This week notes significant progress in the chemistry between the main leads of Netflix’s latest Korean romantic comedy of King the Land.
The live-action drama inspired by a manhwa (webtoon) of the same name starring Lee Junho as chaebol heir Gu Won and Lim Yoona as hotel concierge Cheon Sa Rang features the enemies-to-lovers trope with the male character falling in love first and bits of forced close proximity in a professional setting.
Last week we saw Cheon Sa Rang breaking up with her boyfriend.
This week we’re expecting a little more warmth between Sa Rang and Gu Won. Gu Won might be head-over-heels for Sa Rang, but she needs a push, or in his case, a pull.
King the Land Episode 5 Recap
Gu Won fails to find records of Han Mi So, an employee from 1989. While leaving, he is greeted by two female employees’ smiles, which triggers his trauma.
We get a flashback from the time Gu Won’s mother probably dropped him off at his father’s place. All the housekeepers greeted the sad little kid with smiles.
Gu Won goes to his place of sulking and encounters Cheon Sa Rang getting rained on and crying. He holds the umbrella over her and claims that she is in his spot.
She tries to leave but trips and lands in his arms.
He stares at her and makes a comment on her ability to cry.
She straightens up, still in his embrace, and he lets her have a moment to find comfort in him.
Sa Rang rejects his offer to send her home, but he chases after her, dropping his umbrella.
On the drive back to her place, Gu Won questions what happened to her umbrella.
She says it flew away and that she didn’t want to hold on to it. The conversation isn’t just about her umbrella anymore, and that little detail does not escape Gu Won.
Sa Rang passes out in the car, and Gun Won does his utmost to make her comfortable.
He finds comfort in her presence, and he smiles softly. Later, he wakes her up with a change of clothes and shoes.
They’re at a restaurant for dinner since it is her birthday, and they’re both wearing grey sportswear!
Sa Rang remarks that it looks very couple-like and tries to go change when Gu Won literally holds her back, denying anything of that sort.
The wait staff clicks their picture, mentioning how good they look together.
Gu Won claims it was completely unintentional and that he had asked the staff to pick random clothes in a random size. But the very next moment, we witness what a tsundere he is as he tries to measure her shoulder and shoe size from afar and then painstakingly finds something that might fit her.
He orders a spread for them, which Sa Rang calls wasteful. But he says that she could just tell him all of her favourites.
So he could stop being wasteful and focus on her favourites. Flustered, she offers to pay for the meal. But he asks her to at least let him buy her a meal for her birthday.
Sa Rang tells Gu Won that she doesn’t celebrate her birthday because it makes her feel insignificant. Not having any expectations gives her peace of mind.
But he just calls her fake, upsetting her.
Sa Rang goes to pay the bill, which is over a million South Korean Won, or about 1300 USD.
Gu Won sweeps over with his black card and tries to make a cool exit but is called back to sign and then collect his card.
He drops her home with a box of cake—a special request he made to the head chef—to end the day with something sweet.
She remarks that favours like that are a nuisance to working-class people because of their inability to reject them. He apologizes for his thoughtlessness and promises to keep it in mind next time.
All is well until Gong Yu Nam barges in. He assumes she has been cheating with Gu Won and stops her when she rings up the cops.
Sa Rang regrets not breaking up sooner and handles him before Gu Won can interfere. She storms off, and Gu Won prevents Yu Nam from following her.
He twists his arm rather painfully and warns him about following Sa Rang.
The cake is slightly out of shape but pretty nonetheless.
Gu Won, still downstairs, drops a happy birthday text and then another text in case she’s unable to identify the owner of the number.
Before she can reply, he calls her. He asks her to call him if Yu Nam pesters her again. He wishes her again, this time pulling a smile from her lips.
He drives off with a smile of his own, staring at the polaroid picture from the restaurant.
It was not only Sa Rang who received a cake. Pyeong Hwa’s team leader, back at King Air, is celebrating them ranking first in sales… from the bottom.
She tells Pyeong Hwa to begin grovelling right from the time the passengers start boarding the flight.
Everyone would be going down together if the sales did not increase.
Later, when the two are together, she tells Pyeong Hwa that she would pull strings for the latter’s promotion if she increased the in-flight sales.
Later that evening, Pyeong Hwa comes home to Sa Rang and Da Eul, who are watching a horror movie.
She spots the sportswear and shoes, which are branded and pretty expensive, by the way. The girls set up an inquisitory squad.
Since no man would spend that much money on someone he doesn’t have any interest in, they encourage Sa Rang to just date him.
Still from Episode 5 of King the LandThe girls, with Pyeong Hwa channelling her inner Da Eul, begin their sales pitch to get Sa Rang to buy something from their departments—to show appreciation for the received gifts. Sa Rang coldly refuses them.
Sa Rang does not believe her friends because she took Gu Won’s words at face value. But she does smile at the gifts when alone. Subconsciously, she has started to warm up to his advances.
In a meeting with executives, Gu Won rejects the proposal to have King the Land staff indulge in soliciting with the distributors of their produce
. He goes against Hwa Ran, the current managing director, stating that she is in charge of every aspect of the hotel barring the departments he looks after, meaning King the Land.
Noh Sang Sik barges into Gu Won’s room while he is staring at the polaroid from his dinner date with Sa Rang.
He thinks Gu Won is finally sabotaging his sister, but he believes that his method is not the right way to guarantee a win.
Unfortunately for Gu Won, Sang Sik ends up finding the polaroid. And he would not be a good self-declared friend if he didn’t take the opportunity to tease Gu Won about it.
This results in Sang Sik being chased out of the office with pillows attacking him.
At that moment, Sa Rang texts Gu Won, asking whether he was busy after work that day, sending him into an ecstasy high.
He tries to play hard to get, but it backfires as she stops texting back. Frustrated, he heads to the lounge to ask her.
Sa Rang gets pretty surprised to see him there. She reveals that King the Land staff aren’t allowed to use their phones while working.
He is adamant about knowing the reason for the text, to which she replies that she wants to meet him if his schedule permits. Clearly delighted, he tries to act cool and says that he will make time for her.
The staff, on the other hand, gush about Gu Won, grateful that they do not have to participate in Super Farmers’ Week due to his opposition.
But the duo’s private conversation is not hidden from their eyes, and they inquire about it. Sa Rang lies, saying he was just encouraging her.
Gu Won waits for Sa Rang in his car after-hours. But she is sneaky and doesn’t want anyone to see them together.
She hands him a gift bag through the window.
He rejects it initially but holds on to it when she tries to take it back, smiling from ear to ear.
She turned to leave since he said he was busy. Dissatisfied with the duration of the meeting, he invites her to dinner. She agrees, but only if he lets her buy it.
Gu Won is impatient, but he holds back because he wants to spend time with her. He is confused by the lack of expensive wine and the live cooking but slowly settles in and starts to enjoy it.
Having had a fun time, he starts to plan their next outing, but Sa Rang rejects it as she is uncomfortable around him. So he tells her to be comfortable around him henceforth, much to her amusement. She spots him smiling, but they argue over that too.
He asks her out for meat the next time, but she tells him to go with his friends. She is bewildered at his lack of friends.
He suggests pasta instead, but before she can reject it, too, he tells her that he will decide himself before taking her out.
He is clearly disregarding her attempts to talk to him while he lists out the types of pasta preparations for the menu.
While his relationship is just starting, his sister’s is on the rocks.
Hwa Ran’s husband meets her on their wedding anniversary, asking for divorce as he has met someone he loves.
She refuses, as she doesn’t want to give Gu Won any ammunition for the inheritance war.
Chairman Gu catches wind of this and tells her not to let the word get out.
He is not worried about his daughter’s failing relationship but about the money that would be spent to silence the media.
Hwa Ran reminds Gu Won to sign the papers to let King the Land members attend Super Farmers’ Week.
The national mom is back at King Group, but this time at Alang with her dog Charles.
He scares away the customers and relieves his load in the store. Da Eul handles it like a pro, and her artist manager has to clean up the poop.
King the Land Episode 5 Ending Explained
At King the Land, Se Ho makes Sa Rang ring up all their VIP customers in order to increase their sales revenue. Gu Won walks in on her. Feeling insulted by seeing her grovel, he insults her back for doing it. Now thinking that his staff only cares about money, he approves sending all of them to Super Farmers’ Week.
Sa Rang needs to take an overnight bus, reach the distributor’s place by 7 a.m., work there, click promotional pictures, then reach back by 1 a.m. and go to work the next day. Gu Won is worried about her schedule but hesitates to send a text to wish her luck.
The ginseng distributor is loyal to First Royal Hotel, King Hotel’s biggest rival group, so Sa Rang plans on moving him with sincerity. She goes hiking up the mountain with the gift from the King Hotel to follow him. Gu Won’s worries grow due to the weather forecast.
Just as Sang Sik states, the low probability of rainfall and lightning falls. The predicted thunderstorms hit the mountains too. Gu Won calls Sa Rang and demands she leaves the mountain, but she refuses.
Sa Rang hangs up as she discovers ginseng and slips down the mountain amidst Gu Won’s incessant calls. She starts panicking, thinking it is the end of her life. While she’s shedding rivers of tears, she spots a helicopter. Gu Won jumps toward her.
Still from Episode 5 of King the LandKing the Land Episode 5 Review
How that woman can stay dry while being rained on is beyond comprehension. Someone else might have looked like a drenched pup. But wasn’t Gu Won’s spot the next one on the right? Interesting.
Gu Won’s twisted expression of his interest in Cheon Sa Rang is a lot like pulling the pigtails of the girl you like. It was cute at one point but has lost some of its appeal now.
The ending of the episode seems to indicate the damsel falling in love with the knight who saved her in this case, even if the knight has very rusty and cracked armor.
For now, we keep an open mind about the plot line. One never knows how the situation may change.