A mistaken identity romance unfolds within the walls of a traditional Korean home.
In short: In the 2010 South Korean drama Personal Taste, a struggling furniture designer and a desperate architect become unlikely roommates. Their arrangement is built on a fragile foundation: she believes he is gay, a misunderstanding that complicates their professional rivalry and sparks an unexpected, slow-burning transformation for them both.
The series centers on Park Kae-in, an impulsive and disorganized furniture designer living in Sanggojae, a modernized hanok designed by her reclusive father. After a painful betrayal by her boyfriend, Han Chang-ryul, and her friend, Kim In-hee, Kae-in is wary of love. Her life takes a turn when Jeon Jin-ho, an architect fighting to save his firm, rents a room in her home. Jin-ho’s true motive is to study the architecture of Sanggojae to win a competitive bid for the Dam Art Center project, a contract also sought by Chang-ryul’s father, who had previously betrayed Jin-ho’s family.
The central tension arises from a persistent misunderstanding: Kae-in assumes Jin-ho is homosexual, leading to a platonic living arrangement that eventually shifts. As they share space, the neat and disciplined Jin-ho begins to challenge Kae-in’s lack of focus, pushing her to become more confident and capable. This dynamic is further complicated by the arrival of Choi Do-bin, the director of the Dam Art Center project. Do-bin, who is openly gay, becomes attracted to Jin-ho, mistakenly believing his feelings are reciprocated, which places the architect in a precarious social and professional position.
Beyond the romantic entanglements, the show highlights architectural aesthetics. The house used for filming, Rakgojae in Seoul’s Bukchon Hanok Village, serves as a cultural anchor, representing a traditional Joseon-era lifestyle. The production also features the Kring art gallery, a distinctive building in Gangnam known for its circular design. Aired on MBC in 2010, the series became a mid-level hit in South Korea and was subsequently exported to several Asian markets, including Japan, China, and the Philippines, illustrating the global reach of the K-drama format.
The narrative explores themes of personal growth and the absurdity of assumptions. While Jin-ho initially views Kae-in as a means to an end, their proximity forces a re-evaluation of their priorities. The story navigates the friction between professional ambition and personal integrity, all while the characters struggle to reconcile their true feelings with the roles they have inadvertently cast for one another.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Personal Taste
- Also: Wikidata — Personal tastes and stylistic change in music: how do they fit with an evolutionary interpretation? · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — Personal Taste · CC0
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