How did Jeong Tae Eul's ID end up with Lee Gon in the first place?
Tracking the journey between worlds and across time
There was a Twitter question about which show you'd like to watch again for the first time and I, of course, responded with "The King Eternal Monarch." I just remember how much fun it was trying to figure things out. A friend even had a virtual "murder board" for who's who LOL! In a reply to my tweet, someone asked: How did Jeong Tae Eul's ID end up with Lee Gon in the first place?
TKEM has one of those loop thingies with time travel so lemme just start with episode 1, with adult Lee Gon heading to the past, to the Night of the Treason. He gets into a shootout with Lee Lim's men, kills several, and after they escape, he goes to check on his younger version. As Gon feels the boy's pulse, Baby Gon lifts his hand. They hear an alert that the Royal Guards are coming so Gon stands up. Baby Gon catches the lanyard and pulls Tae Eul's ID card out of Gon's pocket.
In a flashback in episode 2, Baby Gon, now the king, asks Head Court Lady Noh if she has the two things he had with him on the Night of the Treason: half of the flute, which he suspected was in the riding whip she held, and the ID card. Head Court Lady Noh produces both.
And so that's how Lee Gon keeps Tae Eul's ID card with him in the kingdom for the next 25 years. In episode 1, we see Lee Gon has it inside a copy of "Alice in Wonderland," with the ID card right smack on top of the illustration of the White Rabbit. Symbolism much? LOL! The book, of course, is referenced a few times by both Lee Gon and Jeong Tae Eul.
One of the more interesting details of the time travel in TKEM is that at this precise moment (Sept. 10, 2019 at 7:45 p.m.), when Lee Gon is looking at Jeong Tae Eul's ID card while sitting in his private study in the Kingdom of Corea, the card doesn't actually exist YET in the Republic of Corea.
When Lee Gon decides to follow the White Rabbit, or rather the sound of the flute, into the other world and meets Jeong Tae Eul for the first time, she has an entirely different ID, one that shows her in her police uniform with her hair down.
This ID card is still with Tae Eul in episode 4 when she leaves the library (where she'd been researching parallel words, etc.). As she approaches her car, she finds her keys with the big-ass tchotchke in the form of a lion tangled with the lanyard of her ID. As she was separating the two, she is bumped by a boy on a bicycle, sending the ID card flying out of her hands and down a grate, straight to the sewer below.
BTW, the culprit on the bike is none other flute boy (fun fact: flute/yo-yo boy is actually played by a girl, Kim Bo Min).
Jeong Tae Eul gets her photo taken for a new ID card. She has her hair pulled back in a low ponytail and wears a cream sweater. The photographer advises her to put on something with a bit more contrast so her face doesn't stand out too much in the photo. Tae Eul opts for a navy jacket. And while she is not aware of her outfit's significance, we see the image Lee Gon has been staring at for 25 years.
Later, we see Tae Eul apply for a new ID card. Hilariously, she says the old one was "lost after a fierce scuffle with a suspect." She remembers Lee Gon telling her the ID card he has was issued on Nov. 11, 2019, and so she asks the civil service worker when the new one is going to be ready. Much to her relief, she's told about a week, in late October.
BUT Fate has other plans, of course. Kang Shin Jae tosses Tae Eul her ID. The agency apologized for accidentally leaving her out. Her ID was issued that day: Nov. 11, 2019. Lee Gon was right! Tae Eul is justifiably flustered. She gets even more flustered when she gets a phone call from Lee Gon.
She rushes home and finds Lee Gon standing in her yard, like a freaking statue. This is one of my favorite TKEM scenes ever but I'm gonna rush the summary here: Tae Eul asks Gon details about her new card, which he is able to answer correctly, proving he does have a version of her ID. He invites her to his world so she can see for herself. She accepts.
In the kingdom (episode 5), Jeong Tae Eul is asked by Head Court Lady Noh to put her belongings in a box as part of a security check. Lee Gon assures her it's something everyone does including court ladies and the prime minister. Tae Eul tosses in handcuffs, her wallet, the lion tchotchke, a Kahi multibalm stick lol and, of course, her newly reissued ID. She seeks assurance that she's gonna get all the stuff back, saying she'll be penalized if she loses her ID again. Head Court Lady Noh recognizes the ID.
Fast-forward to episode 6. Japanese warships are heading to Corean waters and Lee Gon has to send Jeong Tae Eul home earlier than planned. Lady Noh retrieves the box with Tae Eul's belongings โ side-eyeing palace security here as the unlocked box is stored in a dresser in her room โ and realizes the ID is missing. No way to check who took it as the CCTV was cut off in that area of the palace last night starting at 8 (because of JTE's unexpected arrival). Tae Eul ends up taking back the "old" version of her ID card.
So where did the newly re-issued ID card go? It shows up tucked inside a book in the bookstore of one of Lee Lim's minions with a note identifying it as "guestroom user." We later find out that Lee Lim's contact is no other than Kang Shin Jae's Corean mom, a court lady who has Lady Noh's trust.
In episode 11, Lee Lim captures Tae Eul's Corean doppelganger, Luna, and convinces her to switch places with our heroine by showing her the ID card and Tae Eul's family. Luna, who'd never known her parents, agrees. She's taken to republic with Tae Eul's ID and picks up Tae Eul's phone at a locker in a station. Her first order of business: Apply to take all of Tae Eul's 21-day vacation. Smart, LOL.
This is around the time Lee Lim's men kidnap Jeong Tae Eul and take her to the kingdom. Lee Lim plans to exchange her for Lee Gon's half of the flute. But she foils that plan by escaping and we get the famous "Protect her! She's the future queen!" battle cry from the king.
Jeong Tae Eul eventually returns to the republic with Lee Gon in episode 13. After introducing her boyfriend to her dad, she arranges to meet Gon after work. She gifts him with a black jacket, which he thinks looks a bit familiar. Later, as he's trying it on, the doorbell for his hotel room rings and he finds Tae Eul at the door bringing beer. It doesn't take him long to realize it's Luna he's with โ she's got a look of anxiety that JTE doesn't have. He pulls Tae Eul's ID from Luna's coat pocket. As he's checking it out, he notices his image in the mirror and realization dawns, he looks exactly like the man who came to Cheonjongo on the Night of the Treason and saved Baby Gon. He saved himself!
Unfortunately, Luna had spiked the beer and Lee Gon goes down, ID card still in his hand at the beginning of episode 14. As Luna tries to search for the whip that contains the flute โ she's not interested in taking his life โ Jo Yeong arrives (he'd gone out to get drinks). She flees, minus the ID. The captain of the Royal Guard, with Tae Eul's help, takes him to a clinic owned by a friend of the medical examiner (Chief Park's wife). When Lee Gon comes to, he could hear the flute crying, just like he did when he was a boy on the Night of the Treason. It is the signal to go back. He enters the doors once again, ID card still in his pocket, as Lee Lim enters his, enabling them both to return to the past to try to fix things.
And we're back on the Night of the Treason. Lee Gon arrives at Cheonjongo and gets into a shootout with Lee Lim's men.
"What is this place? Is it some kind of a fourth dimnesion?"
"I'm not sure yet. I guess we can say it's something between one and zero in my world and yours. This is a place that cannot be explained scientifically. ... Do you see that balloon? Balloons usually pop within 10 hours. But that one has been floating like that for over 10 days. It hasn't popped or floated away. It's exactly where I let it go. That means there's no light, wind or air here. Isn't that amazing?"
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