Confidence Queen Episode 1 recap: Yi-rang and her team con a fraudulent shaman

Prime Video’s first original K-drama, Confidence Queen, premiered on September 6, 2025. It follows the story of Park Min-young’s Yi-rang, a con artist with an IQ of 165 and the leader of Team Confidence Man.

In Episode 1 of the Cime Comedy K-drama, Yi-rang and her team, which includes Gu-ho and James, con a scamming shaman. The shaman, Baek Hwa, targets poor people to earn money and later uses it for gambling.

The team sets up a casino to lure the shaman, where Yi-rang poses as the owner named Hwa-ran. After Baek Hwa, their next target was Sand Foundation’s Jeon Tae-su, who had allegedly injured their team member James.

Here’s what happened in Confidence Queen Episode 1.

Disclaimer: The article contains spoilers. Reader discretion is advised.

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Confidence Queen Episode 1 recap: Baek Hwa comes to Hwa-ran’s casino

At the beginning of Episode 1 of Confidence Queen, we see Baek Hwa terrifying a mother who wants to make sure her daughter’s future does not have any difficult hurdles. She asks for a huge amount of money from them, which the concerned mother pays.

Gu-ho acts as her right-hand man and trusted ally with whom she shares her plans of only targeting the poor, as they are the easiest prey. They both go to Hwa-ran’s casino and decide to play the gambling game of Juryeonggu.

Baek Hwa had already made a deal with the game’s dealer, James, who was also disguised as someone else. With his help, Baek Hwa cheats and wins a lot of money, until Hwa-ran/Yi-rang asks her to stop. After being teased by Gu-ho, Hwa-ran decides to gamble all her money against Baek Hwa's, and becomes the dealer of the last game.

However, James still helps Baek Hwa, and she wins all the money. This does not sit well with Hwa-ran as she unsheathes her sword to threaten Baek Hwa to get her money back.

Just then, James, disguised as a police officer, raids the casino. Later, in the ensuing chaos, Hwa-ran injures Gu-ho with her sword, and James shoots her, while Baek Hwa escapes with her bag. At the end of the episode, it is shown that Yi-rang gives back the money Baek Hwa had demanded from the concerned poor mother.

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Confidence Queen Episode 1 recap: Gu-ho leaves the team

Thinking that she has escaped the police with billions of Won in cash, Baek Hwa at last opens the bag and realises it does not have any money and that she had been conned by Gu-ho. It is then revealed that Yi-rang and Gu-ho were unharmed, and it was all scripted to con the swindler who preys on poor people.

However, after the mission is completed, Gu-ho leaves the team in the premiere episode of Confidence Queen. Even after Yi-rang and James’s pleas, Gu-ho decides not to risk his life anymore. Taking just a small amount of his share of the con money, he leaves Team Confidence Man.

A month later, we see Gu-ho enjoying his simple life in the countryside. However, his plan of living a simple life changes when Yi-rang parachutes down to the beach where Gu-ho plays with some kids.

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Confidence Queen Episode 1 recap: Yi-rang and Gu-ho target Jeon Tae-soo

After parachuting to the beach, Yi-rang admits to Gu-ho that she thought he might be living in despair. She thought she would rescue him from his miserable life, and is surprised to see Gu-ho living a peaceful life. While they enjoy their dinner, Gu-ho gets a call, and the duo rushes to the hospital.

After seeing James severely injured, Yi-rang tells Gu-ho about the former's solo mission to take down Jeon Tae-soo. She tells him that Tae-soo might have caught on to James’s lies and had him beaten up by his men.

Gu-ho joins the team again to take revenge on Jeon Tae-soo. They board a flight with new disguises. Gu-ho poses as the wealthy heir of Rising Airlines, while Yi-rang disguises herself as an airhostess. Gu-ho appears as the arrogant young brat who abuses and scolds Yi-rang for the smallest mistakes.

They exchange their suitcase full of money with Tae-soo, which gets his attention on them. He then approaches Yi-rang, gives back their suitcase, and finds out more about Gu-ho’s rich background.

They then go to the nightclub where Gu-ho was in. After seeing a viral video of the tattooed arm of the illegitimate son of Rising Airline’s owner, Tae-soo pulls out his gun on Gu-ho and demands to know about his identity.

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Also Read: Confidence Queen: Release date news, cast details, streaming details and more about the upcoming K-drama with Marry My Husband's Park Min-young