King the Land (2023) K drama with Im Yoon Ah and Lee Jun Ho Episode 12

Episode 12 of King The Land begins with Sang-sik calling everyone for a ‘Go Hard’ squad reunion. He cannot reach Won or Sa-rang but continues with his plan anyway. Of course, this leads to the shocking interruption as everyone enters the house to see Sa-rang and Won making out.

It ends with Sang-sik crying in the corner, Won and Sa-rang on their knees like little kids being punished and Da-eul, Pyeong-hwa and Ro-woon on the couch. Ro-woon, in fact, doesn’t understand the sombre mood and keeps wanting to congratulate the couple. But the girls say they are angry because the couple lied. They hope there are no more lies among them like Won being an illegitimate son of the chairman.

Well… Gu Won comes clean and on learning of his identity, the three immediately start apologising and bending over backwards to attend to him. Da-eul takes Sang-sik out to reprimand him while Won asks Pyeong-hwa and Ro-woon to go back to being his friend. He then heads out to see Sang-sik crying. The poor secretary hugs Won as he is not only sad that Da-eul scolded him but the fact that he also didn’t get a girlfriend before Won. 

Later, Sa-rang, Da-eul and Pyeong-hwa celebrate but Sa-rang wonders why they are not mad at her for dating someone above her station. They ask why they would be since love is love.

At work, Sang-sik is over the moon as the 100th-anniversary event is a hit and Won is being praised worldwide. He jokes it is because of him as he did the hardest job and is surprised to see Won agree. Sang-sik takes the playful mood one step further as always, as he litters Won’s path with a toy flower.

At the board meeting, Chairman Gu is excited by the results but Hwa-ran points out that they are still regressing. All of the board members side with her and suggest contingency management aka cutting costs. Won points out that it is just a threat to the staff to stay on their toes.

He disagrees with her strategy and states that luxury brands are known for their history. Similarly, King Group should focus on their legacy. Chairman Gu takes advantage of both and tells them to ready their proposal.

As for Pyeong-hwa, on learning that Purser Soo-hyun is being promoted, she is furious. In the airport, she overhears that Soo-hyun rose up because of Pyeong-hwa’s sales. She confronts her but the senior declares that Pyeong-hwa will never be promoted because she is divorced.

In a flashback, we see that her ex secretly registered their marriage and tricked her into signing it. Da-eul and Sa-rang try to help get it cancelled or annulled but the registration office states that Pyeong-hwa’s only option is divorce.

Sa-rang seems to be having a bad day as well as she is chosen to serve Assemblyman Park who is scolding Hwa-ran for humiliating him at the event. He is annoyed by Sa-rang’s serving etiquette and orders her to be fired. Hwa-ran gives in but Won suddenly appears and stops her. He puts Park in his place who angrily storms off. Hwa-ran is speechless as they need Park. She wonders if something is going on between Won and Sa-rang and warns him. 

Sa-rang apologises to the staff members but they side with her. They go out for drinks and she is touched as it is the first time they have invited her. They praise Won for standing up for them and Sa-rang feels happy on his behalf. It starts raining as they exit and they all go their separate ways. As she wonders what to do, Won surprises her with an umbrella.

They are impressed by his quick reflexes as he stops a splash only to be splashed by the next car that goes past them. At home, Sa-rang suddenly screams while Won is changing into dry clothes in the other room. Concerned, he runs out half-dressed only to see that she is just watching TV. She notices his abs and pretends to go make tea. He teases her for being shy and they end up making out.

Meanwhile, Hwa-ran recruits Sang-sik to work for her. She will help him rise up if he reports to her about everything Won does. He doesn’t give her an answer immediately but asks how high.

Episode 12 doesn’t seem to be going well for any of the characters as Da-eul too is miserable. Her sister-in-law messes up her room, takes her clothes and leaves her son at Da-eul’s without asking her. And at night, her husband and his parents order her to make three different meals while she is folding the laundry. Tired, she crashes at Sa-rang’s place.

At the hotel, Sa-rang notices a guest pleading with Su-mi to look for her daughter’s stuffed toy. House cleaning cannot find it but Sa-rang offers to look for it. Room inspector Ok-ja watches her as she spends half an hour searching for it among the dirty linen. In the end, she does find it and the little girl is overjoyed. Sa-rang notices Ok-ja and asks her about Han Mi-so who was actually her best friend.

On her day off, Sa-rang waits for Won for their date and is surprised to see him run all the way to the place due to traffic. She is amused as he states it is because he was excited that she initiated a date for the first time.

She takes him to a spot by the sea lined with wind turbines and tells him how she hoped she could fly to where her mom was, confirming that her mother is dead. She hopes he will have no regrets like her and gives him a photo of his mother. She says she got it from Ok-ja who knew Mi-so. He tears up on seeing the photo.

A new mother-son duo is introduced as well as we see Hwa-ran’s young son flying home to see her. With her husband filing for divorce on the same day, she is frustrated and snaps at her kid. The boy is sad and she says the best he can do is go back to boarding school and live his life. Ouch…

Meanwhile, Sa-rang is finally invited to join the Dream Team – Chairman Gu’s personal catering service made up of his staff and the VIP staff. The head manager instructs Sa-rang on the importance of being perfect and not making a single mistake. She is excited till she sees that the new uniforms look like maid outfits complete with a white apron.

She is further humiliated when she realises she will be serving Won who is present with Yu-ri, her parents and Chairman Gu. Won is shocked to see her as well but nothing can prepare them for her reaction when the parents announce to get him and Yu-ri married. Sa-rang who is holding a plate drops it.

The Episode Review

Finally, Won’s maturity is shown in terms of running a business. In the beginning, his ideas are childish as he constantly goes on about putting employees first, splurging for their sake and putting down Hwa-ran’s tried-and-tested strategies. However, his plan finally makes sense. One can’t be all heart and no reasoning in the world of business.

It is all hunky dory to sympathise with the lower rung who are being exploited. But it is only in utopia that everyone can live well without jeopardising a company. And while Won’s idea of focusing on legacy may not be completely practical, at least in K-drama-land, we can chalk off its plausibility. 

And was it too much to hope that we wouldn’t get the mid-season break-up due to a misunderstanding? At least they are not going down the route of a couple from different worlds who have to break up because of their status. Or at least, we hope not. In fact, King The Land pokes fun at that trope as Sa-rang’s friends cannot understand why she and Won would break up because they come from different backgrounds. 

And usually, once the couple gets together, the drama tends to get a little boring. In fact, a lot of viewers were worried about how quickly the romance was moving in King The Land with Won displaying feelings for Sa-rang in episode 3. But it looks like we won’t have to worry about Junho and YoonA’s chemistry, though. Is it just our imagination or did they get even more cuter now that their characters are together?