SeokRona

"I missed you too, Rona"

- Seok-Hoon to Rona in Season 2, Episode 5/6

Seokrona is the het ship between Bae Rona and Joo Seok-Hoon from the The Penthouse: War in Life fandom.

Season One
Seok-Hoon and Rona first saw each other when she finally got to attend Cheong-A arts school and off the waiting list, the students there start making fun of her in Italian, but Seok-Hoon on the other hand calls her pretty. Their first actual interaction was when Rona was late to school and didn't want to be caught by the teacher who was watching outside because she would get penalty points resulting in her having community helping hours. Seok-Hoon was also late and saw that she was late too so he offered to help her up the gate but for some reason, he didn't get up the gate himself. We later found out that his twin sister Seok-Kyung made him hit on Rona to make Eunbyeol mad/jealous, who is also Rona's love rival later in the series. Students in the classroom were taking over all the seats on purpose, so he offered the seat beside him. Then, the rumor of her living in Min Seol A's house spread around fast and this time he didn't protect her at all but yells at her which seems to make her even more nervous than she already was. Although, there was no scene of them making up she still seems fond of him because he was the first person to ever show kindness to her even so she gives him chocolate milk to show her gratitude by leaving it on his desk and he thanks her. It's later shown that he genuinely likes her and not just hitting on her for a bet like Seok-Kyung planned as we can see him smiling at her fondly as he watches her from afar. The Hera Palace kids arrive at Rona's house unannounced (rudely) and they even make fun of the food she eats that was served to them by Rona's mom but Seok-Hoon does the opposite, he eats the food to show his appreciation and they smile at each other. At the school, Rona was accused of smoking because she was caught with cigarettes in her pencil case (it was Eunbyeol's doing) and not one person believed her when she said it wasn't hers. So, Seok-Hoon chooses to take the blame and said that he placed those cigarettes in there for the fun of it (because he thinks his twin sister Seok-Kyung did it). This brings Rona in disbelief, she starts to question him which sounded more like pleading because she didn't want to believe he would do that to her of all people but he still sticks to his claim which puts a tiny strain on their relationship. But, it was patched up when she saw that he was injured by a teacher. So, she gives him pain relief patches to help with the pain, He starts taking off his shirt and Rona quickly turns around nervously "Why are you taking off your shirt?" but he then clears up the misunderstanding and tells her to give him the pain relief patches so he can put them on. She gives it to him and she starts walking away but before she does, he wishes her luck on the audition and she replies with a smile, "Thanks, you too.". Rona arrives at his house to congratulate him and Seok-Hoon for making the audition, she then looks at the gift in her hand but quickly hides it cause she thinks it's embarrassing. Seok-Hoon who saw asked her "When are you going to give me that?" she replies with "it's nothing expensive." Seok-Hoon opens the gift box then turns to everyone for a few seconds and says "I like it." Rona smiles at the comment. The Hera Palace kids gets a threatening message from someone who is impersonating Min Seol A, Eunbyeol was quick to suspect Rona because of her hatred for her but Seok-Hoon tells her that it's just her speculation and she doesn't have any proof. Rona then receives a message from Seok-Hoon so she dresses up nicely but it turns out it was just the Hera Palace kids (not including Seok-Hoon) using Seok-Hoon phone to send that message to trick her. Seok-Kyung, his twin sister then reveals that Seok-Hoon was just hitting on her for a bet which seems to confuse Rona because she thought his feelings were genuine. After suspecting that something is wrong, Seok-Hoon rushes out to save her but when he arrives to ask if she was all right Rona just glares at him and tells him to get out of her way. Later, Eunbyeol blackmails Rona with her mom being an adultress so she can quit school, Rona does exactly what she says and sends in her letter of withdrawal. Rona then walks away from the school with Seok-Hoon chasing after her but doesn't make it in time. Seok-Hoon finally sees her again after a little while since she withdrew from school, but it's clear she is still mad at him. She tells him her reasoning for leaving the school (she lied) then walks away but as she walks away, he grabs her arm and tells her "Don't go." He then tries to motivate her to come back to school and tells her that it's not her fault, so she shouldn't give up but all she replies with is for him to let her go, as she yanks his hand away from her arm. She finally walks off. After the situation with her mother, she finally has the courage to come back to school so she asks Seok-Hoon for a favor while confessing she likes him, she says they should date because they both like each other and it would be fun if they did a surprise event. Seok-Hoon walks into class and tells Rona to come in, so she follows what he says and walks in but once she set foot into the classroom, it shocks the Cheong-Ah Arts students by her sudden appearance after she withdrew from school but what comes next shocks them even more. Rona wraps her arm around Seok-Hoon's arm then asks him where her seat is, he walks to an empty seat and pulls out the chair for her. Seok-Hoon then turns to everyone and makes a shocking announcement "I'm going out with Bae Rona. So from now on, you better watch your mouths." This angers many including Eunbyeol and his twin sister Seok-Kyung.

SBS: Fiction Drama of The Penthouse
SBS catch YouTube channel released the first episode of their extra content for The Penthouse called "If Seok-Hoon and Rona start dating?!" it shows how they would be like if they could date comfortably without any obstacles. At the beginning of the video, we can see them happily playing Rock-Paper-Scissors on the stairs. If Seok-Hoon wins, he gets to go up one step closer to Rona while Rona on the other hand can go up one step farther from Seok-Hoon. Now, they are in the classroom talking about their first date and deciding where should they go. Rona decides on something which is to get something delicious to eat and watch a movie she then puts her hands on Seok-Hoon's, then Seok-Hoon linked his hands with hers. He then says that there is something on her face, and she asks what is it, he then replies with "My heart." They are now in the hallway walking together with their hands linked.

Deleted Scenes
In one of the deleted scenes, we can see Minhyuk laughing at a video on his phone, Seok-Hoon snatches the phone and realizes it's a video of them bullying Rona. Seok-Hoon then punches him in anger then yells in a loud tone "Where is Rona?!". Another deleted scene showed the other students throwing trash at Rona, Seok-Hoon got mad and poured all the garbage out from the trash on them. Eunbyeol gets jealous and asks "Seok-Hoon why are you being so nice to her? Are you interested in Rona?" and he replied with "So what if I do?" Prior to the situation in episode fourteen, Rona finds out that Seok-Hoon bullied Min Seol A and they get into an argument, Rona gets even more pissed at him because she's also going through a similar situation like Min Seol A, so she doesn't understand how he could protect someone but then bully another.

Quotes
"I'm going out with Bae Rona. So from now on, you better watch your mouths"

- Seok Hoon about Rona to the Cheong-A Art Students: Season 1, Episode 17

Fanon
Seokrona is arguably the most loved ship in the Penthouse fandom due their angsty relationship, The ship began to gain more popularity rapidly especially when we see that he is actually starting to like her. It all began precisely because he called her pretty it, which made the fans happy that someone has taken quite an interest in her for the first time. Seokrona rivals ships like EunHoon but in the fandoms opinion, EunHoon can't even compete against Seokrona because for one, in their beliefs, EunHoon does not match well plus Eunbyeol love for him is a little too much.

In many Seokrona FMVs (Fan Music Video), fans use the song 'Arcade' by Duncan Laurence to portray Rona and Seok-Hoon's storyline. This is mostly because Rona was in a near death situation, and had to undergo many brain surgeries with a low survival rate. Another song they use for the same exact reasoning is 'The One That Got Away' by Katy Perry and they would use clips from the SBS fiction drama of The Penthouse video called 'If Rona and Seok-Hoon actually start dating' cause it's like an alternate storyline where they are actually in a healthy relationship.

Due to the new teaser for season three, Fans are freaking out on twitter because we just might get a Seokrona kiss finally! Fans can't help but express their excitement on their tweets. The fandom are also tweeting that they believe we will get Seokrona endgame!

Fandom
FAN FICTION



TWITTER

Trivia

 * Seok-Hoon was one of the first people to know she was alive even before her mom.
 * Seok-Hoon took care of her while she in the hospital.