In King the Land episode 9, Gu Won tries to get into the good books of Sa-Rang’s grandmother as the two love birds navigate the very early phase of their dating life.
Recap
After their steamy kiss and the fire disaster, Sa-Rang and Gu Won share a meal that’s aesthetically haphazardly but tastes amazing. Later, they can’t control their giddiness at work as Won finds one excuse after another to hold her hand or tease her.
Pyeong-Hwa receives a shock when instead of her, it’s her junior that gets a promotion, even as her senior and others recognize how she was so instrumental in their team meeting the goals and hitting the sales numbers successfully.
Gu Won spends too long sitting in the King the Land lounge, gawking at his love, but the employees think he’s there to judge them and ask Sa-Rang to go talk to him. She does, and scolds him a bit, inadvertently, when he won’t listen and just get out, and stop making the employees uncomfortable.
He gets upset and sulks later on. To cheer him up, Sa-Rang pounces on him from behind with a hug, to which he shudders since he’s not really good with cues. But Sa-Rang takes it the wrong way and walks off, upset, which worries Gu Won greatly.
He later buys flowers for her grandmother and visits her, but she soon falls over while changing the light bulb. He gets her admitted to a hospital and she curses him for spending money on this, but later gives him advice after confirming he likes her granddaughter.
Sa-Rang eventually arrives there too, crying and asking grandmother to take care of herself and not risk depriving her of another loved one, the only one left in her life. Sa-Rang and Won go to her grandmother’s place and work to change the light bulb, with several hitches along the way.
When they finally sit down, they both apologize to each other and Won says he would always be more receptive to her feelings and express himself better. They kiss again and then go to sleep.
The next morning, the grandmother returns and takes Won to the market, where she meets her friends who all tease him as the new husband candidate for Sa-Rang. Grandmother takes Won to get him a home subscription and he’s incredibly touched by that.
Later, while having drinks with the three, Won learns about the unfair treatment and deceit that Sa-Rang, Da-Eul, and Pyeonh-Hwa have all suffered at the hands of their superiors and the company, and promises to take it to the higher-ups. The next day, he asks Sang-Sik to offer the three of them a luxurious vacation.
Meanwhile, he also asks his father and Hwa-Ran to hand him over the whole hotel’s responsibility amid the preparations for the upcoming 100th-anniversary celebration. Hwa-Ran decides to sabotage it all by inviting all her friends as guests.
King the Land episode 9 ends with Won, along with the three buddies and Sang-Sik arriving at the airport to head off for the vacation.
Review
- King the Land episode 9 is a delight but also a really well-balanced installment. Won and Sa-Rang’s fresh relationship is given moments of reality and grounded elements, along with Won’s troubles and dating inexperience being fleshed out properly.
- That said, it’s incredibly adorable watching the two just stare at each other with all the unexpressed and bubbling love for each other.
- It’s heartwarming to see Sa-Rang’s grandmother’s softer heart underneath that tough exterior, and also interesting as she teaches Won some really important lessons in love life as well as life in general.