Listen to my heartbeat! (It’s waiting for you!) On a mission to become mortal, our vampire hero is determined to reunite with his lost love — until our human heroine inadvertently causes his plans to go awry. With just the right amount of camp and theatrics, this drama is all set to take us on a fun fantasy ride.
EPISODES 1-2
Our fantasy fairytale begins with a frantic chase through the forest. In a time where immortal beings existed and humans craved the power in their blood, vampire SEON WOO-HYUL (Taecyeon) flees from his mortal pursuers with YOON HAE-SUN (Yoon So-hee) in tow.
Drastically outnumbered by his enemies and their silver-tipped arrows, Woo-hyul resorts to his vampiric abilities, vanquishing the army in mere seconds. But just as Hae-sun sinks into his relieved embrace, one particularly tenacious soldier draws his bow. Woo-hyul doesn’t notice the arrow aimed at his back, but Hae-sun does, and she takes the shot in his stead.
Overcome with grief, Woo-hyul cradles his dying lover close. Hae-sun promises that they’ll find each other again in their next lives and rekindle their love, then urges Woo-hyul to drink her blood.
Cut to Woo-hyul in a coffin, in the early 20th century, ready to slumber for the next hundred years. He’s flanked by his fellow fanged friends LEE SANG-HAE (Yoon Byung-hee) and PARK DONG-SEOB (Go Kyu-pil), who are extra dramatic about sealing their pal away. Before we launch into our hero’s story, though, we’re given a rundown of this universe’s vampiric lore.
First of all, these vampires consume blood only sparingly. Though they’re averse to sunlight, they’re able to go outdoors during the daytime; the only drawback is that it increases their thirst for blood. (I guess he ought to avoid leaving the house at 2PM.) The worst part about being a vampire — at least for the vain Woo-hyul — is that they can’t see themselves in mirrors. Hah, given all the attention he gets while walking down the street, I’m sure he knows he’s handsome anyway.
In order to fulfill his promise to Hae-sun, Woo-hyul’s determined to become human and experience a love that will ignite his heartbeat. He’s tried everything, from stuffing his mouth with garlic to kowtowing across the ages at a temple.
Unfortunately, nothing works until he meets GO YANG-NAM (Kim In-kwon), a cat who managed to transform into a man. (His name literally means Cat Man, LOL.) Woo-hyul’s eager to learn his secrets, and a flash of magical insight gives Yang-nam the answer — Woo-hyul must sleep in a hawthorn wood coffin for a century.
Determined to achieve his goal, Woo-hyul bids farewell to his loyal — but mortal — BUTLER JOO (Park Chul-min), entrusting the house to him and his descendants. With that, Woo-hyul’s buddies seal him in the coffin, and we fast forward to the present day.
Our human heroine, JOO IN-HAE (Won Ji-ahn), is in a bit of a predicament. Her fraudster landlord has just fled with her housing deposit, and a rescue from homelessness has come in the most unexpected manner. After being missing for five years, her father has been declared legally dead, which means In-hae can now receive his inheritance.
That includes his mansion, which gives a relieved In-hae a roof over her head. Venturing into its depths, phone flashlight in hand, she discovers the coffin and hoists the lid open — only to get a shock when Woo-hyul crawls right out. She’s baffled by his spiel about being the true owner of the house — excuse you, she owns the title deed — and she’s about two seconds away from calling the cops.
Except Woo-hyul realizes he’s tempted by the scent of a wound on In-hae’s arm, and a glance in the mirror returns a translucent reflection. Unfortunately for our sleeping beauty, he’s fallen one day short of his hundred-year mission. Oops.
Woo-hyul advances on In-hae menacingly, threatening that she’ll be punished for breaking the agreement. Doesn’t she know how toxic hawthorn wood is to vampires? Won’t she think of all the muscle aches he had to endure? Woo-hyul bares his teeth, inches away from biting her neck — except In-hae chomps down first. HAHAHA, I love her!
Stunned by the bite, Woo-hyul collapses in a dead faint, scaring In-hae enough that she takes him to the hospital. There, Woo-hyul’s lack of a heartbeat has him pronounced dead, until he’s revived by the scent of another patient’s blood. It’s ridiculous, it’s campy, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
In-hae has had enough of Woo-hyul’s nonsense, and she hops in a taxi to head home. Lost in the newly unfamiliar modern world, Woo-hyul wanders the streets again and again until he finally navigates his way back to the mansion. To his dismay, he can’t prove his tall tales to In-hae — he’s lost all his powers, leaving him hissing at his nonexistent fangs and doing increasingly frustrated bunny hops in an effort to fly.
The next morning, In-hae is rudely awoken with bad news that sends her running back to her old home. Since her landlord has sold the building and eloped, the building is about to be torn down, and the demolition crew rudely throws out her belongings when she tries to protest.
Thankfully, the real estate CEO SHIN DO-SHIK (Park Kang-hyun) swiftly puts a stop to their belligerent behavior, and the two immediately recognize each other. Aww, they’d had a meet-cute when they’d crashed into each other on their college campus and she’d nursed the scrape on his hand. It had been love at first sight for Do-shik — look at those puppy eyes! — and he’s glad to see In-hae again. The independent In-hae is reluctant to accept any help, so Do-shik leaves her with his name card and a promise that he’s only one phone call away.
On her way home, In-hae comes across the fraudster landlord, and she immediately gives chase, bent on getting her money back. As she runs after him, she almost gets hit by a car, and her bite mark on Woo-hyul’s neck throbs painfully. Ooh, are they connected?
Thanks to a vial of blood that Yang-nam gave him, Woo-hyul regains just enough vampiric power to track down In-hae and save her from the aggressive landlord. Bending a steel pipe with his bare hands, Woo-hyul makes quick work of the fraudster — and when a knife cut on Woo-hyul’s cheek heals itself in mere seconds, In-hae can no longer deny that he’s a supernatural being. Extending his hand to her, Woo-hyul asks if she finally believes him. “Let’s go home.”
I’m having a blast, and so is the cast! I expected cheesy camp and hilarious hijinks, and I’m happy to report that the drama delivers on both fronts. It may tick some familiar fantasy rom-com beats, but it keeps things fresh with a sprinkling of offbeat details: Woo-hyul getting drunk on instant ramyun was priceless, and the oddball cat-man might just be my favorite character.
I came into this drama bracing myself for second lead syndrome, but I’m starting to think that might not be much of a problem. As a fan of musical actor Park Kang-hyun, I’m definitely enjoying his screen debut (and anticipating his OST!) — but our OTP has such an entertaining dynamic. I love that the miscommunication remains lighthearted, and that the power imbalance is evened out by Woo-hyul’s goofiness and In-hae’s fearlessly feisty attitude.
The drama is already sowing the seeds for conflict to come, and I’m anticipating how it’ll all play out. Do-shik seems to have a medical condition related to his heart, which ties into the main theme so well that there has to be something more to it. Then there’s also the young and impertinent vampire RI MAN-HWI (Baek Seo-hoo), who blatantly flouted Woo-hyul’s club rules a century ago — surely he’s only gotten bolder since.
Woo-hyul will definitely have his work cut out for him, but that only makes me more excited for him to team up with In-hae. After all, like Yang-nam pointed out, no ordinary human would have been able to open a coffin containing a slumbering vampire. In-hae’s a special case, and who knows? She might just be Woo-hyul’s special someone.