Beanie level: Rooftop room dweller

30 Days Book Challenge
Day 1: Best book you read last year

I kinda want to cheat and answer The Tawny Man series because I love everything about it. The adventure, friendship, romance, life lesson, even the it-sucks-being-an-adult stuff. It’s not that easy to get a fantasy stories revolved around a 30 something hero, and this series get an extra point just for how well it handled it.

But if I have to pick one book, it would be the final novel: Fool’s Fate. The uncertainty of change and the hopefulness that surrounded it, the lesson about facing your pain and seizing happiness for yourself, and the notion about boundless love. It was a near perfect conclusion for this epic tale.

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    Oh I loved these! I haven’t been as into Robin Hobbs latest but these were great.

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      Fitz stories are still my absolute favorite from this writer, even if the ending felt too bittersweet to my taste.

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        I liked the Liveship trilogy the best when I read them but I don’t remember a lot of what happened in them now; the Fitz books stayed with me much longer (probably because of that bittersweetness, it was effective but I would’ve taken a less effective, happier ending!)

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          Objectively, Liveship Traders is the best written series from Robin Hobb. Very complex, with a lot of exploration on morally grey areas. Captain Kennit is still one of the best villain I’ve read about, and Malta has all my heart.

          *nodding along your suggestion of a happier ending* Poor little Bee.

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A breakdown scene never felt this raw and painful. It was short compared to many other similar scenes in k-dramas. But I couldn’t shake off the feeling of intruding into someone’s very private moment. So private and in secret that it almost like Jang-hyun himself is hiding his breakdown episode from his own self.
Sigh… It’s impossible to hate this guy.

#MatrimonialChaos

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    One of my favorite dramas. I’m still obsessed with the river crossing and the powerful bond between the women.

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      That stone bridge across the river is just beautiful and atmospheric. Especially at night when characters just standing there mulling over their convoluted thoughts and feelings.

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    This show was so beautifully complex and the characters were so fully realized – I think it was easy to write them all off for different reasons at the start, but by the end you really were rooting for all of them to find happiness. But Son Seok-koo really hit it out of the park with this character – I somehow wanted to strangle him and give him a hug. And he was so expressive, not just with his face but with his movements.

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    As always, SSK stealing the show, although all four leads were amazing.

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    A hidden gem this show was. A great cast was a plus.

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    This entire drama is great

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    So I have stumbled across this post two years after the event but wanted to thank you for posting it as I am now watching the drama. 2 minutes in and I paused to write this as it already seems like my style of drama and reading the comments on this post I think it will be.

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      You are welcome. 😃
      I also discovered this gem quite late, but as always, better late than never. It’s always fun to know that you manage to persuade others to watch something great.

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This is such a memorable scene.
We, adults, like to pretend that we know everything. When in fact, sometimes, it was those kids who actually see things more clearly. It’s unfortunate that most often than not, we are the one who introduce them to the harmful prejudices that has plagued our lives longer than we realized.

#MatrimonialChaos

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30 Days Drama Challenge
Day 18: Drama with SLS

I\’m one of those logical romcom watcher who always cheer for the male lead that the female lead likes and chooses to pursue. In another words, SLS is an almost unheard-of concept for me. But if we were to broaden the meaning of SLS from \”cheering for the wrong person to get the love of their heart\” into \”getting much more invested in the second lead\’s story despite their flaws\”, then I have the perfect answer for that.

Extraordinary You\’s Baek Kyung, actually I\’m still not so sure if me following your story closely to the very end should be attributed to the character himself (who was admittedly one of the more complex and relatable character in the drama) or the actor who brought this arrogant high schooler with hidden vulnerabilities to life (Lee Jae-wook!! 😍😍)

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    Heh so you are like me. I, too, always root for the main guy except for an exception or two.

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    Same! I’ve only had 2-3 cases of SLS.
    Also Baek-kyung was by far the more interesting guy in EY. I was so happy to see Lee Jae Wook in a bubbly smiling role afterwards though. He also stole every scene in his next drama.

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    Baek Kyung was the only reason I even went through watching EY until the finale. For the life of me I find the leads’ romance boring. Haha

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    Haha me too. When I was watching this drama, I was wondering why I can’t hate Baek Kyung and was still somehow rooting for him despite him being so mean to Dan Oh. I thought maybe because he seemed troubled but nice inside. Or maybe because I just finished watching Search: WWW then 😆

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30 Days Drama Challenge
Day 17: Drama that deserved a S2

Probably a very unpopular opinion, but I wanted another season (or two or three) for Life. That drama dealt with the necessity of fundamental change to create a better health system, and by the end of the story, the doctors have only came to that realization. It\’s going to be a long, uphill battle. It would demand enormous effort and strong willpower from all of them to move the change gear, and the ending has only ushered them to that understanding.

There are tons of material to be mined off as the source of the next season\’s stories, be it related to the hospital management issues or exploration of everyone\’s personal life. Given the recent news of Secret Forest\’s second season, I\’m actually a bit more hopeful that Lee Soo-yeon writer-nim will gift us the 2nd season someday. Besides, this drama arguably has the best character for Lee Kyu-hyung, and it would be a treat to watch another 16 eps of Ye Seon-woo living a good life.

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    Life is such a non-cookie cutter medical drama that by the end of it most characters have been “enlightened”. It could indeed have a season 2 to show their subsequent journey and there are so many characters that we audience care.

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    didn’t know I needed a season 2 of Life before your post, I’ll be glad to watch this (and welcome again President Gu on my screen 🙂 )

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    It’s been my favorite medical drama.

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    Yes a to a second season with it.
    Because a second season would also have Lee Jung Hyuk as President. I’m already fainting!!!

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    I think it wasn’t as popular ratings or buzz wise that is why there were never talks of a season 2 when it surely deserves one. The only medical drama I loved watching. I’m watching Hospital Playlist too but I’m totally skipping the medical parts and that’s what Life avoided. Also I think President Gu is one of the best complex gray character dramaland has seen. At one point he looks good and reasonable, at the other he looks bad until he’s fully revealed. Idk if JSW’s character was the same in Forest of Secrets because if it is then I’m missing a lot. Also LKH just broke hearts ten times more in this show then he normally does lol.

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      JSW’s character in Forest of Secrets cant be more different from that in life – who due to some brain surgery in his young age doesn’t have emotional engagement. He’s one introvert but calm and superb investigator. President Gu on the other hand is multi-faced, sophisticated and dapper – all his suits in Life look great on him. Just show what a sublime actor he is.

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        Multi faced is the most appropriate word for President Gu. He definitely is a good actor and Forest of Secrets rests on my should be watched list.

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30 Days Drama Challenge
Day 16: Worst Drama Villain

SPOILER!!!
My vote goes to Trap, because I didn’t know that we watched the story unfolded from the villain’s POV. Needless to say, that was the most disturbing drama-watching experience I’ve had.

P.S. Ajusshi, please come back with a sane drama soon.
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30 Days Drama Challenge
Day 14: Underrated Drama

It’s hard to pick one, but I’ll go with Friend, Our Legend. An old 2009 noir drama that depicted long-lasting friendship and its eventual death in all its painful details. It was a gritty and devastating story about the pain of growing up and carving your own path in the unforgiving world. It was a memorable tale of sweet childhood, exuberant youth, and jaded adulthood.

And personally, I think more people need to watch Hyun Bin playing a quiet, non-chaebol character whose silent rage towards the unfairness in his life slowly ate him up inside. He totally killed it here, bringing a new depth to his acting. Something that I want to see once more.
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    Wow, what an interesting choice. I count myself as HB’s #1 fan so probably I should watch it again too.

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30 Days Drama Challenge
Day 8: Worst NOTP

I thought I would skip on today\’s challenge because I\’ve been lucky enough to drop dramas with potentially problematic OTP long before it reached the half point. And then I remembered that one drama where I did my hardest defending and cheering for the OTP, only for the lead male to go on a nonsensical year-long separation with all communication cut out. Then he came back to his one and only love all convinced that losing life is preferable than living with disability. Like, WHAT?!?! Yes, I\’m talking about you two, Yeo-reum and Soo-yeon from Fox Bride Star. That was the first time I balked at the finale eps reunion, shouted \”No!\” to my screen, then proceeded to write long angry rant and un-favorite that drama from my shows page.


(Yeah, I\’m also crying, Yeo-reum, but definitely not out of joy.)

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    Yeah…I literally just did not watch the last episode because this drama devolved into nonsense and I was so mad at all the wasted potential.

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      I quitted on episode 15. Then realized it was episode 15 and basically FF the whole final episode.
      I hated this so much. I hated ML so much.
      The “one year later” didn’t make sense (well, like anything in the show did 🙄).
      I have anger issues with this show.

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        SAME. I watched episode 15, saw the fanwall the next day and noped out of the last episode. I was like, I do not need to waste an hour on this nonsense. I did watch a few clips of the security couple on youtube, but that’s it. This drama was such a trainwreck by the end that I was sad that these amazing actors were stuck with such nonsense.

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          This drama was the literal definition of Thematic Suicide. It just blew a giant frakking hole in everything it implied it was going to do and could’ve done and it wasn’t JBL or Radiant Office, that kept the heart of their stories despite the rocky finish, at least not for me; FBS just obliterated the whole thing with that ending.

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    Security Couple was the only OTP.

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      Kim Kyung Nam was the main reason I finished this drama.

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    I’m still mad at this drama. What COULD have been. My girl Chae Soobin deserved better. Ironically, it’s probably one of her better rating dramas to date.

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30 Days Drama Challenge
Day 7: Best OTP

Technically, there are so many other dramas that has great OTP, but Na-ri and Hwa-shin from Jealousy Incarnate is still the last couple that reassured me that romcom used to be so much fun. I miss the times when romcom is hilarious and heart-fluttering, yet still full of important messages. When exploring all the facets (even the silly and the ugly) of a romantic relationship is the main drive of the story. When writer doesn\’t need to inject an ill-fitted thriller to move the story forward.

Hwa-shin and Na-ri are as unconventional as a couple can be. They are always unapologetically them during all the phases of their relationship: from medical check up \”dates\” to impromptu dance of love. They make slice-of-life super exciting, turn potentially bloody love triangle into something hilarious, face the heavy issues sensitively but with their good humor still intact, and retain their complex personality well after they\’ve became an official couple.

It\’s 2020. Seo Sook-hyang writer-nim, don\’t you think it\’s time to come back with another romcom full of witty, bizarrely make sense, and superb dialogues? Because I\’m desperate of one now.

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    Jealousy Incarnate!!! ❤️
    The last show that made me wait for the episodes was Be Melodramatic and before that was Jealousy Incarnate. Writers have seriously forgotten that rom coms used to have good comedy too. And well the comedy in JI is spot on and it’s the only show I’d like to rewatch. I was kind of disappointed with Wok of Love but most people who continued watching it said that it was in line with what SSH has previously written. Hence, JI was rather only different. I just wish she writes more like JI often. We don’t get laugh out loud wacky comedy much anyway.

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    He had breast cancer though. It wasn’t a thriller but as we know cancer is one of the worst serial killers out there.

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      That, he is. But I like the way the drama dealt with it. In another drama it would be a full-blown melo. But here, there’s a good balance of seriousness and good humor. Everything felt very slice-of-life. Like something that could happen in everyone’s lives and they showed us how to deal with it well.

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        I didn’t put an emoji of sarcasm but I liked this when it aired maybe I’ll rewatch one day if I like still like it.

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          Oh, oops… That’s the peril of written conversation, I guess.

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    I love this drama! I love him in his glasses and her, “dont let other people see you in your glasses!” I love him trying to sleep with her when the 3 of them are all living together when she’s trying to “make up her mind”. I love the bromance (stop mid-fight to assure themselves that they are still best friend!)
    I love that first kiss when they both assure themselves that they are horrible people–but they couldn’t stop themselves anyway.
    Their chemistry is OFF. THE. WALL

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      That bromance and romantic rivalry that gave us the best childish mud fight. That was epic. I love everything about this drama.

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    HwaShin that guy so jealous that he’s jealous of their son haha 😂
    that drama was a nice one 🙂
    (Jo Jung Seok with glasses though 😍 !)

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30 Days Drama Challenge
Day 6: Best Female Lead

At first, I didn\’t plan on participating in this challenge. Because how am I supposed to choose 1 from 200 something drama I\’ve watched for years??

But reading today\’s theme, I felt that I should give Oh Min-jung from Hi Bye, Mama! a shout, if only because a nice yet complicated second female lead is still a rare gem in dramaland. And also because she stood tall, calmly and quietly disproving the infamous stereotype about evil step mother. I love her with all my heart. And I still wish the writer treated her better.

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    Oh!! She has my heart~~~ I rooted for Minjung from day 1. She’s lovely, loving and so so nice.

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    Thank you for this!!!
    She was, for me, the centre of the whole drama.
    After all… who is SeoWoo’s mum?

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These two\’s brand of constant bickering is just so funny. I love how Song-hwa is the only one who can shut Jun-wan up whenever he started to rant and nag about everything. 🤭🤭

#HospitalPlaylist

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    I loooooooove the episode this week <3
    And YES! Their scenes are so much fun to watch.
    I'm so happy to have JKH on my screen every week ;A; that hair pulling scene with JJS was hilarious. I loved the ruffled look on JKH XD

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    These two are my favourites.
    You can tell Jun-wan loves Song-hwa so much, they’re just platonic goals.

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    I love the friendship of these characters 🙂

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    Out of the 3 who rushed to ask her result, Jun Wan’s scene is my favorite. And omo..that fight with Ik Jun,,he just lost it when IJ kept promoting bro-in-law 😀

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      I can’t wait to see Ik-jun’s reaction when he finally know that her baby sister is dating Jun-wan who is famous of having a lot of short-term girlfriends.

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        Yeah, but how sweet was that phone call with Ik Sun – he was totally giddy & melting! IJ would probably be ok but also threaten to beat him up? He looked totally crushed when Dr Ahn said IS was still hurt from her last break-up.

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          I knowww!!! That sceenne was a sooo cuuute. Squeeeaall😆😆

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    Loved these scenes too!!! HAHAHA

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A cute GIF set to brighten your days, beanies.
\”How to spend your time with Dad at shooting location\” by our cutie pie Seo-woo.

1. Playing rock-paper-scissor

2. Playing arm wrestle (p.s. it\’s also a good way to learn acting from Dad 😉)

3. Playing peek-a-boo (plus Dad teasing Seo-woo by calling him \”old man\” 🤭)

#HiByeMamaBTS

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Ahjumma April

Actually, I\’ve shared this quotes around 2 years ago when My Ajusshi was airing. But re-reading the novel, I found this scarily relevant to what we have to do in this challenging situation. So, here it is. A wise statement from Amber, one of my favorite female character in Mad Ship by Robin Hobb. I always remember Amber for her astute observation, sharp questions, and her courage to always point out the uncomfortable truth everyone tried to pretend away.

Everyone thinks that courage is about facing death without flinching.But almost anyone can do that. Almost anyone can hold their breath and not scream for as long as it takes to die. True courage is facing life without flinching. I don’t mean the times when the right path is hard, but glorious at the end. I’m talking about enduring the boredom, and the messiness, and the inconvenience of doing what is right.

And also, a worthy reminder for us all.

Stop using every mistake you make as an excuse to fail completely.

Fighting, everyone! We can do this.

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Remember when Jeong-won protested about how fast Jun-wan eat whenever they ate together? Maybe this is the reason. You should blame young Ik-jun and Seok-hyeong, Jeong-won-ah. 🤭🤭🤭



#HospitalPlaylist

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Another BTS goodies from #HiByeMama. This particular scene is quite bittersweet in the drama, but the rehearsal and preparation are such a riot.


[Lee Kyu-hyung is, once again, trying to find a better position for his scene with Go Bo-gyeol. He lifted her in fireman carry and argued that it was the most comfortable for both of them, while she played along and \’drunkenly\’ waved her hand towards her new unnies]


[Lee Kyu-hyung (while looking at Go Bo-gyeol): \”Yuri, walk. You can walk by yourself.\”
Go Bo-gyeol: \”I\’m not Yuri… ㅠㅠ\”
She then asked the cameramen responsible for shooting the BTS videos if they captured that moment. Lee Kyu-hyung is all flustered, trying to explain that he said that because he saw Yu-ri still sitting on the stair.
The PD then took pity and saved him by saying that he just trying to be funny. ㅋㅋㅋ]


[The cast are discussing about what can someone in Kang-hwa\’s position do if situation like this happened for real. Shin Dong-mi (Hyun-jung) quipped that if Lee Kyu-hyung really said things like in the 2nd GIF, he would die for sure. Go Bo-gyeol agreed and told him that she would feel hurt.
Lee Kyu-hyung: I\’m also sorry… hiing…
He slunk away, making the ladies burst out laughing.]

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The production team knows precisely what I want. Lee Kyu-hyung always looks great with kids. And this special BTS collection is no different.

[Aww… I love the way he softly said \”You\’ve worked hard,\” to the baby]


[daddy Kang-hwa is pissy at too-cute-and-playful Seo-woo ㅋㅋㅋ]


[Daddy Kang-hwa who turn into a jukebox for Seo-woo\’s sake. \”Baby Shark ddu~ ru~ ru~ ddu~ ru~\”]

#HiByeMama

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The production team must know that we, the viewers, are quite desperate for more sweetness between Kang-hwa and Min-jung because we got a rare peek at the BTS of their scenes. Enjoy!!


[Lee Kyu-hyung is trying to find a different pose so that their walk together doesn\’t feel too awkward. When Go Bo-gyeol questioned his suggestion, he laughingly said \”I don\’t know how a couple normally use an umbrella together.\”]


[He suggested for them to walk while linking arm, and Go Bo-gyeol teasingly protested that she wouldn\’t want to do that since she is preparing for a divorce. Lee Kyu-hyung: \”Shouldn\’t you pretend that there\’s nothing wrong while preparing for that, instead?\”]

#HiByeMamaBTS

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    My hearttttttt

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    I guess it wouldn’t make much sense for them to link arms cuz we’ve never seen much physical affection between them but even just sharing the umbrella makes my heart flutter.

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    My ship lol.

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    Whenever I walk with someone under an umbrella I always link arms, it’s the only way not to get wet!!

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I\’m celebrating the budding friendship between Yu-ri and Min-jung. The ship sail, everyone! And judging from Seo-woo\’s bright grin, the little girl definitely approves of this new development.

#HiByeMama

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    Love it! Minjeong doesn’t seem like the friendly type although she is a kind person so it’s nice to see her interactions with Yuri. I’m tired of people talking crap behind her. It’s also nice to see her smiling.

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To answer @bdxpelik\’s question in their post, yes I\’m also freaking out about this scene. It\’s too sweet and heart-fluttering not to be made into a GIF post. So, here it is. And I\’m positive that\’s a sparkle of genuine love I witnessed between them.

#HiByeMama

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Aww… Min-jung and Seo-woo make for a very sweet mother-daughter pairing. This scene warmed my heart.

#HiByeMama

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    I have rewatched this scene so many times. That’s probably the first time Seo woo has shown affection to MJ as her child.

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    And she said “I like Mom more.” ;A;

    Dang. It would have hurt for Yu-ri to hear that.

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    They’re so cute together 😍

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