Netflix’s K-drama Gyeongseong Creature mixes lush historical drama and mystery for a period piece you won’t forget, before traveling to present-day Korea for the upcoming Season 2.
Season 1 is set in early 1945, when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, and centers around two young adults who encounter strange creatures born from greed, and then must battle for survival in the city of Gyeongseong — now known as Seoul. But it turns out, there may be something even more dangerous out there than the creatures themselves.
Keep reading to learn everything to know about Gyeongseong Creature, its expansive cast, and historical Season 1 and futuristic Season 2. And if you’ve already finished watching Season 1, you can click the link below to learn everything you need to know about the ending.
Gyeongseong Creature Part 1 premiered Dec. 22, and Part 2 debuts Jan. 5, 2024.
Jang Tae-sang is the wealthiest man in Gyeongseong and the master of the city’s biggest pawn shop, the House of Golden Treasure. Anyone who needs anything in the Bonjeong district — money, objects, or even people’s lives — must go through him. Under threat from the Japanese police commissioner Ishikawa, whose beloved Korean mistress is missing, Tae-sang crosses paths with the sleuth Chae-ok and finds an entirely different kind of life awaiting him.
Itaewon Class, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, The Marvels, Concrete Utopia
For more than 10 years, Yoon Chae-ok has worked with her father to track down missing people, even ones who are dead. She’s used her sharp eye and agile survival skills throughout her rough childhood roaming across Manchuria and Shanghai with her father. Chae-ok meets Tae-sang while investigating her missing mother’s whereabouts. They strike a deal to assist each other in their respective missions and soon infiltrate Ongseong Hospital in search of clues.
As the daughter of Brigadier General Maeda and the wife of Commissioner Ishikawa, Yukiko is the most powerful noblewoman in all of Gyeongseong. She obtains precious goods through Tae-sang and generally regards him as a friend, but it’s hard to read what she’s really thinking or doing in that spacious house of hers — or what’s actually unfolding at Ongseong Hospital, which she sponsors.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marco Polo
Mrs. Nawol was a steady fixture throughout Tae-sang’s childhood and is like family to him. As the dependable head housekeeper of the House of Golden Treasure, she runs the place when Tae-sang is away, carrying out his orders as his right-hand companion.
The Thieves, Start-Up
Jun-taek is the son of the man who runs Bugang Company and hails from a prominent family that’s allowed entry into Ongseong Hospital — a place that even Japanese people can’t easily access. Ashamed of his pro-Japanese father, Jun-taek secretly joins the Independence Army and hopes his rich friend will assist in their cause. He enters Ongseong Hospital with Tae-sang to look for an imprisoned comrade.
Squid Game, Little Women
Jung-won came to Gyeongseong with his daughter, Chae-ok, in search of his wife, who went missing a decade ago. The father and daughter join forces with Tae-sang and infiltrate Ongseong Hospital together in pursuit of their respective goals.
The Outlaws, Vicenzo
In Gyeongseong, the only person who can get anything done in town is Tae-sang, who owns a pawn shop and supervises all of the city’s under-the-radar activities. Yoon Chae-ok and her father, Jung-won, seek his help in their mission to find Chae-ok’s mother — and it all leads to Ongseong Hospital. Tae-sang uses his network to get the group access to the heavily restricted hospital — where they discover dozens of Joseon people trapped in a basement ward, and a terrifying creature who breathes deadly anthrax spores.
The creature was created in an experiment by the military scientist in charge of the hospital; it forms when a minuscule worm works its way into the brain of a subject and causes them to mutate. And, as it turns out, the creature is actually Seishin, Chae-ok’s missing mother who was turned into an anthrax-spewing hybrid creature by the scientist. And guess what? No matter what those worms did to her brain, Chae-ok’s mother still recognizes her daughter.
Tae-sang and Chae-ok manage to break themselves, Jung-won, and the prisoners out of the hospital, albeit on slightly different timelines, and when our two heroes reunite they finally profess their love for one another and share a romantic kiss.
But the duo find themselves back inside Ongseong thanks to Lady Maeda, who has a vendetta against Chae-ok because her mother is responsible for the loss of one of Maeda’s friends. Once Chae-ok’s father learns his daughter is back in the hospital, he finds his way back too, where he and Tae-sang scheme to save their beloved Chae-ok and blow up the hospital to end the experiment for good.
Lady Maeda brings Chae-ok to the scientist, who wants to sic Seishin on Chae-ok and kill her — and her dad, too. Jung-won lures Seishin toward him with a song from their past, and she appears to recognize him as the dynamite explodes and destroys the underground labs, and maybe Lady Maeda.
Chae-ok fights her way to safety, and Seishin assists in destroying all the bad guys but one of her monster tentacles stabs Chae-ok, who confesses her love for Tae-sang and seemingly dies. But in one final scene, one of those teeny parasitic brain worms swims inside Chae-ok’s body and her eyes open. Hello Season 2!
The other loose ends include Commissioner Ishikawa and his mistress, Myeong-ja, who both wind up dead, but not before Myeong-ja accidentally drinks a monster brain worm and gives birth to Ishikawa’s love child. Does this mean the baby, who is alive, is a creature? And finally, while Lady Maeda was able to escape from the hospital, she can’t escape Tae-sang’s attack at her husband’s funeral — though the explosion does not kill her. Will she exact her revenge on Tae-sang in the future? And will she go back to Kyoto now that Korea is independent?
Season 2 will move from the tumultuous spring of 1945 to the bustling streets of 2024 Seoul, Netflix announced. This continuation further entwines the fates of Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok and takes a dramatic leap through time, as revealed in the Season 1 post-credit teaser. In the new footage, a character called Ho-jae, bearing a striking resemblance to Jang Tae-sang, turns to reveal a mysterious scar and the setting transitions to Seoul in 2024.
Director Chung Dong-yoon told Netflix, “Season 2 presents a story with a completely different charm. The change in space and time period will provide a clear distinction, offering an expanded universe feel.”
Gyeongseong Creature was written by Kang Eun-kyung (Dr. Romantic, Kang Chi, The Beginning) and directed by Chung Dong-yoon (Hot Stove League).
For more scoops from Geeked Week 2023, head to geekedweek.com and follow Netflix Geeked on X.
