Once upon a time, a girl lived far away in some unknown parallel world “The King: Eternal Monarch”

Written by Syeda Muntaha Ali

Once upon a time, there were we— gloomy souls dwelling in dark— with unbalanced breaths and nowhere to escape in this quarantined world. One day, just magically, a door opened in our rooms— a door emitting suspicious sparkling rays, a door to another world.

The King: Eternal Monarch, written on the head of that vintage door. Firstly, I resist not to look at it; but then, helplessly entering in it becomes the greatest accomplishment and biggest mistake, at the same time, which I have done in my life.

I have always been a living in fiction person knowing and accepting all of the realities. Been living in stories to the extent where I can’t forget the difference between what is real and not but here, this story took my all sense away. I was stuck in my drowning emotions and conditions, finding a space to breath, a vast gap that came between me and life. Then, TKEM came and filled that void with rush of unknown joy, pleasure, outstanding thrill, and ecstatic peace.

Just after three episodes (as I was so dumbstruck so, it took a while), TKEM vs Muntaha started.

A science fiction thriller where I have lost my brain, heart, soul everything; especially the scenario of parallel worlds, a real life theory that is one of my favourite fantasies. Starting from mind blowing plot and story writing to phenomenal direction, from soul sucking OSTs to grab your vision cinematography, from I can’t even tell if it’s not real acting of the cast members to making homes in my heart characters; each and every part of this drama drove me crazy.

The way they told the story and portrayed the characters were the actual thing that burst out the blast of perfection. Those little few things burning your suspense up and those scenes that came for a while, swiping away in seconds from your sight just to provoke you to think harder and harder.

A very first experience where I have used my brain cells completely.

To the extent where I had started giving tough competition to Sherlock Holmes and Einstein because it was all worth it! Lee Gon’s scientific logics and mathematical equations, I can’t believe, I who hated maths furiously started evaluating them; to find out how things will turn out in the future.

Being a theoretical person with an overthinking brain, TKEM made it run like a computer software. Even while sleeping, I was making up theories and interrogating scenarios in my dreams. My conceptual side was fully triggered back in the days. Many of my theories went straight right including Shin Jae being Hyeon of KOC, Lee Gon being his own savior, travelling between time loops, Lee Ji Hun being alive and a lot more made me feel so so proud of myself. I came to a point, I wished , there was a way to write to writer Kim Eun Sook to tell her how amazing job she has done.

Moreover, when Tae Eul said that she was going to live in today and won’t think about anything else, there, at that point I told myself, “don’t think, feel.” My life had started turning into a sweet hell because of 24/7 running theoretical software in my mind that it needed a serious rest and there I stopped myself for a while.

In short, TKEM snatched away my peace badly in these two month period. It broke my heart into pieces; then, healed it all over again, watered up my eyes, and it made me smile like an idiot as it also made me laugh with all my heart.

Till 10 episodes, you just keep wondering what is seriously going on and after that, the high sky touching waves of peeling covers of story flood away your existence with them.

Furthermore…

Apart from cracking your brain thrill, highly intellectual sci-fi, severe second lead syndrome, wholesome bromance, extreme chemistry among the leads and strong bond between each character; TKEM is a drama that conveys major life lessons even if it was a fantasy drama. Don’t you know MSD? That’s the joy of life. Making, shaking, drinking. The King One Shot.

When I was little, I watched The Police with my dad while other girls watched Snow White and The Little Mermaid. I was only eight years old, but I can pick out the criminal in the show. As I kept watching the show, I wanted to be a cop. Not everyone in the world can be brave. So, I decided to become brave.

It took me a long time to realize this. When it’s fate there are no coincidences. Your fate is determined by the choices you make, but there are times when your fate chooses you.

Things that are bound to happen are taking place even at this moment. I was struck with a sad premonition that this will be short-lived. However, I decided to love my fate that chose me.

Let’s just not save the world. Let’s think about the present.

You can never know what will happen in life. Still, if there is a place you want to reach, even if your life may be at risk, that is fate. “The footsteps you take by risking your whole life is what’s fate.”

No matter what kind of a door opens before us in life; and even if the moments we share make us sad at times. I wish to be able to love tirelessly. Just like that, we decided to love the fate that chose us.

Coming towards the end, I am still not fully recovered from that euphoria-tic thing. For the first time in forever, there was a phase where my eyes were filled with water for half of the moment; then, there was me jumping with joy, smiling idiotically in the rest of the half.

Okay, I must say that I went too far and thought things in a much more furious scenario but that ending was nothing but perfection. In the second half, I couldn’t believe my eyes, watching TKEM may put us in thrilling feeling but there, those extra wholesome wrap up making my heart beat rate run faster and faster just dumped me in state of unbelievable euphoria.

An ending telling me about life’s setup.

Happiness doesn’t come in life altogether but with some sorrow and emptiness as it’s what life really is. Ups and down, back and forth in flowing emotions. Can’t say if it was a happy ending because for me, a doorway to my escape out has been closed now.

A world where I built up my second home just vanished away but giving me a lot of memories. The red rope of yoyo that was representing mine and TKEM’s world relationship hasn’t broken apart; just the balance between fiction and real has been restored.

I can’t process this painful fact in my mind but this is what TKEM has taught me; to live in real and not looking at past or future so with these, Pandora box of eternal infinite memories I have earned in these numbered days, I am gonna live and cherish it forever.

I am not a fan girl person but now, I want to tell the writer, director, Lee Min Ho, Kim Go Eun, and the whole team that they are all out of the world, amazing. They just nailed every bit of it.

Thankyouuu for being so awesome (saying these in Veronica Park’s voice).

Unbreakable sword, today, tomorrow and forever!