Let’s admit that we love watching Korean dramas that revolve around the chaebol CEO falling in love with one of its employees. Or a rich high school guy getting attracted towards a lesser fortunate and hardworking girl who does several jobs to make ends meet. Well, K-dramas have certainly popularised plots around CEOs, high school students, medical practitioners or mythical creatures.
But there are some well-known dramas that have tried to highlight some unconventional professional roles for the protagonists, which are sometimes hard to think of. Moreover, you may not have heard of these professions at all, but they do exist, at least in the land of dramas, if not in real life. Check this list to find out some unconventional roles portrayed by the lead actors in K-dramas.
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While in some dramas, the woman lead is often depicted as a damsel in distress. But please take note here that our ‘Kim Bok Joo’ is not even close to being a woman in need of saving. ‘Kim Bok Joo’ played by Lee Sung Kyun, is a college athlete who strives to become an Olympic weightlifter. The popular drama, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo sheds light on the enormous amount of hard work and devotion required to succeed in the world of competitive athletics, as well as the fears that come with being a woman in what has traditionally been considered to be a ‘man's territory'.
What if your love for food is turned into your profession? Well, ‘Shin Ha Ri’ in the rom-com, Business Proposal gets to live the life we all dream of. ‘Shin Ha Ri’, played by Kim Se Jeong, is a food researcher at Go Food whose CEO is ‘Kang Tae Moo’, excellently played by Ahn Hyo Seop. Our lead woman, ‘Shin Ha Ri’ works in the food creation team. Her job is to create fresh and unique recipes, check the nutritional values and test the food products before they are released in the market. If you want to cheer your mid-week mood, then give it a watch. We assure you that you will be rolling on the floor laughing.
Have you ever been to art galleries? If you have not, let us tell you that it is a place where artworks are displayed just for an exhibition or sometimes for sale. And did you know art curation is a real job? In the K-drama, Her Private Life, Park Min Young plays the role of ‘Sung Deok Mi’, who is a chief curator of the Cheum Museum of Art. The profession might seem tedious, but it is not actually. Art curation involves developing libraries, creating archives, and connecting with the media. If you want to know more about this profession, then definitely watch this drama.
Often celebrities or famous businesspersons can be seen with dozens of bodyguards, and here's the catch, they are all men. But have you ever seen a superhuman lady bodyguard? No right? You must watch the K-drama, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon ASAP! In this drama, our lead woman, ‘Do Bong Soon’, effortlessly played by Park Bo Young, aspires to develop a video game where she wants to be the main character. Her fate takes a turn when the CEO of a gaming company, ‘Ahn Min Hyuk’ played by Park Hyung Sik, witnesses her superhuman strength and hires her as a bodyguard for himself. The drama is a mix of comedy and thriller plot.
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Park Eun Bin has actually nailed the role of ‘Attorney Woo Young Woo’. She takes on the challenging role of an attorney with autism in the legal drama, Extraordinary Attorney Woo. The drama beautifully showcases the challenges ‘Woo Young Woo' faces as she embarks on the journey of becoming an attorney. The so-called ‘normal’ world around her looks at her with much sympathy but her father, ‘Woo Gwang Ho’, has complete faith in her abilities. Her photographic memory and intelligence prove to the world that strong determination can make anything possible.
Video games used to be a fascination for all of us when we were young. We used to emerge ourselves in the world of Super Mario. But, apart from playing the game, have you ever noticed any music in the background? You didn’t? Neither did we. It might come as a shocker, but developing video game music is a profession. We would never have known about this if we did not watch the K-drama, Search: WWW.
The drama primarily revolves around ‘Bae Ta Mi’ played by Im Soo Jung, who is doing well as director of a search engine platform, Unicon. She soon loses her job due to some evil plot by her old mentor, ‘Song Ga Kyung’, played by Jeon Hye Jin. This unexpected turn of events completely upends her existence. She then meets ‘Park Mo Geon’, played by Jang Ki Yong, a video game music composer. If you want to know how video game music is produced, watch this drama.
You must be wondering what is an orchestra conductor. Have you watched videos where there are many musicians, some play violin, cello, harp, or a flute or bassoon, and are controlled by a single person? So, the orchestra conductor is that single person who acts as a guide for the entire play.
Beethoven Virus is a tribute to classical music and musicians. In this Korean drama, Kim Myung Min portrays ‘Conductor Kang’, a well-known orchestra conductor who is a perfectionist and a tad bit difficult to work with. The series immerses us in the lives of those aspiring to succeed in the music industry and even features a love triangle.
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Compared to other medical dramas, Live Up To Your Name is not your usual one, where with each passing day, there’s another medical emergency in the hospital. This series tells a unique story of a surgeon and an acupuncturist. For the unversed, acupuncture is an ancient Chinese practice that uses tiny needles which are pierced into energy lines in our bodies to cure any physical or mental illness.
In this drama, ‘Heo Im’ (Kim Nam Gil) is an acupuncturist, and ‘Choi Yeon-Kyung’ (Kim Ah Joong) is a female surgeon. Both protagonists debate over the value of the two different medical practices. This drama also has a time travel twist.
Until now, you must have watched horror movies where a priest mumbles a few prayers and an evil soul preying on the body of an innocent human leaves its host. That’s what an exorcist does. And to think of it as an actual profession is damn scary. In Bring It On, Ghost drama, ‘Park Bong Pal’, played by Ok Taec Yeon, has the ability to see ghosts. He charges his customers 1 million won to perform exorcism. It should be on your list if you want to watch a horror series with a pinch of romance and comedy.
The rom-com, It’s Okay To Not Be Okay does not involve one but two very unconventional roles. One is that of a male nurse of a psychiatric ward, ‘Moon Gang Tae’, played by Kim Soo Hyun, and the other is that of a writer of a children’s book, ‘Ko Moon Young’, played by Seo Yea Ji. The story revolves around the nurse who has given his entire life to care for his autistic brother. While working in the hospital, he meets the children’s book writer, who is selfish and rude and has an antisocial personality disorder. The drama amazingly captures the road to emotional healing.
We loved watching these K-dramas that portrayed pretty unusual professional roles. Which one is your favourite?
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