Rampant (2018) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Prince Lee Young committed suicide because his plan to acquire European arquebuses to resist Qing influence was discovered and framed as treason by War Minister Kim Ja-joon. After the king refused to act against the Qing despite the new firearms being available, Lee Young saw no way to save his subordinates from the king's punishment. He sacrificed himself as an act of penance hoping to spare those involved in his scheme.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Lee Young had secretly plotted to purchase European firearms to change the balance of power against the Qing.

• prince lee young
• suicide
• arquebuses
• treason
• king

The zombie outbreak began when Joseon forces destroyed the European ship to seize the arquebuses. During the confrontation, a soldier was bitten by a zombie crewman who had been imprisoned and was turning into a demon. The infected soldier returned to his village, spreading the contagion that quickly rippled across the realm.

Foreshadowing: War Minister Kim Ja-joon discovered the European crewman locked in a cell, slowly turning into a demon.

• zombie outbreak
• infection
• european ship
• village
• bite

The ministers deliberately infected a concubine with the zombie virus, then had her pass it to the king. This was part of their plot to create chaos in the court and undermine both the Qing delegation and their political opponents, ultimately triggering the full-blown zombie uprising inside the palace.

Foreshadowing: A surviving assassin who was infected was captured by Kim Ja-joon.

• king
• concubine
• infection
• ministers
• zombie virus

During the banquet when the king turned into a fully-fledged zombie, Kim Ja-joon killed the monarch and unleashed the zombies to eliminate his political opposition and the Qing delegation. After being bitten by a zombie, he severed his own hand to slow the infection spread, then in a frenzy of paranoia and ambition, he proclaimed himself king.

Foreshadowing: Kim Ja-joon had been manipulating court politics and framing the Crown Prince's plans as rebellion.

• kim ja-joon
• king
• power grab
• infection
• palace chaos

Lee Chung declined the throne because he had grown up abroad in Qing China and had no desire to seize power in Joseon. He originally planned to return to China after delivering his brother Lee Young's wife and unborn child, preferring to rebuild his life there rather than claim a throne that wasn't his by birth.

Foreshadowing: Lee Chung returned from Qing China with Hak-Su, having lived abroad most of his life.

• lee chung
• throne
• refuse
• crown prince
• china

Before his death, Prince Lee Young arranged for his wife Gyeong-bin and their unborn child to be taken to China to be raised by Lee Chung's family for their safety. During the chaos of the zombie outbreak, Gyeong-bin remained in Joseon and later rallied defenders alongside Lee Chung, eventually choosing to stay as the new queen rather than flee to China.

Foreshadowing: Lee Young's last wish was for his family to be protected in China away from the political turmoil.

• gyeong-bin
• child
• lee young
• wife
• safety

The survivors set a trap to draw all zombies into the palace, planning a controlled explosion. When Kim Ja-joon killed Hak-Su and disrupted the explosion timing, Lee Chung and his forces fought through the horde. Deok-hee fired a flaming arrow into the palace, and Lee Chung used it to ignite oil spread across the floors, turning the entire palace into an inferno that consumed the undead.

Foreshadowing: Gyeong-bin and Lee Chung rallied defenders and planned to trap the zombies inside the palace.

• zombies
• defeat
• fire
• palace
• explosion
• oil

After witnessing the resilience and courage of the people fighting alongside him against the undead horde, Lee Chung recognized that the power of the people gave Joseon a future worth fighting for. Rather than flee to safety in China, he chose to stay and lead his people as the new king, guiding them to reclaim their city and eliminate the remaining zombies at the port where the nightmare began.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the battle, Lee Chung witnessed the bravery of the Jemulpo partisans and commoners fighting for survival.

• lee chung
• stay
• lead
• king
• people
• future

Joseon forces successfully seized the European arquebuses after destroying the European ship. However, the victory was hollow because the soldier who retrieved the weapons was bitten by the zombie crewman, inadvertently starting the infection that would consume the kingdom.

Foreshadowing: Prince Lee Young had hatched a daring plan to purchase European arquebuses to resist Qing influence.

• arquebuses
• european ship
• weapons
• seized
• infection

The ministers manipulated the paranoid king into denying the zombie outbreak, calling it a mere civil rebellion instead. This allowed them to prevent Lee Chung from getting an army to fight the undead, arrest the Jemulpo partisans, and maintain control over the chaos for their own political gain.

Foreshadowing: Kim Ja-joon and other ministers were plotting a coup and wanted to keep the king isolated and manipulable.

• ministers
• rebellion
• lie
• army
• manipulation

Kim Ja-joon used the outbreak strategically: he allowed infected individuals to reach the king, unleashed zombies during the Qing banquet to eliminate opposition, and then seized power when the chaos peaked. Even after being bitten, he cut off his own hand to delay his transformation and proclaimed himself king while the realm was in turmoil.

Foreshadowing: Kim had been secretly meeting with Europeans and discovered the demonic transformation before anyone else.

• kim ja-joon
• control
• zombie outbreak
• power
• strategy

Deok-hee, an archer from Jemulpo, became a pivotal ally for Lee Chung during the zombie attack on the town. She fought bravely alongside the partisans against both the assassins sent by the ministers and the zombie villagers. After Lee Chung and his forces freed her people, she continued to support him throughout the battle for the palace.

Foreshadowing: Deok-hee was part of the local partisans who recruited Lee Chung upon his arrival at Jemulpo.

• deok-hee
• ally
• archer
• jemulpo
• partisans