Is Ongseong Hospital From Gyeongseong Creature a Real Place?

Gyeongseong Creature is Netflix’s latest flagship K-drama. Unlike Squid Game, it’s a historical fantasy set during World War II. That real-world backdrop raises some questions, including how much reality is involved and whether the location of Onseong Hospital in Gyeongseong Creature is a real place.

 Is Bonheong District a Real Place?

The series centers around the mystery of a missing person and the quest of unlikely allies of businessman Jang Tae-Sang (Park Seo-Joon) and detective Yoon Chae-Ok (Han So-Hee) to find them. That mission soon begins in Bonjeong District and soon brings the duo to Ongseong Hospital, but fans hoping to make a pilgrimage to the iconic locations at some point will be sorely disappointed. Ongseong Hospital and Bonjeong District do not exist in the real world.

Related: Gyeongseong Creature Gets Spooky in First Full Trailer

There is a locality called Bonjeong-ri in Gyeonggi-Do, but given its distance from Seoul, it’s extremely unlikely to be the same location as the one depicted in Gyeongseong Creature.

Where Is Gyeongseong Creature Set?

The show takes its name from its setting, and while that may make the answer seem straightforward — Gyeongseong — it’s not quite that cut-and-dry. For the sake of simplicity, let’s make clear that Gyeongseong Creature is set in the South Korean capital city of Seoul. The apparent discrepancy comes from the historical record.

While Seoul has been the country’s capital for hundreds of years, that name is only a relatively recent occurrence. Throughout the Joseon Dynasty, it was known as Hanseong or Hanyang, having been renamed to Seoul at the end of that era and the founding of the Korean Empire in the late 19th century. However, the Empire didn’t last long, with Korea annexed by Japan in 1910, beginning a period of colonization. It was during that period that Seoul was renamed to Gyeongseong. 

It remained as such until Japan’s defeat in World War II in 1945, after which the country regained its independence. Alongside that, Gyeongseong was officially renamed Seoul. Gyeongseong Creature takes place in 1945, meaning it uses the previous name of the city. It’s impossible to be more precise, as the locations at the center of the series are fictional.