When a young, energetic employee joins a public relations firm with an introverted and severely misunderstood boss, she makes it her life’s mission to show the world who he really is. Eun Hwan Ki Yeon Woo Jin from Marriage Not Dating and A Divorce Lawyer in Love is the boss at a public relations company. Even though he is at such a highly-regarded position, Eun Hwan Ki is still really shy. So shy, in fact, that even his employees don't know him that well. When they try to talk to him, he averts his gaze and doesn't say hello, instead preferring to hide in his office and avoid human contact. Eun Hwan Ki is just introverted, but everyone thinks he is a cold, prickly, arrogant grouch. They call him the "Silent Monster" and he is genuinely hurt that they see him that way, but is unable to change himself. Chae Ro Woon Park Hye Soo from Age of Youth is a recent hire at the same company. She is energetic, bubbly and gladly breaks into dance in the middle of the street. She loves to be the center of attention and always has something to say. This quality of hers, in fact, makes people think she is too opinionated and confrontational. In short, she is the exact opposite of her boss, who she seems to have an old grudge against. And she takes his "rude" behavior as a personal directive. Chae Ro Woon sets her eyes on Eun Hwan Ki and now has one goal in life expose the big boss man for who he really is and take her revenge. Eun Yi Soo Gong Seung Yeon from Master God of Noodles and Six Flying Dragons is a chaebol heiress who has been engaged for three long years. Like the boss, she is also incredibly introverted. However, even though she can be a legitimate celebrity, Eun Yi Soo has no desire to stand out or be the center of attention. The same firm also employs Kang Woo Il Yoon Park from Age of Youth, co-boss at the company. He, unlike his partner, is warm, sensitive and well-liked. I decided to watch this show after seeing an advertisement for the drama on YouTube. In the advertisement, a girl and a guy are sitting on a park bench. The girl, Chae Ro Woon, remarks that she is cold and pictures the guy, Eun Hwan Ki, taking off his scarf and wrapping it around her neck, while romantically leaning in to kiss her. Cut to reality, and he’s putting her in a cab and telling her to go home to warm up because he’s actually too shy to give her his scarf. She laughs, disbelieving, as her cab pulls away. I knew I had to watch this drama! A lot of the drama involves Chae Ro Woon’s late sister Based on the trailer I saw, I thought I would be getting a light romantic comedy with a big dose of social awkwardness from Eun Hwan Ki, with love interest Chae Ro Woon helping him to overcome his fears and to be a better boss to his employees. And while this is the case, there is a big dose of heavy material as well, which I was not expecting. I was very surprised when the show started View Spoiler » The show deals with the circumstances surrounding her death, the reactions of her family, and the ambitions and guilt of those who seek to cover up their role in her untimely demise. I was shocked to find the couple from the trailer at the opposite ends of this show, with Chae Ro Woon getting a job at CEO Eun Hwan Ki’s company to View Spoiler » Yikes—not exactly what the trailer led me to expect. Though I wasn’t anticipating this heavy of a drama, I really enjoyed it for the mystery that played out throughout the show. It made the development of romance between the leads that much more interesting and unique. I also enjoyed that Chae Ro Woon slowly helped Eun Hwan Ki come out of his shell. My favorite part was when Hwan Ki is finally able to give a speech, thanks to Ro Woon holding up her cell phone at the end of the stage to cheer him on and to help him remain focused on her while talking. Despite all of the good, I did feel that the show lost its way a bit with its writing towards the end. It felt like the show had not been planned out in advance, but was instead written one episode at a time, with some storylines seeming to repeat or even contradict each other. For instance, the mystery surrounding Chae Ji Hye’s death and the role of Kang Woo Il, Eun Hwan Ki’s best friend and business partner, in it is very interesting. This suspicion created a degree of tension throughout the whole drama. It made Chae Ro Woon’s momentary development of feelings for Kang Woo Il and eventual feelings for Eun Hwan Ki that much more interesting. But in the beginning of the series, Ro Won’s determination for revenge for her sister made it hard for me to like her very much. In contrast, Hwan Ki was extremely likable and sympathetic, due to his shyness, which is so extreme, that it almost resembles agoraphobia. I liked Chae Ji Hye better for most of the drama. Plus, in flashbacks, I found that I much preferred Ji Hye’s character to that of her still-living sister. I felt that she also would have been a better match for Hwan Ki. And then later, when his college love, Seo Yeon Jung was introduced, I thought she would make the absolute best girlfriend for him with her outgoing and direct nature! Seo Yeon Jung also seemed like a better match for Eun Hwan Ki. Yeon Jung is also able to easily stand up to Woo Il View Spoiler » She’s also able to handle Hwan Ki’s dad with aplomb and the challenge of Ro Woon with good-natured humor. To be honest, I wish I had more of her personality and I am not sure how Hwan Ki was able to realistically resist her charms and pick the often immature Ro Woon instead. So in some ways, it was very frustrating to find everyone better for the main guy than the main girl. Chae Ji Hye was originally helping Eun Hwan Ki to get over his shyness. It didn’t help that most of Ro Woon’s relationship with Hwan Ki was built around getting out of his shyness—something that Ji Hye had helped him to do in several flashbacks. So much of the budding romance between Ro Won and Hwan Ki felt like a simple rehash of something that had already been done already. Even the part where Ro Woon supports Hwan Ki, telling him he can keep his hood up, was performed before by Yeon Jung in flashbacks as well. Couldn’t the show have come up with something more original for the main characters? The sisters in a flashback. And when the show introduced the late Ji Hye’s feelings for Hwan Ki, as a reason to keep Ro Woon and Hwan Ki apart, I was super annoyed. I could never see Ji Hye wanting to stand in the way of her sister’s happiness—that’s not who her character was. And for Hwan Ki and Ro Woon to only barely to get past that hurdle in their relationship, only for Ro Woon to turn around and instigate a double date vacation with Woo Il and Yoo Si, who had the biggest role in her sister’s death, seemed completely contradictory to the drama. Even worse, was seeing Ro Woon bonding in a hot tub with Yoo Si, calling her “Unnie” and asking her to scrub her back. How was this not an insult to her sister’s memory if dating Hwan Ki somehow was? It seemed completely illogical, sugary sweet, and far too soon for these two to become friends. And even though Ro Won stated that it would take her and Yoo Si awhile to grow close, her actions completed contradicted her words. This kind of behavior should have happened after the one year time skip that occurred in the last episode and not before. My other annoyance with the ending was that Hwan K confessed his love for Ro Woon in the exact same way he pronounced it to his first love, Yeon Jung. Um, how does this make it seem special? Seeing Hwan Ki dancing in the rain to the same song he used before and shouting “I love you, Ro Woon,” in front of all his employees wasn’t nearly as touching because it had been done before with Yeon Jung. I was actually expecting him to propose to Ro Woon instead. I wished that he had when he was handing out the handwritten cards to employees. Instead of giving Ro Woon a card, he could have given her a ring and a speech about how she had helped him to overcome his shyness. But instead, he just did a rehash of his past love confession—boring. Maybe Hwan Ki just isn’t that original of a guy. Overall, the drama was still fairly good, despite its repetitive nature with romance developments and the unexpected heavy subject matter and the mysteries that surrounded it. I would even consider rewatching it someday, as all of the actors did a great job in the drama. I especially enjoyed Yeon Woo Jin’s emotional portrayal of Hwan Ki. Plus, the soundtrack was excellent! Related Posts