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The drama <Dongbaekkkot pil muryeop> broke away from Seoul, which represents monotonous spatiality, and reconsidered the meaning of locality and focused on the stories of ordinary people who sustained their daily lives without being polluted from the violent era. As a result, <Dongbaekkkot pil muryeop> was recognized as "the best Korean drama in 2019" and an exceptional case where a non-mainstream story that was overlooked by television drama in South Korea dominated the mainstream. The background of the drama <Dongbaekkkot pil muryeop> was based on an imaginary local area called 'Ongsan' and an opportunity was provided to embody a romantic life that stands out from the urban area. In particular, Ongsan deviated from the law of survival that applies in the modern urban area such as employment, competition, and success and the people that live in Ongsan also stimulate the pre-modern nostalgia, unlike people who live in the modern urban area. <Dongbaekkkot pil muryeop> leaves out the livelihood issues of the residents in Ongsan as much as possible and optimizes the romantic trend in Ongsan. In particular, the 'crab alley,' which maximizes the romantic trend in Ongsan, exists as a location that represents the identity of Ongsan and reveals the sturdy relationship built through the common experiences of the residents. Likewise, Ongsan is characterized by a special sense of place in terms of the geographical conditions and contributes to reinforcing the 'local fantasy' in people. Moreover, as the local element, the fantasy in Ongsan reaches the climax through Yong-sik, the main male character. However, <Dongbaekkkot pil muryeop> does not ignore the periodical anxiety while reenacting the local story in a romantic manner. A mysterious character named 'Kka-bul-e (prankster)' was inserted to make a premise that crimes and fear can also exist in Ongsan, a peaceful area. The drama <Dongbaekkkot pil muryeop> does not only reenact the romantic circumstances of the local area and residents as the character, 'Kkal-bul-e' and murder cases were applied as the sub-plot and used as a strategy to heighten the dramatic anxiety. Moreover, the truth about the characters and the cases were concealed until the end and caused intended misconception and confusion to the viewers and sustained the dramatic anxiety until the end. In case the drama only involves series of static narrative, it could lead to the issue of weak anxiety but this was solved by inserting detective narrative that assists the central narrative. In conclusion, the drama <Dongbaekkkot pil muryeop> stands out from other works and received great popularity from the public and literary critics because it provides romance that conceals the violent era, although it is not overlooked, and also creates a balanced merge between the escape into romance and realistic problems.

<Dongbaekkkot pil muryeop>, space, romance, local, locality, location, detective narrative, multi-genre, TV dramas