has another ZERO by his side: Yeong. We are given hints of this when ES cracks Yeong’s password: Jo = 1 trillion, Yeong = 0. The scene where LG and JY storm Cheonjongo during the second return to the night of treason, is a perfect example of 이: JY on the left, as the 0, LG on the right, as the 1. LG, because he retains his memories, will have 2 sets of memories, and will remember 2 saviours: himself (1), as the black shooter in the first return, and JY (0), in the second return.
Finally, even LL’s death has elements of 이 to it. TE shoots the 2020 LL first = 0. She uses a gun, which leaves ROUND bullet holes (the show even shows us those holes during the scene when SJ and TE go for their range shooting test). LG then kills the 1994 LL = 1. He uses his 4 tiger sword, which slices in a straight line (and we’ve seen those lines so many times: when 1994 LG slices LL’s hand, when 1994 LL slices 2020 LL’s neck).
@packmule, perhaps another math for bitches post? Here are lots more cookies for you! :p
@nrllee & @JT7 – genius references on the 0 and 1.
The Korean Hangul Lee = 01 and Yeong as the 0 to the left of LG as they fight through the Cheonjongo, and TE’s bullet to 2020 LL right before LG’s beheading of 1994 LL with Four Tiger Sword.
Another commentator made the reference of the “Four” in the Four Tiger Sword; the four characters who would die in protecting LG: JY, ES, SJ and HCL. So many symbolisms in this show that I think half of them go over the audiences’ heads due to translation challenges and the general acceptance of being “given” the information rather than “linking” the information.
@JT7 it would be Fantastic if @packmule3 could do a separate post on all the mathematical elements amd symbolic interpretations in TKEM. There are too many it’s almost surreal.
I like what you found out!👏👏 The character 이 holds such complex meaning now after you have explained!
@Fern thanks for the link on the heartbeat of a black hole. That was exciting news for me as a scifi wannabe.
@packmule3 I am waiting anxiously to a character analysis of Tae-Eul.
Even though we have more than enough reasons to love Lee Gon, we can’t just neglect how amazing Jong Tae-Eul is. It always bothered me in k-dramas that the female lead is weaker than the male lead, as if she is something to be loved and protected only. But with Tae-Eul we get since the beginning that Lee Gon fell in love with something else. It’s her personality, even though abrasive, that catches his attention. She’s strong even in the face of danger and brave despite the danger. She chose to be a person that protects others despite everything. And that’s why she’s the best partner to Lee Gon, because he also chooses to protect this kingdom and both worlds even though that could have cost him his own happiness.
The novel to this drama will be available 07.10. I hope to give more insights to this story that made me rethink so many things….
Thank you Ladies (@packmule3, @JT7 et al) for all this beautiful information.
I am trying to overcome my TKEM withdrawal…
Little did I know that almost a month ago, The King Eternal Monarch could change my life for the better…
Do we have any news about the Novel? What does it say? Does it say anything at all?
I loved this show and am so happy to have found your site – thanks for this.