What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim. Still love this show!

Tough one!

Her Private Life!
I think it was one of those office romances where I found both leads to be competent and respectful. It was office romance done well. No power imbalance or things that made me uncomfortable. And boy, was the chemistry on 🔥!!

Honorary mention: Taiwanese drama ‘Office girls’.
It was such a slow burn romance and Roy and Alice sold it to me. It probably is dated now, but always has a place in my heart ❤️

It's an easy one for once :p

I really liked She Would Never Know :
- They used very well the cosmetics settings and the office. It was a slice of life drama, so their work life felt like a real one. The coworkers were nice and I really liked the dynamic in the team.
- The couple : they both had their flaws. The ML was impatient and the FL couldn't invest herself at 100%. But they grew together and they really talked and listened each other. WJA and Rowoon had a great chemistry, so many swoony moments 😍
- This drama had the usual romantic tropes but it worked pretty well.
- The OST was great.

Otherwise, I liked :
- Radiant Office : the romantic part was small. Go Ah-seong was cute in this role.
- Gaus Electronics : it's not over yet but the main couple mixed the funny and sexy very well.
- Jealousy Incarnate : the couple was fire.

Does Memorials/ Into the Ring count?

I don’t usually like office romance dramas because I find the workplace/corporate setting so boring to watch, still I consume a ton of them since I’m a sucker for anything with romance. That said, there is usually a power imbalance in this genre especially with the boss/ employee dynamics

The only one where I remember not having this was Where The Stars Land

Does Suspicious Partner count? Because I was all in for that one.
I also really loved Kiss Sixth Sense for the most part.

If you call it workplace romance, then Coffee Prince, obviously.

Does Healer count? 🤣 They worked together in an office some of the time.

I have a soft spot for ridiculous office rom-coms with lots of silly comedy and parody elements like Business Proposal and Secretary Kim, but the more reality-based the story is, the less I enjoy it, and the more office romances I see, the less I like the whole genre. My favorite office love story is the bromance between Namgoong Min's Chief Kim and Junho's Seo Yul, and the subverted expectation of conventional romance is a strength of that show.

Without having to think at all:
What's wrong with Secretary Kim?

Last week I watched a large part of the series again.

Jealousy Incarnate because of the pressures of the deadlines and nature of live recording, the in-house hierarchy petty feuds, the inner workings of the wardrobe sponsorship etc. The out of work issues in terms of the on location events, the male leads friendship and the health scare. Plus it was hysterically funny.

Honourable mentions to:
The Producers with the dynamic between the different teams, work pressure and the different elements of the work in the office, the studio and on location.
Shooting Stars as they had office element within the agency as well as the interaction with the actors, the other agencies, studios, the press and general public’s interactions with their clients. More than one relationship within and between the different elements of the work.

One?????
How do we measure this.
I'm with @daebakgrits here, and I think I'll go with
Secret Lyfe of My Secretary, because it was thematically consistent and good, surprisingly, despite the Fish Cult, or maybe because of the Fish Cult, we'll never know.

But if we measured by something like, I can only watch one ever again, then maybe A Business Proposal cos it's so cracky and I love the Archaeopteryx.
On the other hand Radiant Office is one of my comfort dramas and one of the few I have already seen twice so.
But for reasons of completing the challenge, and an all rounder, I'll stick with SLOMS.

Very interesting to see *why* people picked the drama they did though.

Gaus Electronics is doing a perfect job of a fav office romance. But considering everything I've seen, Her Private Life tops the list.

The coffee poisoning Sung Dukmi meted on Ryan Gold + plus her sincere worry that she might have committed murder was enough to set me up on the road to a budding romance. And yes, Her Private Life is one of the dramas where I truly was immersed in Park Min-young's romance arc and where she was the most comfortable( well, Go Kyung-pyo is doing a good job somewhere else(cough cough)).
Honorable Mentions in order of fav
Marriage Contract
Business Proposal
What's Wrong With Secretary Kim
Kiss Sixth Sense.

The Red Sleeve. Because Royal Court is like an office, no?

@elinor beat me to it with Chief Kim, but a close second and perhaps one that’s more fitting to this brief, is a show that has a special place in my heart. Can you guess what it is from my description?

It is not without its many flaws (a real jerk ML 🙄, for one), but I love the FL’s story. It’s not original, but the fact that she had so much promise as a child and didn’t immediately achieve her dreams due to life circumstances, worked hard to find her place and in the end got to do the work she loved - it still gets me.🥹

I also liked:
- having a strong female friendship in the mix (tested by the rom part of this com)
- having our prejudices against the more ‘shallow’ industries challenged via the FL’s growth and understanding
- having the work that goes on in the background to support those who ‘shine’ highlighted
- having the FL grow to be more confident in and true to herself

…I just can’t help but forgive its flaws for these reasons. The comedy is probably not to everyone’s tastes, but the scene where the FL is frantically looking for a lost puzzle piece still gets me, and the fact that the ML can’t hold his liquor at all…I laugh just thinking about it. It was probably the first Korean office romcom I watched, so everything was still fairly fresh for me for that reason too. Plus, there’s a sweet mum and dad in it! Ah. Good times.

So can you guess which one I’m talking about?🤓

I have a short-term memory, so I was just going to pick Business Proposal until I remembered that I loved She Was Pretty. It had one of the crackiest office romances, created a She Was Pretty syndrome in Korea, Choi Si-won is always named as second lead syndrome, and "You Don't Know Me" by Soyou and Brother Su is one of my all-time favorite OSTs.

If it has to be a conventional rom-com, then it's a cross between Business Proposal and Romance is a Bonus Book. Those two have two lovelines. I love buy one, get one free deals. Also, I enjoyed how those workplaces seem overall pleasant to work at and does make me think "they're getting paid too little to deal with this crap" or "they're getting paid too much to do nothing"

Touch Your Heart comes top of mind. I love the fan service the drama brought for my Sunny and Grim Reaper. Also they were cute together.

Honorable Mentions:
Her Private Life, Gaus Electronics (not done yet but I love the show), and Whats Wrong with Sec Kim.

Who remembers Jugglers with Choi Daniel and baek jin hee?! That was a really nice office drama and a perfect grumpy sunshine story.

To me it is a tie between BUSINESS PROPOSAL and SOONBAE DON'T PUT ON THAT LIPSTICK.

But there are so many wonderful alternatives even to those two.

I love Romance is a bonus book too. What i love about RIABB is that Eunho does not intervene much with Dan Yi progress in the publishing house. He tried to help but does not intervene much with his senior decision regarding Dan Yi. Plus aside from second lead, they are the one who reveal their relationship on their own at the end.
drama is not too mushy or too serious. got some loopholes here and there but the main relationship ROCKS!! one of the best noona romance i see in the long time.

Between What’s wrong with secretary Kim, Business Proposal and Romance is a bonus book, although the romance/kiss scene between the two leads in Secretary Kim were wonderful, as a while, I have to choose Business Proposal. It was so OTT, Ha-ri is a sweet, loveable girl and I loved her comment about Kang Tae-moo looking like an archaeopteryx!

Chief Kim... they got the best couple award, too... ^^

Hyena

Honourable mentions:

Familiar Wife
Miss Hammurabi
You're all Surrounded
Falling for Innocence

Secretary Kim all the way 🥰

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim for sure.

Aww. Too tough I can’t choose just one. *a sad face*

I have 3 that comes to mind. They came in this order:

1. A Business Proposal: For reasons I said in a response to one comment above.

2. Romance is a Bonus Book: I remember I liked it A LOT, but I don’t remember exactly why anymore. It might be that altogether, it was a very fun watch.

3. Sh**ting Stars: It was so much fun watching what happened in that office..

This is too hard. I’ll give it to Her Private Life.

Honorable mentions (not in order):
- Touch Your Heart
- Secret Life of My Secretary
- What’s Wrong w Secretary Kim

My favorites are Juggler and Secretary Kim 😁

If I had to choose just one, it would probably be What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? I’d also put in a plug for two very different law office romances: Hyena and Extraordinary Attorney Woo.

LT's PMO
Apart from Radiant Office, they're all awful.
Here endeth the PMO.

For me is going to be also the "Secret life of my secretary". I simply love their dynamic, except the lies, of course...
but I keep a soft spot for Her private life and Romance is a bonus book.

I'll go with an older show for this question. Jealousy Incarnate is still my number one romcom plus office romance, it also has great emphasis on the office front. Not to mention how delightful it was to watch a drama where it was unapologetically acknowledged from the beginning that it's going to explore a "two-timing" romance.

The friendship, the rivalry, the jealousy, and the romance is like a spectacular mix of fireworks. But then it also got a deep and meaningful exploration about career and family (the one you are born with, and the one you choose for yourself) and even health issues. Also, this one is still high up there when it comes to memorable proposal scene.

Ahh... I miss pure romcom like this one.

Anyone remember Baby faced beauty played by Jang Na-Ra . Kinda old drama, but I still remember this as one of the best office drama's because the drama really focused on what goes in fashion industry. I liked the romance in this drama with a good love triangle. This is the drama where I knew Choi Daniel and fell for his acting.

I went through my list of finished dramas and realized I've only watched two office romances? TWO?! I need to get on it. I'll just take some notes on all the recs here...

That said, I think I need to go with Business Proposal. I just had such a great time watching this drama with it's swoony main romance, hilarious side characters, and tropey self-awareness. Few things get me more than a drama's own self-awareness, and this was just perfection.

Secretary Kim probably wins this category for me, on the merit of the scenes with Yoo-Sik and Yeung-Joon. The romance was fun, kind of cheesy, but the two boys never failed to make me laugh.

Honorable mentions to Her Private Life and My Secret Romance. All of these are fluffy and funny, just like a rom com should be.

Just one? Seriously? 🤣 as one of my favourite genres this is much too hard. In no particular order I'm giving three as it really depends on my mood:
A Business Proposal
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim
Touch your Heart.

All have great leads with great chemistry and great supporting casts.

I pick: Coffee Prince

Other favorites:
-Good Doctor
-Melo is my Nature
-Oh My Ghostess

I'll be the outlier:

I loved WWW: Search. While the official romance was the least interesting part of the drama, I read the rest of the drama as basically a lesbian love triangle, with the office romance at the time of drama being between the lead and Lee Da Hee, both of whom had "broken up" with Song Ga Kyong.

That scene where the two of them go to destroy the car is pure gold.

Secret Life of My Secretary! Although Gaus Electronics is quickly becoming a favorite.

Also, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon because I love the "Do Intern" aria.

What’s wrong with secretary Kim! That’s one show done right in romcom!

I've got to put in a dissenting vote on 'What's Wrong With Secretary Kim'. That was the MOST toxic relationship this side of "Falling in Love with Soon-jung/Falling for Innocence/Beating Again". Young-joon seduced his secretary in a bid to keep her from leaving his employ. The guy was a narcissist sociopath and would continue to make her life hell after the 'love' hormones eventually wore off.

Jealousy Incarnate. That show had such a great mix of comedy, romance and slice of life.

Do Dang Ja Yeong and Choi Ban Seok in On The Verge of Insanity count? Because I loved them.

I can’t think of an office romance, but i’ve also watched quite a number of those already mentioned 😂 the one that has stood the test of time is Coffee Prince of course!

Mad Dog: Hari and Minjoon at Mad Dog’s office.

Life: I really like the implication of romance between Cho Seung Woo and Won Jin Ah’s characters.

Well I guess its time to watch 'sunbae....' I've just reached the half way mark of the kings affection..and need a palate cleanser -more rowoon never hurts- before I return to my sageuk binge watching...(Watched rookie historian before it, and going to try mr queen after)

The secret life of my secretary, WWWSK, and Business proposal. In that order. 🐟🐟🐟🐟🦕🦕🦕🦕