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In the Title ‘Hyeonhok’ Lies a Trap of the Gaze
The word ‘hyeonhok’ (眩惑) refers to a state where one’s eyes are dazzled, unable to see things clearly. Yet this term lingers because it speaks not merely of light. The beauty of a person, the secrets of a story, the brilliant surface of an era—these draw us in while simultaneously blurring the truth. A power that lets us see what’s before our eyes, yet prevents us from seeing what we truly need to see. The webtoon ‘Hyeonhok’ began precisely from this dual gaze.
The Disney+ series ‘Hyeonhok’, based on the webtoon of the same name by artist Hong, starring Suzy and Kim Seon-ho, is set for release in 2026. The story unfolds in Gyeongseong, 1935. Its narrative begins when Song Jeong-hwa—a woman who has barely stepped outside for over half a century, leaving behind countless rumors—meets painter Yoon Yi-ho, who is commissioned to paint her portrait. To paint a woman’s face is to peer into the time she has hidden.
When a webtoon becomes a drama, the first thing that changes is not just the size of the screen. Readers scroll down vertically, entering the darkness panel by panel, but drama audiences encounter everything at once—the actors’ expressions and voices, the dust indoors, the sounds outside the window. Especially for a story like ‘Hyeonhok’, where portraits, gazes, and the atmosphere of an era are crucial, this transformation looms larger. When the figure in the painting begins to move, the original mystery gains a different texture.
Gyeongseong Is Not Just a Retro Backdrop—It’s an Era of Fractures
Gyeongseong is the name of today’s Seoul during the Japanese colonial period. The year 1935 was when colonial rule had deeply seeped into everyday language, institutions, and street scenes. Trams, department stores, Western-style hotels, jazz, and new cultural trends made the city’s surface shine, but beneath that light lay the anxiety of a society stripped of freedom, class divides, and the empire’s violence. This is why works set in Gyeongseong can hardly be called mere ‘retro.’
In ‘Hyeonhok’, the Gyeongseong of 1935 is where mystery and period drama meet. Old mansions, hotels, streets beyond glass windows, and the classic object of the portrait create a Gothic mystery atmosphere. At the same time, the relationship between the painter and the secretive woman raises the question of who has the right to look at and record whom. The colonial city wore a glamorous modern exterior, but within it, people were watched, categorized, and forced into silence in different ways.
When overseas viewers encounter the name Gyeongseong, understanding it merely as ‘old Seoul’ may cause them to miss half the work. Gyeongseong is the historical term for Seoul during the Japanese colonial era. In Korean content, narratives set in this period showcase romantic costumes and architecture but cannot avoid the wounds and power dynamics left by that time. How delicately ‘Hyeonhok’ handles the era’s darkness will be a key point of interest in its dramatization.
A Portrait Paints a Face, but It Cannot Hide Time
At the heart of ‘Hyeonhok’ lies the portrait. In an age where photographs are all too familiar, a portrait might seem like an old-fashioned object. But the act of staring at a face for a long time to paint it can be a slower, more persistent record than a photograph. The painter observes not just the model’s expression but also their posture, fabric, the direction of light, and the length of silence. A portrait captures a single moment, but it keeps summoning the past beyond that moment.
Song Jeong-hwa is a figure who has existed only through rumors, never showing herself to people. There’s a curious paradox in the premise that she calls for a painter to leave behind her face. Why would someone who wants to hide desire a portrait? Is it to control others’ gaze upon her, or because an identity hidden too long must eventually reveal itself in some form? This question drives the work’s mystery deeper than mere plot resolution.
Yoon Yi-ho, played by Kim Seon-ho, is the painter who confronts this secret. A painter is one who observes, but in ‘Hyeonhok’, he may become the one being observed. The hand that paints seems to capture the subject, but at some point, he realizes he is caught in the world of that subject. The temperature of the drama will shift depending on how Suzy’s Song Jeong-hwa embodies her tone, silence, and expression to hold that long time.
How Will the Drama Translate the Webtoon’s Long Silences?
The webtoon ‘Hyeonhok’ holds time that stretches not only from 1935 Gyeongseong but also to 19th-century Shanghai. Beings and memories beyond human explanation, and repeating fate, form the work’s mystery horror. Notably, the webtoon can utilize the brief pause when a reader stops scrolling before moving from one panel to the next. A single black margin, a close-up leaving only a character’s eyes—these push the reader’s imagination deeper.
The drama must translate this silence into a different language. It becomes crucial how long the camera gazes at the portrait’s surface, how quiet the mansion’s corridor is, and at what moment the sound of someone opening a door is heard. Rather than expanding explanations, it must build unease through light, sound, and the actors’ breathing. What original fans expect is not just a faithful reproduction of events, but that the eerie stillness felt in the webtoon also comes alive on screen.
That director Han Jae-rim is helming the project also draws attention. Having handled power dynamics and human desires in works like ‘The Face Reader’ and ‘The King’, the space of Gyeongseong is not unfamiliar material for him. However, ‘Hyeonhok’ is not a work to be completed solely through glamorous period recreation. The threads of horror, mystery, melodrama, and period drama must not lean to one side. It requires not consuming the woman’s secret as a sensational ghost story, but persuading through the character’s long-held solitude.
The Reunion of Suzy and Kim Seon-ho Creates a New Gateway for Audiences
Suzy and Kim Seon-ho reunite on a project together for the first time since the 2020 drama ‘Start-Up’. This reunion becomes a gateway into ‘Hyeonhok’ even for viewers unfamiliar with the original. But what matters in this work is less the replication of familiar romance than the tension between two characters who cannot easily trust each other. The relationship between Song Jeong-hwa and Yoon Yi-ho is likely to waver between curiosity and fear, compassion and suspicion, rather than being neatly defined as love.
Webtoon-based dramas are often judged solely by casting sync—whether the actors resemble the images readers imagined. That is certainly important. But for a work centered on atmosphere like ‘Hyeonhok’, a more difficult task remains. Does Song Jeong-hwa look like someone who has hidden for half a century? Does Yoon Yi-ho seem like someone who won’t back away even knowing the secret? More than costumes or makeup, the way the actors endure silence will answer these questions.
What, in the end, does the word ‘hyeonhok’ point to? It could be falling into someone’s beauty, or the violence history hides behind a city’s glamorous exterior, or the power of a single painting to summon the past into the present. If the emotion of ‘jeong’ (情) is the trace of a relationship that has crossed time together, ‘Hyeonhok’ might be the story of a being who endured time alone for too long, on the opposite side. We shall see how this drama, set for release in 2026, transforms the webtoon’s shadows into a light both deep and new.
Source: Disney+ ‘Hyeonhok’ release announcement and reports from Ppoomppu and domestic entertainment media, 2026.
