[1] Sugungga is based on the story of the Dragon King of the Southern Sea, a terrapin, and a wily rabbit.
This story is believed to have stemmed from a tale "Gutojiseol" (龜兎之說, also pronounced "Gwitojiseol") from the section on Kim Yu-sin from the Silla dynasty in Samguk sagi,[2][3] and possibly from The Monkey and the Crocodile from the Jataka tales, an Indian literature,[4] The theme of this story is the relationship of subject to king.
The play was popularized by the South Korean band Leenalchi who uploaded their live action performance of the story on YouTube.
[5] The story begins in a fictional kingdom in the Southern Sea ruled by a Dragon King who suffers from an illness that can only be cured by consuming the liver of a rabbit.
In the story, the dragon King learns the hard way that being naive is a negative trait by missing an opportunity to live.