The Pianist Who Became a Daughter-in-law at a Hwacheon Apple Farm, October 19 KBS Screening Humanity

Sweet and sour Hye-won has arrived!

Giving up her dream as a pianist to find love in Hwacheon... Hye-won and the apple orchard

Broadcast: October 19 (Mon) ~ 23 (Fri) 7:50 AM KBS 1TV, 2026

All I need is you and the apples

On a weekend afternoon, Jo Hye-won (33) and Park Deok-seong (37) set out together as a married couple. Just looking at each other brings smiles to their faces, making them look like a couple going on a date. The place these two are heading is none other than an apple orchard. Today is the day to lay reflective film on the ground so the apples ripen evenly red. Unlike Deok-seong, who works silently and efficiently, Hye-won is somewhat clumsy. In fact, she is a so-called "career-interrupted woman" in farming, having returned to the fields after a two-year break.

Hye-won has walked the path of music, playing the piano since she was seven years old. The reason she left all that behind and chose to go to Hwacheon was solely because of Deok-seong. The two fell in love at first sight when they met at a friend's wedding reception.

One day, while maintaining a long-distance relationship commuting between Hwacheon and Seoul, Hye-won's life changed when she discovered apple juice stacked in her in-laws' warehouse. After saying just one sentence, "I'll try selling this," Hye-won succeeded in selling out the stock to her colleagues at her then-job. From the moment she thought, 'If I can only stay by my beloved Deok-seong's side, I will gladly become a farmer,' Hye-won jumped into apple farming in earnest.

After giving birth to and raising two children, Hye-won stands in the apple orchard again after two years. As they approach the harvest, which is the report card for the year, Hye-won and her family feel their hearts racing.

Sweet and sour, sweet yet fierce apple orchard mother-in-law and daughter-in-law

A day spent going to attend apple farming training with her mother-in-law, Jeon Yun-hui (68). The topic of conversation between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the car is, inevitably, 'farming.' Hye-won, who wants to focus on apple farming, and Yun-hui, who cannot let go of the pumpkin farming she has done her whole life. Because they have different thoughts even within the same type of farming, a subtle tension hangs between the two today as well.

Yun-hui, who was widowed at the age of forty and raised three children alone. From working in a school cafeteria to pumpkin farming and now apple farming, she has lived a truly tenacious life, doing everything for her children. Compared to Hye-won, who was born and raised in the city, they are entirely different in everything, just as much as their life histories are. Because they clash on every little thing, from dietary habits to ways of working, there were many days when Hye-won suffered in secret.

However, as she raised children and farmed, Hye-won began to see the life her mother-in-law had lived. Now, while managing childcare and farming together, the two are becoming reliable companions. Yun-hui also feels proud of her bold daughter-in-law, who grows more capable every day.

One day, while preparing lunch, Hye-won, the daughter-in-law, opens her mother-in-law's refrigerator and begins nagging. The mother-in-law's expression gradually hardens.

Love and apples are both ripening

Deok-seong goes to his mother's pumpkin field every dawn. To ask his mother to reduce her workload, he is the first member of the family to wake up and start field work. After finishing the pumpkin harvest, Deok-seong hurries to the county office. In fact, Deok-seong is both a farmer and a third-year civil servant.

He had been preparing for the civil service exam since his university days, but he failed repeatedly due to dating, farming, and raising children. There is a special story behind his passing the civil service exam after eight years.

Two years ago, when Deok-seong suffered a major traffic accident, the apple orchard and farming work stopped completely. It was then that Deok-seong realized for the first time that a single physical injury could shake the family's livelihood. Thus, he studied desperately in the hospital that year and finally passed. Now, he works alternating between being a civil servant and farming.

After passing through the two stopped years, Hye-won's family is finally facing their first harvest this year. Having passed the time when she knew nothing like a green apple, Hye-won is now ripening firmly along with her family, like an apple that has endured the hot summer and is turning red.

(Photo provided by = KBS 1TV 'Screening Humanity')

Read the original (Korean)