Joseon X-Files - Secret Book

It is the year 1609, the first year in the reign of Gwanghaegun (Prince Gwanghae), a time characterized by political tensions and frequent occurrences of bizarre and mysterious phenomena that cannot be explained. Hyung-do, a government official and investigator, is asked to look into reports of an enormous UFO sighted in the eastern province of Gangwon-do.

In this episode we are officially introduced to the mysterious 'pipe-smoking man' whilst the quest for the truth behind the UFO sighting continues.

Anyone coming into contact with a recently discovered cache of gold bars (dating from the Shilla Dynasty) comes down with a skin-ravaging, rapidly fatal condition.

Villagers attribute a rash of violent deaths which leave behind mutilated human remains to that of tigers. However, all of the victims are criminals, already marked for execution.

A storyteller holds court, weaving a tale of a woman’s murder that occurs on a dark, densely foggy night. Elsewhere, a man scribbles on a pad, clearly in a fugue state. He is a 'mudang', or psychic; a condition inherited from his mother. The tales he relays to the storyteller are remarkably identical in every detail to a recent spate of murders, therefore he is clearly the murderer.

A shaman is found dead, his body is strangely riddled with numerous small stab wounds after attempting to perform an exorcism.

The daughter of Lord Choi and her lover runaway together. After a search is conducted, the boy is discovered in an absent-minded daze. It is rumored that the young couple had gone to a place called New Land. It is another in a string of similar cases of so-called travelers to New Land who return in a dull state of near-catatonia.

Hyung-do is missing, and in her attempt to locate him, Yoon-yi is led to a blind prophet, a seemingly immortal man who has been imprisoned for 150 years. He is leering, lascivious, and downright vulgar, but clearly he can see… something.

Legend has it that if the spirit of a dead child is possessed by a cat, it becomes a Changgwi and feeds on human blood. Another strange case for Hyung-do.

A huge light shines down from the clouds and beams down into the ocean killing all the fish that land ashore in large numbers. News of this oddity reaches the team, who are dispatched to this remote island off the southern coast of the Korean peninsula.

The team investigate the Cult of Dubak, a clandestine organization believed to be behind a series of gruesome murders in which victims are found with the head of another victim surgically attached to their bodies.

Hyung-do awakens in the cult’s lair, tied to a column and utterly helpless whilst having been led astray in the woods, Hyung-do’s team-mates despair, since they have no way to save him.