K-drama fans in Singapore have a new title for the queue. Rakuten Viki is bringing Summer Vacation, a romance-mystery starring Cho Yi Hyun, Jinyoung and Hong Ye Ji, exclusively to audiences across Southeast Asia. For viewers here and in the rest of the region, that means one app covers the whole story, so nobody in the group chat has to ask where everyone else is watching it.
Viki bills the series as “highly anticipated”. It’s a coming-of-age drama about an ordinary 18-year-old whose summer trip to a quiet village takes a mystical turn nobody planned for. Anyone who has packed a bag for a day on Pulau Ubin (the rustic island off Singapore’s north-east coast) secretly hoping something, anything, would happen will recognise the feeling straight away.
Wishing for a Plot Twist
Viki introduces the lead as Kim Ha Yeon (Cho Yi Hyun), a high school student whose imagination has been shaped by the dramas she loves. She wishes her life were as dramatic as the ones she watches on screen. Craving a break from her mundane routine, she spends her summer in Upo-ri, an unfamiliar countryside village far from her usual surroundings.
The irony is the fun part. A girl who wants her life to play out like television ends up at the centre of a drama of her own. Most of us have finished a binge at 2am and wondered why our own week never gets a plot twist in episode three, so Ha Yeon is easy to root for before the story even starts.
Viki describes Upo-ri as a village where time seems to stand still, set against lush greens and blue ocean views. For readers whose usual escape is a quiet evening away from the HDB corridor, it’s a postcard of slow summer living. That calm makes a sharp contrast with the trouble waiting there.
The Heir With a Colourless Life
In Upo-ri, Ha Yeon meets Jo Yu Gyeom (Jinyoung), the head heir of a prestigious traditional clan. On paper he has everything, including striking looks and an exceptional talent for swimming. Viki says old-fashioned rules and repetitive routines under strict family expectations have left his days colourless.
Then there’s Sae Ryeong (Hong Ye Ji), Yu Gyeom’s girlfriend. She’s the detail that lifts this above a tidy holiday fling, because Ha Yeon is stepping into lives that, in Viki’s words, are “already closely connected”. A girl hungry for excitement, an heir with almost no freedom and a girlfriend in the picture make a setup that rarely stays simple for long!
Where the Mystery Comes In
On the strange part, Summer Vacation keeps its cards close. Viki says only that Ha Yeon’s visit takes a mystical turn and brings “an element of the unexplained” to her countryside stay. It doesn’t spell out what that element is.
That restraint works in the show’s favour. Spoiler-averse viewers can go in knowing the shape of the story, from the village and the romance to Yu Gyeom’s relationship with Sae Ryeong, while the mystery stays a genuine surprise.
More New Arrivals on Viki
If one series won’t fill the weekend, Viki has other recent premieres to dip into. Mommy to Mi Mi, a daily drama from KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), premiered on Viki on 6 November. It follows two mothers with opposite approaches to life, one devoted to her family and the other to her own desires, as their adult children’s lives become intertwined.
For something lighter, World Dice Tour 4 premiered on 17 October. It sends three travel vloggers around the world on journeys decided by chance. This season adds a cinematic spin, with actors, idols and other guests joining the vloggers to make short films about their adventures.
The strongest companion pick for Summer Vacation fans is The Painted Soul, which launched as a Viki exclusive on 21 October and which the platform calls its first original animated series. It’s directed by Choi Junbae, known for the psychological thriller Mouse. The 10-episode fantasy follows apprentice painter Yun Hwa after she frees Seol Jin, a mysterious man who has spent decades imprisoned inside a painting.
It has the same pull of romance tangled up with the unexplained, set in an animated world. Anyone who worked through our anime picks from Summer 2022 will slot right in.
Pack It for Your Watchlist
Of Viki’s current slate, Summer Vacation is the one most likely to become the next big conversation among your friends. It has a heroine who wants a plot twist, an heir boxed in by his family, a girlfriend who complicates everything, and a mystery Viki refuses to give away. In a country where it’s summer all year round, a show with that title fits any month on the calendar. Head to the Rakuten Viki website or app, search for Summer Vacation, and let Upo-ri rewrite your holiday plans!
Photos and Visuals courtesy of Rakuten Viki.
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