What type of assbackwards logic is this?! "I was tough on him because love makes you weak". It made more sense (character wise) that she just resented him cause she valued her son and he died doing something "frivilous"

He wasn't even allowed to mourn for his parents and now it's because I wanted him to be stronger?

But sure, I guess there was no other way for that conversation to go without using as a lead.

Well I got my bean, SIGH.

@unit -Well said & spot on! Totally agree it's BJY show. CHW did a great job here. He brought BJY to life with his own unique charm - truly adorkable & not to mention hilarious😉. Looking forward to his future projects. He definitely gained a new fan! Pity MGY seemed detached throughout although there were some bright moments cos she actually can do rom-com quite well.

It's over!!!! I had so many difficulties to focus on what was happening on the screen because I didn't care...

This drama was meh from the beginning to the end.

I think Choi Hyun-wook was really micasted. For me he was trying to be Park Seo-joon in What's Wrong With Secretary Kim but didn't have the aura neither the charisma, so the result was a teenager trying to act like an adult. Because of that, the humor between his secret hobbies and his job didn't work at all.

Moon Ga-Young wasn't bad but after her performance in The Interest of Love and her chemistry with Yoo Yeon-Seok, it looks like she did the bare minimum.

I liked the second couple but I would have prefered them without the last separation but instead more building justifying him quitting his job.

The grandma was just a plot pawn and not a real character. Her behavior never made sense.

Thank you for the recap. 🍓🎮🐉

Uri Black Dragon was talking about us Beanies wasn't he. 😂 He knows that for us watching K-dramas isn't just a hobby, it is a lifestyle.

It was a nice and fluffy ending with *surprise,  surprise* NO noble idiocy that was reserved for the secondary couple and / or time skip!! 😱 I liked the open communication between the leads, their mutual trust (of course Ban Ju would have gone to the US with his yeoja-chingu) and slowing easing into their relationship and attending rock concerts together. I loved the fact that things were resolved and the Pirate King pop-up was back on track because of uri Black Dragon embracing his true identity. The "real" ML is the Black Dragon of course and the Chaebol Ban Joo-yeon is just his public Bruce Wayne identity. I loved the voice note recorded by uri Strawberry and her Black Dragon's reaction to it - complete with squees and kicking feet. 😂🤣 I was happy that even though we didn't get more in-game scenes, we got references to their time there and how they had spent Christmas and New Year together. Awww. 😊❤🥰

As anybody could see from a mile away both the lovelines were wrapped up and Halemoni got a redemption arc. I lost interest in the secondary leads storyline and as many  Beanies rightly mentioned Halemoni wasn't a real character just a pixelated "hurdle" or maybe "trauma" to overcome.

My only little gripe was the absence of more in-game scenes. Otherwise I was happy with our OTP and liked their growth together and how their relationship evolved. Their in-game interactions also built a lot of trust between them. And they relied upon that trust 5o take their relationship forward. Park Seo-joon's Chaebol has become the go-to template for Chaebols in rom-coms but it was easier to accept that Ban Ju's "real" identity was the Black Dragon and not the Chaebol heir.

So here's a cheer for uri Black Dragon and Strawberry. May they have a happy time gaming together. ❤

I'm with @kurama here. This one was fine but pretty unexciting, the grandma unconvincing, the two couples unobjectionable but not even as attractive in their interactions to me as those in Potato Lab, and that's saying something! Just as I was never convinced that the FL would be that obsessed over the trauma caused her by her fantasy first love, so I was never convinced that she would fall in love with the ML, and it seemed to me that's why they replayed the scene of him tying her shoes 3 times. That trope is not the basis of a deep love, I would say!

I liked the show's variations on the use of tropes and its ppls, but that's different from saying that the show as a whole was memorable. The ending was not a shocking letdown, as is unfortunately common in kdrama rom-coms. But still, I predicted the FL dancing awkwardly in black leather next to the ML after the first episode, and total predictability isn’t that fun either.

I'd say one of the essential problems of the show for me, was, as many people pointed out, that although going to rock concerts and indulging in comic collectibles might be somewhat "youthful" in spirit, (although I know many men in their 60s who do a lot more immature things than that), its hardly something shameful. In order to make the activities excessively clandestine, they had to put forward this cartoonish character of a Grandma. I was always thinking--what if they had made the ML's secret musical hobby really transgressive, like say, cross-dressing as a woman opera singer and singing German leider in falsetto before a small group of chamber music fans? Something like that would have been genuinely unusual, and likely somewhat scandalous, and wouldn't require a cardboard Grandmother to make it something to hide.

Or, alternatively, what I would really have liked--what if they gave the FL a hobby that she also felt was not respectable, so the couple was bound together in their secrecy? Even though I knew it was coming, the FL's declaration of "I don't need a hobby--I'll just adopt the ones of the person I love" didn't really sit right with me. Not to take fantasy rom-com relationships too seriously, but in real life, you need a mutual sharing of interests. One partner can't be able to indulge in all the things he likes, without acknowledging the leisure time interests of his love. I think making their joint pursuits a little less one sided might have convinced me more that they belonged together.

Finally the idea that you should “openly pursue your (harmless) passions, that also involve buying a lot of things" is something that I, as a baby boomer, have been hearing from advertising all my life—so I don’t find it too inspiring or in this context very romantic a message.

Overall, a fun little drama. I had to work to keep my interest up and since I am not a usually a "live watcher" this was a challenge. But, I made it to the end!
I agree, it was definitely the "Bahn Joo-yeon show, and although I was not a CHW fan, he grew on me. Agree that he did seem to be mimicking PSJ in some of his actions (hand motions). The chemistry between the main leads felt a little more believable by the end, but still not sold on FL's part in it all.

As I said in a comment before, I would have been much happier with the end if we had gotten to see the DRAGON TATTOO one more time!

Thanks for the recap!
I enjoyed this show, but I bet I will forget about it quickly. The conflict that the OTP had to resolve was kind of silly, even though the underlying traumas of the characters were serious. I knew that no one would be satisfied with the ending, because there was no satisfying ending. The grandmother had to repent for the ML to get his reward for his persistence. The show waited until the last moment to show the repentance and that made it unbelievable. It was like flipping a switch, and that seems kind of odd and unrealistic. The actress did her best to make the repentance believable and sincere, but the script did not.
It would have made more sense, to me, for the grandmother to fire him and for the two of them to negotiate new positions in the US through the company that was scouting the FL.
The second couple were also a plot problem. They each had real character backstory reasons for their behavior in the relationship--but somehow the writers didn't care enough to show them each working through the problems. But there was a lot of humor they missed in the process. Also what happened with his toothache? It was like someone set up something with the teeth and then just dropped it.
Overall it felt like the desire to create light rom com vibes and the premise and plot were a bit at odds with each other. It kind of reminded me of Cinderella at 2AM. We have to explain why these attractive and gifted people are single, so we give them a terrible backstory, and then we handwave that so they can pull ridiculous shenanigans.
I found Choi Hyun-wook extremely appealing in this show, though. I loved him as the bromance character in Weak Hero (that was him too, right?) He's good at showing sympathy on his face and that's so appealing. I'm also in favor of Moon Ga-young playing smart people. So that was nice!

Meh. What an unsatisfying final two episodes. A general problem with the enemies to lovers trope is once they become lovers most of the fun tension is gone, and that's where this show has been for the past few episodes. As for the grandmother's redemption story - give me a break! It would have been much more satisfying to see her ousted from her own company or worse - where's a white truck of death when you need it!? Personally, I was far more interested in the second leads, and while the drunk confession over the loudspeaker was funny I would have liked a bit more focus on this more interesting relationship. Anywho.... Thanks Unit for the recaps!

After several years of watching wall to wall excellent Kdramas, I finally hit a block of eight variously made over 14 years that have really sucked.

All this we were connected as kids stuff is bad enough, but I saw two recently which both had boys rescued from a fire by a man who not only sacrifices himself to do it, but turns out to be the blood father of the love interest who was orphaned as a result.

The similarities were so exact that either the same writer was used on both and was lazily reusing his favourite clichés, or there's a lot of deliberate copying.

Grandmother should have remained stuck in her ways until the comedic death scene, telegraphed at various points throughout the drama. That would have mixed things up a bit.

In Kdramas the heroines all decide not to go abroad to fulfil themselves or whatever, choosing instead to take a subserviant role to the male lead. That idea is a ropey old misogynistic cliche in Kdramas, and should no longer be in use. Same with legs giving way and falling into the arms of the hero, with instant love at first eye contact.

A drama is in trouble when the secondary love interest is more interesting. The secondary lead actress has a much more interesting role and she acted it through much better, too. Whilst I like the leads, they were very vanilla, with performances that had been dialed in, but the script didn't give them much choice, to be fair.

The secondary relationship would not work in real life. The secondary male lead is a deadly dull guy with no personality, whereas the secondary female lead is full of silent anger and laughter and a fiery independent attitude that only begrudgingly accepted the vanilla man at every step. I can see divorce in wait for those two.

The rest of the world way way too sketchily painted. The office workers were never more than manikins and seemed to do nothing, nothing at all. In fact they all seemed to do nothing at all.

Love the leads, despite the vanilla dialed in performances because it's not their fault, but a totally paint it by numbers drama without soul or depth.

This man went on stage and said he liked a cartoon.. .and of course everyone's reaction was just "😐 🧍"
Ban Ju-yeon, you're not a persecuted minority, you're just into nerdy stuff 😭 that grandma did a number on you... I can't believe everyone forgave her so easily. Especially with that anime villain motivation... What do you mean, "love makes people weak"???

Other than that, it felt like they didn't know to end the story. After everyone's happy ending, all that was left is a monologue, running across the street and walking off hand-in-hand. And honestly? I'm fine with that. I expected fun, cute romance and a pleasant way to pass the time. I got all of that til the very end, so I'm super happy.

It made me smile when our black dragon was like the fandom life chooses you, you do not choose the fandom life haha.

I felt he was so relatable to so many people, particularly in the final episode when he was being more open about his interests.

People who don't get it can belittle it but being a fan of something can truly be a healing and saving thing. It can give people motivation, happiness, support, and community.

I liked the handwritten messages from the cast at the end. I thought that was a very nice touch.

I usually binge-watch after a drama has finished, but I did this in three mini binge-sessions and sadly, found myself losing interest between them. Was it because I lost the continuity or flow of the plot? Don't think so. There wasn't anything nuanced or confusing about it, or the characters: girl with disastrous 1st love and a yen to climb the corridors of power, meets a rich chaebol heir whose disastrous 1st love fed right into his choking fear of not living-up to anyone's expectations, so he led a double-life between his pretend role as a CEO while hiding his core self: a cool music fan dude who likes gaming, Animé & toys. Quirky yes, but easy to understand. Same as our second lead characters: a girl who was hurt by her ex and now won't trust the new man who likes her... until she changes her mind...but then HE changes his. Again simple. The actors were good (not saying great because sometimes the dialogue felt a bit too writer-heavy). My favourite character was Joo-yeon's Secretary, who, in spite of her reluctance, kept giving him some good guidance. The grandmother was definitely one-dimensional, and actually, that term could be used about the whole drama for me. No matter what small quirks the characters had or how the plot delivered some trope-flips, the drama seemed to stall into loops of repetitious actions, like all the misunderstandings between the leads, mixed in with their misunderstandings with co-workers. Perhaps some different complications for their relationship might have helped? For example, maybe if we'd seen more of her not falling into lockstep with his life after his secret was out, but do more entwining him into her family life? I really liked seeing them in "real life" helping Dad fix things in the house. I would have also been interested in her Dad's background life and why he is so passive, almost timid around his kids. Same with Joo-yeon's grim-faced Gramma who was also a one-trick pony right up until she suddenly turned nice ....after just one conversation. Nothing led up to it beforehand. Okay, I'll park my thoughts here...all just quibbles anyway...however when all is said and done, the writer & director did keep me at the table, but I still left a bit hungry for a more filling meal.

I loved this couple. They were so cute together. I loved how Soo-jung decorated Joo-yeon's living room with his anime stuff (and love even more how she has free access to his house). I'm happy that he can finally display his favorite things out in the open and not have to hide his secrets anymore. When Joo-yeon overheard Soo-jung's team agree that she should accept the job offer and ask how can she go to the U.S. without her boyfriend, I shouted, "Her boyfriend can go with her!" especially since he just told his grandmother to fire him. Soo-jung's misunderstanding was hilarious though, "Should I go home now so I can start thinking about it?" as was Secretary Kwon's "You told her you'd be going together, right?"

Grandma was the worst contrived plot device. This conflict was unbelievable and only existed to manufacture childhood trauma for our hero. He was a CHILD! Those were his PARENTS! It's NOT HIS FAULT that they died!! We all saw it coming, but I'm still angry that the show made Joo-yeon forgive her.

If I could rewrite this story, I would...
1) Remove Grandma.
2) Age Joo-yeon and Soo-jung down. There is no reason he needs to be 30 years old. He could've been a 25-year-old genius chaebol director, which would at least be closer to Choi Hyun-wook's real-life age.
3) I realize this would change the entire story, but because I loved the in-game scenes of Episode 1, I wish Joo-yeon's secret were he's a gamer. Although, gaming is an adult hobby (Esports), so it wouldn't be embarrassing nor would he need to keep it a secret, but if it were, Soo-jung's new hobby could be gaming since she once loved playing when they were young unlike reading manhwas or attending rock concerts.
4) I wish the writer had sprinkled in "You remind me of my first love" moments throughout the show. When Joo-yeon told Soo-jung at the farm that it's lonely working alone, it should've reminded her of their promise. I swooned at him remembering that she wanted to learn the piano.
5) Make Joo-yeon wear glasses all the time.

Forever thanks for recapping the whole show, @Unit!

This drama was overall cute and with a happy ending but nothing special for me in the end. There are some cute romance k-drama that I like (Touch your heart for instance) but this one didn't trigger that many emotions.
Of course the grandmother gets her redemption arc, she only needed 20 + years to realize that a 8 years old kid wasn't responsible for his parents death...
I am still disappointed that it wasn't more game oriented as the first episodes showed.
At least FML got to meet his idol and SML finally quit his job to make the restaurant his job, since anyway he was always there!

I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments each week though, so thank you :)

This was a fun drama that definitely fits in the "palette cleanser" category.

It seems that the talented Choi Hyun-Wook could be the new Park Seo Jun. I would like to see him in an historical drama.

True, there are several things that could be improved upon, but overall it was entertaining.

I dragged my feet on watching these last episodes. I was bored during the finale. The overall romance between Soo Jung and Joo Yeon was too juvenile especially when the characters were suppose to be in their 30s. If they had been in a different setting and position (not CEO+team leader), then their romance could have worked. College campus, jobs not in corporate. Anything else...

Villain Grandma was one of the worst plot devices I've seen recently. Did not care for her redemption arc at all.

The show overemphasized Joo Yeon's hobbies as being childish, but they really weren't. It's fine for adults to be reading comics, rocking out, and collecting things!

The supporting characters did not stand out except Secretary Kwon.

Hope to see Moon Ga Young in a better drama. ; 3;