Sometimes, we believe that Gu Won has a point when he refuses to smile unnecessarily. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to make that choice if he didn’t have privilege, but it must be so peaceful to have that option, contrary to what Sa Rang has to face in King The Land. For us, this episode was about the anger one often has to hold back while pretending that the world is made of sunshine and roses while they themselves deal with the darkness and thorns. This is how Sa Rang does it in this recap.
Spoilers Alert
How Does Gu Won Deal With The Rejection?
As Gu Won walks away dejected from the sight of Sa Rang and Yoo Nam hugging each other, Sa Rang tells her boyfriend that they should break up. It is an especially infuriating scene because it is evident that Yoo Nam has just fit his apology for Sa Rang into a schedule, and he doesn’t mean a word of what he says. Yoo Nam comes across as the kind of guy whose only commitment is towards his social calendar, and everything, even his girlfriend’s feelings, are something to fit into a schedule without any actual regard for them. Sa Rang breaks up with him and walks off, determined to get over him. She goes to meet her grandmother the next day and helps out at her restaurant. Her grandmother wants her to get married and disapproves of Pyeong Hwa as her friend since she is also unmarried. This is one of the less-talked-about irritating aspects that women start facing in their late twenties when the elders in their lives start disapproving of friends and acquaintances who are not yet married. It is sad that we don’t often discuss the challenges of marriage and who really stands to benefit the most from the institution.
Pyeong Hwa and Sa Rang believe that Da Eul has it all, but they don’t know that at her house, her in-laws take her for granted, and her sister-in-law always freeloads off of her. Her husband doesn’t seem to be of much help either, but it is too early to say. However, if our suspicions are right, we would say that he is probably having an affair. Even if he is not, we have never understood why it is not better to be single than to suffer from the loneliness that comes from the company of such people. As for Pyeong Hwa, she finally has a silver lining for herself when Ro Woon asks her for dinner without making any bones about the fact that he is interested in her. It feels like Pyeong Hwa has faced a few too many disappointments, and that is why, for a good while, she didn’t believe that Ro Woon is actually there for her. She tries to tell him that she will probably be left behind in the next promotion as well. Pyeong Hwa goes further to imply that there are other girls interested in Ro Woon, but he is absolutely clear in communicating that he only wants her.
Back with Gu Won, he is mad at not having been able to give the macarons to Sa Rang, and that is when he runs into a traffic police inspector, who shows some kindness to this dejected man since he has also gone through the same thing. Back in the hotel, Sang Sik catches on to Gu Won’s feelings when he is a little brusque with Sa Rang. He rightly says that Gu Won is acting like a pathetic child, and honestly, if the trope of the brooding man was not so romanticized, we would probably not have liked Gu Won, to begin with. In this episode, though, we get a glimpse of what makes him tick. First Hotel has surpassed its lounge revenue, and the heat is on Hwa Ran and Gu Won to catch up. Hwa Ran asks Gu Won to stay out of the matter, and though he might have done that, when he comes to know how strict Hwa Ran is, he decides that he needs to protect the staff under him. Hwa Ran visited all the departments and ordered them to double their sales. Gu Won does the same with King The Land, and he agrees to increase the incentives for everything they sell. This annoys Hwa Ran since he has done something independently. So far, we know that she is threatened by him, but it is only now that we know just how cruel she is. She has been tormenting Gu Won for years, and even when he was a child, she broke the pocket watch that was gifted to him by his mother, saying that she abandoned him because she did not love him. Gu Won is furious, and we believe that it won’t be long before he retaliates.
Why Is Sa Rang Having A Tough Time In King’s Land?
Sa Rang’s promotion has not been well received by anyone. While Soo Mi will always be bitter about it, her co-workers on King The Land are equally nasty. Though Sa Rang’s new supervisor says that she trusts the Chairman’s judgment in promoting her, her colleagues don’t feel the same. They are angry because they believe she is not as qualified as them since she only attended a two-year course. She is constantly told to stay in her lane and is probably ostracized by them. Sa Rang is having a tough time, with not a single thing going well for her. Her friends are mostly busy, she has broken up with her boyfriend, and her co-workers not only hate her but show too much disrespect. Always keeping a smiling face in such situations is getting to her. When Gu Won wants to go for dinner with her, he asks Sang Sik to arrange it, saying that it would be a welcome dinner for her. But Sang Sik misunderstands and ends up inviting the whole team. Here, when Sa Rang is not able to eat the sushi, he orders a steak for her. According to Gu Won, he is being considerate, but this is making things difficult for Sa Rang, who is already in a tight spot with her colleagues. Usually, in an environment where everyone hates you, people try to take up as little space as possible to avoid unnecessary attention. It is another matter that it seldom works out, but that is usually the first idea anyone has. While Sa Rang is just trying to do her job, this attention due to the special treatment of Gu Won is making things uncomfortable for her, and she tells him as much.
The next day, when Sa Rang recommends a wine to the hotel guests since they directly ask her, her senior is miffed and jealous. Sa Rang is in a really toxic environment, and she is facing the heat of it. At the end of episode 4 of King The Land, when Yoo Nam tries to get back with Sa Rang, it is annoying as hell because the way he misunderstands her proves that he never knew the kind of person she was or what she wanted. He did not like that she was strong enough to break up with him and did not softly continue dealing with his nonsense. Sa Rang makes it clear that they are over and goes to a spot near Namsan, as she did in episode 2. That time, she and Gu Won had missed each other, but this time, they are in the same spot as he holds an umbrella over her head to protect her from the rain.
Final Thoughts
We know that Gu Won and Sa Rang are starting to think about each other, but we want to see some real action now. Where are the politics of inheritance, what is Sa Rang’s story, and how will she stand up to her colleagues’ bullying? We also want the same answers from her friends, who have major things to deal with in their lives as well. We know that we are going to see Yoo Nam be a pest of sorts, but Gu Won will take care of him. As for the rest, the mush is strong, and we love it since it is done right.
