Ahn Bo-hyun and Soo Hyun's Goryeo Romance The Sacred Jewel Sets Its December 5 Date

JTBC has released new stills of Ahn Bo-hyun and Soo Hyun in Goryeo-era silk sleepwear, standing close enough to suggest a kiss is a second away. The images come from The Sacred Jewel, a weekend drama that premieres December 5 at 10:40 p.m. and pairs a war story with a romance the producers describe as a "fling" that is starting to change.

The series is set in 1258, when Goryeo is losing a war against Mongol forces that has dragged on for more than 30 years. Its plot follows an escort unit that goes into the battlefield to find Gwaneum Bojoo, a sacred relic regarded as the kingdom's protector, and an imperial princess who tries to save them. The script is by Jung Hyun-min and the director is Jung Dae-yoon.

Ahn Bo-hyun plays Baek Gyeol, a young commander who came up through the royal guard, the Gyeonryong unit, and who leads the escort team in search of the relic. Soo Hyun plays Wang Hee, the youngest daughter of the emperor and the lady of Gyeonghwa Palace. She was widowed early, lives alone in the palace and has kept her guard up with everyone. Meeting Baek Gyeol is what stirs something new in her.

The stills show the two facing each other in traditional silk nightwear, in a mood that is tense and secretive at once. Setting a romance in sleepwear, in private, signals how far past formal court distance these characters have already moved.

The production team framed the pairing in terms of class and fate. "Baek Gyeol and Wang Hee are characters who cross the barrier of status and are powerfully drawn to each other even within the fate of their era," they said. "Their relationship may look like a light fling, but it gradually begins to change." They asked viewers to look forward to the "hot yet precarious story" Ahn Bo-hyun and Soo Hyun will create.

A romance between a commoner-born officer and a royal is a familiar historical-drama setup, so the open question is how much room the war plot leaves it. With the premiere weeks away, the stills are the first real look at how the series intends to balance the two.