W・KING: guide to the 14 free episodes (1 to 14)
W・KING has 42 episodes on 1 Minute Drama; episodes 1 to 14 are free and paid access starts at 15. Zhun, a Hun King who dies at the end of a war with the Han emperor Liu Che, wakes up reborn years earlier as Liu Che's Hun hostage, the one the court calls the emperor's "pet dog." He remembers their six years together as a strategy on Liu Che's part, and he starts making deals instead of trusting him. In the free arc, Liu Che takes a poisoned whip for him, Zhun's blood cures the emperor, Liu Che pulls the Xianglong Nail that sealed Zhun's strength, and Zhun kills Lord Longlu. Their night together comes after Chen Ahjiao's love curse, and Liu Che then admits he ordered his own cousins killed. Episode 14 ends with Empress Dowager Dou and the Princess Royal ready to bring Liu Che down. Start with episode 1.
W・KING is a Han-dynasty drama about Liu Che, the young emperor the court treats as a puppet, and Modu Zhun, the Hun prince sent to him as a hostage. The story opens with Zhun's death at the end of a war, then sends him back to the years when he was still kept at court as the emperor's "pet." He remembers the six years they spent together as a strategy on Liu Che's part, and this time he bargains instead of trusting. The series has 42 episodes. Episodes 1 to 14 are free, no account needed; from 15 onward access is paid.
The free block runs about 27 and a half minutes, in episodes of about 1 minute 23 seconds to 3 minutes 22 seconds. In that time you get a Sanhun Nail and a rebirth, a whip that drives people mad, a rose-petal bath, a nail no one should be able to pull out, Lord Longlu's last bet, ninety-nine kinds of charming insects, a night behind red curtains, the saber of the first Hun King, a spy caught in the shower, a flute played at exactly the right moment and a red box of treasures from the emperor.
Part 1: Which are the 14 free episodes?
On 1 Minute Drama, W・KING unlocks episodes 1 to 14 for free. That block covers Zhun's death and rebirth, Chen Lin's poisoned whip and the bath that cures it, the six-years-earlier flashback of the Xianglong Nail and Liu Che pulling it, Chen Lin's death, Chen Ahjiao's love curse and her arrest, the night that follows, Jinyang's capture and rescue, Chen Xu's death, Liu Che's confession to the Princess Royal, and Huo Qubing's assassination attempt that turns into a delivery. Start at episode 1. Episodes run from about 1 minute 23 seconds (episode 13) to about 3 minutes 22 seconds (episode 4).
Episode 15 is where paid access begins. This guide stops at 14 and does not describe anything after it.
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total episodes | 42 |
| Free episodes | 1 to 14 |
| Paid access | From episode 15 |
| Subtitles | English, burned into the picture |
| Runtime of the 14 free | About 27 minutes 33 seconds |
| Protagonists | Liu Che, the young Han emperor his grandmother and aunt treat as a puppet, and Modu Zhun, the Hun prince held at court as his hostage, reborn with memories of his own death |
| Free-arc hook | Empress Dowager Dou names three charges that could bring Liu Che down, and the Princess Royal tells her, "Mother, we won." Huo Qubing has just handed Zhun the emperor's treasures instead of killing him |
Part 2: What happens in episodes 1 to 14
Episodes 1 to 4 set the terms. Zhun dies after accusing Liu Che of breaking his promise of "eternal peace between Han and Huns," and wakes up in a palace bedroom, alive, with a Sanhun Nail in his memory and a court that calls him the emperor's dog. When Chen Lin, the Princess Royal's son, whips him, the emperor steps in front of the whip and is told he is only a puppet. The whip is poisoned, and Zhun's Hun King blood is what cures him. In the bath Zhun tells himself that their "forbidden love for 6 years was totally strategic" and asks the drugged emperor why he sent Huo Qubing against his clan. Liu Che says he will never lie to him. Then Liu Che pulls the Xianglong Nail that the Princess Royal had driven into Zhun six years earlier, and Zhun kills Chen Lin, Lord Longlu. Liu Che's line on it is "For my great Han, some people have to die." Zhun's version is that they are now even.
Episodes 5 to 8 are the curse. The Princess Royal gives Chen Ahjiao a love curse made from insects from Nanjiang and tells Liu Che that General Huo will bring back the Hun's head. Zhun warns that a pregnancy would make Liu Che a permanent puppet of Empress Dowager Dou, and says he'll kill him if he falls for it. Ahjiao is arrested for witchcraft, still calling herself his empress. Zhun's blood can't cure this one. The two men end up in bed, and a flashback shows the day the boy emperor was handed a hostage "pet" and told him his name meant a beautiful flower. Afterward Zhun calls it a one-night stand and asks whether he's being kept or killed.
Episodes 9 to 14 turn it into politics. Liu Che gives Zhun the Hun King Saber and offers "future cooperation." Zhun remembers that his secret agent died in his past life and goes to save him. That agent is Jinyang, who has been inside Chen Xu's household for more than ten years and is now facing 3,600 cuts. Chen Xu (Lord Tangyi) turns up dead, and Liu Che, playing the flute, happens to get the guards out of the way. When the Princess Royal comes about her two dead sons, Liu Che says he ordered both killings and reads out what they did. Her answer is to go to Empress Dowager Dou, and by episode 14 they have their charges. Huo Qubing, sent to kill Zhun, opens a red box from the emperor instead.
Part 3: Characters in the 14 free episodes
Modu Zhun. The Hun prince, youngest son of the Hun Chief, sent to the Han court as a hostage and called the emperor's "pet dog." In his past life he died as Hun King. Reborn, his blood still "can cure all poisons." He saves Liu Che twice, kills Chen Lin, and keeps insisting it's all a deal ("I'm no longer your pet now"). He's also the one who goes back for Jinyang.
Liu Che. The young emperor, whom Chen Lin openly calls a puppet chosen by "my grandma and my mother." In Zhun's memory, Liu Che is the man who broke the peace and sent Huo Qubing against the Huns. In the free episodes he takes a whip for Zhun, pulls the Xianglong Nail, has his two cousins killed, and calls it upholding the law. When he says "I will never lie to you," the person he says it to is a man who has already decided not to believe him.
Princess Royal. Liu Che's aunt (he calls her "Aunt"), mother of Chen Lin, Chen Xu and Chen Ahjiao, and one of the two women a eunuch says "hold all the power of Han." She had the Xianglong Nail put into Zhun, supplies the love curse, and sends Huo Qubing to kill him.
Empress Dowager Dou. The Princess Royal's mother and Chen Lin's grandmother. She sends General Huo after the Hun and, in episode 14, names the charges that could bring Liu Che down.
Chen Lin (Lord Longlu). The Princess Royal's son. He whips Zhun with a poisoned whip, holds banquets where guests hail him as emperor, and dies in episode 4. Liu Che later accuses him of embezzling twenty million taels of silver.
Chen Xu (Lord Tangyi). Another of the Princess Royal's sons. He poisons Jinyang's wine, threatens him with Lingchi, and is found dead in episode 11. Liu Che later says Chen Xu forced girls from good families into prostitution.
Chen Ahjiao. The Princess Royal's daughter, addressed as Lady of Xiaowu County. She calls Liu Che "Brother Che," says she has loved him since childhood, calls herself his empress, and is arrested for using a curse on him.
Jinyang. Chen Xu's trusted man "for over a decade" and secretly a Hun spy. His father, a Great Wizard of the Huns, prophesied that Zhun would unify the Hun Empire.
Huo Qubing. The Han general ("General Huo"). In Zhun's memory he is the one who attacked his clan. In episode 14 he comes to assassinate Zhun on the Princess Royal's orders, says so out loud, and ends up delivering the emperor's treasures.
Part 4: Episode-by-episode guide to the 14 free
One note per episode, in order, from free playback only. Quotes are from the English subtitles burned into the episodes. When a scene doesn't make clear who says a line, the note doesn't name a speaker. Nothing after episode 14 is described.
Episode 1
It opens at the end of a war. Zhun, bloodied on a battlefield, tells Liu Che that he "promised me eternal peace between Han and Huns" and broke it. There is a Sanhun Nail in Zhun's body, put there, he says, so he can't have a next life or be reincarnated. He bargains anyway: the Huns "still have millions of civilians," and he'll use one of the emperor's treasures to save them. Asked what the treasure is, the answer is "The Hun King is dead," and the episode lingers on Liu Che, in armor, holding him and repeating his name. Then Zhun wakes up in a palace bedroom: "I'm born again? But there was a Sanhun Nail in my body." The last scene shows how he's seen at court now. Chen Lin, in yellow, spots him and calls him "Liu Che's pet dog," and says they'll "send it back for His Majesty."
Episode 2
Chen Lin delivers him like a stray ("Your little emperor. Your dog is lost. I brought it back for you"). Zhun answers in Han: "I will be the next Hun King," and an insult from a Han official "will be a reason for war." Chen Lin is amused that "the Hun dog can even speak human language" and raises a whip. The emperor steps in front of it. Chen Lin reminds him who put him on the throne ("My grandma and my mother chose you as the puppet emperor"), and a eunuch tells the emperor that Empress Dowager Dou and the Princess Royal "hold all the power of Han" and that he can't offend the Princess Royal's son "only for a slave." The whip turns out to be poisoned. Chen Lin, asked for the antidote, says it isn't fatal and "only makes a person nuts after six hours."
Episode 3
Chen Lin thinks a mad puppet emperor would be even more convenient. The poison is a Hun poison that "will destroy mental ability," and Zhun's blood is the cure: "The body of the Hun king is given by the Hun God. It can cure all poisons." In a medicinal bath full of rose petals, Zhun's inner voice reveals what he remembers from his past life: "Forbidden love for 6 years was totally strategic. My feelings was only your means for domination." Thinking Liu Che won't remember any of it, he asks why Liu Che tricked him and "ordered Huo Qubing attack my clan and kill my Huns." Liu Che: "I will never lie to you." Zhun tells him to soak for two hours and makes it clear this isn't kindness: "You're still useful for me." Meanwhile, at Chen Lin's banquet, Chen Lin explains that the family chose "the person with the best temper" as emperor, declares "I am the emperor," and his guests answer "Long live the Emperor." The episode ends when the little emperor walks in.
Episode 4
The longest of the free episodes, at about 3 minutes 22 seconds. A flashback card (six years earlier) shows how Zhun was tamed. He beat ten of Chen Lin's guards half to death, and the Princess Royal, refusing to kill "a Hun prince," had a Xianglong Nail driven in to seal his inner strength, a nail that "even Jade Emperor can not pull out." In the present, Liu Che pulls it: "If heaven recognizes me as the emperor of Han, my blood is the blood of the true dragon." Then he dares Chen Lin to bet on "who will be on the right side of the Heaven." Chen Lin falls back on his titles ("I am Lord Longlu. My grandmother is the Empress Dowager"). Zhun replies that he's a Hun Wolf who only knows "an eye for an eye." A eunuch begs the emperor to stop the hostage before he kills Lord Longlu. Liu Che: "For my great Han, some people have to die." Afterward Zhun keeps score. The nail and the detox and Chen Lin's death "leveled the playing field," and "I'm no longer your pet now." Liu Che: "You mean it's a deal between you and me?"
Episode 5
The Princess Royal ("The little emperor has grown up and dared to defy me") sets two traps. She gives her daughter, Chen Ahjiao, "ninety-nine kinds of charming insects" from Nanjiang, with incense that will make Liu Che sleep with her and never leave. And she tells Liu Che to hand over the Hun, because her mother has sent General Huo to find him and he'll come back "with the head of that Hun dog." Liu Che says he doesn't know where Zhun is. Zhun warns him the drug is real and lays out the stakes: if Ahjiao gets pregnant, "you will become a puppet of Empress Dowager Dou." He insists he doesn't care who Liu Che sleeps with, only about "the fate of Han," and adds, "If you fall for their trick, I will kill you." The episode ends with Ahjiao alone with Liu Che: "Brother Che. I've loved you since I was a kid... Hold me."
Episode 6
Liu Che pushes her off ("Get away"), but Ahjiao is sure of the curse: "You're gonna fall in love with me. You're going to make me pregnant with your baby." Zhun walks in ("Let go His Majesty"). Ahjiao, addressed as Lady of Xiaowu County, is accused of poisoning the emperor with witchcraft, "a crime with the consequences of killing nine generations," with eyewitnesses and evidence. She's taken into custody still shouting "I'm your empress" and "Our son." The curse is a legendary venomous insect, and Zhun, who fixed the last poison with his blood, admits this time "my blood may not work."
Episode 7
With the antidote ruled out, one of them puts it bluntly: "Since it's your fault, then you can solve it with yourself." Somebody also says "This is not you," which the other turns around with "That's what I am." There are apologies, a "You'd better leave," and an "I'm fine. Go." Then the episode cuts to a flashback of the first meeting. A boy emperor is told, "I am sending you a pet," meaning the youngest son of the Hun Chief, sent as a hostage. Young Liu Che offers to teach him the Han language and tells him that Zhun "refers to a very beautiful flower."
Episode 8
The night happens, behind red curtains and candles. Afterward someone says "Sorry," and the reply is that he owes "another favor" and the price will be named later. There's also a line about hatred: "You must hate me, this evens things out." In a bamboo forest Liu Che calls him by his full name, Modu Zhun, and Zhun brushes it off: "Just one night stand, right? Your Majesty, are you angry for such a trivial thing? Then are you keeping me or killing me now?"
Episode 9
Liu Che gives Zhun the saber of the first Hun King and frames it as a partnership ("Now that we are backscratching, why not stay to talk about future cooperation?"). Zhun's inner voice is on something else: "In my past life, my faithful secret agent was brutally murdered." He leaves. The episode then shows the agent. Jinyang has served Chen Xu "for over a decade," and advises him the Huns "are few. No need to fear them." Chen Xu toasts him with wine, then reveals that he has known about Hun spies "from childhood" and caught this one because he "watched you in the shower." Jinyang: "It's still summer. Why do I feel cold?"
Episode 10
Jinyang, caged and bloodied, keeps saying "The Hun King will unify the grasslands." Chen Xu prefers his screams to music and describes Lingchi: 3,600 cuts before death, to find out "on which cut" he'll talk. Then someone shows up, and the name in the subtitles is Modu Zhun. Elsewhere Liu Che plays the flute while a eunuch suggests handing Zhun to the Princess Royal to be torn to pieces, since the emperor has put up with her "for over a decade." Liu Che: "Keep a low profile is not hiding for an entire life... And now a sharp blade is out of the sheath."
Episode 11
Lord Tangyi is dead and the guards are hunting the killer. Zhun is carrying Jinyang out and asks why he gave up the grassland and his home. Jinyang's father, a Great Wizard of the Huns, read in the stars at Zhun's birth that he would unify the Hun Empire. "You pay your life just because of a prophecy?" Zhun won't leave him. When guards corner them, Liu Che happens to be there, playing the flute because he's "in an aesthetic mood," and the guards back off. Then he asks Zhun how far he can get with a man on his back. Zhun asks what he'll have to trade this time. Since there's no good medicine, the treatment is Hun King blood again, and Zhun reminds Liu Che of the new terms: "I'm not your dog anymore. You can't give me orders."
Episode 12
After a mention of fire poison, the episode goes back to six years earlier. Liu Che notices Zhun's burned hand, and Zhun says he did it boiling herbs "for Father King" and that his father "is gonna die" and his mother died early: "I'll soon be an orphan." In the present a eunuch runs in to warn that "a disaster is imminent." The Princess Royal arrives: "Modu Zhun killed my two sons. You have kept a good dog. How could he have done it without your permission?" Liu Che: "I don't know what you are talking about, aunt." She: "You are quite mature now."
Episode 13
She orders him to kneel for failing to protect his cousins. His answer: "It's me who ordered to kill them." He unrolls the charges: Chen Lin embezzled "twenty million taels of silver," and Chen Xu forced girls from good families into prostitution, with "countless casualties." He calls himself "the Son of Heaven of the Great Han Dynasty" whose sword "slays the villain and upholds the law," and adds, "Besides, they are just my cousins." The Princess Royal goes to her mother, Empress Dowager Dou. She has lost two sons and won't lose her daughter Ahjiao too. They agree that Liu Che has been bewitched by the Hun prince, and the Empress Dowager asks the episode's last question: "Who dealt with it for him?"
Episode 14
Huo Qubing comes for Zhun in daylight, announcing it: "I am ordered by Princess Royal to assassinate Prince of Hun. I, Huo Qubing, will never do things secretly." Instead of fighting, he opens a red box and reads out a Donghai Jiaolong gall, a thousand-year-old Changbai Mountain root, a premium Kunlun snow lotus and "a miraculous herb that can bring the dead back to life," with a note: "Your people get hurt. It's for you to treat them." One of the Huns can't believe it ("King, treasure is falling from the sky"). Huo grumbles that "the Emperor's request is getting weirder" and refuses to fight a wounded man. The free block ends with Empress Dowager Dou listing three charges, any one of which could bring Liu Che down: "It's homosexual. He is indulging in debauchery," and he colludes with the enemy. The Princess Royal: "Mother, we won."
Where to watch the 14 free episodes
Watch W・KING on 1 Minute Drama, on the series page, in order, in your browser. Episodes 1 to 14 are free with no account required. Start with episode 1. From episode 15 access is paid. The dialogue in the free episodes isn't in English; the English subtitles are burned into the picture.
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Frequently asked questions
- How many free episodes does W・KING have?
- 14. Episodes 1 to 14 are free; paid access starts at episode 15. The full series has 42 episodes.
- W・KING 1 to 14: what is it about?
- Modu Zhun, a Hun King who dies at the end of a war with the Han emperor Liu Che, is reborn years earlier as Liu Che's Hun hostage. He saves the emperor with his blood, has his sealed strength freed, kills Lord Longlu and deals with the emperor as a partner he doesn't trust, while the Princess Royal and Empress Dowager Dou look for a way to bring Liu Che down.
- Who is Zhun?
- Modu Zhun, the youngest son of the Hun Chief, sent to the Han court as a hostage when Liu Che was a boy. In his past life he died as Hun King. His blood "can cure all poisons," which is how he saves Liu Che in episode 3.
- Is W・KING a rebirth story?
- Yes. In episode 1 Zhun dies with a Sanhun Nail in his body, meant to stop him from being reincarnated, and wakes up in the palace asking, "I'm born again?" He carries his memories of the war and of Liu Che into his new life.
- Is W・KING a BL (boys' love) drama?
- The central relationship in the free episodes is between two men, Liu Che and Zhun. Zhun's inner voice speaks of their "forbidden love for 6 years," they spend a night together in episodes 7 and 8, and in episode 14 Empress Dowager Dou uses the relationship as a charge against Liu Che.
- Why does Zhun distrust Liu Che?
- In his past life, as he remembers it, Liu Che broke a promise of peace and "ordered Huo Qubing attack my clan and kill my Huns." In episode 3 he decides their six years together were "totally strategic" on Liu Che's side and that his feelings were "only your means for domination."
- What is the Xianglong Nail?
- A nail the Princess Royal had driven into Zhun six years before the main story, to "seal inner strength," after he beat ten guards half to death. It's said that even the Jade Emperor couldn't pull it out. In episode 4 Liu Che pulls it, saying that if heaven recognizes him as emperor, his blood is "the blood of the true dragon."
- What happens to Chen Lin?
- Chen Lin, Lord Longlu, the Princess Royal's son, dies in episode 4 after Zhun, freed from the nail, says he only knows "an eye for an eye." Liu Che lets it happen: "For my great Han, some people have to die."
- What does Chen Ahjiao do?
- Her mother gives her a love curse made from charming insects from Nanjiang so that Liu Che will sleep with her. In episode 6 she's caught, accused of witchcraft as Lady of Xiaowu County, and taken into custody insisting she is his empress.
- Who is Jinyang?
- A Hun spy who has served Chen Xu for more than ten years. Chen Xu exposes him in episode 9 and threatens him with Lingchi, 3,600 cuts, in episode 10. Zhun carries him out in episode 11. His father, a Great Wizard of the Huns, prophesied that Zhun would unify the Hun Empire.
- Did Liu Che order his cousins killed?
- He says so. In episode 13 he tells the Princess Royal, "It's me who ordered to kill them," and accuses Chen Lin of embezzling twenty million taels of silver and Chen Xu of forcing girls from good families into prostitution.
- How does episode 14 end?
- Huo Qubing, sent by the Princess Royal to kill Zhun, delivers a box of rare medicines from the emperor for his wounded people instead. Then Empress Dowager Dou names three charges that could bring Liu Che down, and the Princess Royal says, "Mother, we won."
- Do you need to pay to watch?
- Episodes 1 to 14 are free, no account needed. From 15 to 42 access is paid.
- How long are the 14 free episodes?
- About 27 minutes 33 seconds in total. The shortest is episode 13 (about 1 minute 23 seconds) and the longest is episode 4 (about 3 minutes 22 seconds).
- Where to watch the 14 free episodes?
- On 1 Minute Drama, on the W・KING series page, in your browser, in order, starting at episode 1.
- Is W・KING in English?
- It has English subtitles burned into the picture. The dialogue in the free episodes isn't in English.
- Who is in the cast?
- The 1 Minute Drama series page does not list the cast. Character names in this guide come from the English subtitles in free episodes 1 to 14.
Where is the full catalog?
The full catalog lists every series in English, with a filter by episode count.