xinmsn checks out the list of staples in Korean dramas that keep viewers coming back for more

Piggyback rides

Piggyback rides provide a chaste-yet-sweet means of connecting characters on an emotional level – or drilling in the fact that the second lead is destined to be forever banished to the friend zone.

Despite the industry’s strict rules about drinking in dramas, it’s an open secret that Koreans love their booze. It’s also common knowledge that most people get less inhibited once intoxicated. Put two and two together and you get a winning formula – get the girl drunk and her knight in shining armour will rescue her and er, give her a piggyback ride.

Coupled with the herculean effort of the said hero-of-the-moment are romantic revelations that would never be uttered in the light of day (literally).

An unconventional (and hilarious) take of the classic piggyback ride occurs in Coffee Prince, where a complete role-reversal happens when heroine Go Eun Chan (Yoon Eun Hye) hoists a drunken Choi Han Gyul (Gong Yoo) around town. Of course, he later returns the favour on multiple occasions.

Added points for making girls all over the world wonder when her dream boy will appear to whisk her off on his warm, inviting back.