Synopsis
Iljimae is a mysterious, black-swathed thief who robs from corrupt government officials and gives to the poor. He steals not only material treasures but also people, be they wrongfully held prisoners or criminals hiding from judgment. At the scene of each robbery, he leaves a small painting of a branch of red plum blossoms called a "mae hwa". (His name reflects this act: il means "one", ji means "branch" and mae means "plum tree".) The citizens support Iljimae while the king and the nobility try to catch him and find his identity.
Gyeom (겸) is the son of a virtuous nobleman Lee Won Ho (이원호), a trustworthy supporter and brother to the king and a central member of the secret organization Cheonwoohoe, composed of important nobles and with the king as their leader. He lives peacefully in a house with many plum trees with his wife, daughter, and son. However, the king has a conversation with a blind man, who tells fortunes. Looking out at Lee Won Ho's home, the blind man states that he sees a person who is as bright as the sun, and will be adored by the people. The king kills Lee Won Ho as he believes that 'two suns cannot exist on the same sky'. Gyeom witnesses the incident from the inside of a safe where his father hid him. Later, he is saved and adopted by a retired thief, Soe Dol (쇠돌), after he becomes stricken with amnesia due to the shock of losing his father and being forced to throw a rock at his mother's head to prove that he was not the son. 13 years later, Gyeom, now called Yong (용), starts to regain his memories and begins to search for his older sister, Yeon (연), only to see her being sentenced and hanged.
The murder of his older sister leaves Gyeom seeking revenge. With the emblem on the killer's sword he remembers from 13 years ago his only clue, he swears that he will find the one who killed his father and murdered his older sister. To find the sword and its owner, he disguises himself as Iljimae and breaks into the nobles' estates. During the course of his actions, he winds up fighting not only for himself, but also for the people; and so he becomes a fighter for the common people, jumping into action whenever the people are oppressed and wrongly exploited for the sake of the nobles, thus becoming adored by the people and one villager goes far enough to state "He is our sun!". At the core of his motives though, he still desires to find the person who destroyed his family, and bring justice to them.
Main cast
- Lee Jun Ki - Gyeom/Yong/Iljimae - A no-good, lazy gangster by day but a mysterious thief who protects the citizens when the night comes.
- Han Hyo Joo - Eun Chae - A lovely and kind girl of noble birth who seems to be fated both for and against Gyeom.
- Lee Young Ah - Bong Soon - A funny, silly swindler who was orphaned as a girl and also is connected to Gyeom's past.
- Park Si-Hoo - Cha Dol/Shi Hoo - Once a poor boy, he was told at the age of nine that his father was actually his adopted father. He is sent to his "real father", Magistrate Byun Shik, and becomes Eun Chae's half-brother and an Imperial Guard. However, Magistrate Byun Shik is not his real father. He and Iljimae have the same real birth father, Lee Won Ho. His dream is to catch Iljimae so that he can finally become a nobleman.
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