Queen of Tears | Ilwol Arboretum, Suwon — The I Am Solo Parody

Episode seven contains the least dignified thing Baek Hyun-woo does in the entire series: standing in a garden calling out for Yeong-suk, doing a full parody of the dating show I Am Solo. It is filmed at Ilwol Arboretum in Suwon.

The garden is newer than most people assume — it opened in May 2023, less than a year before broadcast, as Suwon's ecological landmark. Sixteen themed gardens across the site: a Dasan garden, a forest garden, conifers, an ecological observation area, grassland, a dry garden, a display greenhouse, an ornamental garden, shrubs and grasses, with over 2,100 plant species. The Ilwol Reservoir sits alongside it.

Admission is around 4,000 won, half that for Suwon residents, and parking is charged separately — a detail visitors complain about with some justification. Closed Mondays, half nine to half five. Guided tours run twice daily and there are healing yoga, drawing and plant classes if you want more than a walk.

Go in spring or autumn. Several winter visitors have said plainly that the outdoor planting is bare and the greenhouse is small and hot; the site is designed around seasons and does not fake them.

The photograph everyone takes is from the second-floor bridge or in front of the ornamental garden fountain. Take it, then walk out to the reservoir edge — Suwon built a genuine public garden here, not a set, and the drama borrowed it for four minutes of a man making a fool of himself.

Cover photo: Suwon, by 노규동, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. City view, not the arboretum.