“Peasant by day, Hero by night, Iljimae.”

★6.9(28)·2008·1h 5m·Ended·Action & Adventure · Drama

Set during the Joseon Dynasty, Ryung acts as a useless gangster in the marketplace by day but at night he is a chivalrous robber who robs corrupt government officials to give to the poor. After each robbery he leaves behind a wooden branch from a plum tree at the site of the robbery to take responsibility for the robbery. The poor citizens only know him as Iljimae. Bong Soon is a hilarious girl with good martial art skills and lives as a swindler. She only loves Ryung and sacrifices her whole life for him. Eun Chae is a government official's daughter and is good in nature and usually helps miserable people. She meets Iljimae once by chance, and their sweet love story begins. However, her love puts Iljimae in a dangerous situation because an Imperial Guard also loves her.

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Episodes

20 Episodes

Episode 1

74m

1. Episode 1

Aired May 21, 2008

Il Ji Mae is a Chosun Dynasty outlaw who steals from corrupt officials and gives back to the poor. But the masked outlaw didn't start out trying to be the hero of the common folk. The young man wants to track down a sword that was used to kill his father and bring the sword's owner to justice.

Episode 2

74m

2. Episode 2

Aired May 22, 2008

Geom is frightened inside the closet. Geom and Yong Jae's eye contacts, but Yong Jae tells that there is nothing in the closet. Soon after, Swe Dol finds someone in the closet and brings the closet to home. The next day Dani finds out that the boy in the closet is Lee Won Ho's son and is shocked by the fact. Meanwhile, Geom returns to his ruined house and pledges that he will never forget what they did to his family.

Episode 3

67m

3. Episode 3

Aired May 28, 2008

On the frozen river, Yong is drowning. The stone attached to his feet is pulling him down. Meanwhile, Swe Dol searches for Yong and finds out that Shi Wan tried to kill his son. Yong wakes up in a stranger's house, where a strange lord asks him that whether Yong is the Geom or not. Yong says that he doesn't remember anything and that he is not the person that the lord is looking for.

Episode 4

66m

4. Episode 4

Aired May 29, 2008

In an arena, Yong is knocked down on the floor and bleeding. Shi Hoo begs him to surrender before he kills Yong, but Yong refuses and tells Shi Hoo that if he loses the fight, his father will lose his hand. On the way back, Yong is attacked by the gangs and get caught, but he struggles out and runs. Unfortunately, Yong bumps his head on the stone while fighting and starts to remember his childhood. Meanwhile, Swe Dol saves his hand but instead loses his teeth.

Episode 5

63m

5. Episode 5

Aired Jun 4, 2008

Bong Soon and her father continue their scheme, but Yong finds them and takes back the money he was scammed for. While he asks Slick to find back his mother and sister, Bong Soon overhears him and decides to scam him again for that. On the other hand, Hunter Jang is on to something and is sure that Yong is the son of a traitor. He wants to catch him, denounce him, and get the compensation money to pay off his debt to Slick. Bong Soon tries to get some documents that might help him find his mother and sister, but these documents are sealed in a secret vault. While Yong...

Episode 6

62m

6. Episode 6

Aired Jun 5, 2008

Shi Hoo is hurt while stopping Sa Cheon's man from killing the man who had the message from Kwon Doo Hyun, which makes him difficult to train for the civil service exam. Bong Soon and her father get scammed by a woman and her son and lose all their money. But Yong finds them and decides to gather their wages from the inn to compensate for his loss. He also asks Slick to find his sister. Slick finds her, but she is accused of running away after hitting a guard and the reunion doesn't happen. Yong, who had even given up his civil service exam to look for his sister, is ...

Episode 7

68m

7. Episode 7

Aired Jun 11, 2008

Geom's sister is caught and thrown into prison and tortured so that she can tell the authorities where her brother is. However, she resists all torture. Yong is thrown into the same cell but fails to recognize her. Upon hearing his name, his sister recognizes that Yong is Geom, but stays quiet. After Yong finds out too, he tries to save his sister from hanging, but his plan go amiss and she is executed. He plots revenge for the life of his father and his sister and decides to join the Castor Oil gang so that he can go around looking for a special sword around the ...

Episode 8

65m

8. Episode 8

Aired Jun 12, 2008

Geom decides to use his position at the Castor Oil gang to go around the noblemen's house to find the sword with the special pattern. To do that, he needs to learn how thieves operate so that he can go at night. He convinces Swe Dol to teach him, telling him that he will need to pass his examination to become a guard. He steals a drawing from the Hopan household, which he discards as unimportant. Dae shik finds it and is convinced that it's a drawing of his father who was taken as a hostage during the war. However, the drawing turns out to be very precious and ...

Episode 9

61m

9. Episode 9

Aired Jun 18, 2008

Geom meets with Eun Chae by chance while he is lying on top of his old house, which Eun Chae is renovating. Shi Hoo finds a clue in the field Hopan's treasure had been stolen, and finds out how the thief, who was Geom, managed to steal the treasure and the cart in such a short time and without anyone noticing. Swe Dol opens a locksmith shop in the South Gate market, but the Castor Oil gang, who doesn't know that Swe Dol is Geom's father, threatens Swe Dol and Dani to pay up for using their place. During their encounter, Shi Hoo manages to drive away the gang, but the ...

Episode 10

57m

10. Episode 10

Aired Jun 19, 2008

Yong realizes he has lost the ornament that belonged to his mother during the raid at the palace. Bong Soon sees him looking for it and realizes that he is the young boy who saved her when she was little. The noblemen hold a meeting for the Cheonwoo club and Yong decides to infiltrate, disguised as one of the men to look for the sword. He nearly gets caught but manages to escape. After seeing the list of the Cheonwoo club members at Lord Byun's place, he deduces that the one who killed this father was also a member of the club. Yong's parents go to the Castor Oil gang...

Episode 11

59m

11. Episode 11

Aired Jun 25, 2008

Iljimae keeps stealing from the noblemen's houses and giving back their riches to the poor. He also helps out the shanty town where the poor people without houses and lands live so that they can start a new life. But as Yong, he is just as annoying to Eun Chae, who although admires Iljimae, fails to recognize Iljimae in Yong and despises him for his acts. Meanwhile, Yong helps Shi Wan figure out some of the tricks Iljimae used so that Shi Hoo doesn't find out in advance and get recognition. Seeing how Eun Chae wants to help the people in the Pyunando village hit by an...

Episode 12

61m

12. Episode 12

Aired Jun 26, 2008

Shi Hoo finds out that Iljimae has been targeting the members of the Cheonwoo club and he got the list from his sister, Eun Chae. He warns her against his real motives, but she doesn't believe him. The whole guard troop is on stake out to catch Iljimae at the house of each member of the Cheonwoo club, and Shi Hoo once again comes into close encounter with Iljimae and manages to wound his leg. Hong He knows Yong is in danger and might be Iljimae and tries to help him. Yong sees Hong He knows how to fight and pleads him to teach him. After much pleading, Hong He decides...

Episode 13

58m

13. Episode 13

Aired Jul 2, 2008

Yong and Shi Hoo are both trained separately under different masters, who used to be a team in the past. While Hong He teaches Yong not to kill, his former partner tells Shi Hoo to kill anyone who stands in his way. While drinking and riding his horse through the crowded market, Jung Chi Hong, the son of the Chung envoy, kills Yang Soon and runs away. The whole village is distraught and mad for the incident and the murder, and they decide to protest at the gate of the palace so that they can have justice. Everyone in the village takes part, but Yong pretends not ...

Episode 14

61m

14. Episode 14

Aired Jul 3, 2008

The people are enraged that the king is doing nothing and the murderer is still hiding. In the mist of a chaos where archers aim at the people, Iljimae appears, having kidnapped Jung Chi Hong, the one who killed Yang Soon. The people rejoice at his comeback. However, Swe Dol sees the pink ribbon on Iljimae and realizes that Iljimae is his son, Yong, and is devastated even more when he discovers his hideout. Since Iljimae is back, the noblemen of the village are once more worried that they will be robbed and the guards have to do a stake out all night long. Fair enough...

Episode 15

67m

15. Episode 15

Aired Jul 9, 2008

Yong helps Shi-wan solve how Iljimae pulled the last robbery so that he doesn't get caught. Kim Ik-hee tells the huntsman that Yong should come to see him so that he can tell about his father, but he meets a strange death, and Yong is once again unable to know who killed his father. Iljimae and Eun-chae get closer to each other, getting some romantic time on the cherry blossom tree, but Iljimae/Yong is still afraid to reveal his true identity to her. The envoy from Chung is desperate to catch Iljimae himself and brings in all the young men to the palace, having his ...

Episode 16

68m

16. Episode 16

Aired Jul 10, 2008

After Iljimae has kidnapped Jung Myung Soo and his son so that everyone could see their humiliation, the king is left with no choice but to deport them. Chung sends back the king's son after holding him captive for 9 years. The king is not very happy to see his son back, because he fears that Chung has sent him to dethrone him. He wants to keep his position as king, whatever it may take. Yong wants to throw a wedding ceremony for his parents, since they didn't have any ceremony. The wedding ends in a great success. Shi Hoo is blackmailed by a man who seems to know his...

Episode 17

68m

17. Episode 17

Aired Jul 16, 2008

Swe-dol, who went to Seo Young Soo's household disguised as Iljimae, so that Yong wouldn't get caught, dies, after being tortured to death about what he might have heard while he was there. Shi Hoo is devastated, as is Yong, and Dani. Yong promises himself to get the person who murdered his real father, and then Swe Dol as well. However, the two noblemen who might know what happened to his father, Seo Young Soo and Yi Jeong Soeb, are both killed too, under the king's orders, and Iljimae, who happened to be there, is accused of both murders. While on pursuit of the ...

Episode 18

68m

18. Episode 18

Aired Jul 17, 2008

Iljimae sets Lord Byun and Eun Chae free, after he finds out that everyone involved in the murder of his father are now dead. Of course, he doesn't know that Lord Byun lied to him and the king is also implicated in the murder. He finds Bong Soon underneath the cherry blossom tree and remembers her from his past. Bong Soon digs up the box Yong had buried, with his Iljimae disguise, and knows Yong is Iljimae. After many men have been forcefully dragged to enroll as volunteers to the army to be sent to Chung, Iljimae warns the palace that he will rob them. Meanwhile, ...

Episode 19

64m

19. Episode 19

Aired Jul 23, 2008

In order to save Yong, Bong Soon disguises herself as Iljimae and faces Cheon and the guards. Yong Jae however knows that it's his daughter and can't kill her. Instead, he jumps over the cliff with her. Yong witnesses this and sinks into despair. Heung Hyun also finds out that Yong is Iljimae and decides to help him rob the palace. He brings Hee Bong and Eun Bok in the plot as well, and infiltrates the palace disguised as an imperial messenger. On his way into the palace however, he sees his real mother with the ornament he kept from his childhood, and recognizes her....

Episode 20

66m

20. Episode 20

Aired Jul 24, 2008

Yong gets a close encounter with the king, but manages to escape. The whole plan is complete, and he only has his personal mission left, finding the sword and the man who killed his father. His partners in crime leave him alone in the palace. After going through many traps, he finally finds out that it is none other than the king who killed his father. Shi Hoo finds the message in blood that was to be given to Yong, and he finally remembers Geom and his own father, Lee Won Ho. He helps Iljimae fighting the guards back so that he can go find the king in his hide-out. ...

Cast & Crew

Lee Joon-gi

Geom / Yong / Iljimae

Han Hyo-joo

Byun Eun Chae

Park Si-hoo

Shi Hoo / Ja Dol

Lee Young-ah

Bong Soon

Kim Sung-ryung

Dani

Ahn Kil-kang

Kongkal A Je

Kim Chang-wan

King Do Po Hui

Lee Won-jong

Byeon Sik

Yeo Jin-goo

Lee Gyeom (young)

Kim You-jung

Eun Chae (young)

David Lee

Cha-dol / Shi-hoo (young)

Jung Da-bin

Bong Soon (young)

Lee Il-hwa

Lady Han

Noh Young-hak

Soo-mak

Yeon Jun-seok

Han-woo

Lee Moon-sik

Seo Dol

Son Tae-young

Lee Yeon

Kim Moo-yul

Byeon Si-wan

Lee Won-jae

Mak Soe

Kim Kwang-shik

Guk Doo [Soe Dol's friend]

Jung Jae-eun

Sim Deok

Story & Production Details

Release DateMay 21, 2008

Original Languageko

Total Episodes20 Episodes

ProductionChorokbaem Media

Reviews & Thoughts

ParkMinJan 5, 2024

3/10

Aside from the obvious writing problems, the story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. Everything became tiring and dull after episode 4. The male lead was on a life mission to become more and more pathetic with each passing episode. Romance? A pale imitation. There was no spark, no cosmic alignment of hearts, just a void where chemistry should have ignited. And then, to compound matters, they slapped in a love square (pentagon?) that was infested with poorly written love interests between any and every one of them. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed to tie up loose ends but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up.

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