[MOVIE] DEAR HONGRANG... [KDRAMA]
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If you enjoy stories that begin with one mystery and somehow leave you with ten more questions, then Dear Hongrang is the kind of drama that can hook you in.
I went into it thinking I was about to watch a straightforward historical mystery with a supernatural touch but lo and behold I was very wrong.
The story begins with Hongrang disappearing into a thick forest as a child, like he was chased, captured by a terrifying figure, and never returned home.
From that moment, the family is left with one painful question, what happened to Hongrang?
They search for him for years not months but years.
Eventually, almost ten years pass, and hope begins to disappear. The family even adopts Mu-jin, another boy who grows up in the household of the Chief Merchant while Hongrang is still missing
Just when everyone has almost accepted that Hongrang may never return, a young man suddenly appears claiming to be him.
And this is where the real story begins, because if you were the family, would you immediately believe him?
The father does, how? Did he plan it?
Ohh, a blood constellation was performed, and the result convinced him that this is his missing son, so after all the years of searching, Hongrang has finally come home.
But Jae-yi, Hongrang's closest sibling, isn't completely convinced.
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And honestly, her suspicion makes sense
She asks the returning Hongrang for something simple, one childhood memory that belongs only to the two of them.
He can't give her one, claiming that he had lost his memories.
And that was enough to make me start questioning everything, why would you lose such important memory
How can someone return after almost ten years and remember nothing about the childhood he shared with the people he supposedly loved?
Is he really Hongrang?
or is someone deliberately trying to take the place of the missing heir?
The more the story unfolds, the more suspicious things become.
There is Mu-jin, the adopted son who has spent years occupying the position Hongrang was supposed to have. Is his presence simply the result of circumstances, or is there something much darker behind his relationship with the family?
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Then there is the strange mute aide who is constantly around Hongrang.
Why is he so important? and what does he know?
And why does his presence make you wonder whether the real identity of Hongrang is being hidden right in front of everyone?
At one point, the drama makes you believe that perhaps something supernatural is responsible for everything, like there were frightening appearances, strange happenings and talk of a spirit returning. And some kind of artist
But Dear Hongrang doesn't allow you to settle comfortably into that explanation.
Because eventually, you realize that someone is behind the mystery.
And that makes it even more frightening, because ghosts are one thing and people with motives are another.
As the story continues, the supposed Hongrang underwent a horrifying procedures involving mysterious chemicals painted onto his body. His body was being manipulated, and the things happening to him make you wonder what exactly happened during those years when he was missing.
Where had he been, who had him and why was he brought back?
Then comes one of the biggest revelations of the drama, the man who returned is not the real Hongrang.
The real Hongrang is dead
His remains were eventually discovered in a well, confirming what happened to him years ago.
So suddenly, all those questions about whether the returned man was suffering from memory loss disappeared
He wasn't Hongrang, he was an imposter
But then the story becomes even more complicated, because this imposter isn't simply pretending to be Hongrang for his own benefit.
He has been given a purpose, he was sent to kill Jae-yi and take over that guild of the merchant family
And this is where the drama takes a completely unexpected turn.
Because the person who was supposed to become Jae-yi's killer becomes the person who repeatedly saves her
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He was supposed to destroy her, guess what... he fell in love with her.
And Jae-yi, who initially looked at him as the brother she desperately wants to believe has returned, gradually begins seeing him differently as a man
The relationship becomes complicated, forbidden and emotionally messy.
And you're left wondering, how can you love someone when your entire relationship began with a lie?
Can Jae-yi love this man after discovering that he isn't her brother?
And can he protect her when the very people who brought him into her life want her dead?
But the family drama doesn't stop there, the mother is another mystery entirely.
Why does she have such hatred toward Jae-yi?
Why did she willing push her into a marriage with a man who has already mistreated previous wives?
Why is she manipulating situations around her?
And then, the fake paintings, the impersonation of a real artist and the burning of an art gallery, all was her doings
At some point, I stopped asking, "Who is the real villain here?"
I started asking again... How many people in this family are actually telling the truth?
That is what makes Dear Hongrang interesting, it isn't simply about a missing heir returning home.
It's about identity, deception, family politics, revenge, obsession and a relationship that grows out of one enormous lie.
And perhaps the most painful part is that the imposter's feelings become genuine even though his entire entrance into Jae-yi's life was based on deception.
He came into her life with instructions to kill her but he ended up risking himself to keep her alive.
The woman he was supposed to destroy became the person he couldn't bear to lose and eventually, despite everything that happened, they end up together.
So, was I scared while watching it?
Absolutely, but the scarier part wasn't even the mysterious spirit or the dark forest.
It was realizing that almost everyone had something to hide.
Who killed the real Hongrang?
Why was Jae-yi targeted?
What was the mother really trying to accomplish?
Those are the questions that kept me watching.
Dear Hongrang may begin with a missing boy, but it eventually became a story about what happens when a family welcomes home the wrong son and when the imposter discovers that the one person he was ordered to destroy has become the person he cannot live without.
And also discovering the one behind the mystery of the mysterious being was the merchant family and the prince...