It would be an understatement to say that we were dreading episode 13 of King The Land. We were so sure of the breakup that was going to happen, and we simply did not like the idea of Gu Won and Sa Rang being at loggerheads with each other. Thankfully, King The Land did not stray too far from its feel-good reputation. This is the reason that we are not worried about the hint of an upcoming problem. We know it will all work out for a wonderful ending. In the meantime, this is the recap of episode 13 of King The Land.
Spoilers Alert
Do Sa Rang And Gu Won Break Up?
Sa Rang dropping the plate while serving the guests is nothing short of a cardinal sin, considering that her job at that point was that of a glorified server. Sa Rang is right to feel that, and she even brings it up later with Gu Won. Despite the mushy nature of this drama, it has done a good job of representing systemic classism in the hospitality industry, though it has maintained a light hand with it. But coming back to the story, Sa Rang has really won the hearts of her team with her patience and spirit of teamwork (why is real life not like this?), and they stand up for her when her supervisor tells her off for the mistake. Sa Rang is told to wait on the second floor in the meantime, and that is where she runs into Ji Hu, who plays a prank on her by scaring her with a ghostly mask. But since Sa Rang doesn’t know who he is, she has no problem tickling an apology out of him. However, when she has to escort him downstairs after finding out his identity, she is surprised at his good manners, which he had clearly not shown her.
Back to Gu Won: he makes it clear to everyone at the table that he is in love with someone else. While we expected this, Yu Ri’s attitude was a bit of a surprise for us. From our understanding, she is barely out of her teens, having celebrated her birthday just a few months ago when she claimed that she was finally an adult. Why is she so jaded to not want love in her marriage? We get the teenage dream that the aloof man must be the hidden romantic, but why does she insist that she doesn’t care for love?
It is surprising when people who come from places of privilege do that, but again, we cannot speak for anybody else’s feelings. When Gu Won meets her later, he tells her to expect love in her life and that he will not promise this to her. Though the elders are still adamant about the marriage, and it hasn’t officially been called off, we know that it won’t happen because, whether or not things work out between Sa Rang and Gu Won, he has experienced what real love is like and won’t compromise for anything less. On that note, Gu Won seems to have had one too many talks with police inspectors about the troubles of his love life. In one of the previous episodes, it was a traffic inspector, and in this one, it was two officers who thought that he was a stalker. It is weird to see Gu Won play Cupid.
When Gu Won finally meets Sa Rang the next day, the first question he asks her is whether she wants to break up. When Sa Rang replies in the negative, the entire fandom breathes a sigh of relief, along with Gu Won. We love a couple who communicate and act rationally, and they have a beautiful date once again as the chef makes a heart out of an egg white, and these two-act cheesy around it.
Now that all is well in paradise, maybe we should take a look up at the skies where Pyeong Hwa has a tiff with Mi Na when the latter tries to tell her to increase sales at the cost of the customers’ resting time. Pyeong Hwa clearly refuses, and the next episode will tell us the result of that. On that note, at least Da Eul got some justice when she caught her husband bailing on their wedding anniversary to play indoor golf with his friends. He finally confesses to her that he lost his job a year ago and has been pretending to go to work this whole time. In fact, he has probably wasted his severance pay on goofing around town. Da Eul has had enough, and we would like to see how she deals with him and her annoying in-laws going forward.
On the other hand, it is also time for the Gu siblings to submit their proposals for the hotel. While Hwa Ran’s strategy is to cut costs by letting go of employees and hiring others on a contract basis, Gu Won suggests overseas expansion, which is possible because of the brand image they have established with the help of their 100-year anniversary. The Chairman likes this idea more, and he makes Gu Won the president of the hotel, asking him to take the matter forward in any manner that he sees fit.
Meanwhile, Ji Hu asks Sa Rang to be his playmate for the time he is in Korea, and the Chairman makes a personal request for her to do this. Sa Rang has fun with Ji Hu, and they both even go on a picnic with Won. It is a precious trio that has come out of this whole thing, and it is really endearing.
Does Gu Won Find Out About His Mother?
Since Sa Rang told Gu Won to look for his mother so that he doesn’t end up with any regrets, he has taken the time to do that, and he finally pulls himself together to take the step. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think that the experience with Ji Hu was part of the reason for his decision. He meets Ms. Kim Ok Ja, who tells him the truth about his mother and why she left him when she did. She also seems to know where she is right now, but Gu Won only wants to know the reason behind her leaving. He doesn’t want to look for her.
When he meets Sa Rang later that day, he tells her that if she had loved him, she would have fought the circumstances for his sake instead of abandoning him. But Sa Rang has a kinder take on it, and she believes that Won’s mother may not have had a choice. Either way, at the end of episode 13 of King The Land, the lovebirds are happy in their own bubble, unaware that someone is photographing them in their private moments.
Final Thoughts
There is no doubt that this is Gu Hwa Ran’s doing. She already suspected that there must be something between Sa Rang and Gu Won, and since her greatest ambition is her vindictiveness that Gu Won shouldn’t get anything, she would go to any length to accomplish that. It is easy to feel bad for her, seeing that she is losing professionally as well as personally, but we can’t help thinking that she has brought this upon herself by focusing on the wrong things. But this series is not about her. It is about Won and Sa Rang and how they stand for each other throughout, which we will get a further glimpse of in the coming episodes.
