Gyeongseong Creature Season 1: A Recap of All Important events of the Netflix K-drama

Netflix’s global hit Gyeongseong Creature has finally returned with its highly anticipated season 2. With fans ready to revisit the mysteries of 1945 Gyeongseong and its impact on 2024 Seoul in the series, here’s a recap of all the important events that went down in season 1 of Gyeongseong Creature.

Written by Dr. Romantic fame Kang Eun-kyung, the Netflix apocalyptic horror K-drama is a story of two strangers and their quest to save the people of Gyeongseong from Mysterious kidnappings in 1945. According to the streaming giant, season 1 of the Korean drama recorded over 24 million viewing hours and 3 million views, just three days after its release on 22 December 2023. Season 2 aims to expand the success of the horror franchise and will now take viewers to 2024 Seoul.

A Jung Dong-yoon directorial, Gyeongseong Creature season 2 will be available to stream on Netflix, starting on 27 September.

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But first, meet the cast

 

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• Park Seo-joon as Jang Tae-sang/Ho-jae
• Han So-hee as Yoon Chae-ok
• Jo Han-chul as Yoon Jung-won
• Kang Mal-geum as Choi Seong-sim/Seishin
• Claudia Kim as Yukiko Maeda
• Choi Young-joon as Lieutenant Colonel Kato
• Kim Do-hyun as Commissioner Ishikawa
• Ji Woo as Myeong-ja

Gyeongseong Creature recap: What happened in season 1?

The horrors of Najin

When two strangers encounter creatures born from greed, they must battle for survival in the city of Gyeongseong. But there may be something even more dangerous out there than the creatures themselves.

Gyeongseong Creature is now streaming. pic.twitter.com/HkCqetG4gt

— Netflix (@netflix) December 22, 2023

The Netflix horror K-drama opens with a Japanese regiment receiving an order to retreat from an ongoing experiment in a building. Bodies are burned, documents are incinerated and viewers are immediately introduced to the horrors of the Japanese occupation in Korea.

Desperate to win the war, Japan’s military undertakes a secret mission. As a part of it, they kidnap defenceless Korean men and women and unleash the parasite Najin on them. This is to evolve them into perfect monsters that will unleash Japanese dominance over the rest of the world.

Najin is transmitted through water and once ingested, takes over the brain and provides extreme power to the body. Additionally, the Japanese realise that when a Najin infectee receives a dose of anthrax, the reaction further changes the human into a giant grotesque creature with sharp, deadly tentacles, capable of unimaginable destruction.

Throughout the 10 episodes of the series, viewers also learn that nitrogen induces a trance-like condition in these monsters. However, even at such a stage, they can defend themselves by releasing anthrax spores. The man overseeing these ruthless experiments is Lieutenant Kato.

Why do protagonists Tae-sang and Chae-ok team up? What is the truth behind the Gyeongseong creature?

Viewers meet Yoon Chae-ok when she and her father Yoon Jong-won arrive in Gyeongseong in 1945. The duo’s mission is to locate a Japanese painter named Sachimoto who might have details on the disappearance of Chae-ok’s mom a decade ago.

Elsewhere, when Myeong-ja, mistress to Japanese police commissioner Ishikawa, goes missing, the area’s famous information broker Jang Tae-sang is assigned to find her. Soon, he comes across the Yoons, and upon realising how both can benefit from each other, Tae-sang and Chae-ok team up to unravel the truth behind the missing person cases in Gyeongseong.

Soon, multiple clues lead them to the horrific experiments done by the Japanese government, this time in Gyeongseong’s Onseong Hospital. They also learn about a dangerous creature that resides in one of the dingy underground cells of the hospital. When partners Yukiko Maeda and Kato kidnap Chae-ok and hold her captive in the same hospital, Tae-sang mounts a solo operation to rescue her. However, just when he is about to free Chae-ok, the creature breaks into the room and attacks Kato. It is also revealed that the creature is monster Seishin, aka Choi Seong-sim, Chae-ok’s missing mother. The former fell victim to the experiments and after being fed Najin and anthrax, underwent unnatural suffering, followed by horrific mutation.

Gyeongseong Creature season 1 recap: Is Tae-sang able to rescue Chae-ok? What happens to the creature?

In the spring of 1945, all suspicions led to a hospital in Gyeongseong. Where humans and creatures awaited.

Park Seo-jun and Han So-hee star in Gyeongseong Creature. Part 1 premieres December 22 on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/sy0STD7Wj8

— Netflix (@netflix) November 23, 2023

At Onseong Hospital, when Seishin attacks Kato, Tae-sang takes the chance to rescue Chae-ok. Meanwhile, the latter’s father Jung-won volunteers to stay behind with his wife-turned-monster and eventually blows up the hospital.

On the other hand, Tae-sang and Chae-ok prepare to escape on a ship heading to Shanghai the following day. Just then, Maeda’s special ‘Kurokos’ troop blocks Tae-sang and Chae-ok’s from departing Gyeongseong. A fight ensues and just when the troop is about to get hold of the duo, monster Seishin, who survived the hospital blast, stabs everyone dead. Unfortunately, Chae-ok, too, suffers from a stabbing wound when she jumps in to save Tae-sang, screaming “I love him, mother”. As the screen fades, Tae-sang mourns the death of his lover.

Gyeongseong Creature season 1 recap: What happens in the finale?

In the spring of 1945, horrific things are happening inside a Gyeongseong hospital. The secrets will be revealed when Gyeongseong Creature arrives December 22. pic.twitter.com/YvYfOFEeID

— Netflix (@netflix) December 7, 2023

One of the most important events that make it to our Gyeongseong Creature season 1 recap is a dead Chae-ok being restored to life in the finale episode.

Once the fight subsides, the lifeless body of Chae-ok is visited by her monster mother. She then sacrifices herself by handing the Najin parasite over to her daughter so that Chae-ok can live. Moments later, as the monster’s body falls apart, Chae-ok opens her eyes.

Meanwhile, Kato locates Myeong-ja, who is pregnant with Ishiwara’s child. The former, in one of the most horrific seasons of the series, then cuts her body open to save the baby. Soon, viewers see a Najin parasite writhing under the child’s face, hinting at the fact that the infection has been passed down to Myeong-ja’s baby.

Elsewhere, as the radio plays the news of the end of Japan’s rule in Korea, Kato visits a bruised and weak Maeda. He eventually suggests that the duo continue with their Najin experiments.

As the credits roll, old news footage plays out Korea’s History in black and white before quickly skipping forward decades. As colour fills the frame, the scene pans out to display a TV, being watched by a young man named Ho-jae in 2024.

What can you expect from Gyeongseong Creature season 2?

According to Park Seo-joon and Han So-hee’s discussion in the recently released Gyeongseong Universe video on YouTube, season 2 will focus on the reality of Ho-jae and Myeong-ja’s baby. The show will also throw light on who else possesses Najin besides Chae-ok.

(Hero and Featured image: Courtesy Netflix)

This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Bangkok