Ji Seung, Hyung-do, Yoon-yi and Jang Man
Secret Investigation Record (기찰비록), also called Joseon X-Files, is a 12 episode Korean Drama which aired on the cable network tvN in 2010.
August 25, 1609. An unnatural light appears in the skies above the province Gangwon-do
, accompanied by a massive flying vessel. The sole governor who dares to report the sighting to the king is immediately arrested for treason.
Kim Hyung-do, an upright investigator, is assigned to the case. He immediately recognizes the accused governor as his former mentor. As he investigates the sighting in a desperate attempt to save his mentor from execution, Hyung-do runs into the mysterious Ji Seung, who's shadowy organization, Shin-muh-wai, is in charge of secretly investigating and recording "bizarre and mysterious incidents that nobody can explain." Ji Seung later recruits Hyung-do.
Together with his side-kick Jang Man and the enigmatic Heo Yoon-yi, the skeptical Hyung-do attempts to discover the truth behind the inexplicable events which occur in Joseon.
This series provides examples of:
- Agent Mulder: Lee Bang-hyun
- Agent Scully: Hyung-do
- Alien Abduction
- Apologetic Attacker: After Hyung-do steals from the Shin-muh-wai vault to save Ji Seung's life, he apologizes as he attacks the guards.
- Artifact of Death: The cursed gold
- Aside Glance: Yoon-yi looks directly at the camera as she secretly burns Hyung-do's book.
- Bad Liar: Jang Man
- Bad News in a Good Way: Lord Lee Do announces that his house is haunted with a smile.
- Badass Bookworm: Yoon-yi, the bookstore owner, knows how to shoot a gun long before Hyung-do and Jang Man even know what a gun was.
- Badass in Distress: When Hyung-do finds himself trapped in "Paradise" (New Land), the other members of Shin-muh-wai have to come to the rescue.
- Berserk Button: Ji Seung says to Lord Lee Do, "What can we (Shin-muh-wai) accomplish if we're afraid of rats?"
- Blind Seer
- Bottomless Magazines: Averted. It's the 1600s, after all. There is no magazine. So there's only one shot per loaded gun.
- Cassandra Truth: Though she's never seen in the series, Psychic Baek-yi, who predicted the Japanese invasion(s) in the late 1500s, was thrown out of court for treason.
- Dirty Old Man: The blind seer
- The End... Or Is It?
- Establishing Character Moment: Hyung-do, in his first appearance, is gambling undercover.
- Flying Saucer: And glowing blue, flying metallic tennis balls
- Gainax Ending
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Jang Man/Hyung-do
- Government Conspiracy: What the Joseon government decides to do after they hear of events that cannot be easily explained. Some of them do this even if they have to kill the entire Shin-muh-wai team to do so.
- Haunted Mansion: Lord Lee Do's mansion
- Heroic BSoD: Hyung-do after he couldn't save the governor being used as a scapegoat.
- Hidden Supplies: As he is facing the Cult of Dubak, Hyung-do pulls out a gun. Shoots a guy. Pulls out another gun. Shoots another guy. Pulls out yet another gun ...
- Historical Fantasy: The story is set on the Korean Peninsula, or Joseon as it was known at that time.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Or, as Lee Bang-hyun dubs the creature, 창귀 (chang-gwi)
- Iconic Item: Ji Seung and his pipe. When the team finds it without him, they immediately know Ji Seung's in danger.
- Implausible Deniability: The new governor Hyung-do questions in episode 1 claims his predecessor (Hyung-do's mentor) was lying and that the flying object was "just a meteor."
- Ironic Echo: Drunken Jang Man first says to Hyung-do, "The truth doesn't matter. All that matters is reality." Later, Hyung-do says it to Jang Man to prove that all is forgiven.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Episode 6 starts out like this at a mansion.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Just as he was about to tell Hyung-do where all the strange events happened, the escaped prisoner is shot in the back by an arrow.
- Lovable Coward: Jang Man
- Mind Screw:
- Episode 7, Village of the Fourth Dimension. Includes Anachronic Order, "Groundhog Day" Loop, and All Just a Dream. Or Was It a Dream?
- Also, the ending.
- Mister Seahorse
- Monster Mash
- Mysterious Past: Yoon-yi possesses many strange skills but does not remember her own past. Or so she says.
- Mysterious Waif: Yoon-yi
- Older Than They Look: The blind prisoner
- The Order: Shin-muh-wai
- Plucky Comic Relief: Jang Man
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Kim Hyung-do, Heo Yoon-yi, and Jang Man
- Running Gag: Jang Man sprinkles salt to ward off spirits and monsters.
- Schrödinger's Butterfly: The ending. Is Hyung-do dead? Alive? Trapped in another world? Abducted by aliens? Trapped in his own head? Re-born? Is Yoon-yi real? A copy? A time traveler? A figment of Hyung-do's imagination?
- Secret Test of Character: The Joseon government tested Hyung-do's persistence to save his mentor, who was executed near the end of the second episode, which led to his admission to the Shin-muh-wai.
- Superpowerful Genetics: Naturally, Oh Kyung-woon develops pre-cognizant abilities from his mother, Baek-yi.
- The Scapegoat/Leave No Witnesses: Initially, the governor of Gangwon-do is made this to conceal the mysterious events that happened in the area. Hyung-do was not pleased when he finds out about this.
- Title Drop: As he makes Hyung-do write down a personal account of the mysterious events, Ji Seung says that, not for truth but for history, the "기찰비록" (ki-chal-bi-ruk) has to be kept.
- Trail of Bread Crumbs: Hyung-do leaves a trail behind as he is carted off by the Cult of Dubak.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Joseon government in spades. They are ordered to do this by the King to prevent mass panic from the populace after strange things showed up in the 1600s. On the other hand, they secretly ordered the Shin-muh-wai to record whatever weird events they come across so that any future generation that has the resources and expertise to investigate the events that they can't be explained in their time can be investigated in order to reveal the real reason why they happened.
- Will They or Won't They?: Hyung-do/Yoon-yi.
- Working Through the Cold: No matter how sick he gets, Hyung-do always insists on working.
