K-Drama Flashback: ‘Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha’

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021) is a beautifully healing K-drama that helped me see that peace isn’t a thing you experience when you steer clear of an adverse situation, but rather when you’re at peace within it. It’s likewise a poignant lesson that while you have your best intentions in doing things and everything you can, it’s of little use until the peace of mind prevails; minus that, you can’t do well. 

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is a beautiful love story between two opposites who’re fighting their fair share of experiences. The only commonality is the place where they’re staying—Gongjin—a gorgeous seaside hamlet full of nature’s grandeur, cool breeze, gentle serenade of seabirds, gurgling turquoise waters, slow and simple life, delicious seafood, and sweet locals. It’s “a beautiful and shining day” there every day and surely conjures up that idyllic “romantic Sunday” that dreams are made of, the one we all hope to experience once in a lifetime.

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha rolls the moment Yoon Hye-jin (Shin Min-a) meets Hong Du-sik (Kim Seon-ho). Hye-jin, a highly decorated dentist, moves from her affluent world in Gangnam, Seoul, to Gongjin for a change when her career is suddenly derailed. At Gongjin, where the rhythm of life ebbs and flows in sync with the rhythmic kiss of the waves upon the shore, she chances upon its very beloved town handyman, Du-sik, or Chief Hong. Thus begins this tale of romance, which unfolds like a soft ballet between the beauty of nature and the depths of the human heart.

Hye-jin is a high-achieving perfectionist, modern posh, and expensive in her tastes and preferences. Almost immediately, she becomes the talk of the town—her ways, her looks—in sharp contrast to Du-sik’s carefree style and country manners; he’s a free spirit and just indifferent to her high standards. Even so, he’s in no position to escape an obvious attraction that keeps creeping in between them as time goes by, and resisting each other’s company becomes nearly impossible. The salty breeze whispers secrets of a dark past as it sweeps across their lives on the beach, but it also carries with it the promise of endless possibilities that could change life for the better.

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is the home of the sweetest people—people with lives of their own and challenges but with the warmest hearts. You see them, and you feel that if you could run into people like them, you’d wish you had such company, such heartfelt encounters, and such exchanges. The simple things in life are just so important in life at times—simple conversations, simple routines, and simpleness overall—that are so profound in and of themselves in making life meaningful and worth living. It’s within such a society that the story of two souls, drawn together by the invisible threads of fate, unfolds with beauty and tenderness.

Along the way, we see Du-sik’s crisis suppressed underneath that composed, smiling façade. The shadows of the past haunt him even today. He was so upset that he once considered harming himself. It’s clear he did need someone to break through that stone in his heart, release his pain, and soothe his wound, which Hye-Jin does for him, and she heals herself in the process. As the sun sets, painting the sky in a breathtaking canvas of yellow, orange, and red, the two lovers, bask along the sand, their laughter echoing in the breath of wind swirling around them.

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, a dazzling artsy opus with the best actors breathing life into the story, becomes a quaint tranquil refuge where the burdens of the outside world seem to melt away, and our gorgeous couple, Du-sik and Hye-jin, find solace in the everyday treasures that abound in Gongjin: the care of neighbors, the strength of friendship and the warmth of the sun upon their skin, the calming caress of the ocean, the intoxicating scent of the blossoms, and the serene beauty of the mountains that stand as silent sentinels guarding their love.