Housing | DramasROK

Last week in episode 8 of Rooftop Prince (SBS Wed/Thurs 21:55) ) we got to see the posh newly constructed flat that Chairman Yeo has had built for her ‘grandson’. Rooftop flats are usually the cheapest kind of accommodation in Korea – they look like a small box built on top of a flat roof. So when we see a character in a Korean drama (usually the heroine) going up the narrow rickety steps to the roof, we know straight away that she’s poor!

But I’ve never thought the rooftop flats looked that bad. At least they have some open space outside where people can sit or hang washing and there’s probably a good view of the city from up there too. On the other hand, they are small and cramped and look like they might be cold in the winter with all those thin external walls – even with ondol underfloor heating. And they are often up hilly roads away from bus stops and stations.

But in last week’s episode we really got to see the striking difference between a cheapo rooftop flat and luxury rooftop accommodation. If rooftop accommodation looked like this, everyone would want to live there (below). The old tiny flat where the characters were living has been knocked down and a new deluxe model built in its place. Apparently it took the crew only 4 days to build the new set. I read an article about this on the SBS website and I’ve tried to translate it here below. In this exercise I focused on highlighting vocabulary related to drama production.