The Ones He Left Behind

Hong-wi's mother died the day he was born. Gyeonghye was six years old.

So these two — a six-year-old girl and a newborn baby — grew up together. Motherless. Inside a royal family that was quietly collapsing around them.

On the night of the Gyeyu Coup in 1453, Hong-wi wasn't in the palace. He was at his sister's house. That's where Suyang came bursting in. That's where a thirteen-year-old boy looked at the man who had just murdered everyone protecting him and said:

That's in the historical record.

Gyeonghye was, by all accounts, the beauty of the Joseon royal family. She married a man named Jeong Jong — and Hong-wi trusted him so much that he gave him the position of Minister of Justice despite the role being mostly ceremonial.

The king's trust. His brother-in-law. His sister. All three, together.

Then everything fell apart.

Jeong Jong was implicated in the movement to restore Hong-wi to the throne. He was executed by georyeol — torn apart at the limbs. Gyeonghye was pregnant with their second child at the time.

She and her children were stripped of their royal status and made into servants.

A princess. The granddaughter of King Sejong — the man who invented the Korean alphabet. Made a slave.

She eventually became a Buddhist nun and died at 39.

👉 Full story on the blog: [LINK]

Sejo issued a decree right after Hong-wi was gone.

Hong-wi's body was thrown into the Donggang River. People stood on the riverbanks watching it float by. Crying. Unable to do anything.

And then Eom Heung-do pulled it out of the river.

On a night with heavy snow, he carried Hong-wi on his back and wandered through the mountains looking for a burial site. He wandered for a long time.

Then he found a deer. It didn't run. It just sat there — in one spot — and disappeared. And where it had been sitting, the snow had melted.

He buried him there. In the snow-covered mountains of Yeongwol.

That site is now Jangneung — the royal tomb of King Danjong. The only royal tomb in Gangwon Province. The village next to Cheongnyeongpo is called Norugol. Deer Valley. Named after the deer that pointed the way.

Heung-do spent the rest of his life as a fugitive.

His name appears in the official records exactly once — 59 years later. Two lines. A regional inspector's report.

Two lines. And from those two lines — director Jang Hang-jun built a two-hour film.

Here's the thing. Even the official historical records can't agree on what happened.

Four versions. Four sources.

Version 1 — The Sejo Annals Written by the people who won. According to this: Hong-wi was overcome with fear and took his own life. That's the official line — and it was almost certainly written to protect Sejo's image.

Version 2 — The Seonjo Annals Written decades later, under a different king. Poison was sent to Yeongwol. The official document recording that fact still exists.

Version 3 — The Sukjong Annals A royal inspector arrived carrying the execution order. When he got there, he couldn't go through with it. He just stood there. Frozen.

One of Hong-wi's own attendants stepped forward and said he would do it himself. And the moment he did — blood poured from all nine orifices of his body. Instantly. The record called it a sign from Heaven — that Heaven itself refused to sanction what was being done.

Version 4 — The Yasa (Unofficial Histories) The most brutal. One of Hong-wi's own servants — motivated by a reward Sejo had promised — tied a bowstring around his neck, passed the cord through a hole in the wall, and pulled.

In the unofficial histories, it was a servant blinded by greed.

In the film — it's Heung-do. Helping Hong-wi cross the river the way Hong-wi wanted. With that bowstring.

Three official royal records. Three different accounts. The truth was buried along with the king.

👉 Full story on the blog: [LINK]

Word is he took a trip, cleared his head, and is quietly sorting through his next project.

Which — honestly? Very him.

Almost 1 in 3 people in Korea have seen his face on a screen. And he's just... quietly choosing what comes next. Reclusive, as always.

I've been following this industry for a long time. And for years, it kept betting on the same safe names. The same expensive veterans.

And then Ji-hoon, Hyun-wook, and Kyung showed up.

Watching this shift happen in real time is genuinely one of the most exciting things I've witnessed in this space.

More soon. 🎬

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— Jennie 🍪

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