Episode 5: The Other Traveller
A mysterious woman surfaces in the palace claiming to know Su Hee-joo — and she brings a terrifying warning from the history books
Episode 5: The Other Traveller
Air Date: April 24, 2026 | Rating: 9.1% (New Series High)
Synopsis
A woman has been hiding in the palace seamstress quarters — Kwon Min-ah (권민아), a graduate student from 2022 who slipped through time via an ancient bronze hairpin. She's been in Joseon for three months, lying low as an embroiderer and waiting for the right moment to make contact.
That moment arrives when Su Hee-joo passes the sewing room and hears something unmistakably modern in Min-ah's humming. Two time travellers recognise each other in an instant.
But Min-ah's news is not reassuring. She brought a photocopied page from a historical record — and what it says about a "foreign woman" in the palace this very year stops Su Hee-joo cold.
Key Scenes
The Signal in the Sewing Room
As Su Hee-joo walks past the seamstress quarters, Kwon Min-ah hums a melody under her breath — a 2022 Korean pop song, its cadence completely out of place in 1752.
Su Hee-joo freezes. Turns. Their eyes meet.
Deliberate Signal: The humming was not a careless slip. Min-ah had already confirmed Su Hee-joo's identity days earlier. She had been waiting for a moment private enough to make contact safely. The song was a calculated move.
The Document by the Dry Well
The two women meet in secret near the rear courtyard's disused well. Min-ah draws a folded piece of paper from the lining of her robe — a photocopy she brought from 2022:
"In the twenty-eighth year of King Yeongjo's reign, a woman appeared within the palace claiming to be 'a visitor from the future.' At the petition of Left State Councillor Jo Gye-won, she was put to death on charges of spreading heretical falsehoods. Her name was not recorded. The chronicle notes only: 'Her dress was strange, her speech stranger still — she was no ordinary person.'"
Su Hee-joo's hands tremble. "…Is this about me?"
Min-ah is quiet for a long moment. "…It could be me. It could be both of us."
Lee An's Decision
Su Hee-joo brings the document to Lee An. He reads it in silence, then sets it down and stands.
Lee An: "This historical record — does it describe something that will happen, or something that has already happened?"
Su Hee-joo: "…History is a record of the past."
Lee An: "Then there is still time."
The following morning, Lee An formally elevates Su Hee-joo's palace status from records-keeper to guest of the Prince's household — a designation carrying a higher level of royal protection, and one that closes off every procedural avenue Jo Gye-won might use to move against her.
Character Profile: Kwon Min-ah
| Modern Identity | Second-year history MA student, Seoul National University, 2022 |
| Travel Medium | Bronze hairpin purchased at an antique market (same era as Su Hee-joo's mirror) |
| Time in Joseon | Approximately 3 months |
| Current Cover | Embroiderer in the palace sewing quarters; cautious, methodical, and unexpectedly well-versed in court etiquette |
The Real Question: Min-ah's fluency in court protocol is far beyond what three months of improvised survival would produce. What is she not telling Su Hee-joo? And how much more does the document she brought actually say?
Why 9.1% — A New Series High
Ratings Analysis: Three elements combined to push the show past its previous peak:
- The double time-traveller reveal — the question "which woman does the chronicle describe?" became the week's dominant topic across Korean drama communities
- A named, immediate threat — for the first time, Su Hee-joo faces a concrete mortal danger with a specific deadline, elevating the stakes beyond palace intrigue
- Lee An's decisive act — his morning announcement was read universally as a public declaration of protection; the romance arc took its most significant step forward
Analysis
The Paradox Problem
The historical document creates a classic time-travel paradox: if Su Hee-joo changes her behaviour because she learned about this record, does that change history — or does her action simply fulfil the history that was always going to happen, perhaps with a different victim?
This is the show's direct answer to Episode 4's "history is written by people." Lee An's optimism — compelling in the study — now collides with cold documented evidence. The drama earns its emotional stakes by refusing to let either position be entirely right.
A Shift in Lee An
From Episode 3's calculated protection to Episode 5's public commitment, Lee An's arc takes its clearest step yet. Faced with evidence that the woman beside him may be written into history as a corpse, his response is not resignation — it is action. Su Hee-joo notices. She cannot quite name what stirs in her when he turns away from the document and simply says, "Then there is still time."
Next Episode
Episode 6: Kwon Min-ah's hiding place is discovered. And buried inside Prince Lee An's quietly assembled counter-plan is a risk that even Su Hee-joo could not have anticipated…