The First Night with the Duke

남주의 첫날밤을 가져버렸다 ‧ Drama ‧ 2025
The First Night with the Duke poster
7.9
Your Rating: 0/10
Ratings: 7.9/10 from 7,732 users
# of Watchers: 21,001
Reviews: 62 users
Ranked #3022
Popularity #1039
Watchers 7,732

University student K is an ordinary young woman, but one day, she finds herself in her favorite romance novel set during historical times. She has now become the minor character Cha Seon Chaek. She is the daughter of a wealthy noble family, and her dream is to have a peaceful and normal life. Cha Seon Chaek, while possessed by K, then spends one night with Yi Beon, the lead male character in the novel. He comes from a royal lineage and is favored by the King. Yi Beon has a cold-blooded personality and is gifted with an attractive appearance and outstanding martial arts skills. He has also experienced a heartbreaking past. Somehow, Yi Beon and Cha Seon Chaek happen to meet and talk. Yi Beon is consoled by her about his heartbreaking past. They spend the night together. Soon, Cha Seon Chaek tries to connect Yi Beon to Cho Eun Ae, who is the lead female character in the novel. According to the novel, Yi Beon and Cho Eun Ae are supposed to fall in love, but due to the appearance of Cha Seon Chaek, Cho Eun Ae's fate has changed. No matter how hard Cha Seon Chaek tries, Yi Beon’s love always finds its way back to her. Other people around them include Jung Su Gyeom and Do Hwa Sun. Jung Su Gyeom is a young officer from a prestigious family. He is Yi Beon’s only friend. Do Hwa Sun is an ambitious woman whose life goal is to marry Yi Beon and become a member of the royal family. (Source: AsianWiki; edited by kisskh) ~~ Adapted from the web novel "The First Night With the Duke" (남주의 첫날밤을 가져버렸다) by Hwang Do Tol (황도톨). Edit Translation

  • English
  • 한국어
  • Arabic
  • Русский
  • Country: South Korea
  • Type: Drama
  • Episodes: 12
  • Aired: Jun 11, 2025 - Jul 17, 2025
  • Aired On: Wednesday, Thursday
  • Original Network: KBS2
  • Duration: 1 hr. 1 min.
  • Score: 7.9 (scored by 7,732 users)
  • Ranked: #3022
  • Popularity: #1039
  • Content Rating: 15+ - Teens 15 or older

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Reviews

Completed
Omini
59 people found this review helpful
Jul 17, 2025
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 6
Overall 5.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Everything was going great… until episode 8.

I swear, episode 8 is like the Bermuda Triangle of Korean dramas — after that, the story either completely falls apart or keeps me hooked.
Guess which one I got?
Yep. The curse of episode 8 is alive and well.
To sum it up in fewer words:Started strong. Then... not so much. I’m actually annoyed by how disappointing this was.
I knew I should've DNF'd, but
1) Only two episodes remained until the finale
and
2) Transmigration is one of my favorite genres.
I have to be honest — I really struggled with how to rate and review this.
The plot isn’t exactly groundbreaking — it's very predictable — but the relationship between the leads is genuinely fun. That’s actually the reason I’m giving it 5 stars. Despite all the flaws in the plot and especially the worldbuilding, the dynamic between Cha Seon Chaek and Yi Beon really worked for me.
The female lead isn’t annoying, just incredibly gullible. She’s just.. like a Disney character wandering into a horror movie. The male lead, on the other hand, seems irredeemable at first — he’s rude, violent, manipulative, and overall just an unpleasant, scowling human being. But if you look past all that (and squint a little), he’s kind of a cute, sad, walking red flag. He's clearly hurting — and emotionally constipated.
It started off well: fresh, funny, and easy to enjoy. Like an anime full of mischievous characters — some charming, some mean, some secretly evil. And then — BAM — things got real. Like, overdramatically real. Suddenly it felt like the whole world turned upside down.I haven’t read the original, so I was truly caught off guard. Wait, wait… What just happened?
It’s as if the writer had a checklist they were determined to complete:
Someone gets sick (Surprise)
Power struggles
Prince rivalry
Mysterious long-lost love from 15 years ago (because, of course)
Tedious family drama
Toxic best friend (of course)
Time travel/magical return to her original world
Mild identity crisis
His Majesty — completely manipulated, as tradition story.
A dramatic solar eclipse (because the CGI team needs something to do).
An unexpected return.
And of course, at least a few assassination attempts.
Did I miss something? Because somewhere between episodes, it turned into a cliché-packed soap opera that lost all its original charm. It became boring, frustrating, and painfully formulaic. Even a sweet ending wasn’t enough to redeem it.

And then it ended. Finally. I was relieved. This series had no right to be this bad.
I watched it. I finished it. I survived it.
Let’s never speak of it again.

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Completed
DIY Madonna
40 people found this review helpful
Jul 20, 2025
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 5.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

WHAT EVEN WAS THIS?

Fun first act, trainwreck second act, saved only by the pretty people.

You know what’s worse than a bad drama? A drama that could have been fun but decided to trip over its own feet halfway through. The First Night with the Duke started off like a cheeky, isekai-flavored romcom with a modern girl stirring up Joseon life (cocktail bombs! bold flirting! brains and sass!). And then… it forgot all that and wandered off into fifteen other genres.

By the end, I honestly didn’t know what I was watching. Romcom? Political sageuk? Magical fantasy? Tragedy with evil kings and sad childhood backstories? Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t cohesive.

Taecyeon did what Taecyeon does best: looked great in hanbok, swung a sword like he meant it, and oozed just enough charm to make you forget the script was falling apart. The female lead? She started strong as modern, clever, unbothered by all the prim-and-proper nonsense. But the second half turned her into a crying, rescue-me prop. Where did my bold heroine go? Did she swap souls with some other boring court lady when I wasn’t looking?

Let’s talk about that plot. The three brothers? Wasted. The second male lead? Might as well have been written out, only to reappear in the last five minutes like, “Surprise! I exist!” Eun-ae’s arc? Nonsensical, she did terrible things and got a happy ending anyway, no redemption needed, apparently. And don’t even get me started on the “OG” heroine slipping into modern life like she’s been shopping at Zara her whole existence. Computers, short skirts, and WiFi? No problem, she’s basically Gen Z now!

And then, twelve kids. TWELVE. KIDS. Look, I know it was meant to be “haha, cute, happy ending,” but all I could think was, “Girl, blink twice if you need help.”

If this show had leaned into being a silly, self-aware fusion sageuk, I would have rolled with it. If it had gone full romcom? Fun. But it wanted to do everything and ended up doing nothing. No theme, no proper character growth, no payoff for the chaos it created. It was like watching someone throw darts at three different boards and hitting none.

Watch it for the leads if you’re curious, or for Taecyeon looking devastatingly good with a sword. But don’t expect sense, consistency, or a satisfying ending. By episode 11, I was hate-watching just to see how much wilder it could get.

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Details

  • Title: The First Night with the Duke
  • Type: Drama
  • Format: Standard Series
  • Country: South Korea
  • Episodes: 12
  • Aired: Jun 11, 2025 - Jul 17, 2025
  • Aired On: Wednesday, Thursday
  • Original Network: KBS2
  • Duration: 1 hr. 1 min.
  • Content Rating: 15+ - Teens 15 or older

Statistics

  • Score: 7.9 (scored by 7,732 users)
  • Ranked: #3022
  • Popularity: #1039
  • Watchers: 21,001

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