The bastard son of King Tae Jo, Ok knows of his birthright but knows that none of his half-siblings have even considered that he exists. His mother was kicked out of Korea before he was even born, but told Ok who his father was. He resents the royal family, and wants to claim his place as the crown prince considering the fact that he is the firstborn son of the king.

Scorned by her fiancée and best friend, Hye Rim abandoned her quaint country life and sweet family, killed the pig-tailed girl next door image that she had, and set up a little food stall in Seoul. She hates men, believing they will all just betray her, and is a bit of a shrew. Woo doesn’t want to get hurt ever again, but she is a bit tired of always being on edge and gaining an ajhumma reputation.

A bit of a gangster, Joong Ki helps people sneak in to Seoul. What does he ask for payment? Well, if you’re asking that, you’re probably going to be in his debt for a long time. He’s also the guy to go to for drugs so if you’re craving anything, he’s your go to guy. Known as “The Sneaker,” Hwang isn’t a guy likely to be caught by Seoul’s police but he still likes to keep a low profile.

She was supposed to stay for a month. Miyazawa’s been in Seoul for three years, working odd jobs and trying to find a guy to marry so she can gain permanent residency. She wants an easy life, with a rich guy and she’s determined to get it. This involves a lot of late nights at clubs in tight dresses with short heels. Her biggest fear is getting knocked up and abandoned, so Miyazawa wastes precious money on the pill.

Nope, not Superman (Clark Kent, for those who don’t get it). This Clark happens to be an anime nerd who tried to go to Japan, but could only afford a flight to Seoul. He’s trying to earn the money, but he’s been here for over a year and it doesn’t look like he’s leaving in the future. He makes money by selling caricatures on street corners.

Married at twenty-two, forced to miscarry twice by twenty-four because her husband didn’t want to pay to feed another mouth. Baek ran away and came to Seoul to hide from her abusive husband, but she’s still legally married and she’s constantly looking over her shoulder, hoping not to be found. She works odd jobs, but is trying to gain legal status so that she can hire a divorce lawyer.

He came to Seoul with the hopes of being a singer, but because he came only at nineteen, Lim was considered too old by music companies and not given a chance. He sings on street corners and is homeless, but is usually smiling since he figures that life could get worse- he could be dead. Forever an optimist, Lim is the type of guy to live every moment.

Not the brightest tool in the shed, Nam is a bit flaky but a loyal friend. For a pickpocket, that is. Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was sixteen and Nam was handed over to a cousin in Seoul who had no interest in her. She technically has residency, but she’s homeless and constantly trying to avoid the cops when security cameras catch her picking people’s pockets. She has deft fingers and fast legs, but this can only keep going on for so long.

Most students in Korea spend hours over their textbooks, but this guy spends his hours at noraebong. He’s intent on becoming an idol and is waiting to hear his results regarding a recent audition at one of the major entertainment companies. As for his grades… Well, he would be failing out except for the fact that he attends an arts high school where his talent is appreciated.

Like many loners, she hides behind books all of the time and is too shy to hang out with her classmates, ever since she overheard a few of them agree that she’s boring. However, she is the president of a fansite for the princes and well-known in the blogosphere for getting quality pictures of the youngest prince.

This guy is certifiably insane. There’s really no way around it. He has no Internet hook up in his house, changes his phone once a month, using prepaid ones, and only uses his school email, accessing that only from school. Nobody’s quite sure why he’s so paranoid, but the people who know him know never, ever surprise him.

The student body vice-president of the Royal Academy is a girl who wants to get ahead of everyone else. It irks her to no end that the prince is the president of the school and she makes it clear to everyone that she knows he only won the elections because he’s a prince. It’s her goal to beat him in everything.

A star athlete, this girl can beat most guys at basketball. It’s no surprise that she’s been accused of being a lesbian by some of her classmates. Nobody’s quite sure if this accusation is true, but Do definitely is a virgin and she’s not about to tell anyone her personal preferences. All she wants to do is make it to the Olympics, representing South Korea. Standing on a podium, with the Korean national anthem playing, receiving a gold medal, is Do’s dream.

A Japanese student who came to Korea for university, this girl is a bit eccentric and all over the place, but most people who meet her find her loveable. She’s a hopeless romantic, but also has a volatile temper and definitely is not a woman whose heart you want to break.

Although he’s studying English, Min is more interested in studying his professor’s and seducing the foreign women who teach him. Nobody seems to be complaining, but his mother keeps on trying to set him up with nice Korean girls. Min hates this idea but is contemplating hiring a “nice” Korean girl to pretend to be his girlfriend while he sleeps around with whomever he likes.

A foreign student in Seoul to study economics, White is in over his head since he hardly speaks Korean. He gets lost at least once a day, and keeps on getting taken for a ride by people who don’t mind taking advantage of the foreigner who has no idea how much a Won is really worth. He’s a bit worried about his funds being depleted long before he’s ready to go home, but White is trying to figure out ways to cutback.

Although this sixteen year old belongs in school, he dropped out and began working as a freelance hacker when he realized he could start making his fortune before even graduating from school. He’s a computer genius, but a bit uncomfortable around other people. That doesn’t stop Sam from trying to make friends, though. He’s a good guy, as long as you don’t mind dealing with a few awkward-turtle moments.

A high school teacher who has a bit of a crush on one of his students, this guy keeps telling himself he knows better but he just can’t help himself at night when he’s alone in his bed. He’s going on blind dates, but he’s starting to wonder what’s wrong with him if he only crushes on younger girls. He’s considered psychiatric help, but Dang is pretty sure he’s just acting this way because his students wear way too much make up and too many of them wear push-up bras.

A waitress at a club who hopes to one day open a restaurant, Gal is used to being pinched on her rear by sketchy guys when all she wants to really do is smack. She resists, however, knowing that her Seoul citizenship may be revoked if she gets into a fight with anyone. Gal is in Seoul and is planning on staying until the day she dies.

The owner of a bookstore, Man finds books much easier to understand than people. He’s secretly an erotica writer who’s been gaining popularity with his books that are known as “Mommy porn,” which is funny considering that the last relationship he was in ended with him finding his girlfriend with another guy.

Recently, Taylor has gotten married to Gwak. a PD who works for MBC. As a teenager, she has studied Korean and swore one day that she would move to Seoul. That day came on her twenty first birthday and a few months later thanks to some connections, she landed an English translating job for MBC. Gwak and Taylor met on the set of a documentary they were working on and three moths ago tied the knot after dating for a year.

Journalism has always been Bong's passion. Ever since she was a little girl, she often wrote about her daily experiences and sometimes interviewed her parents for fun. Now as an adult, she is one of the top journalists in the country. A majority of her stories are about the Royal Family and any scandals regarding the children. Her nosiness often gets her into trouble, but she is driven to become one of the best journalists in the world.

A pretty woman with a good idea of Seoul’s history, Mok decided to use her talents and became a tour guide for Seoul, working with the national tourism organization. She has a bit of a bad habit of falling in love with foreigners who are not sticking around. She has no real goals in life, so Mok is just doing what

Recently, Gwak has married what he thinks is the love of his life despite his family's disagreements. They met on the set of a documentary about Koreans living abroad and since then, have been inseparable. His friends question his reasoning for marrying so quickly, especially to a foreigner, but he claims that it's simply because he has met his match.

Raised in the palace, Seo doesn’t know who his parents are, but he’s pretty sure it’s someone from the nobility. He feels embittered towards all members of the royal family and nobility because of this and is unaware of the fact that he’s actually an illegitimate second cousin of the royal family.

The secretary of the crown prince, Jung is privy to all sorts of information. And is making a small fortune selling some private details to various media sources. Nothing too important but he is a bit tempted to start telling a few secrets. After all, money makes the world go round and what he’s doing is really hurting nobody. Right? The royal family members are public figures, after all. Celebrity gossip sells well.

The son of the king’s bodyguard, the eldest Son is the crown prince’s bodyguard. The Son family has always protected the Yi’s in recent memory and Son wouldn’t think twice sacrificing himself for a Yi family member. He has no real social life and often acts as a bit of a nanny to the crown prince, which occasionally causes the crown prince to become extremely irate.

The middle Son child is unassigned a specific family member, but tends to be on a rotation. She’s not as fond of being born into the career of a bodyguard, living for someone else, as her other siblings are, but she knows her duty. At least most of the time. Sometimes, however, Son dreams of leaving Seoul forever and finding out what career would actually make her happy.

The youngest Son is the princess’s bodyguard (and playmate). Half of the time she’s just trying to keep the princess out of trouble of her own making, let alone keeping others from harming the princess. Although she’s college age Son attends school with the princess. She doesn’t have to take the exams though!

The head chef is half-French and although he speaks Korean fluently, tends to curse and shout in French when he’s annoyed. Which is often. He’s picky about everything in the kitchen, but cooks extremely well. He butts heads with Seo, the head of staff, and is friendly with the crown prince due to the prince’s pickiness and Roux’s determination to make everyone he feeds happy.

The newest palace maid, Kang is constantly afraid of doing something wrong. She needs the job to help pay the hospital bills for an ailing family member. She would rather be in school studying film, but working in the palace is a pretty good job. There are rumors that she’s friendly with the twin of the crown prince, but these rumors have not yet left the palace.

As Korea is an advanced country, the palace and royal family need to be wired. Beom’s job is making sure no information gets out of the palace, and no hackers get in. And making sure none of the princes or the princess can access any sites that make problems for the royal family. Which means no SNS without approval from the PR team.

While her parents worked as janitorial staff at a computer company, JO spent a lot of her time hanging out with them. One of the staff members thought she was a sweet girl so offered her a job during the summer that eventually led her to realize that she wanted to start a company. She studied business in college, and then promptly took out a lone. By twenty-four, she’s now known as one of the wealthiest young entrepreneur in Seoul.

Although a bit older than the crown prince, the chaebol heir has been best friends with the heir to the throne for many years. He never got along quite as well with the prince’s twin, and the two have often glared at each other while trying to get the crown prince’s attention. He is bisexual and has often wondered if perhaps he’s in love with his best friend, but has never acted on this.

Cold and distant, this heir to a technology business suffers from depression and the knowledge that his father’s business is more like a gang than a proper business. He’s prone to getting into fights and has made several suicide attempts. He was part of a gang for a time, but due to police involvement he’s trying to avoid that lifestyle. For now.

Yet another heiress, this one has spent her life mostly in Europe and New York, spending a good half of each year going from fashion show to fashion show. She has few friends in Seoul and seems more like a foreigner than a Seoulite. Since she’s spent most of her life around models, Dan has developed an eating disorder to fit in with the idea of what a fashionable body looks like.

The son of the previous prime minister suffers from sex addiction while outwardly appearing to be the perfect son and perfect politician. He’s been known to frequent noraebangs that are covers for prostitution rings and a secretary that his father worked with was paid an extremely large sum so as not to report the fact that the eldest Her child sexually harassed her.

While her father is famous for his politics, his daughter has recently caught the public eye for her facial expressions on various clothing sites and winning ulzzang “best face” competitions. There’s a rumor that she’s in the midst of being casted on the popular ulzzang reality show, Ulzzang Shidae, but supposedly her father is trying to stop her from doing this.

One of Korea’s most popular actors recently found out that a fling from five years ago died and left him as a single father. The media hasn’t picked up on this, yet, but he’s finding fatherhood is more difficult than acting as a father in movies. His manager is freaked out and trying to convince Jung to abandon his child but he is unwilling to do that. He is contemplating ending his career if the price is his child

Although he is originally from Hong Kong, he has been living in Seoul for half of his life. He’s a socialite above all else, and recently caught the Queen’s eye at a gallery opening. He has his eye on seducing her daughter, but for the moment he’s more than willing to be the Queen’s play thing. He knows it won’t last forever, but it will be one hell of a story to tell his grandchildren.

The daughter of the King’s older sister is the first cousin to the Royal family. She’s currently studying to be a doctor, since her father was the royal family’s doctor. He died in a tragic accident, scarring his daughter, who was with him at the time. She hides it well, but has constant nightmares and is an insomniac as a result.

The high school age nephew of the King is often seen hanging out with his cousin, the princess, and the two are close friends. He is dyslexic and has paid someone to take his university exams for him, despite knowing that if it gets discovered he may get kicked out of his family. At the moment, failing out of high school would be a bigger deal and he’s trying to keep this from all of his family members. And the press.

The nephew of the Queen is a year younger than his cousins, the twin princes, and was a year younger than them in school. He finds being a member of the royal family but not in line for the throne to be constricting and started to rebel by trying out drugs. He became addicted and his allowance from his parents couldn’t support his addiction, so the eldest An started to film pornos. He films them masked, but he recently received a letter threatening to blackmail him unless he sends nude pictures each week to an anonymous post-office box.

The bipolar cousin of the royal princes and princess is still in high school with several of her cousins. She seems fine from the outside, but she attends therapy and is on medication because of her psychiatric condition. She is musically inclined and has been romantically linked to a celebrity. She claims that they’re just friends, of course, but nobody’s quite sure.

In the same class as the princess, the youngest An is very sheltered and clings to his family members. He is gay and has contemplated running away from his family so that he can live freely instead of being under constant scrutiny from his family members. He also has some anti-monarchist tendencies, but because of who he is and who his relatives are, he’s never voices them.

Son to the General of the Korean Army, war is all Ho knows. He was raised watching war movies with his father and hearing all sorts of war stories. The moment he became legal, he went into a branch of the military and worked his hardest to come close to his father's level. But, after a long two years in Iraq and ultimately coming home on injury, he now suffers from PTSD.

Unlike her older brother, Ho hates everything about war. Her father tried to convince her to sign up for a corp in the army once she graduated high school, but instead she hopes to travel the world and help those who have been affected by war. She's afraid of telling her brother and father the truth out of fear that she'll be disowned.

Lewis is British duke currently studying in a top Korean university in hopes to learn more about the Korean monarchy. In Britain, the royal family is simply a figurehead so he's intrigued by how well the king is controlling the government and hopes one day to bring the same over to Britain.

The current king married when his father, King Jeong Jo was diagnosed with cancer. After being married five years, King Jeong Jo died and King Tae Jo came to power. He never felt affection for his wife, and has a long time mistress. He’s seen as a fair ruler, but very withdrawn from his family. He only spent much time with his heir, the Crown Prince, who he is close to but holds up to high standards. He was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer and decided to refuse treatment in order to keep working long enough to make the transfer of power to his son seamless. At the moment, only the Crown Prince is aware that his father’s passing is imminent. Nobody is aware except for Tae Jo and his mistress that he has an illegitimate son, born prior to his marrying Chan Ju.

Always considered the sweetest, prettiest daughter of a powerful politician, An Chan Ju was wed to Prince Tae Jo and came to the throne with him when she was in her early twenties. She is a talented artist who spent her time working with the national museums and occasionally playing with her children. After the birth of her daughter, Chan Ju realized that she had done everything in her entire life for other people, and started an affair with a young member of parliament, which snowballed into many young lovers. Tae Jo is aware of his wife’s indiscretions, but none of the children have any idea that their mother is a slut.

The Crown Prince and future king of Korea is a somber sort of man who only ever smiles when with he's with his twin brother, the only person he trusts while in school, his only friends were people with parents who wanted their child to befriend the crown prince. He is daunted by but prepared to take over for his father, although torn that he can only start his life once his father dies. He has never dated anyone, but in high school he realized that he had no interest in breasts but in the chiseled abs of his classmates. Even his twin doesn’t know about his sexuality, but the crown prince recently has, discretely, started to explore his sexuality.

The twin of the crown prince, he’s lived in his brother’s shadow his entire life. He spent the past few years in a university in Japan, acting as an emissary to the Imperial family there. He’s known publicly for being friendlier than his twin, and is often considered the spokesman of the royal siblings and often is seen at public events. He sees himself as a spare and tries to find an identity for himself outside of the royal family, since he recognizes that the only way he can be king is if his brother dies without children, something he doesn’t want to see happen to his beloved twin. He’s currently engaged to --- --- --- but is in love with ---- ---- ----.

The third Yi son is an artist and a womanizer. He is close to his mother, and withdrawn from the rest of his family members, who he just sees as annoying. He is fond if his sister and dotes on her, but otherwise he avoids his family as much as possible. He’s been in a few scandals at nightclubs, but as of yet he hasn’t done anything that’s become international news.

The youngest Yi son is in his final year in high school and the perfect prince. He adores his eldest brother and father, but often feels that they don’t give him the proper time of day. He’s obsessed with maintaining the idea of a perfect prince and suffers from OCD, which has resulted in him being a bit hard to talk to. He’s critical of the second and third prince, claiming that they do not take being members of Korea’s royal family serious enough. He is the student body president at the Royal Academy.

The youngest child and only princess is Korea’s darling. She has fanboys and her brother’s turn into puddles of mush when dealing with her. Which happens rarely. She’s often busy with tutors or being seen volunteering, so the princess doesn’t spend as much time with her siblings as she would like. She is a fashion icon of Korea, and is closest with the youngest prince, since the two attend school together. She secretly is a fangirl for several idol groups and has been caught several times trying to sneak out to concerts.