King the Land (2023) K drama with Im Yoon Ah and Lee Jun Ho Episode 4

Episode 4 of King The Land begins with Yu-nam trying to patch up with Sa-rang. However, his selfish nature is visible as he has plans with his club members later and when Sa-rang shows her displeasure he grudgingly cancels his plans and tells her they can eat gimbap.

When she breaks up with him, instead of pacifying her, he picks up his friends’ call and tells them he will meet up soon. Frustrated, Sa-rang walks off and while Yu-nam hesitates, he lets her go.

Meanwhile, Gu Won is driving back home and is in disbelieve that he is jealous. He looks at himself in the mirror and asks himself why he out of everyone is acting in such a way. He tries to throw out the macarons but a cop shows up. He is about to be fined for littering but the cop deduces that it was for his girlfriend. He thinks that the girl is two-timing Won.

The cop ends up going in a long tirade on how she is probably using Won because he is rich but he cannot see it as he is whipped. The cop starts crying over the woman that he let go which he regrets and Won comforts him by giving him the macarons.

Tears are abundant as Sa-rang is also busy crying on her way home. On her day off, she helps out at Grandmother’s restaurant. With Grandma asking about marriage and packing side dishes for Yu-nam, Sa-rang reveals they have broken up. Grandma is glad as she never liked him and tells Sa-rang she deserves a good man and to never bottle her feelings in.

Elsewhere, Chairman Han of Royal Hotel boasts that his VIP lounge has surpassed King The Land. He even suggests betting on their hotels to see who comes on top which troubles Chairman Gu. He scolds his kids for slacking off and tells them to work together to not only pick up the lounge but also the airlines and distribution sector. 

Hwa-ran keeps mocking Won and tells him to stay out of it as he has no power. He is annoyed that she looks down on him and he remembers drunk Sa-rang saying everyone deserves to be treated fairly. 

At work, Su-mi is jealous and claims Sa-rang will be kicked out soon. But the VIP lounge’s manager, Jeon is super friendly. She shows Sa-rang the ropes and cheers her as she trusts Gu’s judgement on promoting Sa-rang.

As for our other favourite employee, Gu Won is deep in thought. While Sang-sik assumes he is working on King The Land’s revenue, Won is busy thinking about Sa-rang. Seeing him clueless, Sang-sik is more than happy to step in and take his fortune so that insufficiency will give Won ambition and they start bickering.

Jeon and Sa-rang enter and Won suddenly gets nervous. Jeon introduces her as VIP staff and Won picks on her. He claims Sa-rang needs extra training as she is unsophisticated and when she leaves he sighs. However, Sang-sik sees right through him and calls him a pathetic kid for picking on his crush. 

In the VIP lounge, King The Land, not everyone is as welcoming as Jeon, as the rest of the staff look down on Sa-rang for graduating from an unknown college. She is also made to delete her social media accounts in accordance with the NDA.

Meanwhile, Hwa-ran cracks down on all the departments, assigning a new manager to the duty-free shop and telling Pyeong-hwa’s team to double up their in-flight sales. She even gets rid of anyone who is not dressed properly. Sang-sik tries to get Won to strategise on King The Land’s revenue as well, as he worries about Hwa-ran firing the staff.

Of course, Won’s ears perk up at this as he thinks of Sa-rang being fired. He decides to go to the meeting with the VIP staff which has Hwa-ran troubled. She, honestly shouldn’t be, because all Gu Won does is sneakily steal glances at Sa-rang. He approves Jeon’s idea of increasing the incentives to increase sales and ends the meeting.

That night, he texts Sa-rang that they need to talk and immediately regrets it. However, he keeps waiting for her response all night as he does push-ups, plays games and even makes sure he has network. Frustrated, he decides to call her. Turns out, while he has saved her contact as ‘Phony Cheon’, she doesn’t even have his number.

So, of course, she cuts the call from the unknown number and goes back to worrying about the new sales goals with Pyeong-hwa. They are jealous that Da-eul has the perfect life but it cuts to her coming home to a messy house and her in-laws bossing her around. Da-eul and her daughter, Cho-rong have to go grocery shopping at night while her husband is busy working late.

Dramatic music plays as Won wakes up to no text. He heads to King The Land and meets Sa-rang. He gives her his number, keeps calling her Phony Cheon and tries to ask her to dinner but she calls him out for not checking if she has other plans. She doesn’t, she just doesn’t want to eat with him alone. He is left speechless.

He doesn’t try to hide his feelings as he tells Sang-sik he needs to have dinner with Sa-rang. Won tells him to set one up under the pretence of a welcome dinner. Meanwhile, the poor secretary is just trying to get him to choose a photo for the PR campaign.  

At King Air, the pilot hits on Pyeong-hwa but she rejects him. He threatens her but Ro-woon arrives at that moment. As the pilot leaves, Ro-woon checks up on her. He then asks her out for dinner and she agrees. She thinks he is being friendly to get promoted and tells him he is cosying up to the wrong senior. He says he doesn’t care and she is flustered. She tries to set him up with their colleague, Mi-na but he says he is more curious about her. 

As for the main couple’s dinner date, that flops splendidly as Sang-sik misunderstands Gu Won and holds a staff dinner to welcome Sa-rang. Or maybe he didn’t as he pushes Won who is trying to leave and smirks. As they sit down to eat, Won notices that Sa-rang has not touched her food which is Japanese cuisine.

He orders Sang-sik to get steak from the restaurant next door as she cannot eat raw fish. The VIP staff is shocked and Won even goes as far as to ask Sang-sik to cut the steak for her. Sa-rang stops him loudly and takes a huge bite as Won waits while the seniors mock her. She is embarrassed and texts him to meet her outside.

She is upset that he singled her out as she already has a tough job blending in as a rookie. She calls him out for never worrying about others cause he lives like a king. He doesn’t understand why she is upset as it was a kind gesture. At home, Da-eul and Pyeong-hwa surprise her with cake as it turns out to be her birthday at midnight. They gift her sexy lingerie and she awkwardly tells them that she dumped Yu-nam. 

Gu Won, however, cannot stop thinking about Sa-rang’s comment. Meanwhile, Sang-sik gets Sa-rang a buffet voucher as it is her birthday which is news to Won. He heads inside to see Hwa-ran holding the pocket watch. Won snatches it from her and tells her that the only reason he isn’t fighting her is because he doesn’t want to.

She thinks he is lying because of the strategy meeting and warns him not to end up like his mother. It cuts to a teen Hwa-ran mocking young Won that his mother has left him and all he has is her pocket watch. She throws it out of the window and he cries as it breaks.

For Sa-rang’s first guest, senior staff member Se-ho orders her to stay quiet. It is Chairman Han, his wife and Chairman Gu. They ask for a wine recommendation but don’t have time to wait for a sommelier. Se-ho says any wine will do and Han remembers Sa-rang. As a two-time winner of the ‘Best Talent’, they ask for her recommendation.

She goes above and beyond by even describing the wine as she is a certified sommelier. Gu is impressed while Se-ho scolds her for not recommending a much more expensive whiskey bottle. She points out that he too recommended wine and he deflects.

Meanwhile, Won even goes through the paper records but cannot find anything on Han Mi-so. Outside, Yu-nam shows up with flowers and a reservation to a fancy place. He thinks Sa-rang dumped him over gimbap and she is furious. She says she is tired of him acting selfish and dense and walks off.

She cries at the park and it starts raining. She is suddenly sheltered as Won holds an umbrella from behind. He says it is his spot and she turns to move. She trips and he catches her.

The Episode Review

Sure, talking to oneself to reveal their thoughts to the viewers can be pretty cringe. But with the way Lee Junho is portraying Gu Won, it just seems believable that he is a narcissistic chaebol who actually talks to himself aloud when he is in disbelief. Of course, this is the same guy who said he would never be interested in Sa-rang even if he is dead but he now suddenly feels jealous and waits all night for her text. 

It is about time the whole world sees just how in love Gu Won is, from the cop to Sang-sik. We are sure, it will reach a stage where everyone knows they are in love except Won and Sa-rang. He already gets speechless when she is around and is considerate of her, at least according to him. Totally whipped behaviour if you ask us.