Making a drama like King The Land requires some serious commitment to romance. Imagine the vision of bringing together every possible cliche in K-drama land and relying purely on their presentation to ensure the success of the drama. Whoever approved this must have taken a serious gamble. The trend right now is to introduce newer concepts by the day, and in a climate like that, relying on a traditional romance for all the feels was a risk, and we are glad that it was taken. Additionally, the men of the dramas King The Land and See You In My 19th Life are currently carrying whatever is keeping us hooked to the story. Especially with King The Land, no one can do what Lee Junho has managed with Gu Won’s character, and we cannot take our eyes off him. This is how he makes us fawn over him in episode 9, as presented in this recap.
Spoilers Alert
What Are The Problems At The Friends’ Workplaces?
We really hope that there is a major payoff for Pyeong Hwa after everything that she has to go through because of her supervisor. She lied to Pyeong Hwa that the person with the highest sales would get the promotion, and when Pyeong Hwa achieved that target, she promoted one of her lackeys to the position. This is deliberate sabotage of her career, and as frustrated as Pyeong Hwa is, there isn’t anything she can do. The one sliver of light in this situation is that Ro Woon is staunchly by her side and encourages her not to lose her spirits.
Elsewhere, Da Eul and her team did not get the incentive that they were promised for doubling their hard work. Their supervisor simply took them to a restaurant with a poster of a beach and told them to imagine it was Bali. Thankfully, Sa Rang makes some progress in her workplace when she helps one of her seniors give out some good recommendations to a client. She harps on the need for good teamwork, and that finally wins her his favor. If only the real world were as understanding of the value of teamwork when it suited everyone and not their own interests, workplaces everywhere would fare a lot better.
How Does Gu Won Help Sa Rang’s Grandma?
After a spectacular date between Gu Won and Sa Rang, they are both so in love that the audience starts third-wheeling. When they meet at the hotel the next day, Sang Sik can tell that something is up, seeing how happy Gu Won looks and that he and Sa Rang are acting kind of fishy. There is some excellent brand placement by Dior, and it shows just how massive the budget for this drama is, which will be put to good use in episode 10. Moving on, it is hard to believe that Gu Won has no dating experience at all, considering how effortlessly he flirts with Sa Rang. When she acts all blushy and silly, she is mirroring the sentiments of every girl who is watching Gu Won be himself. But a little friction was bound to come up when Gu Won spent too much time in the restaurant, making Sa Rang’s colleagues a little uncomfortable, causing her to get snappy and asking him to leave. Later, when she tries to make it up to Gu Won, he is a little startled by her affection, which she reads as him being curt with her.
Gu Won wants to make it up to her and buys some flowers, taking them to Sa Rang’s grandmother’s place, assuming she will be there. Instead, he finds her grandmother about to fall off her stool, so he gets her admitted to the hospital, only to find that she has not been keeping well. Grandmother has understood that Gu Won is one of Sa Rang’s potential suitors and seems very fond of him. When Sa Rang rushes over to the hospital, she breaks down in tears at her grandmother’s condition, and Gu Won is just looking at the entire situation with a sweet smile that makes us smile in turn. He takes Sa Rang back to her grandmother’s place, and we must say that the screenplay of this scene is amazing.
Sa Rang and Gu Won apologize to each other for their behavior the other day and confess how much they like one another. It is really impossible that Gu Won has not dated before, and he easily pulls Sa Rang next to him for the few hours they have before dawn. When the grandmother discovers them the next morning, she is furious, but she already knows what to do next. She announces all over town that Gu Won is one of Sa Rang’s suitors and has her circle of friends assess him while she continues to defend and berate him in equal measure. But we all know that Gu Won has her approval when she makes him open a housing subscription account and pays the first installment of it. Forgive us for not knowing what it is, but it had to be something significant, and for once, Gu Won’s feelings are all warmed up and secure from a family he did not know he could have.
Why Do Gu Won And Sa Rang Go To Thailand?
When Gu Won drops off Sa Rang at her place, they run into her friends, and honestly, most friendships wouldn’t exist if we didn’t complain about our work. Da Eul tells Gu Won about their one-day “Bali” trip, while Pyeong Hwa reveals what happened to her. Gu Won is completely stunned at the way the employees of his hotel are being treated. He had earlier announced in front of his father that he wanted to start taking charge of King Hotel and not just King The Land, especially in light of the upcoming celebrations. Also, maybe it is because of what happened to his mother, but Gu Won desperately cares how his employees are treated; therefore, he decides to do something about Da Eul and Pyeong Hwa’s situation. He arranges for the three of them to go on a trip to Bali, the country, as a reward for being the best in their departments. There could be some slight trouble regarding this as Pyeong Hwa and Da Eul are from King Air and King Distribution, so they are actually under the supervision of Hwa Ran and not Gu Won. But he decides to go ahead with his plan anyway, and for the first time, that earns him the respect of No Sang Sik, who willingly opens the car door for him without being told to do so.
At the end of episode 9 of King the Land, when Gu Won meets the three friends at the airport, he also finds No Sang Sik, who has invited himself on the trip for being the best assistant. To save the situation, Gu Won says that No Sang Sik is actually Yoo Sang Sik, and he is Gu Won’s boss. That is all Sang Sik needed to start being bossy, and as the episode ends, the five of them set off for Thailand.
Final Thoughts
What did we say about this drama having a sizable budget? We are so impressed with the precap of episode 10, and we can already foresee our reactions to what is about to come. Bless everyone who decided to make this drama. May all their investments yield as much profit as they want so that gems like King The Land continue to grace our screens.
