Dear Hongrang (2026)

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Set in the late Joseon Dynasty, the story follows Hongrang, a young nobleman who vanished without a trace at the age of eight. For twelve years, his disappearance remains a mystery, leaving behind a grieving family and a name that slowly fades into legend.

One day, a man returns.

He claims to be Hongrang.

Now grown into a quiet and distant figure, he is welcomed back into the Min family. His mother, overwhelmed with emotion, accepts him without question. But not everyone is convinced. His half-sister, Jae-yi, senses something unsettling beneath his calm exterior.

The man remembers nothing of his childhood.

Yet, he knows things he shouldn’t.

As Hongrang struggles to reclaim a life he does not fully recognize, whispers begin to spread throughout the household. Servants speak of strange behavior. Nightmares plague him—visions of blood, fire, and a forgotten past that refuses to stay buried.

Jae-yi begins to investigate. The more she uncovers, the more dangerous the truth becomes.

Meanwhile, a series of murders shake the capital. Each crime is marked by a strange symbol—one that connects to a secret society believed to operate in the shadows of Joseon’s elite.

As tensions rise, Hongrang is drawn deeper into the mystery. He begins to realize that his return is not an accident. Someone—or something—brought him back.

The truth is finally revealed:

The man is not the real Hongrang.

He is a survivor of a hidden organization that kidnaps children of noble blood, reshaping them into weapons. The real Hongrang died years ago—but his identity was given to someone else as part of a larger plan to infiltrate the ruling class.

Torn between the life he was given and the person he has become, he must choose: continue the lie, or destroy the system that created him.

In the final act, truth and loyalty collide. Jae-yi confronts him—not as a stranger, but as someone who has come to understand his pain.

The ending is bittersweet.

The false Hongrang disappears into the night after exposing the secret society, leaving behind a letter.

“Even if I was not born as Hongrang…
for a moment, I lived as him.”

The story closes with Jae-yi reading the letter in silence, as the world moves on—but the memory of “Hongrang” continues to linger, somewhere between truth and illusion.