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The Haunted Palace episodes 1 and 2 starring Yook Sung-jae, Kim Ji-yeon, and Kim Ji-hoon aired on April 18 and April 19, 2025, on SBS TV. The Haunted Palace revolves around a Josean palace where vengeful female ghosts and evil spirits seek revenge on the royal family.
When government officer Yoon-gab becomes possessed by an Imugi, a shape-shifting serpent-like creature, Yeo-ri is called in to cure him. Yeo-ri is the granddaughter of a shaman and is eventually forced to confront her family's legacy and past love.
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In episodes 1 and 2 of The Haunted Palace, Yeo-ri comes to the capital with Yoon-gap, but she brings along an Imugi that wants to possess her to ascend to the heavens.
However, nothing prepares her for what awaits her when she enters the palace.
The Haunted Palace episode 1 and 2 recap: Yeo-ri is haunted by Gang-cheol when circumstances lead her to the royal palace and its secrets
Episode 1 of The Haunted Palace opens with a shaman narrating the tale of a Gang-cheol, who was a dragon trying to ascend to the heavens. He spent a thousand years in sacred discipline in the depths of a pond.
It was said that if a human spots an ascending dragon, it becomes tainted and turns into an imugi, a serpent-like creature. Gang-cheol is seen by a human child, and his penance of a thousand years turns to dust.
Because of that, Gang-cheol has a deep hatred towards humans. The shaman further warns her granddaughter, Yeo-ri, that if she ever meets Gang-cheol, she must run without looking back as they target shamans with great capacity and a clear spirit like her.
That night, Yeo-ri spots Gang-cheol looking at her from afar.
13 years later, the young prince is possessed and is harming the people around him. King Lee-sung thinks his son's ailments are nothing but a medical issue.
But a civil servant named Yoon-gap suspects it is the work of a supernatural entity and advises the king to bring in a shaman to save the prince.
Further in episode 1 of The Haunted Palace, Yeo-ri now works as an optician and has not adopted her shamanic heritage. When she visits Lord Choi Won-u, she sees a one-legged vengeful ghost who is haunting the Lord's daughter.
She sees the spirit trying to possess the daughter and tries her best to calm it down.
Yeo-ri fights the spirit in the market when Gang-cheol stands and tries to lure her. She ignores him and is finally able to exorcise Lord Choi Won-u's daughter. Yoon-gap is observing Yeo-ri and eventually brings the Lord's daughter home.
It is revealed in the flashback that Gang-cheol started stalking Yeo-ri after he saw her and started causing trouble for the villagers.
Yeo-ri's grandmother tells her that a pure and powerful shaman like Yeo-ri can help Gang-cheol ascend to the heavens if she accepts him.
To protect Yeo-ri, her grandmother gives her a ghostbane stone. Gang-cheol kills Yeo-ri's grandmother in the middle of a rite, which leads to villagers blaming her for all the misfortunes they are suffering.
She becomes an outcast and, in anger, vows to never submit to Gang-cheol.
Yoon-gap meets Yeo-ri at the market, and she suddenly remembers him. Yoon-gap was her friend when she was young and the only one who stood by her, even when she was an outcast.
Yoon-gap presents her with a proposal to become a personal optician for the King. Gang-cheol, who can only be seen by Yeo-ri, is upset by the idea.
He calls Yoon-gap selfish and warns that the palace is a frightening place. Yeo-ri, however, likes the idea.
Further in episode 1 of The Haunted Palace, Yoon-gap is being spied on by the King's enemies.
On the way to the palace, they ambush Yoon-gap and kill him. Seeing the lifeless corpse, Gang-cheol decides to possess the body.
On the other hand, Yeo-ri is gathering herbs for Yoon-gap when she sees his ghost. She also finds that Gang-cheol has possessed Yoon-gap's dead body. Gang-cheol tries to possess Yeo-ri but is unable to do so.
At the end of episode 1 of The Haunted Palace, Gang-cheol throws away her ghostbane, and in a tussle to retain the stone, both Gang-cheol and Yeo-ri fall off the cliff as Yoon-gap's ghost looks on.
Episode 2 of The Haunted Palace begins with Yeo-ri waking up in the palace, where she learns that the King's spies saved her and Yoon-gap, who is now possessed by Gang-cheol.
She hurries and finds Yoon-gap lying, and suddenly remembers that he is now dead and Gang-cheol is possessing his body.
The king arrives and orders that Yoon-gap receive the best treatment possible, and here, Yeo-ri also learns that he has a severe wound from a sword. This leads her to consider that it may not be Gang-cheol who killed Yoon-gap, but someone else.
He questions Yeo-ri about her identity and what she was doing with Yoon-gap, and he is surprised to learn that she was brought to the palace to create a spectacle for him.
Yoon-gap's assassins are surprised to find that he is still alive.
The Queen Dowager calls a blind priest and confides that what she witnessed in the young prince's quarters is nothing but a monster she saw 13 years ago.
Yoon-gap's assassin tries to kill him but encounters the powerful Gang-cheol, who sweeps him across the room like paper. The physician examines him when they realise that he is hungry.
He is served a simple rice porridge, but as he tastes it, he feels he is in seventh heaven.
She remarks on how he now understands the five senses of humans. He devours the porridge and even ends up eating the whole pot. Amidst all of this, he is startled by somebody's groaning and says, "It's him".
He hurriedly runs away from there and remarks that he needs to get Yeo-ri and get away from the place before "he" notices.
Further in episode 2 of The Haunted Palace, as Yeo-ri is going to her sleeping quarters, she hears Yoon-gab's voice calling her. She follows the voice and realizes that she has been tricked by a ghost in the well who tries to drown her.
She is saved by Gang-cheol, but she wants to talk to the ghost in the well to ask about Yoon-gap's soul.
The next day, she examines the King's eyes and recommends glasses for him. She is shocked to discover that the King already possesses sunglasses made from the ghostbane stone.
The King asks her to leave, but Yeo-ri tries to find excuses to remain in the palace to investigate. Eventually, she offers to create colored glasses for the King.
She is taken to the royal tailor shop, where the royal eunuch asks the tailor to make a working space for her for a few days. As she tries to go back near the well once again, she is stopped by the Queen and asked to leave.
She overhears the palace maids talking about how Yoon-gap is creating a ruckus, jumping from the roof, going into a hot furnace, and even running around with knives in his mouth.
She discovers that Yoon-gap has rushed to a courtesan house, where he is enjoying all kinds of food and liquor.
She also meets Yoon-gab's mother and catches him enjoying a feast in the courtesan's house. Yoon-gab's mother drags him away and begins to fuss over him, which surprises Gang-cheol. Yeo-ri is welcomed into the house by Yoon-gab's mother, who reveals that she owes his son's life to her grandmother. Yeo-ri's grandmother predicted that he wouldn't live past 30 years, but she performed a ritual to bless him.
Yeo-ri is heartbroken knowing that her grandmother's prophecy has come true. She seeks to perform a ritual to try to bring Yoon-gap back to his body when she lashes out at Gang-cheol.
The next morning, the King's guards come to get Yoon-gap for work, and Yeo-ri persuades him to go along.
Yeo-ri, on the other hand, sneaks into the palace again and sets up a ritual to bring back the spirit of the drowned ghost. The drowned ghost appears and reveals that Yoon-gap is not present, and his spirit is consumed by the Colossal Shadow.
At the end of episode 2 of The Haunted Palace, Gang-cheol also senses the presence and refers to it as the Colossal Shadow, feeling scared for Yeo-ri.
In the last scene of episode 2 of The Haunted Palace, the colossal shadow is revealed that has possessed the body of the young prince.
The Haunted Palace airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 PM KST on SBS TV.
