I was not expecting this kinda of torture from you guys.

#teamJung-hwanforever

She Was Pretty and Sungkyunkwan Scandal are SLS classics!

Yoo Ah-In in Sungkyunkwan Scandal
Seo Kang-Joon in Cheese in the Trap
Yoo Sung-Jae in Who Are You : School 2015
Yoo Yeong-Seok in Mr Sunshine
Dew in F4 Thaïland

I think I found that the FL were more themselves with the second lead and not shy like they were with the ML.

I will die on this hill that Reply 1988 Ryu Joon-yeol and A Poem a Day Jang Dong-yoon were first leads, so I had first lead syndrome.

My favorite second leads were Heirs Kim Woo-bin, Hotel del Luna Lee Do-hyun, and The Liar and His Lover Lee Seo-won.

Ji-pyeong (Start-Up) and Do-hyuk (Nevertheless) forever 💗

I called who the men were in both 1988 and 1994 from the beginning, so it didn't bother me. What bothered me, was we didn't get to see what Jung Hwan was doing in the present day. I still get mad thinking about it.

1. Start Up remains my number one.
2. Temperature of Love.
3. Empress Ki (the goryeo king (main SLS) and Yon Feisu(secondary SLS)) tore my heart to pieces.
4. Ruler : Master of the Mask's Pulhwangae successor. One of the best characters to be written, and to happen in that show.
5. Go Back Couple's Jang Ki-yong's Jung Nam-Gil( talk of a healthy SLS, no bad blood).

The Obvious: Hwang In-yeop in True Beauty. A million times the better choice! The minute he declared he'd save her name in his phone with all the hearts - as opposed to what she got, her name - she should have gone for him. What. Was. She. Thinking.

The less obvious: Woo Do-hwan in Save Me. Ok, this is largely because he acted all of the male actors of his age off the screen, but also because his character risked far more - and showed far more devotion to the FL - by entering the cult. And they bonded over that shared experience, as vile as it was: they survived and escaped together. Why she would want to go back to the ML made very little sense to me...

And Ji-pyeong goes without saying... :)

Fortunately, I am immune.

I'm that person that watched all the Responds and never got SLS.
Reply 97's was easy: awkward old man vs Seok In Guk.
There was a point in Reply 94' were I was like "writer-nim, can't she end with both dudes?" but then the show became a mess and they made me dislike Chilbong. I don't know if I can call that experience SLS.
In Reply 88' I liked Jung Pal but like her friend. For me Taekie and Deok Seon were a married couple since day 1.

I never understood why people liked Start Up's second lead, tbh. Don't hate me. LOL

I only get SLS in extreme cases:
Rich Man: the ML was a psycho and the SL was so damn cute, nicest guy ever? I know they made him a criminal by the end because no one liked the male lead.
Dream High: For me Taec was the real ML so does it count?
Cheese in the Trap: the ML wasn't really there so...

Sometime I dislike the ML and SL equally (Roomie Gumiho), or I dislike the ML but there isn't a cute SL (Red Sleeve) lol.

I’m someone who always claims to be mostly immune to second lead syndrome. So it’s embarrassing to admit that I have more than five choices and I don’t know who to leave out. Which is why I’m throwing the five dramas format to the wind and making my own thing where I put each SL into arbitrary categories I made up on the spot. There’ll definitely be overlap, but whatever this was spontaneous.

1. Reigning Kings

• Yoo Yeon-seok in Reply 1994
• Ryu Jun-yeol in Reply 1988

2. I support all women’s choices…even when she’s WRONG

• Seo Kang-joon in Cheese in the Trap
• Chae Jong-hyeop in Nevertheless
• Yoo Yeon-seok OR Byun Yo-han in Mr. Sunshine (sometimes women can make the wrong choice twice)
• Yook Sung-jae in School 2014
• Yoo Ah-in in Sungkyunkwan Scandal
• Woo Do-hwan in Save Me
• Choi Si-won in She Was Pretty

3. ML + FL are cute, actually. But I want the SML

• Hwang In-yeop in True Beauty
• Wi Ha-joon in 18 Again
• Kim Seon-ho in Start-Up
• Jung Hae-in in While You Were Sleeping
• Nam Yoon-soo in The King’s Affection (Those dimples…)
• Lee Joon-gi in My Girl (I remember my classics!)

4. Objectively trash, but… if SML bad why sexy

• Kim Woo-bin in Heirs (BANE OF MY EXISTENCE)
• Kim Sung-cheol in Our Beloved Summer (imagine still crushing on some girl you met in high school as a grown ass man… he’s hopeless but I can fix him)
• Lee Jae-wook in Extraordinary You
• Bae In-hyuk in My Roommate is a Gumiho
• Kang Ha-neul in Scarlet Heart: Ryeo (biggest snake in dramaland history but at least he was hot!)
• Park Hee-soon in My Name (he’s a SML because he lives in my mind rent-free)
• Lee Jae-kyoon in Secret Royal Inspector and Joy (will never forget how hard i thirsted after this guy. my heart will always have a place for evil bead boy).

I still haven’t recovered from Reply 1988.
The wound is still raw. That hurt so bad. 😭😭😭

In other words... a list of dramas for me to avoid like the plague. Lol I hate getting SLS, and if I feel it lurking I will drop the drama like a hot potato. :)

Reply 1988- my first and last brush with SLS. Ugh 😑 I’m still so mad about that one

I'll always have a soft spot for Chilbongie and Cheese in the Trap's Baek Inho. I didn't root for them with Najung and Seol respectively, simply because the girls don't see them in the same romantic way, but I loved their friendships.

Chilbongie! 💔 i felt for him even if I just knew he will not get the girl.😭

I note that Snoflower has already noted the fabulous second lead in SHE WAS PRETTY.

I would like to point out that happy endings for a great second lead can take a form other than 'getting the girl'. Ji-pyeong in START UP is an example of this. He gets to break out of his isolated shell and find friendship and a kind of family: Although I never understood why he was not put together with Kang Hanna's character to form the ultimate romantic power couple.

The second lead in FATED TO LOVE YOU also does not get the girl nor does he get a consolation romance. Instead, he gets what he most wanted and desired above all other things and is quite happy at the end of the drama. Indeed, if he had gotten the girl instead this would have been, for him, the consolation prize. It is a good thing that the heavens have rewarded his wonderful efforts this way because that second lead is probably the greatest second lead of all time.

I probably am not as subject to SLS as many precisely because of the lesson I learned from FATED TO LOVE YOU. One of the most perfect moments in the original T-drama version of this story occurs in the final episode when we see our Second Lead sitting on the stadium steps- looking quite forlorn- and then we hear a woman's voice from behind him uttering a single one syllable word: "Ga" (Mandarin for brother). He stands and turns and there she is: The lost sister that he has searched for twenty or more years to find. It is perhaps the most beautiful moment in the entire drama.

The lesson I learned is simply this: The end of the drama is just the end of one story. We saw a love story and it just turned out that it ended up not being the second lead's love story. We have simply not been invited to see that story but, if our second lead really is as wonderful as we think he is than you can be certain that there will be one because the women of this world are not stupid.

I have my list! Starting with those I still liked:

Hospital Playlist (I was a sucker for the resident doctor who liked the female lead. I wish he'd stuck around)
The Master's Sun (Ah, Gong-shil!)

And those I didn't like/dropped (primarily because of the SLS, lol)
Itaewon Class - I liked the first love much better than the female lead, I wish she had changed her ways and joined the good side)

Jealousy Incarnate - this show makes me so mad I thought it was 16 episodes when I started it and was so hopeful when I thought she would end up with the second lead...

You're Beautiful - it was just kind of "meh" since the ML was so terrible.

I have so rarely/practically never properly suffered from traditional SLS so uh...

Can I offer you all 2 classics?
Won bin in Autumn in my heart - the one who started SLS for me
Lee Junki in My girl

1. My Room mate is a Gumiho
2. Start-up
3. While you were sleeping

I adored these SLs every time they were on the screen. Especially Bae In Hyuk...

I'm going to have to go with the classic Best Love. This show featured Cha Seung-won as male lead Dokko Jin and Yoon Kye-sang as second lead Yoon Pil-joo.

One of the things this drama did was create a convincing love triangle with the two male leads and Gu Ae-jung, played by Gong Hyo-jin. One minute you were rooting for Dokko Jin, but then the next minute you had a change of heart and were on Team Pil-joo. Pil-joo was just such a nice guy!

Oguri Shun in Hana Yori Dango. As much as I love Matsumoto Jun and his portrayal of Domyoji Tsukasa, Oguri Shun's Hanazawa Rui melted me into a puddle of goo.

Painter of the Wind: Forever bitter that Shin Yoon Bok gave her heart to her old fogey mentor over the elegant, intelligent and utterly beautiful Jeong Hyang, the gisaeng that remained completely enamored and devoted to her even after she discovered Yoon Bok was a woman.

One silver lining is that Moon Geun-Young & Moon Chae-Won still won the best couple award at that year's SBS Drama Awards.

Bloody Romance - One morally questionable smexy prince to go, please!
Tale of Nokdu - Make that two.
Love by Hypnotic - On second thought, add a third.

There was a Kdrama called She was Pretty where Choi Si-Won played kind of a rich motorcycle riding bad boy (SML) and I definitely was shipping him with the female lead. He was just so cute and funny that I had no choice but to cheer for him to win her heart.

I'm usually immune from 2nd lead syndrome, but Tim Pei's character in the Cdrama "Miss Truth" ended that...I could have written that drama much better...

It's pretty obvious to me that who's gonna win in Reply1994 so I could prepare myself when watching it but in Reply1988 did hit me damn hard. I mostly on ML in dramas but here I was with Jungpal no matter what.

For old drama, the og SML was Won bin in Autumn in my heart. Back then, I was with him and it ended with sadness so I felt like no more on team SML lol

The only shows that have truly done this to me are School 2015 and Hana Kimi, because in both instances the second lead was more interesting than the lead AND more prominent than him! I maintain that Gong Tae-kwang and Nakatsu were male leads without the happy ending, which is worse somehow.

Of course, this is a recommendations post, so I recommend Hana Kimi! Nakatsu will punch you in the heart, but he's so hysterically funny and sweet and emotional that it's obvious the drama gets his worth out of him while male lead Shun Oguri stands there like a grumpy cardboard cutout.

after all this time, still a mystery for me what anyone say in Ryu Joon Yeol. he seems like "nobodies type" who no one would date. Im sorry, but maybe I dont have the same attractiveness preferences. not looks, but somehow the energy of his character was... a kettle that is not plugged that you are waiting to start boiling.

SLS that had his own loveline, Delivery man & Kim Seon Ho. no that was second leadS syndrom actually. I dont know if there are others like that where "secondary" characters BOTH steal the show. with a jet plane.

I learned what SLS meant because of Jung-hwan in R88. After that, I purposely set all expectations low for every 2ML to avoid SLS heartbreak. That is, until SLS #2 - Ji-Pyeong. I could not finish Start-up because of this. Now, I try not to start shows that have been known for inducing this syndrome. Never again.

Agree with 3/5, will need to check out WYWS and Nevertheless. I personally shed too many tears for Chil bongie and poor Jinpyeong. My SLS heart aches for them to this day. Bo gum won me over and was a delightfully unexpected twist in the drama.

Answer Me 1988 - They date in real life has cured my for SLS
Start Up - I really disappoint with the ending that I didn't watch the last 2 eps

Team Jung Hwan forever. Saw the show twice and I am just as devasted as the first time I watched.

Chilbongie too. But I wasnt too invested in 94 as I was with 97 and 88.

Not mentioned in the article but mentioned by the other beanies: Sungkyunkwan Scandal, She was Pretty, Warm and Cozy (I was one of team Mayor, although the show was not so popular). Heirs too actually. Somehow I felt bad for Kim Woo Bin's character there. Like I wanted him to get the girl.

And somehow I have to add Queen for 7 days here. Not that I wanted the mad King to win the girl, but he was flawed and kind of a very sad character just yearning for a real friend I guess. So I kind of felt for him and I actually cried a bucket during his death scene. A villain I loved. Sort of. Not sure if that falls as second lead though. Maybe the "other guy" would be more appropriate. Much like Jung Hwan in 88. He was not a 2nd lead for sure. He was a lead. He just didnt get the girl. *burries head on pillows and cries, again*

will never be able to understand how anyone got SLS in R1988. Cause cmon.. what is the attraction?