Once Upon a Small Town

What to expect, before you press play.

CompletedSMALL-TOWN ROMANCE PICK

Once Upon a Small Town

어쩌다 전원일기 (Eojjeoda Jeonwonilgi) · 2022 · South Korea

WriterBaek Eun-kyung

DirectorKwon Seok-jang

Episodes12 eps · ~36 min each

Where to Watch✅ Netflix

⏱️

Binge Time7h 12m

AiredSep 5 – Sep 28, 2022

GenreRomance · Comedy · Drama

Content Rating12+

Netflix

Small TownCountrysideVeterinarianPolice OfficerSlow Burn

Here’s the verdict — no scrolling, no guesswork.

The vet, the police officer and the neighbours who watch their every move.

JOY

Ahn Ja-young

Lead

Choo Young-woo

Han Ji-yul

Lead

Baek Sung-chul

Lee Sang-hyeon

Supporting

Baek Ji-won

Jang Se-ryeon

Supporting

Jeong Seok-yong

Hwang Man-sung

Supporting

Roh Jae-won

Yoon Geun-mo

Supporting

Park Ye-ni

Nurse Yeong-suk

Supporting

Na Chul

Choi Yun-hyeong

Supporting

Park Ji-a

Cha Yeon-hong

Supporting

Kim Young-sun

Park Mal-geum

Supporting

Jeong Si-yul

Kim Seon-dong

Supporting

Yoo Yeon

Mo Kyung-ok

Supporting

Episode-by-episode, spoiler-light — a refresher, not a rewatch.

EP 01

Mistaken for a Thief

Sep 5, 2022

Ji-yul’s first day in Huidong goes badly: he arrives at his grandfather’s house worried and is knocked out by an overeager policeman who takes him for a burglar. He wakes to learn his grandfather is on a cruise and has left him the keys and the village’s only vet hospital. A ride home with Ja-young ends in mud, a disagreement over a stray dog, and a late-night call-out to an injured goat. The episode ends with a look of recognition between him and Ja-young at the river.

EP 02

Welcome to Huidong

Sep 6, 2022

The whole village greets Ji-yul with a warmth that exhausts him, and Ja-young seems to be wherever he goes. She remembers the two of them as secret friends from the past; he does not. They are thrown together on a pig vaccination day, where the work gets done and she still shoves him into a mess. He meets Sang-hyeon at the cafe, a peach farmer who lights up at the thought that Ja-young may not be interested in the newcomer. A small robbery brings Ji-yul into the search for a thief.

EP 03

A Cold Shoulder

Sep 7, 2022

After the petty thief is dealt with at the station and Ji-yul declines to press charges, the Huidong and Majeong women’s associations launch another bickering match. Ji-yul tells Ja-young he wants his own space, and she walks away hurt. When he later overhears that she was abandoned by her mother, he sees her differently and regrets how he spoke to her. Over peach wrapping and a truck-buying errand they patch things up, and Se-ryeon laughs that the whole village has teased the two of them for ten years.

EP 04

A Rescue Dog

Sep 12, 2022

Ji-yul and Ja-young bond over a half-wild dog named Nurungji, who she takes in, and the day she spends tracking the dog down leads to three puppies and a scratched arm. A difficult cow delivery shows the two of them working well together. At a village party Sang-hyeon and Ji-yul trade needling remarks over drinks, and Ja-young sings for the room. Ji-yul awkwardly ends up holding her hand, Sang-hyeon follows them, and the episode ends when he confesses his feelings to Ja-young.

EP 05

Back Off

Sep 13, 2022

The morning after his confession, Sang-hyeon tells Ja-young he sees her as a friend and a woman and asks her to keep thinking about it. Ji-yul, wrongly reading her warmth toward him, turns stern and then cold, and when she gets hurt after fixing his bike with a part from her own, he lectures her about seeking approval by helping others. She breaks down in tears. A boy named Seon-dong pushes him to apologize, but as he calls her he hears a crash and finds her patrol car off the road.

EP 06

Rain, a Rescue and a Bull

Sep 14, 2022

Ji-yul pulls Ja-young out of the wrecked patrol car, an act that mirrors a tragedy from his own childhood, when she was the one who helped him. At the hospital Sang-hyeon is the one who thanks him. The next day Ji-yul visits his parents’ resting place, then performs a painful euthanasia on an old bull while its owner Pyeong-sik looks on. Pyeong-sik is the one who reminds him of the girl he used to play with in secret, and the episode ends with Ji-yul and Ja-young staring at each other.

EP 07

After the Revelation

Sep 19, 2022

Ji-yul finally knows who Ja-young is, and neither of them knows how to say it. He treats a sick rabbit, and the owner’s visit leads Seon-dong to seek advice from both Ji-yul and Ja-young about his crush, which backfires. Ja-young tells Sang-hyeon she will never see the vet again after he leaves anyway. When Seon-dong disappears, the two search the village together and trade jabs about apologies and timing. In the car afterward Ji-yul tells her she was his only good memory of that year and apologizes for forgetting.

EP 08

Visitors from Seoul

Sep 20, 2022

Ji-yul and Ja-young drive to Gupyeong to treat a sick dog for Mal-geum, the Majeong woman who had insulted her, and a flat tire leaves them waiting ninety minutes at the beach. He admits he does not dislike life in Huidong after all. Back in town his ex-girlfriend Min turns up, intending to stay a week and win him back, thanks to Yun-hyeong’s livestream giving away where he was. Min ends up lodging at Ja-young’s house, and Ji-yul finally tells Ja-young he does not have a girlfriend.

EP 09

The Housemate’s Request

Sep 21, 2022

Ji-yul bottles his confession again and the evening ends in tension between him and Sang-hyeon. Min befriends Ja-young and asks her for help winning him back, while Ja-young is given a makeover and teased for it by her colleagues. They end up making peach wine together, a tense little love triangle. In the storage shed Ji-yul defines love as a racing heart and asks whether Sang-hyeon gives her that, only to be interrupted by snacks. Min then tries to kiss him, and Ja-young drops a box of corn.

EP 10

Running Out of Time

Sep 26, 2022

Ji-yul chases after Ja-young to explain, and she says there is nothing between them. She tells Sang-hyeon she cannot return his feelings, and he takes it with grace. Ji-yul tells Min what she feels is regret rather than love, and Min apologizes and agrees to move on. When he finally confesses to Ja-young she rebuffs him, calling him just a little boy. Sang-hyeon helps her see she was afraid of losing him, and she admits her feelings to Min, then goes to the hospital and kisses Ji-yul.

EP 11

Secret Dates

Sep 27, 2022

After the kiss Ji-yul hides Ja-young when Yeong-suk walks in, and the new couple agree to keep dating a secret from the village. They sneak off to Seoul for a tour of his workplace and a late meal, and Ji-yul promises eight-hour round trips will feel like nothing. Ja-young feels so steady in the relationship that she stands up to Mal-geum for the first time. She thanks Sang-hyeon for his part in getting them together, and the episode ends with the two possibly caught kissing in the street.

EP 12

The Announcement

Sep 28, 2022

Ji-yul and Ja-young slip away unseen, only to learn that Yun-hyeong has returned to Huidong to pursue Yeong-suk. Work keeps ruining their date plans, until a drunken Ja-young announces their relationship to the whole village, who say they already knew. They dye each other’s ring fingers with balsam flowers and promise to do it again next summer. After a two-week time skip, Ja-young finds out Ji-yul has hidden an arm injury from her, which makes her feel shut out of caring for him.

Full spoilers — breaking down the finale and what it means.

Ja-young announces it to the whole town High On Films’ recap (October 2, 2022) says the finale’s first stretch is a long day for Ahn Ja-young. Her date with Ji-yul is wrecked by police work and a team dinner, a drunken man starts a fight at the restaurant, and she ends up drinking a bottle of local root beer. Then she walks to the town’s announcement centre and tells the village that she and the director’s grandson are together. Ji-yul finds it endearing. The Women’s Association, led by Se-ryeon, say that everyone already knew and had been pretending not to. Both recaps then have the couple end the night by dyeing each other’s ring fingers with balsam flowers.

Long distance, and a hidden injury After a time skip, Ji-yul is back in Seoul. Both recaps say Ja-young gets uneasy about how little they talk and that she finds out, on a call, that he has hurt his arm and not told her. High On Films calls it a hairline fracture and says she hangs up in anger; Ready Steady Cut says she is deflated. She tells him she wants to know when he is hurt. Sang-hyeon tells her to go and see him, so she drives to Seoul, but he has driven to Huidong at the same moment. Yun-hyeong comforts her, Ji-yul comes back, and they agree to see each other whenever either of them misses the other.

A promotion and a new job Time moves on again, and both recaps mark the change with the season: Sang-hyeon runs a peach-picking event that has made him well known online, and Ja-young is promoted. The recaps do not agree on the rank. High On Films says she becomes chief of police and Ready Steady Cut says sergeant, so we will say only that it is a promotion. Ji-yul is waiting at the vet hospital with a bouquet. He tells her he is now the hospital’s director. High On Films adds that his grandfather is old enough to retire, that he sent his grandparents off on a cruise as a retirement gift, and that Ja-young asks whether he did it to be with her.

The ring The recaps describe the last scene a little differently. High On Films says Ji-yul notices the balsam dye has faded from their fingers, takes out a ring box and proposes in a cheesy but warm way. Ready Steady Cut says only that rings are exchanged. Both describe the same outcome: a couple who plan to stay together in Huidong, with Ji-yul living in the village among the nosy neighbours. The sources do not mention a wedding date.

What the finale leaves open High On Films says the ending feels rushed and like a tried-and-tested format, though it calls the show comforting and easy to binge. We would agree that it ties things up quickly: the long-distance worry is settled in one episode. Yeong-suk and Yun-hyeong are shown as a couple, and Sang-hyeon is a friendly face, but neither recap says what comes of his feelings for Ja-young after episode 10. The series is a single season of 12 episodes.