[PICK] The Sweet Romance Between Couples With Age Differences in K-Dramas

Edited by Hong Hyun Jung
Translated by Kim Yoo Hyang

 

Nothing beats a sweet romance when you want to grow apart from reality. No matter how obvious the two characters’ futures may be, the vicarious joys make viewers long for them. They are enough to make us forget our tiring day-to-day lives. Especially, the romance between couples with age differences excites us, as if they jumped right out of a fantasy. So let’s have a look at couples that made viewers’ hearts flutter.

 

A Witch’s Love (2014)

Ban Ji Yeon is the investigative team leader of a weekly magazine. And Yoon Dong Ha runs an errands center with a friend. Based on an original Taiwanese drama My Queen, A Witch’s Love comically depicts the two characters falling in love as they coincidentally bump into each other. Both with pains of love, they get involved with each other.

Uhm Jung Hwa plays Ban Ji Yeon, who obsesses over news scoops to get over her boyfriend, who disappeared before their marriage. Park Seo Jun played Yoon Dong Ha, the pro of part-time works who quit medical school after his girlfriend’s accident. As a couple with 14 years of difference between them, they worked together to create a lovely atmosphere. A kiss scene popped up in the first episode and a bedroom scene in the second. At the time, Park Seo Joon confessed in a press conference, “I felt at home in the set after shooting it without clothes for 5 hours.”

 

Encounter (2018)

It is a story about Soo Hyun and Jin Hyuk falling in love. Soo Hyun is a woman who could never choose how she wanted to live her life. But she encounters Jin Hyuk, the owner of a free and pure soul, by chance. Each came from entirely different worlds; they encounter each other for the first time in Cuba, with its romantic foreign sceneries as their background. A destiny-like relationship begins as Jin Hyuk, the traveler, helps Soo Hyun out of trouble after sneaking out on her business trip. Song Hye Kyo played Soo Hyun, the politician’s daughter who lived an oppressive life. She well-demonstrated the inner side of a cold and lonely character with her delicate acting skills. On the other hand, Park Bo Gum played Jin Hyuk, a character livelier than his previous work, to present the positive energy to its fullest.

 

Something in the Rain (2018)

Yoon Jin Ah and Seo Jun Hee knew each other as their friend’s younger brother and older sister. Coming across in three years, the two start to feel unusual feelings toward each other. Something in the Rain is about a man and a woman falling in love to have a real relationship after being close acquaintances. Yoon Jin Ah resonated with the audience by thoroughly expressing the jitters from the early stages of a relationship. She further portrayed the real-life issues which the character faces at home and work as an office worker in her mid-30s. There were responses that the development in the latter half of the plot was disappointing. Despite this, the series maintained its popularity until the end with Son Ye Jin’s acting skills, who returned to the small screen five years. Besides, her collaboration with Jung Hae made them seem like actual lovers.

 

Romance Is a Bonus Book (2019)

Once was a well-known copywriter, Kang Dan I put her career on the back burner to take care of her marriage and children. Romance Is a Bonus Book is a story of a highly qualified woman in her career break. She joins a publishing company as a contract worker by faking her educational background. Like the show’s title, Romance Is a Bonus Book, she comes across a heart-fluttering romance with a younger guy she had known for a long while. With the publishing company as the background, the show demonstrated heartwarming nostalgic sentiments. Lee Na Young plays the bright and confident Kang Dan I, who resumes her career in 7 years. Lee Jong Seok plays the youngest editor who owns a cold personality, Cha Eun Ho. Together, they completed the lovely chemistry.

 

Search: WWW (2019)

Search: WWW fiercely opened its doors, saying, “At ‘Unicorn,’ we manipulate real-time searches.” The show illustrates the work and love of passionate women who work in IT companies that run portal sites. Im Soo Jung, Lee Da Hee, and Jeon Hye Jin gained popularity from female viewers as competitors and companions. Romance is essential even for the eager beavers. Bae Ta Mi and Cha Hyeon particularly caught the viewers’ eyes with their romance between the two men who each had ten and seven years of the age difference. Bae Ta Mi shows a naughty relationship with Park Morgan, whom she happened to meet at an arcade and spend a night together. Meanwhile, Cha Hyeon continues her relationship with a struggling actor from a ‘makjang’ series, Seol Ji Hwan, starting as his fan.

When the Camellia Blooms (2019)

From straight-forward romances, heartwarming stories about humanity, and intense thrillers that keep you on your toes, When the Camellia Blooms is not a simple love story. The series swept the second half of 2019. As introduced on the official website, the show illustrates stories about ‘real people.’ At its center of the series, there are the CEO of ‘Camellia’ Dong Baek and the police officer, who was born and raised in Ongsan, Hwang Yong Sik.

Though Dong Baek is judged for being a single mother who runs a bar in Ongsan, a town that no one ever comes in or out of, she calmly goes her own way. Yong Sik, who falls in love with her at first sight, recognizes her for who she is. He gives his unconditional support and love. Furthermore, Hong Ja Young and No Gyu Tae cannot go unmentioned, as Ongsan’s No. 1 couple with an age difference.

 

Hyena (2020)

Though Jung Geum Ja and Yoo Hee Jae never made their relationship official, they created the mature relationship’s chemistry. Jung Geum Ja from the Choong Law Firm does not hesitate to use any methods to survive and build her career in the legal world’s wilderness. The most elite of them all, Yoon Hee Jae is full of confidence and pride, who enjoys having the world looking up to him. While the two had no point of contact before, Jung Geum Ja intentionally approaches Yoon Hee Jae while working on a trial. They become foes after she embarrasses him. The show received huge appreciation from the viewers as Kim Hye Soo’s intense charisma blended well with Ju Ji Hoon’s charm that embodies both childishness and sexiness.

 

Edited Hong Hyun Jung: I am a K-content guide who publishes various articles for people to enjoy Korean movies and dramas deeper and richer. I’ll introduce you to the works that you can laugh, cry and sympathize with.