(Credit: Netflix)

Netflix recently dropped a South Korean rom-com, Can This Love Be Translated?, to tug at our heartstrings, and the streaming giant seems to have succeeded well.

Can This Love Be Translated? follows Joo Ho-jin, a polyglot interpreter, who prioritises exactitude over everything else in his personal and professional lives, having built his life around linguistic precision to avoid emotional vulnerability. While Ho-jin’s love life is flattened with his unrequited feelings for Ji-sun, who’s about to marry Ho-jin’s half-brother, his life turns around when he accepts an interpreting job for Romantic Trip, a new dating reality show.

On set, Ho-jin reunites with Cha Mu-hee, an actor he met years ago on his trip to Japan. Although she wasn’t a famed celebrity back then, those are now ghosts of the past. Now, Ho-jin is tasked to be the interpreter between Mu-hee and a Japanese actor as they travel to the most romantic destinations around the world.

Just as Ho-jin begins translating conversations between Mu-hee and Hiro, a love story between Ho-jin and Mu-hee subtly blooms, crossing every linguistic barrier, but the question is: do they end up together?

Do Ho-jin and Mu-hee end up together?

During the Italy shoot of Romantic Trip in Can This Love Be Translated?, although Mu-hee yearns for Ho-jin, she cannot make a move. A part of that decision relies on crew members mentioning that he has been “dating someone” at night, which she fails to realise is actually Do Ra-mi. Ho-jin doesn’t reveal the truth about his feelings after Do Ra-mi warns him that Mu-hee’s anxiety surrounding him is one of the triggers of her split personality.

But then, Italy turns out to be an adventure, and Mu-hee helps Ho-jin reconcile with his mother while filming at her winery before the wedding. In the dating reality show, Hiro confesses his love to Mu-hee, which culminates in a happy ending for Romantic Trip. However, now that Ho-jin and Mu-hee can no longer use the show as an excuse to see each other, things don’t look as promising on their end.

When Ho-jin leaves for the airport, a sudden realisation dawns upon Mu-hee, leading Ho-jin to return. She tells him that she remembers living as Do Ra-mi and is afraid to let him in on his true feelings. Although she urges him to reject her, Ho-jin, now fully aware of her self-sabotaging nature, proposes another way out. Since they’re bound to separate anyway, they make a pact not to break up until the next month.

They spent the night together in Italy. However, when Mu-hee ends up entangled in a scandal, feigning to be Do Ra-mi, she tries to break up with him. But knowing that Do Ra-mi is no longer in control of her, Ho-jin sees through her. They don’t break up over the scandal, and Ho-jin assures that a scandal would never be the reason behind their separation.

But when Mu-hee finally pursues familial closure and decides to visit her mother, she does tell Ho-jin that she would like to “break up” for a little bit. The reason she goes her own way is not that her feelings for Ho-jin have died. Instead, she wants to confront her childhood traumas head-on. Upon her return, they reunite once again, neither afraid nor wary. And that’s how Can This Love Be Translated? comes to an end.