Considering the many side characters (outside of the 4 leads) that populate the dramaverse of Run On, I am pleasantly surprised at how invested I am in all of them. I’d sign up to watch spinoffs on all of these stories:

— Kim Eun Bi – her rise to fame as a top ranking pro golfer, her role as protective noona, and her relentless pursuit of Ryan
— May Unnie – how she built her own company after starting out as a translator, and how Mi-joo came into her fold, and why is she “asexual”
— Mr Jeong – closet cat lover, rare smile-giver, and how he came to join the Seo group and become Dan-Ah’s person
— Young-il – how did he become No. 1, and how did he break through Seongyum’s invisible walls
— Coach Bang – how did she become a top athlete and sought-after coach? Will the tweenagers she’s coaching now teach her how to use a smartphone properly?
— Yook Ji Woo – her rise as an A-lister, Cannes-winning actress, why did she marry the buffoon that is Assemblyman Ki
— The Japchae Story – the relationship between Seungyum, Eunbi and their housekeeper
— Dong Kyung — played by the utterly gorgeous Seo Eun Kyung, and her family; why she doesn’t want her daughter to become a boxer; and her son’s unrequited love 
— Wooshik’s grandma, the cleaning lady, and her best friend, the restaurant owner
— PD Hui Jin – how did she get into the movie business?, what’s her relationship with May unnie and Mijoo 
— Taewoong – the history of AtoZ, the Alphabets, and his life in the States
— Indeed, the siblings Seo – that would make for a great makjang, I’m sure. Three children from three wives. Who gets the family fortune? 

Full credit to the writer for this truly wonderfully sketched cast of characters.
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    Yes to all points! They’re not just there as side characters that gets the main leads to move but you can totally imagine them having a life of their own. Cheers to the writer for making us feel that way towards them!

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      So true! That’s exactly what she’s done with these characters – they’re not props, but real people, leading their own lives, who just happen to intersect with our leads at some point of time. This is something I have rarely seen in kdramas.

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    Are Tae-woong and Myung-min from different mothers? Also, I thought Tae-woong’s mom never married Chairman Seo? The woman doing the funeral rites for Dan-ah’s mom was supposedly Myung-min’s mom, right? Unless the way it work was the Chairman married Dan-ah’s mom, Dan-ah came into the world, Myung-min came into the world, at some point the Chairman either divorced Dan-ah’s mom or Dan-ah’s mom passed away, the Chairman married Tae-woong’s mom and she had Tae-woong, Tae-woong’s mom passed away or she divorced the chairman, and then, finally, the Chairman married Myung-min’s mom.

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      I thought they were different mothers 😂 I thought they were all half siblings to one another! maybe I’m wrong. Your explanation made eyes go 😳

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        I also thought they were also half siblings because in one episode (I don’t know which one) Seo Dan ah told her brother that he’s always saying Tae woong is a bastard which he is also but seems to be forgetting because their dad forged everything to make him the elder brother. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

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      in all of this family puzzle, what’s the most annoying is the Chairman’s carefree irresponisble casual response to all this. He really doesn’t seem to care very much about how he has messed up his children.

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        Reminds me a little of Gong Myung’s father in Into The Ring, where there too, the assemblyman used his family to his benefit, and the son broke away out of frustration and disgust.

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      Also thought they all have different mothers cause I seem to remember the father making a remark about having 3 wives..? Tho not sure whether all are legal marriages. Maybe Tae-woong’s mom is a foreigner and that’s why his childhood was not in Korea.
      As vague as the father is, he might be way scarier than Sun-kyum’s when serious, since Dan-ah gave up the charity run without a fight. Makes me worried about her future with Young-hwa…

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    I’d watch a drama about the Seo Family. It would be amazing. Taewoong~~~

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    I was thinking about these the whole time I was watching ep 12. Whatever may happen to the furthur 4 episodes I will always cherish this drama for having fully realized side characters and giving them all the importance and the space they need and treating them as main characters of their own story rather than just props. And run on has great 12 episodes. If and a big if a BTLIOF ending happens(I personally accepted the weirdness and all) I’ll look back to this drama fondly for having a great 12 episode run. Hope it continue its running spree(sorry could’nt resist)

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    I like all side characters but I feel they are very underdeveloped. It irks me more when we know a few things about a character but they just exist to show that okay they also have a small story. Leaving that small story unexplored leaves you desiring. This has happened before in Jealousy Incarnate that had gazillion side characters and while some did get enough development, for others we were just teased, which seems to be the thing with Run On. I also think Mi Joo is an underdeveloped character. I love Run On and it makes my Wed/Thu brighter however there are some hiccups here and there. Also Seo Eun Kyung is so pretty and reminds me of Kim Seo Hyung a lot, I first thought it was her. Asianwiki lists none of her filmography though.

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      That teasing about wanting to know more about the side characters is precisely what I meant! Like this could easily have been a 50-ep weekender drama, with periodic episodes about each of the side characters!

      I did not enjoy whatever little I watched of Jealousy Incarnate at all :/ so I don’t even remember the side characters…

      I agree that there is a lot more that can be done with the script – like, let’s have a plot, to begin with 😂 As far as I can tell, this drama is more about the writer showing off her command over the language, and her skill with writing dialogue – a lot of the former is most certainly lost on a foreign audience who don’t get the innuendoes and the double entendres and the idioms and the analogies…

      On developing characters, I’d say all the leads are underdeveloped, and a different kind of scriptwriter would have charted this course very differently, IMO. I’m just enjoying what we are being served 😀

      And I’m so glad you agree with me on Seo Eun Kyung. She’s so beautiful, right? Every time I see her on screen, I want to just pause and stare at her. The one other actress who evokes this response in me is Yoon Se Ah. (And you’re right about SEK looking a bit like KSH, who’s also so beautiful!, although I associate KSH with a different kind of personality) I looked for SEK’s filmography too. Both Asianwiki and MDL list nothing else against her name. 🙁

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    It’s like there are no tertiary characters! I’ve been gushing about this with my sister for the entire series run.

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      I know, right? I’ve been trying to sell this drama to my real life circle. Sadly, no one is picking it up. They seem to prefer stuff that is more makjang and dramatic. Sigh. This was the same fate that my ‘Be Melo’ recommendation met.

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    Thought I couldn’t love Secretary Jung more, and then found out he’s a cat person *heart eyes*
    Am also wondering about his backstory and wondering if he ever was assigned to Tae-wong before Dan-ah, it was so sweet how he took Tae-woong under his wing. I do wonder how he gets enough sleep with both siblings calling him nightly for rides ><

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      Yeah there seems to be some kind of a bond there too. He clearly knows the entire family. Even the “dongsaeng-oppa”. What a dedicated Secretary!

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