The Love Story of Kang Chi (Gu Family Book) (2013) Complete Series -5thGarde

Synopsis
The drama begins with a backstory: After their nobleman father is unfairly accused of being a traitor and killed, Yoon Seo-hwa (Lee Yeon-hee), her younger brother Jung-yoon (Lee David) and their maid, Dam (Kim Bo-mi) are sent to a gisaeng house ("gibang"). Refusing to work as a gisaeng, Seo-hwa is stripped of her clothes and tied to a tree.
Gu Wol-ryung (Choi Jin-hyuk), a mystical forest protector and gumiho, watches from afar, disturbed at the injustice. His monk friend, Sojung (Kim Hee-won), warns him not to interfere with human lives, but nevertheless he goes back to the tree only to find Seo-hwa gone. Seo-hwa, taken inside the gibang, finally agrees to be a gisaeng after witnessing the brutal beating of her brother. It is soon announced that her first "patron" will be none other than Jo Gwan-woong (Lee Sung-jae), the same man who betrayed and killed her father.
Just before meeting him, Jung-yoon begs Dam to swap clothes with his sister so she can run away. Dam agrees, and the two siblings run away in the middle of night as Dam is raped by an unknowing Gwan-woong. As they run into the forest, Jung-yoon and Seo-hwa split up to evade their pursuers, vowing to meet again in the future. Gwan-woong finally discovers that he had been tricked, and sends men to find Seo-hwa.
Wol-ryung notices a disturbance in the forest and finds her unconscious. He falls in love with her and protects her from Gwan-woong's men by revealing his mystical powers. When Seo-hwa wakes up, she too falls in love with him and marries him after being told that both Dam and Jung-yoon were able to run away and are safe. In actuality, Jung-yoon had been found by bounty hunters and hanged, whereas Dam had committed suicide. Wol-ryung, unable to tell her the truth, had lied to her and did not tell her that he was a gumiho.
Wol-ryung decides to become human in order to be with Seo-hwa. To do so, he must live 100 days without showing his true form to a human, without taking a life (animal or human), and must help anyone that needs aid. But there's a catch: if he fails to complete the trial, he'll lose any chance of ever becoming human, and will become a demon for the next thousand years. Wol-ryung successfully lives most of these days following these rules, but one fateful day, Gwan-woong's men find Seo-hwa alone in the forest. Wol-ryung rushes to help her, and reveals his true form, massacring the soldiers.
Seo-hwa, horrified, leaves Wol-ryung and turns herself in. She is furious when they tell her that Jung-yoon and Dam are dead, and leads them back to Wol-ryung's home. After tearfully telling her that he truly loved her, he is killed by the righteous soldier Dam Pyeong-joon (Jo Sung-ha), who had been told that the gumiho was murdering innocents and wreaking havoc in the village. Seo-hwa soon discovers that she is pregnant with Wol-ryung's child - she later gives birth to a son. Realizing that the baby isn't a monster as she had feared and truly regretting her betrayal to Wol-ryung, Seo-hwa entrusts the baby in Sojung's care. She returns to the village to confront Gwan-woong, and attempts to kill him. He's protected by his soldiers and Seo-hwa is killed.
So ends the tragic love story between Wol-ryung and Seo-hwa, and a new legend begins with their son. The infant is found in a basket by the river, and adopted by nobleman Park Mu-sol (Uhm Hyo-sup). He grows up as "Choi Kang-chi" (Lee Seung-gi), ostensibly the son of Lord Park's servant Choi (Kim Dong-kyun), but raised as part of the Park family. Though Mu-sol's wife Lady Yoon (Kim Hee-jung) never warmed up to him, Lord Park loves Kang-chi like his own son, and he is close to the siblings Tae-seo (Yoo Yeon-seok), who treats him like a real brother, and Chung-jo (Lee Yu-bi), whom he loves even though she is betrothed to another. Kang-chi is notorious in the village as a troublemaker, but he is good-hearted and loyal, and beloved by the servants at the Hundred Year Inn, which the Park family runs.
But the idyll ends when Jo Gwan-woong returns to the village. He believes the wealthy Lord Park has hidden treasure inside the Hundred Year Inn, and in his scheme to take over the inn, Lord Park is killed defending Kang-chi. Gwan-woong throws Tae-seo and his mother in jail, and Chung-jo is sold to the gibang. But as if history is repeating itself, Gwan-woong sees Seo-hwa in Chung-jo and lusts after her. Chung-jo also resists becoming a gisaeng and is punished, but unlike Seo-hwa , she is convinced by the head gisaeng, Chun Soo-ryun (Jung Hye-young) to survive and by using her beauty and wiles, someday gain power and revenge. She submits to gisaeng training. After Kang-chi promises Lady Yoon that he will take care of the Park siblings, she makes a futile attempt to stab Gwan-woong, and is killed. Meanwhile Gwan-woong becomes intrigued by Kang-chi and his seemingly super-human strength. He uses magic to place Tae-seo under a curse that makes him believe that it was Kang-chi who murdered his father and caused the family misfortune; he swears vengeance.
Dam Yeo-wool (Suzy) and Gon (Sung Joon) had been dispatched to the village by her father, now-martial arts master Dam Pyeong-joon, to investigate a series of murders they suspect Gwan-woong is responsible for. Yeo-wool runs into Kang-chi, and instantly remembers him from when they were little; he had saved her from a big dog and was afraid of spiders. Because of the way she's dressed and her skill in martial arts and archery, he initially mistakes her for a man. Yeo-wool witnesses the events that befall the Park family, and instinctively helps Kang-chi when he is hunted by Gwan-woong's soldiers. During a fight, a soldier deliberately slices off Kang-chi's beaded bracelet, which Gwan-woong erroneously believed is the source of his power, when in fact Sojung had placed the bracelet on him since birth to contain his powers. Kang-chi transforms into a half-human-half-beast and easily defeats his enemies. He is met by fear and distrust, and even Chung-jo is repulsed at first and calls him a monster. Only Yeo-wool recognizes the humanity within him, reminding him that he is still Kang-chi inside, despite the glowing eyes and long sharp claws. And because of her faith in him, he reverts to his human form. Sojung later tells Kang-chi the truth about his origins, including the mystical and elusive Gu Family Book, which holds the secret to becoming fully human.
Kang-chi is rescued from a death sentence and taken under the wing of Yi Sun-sin (Yoo Dong-geun), a naval commander who believes that Kang-chi will prove to be a good asset to their cause. Yi Sun-sin, Master Dam, and the late Lord Park were part of a secret group protecting the Joseon nation against foreign invasion, which includes investigating traitors selling state secrets like Gwan-woong. Yi places Kang-chi in the martial arts school run by Master Dam, and there he is trained physically and mentally and learns to control his transformations under the watchful eyes of Master Dam, Teacher Gong-dal, and Gon. Kang-chi and Yeo-wool become friends, then gradually fall in love. But several obstacles remain in their way: the continuing villainy of Gwan-woong; the knowledge that it was Yeo-wool's father who killed Kang-chi's father; the reappearance of Wol-ryung, who has turned into a soul-sucking demon with no memories who can only be killed by his son; and Sojung's warning that Yeo-wool is fated to die if she stays by the side of the man she meets beneath the peach blossom tree under a crescent moon...which is none other than Kang-chi himself.