In a fictionalized version of Joseon-era Korea, the royal court is thrown into panic when the crown prince is found dead in the pond by the East Palace. A rumor spreads that this is the work of the pond spirit — the same spirit who, 30 years ago, killed all the princes but one. The pond spirit swore that she would return to wipe out the entire royal bloodline.
That surviving prince would grow up to be the king (Cho Seung-woo), despite being last in the line of succession (his mother was a lowly concubine). But now the curse is back as promised — under the same mysterious circumstances he saw his brothers die, the king finds his sons dead one by one. The king dismisses it all as a conspiracy, rather than the work of the supernatural — that is, until his last remaining son collapses. Out of options and time, he secretly summons a spirit slayer, Gu-cheon (Nam Joo-hyuk), who can see the dead and cross into the netherworld of spirits, known as the Realm of Gwi. The king pairs Gu-cheon with a court lady, Saeng-gang (Roh Yoon-seo), who can hear the spirits’ voices. He gives this unlikely duo a deadline: Find and destroy the pond spirit and protect the royal bloodline before his last son is killed. Otherwise, nobody — including Gu-cheon — is getting out of the palace alive.
Meet the cast and characters haunted by both the realms of the living and dead in The East Palace.
Gu-cheon is an irreverent, sarcastic spirit slayer who can cross into the Realm of Gwi. He gained his powers as a boy, as the sole survivor of an accident that drowned his mother. He’s been living in the countryside, where he encounters spirits, gwi-maes, and ak-gwis. But Gu-cheon finds them more aggravating than frightening. When the king summons Gu-cheon, he gives him two choices: Destroy the spirit haunting the East Palace and lift the curse on the royal bloodline, or never leave its walls alive.
With his life on the line, Gu-cheon — accompanied by Saeng-gang — takes on the mission begrudgingly, entering the Realm of Gwi at the bottom of the palace pond by tying a noose around his neck and plunging into its depths. There, he finds spirits and gwi-maes of every kind: haunting beings who clung to their resentments and never moved on. At first he’s indifferent to them, slaying his way through the spirits only to satisfy the king and get back to the mundanity of his former life. But as he realizes that Saeng-gang may be tangled up in the cursed history of the pond spirit, ridding the palace of its decades-long curse becomes a mission worth fighting for — even if it means turning into the very thing he hates most.
The School Nurse Files
Saeng-gang is a court lady who was born with the ability to hear the voices of the dead — a gift she regards as a curse, just as her father did. Quiet, watchful, and carrying a royal secret of her own, she becomes the king’s chosen leash on Gu-cheon. She’s Gu-cheon’s guide on the mission to find and kill the pond spirit as well as a spy watching his every move. But as the pair dig deeper into the identity and motivations of the pond spirit, Saeng-gang finds it harder to determine where her allegiance truly lies.
Crash Course in Romance
From the throne, the king watches everything and gives away nothing. Publicly, he regards the rumors around the deaths in the East Palace as mere superstition, refusing to let a spirit story destabilize his reign. Privately, he’s desperate enough to summon a spirit-slayer he can’t fully control and a court lady he can’t fully trust. His motives are a slippery mystery: Does he want to save his bloodline or his own throne?
Sisyphus
The court’s steeliest survivor, the queen dowager has outlasted more scandals, schemes, and curses than anyone still breathing inside the palace walls. She holds the royal legitimacy that the king — born from a lowly concubine — never had, and she’ll go to any lengths to secure a strong bloodline. As the curse culls East Palace’s princes, it’s never quite clear if it’s her grandmotherly grief or her need to cover up for her own sins that motivates her to appease the pond spirit.
Love Next Door
