K-Dramas just have that something special, keeping us glued to our seats and eyes focused on the screen. With their portrayal of relationships and love, it can be easy to become filled with a romantic warmth that spreads through our body from head to toe. These heartwarming emotions are the very backbone of Kpopmap’s lovely series, the Romantic Pick. Through this series, we take a look at various swoon-worthy scenes from K-Dramas, music videos, or movies to get all of your romantic cells roaring to life.
If you’re interested in past articles of our Romantic Picks, you can click here to view them all!
This week’s Romantic Pick comes from SBS’ collection of amazing series, titled “The Secret Romantic Guesthouse”. This historical K-Drama employs Shin YeEun, RyeoUn, Kang Hoon, and Jung GunJoo as the leading cast.
The drama depicts the story of Yoon DanOh (Shin YeEun), who once lived a comfortable life as the daughter of a noble family. Now, she runs a guest house named Ihwawon. There, three men happen to find lodging at the guest house: the kind-hearted scholar YuHa (Jung GunJoo), the mischievous jokester SiYeol (Kang Hoon), and mysterious swordsman Kang San (RyeoUn). With their help, Yoon DanOh attempts to find Lee Seol, the son of the deposed crown prince.
Now, there’s mystery, action, and a whole lot of romance. We scoured all over K-Drama land, watching various episodes and clips, but we could not get this scene from “The Secret Romantic Guesthouse” out of our heads! Now let's dive right in.
Warning: spoilers ahead.
The Build Up
Leading up to the this week's Romantic Pick, we learn that Yoon DanOh and Kang San have quite the history together. The two met as children, with DanOh providing shelter to Kang San while he was on the run for his survival. Her courageous kindness leaves an impact on Kang San as he gifts her with a compass, one of his most beloved keepsakes.
However, the two go their separate ways, but travel down a similar path. Throughout a majority of their life, Kang San and Yoon DanOh are focused on survival in order to protect the things and people close to them. While they do remember their chance encounter, they pour their focus elsewhere — until fate decides to bring them together once again.
The Romance
Now, the cat's out of the bag and Yoon DanOh finally knows the truth: Kang San is actually Lee Seol and the little boy she helped to protect all those years ago. Their reunion is filled with disbelief, worry, and a bit of comfort now that everything is out in the open. However, before they're allowed to celebrate, they must overcome many more obstacles set in place by the current ruling monarch.
But that doesn't deter them from having a bit of heart fluttering romance. Kang San orchestrates a fake attack in order to save DanOh from the King's mischievous plans. After confirming no one has followed them, they exchange a few words before he brings her into a loving embrace. Kang San utters the words "I do not wish to lose more of my people" and by now you might have guessed, by "my people" he certainly means Yoon DanOh.
The scene reaches its climax as the two share a heartfelt and sincere first kiss. Although DanOh pulls back for a brief moment, the romance quickly resumes as the snow whirls around our lovely couple. You cannot help but let out a shout of joy and triumph as our two main characters finally share this heartwarming moment together. Kang San's charismatic comment combined with their passionate kiss is more than enough to make every romantic cell in your body surge to life.
The Happily Ever After
They are no longer the little children that coincidentally met during their youth. They've grown into fine young adults tied by the string of fate. Now that their walls have fallen and they've fully embraced their feelings for one another, Kang San and Yoon DanOh are ready to face anything the current monarch has in store for them.
The suspenseful drama and nail-biting action is far from over, however, that does not mean there's no time for a bit of romance. In order to keep their budding romance a secret, they create a signal in the form of a cat's meow to indicate when they want to spend time together. Seeing and hearing this call sign in action is extremely cute and heartwarming. There's no telling what dastardly deeds the King will come up with next, but at least Kang San and Yoon DanOh will be powered up with love in order to stop it.
Are you currently watching "The Secret Romantic Guesthouse? What do you think of the drama so far? Let us know in the comments!