First Impression: Sell Your Haunted House

Drama Profile

Title: Sell Your Haunted House / Daebak Real Estate (literal title)
Main Cast: Jang Na-ra, Jung Yong-hwa
Writer: Ha Soo-jin, Jung Yeon-seo, Lee Young-hwa
PD: Park Jin-seok (School 2017)
Timeslot: Wednesday and Thursday / 21:30H
Network: KBS
Episodes: 16
Genre: Fantasy Comedy

Plot Synopsis:

Daebak Realty isn’t your ordinary real estate company. They specialized in selling haunted properties with the help of company CEO Hong Ji-ah. She exorcised spooky places and help owners sell them at a good market price. But there’s a catch, she needs a powerful psychic to help her drive spirits out. She found it in the form of con artist Oh In-bum. Will this newly form partnership of spirit-catchers become successful?

Major trope: Muggle-mage relationship, enemies-to-lovers, symbiotic relationship

Maknae’s Impression:

The premiere week of Sell Your Haunted House is mostly about how the partnership of exorcist Hong Ji-ah (Jang Nara) and Oh In-bum (Jung Yong-hwa) is formed. Ji-ah’s business style is really interesting to watch and Daebak Realty might become my new favorite K-drama workplace.

The first two episodes also effectively introduce to us our main characters as well as the circumstances they’re in. Hong Ji-ah is a daughter of an exorcist who lives by her old place because her mother’s spirit is still there. I am enticed to know more about her story because there’s clearly a more dramatic – probably traumatic – story that happened between Ji-ah and her mother which also involves In-bum and his ‘uncle’. I’m also curious to know why Ji-ah’s body is too weak despite being a strong exorcist. I’m thinking if it’s just a simple limitation to her skills because clearly, she needs In-bum not just for business but to put her equally powerful mother’s spirit to rest. There’s really more to their connection that needs to be dig dipper in the coming episodes.

I listed ‘muggle-mage’ relationship as one of the major tropes for this series but In-bum isn’t exactly a muggle. Ji-ah, herself, acknowledges that In-bum can call spirits and become easily possessed by them, which will make things easier for Ji-ah. But he is somehow reluctant with his own special psychic ‘powers.’ There’s also something iffy about him liking grand things and being too laidback. I’m sensing his background story can tell us more about why he seems to live like a happy-go-lucky no-attachments kind of guy.

Aside from our main characters’ individual stories, we are also introduced to their two buddies. Ji-ah’s partner/secretary Joo Hwa-jung (Kang Mal-geum) is more than just an assistant to her. She knows Ji-ah through and through and can be honest with her when needed (actually, even if it’s not haha). In-bum, on the other hand, has Heo Ji-cheo (Kang Hong-suk) as his trusted partner. They’re very different in terms of personalities but they are similar in some ways. Also, I’m glad to see uri Jang-mi Kang Hong-suk in another drama.

Sell Your Haunted House is using the episodic route to tell the story of Ji-ah and In-bum. And when done right, I really love this type of narration style. Aside from getting good side stories, it also up to the audience to put in every puzzle piece we see in every episode to form the story of our main characters. They might seem to be unlikely partners for now but Ji-ah and In-bum’s tandem look like a promising team-up that we’ll give us our weekly dose of action-filled ghost-busting-adventures with warm-hearted tales on the side.

Afterthoughts:

-The cutie nurse from OK Psychiatric Hospital Choi Woo-Sung is here! He’s Hyung-Sik, a psychic that do part-time jobs for Ji-ah. Can we see more of him too, please?

Image credit: (1)