[Cast Away] A webtoon artist turns his crush into a spy
by mary
Don’t you just hate it when you’re short a few million dollars to produce a drama with your dream team of actors, writers, and directors? *pouts* Well, we found a way to scratch that itch!
In the Dramabeans community series Cast Away, Beanies can advocate for their chosen actors and creatives in imaginary roles.
How it works: We share a [very] hypothetical K-drama plot with you, and in the comments, you discuss who you think is the perfect cast to play the roles in this imaginary show.
You can also go wild and introduce more characters, rename the show, pick your favorite director, etc. Who knows? Maybe our collective wishing will manifest fantasy casting into reality.
This week’s K-drama plot: an accidentally non-fictional webtoon
A webtoon artist gains fame for a story inspired by his sweet neighbor who lives upstairs. In his webtoon, he re-imagines her as a spy living an uneventful life as a front for her espionage activities.
One day, she drops down from a hole in his ceiling, hooks him to a harness, and pushes him out the window. She’s livid for three reasons: she’s a real spy, his imagination was spot on, and they’re both in danger because he inadvertently exposed her to the enemies.
If it were up to her, she’d have set him up in an “accident” a long time ago, but the higher-ups rejected her proposals (plural). To her supreme annoyance, the mission parameters changed from gathering top secret intel to babysitting this wuss with a star’s ego. The only upside is she can now scare the living daylights out of him.
A “sensitive” artist with an overinflated ego AND makes for an entertaining wuss. Who do you think will fit this role?
And who can play our spy who gives off girl-next-door vibes, but can be scarily efficient at throwing knives and dropping death threats at every turn? (In meme speak: someone who looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you.)
As always, you can introduce more characters or switch the genders around. This is a classic romance plot, but you can wrestle it towards a different genre if you want to.
Feel free to request a plotline for future Cast Away posts. We’ll do our best to serve a fun twist on it.
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Tags: Cast Away
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1 Midnight
June 13, 2024 at 2:26 PM
I can't imagine what the higher-ups want to do with him😂 Isn't moving to the other side of the city the easiest solution?😂 Or maybe he has caused a butterfly effect of information/counterspies to show up in the comments so they need him to keep the webtoon going 🤔
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mary
June 14, 2024 at 12:45 AM
Possible... maybe they need him to feed the enemy some fake intel?
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2 Elinor is back on Sweater Patrol
June 13, 2024 at 3:22 PM
I'll assume that in a world where you can find practically any information online, webtoon fans have found his address and that mean's they've found her address and that means they can identify her, thus putting her in danger (not sure how to make the leap from knowing her name to the bad guys knowing she's a spy, but it can involve swapped packages leading a delivery guy or deranged fan to evidence of her undercover life or something.)
The "sensitive artist with a star's ego and all the courage of a sugar cookie" role sounds like it's tailor-made for Kim Young-dae. Posturing, pouting, flailing, and looking comically terrified are well within his capabilities (although it would also be fun to see what a better actor, like Ahn Jae-hong, could do with the role). As for the deadly cinnamon roll, how about Ha Yoon-kyung? She looks sweet and harmless, so who would ever suspect that she can dangle the whiny webtoon wuss out the window with one hand while fending off assassins with the other?
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mary
June 14, 2024 at 12:47 AM
Maybe the baddies are webtoon fans who happened to connect the dots. :D
I never would've thought of her, but she does give off that "quiet type but could kill you" vibe.
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3 Vladdles
June 13, 2024 at 11:53 PM
ML: Woo Do-Hwan....be nice to see him flex his comedy chops again!
FL: Jung So-Min....well who wouldn't?
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mary
June 14, 2024 at 12:40 AM
Ah, she sounds perfect from Mudeok era.
Lee Yi-kyung is probably another guy who'd make us enjoy him being taken down a peg or two (or ten)
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Midnight
June 14, 2024 at 1:03 AM
Aww no please let Lee Yo Kyung not take another comedic role. I really want him in a serious hero role!
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Midnight
June 14, 2024 at 1:04 AM
*Lee Yi Kyung
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mary
June 14, 2024 at 9:29 AM
Making some good points there...
4 9TailedVixen Loves Hanging Upside Down
June 14, 2024 at 12:51 AM
All I can say is:
ML (Webtoon artist) - Lee Min-Ki at his most deadpan self outwardly but with a wild imagination inside.
FL (Crush turned spy) - Kim Hye-Yoon because you wouldn't think her aegyo AF petite self can kick ass haha!
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Siona ⭐️ (@DramaticFoodie)
June 14, 2024 at 4:31 PM
This is a very interesting one with KHY as the little spy. I'm sold on this!
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9TailedVixen Loves Hanging Upside Down
June 14, 2024 at 8:54 PM
KHY has the "being a sweetie pie" part down pat but she can also play a resourceful FL (as we see from LOVELY RUNNER) and she has her comedy chops as well. So it will be amusing - at the very least - to see her run circles round LMK as ML.
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5 Midnight
June 14, 2024 at 12:59 AM
This has Lee Seung Gi written all over it!
Park So Jin comes to mind.
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6 welh
June 14, 2024 at 5:24 AM
LONG STORY ALERT:
Seon Geon Hee (CHOGI) is a struggling webtoon cartoonist. He works odd jobs in order to get by. He cleans the three flat building (he lives in the third floor rooftop apartment) because his landlord, Ahn Kil Kang (DAD), feels sorry for the pathetic dreamer and since his wife, Park Ji Young (MOM), treats him like a stray cat (example, leaving bowls of cereal and milk outside his door and installing a scratching post at the top of the stairs).
Gymnast-turned-action star Ahn Ji-hye (NAMBI) is the landlord’s daughter who lives on the second floor. She takes part time stunt work to beat up men because she is not getting enough “action” in her real job as a KCIA agent. Her meek section leader, Kim Nam Hee, (KIM) allowed to her take this “cover” job but his stern bureau chief, Ra Mi Ran (LEE), does not like his laissez faire leadership style or NAMBI’s constant whining about “tougher” assignments.
CHOGI only sees NAMBI in the early morning and late at night. He admires her “athletic cuteness.” But he is too shy to actually talk to her. He only mumbles if he passes by her. NAMBI says “hi” every time they meet, but not that she cares but it is an involuntary action because as an infant her MOM said “hi” to her every time she opened her eyes.
CHOGI thinks nothing much about NAMBI (he realizes she is WAY out of his league) until the day he is assigned to clean NAMBI’s messy room. While NAMBI is away, DAD lets him in with instructions to “clean the dirt so it never comes back.” While cleaning, CHOGI finds some strange items for “the girl next door:” a pair of spiked-knuckle gloves, a pair of sap gloves, a chain mail whip, a head-to-toe black leather jumpsuit, and a pair of 4-inch black stilettos. He immediately thinks his sweet and innocent neighbor is a kinky, sex-bondage master.
Later that night, while he tries to draw NAMBI in a sexy outfit, his pen rips through the paper when he hears NAMBI yelling at her father about “invasion of privacy” while he yells back “community hygiene standards.” After the yelling ends, a sweaty CHOGI hears a violent knock on the door. He panics with flashes of DAD busting through the door and choking him for some creepy excuse about opening her underwear drawer. But it is NAMBI who pushes through the doorway and grabs him by the collar, lifting him to his toes. “Are you some pervert?!” she hisses. “No, no, no” he mumbles, “I’m just a loser.” She leaves with a blunt warning never to get near her or her things. CHOGI collapses on his floor but his facial blush tells us that he is emotionally bouncing between death row and unrequited love. He passes out to vividly dream his manhwa come to life with NAMBI being a super spy and he being her proud and strong partner.
After two days of caffeine energy drink madness, CHOGI completes his comic story called “The Girl with the Bondage Leather Shadow,” a play on words putting NAMBI in the role of James Bond with an appetite for his character’s...
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welh
June 14, 2024 at 5:26 AM
unrelenting, kinky appeasement of all her desires. When he uploads the webtoon to the Artist Collective web server (which shares revenue with artists based on views and advertising money), TGWTBLS explodes in popularity so much so that closet webtoon fanatic, agent KIM, immediately sees NAMBI as the agent (as CHOGI’s artist skills to capture her actual likeness was spot on - - - as well as using her real name for the character.)
NAMBI interrupts KIM reading the webtoon. She throws him off his chair to read it because the female character looks exactly like her. Her eyes widen when the character charms men in high heels, double crosses foreign agents with batting her long eyelashes at spiked soju bars, and beats up informants with whips and knuckle gloves. She becomes angry when her cover is blown. She goes to LEE to get permission to assassinate the webtoon artist. KIM objects saying Korea needs more talented comic artists. LEE sneers at both of them, but orders NAMBI to conduct the worst assignment she has ever had: get close to the web artist and see if he is a security threat.
To get close, when NAMBI bluntly asks him out, he falls off roof onto building next door. She carries him to hospital and when he is under pain meds, he says yes. She takes him to stunt school to see if he has agent defense skills; he fails miserably so she has to carry him back to the hospital again. Nurse (Lee Si-Young) says this is not SUBWAY where you get a free treatment after 5 visits. NAMBI takes him to library to quiz him on current affairs; he fails miserably, causing a severe nosebleed for which she takes him back to the same hospital. NAMBI then takes him drinking to see if he has observational skills to notice almond scent of a spiked soju. He fails so he is carried to the hospital again to get his stomach pumped. NAMBI then tests his reaction skills by racing at him in a sports car but he does not move. She slams on brakes and stops an inch from his belt. She notices he had wet himself in fear. She takes him to a nearby department store and buys him a three pack of underwear and sweat pants. “You better put all three on,” she remarks when he goes into the changing room. She then pays for the new clothes and sets his old soiled ones on fire. She finally tests his fortitude by driving fast and making tire donuts. He gets so car sick that he unbuckles to puke but is thrown from the vehicle into a ditch. She takes him back to the hospital for an IV and bandages to his arms. The Nurse tells NAMBI next time take him “straight to the morgue.”
A battered and confused CHOGI walks into a convenience store to pick up some aspirin when he spies the cute cashier (YEONWOO). She smiles at him and asks if he needs any help. He is suddenly smitten and scared. He stumbles forward spilling a man’s boiling hot cup noodles. The man is not happy and beats him up. Cashier CHOI takes him to the hospital for burn to his hand and a welt on his chin. The Nurse tells CHOI...
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welh
June 14, 2024 at 5:28 AM
to “run away, this guy is bad news.” But she does not. She walks him home and says goodnight.
The next evening CHOGI shows up at the convenience store to see CHOI drawing in a sketchbook. He asks her what she is doing, and she humbly says she is doodling. She shows him her almost photorealistic drawings. He is stunned by her skill. He drops his portfolio spreading out his new comic pages. “Oh, that’s me!” CHOI says as she picks up a page and immediately recognizes herself as the main character in “Midnight Store Nightengale.” She looks back to see CHOGI fainted on the floor. NAMBI is outside trailing CHOGI, making a mental note that this may be the agent “exchange” information drop. She helps CHOI to take CHOGI back to the hospital.
At the admissions counter, the Nurse sees the women dragging CHOGI in for treatment. “That’s enough!” the Nurse bellows as she comes forward and plants a deep kiss on CHOGI’s lips. The three women then makjang hair pull and kick each other (actually stepping on and kicking CHOGI who once again has fallen to the floor in a dreamlike state). An elderly couple sitting in the waiting area observe his plight. “Oh, what an unlucky boy,” the old woman says. “Oh, what a lucky man,” grins the old man.
CHOGI and NAMBI return to the apartment building to find LEE and another man (Lim Ha-Ryong) pushing and pulling their way into NAMBI’s parents apartment. LEE is yelling that she is going to “catch the spies.” NAMBI interrupts and asks what is going on. LEE says the agency has pinpointed foreign communication signals from this building. NAMBI then puts CHOGI into a choke hold. “I knew he was a spy!” But the other man says, “Who is this loser?” as he flashes his NIS badge. He says he is her to arrest the occupant(s) of her parents apartment. NAMBI screams that is ridiculous until she sees her father retreating from the doorway. “You got it all wrong . . . I work undercover for the national security police force.” But the handcuffs get locked on her timid mother’s wrists, surprising DAD and NAMBI. MOM smiles, “this is just a misunderstanding. I work for the United States government.” NAMBI then faints into the arms of CHOGI. “Wow,” he says “My story gets a second season!”
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7 Minnie🫘👩🏻🚀Pioneer and Teacher 👩🏻🏫🌱🏹
June 14, 2024 at 8:12 AM
This is such a fun prompt! For me, I think this has Park Hyung Sik and Kim Yoo Jung written all over it.
Noone deadpans better than PHS, and no one can be a bigger wuss than him in the entire K-dramaland (whether I enjoy seeing him being a wuss is a different story). And Kim Yoo Jung can kick ass while being a pretty flower girl.
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Firewife5
June 14, 2024 at 11:48 AM
Oooh! I like this pairing! How badly do I want to see this happen irl now? lol!
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8 bugs_bunny
June 14, 2024 at 5:56 PM
Sounds like Enrique, as played by Yoon Shi Yoon 😉
For female lead, Kim Da Mi, can slay in this role!
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9 Anneflo
June 15, 2024 at 8:25 AM
Cha Hak Yeon https://mydramalist.com/people/6877-n as the webtoon artist, and Kwon Ah Reum https://mydramalist.com/people/45377-kwon-ah-reumas girl upstairs.
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10 Anneflo
June 15, 2024 at 9:17 AM
I love this premise. For a little more sophisticated pairing we could have Sung Joon https://mydramalist.com/people/1137-sung-joon as the webtoon artist, and Im Ji Yeon https://mydramalist.com/people/7310-im-ji-yeon as the girl upstairs
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