The Secret Romantic Guesthouse (2023) Episode 5-6

Just as Tae-hwa is about to discover San and Dan-oh hiding in the palanquin, an arrow whizzes past his hand, effectively diverting his attention. Dan-oh gets San safely back to Ihwawon, but he’s in bad shape — the arrow that hit him was poisoned. With no time to fetch a physician, Shi-yeol takes charge, surprising everyone with his expert knowledge of treating such wounds.

Meanwhile, Tae-hwa applies enough pressure to the former Head Eunuch that he lets Dan-oh’s name slip. When Tae-hwa summons Dan-oh, she feigns ignorance. But she only has five days left to save Ihwawon, and the thought that San might be a cold-hearted murderer of countless people (per Tae-hwa’s description of the Watchman) shakes her to the core. Not to mention, Tae-hwa extends his bargain: he’ll still forgive her debt if she brings him the Watchman instead of Lee Seol.

All this puts San and Dan-oh in a rather uncomfortable position. She wrestles with his past and whether to turn him in, while he tries to push her away for her own safety. But they’re both secretly grateful that her treating his wound gives them an excuse to spend time in very close proximity.

Meanwhile, we finally get to see into the annex, where Dan-oh’s sister Bong-joo lives. Heartbreakingly, it seems she and Tae-hwa’s son were actually in love, and she’s ready to reveal herself to Tae-hwa if it means Dan-oh will stop endangering herself for Bong-joo’s sake.

The poor girl is essentially a prisoner, even if it’s done out of love, but one small breath of fresh air has now entered her life: Shi-yeol, who’s already figured out the basics of her situation. He stops by the annex occasionally, promising not to reveal her secret, and Bong-joo is clearly touched.

Speaking of Shi-yeol, however, he’s got decisions of his own to make and people to protect. Following San’s brush with death — and having overheard people talking about the newborn crown prince — Shi-yeol decides it’s time to make himself scarce and books passage on a boat out of Joseon. The problem, of course, is that Tae-hwa has grown newly suspicious of him and orders a raid on the local gambling den as an excuse to bring Shi-yeol in for questioning (read: torture).

Dan-oh, mistakenly thinking the scholar in Tae-hwa’s custody is San, peeks over the wall and realizes the truth: Shi-yeol is Lee Seol, and Tae-hwa’s using him as bait to catch the Watchman. It’s not an easy decision, but Dan-oh chooses to put San’s safety first and attempts to keep him busy around Ihwawon. But San hears about Lee Seol’s plight anyway and runs to help him.

His arm is too injured to properly draw his bow, so Dan-oh offers to help. Has she ever shot an arrow before? Nope! But with San guiding her aim, she manages well enough. Together, they draw off Tae-hwa’s guards, and additional help arrives in the form of Minister Shin, who has sufficient authority to move the interrogation onto government property instead of Tae-hwa’s private yard. There, Shi-yeol’s supposed father testifies that his identity is real, and Shi-yeol is released.

It’s no accident that Minister Shin helps Shi-yeol, either. There’s only so much he can do openly, what with the king out to kill anyone who could possibly be accused of harboring sympathy for Lee Seol, but Minister Shin is quietly funding that secret society Yoo-ha is part of.

Anyway, while fleeing from Tae-hwa’s men, Dan-oh and San take refuge in an old shrine in the woods. When San again asks if Dan-oh isn’t afraid of him, she admits she is afraid — of losing him. They spend the night sleeping on each other’s shoulders, and return to Ihwawon the next day, where Yoo-ha is worried sick about Dan-oh’s absence and Dan-oh has to navigate her newfound knowledge that Shi-yeol is royalty. (Eventually, she caves and admits she knows he’s Lee Seol, and he swears it’s not true. She doesn’t buy it.)

Yoo-ha, the only one out of the loop, has occupied himself preparing to confess his feelings to Dan-oh. But the death of his adoptive mother puts his confession on the back burner.

Since Dan-oh can’t bring herself to sacrifice San, she chooses to give up Ihwawon instead, relocating with Bong-joo and their faithful maid to a temple overnight. But Tae-hwa is hot on their heels, having concluded that Dan-oh knows who Lee Seol is.

Dan-oh locks Bong-joo inside so she won’t be tempted to reveal herself and marches out to face Tae-hwa. Although Yoo-ha has joined Dan-oh by this time, he’s not much help against Tae-hwa’s men. But just as Tae-hwa raises his sword to Dan-oh’s neck, demanding to know Lee Seol’s identity, San appears in full Watchman garb and leaps between them, reaching back to give Dan-oh’s hand a brief, reassuring touch.

This show continues to move faster than I expect, and in ways that make me really excited about what’s in store later on. I expected the “Who is Lee Seol?” mystery to be the central question throughout most of its duration, but already most of our main characters have at least guessed if not found out definitively.

And sure, Shi-yeol continues to deny it, and there’s a good chance that trinket Yoo-ha’s father left for him is Lee Seol’s identifying artifact. But even so, all the signs point straight at Shi-yeol. And I’m glad, because the more I see of him, the more I love him and want to see him take his rightful throne.

In fact, much as I enjoy Dan-oh and San’s romance (that handhold at the end of Episode 6!) and want to learn more about San’s backstory, it’s Shi-yeol who has completely stolen the show for me. We only have the barest hints so far, but I’m already wholly invested in his and Bong-joo’s potential relationship — even though I know it’s in for heartbreak, considering the role he played in the death of her first love.

As for Ihwawon, I’m sure we haven’t actually said goodbye to it for good just yet. It makes sense to me that when push came to shove Dan-oh would give up the inn to protect her people — because people were the reason she was protecting the inn in the first place — but I have a feeling she and her friends will find a way to get it back before too long.