Rowoon and Jo Bo-Ah are back, and it’s really shocking that these two stunning actors haven’t been paired with each other previously. The fantasy genre is so popular in the Korean industry, and it’s always a blend of all things fun, drama, and romance that makes it extremely entertaining. Destined With You definitely feels similar to some of our favorites like Goblin, My Roommate Is A Gumiho, and Hotel Del Luna. The first episode is quite intriguing, with an interesting premise and random connections that make us ready to dive into this world immediately. Destined With You promises curses, wooden boxes, bloody hands, and, of course, soul-mate-level romance that stems from generational connections (yes, we’re also thinking about Tale of the Nine Tails while looking at Jo Bo-Ah).
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Episode?
Hong-Jo lies on the floor of an ancient-looking home, and as she looks up, a handsome man in a black suit appears. She thinks he’s the Grim Reaper and asks him to take her to the “teahouse” with him, but instead, he takes some pictures of her. Six months before, Hong-Jo, a lowlife in the world of civil servants (level 9, the lowest on the roster), worked hard to handle some protesters in front of a construction site. Amidst the chaos downstairs, a man plummets to his death from a high floor in the building.
Elsewhere, Shin-Yu, a lawyer and the man Hong-Jo thought was a grim reaper, sits in his office and talks to hands that look like they appear out of nowhere. A bloody hand creeps up his body and grabs his face. He tells the hand to stop because he has important work the next day. Shin-Yu is fighting for the company that owns the building under construction. He deduces that the man who fell to his death died by “accident” because he wanted money for his cancer-afflicted child. The wife, who is supposed to get the insurance money, wasn’t offered enough of a settlement for the death of her husband, so she decided to go to court. Shin-Yu presents the evidence that proves this back story, showcasing how competent he is as a lawyer.
Hong-Jo gets transferred to another city, which seems like a promotion to some, but she realizes it’s a death trap because she has to work with a boss who hates her for a previously committed blunder. At night, the moon is red, and while Hong-Jo prepares herself to meet her fate, a young man goes to a haunted house in the mountains. He trespasses and slips over something on the floor after running out of the room and getting scared. Unfortunately, he falls on a blade and dies. Hong-Jo wakes up in the middle of the night as if she had dreamed of exactly what happened to the man. At work the next day, everybody treats her terribly. She’s made to eat alone, sit out of meetings to answer calls, and have the biggest workload within the team. Shin-Yu, on the other hand, finds himself having a terrible headache after interacting with the hand again.
The next day, the young man’s father comes to file a complaint against Hong-Jo’s team because his son is dead due to the Shaman house. He wants the place demolished, and Hong-Jo takes up the responsibility to solve the issue herself. She hopes to score some brownie points with the team, after all. This is when she goes to the haunted house alone and ends up fainting after seeing a reflection of Shin-Yu. She then proceeds to think he’s a grim reaper and asks him to “take her to the other side”. She goes unconscious after he takes pictures of her, and her teammate tries to come up to check on her. In fear, she, too, runs away after waking Hong-Jo up.
There’s something special about the ancient building because Shin-Yu gets berated by his father for not making sure it’s being taken care of. At the same time, his grandfather says something about 70 years being a long life in the family and asks Shin-Yu to serve him a drink. While pouring, Shin-Yu’s hand starts to tremble, and he makes an excuse to cover it up. Shin-Yu finds out from the doctor that he has a genetic disease that is unpredictable and will eventually lead him to lose sensation in his arms and legs, suffer speech impairment, and have more problems.
Hong-Jo goes in search of the owner of the place and finds out about Shin-Yu. When she meets him and realizes he’s human and not a grim reaper, she makes an argument with him about demolishing the place. He tells her he’s not ready to do that and sends her back. Hong-Jo may be in for an office romance and finally have some good luck in her personal life, but through the day, she learns that the place is actually owned by an elderly woman, and Shin-Yu has to obey her words. Hong-Jo persuades Shin-Yu to give her the nursing home’s address with her true story of wanting to be liked by her co-workers. He gives her a number, and she gets to go meet the old woman.
While Shin-Yu makes plans to restore the place, Hong-Jo lets him know that they have permission to demolish it. Shin-Yu is shocked by her message with video proof and immediately goes to the nursing home himself.
What Does The Shaman Eun-Wol Say To Shin-Yu?
Eun-Wol is the name of the woman Hong-Jo spoke to. The place was a shrine she took care of, and Shin-Yu was never allowed to even touch the place because of Eun-Wol’s warnings. He asks her if Hong-Jo threatened her or something worse, because it makes no sense that she would allow a total stranger to demolish the place he was meant to protect. Eun-Wol tells Shin-Yu that karma will come back for him because the bloody hand of the person he killed would want to be avenged. The pain and suffering will end, and the curse will be lifted now that the owner of the wooden box has shown up. Shin-Yu is probably not as confused by these words as we are, but he’s still shell-shocked by what Eun-Wol’s has to say.
Shin-Yu has a ritual performed before the demolition of the shrine, and Hong-Jo shows up too. She takes a picture of what is happening and rushes back to the office, all happy because she’s done a good job. When she reaches there, though, she finds out that her team has gone to celebrate the work she got done without her. She calls them to find out where they are so she can join in on the fun, but she is told that they aren’t actually out. She decides to head back home, but ends up seeing her team completely drunk. Hong-Jo, who has always been an outcast, ends up crying because of what she saw. Destined With You Episode 1 ends with Shin-Yu coming up to a crying Hong-Jo and telling her to go somewhere with him. Ironically, this is exactly what she wanted to hear at that moment, but Shin-Yu just wants to give her the wooden box and be cured of his suffering.
