Test In Hanyang: Episodes 1-2
by solstices
It’s time to usher our new recruits into Joseon’s best guesthouse, the place lavish luxurious and secret schemes await. Deftly balancing the offbeat antics with the political machinations, Test In Hanyang swiftly units up its central premise with a beneficiant serving of laughter.
EPISODES 1-2
Our first introduction to our crossdressing heroine HONG DEOK-SOO (Kim Ji-eun) takes us to a playing den, the place it quickly turns into obvious the “D” in Deok-soo stands for “cube knowledgeable.” Simply successful with a double-six roll, Deok-soo hustles a gambler out of his prized admission card for Yongcheonru’s recruitment examination. After her good friend — and companion in crime — calls the police bureau in, Deok-soo escapes amidst the chaos with the sore loser sizzling on her heels.
So, what’s Yongcheonru, and why is Deok-soo going to such lengths to enter? Seems it’s the most effective inn throughout all of Joseon, situated proper reverse the palace with top-tier hospitality and premium delicacies. In Yongcheonru, something may be purchased with cash. Deok-soo’s dream is to grow to be the innkeeper, and mentioned place is presently crammed by the dignified LADY SEOL MAE-HWA (Kim Min-jung).
On the exact same avenue, PRINCE MUYEONG (Bae In-hyuk) chases down a palanquin, solely to search out himself foiled by a decoy. In his pursuit, Muyeong runs straight into Deok-soo and the gambler’s tussle for the coveted pink card. Muyeong doesn’t hassle hiding his distaste for Yongcheonru, the place rich patrons freely denigrate the king by horsing round in royal robes.
To resolve the argument of who owns the cardboard, Muyeong solutions with a “honest and simply” answer: ripping it in equal halves. LOL. In fact, that voids it solely, a lot to Deok-soo’s dismay. Alas, she will’t do a lot in opposition to the swords of each Muyeong and his bodyguard, leaving her seething.
Over within the palace, LORD CHEON (Kim Eui-sung) — the sly and sharp-tongued proprietor of Yongcheonru — needles the king with veiled barbs. It’s clear the king doesn’t maintain a lot energy, and we quickly study why. A continual cough ails the previous crown prince EUNSEONG (Kim Hyun-jin), whose father was poisoned, thus putting Muyeong’s father on the throne as a puppet king.
Conscious of all this, Muyeong decides to enterprise forth into Yongcheonru as an apprentice, so as to discover the shadow ledger that the king’s enemies maintain over his head. In accordance with the king, two halves of a brass key are wanted to open the protected containing the ledger. One half is hid inside Yongcheonru, whereas Lord Cheon continues to be trying to find the opposite.
As Deok-soo disrobes to scrub herself, we see that she possesses the lacking half, hidden snugly inside her chest bindings. Again when she was nonetheless a younger woman named HONG JAE-ON, assassins raided the Hong property and killed everybody in sight. Entrusting the important thing to her, Deok-soo’s father reduce her hair so she might dwell in disguise as a boy, warning her by no means to step foot close to Yongcheonru. However proper earlier than Deok-soo fled for her life, she witnessed Girl Seol murdering her father in chilly blood.
Decided to enter Yongcheonru regardless of the fee, Deok-soo forges the pink card from reminiscence. On admission day, a haughty woman cuts in line for Yongcheonru’s limited-edition dessert, upsetting a buyer who bought edged out. That’s how we’re launched to the righteous GO SOO-RA (DKZ’s Jaechan), whose indignant protests are soundly ignored by the brown-nosing workers.
Ultimately, it’s Deok-soo’s scheme that wins out: she advises the slighted buyer to trick the queue-cutter into letting her greed get the higher of her, humbling her with an upset abdomen. Observing from afar, Girl Seol notes Deok-soo’s artful thoughts with an amused curiosity.
Subsequent up, it’s introduction time for the suave CHEON JUN-HWA (Jung Geon-joo!), who cajoles Deok-soo into carrying his bag since he overpacked for the two-bags-per-person restrict. Sizing Jun-hwa up in all his finery, Deok-soo bargains her manner into claiming half of his luxurious snacks as cost, then promptly makes use of his costly beef jerky as a bribe to cross along with her solid card. LOL, she’s definitely resourceful.
Whereas turning into their new recruit uniforms, Muyeong notices the brass key glinting below Deok-soo’s clothes, resulting in a scuffle. Jun-hwa tries to intervene, however Soo-ra tugs on his sleeve, yelling that they swapped uniforms all whereas drowning in his outsized robes. LOL. Evidently, all of them wind up incurring demerit factors from the uptight TEACHER BANG for being late.
Our troublemakers wind up within the worst doable dormitory room, the place they grumble on the cramped quarters and grudgingly introduce themselves. The gears in his head frantically spinning, Muyeong swiftly tacks on an additional character to his actual identify, introducing himself as LEE EUN-HO. He’s not doing a stellar job of hiding his princely method of speech, although Deok-soo’s additionally one step away from blowing her cowl. When Eun-ho catches her attempting to sneak a fast bathe exterior the ladies’ dorms, the pair find yourself in shut proximity to evade discover. It really works, however they’re each completely irritated by it, LOL.
In any case, there’s one other pesky downside to fret about. The smug primary candidate KIM MYUNG-HO (Lee Ho-won) consistently sneers at our backside 4 for his or her low standing, not realizing that Eun-ho is of the very best doable lineage and Jun-hwa places the “Cheon” in Yongcheonru. (Yep, his dad is Lord Cheon.) Fed up with Myung-ho’s posturing, Eun-ho proposes a wager based mostly on cube rolling. If our squad wins, they’ll swap rooms; in the event that they lose, they’ll go away Yongcheonru.
The guess quickly grows heated, with Eun-ho goading Myung-ho and his posse into stripping their shirts to show they’re not dishonest. It’s a ploy to have Deok-soo reveal her brass key, however after all our heroine can’t expose her chest for different causes. Panicking below the strain, Deok-soo winds up making a run for it.
Elsewhere, the gambler from the opening scene is found lifeless, his half of the Yongcheonru entry card clenched in his fist. Girl Seol gathers the stoic DIRECTOR JO of administration, the vivacious DIRECTOR YOO of hospitality, and the jovial DIRECTOR JANG of meals to research — and it seems the latter added honey to the playing cards’ ink, permitting him to simply determine the forgery with a handful of ants. They instantly head out to apprehend quantity 30 as a homicide suspect, which is simply when the half-dressed betting boys spill out from their room. Caught along with her quantity tag squarely on her shirt, Deok-soo nervously meets Girl Seol’s curious gaze.
Oh, that is shaping as much as be a number of enjoyable! I truly anticipated some shirt-swapping shenanigans as soon as the boys began stripping, considering that’d be how Deok-soo slips previous this impediment, so I’m pleasantly shocked to have my expectations subverted. The plot is breezing proper alongside at a brisk tempo, protecting me hooked with its reveals even when they aren’t all that unpredictable. It’s all in regards to the execution, and to this point Test In Hanyang is protecting it entertaining.
I additionally love the little seeds of budding camaraderie amongst our fundamental quartet, like Deok-soo demanding that Myung-ho apologize to Soo-ra, or Jun-hwa searching for his fellow roommates even when they don’t fairly reciprocate the sentiment but. Eun-ho’s fish-out-of-water antics — like entrusting his quantity tag stitching to his bewildered bodyguard — are a hoot, and I can’t wait to see all of them scramble to cowl for each other’s secrets and techniques.
In fact, the star of the premiere week is undoubtedly Girl Seol, whose elegant demeanor and incisive gaze type a really compelling character. Much more attention-grabbing is the truth that she used to serve Deok-soo’s father — she’s the very one who taught Deok-soo the methods of the cube. The heat Girl Seol prolonged to little Deok-soo is a far cry from the calculated apathy she shows now, suggesting it wasn’t a double-crossing act. Reasonably, I’d be extra inclined to consider she killed Deok-soo’s father for a higher objective. Nonetheless inexcusable, however way more intriguing.
Girl Seol is clearly accustomed to hiding her true intentions beneath an ideal veneer, biding her time till the items fall into place for her to strike from an advantageous place. I wouldn’t be shocked if her loyalties lie elsewhere, and maybe it might need one thing to do with that butterfly tattoo on her wrist.
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