This is great. I am always pleased to see the dramas where they show the effort that goes into the tasks of the job like calligraphy I notice fonts now after watching More than friends. I have been more aware of sounds when I watch dramas after watching another Miss Oh, and publishing and the plight of books after Romance is a bonus book.

I thought the professions shown in Just Between Lovers were fairly novel or at least shown in a novel way. They were also well-integrated into the story. Their work was both an outcome of their history (working in architecture after suffering tragedy through a building collapse) and a way to heal (building a meaningful monument to the deceased)

Putting GIANT brackets around workplace romances with power differentials, which are mostly a bad idea most of the time:

Business Proposal and KSS would have been so much less fun without their leads’ unusual lines of work and how those were integrated into the storylines, and the workplace parts really carried the dramas when the thwarted-romance or angsty elements made the plots sag. Although the ad-making was intriguing, I’d much rather work for GoFood than Zeu.Ad, even if I would be unable to resist continuously stuffing product samples into my face.

Others that come to mind:
Romance Is a Bonus Book, with its depictions of how book editors do their work - and all the ins and outs of book-publishing, right down to making new employees learn what happens to books that don’t get purchased.

The FL as a stuntwoman in Secret Garden.

I’m not sure that Healer’s job really exists, or that I want it to, but it sure was fun to watch him do it.

1. Art Curator in Her Private Life - Art appeals to almost everyone. But here I got to see the immense work that goes into procuring and most importantly keeping the work safe from the wear and tear of time. The best part of the work of a Curator that stuck in Her Private Life was them reviving some of Lee Seols works that had gotten damaged. I didn't know that was possible.

Don't forget about fan-girling though.

2. The just concluded Kiss Sixth Sense is another. Advertising isn't something I pray to work on but I was wowed by the facet of advertising I saw here. It's different from what I'm exposed to.

3. You Are My Spring's Concierge Manager. Nothing much just that I fell in love with the job title.

4. A Wedding Dress Designer in The Spies Who Loved Me.

5. Fashion Designer in Glass Mask. Even though this later took the back seat and replaced by conglomerate power tussle, the work behind the scenes on how designs come to be was engaging, and a learning moment. Cross-stitching technique, and Kang Yi-kyung's ingenuity with respect to to her designs is one job mastery I like to see around clothing fashion.

Business Proposal was sort of genius - they gave the heroine a new and interesting profession from the webtoon, and they were able to market Bibigo, a korean brand made for the global market. I can look at a bag of my Bibigo dumplings and think of Shin Hari working hard on the next product.

I really liked WWW, which showed the jobs of the people behind internet search portals. Hot Stove League showed all the sports-team-management work. Forecasting Love and Weather sort of fell apart in the last third, but I loved how it showcased the weather forecaster profession, and I gained a new respect for it.

In Still 17, the male lead works as a set designer, which was a pretty cool job, though the drama didn't delve as much into it.

A unique profession in a drama was with Lee Je-hoon in Move to Heaven. I always thought that the family takes care of the belongings of a dead relative, I never knew that you could pass it on to someone else to do the job. Nowadays, several dramas featured the job of a shaman and/or magician. I liked Ji Chang-wook in The Sound of Magic, Park Hae-jin in From Now On, It's Showtime!, and Seo In-guk in Cafe Minamdang!

This article really clicked with me as I have always taken notice of the creative jobs/careers that kdrama characters are shown to have.
Some others-
1. Your House Helper- Professional house cleaner/organizer
2. Goblin- Goblin and Grim Reaper
3. 25/21- Fencers
4. Hotel Del Luna- Manager of hotel for ghosts
5. Forecasting Love and Weather- Various weather professionals

I just finished Tomorrow, so that's what I thought of immediately. I get that a supernatural job might not be completely in the spirit of the post, but one of the things I loved about Tomorrow was how un-supernatural many of the jobs were in Jumadeung really were. Yes, you had the flashy team who actually escorts the souls to the afterlife, but you also had folks editing videos of peoples' lives, and in charge of recruiting new employees, and taking care of the tech that all the other departments need. I thought it was a really fun depiction of the afterlife, and definitely portrayed some non-traditional jobs.

Was gonna say there are a lot of architects in kdrama but now I can only think of Ji Jin Hee in The Man Who Can’t Marry, so maybe that’s an unusual job, too.

I was very interested in the character who placed PPLs in dramas and all she had to go through in Be Melodramatic.

Timpanist in I Wanna Hear Your Song.
I always thought that was a particularly unusual or lesser known musical career and orchestral position to cover, especially in a kdrama lol.

So no one’s gonna talk about the Korean/Italian consigliere extraordinaire, Vin-CHEN-zo KWAssano??

Cuz I will :’)

One that comes to mind for me is The Package, where FL is a Korean tour package guide in France! That was a first for me in general, I don't think I've watched a show, in any language, where one of the leads is working as a tour guide (not that they don't exist, but I just haven't seen it before).

Not sure of this counts but my favourite arc & character in Welcome to Waikiki (1&2) was Lee Yikyung's 'aspiring actor' character - obviously the profession isn't exactly a unique one BUT I did find the fact that he was largely working as a stunt man/extra to be a bit of a refreshing take and also it provided the whole series with a great emotional anchor because it's hard not to love & root for the guy who's trying so hard with the little roles he's given to make it big.

I really Enjoyed watching the PR team at sh**ting stars. Made me curious about the people who write the Instagram posts on behalf of their actors.

Sometimes a drama will actually improve on an element of the story from what was in the original writing. Ha-ri's profession in BUSINESS PROPOSAL was just one such stroke of genius: In the original webtoon she is simply a member of 'Finance Team Two' (cue a yawn here). Making her a food researcher was a vast improvement.

To name a few that haven't been mentioned already:

Jung Ryu Won and her coworkers in a radio program in Bubblegum.

Tae In Ho in Life. I don't exactly know his job name, he talked to families of terminal patients about organ donations. He did such a fantastic job of his role.

Lee Joon Hyuk in the Naked Fireman. As a Fireman.

Kim Dong Wook in Special Labour Inspector Jo. As a Special Labour Inspector.

Nam Sang Mi and her team in Chief Kim as accountants. It might not have been very unusual, but it showed the job in depth.

Lee Si Young in Wild Romance as a failed national judoka ended up as bodyguard for hire. In the beginning it felt more played up for comedy when she guarded 6-foot Lee Dong Wook, but later in the story when she was hired to keep a woman in the process of divorce safe from her abusive husband, and another woman from a stalker, the job felt very real to me.

Another one I remembered:

Choi Ban Do in Go Back Couple. He was a pharmaceutical visitor.

Uhhh, Song Joong-ki as a mafia consigliere in Vincenzo? Idk why that’s the first one that immediately came to my mind. Everyone else had such creative answers too. I’m especially disappointed in myself for completely forgetting some of my favourite dramas lol.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the engineers in My Ahjusshi (structural engineering) and On the Verge of Insanity (software and hardware engineering for home appliances). OTVOI also has a human resource manager.

What would we call, or name the profession Kang Jae (Ryu Joon Yeol) had in Human Disqualification aka Lost?!

Shin Se-kyung was also Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryoung. That was a fascinating job because it was the lynchpin on which good governance in the Joseon era depended (at least in the drama). A parable for today about how society depends on institutions, and institutions depend on the integrity of the people who make them work.

Chief Kim and the finance team in Chief Kim! There was a fair amount of waving receipts and arguing with other departments about audits which kept the drama grounded.

I enjoyed the depiction of an editor in Moonlight and found the combinations of scriptwriter, director and producer both hilarious and informative in Melo Is My Nature.

The sound engineering in Another Miss Oh was by far my favorite part of that drama. I learned so much I didn't know and it was pretty fascinating to the point where I think about that aspect of production when I watch now. I also loved the editing/publishing part of Romance is a Bonus Book and learned a lot as well. I was hooked on My Ajusshi from the opening scenes since the structural engineering part seemed so real. By the same token I dropped Just Between Lovers as soon as the "architect" FL started talking nonsense about columns not being properly designed. Absurd since it's impossible to know unless you've actually engineered the structure. An architect would never say such a thing, esp a junior one.

The Red Sleeve: court ladies.
WLFKBJoo: weightlifting fairy.
Waikiki: erotic writer.
Zombie Detective: zombie detective.
Doberman: military prosecutor.

Bonus:
The Fiery Priest: kick-ass priest and nuns? lol
Terius Behind Me: housewives (and househusband) detectives.
Happiness: Sae Beom's job, aka. being a badass.

Run On : Translator. I began to appreciate translators after watching this show. One may understand a bit of the language. But translators are the one who make us understand the whole picture and situation. She didn't just translate the conversation as it is. She translates it according to the scene. Thank you so much to kdrama translators for helping me understand so many great shows.

Our Beloved Summer : Artist (Ung-a). I didn't know that it's a hard work to produce a great drawing. This show shows that one can be at the bottom at the school but still be successful when you pursue your passion. And also talent makes impact when you work hard. Talent alone is not enough - Ung took the initiative to take art classes and further his study in art to improve his skills.

Wok of Love: Chef. Love watching Jun Ho creating recipes and showing the importance of Wok and Ladle.

Now It's Showtime : Shaman. I love everything fantasy especially if it's about solving cases. This reminds me of Mystic Pop Up Bar! (But I'm not sure what's the female lead job is)

Racket Boys : Coach. This is the first kdrama that I learned about the job of a coach, a badminton coach. I used to have a judgment that coach only yell and instruct their players. Oops, I'm totally wrong! Coaches are the mastermind. It blew my mind that they even study how opponents play in recorded video and create a strategy from there. Wow!

Apart from all the occupations already mentioned, here are some more that I liked:

1. Dali and Gamjatang: Dali works as the owner/ chairperson of an art museum, so I got to see how they run the museum and how much money a museum needs and in what ways they can have it (e.g., from sponsoring). Moo-hak also has an interesting job, a chain restaurant owner. We got to see many scenes in which he had to eat pork made into different dishes.

2. Forecasting Love and Weather: The FL's sister works as a writer and illustrator of children books. I think it is a very cute occupation.

3. Chocolate: I love how it shows us what it might look like in a hospice. I love that people working there (at least as depicted in this show) show so much care for everyone who is there.

4. Start-up: It was a really fun watch as I think many people found it super engaging and interesting to see how people invest/ create a start-up. I think it was a hit partly due to the fact that the subject matter (a start-up/ investments/ funding) appealed to people this generation.

Another one that left a deep impression on me was Kim so hyun's character as a radio show writer in radio romance. Even before diving knee deep in kdramas, I spent a lot of time watching radio shows and even do till now ( my latest favs are BTOB's kiss the radio, naver now shows, EBS's pentagon night radio) and my overactive imagination never considered the dynamics between the idol RJ and the writers. Although the drama fizzled out towards the end, it was still interesting how hard radio show writers work to make the program more interesting.
Even now I think how "harmonious" the relationships actually are
I know (G)-IDLE's Miyeon is practically a daughter to the radio show writers

Let me add to being a fan of unique occupations depicted in our dramas. Certainly, the sound engineer's job was an eye-opener. The translator's role in Run On, too. I still am looking for her calendar that is just the right fit by her keyboard. I cannot find that size. Move to Heaven's clean up squad i never knew existed. A cdrama take on cost engineers was fascinating, even as I thought project management can't be made exciting. I think the artist profession in Our Beloved Summer was interesting and made me a fan of pencil drawings of ordinary town settings. Indeed, the profession of the leads, well-tied to the story, is one that attracts me to the drama.

We've had some great dramas for that lately ahahaha

1. Sh**ting Stars: We have a lot of dramas about the actors themselves... not so many about the people who clean up after them.

2. Dark Hole: now, we don't actually get to see him at work all that often... but for those who remember, Yoo Tae Han was a tow truck driver at the beginning of the series!

3. Flower of Evil: I think people who create jewelry are just super cool.

4. Just Between Lovers: This show made me want to learn how to build miniature models of things like buildings. That's such a cool job! Construction workers aren't often featured in dramas either, so that's fun.

5. One Spring Night: ...the pharmecist and the librarian. How nice!

6. Where Stars Land: I loved the atmosphere of the airport in this drama about customer service agents.

7. The Package: I don't think I'd last long as a tour guide...

I think all three siblings in My Liberation Notes had a fairly common profession in the real eorld but an uncommon one in dramaland.
Mi jung: Graphic designer
Literally every company needs one but dramaland does not have enough illustrators or graphic designers.
Chang Hee: While he's a manager, his work isn't mostly based in the office but in the department stores. I guess his other chosen profession isn't thar common in dramaland either.
Ki Jung: I'm still not sure what her profession or position exactly was but it dealt with research and statistics.
And then there's Mr Gu...

Bossam – Bossam hunter…
Arthadal Chronicles – Bronze age hunter gatherer? That’s first… (Not recommended)
Doom - Well Doom is the doom. It's quite unique profession. (Not recommended unless you are ultimate fan of the cast)
The silent sea - unique for k-drama. (Again, not recommended unless you are fan of the cast)
Healer - Ajumma Hacker - There are many hackers in drama land but they tend to be very young. It was first time a saw an ajumma being a hacker.

I loved Another Miss Oh for the foley work, which has fascinated me long before I saw the drama. The insight into new professions is a reason I love slice-of-life dramas. I would add Thirty but Seventeen to this list too: he measured everything people mistook him for a pervert. hahaa
Our Beloved Summer didn't have an unusual career per se--artist--but the attention to it made some of my favorite scenes--and the art was gorgeous.

Forecasting, love and weather. It is first Korea Meteorology Administration drama...there were many reviews from real workers saying it's realistic portraying how KMA works

Oh Hae Young is definitely one of my favorite. Here's few others not yet mention that i feel really highlight the profession:

Jealousy Incarnate/ Don't Dare To Dream: news reader

The Producer: variety show producer

Imitation: idols

A Piece Of Your Mind - Classical music recorder and AI developer

my unique profession dramas..
1. Forecasting love and whether.. cause it indeed had never used profession of kdramas. And i learnt a lot about forecasting.

2. Run On.. Shin Se Kyung's profession of translator was fascinating. It again helped me understand struggles of all people who translate kdramas for us and provide us subtitled files... so huge respect for them all.

3. Another oh hae young.. Eric's profession of Sound designer and Folly Artist was no less fascinating for me.. though i dint have much knowledge abt it then but still it was interesting to watch.

4. Kiss sixth sense... Ad agency, planning an ad, making storyboards, then shooting, editing videos and fighting for every extra edit.. hahahah i could never relate to a profession like this ever before. believe me i watched this show just for understanding more abt Ad world more than the plot itself (which was all recycled)

5. Naked Fireman... lol no reason to explain cause i love everything abt it cause it had not so used new profession for sure.

Absolute Boyfriend: special-effects props and makeup artist. The FL and her team casually fling around gruesome body parts and brew up buckets of fake blood.

Robot boyfriends, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen.

Oh I might have some dramas woth uniqu professions:
In "secret garden" the FL was w stunt
"Move to Heaven" and a very unique job trouma cleaning
"Strong delivery man", which tells story of a delivery man
"One poem a day": rehab professionnels. It is somehow common yo see doctors. But rehab professionnals was a good idea.
Backstreet rookie: It is not uncommon to see actors play as a sales clerk, but a whole story around a supermarket was refreshing.

Historian in Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung.

Historian are almost non existent in sageuk so it is an eye opener to see that historians are everywhere in the palace.

I also greatly admire their persistence to record fairly, despite all the pressure from court politics.