Island. K_Drama

The drama’s premiere opens with a brief history of the dol hareubang — the ubiquitous “stone grandfather” statues unique to Jeju Island. Originally known as Tamra Island, the land was one where all inhabitants coexisted in harmony. But chaos and conflict soon took hold, and the blood of the 46 children of God was sealed away in the dol hareubang, in order to block Hell’s Gate and prevent monsters from crawling out.

To conceal and protect the real 46, many more dol hareubang were created. However, we soon realize that the more pressing problem isn’t the counterfeit dol hareubang, but the ones imbued with evil by a mysterious man. As a newlywed couple approaches a pair of dol hareubang, a black fog overtakes them, turning both into demons and leaving blood-filled leeches behind.

Now a grotesque monster, the groom tears into the terrified wedding photographer, until a dagger flies through the air and pierces the demon in the skull. It’s our immortal protagonist BAN (Kim Nam-gil!) to the rescue, whose entrance is accompanied by a grandiose soundtrack and hero backlighting.

That pretty much sets the tone for the drama — part cool, part campy, and all around fun. Our second protagonist, chaebol heiress WON MI-HO (Lee Da-hee), is elegant and eloquent, outwitting both her spiteful aunt and an obtrusive reporter with ease. However, when Mi-ho gets into a scandal of her aunt’s making, she’s left with no choice but to board a plane to Jeju Island for some PR-friendly volunteering and reflection time.

Mi-ho has barely touched down for five minutes, though, when she feels a strange throbbing in her chest. Then she encounters the demon bride, who’s in the middle of gorging on a human. Mi-ho is no match for a superpowered demon, and she eventually gets cornered in a delivery van which the demon tears into with its bare claws. It’s inches away from reaching her, and that’s when a familiar majestic soundtrack plays. It’s Ban, here to save the day!At first, it seems like just another regular day’s work of decimating demons, but when Ban locks eyes with Mi-ho, there’s stunned recognition in his gaze. Before he can gather his wits to react, though, Mi-ho’s heart throbs again. She loses consciousness, waking up back in her bed with her worried right-hand men fussing over her.

Mi-ho’s trials and tribulations don’t end there, though. She’s asked BUTLER JANG (Oh Gwang-rok) to investigate the incident her aunt orchestrated, and he’s dug up some photo evidence — which clearly captured SECRETARY KANG (Lee Soon-won) in cahoots with both the thugs and auntie dearest.

Having trusted her closest aides more than her power-hungry relatives, Mi-ho is utterly devastated, but she refuses to let her emotions get the better of her. This is a betrayal she can’t forgive, and she confronts Secretary Kang, declaring that they’ll go their separate ways from now on. She means that quite literally, too — she walks off, leaving the car to Secretary Kang.

Of course, that means Mi-ho is walking straight into danger’s grasp yet again. Secretary Kang gets turned into a demon, and once he catches up to his former charge, Mi-ho winds up in a chokehold.

Never fear, Ban is here! In the blink of an eye, he’s sliced right through Secretary Kang’s arm (which Mi-ho flings aside after belatedly realizing she’s holding onto a severed limb, LOL). Ban has an arsenal of slick moves up his sleeve, and after an impressive display of swordsmanship that slashes the demon to pieces, Secretary Kang is no more. Ohmygod, I’m torn between cringing over the campiness and squeeing over how awesome Kim Nam-gil is.

Ban disappears before Butler Jang arrives, which means that to everyone else except herself, Mi-ho sounds like a spoiled rich brat who’s been hallucinating, ha. Thoroughly spooked by the encounter and frustrated that no one believes her, Mi-ho books it straight to the airport. Unfortunately, danger is still hot at her heels, and a security officer-turned-demon sparks yet another breathless pursuit (and a nerve-wracking car chase).Once again, Mi-ho is saved by Ban, who’s looking very unimpressed. The demon plunges its claws right into Ban’s abdomen, and how does Ban react? By leveling the monster with the most deadpan stare, as if the monster has just dealt him the world’s greatest inconvenience by ruining his fine suit. HAHAHA. All the while, Mi-ho’s peeking out from behind a wall like an awestruck chipmunk watching a real-life action movie, and honestly? Same.

After all the dust has settled, Ban explains to Mi-ho that these creatures are lust demons — embodiments of evil that usurp human forms to leech off the land. They’ll follow her to the ends of the earth, because it’s written into her destiny.Understandably, Mi-ho is equal parts bewildered and terrified. So when Ban swoops into her room that night, having just eliminated a demon on her rooftop, Mi-ho immediately latches on to the opportunity. She’s at her wits’ end — her mother is dead, her father wants her to live quietly like she’s dead, her aunt wishes she were dead. And now she’s in actual mortal peril? Mi-ho’s had enough. And so, she presents Ban with an offer — work for her. It takes Ban a second to register the words. Blink, blink. What?

HAHAHA, Mi-ho writes up an employment contract for Ban, promising a handsome salary without knowing he has no need for worldly currency. Needless to say, Ban doesn’t have a family name, ID card, or phone number. LOL. Ban’s just about done humoring Mi-ho, but then he notices the bottle of sleeping pills on her bedside table.

Mi-ho’s plaintive plea for him to stay just for the night tugs at his heartstrings, and he can’t turn a blind eye to her fear and exhaustion. Thoroughly drained from the day’s events, Mi-ho nods off, and when she awakens the next morning, the contract is signed.

There’s another reason for Ban’s empathy towards Mi-ho, though. Back when he was a child, he’d been taken into a monastery as the only survivor of a lust demon attack. The head monk, in a bid to create immortal demon slayers to defeat the lust demons, commits a monstrous deed himself. He gathers the children he’s taken in, slices their backs open, and pours demon blood into them.

Only two boys survive that horrific ordeal, and they’re named Ban and GOONG-TAN. A kind young maiden named WON-JUNG frees the pair from their underground cell, but Ban’s demon side overwhelms him for a brief moment, and he bites her arm before coming back to his senses. The trio flee, but Won-jung’s worsening wound compels Ban to return with her so she can receive medical attention. Goong-tan is caught, and both boys are forced back into captivity, but Won-jung promises to return and save them one day.

The next time we see this trio, they’re all grown up. It’s a joyful reunion for Won-jung, but Ban’s demon blood seizes control yet again. His sclera turns pitch black as his irises glow red, and he plunges his dagger right into Won-jung’s chest — giving her the scar that Mi-ho now sports just below her collarbone.

The context of that scene isn’t revealed just yet, but the present-day lust demons’ bloodthirsty homing instinct towards Mi-ho suggests that she’s a threat to them. This is corroborated by the archdiocese, who proclaim that Mi-ho is the one and only savior who can prevent the world’s destruction.

That ties in to our third protagonist, priest YO-HAN (Cha Eun Woo). His priestly talents far surpass his age, and his greatest weapon in an exorcism is… the hip hop music playing through his headphones. LOL, how amusingly modern.

Yo-han is brought into the Jeju estate by Butler Jang, and it’s revealed that the latter is also a priest. In fact, that’s been Butler Jang’s sole mission all these decades — to protect the savior, come what may. Whoa, I suspected there was more to Butler Jang than meets the eye, but I didn’t see this coming. How much does Butler Jang know, and what ulterior motives did he have in suggesting this Jeju trip? Next episode coming very soon so stay tuned.

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