I loved the first two episodes, they were put together well. Lots of tropes but that is OK when it is done well.

What do you mean it’s HENNA.

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I’m not unversed in the broad spectrum of the tattoo scene in Korea. On the one side culturally and historically taboo and controversial due to connotations, on the other side fashionably albeit somewhat isolatedly cool because of idols and the hip hop scene, and on the other other side, despite or perhaps somewhat because of the fact they have to have a medical practitioner’s license to *legally* open a parlor, Korea has unironically some of the best tattoo artists in the world.

Which is to say I would love if this was explored more in Kdramas, and if more MCs were allowed to legitimately have them for more reasons than just stereotypes, even if I understand why it’s not and why they don’t.

I still remember in Lawless Lawyer LJK had hand tattoos for the pilot episode and then never again; they just disappeared. What a WASTE.

Please let this be real. Idc about irony. I just think that would be fantastic. Especially for his character. Lmao.

Also definitely a drama I’m going to call by its direct translated title again.

I have to confess that for all of the first episode and most of the second I thought that the middle schooler who came to the meet-up was not, in fact, Joo-yeon/Black Dragon. I thought the real Joo-yeon/BD had sent him for some reason that would be revealed later. Then when Joo-yeon hit Soo-jung's car, it made sense to me that neither would appear to recognize each other (because they hadn't met before).

Of course, once we got the mini-flashback of Joo-yeon crying and yelling to his grandmother I started to second guess my initial take, but it wasn't until Joo-yeon made that remark about being younger at the party that I realized their backstory is exactly as it appeared. I have to admit I was a little disappointed about that.

First, I do think he would have recognized Soo-jung at this point in the story. And second, I can't really feel for Joo-yeon as a man in his late twenties supposedly still nursing a broken heart because a 19 year old woman (quite rightly!) rejected him when he was 15.

But all that aside, this is a cute show. I'm not sure it'll hold my interest all the way through, yet the leads are both good actors (when I think about the various roles MGY has had over the years, her range is really impressive; in contrast, Choi Hyun-wook is still a newbie, but he has a lot of presence and skill), there's chemistry, and the second leads are fun, too (so nice to see Kwak Shi-yang playing a guy who doesn't appear to be a secret sociopath). I didn't laugh much, but I did smile a lot, and the story didn't drag. So I'm in for now.

This drama was trope city. It was fun and zippy. Maybe a touch too fast, but I'm excited to see more interactions between the leads.

I adore Moon Ga Young. <3 Glad to see her in a rom-com this time. I loved seeing her in the healer outfit. Briefly reminded me of her role in Live Up To Your Name. I'm not a huge gamer, but I do play some games so I enjoyed all the references. Party up.. Needing a healer. Someone carrying you to higher levels. XD

Im Se Mi is SO pretty. Loved seeing her in her game character outfit too! Excited for her story. Her seafood dishes all looked delicious!

Moon Woo Jin has been booked and busy! I've seen him in totally different roles lately. The confession scene was very cringey. I couldn't take my eyes off during it like it was a train wreck. >_<;;; I'm glad Soo Jung did not cower or give in from the public pressure.

The gaming, comic-reading, rocking-out side of Joo Yeon really breaks up his rigid chaebol persona so his silly faces and penchant for sweets doesn't feel bizarre.

I would have preferred Soo Jung stepping in and saving Joo Yeon from the chaebol jerks when they were messing with him instead of him saving her. It wouldn't have surprised me if she had tossed the pervy guy in the pool herself. Her tough, determined character gets a thumbs up from me.

This recap is so funny! I was laughing all the way to the end and thought to myself, "Who wrote this? It must be Unit." :::scrolls up, checks author, lmao::: #truestory

I have to admit I went into this mostly for the second leads. (Really excited for their story!) But I found myself loving the main leads too. They have a lot more chemistry than I expected.

Wholeheartedly agree with @unit's take here. This is light and fun!

Because in-game Black Dragon was introduced to us as Choi Hyun-wook, I automatically assumed that Joo-yeon had hired Moon Woo-jin to pretend to be Black Dragon because he had to keep his chaebol identity a secret. I did not expect for Joo-yeon to actually be four years younger than Soo-jung. So Moon Ga-young and Choi Hyun-wook were cast age-appropriately (except for the fact that they're playing 30-year-olds).

Let this be a lesson to gamers talking to strangers online. Soo-jung is lucky that she was catfished by a teenager and not a 40-year-old man, especially since she even went to meet oppa in person. That is very dangerous. Soo-jung did humiliate our baby dragon, but Joo-yeon deserved it for his embarrassing public confession. On the bright side, she made a lifelong friendship with teammate Ha-jin. I wonder if Ha-jin is divorced from teammate TVXQ-tip Oh Eui-shik.

Our leads' bickering is cute ("Stop making it obvious that you're old. / It must be nice being young."), but Soo-jung is kind of disrespectful to her new director. "Killing" the other directors is not her fault, but following Joo-yeon and taking his pictures is an invasion of privacy. His double life as a rocker is totally Yi-chan from Twinkling Watermelon, but I wish he were still a gamer instead.

Joo-yeon modeling designer suits for Soo-jung out of the blue was tropey, but anything to get our male lead slack-jawed at our female lead in a pretty dress. When she was kept busy shredding documents in his office, all I could think was she won't be able to get any of her other work done.

Thanks a bunch for your funny recap, @Unit!

Thank you for the recap. 🍓🎮🐉

Our leads are fun!! I love, love, love the ML - Choi Hyun-wook and Moon Woo-jin are both so endearing you just want to give them a hug and a pat on their heads. 😂 Choi Hyun-wook nails both the young and competent (who would have thunk) Chaebol as well as the nerdy gamer boy with the 15 year old's fashion sense and intense enjoyment of music. 🤩🥰 As astutely pointed out by uri @Dorotka and @HopefulRomantic Joo-yeon 💯 uses (wields?) his watch to record voice notes as an in-game artifact / weapon.

I am sure uri Chaebol Joo-yeon recognizes the Strawberry Su-jeong even though it doesn't seem to be expressly stated as yet. But I really don't appreciate the Director Killer's off the bat antagonism towards the not so baby now Black Dragon. 😅

The secondary leads seem headed towards their own love story. So all is well in dramaland apart from the Dragon Halemoni it seems who would gaslight a child who has just been orphaned. 😳😱 Cannot wait for uri Black Dragon and Healer 🤷‍♀️ Strawberry to join hands to destroy the Dragon Halemoni.

Can we please have some more in-game scenes. Also the Reurn of Ageya Khaja!! 🏍

While I liked this for its leads, its tropi-ness, its secondary romance, , there were a few things that bothered me. Not enough to quit watching it, but enough for me to share @unit's slight snarkiness, but not her overall enthusiasm.

1. The video game scenes were directly ripped off from the Chinese drama Love O2O I didn't like them then (having real characters as if they were video game characters, and then having that totally virtual connection supposedly like the real connection) and I didn't like them now. There are several reasons why, but I will just say this: I don't believe playing violent video games means you are a mass murderer, just as I wouldn't believe "love" in video games is real love. The video game references I DID like, occurred OUTSIDE the video game, for example the "face-off" references in the drinking competition. I have no problems with video game references, just the idea that video games are real life. If they are, we are all in trouble.

2. While I know the ML's plot to "eliminate" the FL was comic, and doomed to fail, we know from other kdramas (and definitely from real life) that that kind of irrational personal male grudge, resulting in sexual harassment (and what was that whole last part of episode 2 but total sexual harassment?) is VERY real. I know this is a fantasy rom-com, I didn't find it offensive at all, the way I would in real life, but it took me out of the comic moment.

3. Finally, a minor point. Why is the ML pogo-ing to what isn't even heavy metal--more like pop/hard rock as if its somehow punk rock? Now that is really weird, and very, very uncool. I know that's part of the joke: he is uncool. But I kind of wished that if he's going to have a secret life, he could have been a little less stupidly awkward!

The first episode looked like a long introduction but the second gave a better idea. 12 episodes seem a good length for this genre.

I dropped the cdrama O2O, so I liked the video game references, it was fun.

Moon Ga-young was really nice and fun to watch.

Now, Choi Hyun-wook looked like a teenager cosplaying an adult and the fact the story is about the ML hidding his "childish" hobbies didn't help.

The meeting of the team members was the highlight of the first two episodes. And I could totally understand Soo-jung's disappointment, as I've experienced something similar before, although fortunately not a public declaration of love (my visitor at least got dinner, but then had to spend the night at the station because he missed the last train).
In any case, this first meeting will be an extremely high hurdle to overcome, as the first impression was not ideal for either of them, but above all extremely embarrassing and also hurtful.
I'm already looking forward to the moment when they realise that they've known each other for much longer. Joo-yeon definitely hasn't recognised his first love yet, which doesn't surprise me. I definitely can't remember the face of people I met once over ten years ago, no matter how memorable and awkward that encounter was.

My only small criticism is the pace, which is a little too fast for my taste.

Solid premiere episodes filled with fun and mischief! Both main leads have eccentric and complex personalities. I loved the sound effects, and the devil animations were adorable. That said, I have two complaints 1)the game scenes felt dull, and I ended up skipping them. I hope there aren’t too many in the upcoming episodes and 2)the slow-motion staring scenes (like the second leads’ first meeting or the main leads’ moment at the end of episode 2) felt outdated and overly tropey, contradicting the drama's otherwise fresh tone.

I enjoyed this. I liked the set-up and that this is in fact a noona romance. I like that the age gap is small, so it makes sense that he would fine it appropriate to profess his love for someone so "much older" than him in their teenage years, and she would be completely mortified by someone so "much younger." I was so happy it brought joy. Also those rock songs are hilarious, because they make absolutely no sense, none at all, but here he is jamming to it. Ha.

I thought these first 2 episodes were OK. It's a little too tropey and predictable for my taste. I am not s convinced that Choi Hyun Wook will be able to carry this off. And isn't anyone else bothered by how skinny Moon Ga Young is? Her legs and arms are not the legs and arms of a grown woman - they are alarmingly emaciated. Her skeletal appearance really disturbed me. She is beautiful, yes, but looks starved.

I couldn't watch that public declaration! 🙈 Oh my god, I was feeling second hand mortified for both of them haha
I can see why that's a dark spot for both of them.

Aww, my heart for both of them.

So far I think the lead actor fits the role even if he's playing older. This is my first time seeing the lead actress in a main role.

This one sparks joy. Yes, it's tropey, but the drama is very well aware of the tropes and has fun with it.

I don't know if these would count as criticisms but these are moments that made me go 🤨

- Her ripping up his card and then jumping into his car; refusing to leave cause he might be a scammer. What the actual flim flam was that? Survival instincts don't exist in this world?

- Then she had the nerve to get mad at him for disappearing on her

- Not sure why that pool party sequence had to happen. He didn't want to be there, it doesn't even feel like there was enough time to meet this client, and why did he have to bring her?!

- Ahh, the audacity of chaebols. That whole thing was just so gross and I guess that was the point to make it satisfying that he was pushed in the pool but it just made me wonder why any of this had to happen.

- Hmm,the friendly/overly friendly guy and his insecure girlfriend. I don't date and I think I could be considered aromantic so that whole thing was just ehh to me. Like I don't even know what I supposed to think or feel about that. The girl fell for him cause of his friendliness and then became insecure because he continued to be friendly. Honestly, I can see where she's coming from but also that's how he is. This reminds me of that dating debate I've seen in korean variety shows about the perilla leaf or peeling shrimp.

I'm almost that he'll change once he's with the new woman or maybe she'll just be so confident in herself and their relationship that it will balance out.

“Oh wow! I guess her ideal type is faceless men.” Since her first live was online. Hahahaha.
Which reminds of the Bantr app on Ted Lasso, which was one of my favorite arcs.
Overall this was fun and I liked it. The set up story was great. The character immersed in the game reminded me of Chinese game dramas, which I adore.
I am not sure I am convinced Choi Hyun-wook can pull off chaebol (Park Seo-joon owning that character completely and ridiculously will to me always be gold standard) , but rocker seems very convincing, which is his baseline persona anyways.
I didn’t like the charbol party; it felt the most generic, icky, and not needed for the story line.

Where is this streaming?

I can't find it on Viu, Disney+ or Netflix :(

"Consistently chatting with an emotionally intelligent person like Black Dragon will do that to anyone" 😂😂 Only @unit can make a fact/truth sound this hilarious 😂

I was looking forward to this show and it feels like one of those to be enjoyed even more with fellow Beanies. Let's go 💃🏿

Random notes:
1. I ❤ e-sports/gaming stories (c.f. Love 020 / Falling Into Your Smile) so this is so up my alley!
2. Confession: oh the 2nd hand embarrassment! (and just when you thought you hit rock bottom, the floor cracked when we fast forward 10 years and we see his cringe-worthy rocker fashion sense-not-sense at the concert) Like, his aura points just plunged and he's officially in his flop era 🤣🤣
3. I too thought that he would recognise her, but not the other way round. Reason is evident: MGY is playing both her teen and adult versions, whilst they have a child actor play the cat-fishing Black Dragon.

Maybe he knew from the get-go but simply couldn't bring himself to acknowledge her cos of the deadly trifecta barriers : (a) chaebol boss-subordinate power gradient (b) burn of dump by first love (c) added humiliation that she did NOT recognise him whilst he did, and first one to blink loses
4. Love the ending of Ep 2: "Aegyi, Kaja!" (a playful nod to that immortal line in My Sweet Mobster)

I kinda disappointed how they changed so much from the webtoon. The only part they took from the webtoon is first 30 minutes of the 1st episode with young Joo Yeon. After that they changed almost everything: in the original they meet 4 years later, not 16 years later. They're not working in the office, Joo Yeon isn't her boss, Soo Jung isn't his employer. They're 20s and they're neighbours.
Male lead isn't a chaebol-boss, cold outside, soft inside type. He's soft outside as well, he's walking cute pie. And female lead is too, in the webtoon she has like positively funny personality. In the drama they're completely different characters. Even their relationship and how they interacting with each other are completely different from the webtoon. In the webtoon they're friendly to each other.
I liked first episode despite some cliche tropes, but I was so anticipated to webtoon's adaptation because plot is original, cute and good, and I can't understand what's the point to call drama an adaptation if you adapting only 1st half of the first episode, aka 2 chapters of webtoon. Why even bought the rights to webtoon, they could film that drama without it, and some other production company would take it and would film a REAL adaptation. Now, thanks to them, I won't ever see adaptation of that webtoon, because this drama clearly isn't.
Anyway, sorry for being a party poorer for people who like the drama and came to read about a drama, it's just my two cents of whining. Drama is good, just not what I expected.