Secret Relationships

Broken Hearts, Twisted Love: A Deep Dive into Secret Relationship

📅 Completed it a while ago, posting this review late after someone reminded me (thank you 😭)


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So first of all, I want to say — this drama is not for the soft-hearted. It’s emotional, dark, messy, and at times painful. But that’s why I had to drop this review — because the story stayed with me.


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🧍‍♂️ Jung Da-on (Played by Kim Jun-seo)

A lot of people might say Da-on is naïve or easy to manipulate. But to me? He’s a boy who never had anything solid to hold on to. He was probably forced to be the breadwinner at a young age. There was so much pressure on him, and no one — not family, not adults — ever truly guided or protected him.
That’s why he clung to his tutor, Shin Jae-min, thinking he was the only one who understood. But instead, that same person turned out to be the one damaging his life the most. And that broke me.


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💔 Shin Jae-min (The Tutor)

Let’s talk about this man — textbook manipulator. Instead of loving Da-on properly, he chose to ruin his life just so he could fix it later, like some twisted hero. If he really loved Da-on, why didn’t he say it years ago? Why wait and break him down just to build him up again? That’s not love. That’s obsession.
He's the perfect example of how the people closest to you can actually be the ones hurting you the most.


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🫂 Joo Seong-hyeon

Honestly, I didn’t notice it at first — but by the end of the series, it was clear: he had fallen deeply in love with Da-on. He was always watching, caring, stepping in gently. But Da-on couldn’t see it because he was blinded by his loyalty to Jae-min. It hurt to watch, but it also made me love Sung-hyeon even more. He’s soft but strong. Quiet but constant. A true green flag 🥺


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🐍 Kim Su-hyeon

At first? I thought he was just some cold, stubborn guy. But the more I watched, the more I realized: he was hurting too. He sacrificed a lot for Da-on, and he was also being manipulated by Jae-min. The layers to his character shocked me. Honestly, Shin Jae-min is the real villain here, just slithering around like a green snake, ruining lives.


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🎭 Final Thoughts

This drama? It's heavy. Toxic. Emotionally draining. But it’s also powerful, beautifully acted, and unforgettable. I cried, I shouted at my screen, and I felt everything.
The actors did AMAZING — especially Kim Jun-seo. I really hope to see more of them in future dramas because they ate this whole show.

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Jaemin is crazy ! Daon deserve all the happiness

apparently 8 episodes are not enough for such a complicated story but it allowed the authors to significantly accelerate the development of the characters (especially daon, who incredibly infuriated me).

suhyeon was the least interesting for me and they somehow redeemed him. it was out of his character but I can't care less.

jaemin had finally lost all his control. his mask crumbled his fake pink color disappeared. he was so distraught he decided to commit a crime.

it changes the dynamics of his relationship with daon as well as the development of daon. it was jaemin's last resort. his desperation reached its maximum.

in the webcom he continued to act pitiful and take advantage of daon's absolute lack of guts.

2d daon willingly went with jaemin to the villa. he already knew everything he was aware of everything, but he WENT ANYWAY (not mentioning him previously nursing that toxic ass after the knife scene). in the end, he decided to run away ONLY when jaemin tried to sa him.

the plot was changed and it created new strong daon (good for him). I'm just glad daon was finally willing to do something of common sense

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WENT 0 TO 100 real quick

Warning spoilers !! Going to try to not spoil too much.

So my friend recommended this to me and she warned me that two of the male leads were toxic. So i was like...sign me up! I started episode 1 and completely forgot everything she had warned me about. I found myself cooing over Jaemin and Da On. Then when Jaemin's ex showed up, I was like "oh no, here comes a love triangle. The ex is going to try to steal Jaemin back." But no the series did an Uno reverse. I was ..HELLO hes Da On's manager now and why is he like stalking him? Like sir what's your problem?? And then suddenly surprise!!!! Jaemin is psycho. Your girl was crushed. I didnt wanna believe it. Not sweetheart, Jaemin. This series is just messing with me. But he showed his crazy side. So i found myself torn between a healthy love and chaotic toxic love. And when it ended, i was sad to be honest. I was rooting for Jaemin to get better but he didnt and now he's probably in a pyscward , sad face. That's why im giving the series an 8.5. Like Da On's coworker is cute and all but my heart is still with Jaemin. He was such an interesting character and had this been a BL game instead of a drama series he probably be with Da On. Hopefully not burning each other alive but maybe like something less toxic and romantic. Yeah i recommend this series it's a fun watch.

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more toxic than a nuclear swamp

They are inherently cold, the Korean I mean, so obsession is just screaming and I’ve always put off by that. it’s a great storyline though and admittedly good actors but obsession is an ART it needs finesse which is lacking here. It’s like (team A) 2 weak characters and (team B) the 2 screaming characters. I feel the writing was invested in the flow of the story and shock value MORE than the characters build up and development. In “addicted” (China) and “my beautiful man” (Japan) obsession was deliciously portrayed, that kind craziness you only find in same sex couple was missing here (reciprocity is irrelevant) …
I feel disappointed I really wanted to like it but all the incapability turned me off even for the true love storyline. My god the main character lead was so passive it frustrated my all well intentions towards the whole thing.
Still watched to the end so maybe its really good and I don’t know how to judge.

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Green Flag, Yellow Flag, Black Flag, Or Well... A Psychopath

I like to call this the red string theory, the ending proved how Da On was meant to be with Seong Hyeon from the start but it wasn't the right time or place. Honestly I really liked this story, it was very interesting from start to finish, so with this review I would like to talk about each person individually starting off with our Black Flag aka our psychopath, its honestly so interesting how I first thought Su Hyeon was gonna be the most toxic of them all, and thats what they wanted us to think until we started to find more and more about Jae Min, he is honestly just so lost in his own meaning of love that he doesn't realize how messed up everything he does is, he thinks its love and sacrifice, but its just obsession, I like to know characters background when it comes to breaking down the reason why they're this toxic but there wasn't much background information about Jae Min like the other characters, so im guessing this is just the way he is cause he was born this way. But it still doesn't excuse any action he did towards Da On, and the fact that they were all so harmful either to Da On or the people he cared about. But anyway, thats all I have to say, next one is our Yellow Flag, I thought about labeling him a Red Flag and honestly he's a bit of both, so maybe he's like a Orange Flag, but you can tell he was way more sympathy than Jae Min. Su Hyeon is honestly someone I can see kind of like a misunderstood character, I feel like he isn't a bad person deep down he was just in love and was pushed to his limits by Jae Min and also his own personal life with his family putting the immense pressure of the company and honestly just pleasing them with whatever they asked him to do. You can tell he can be caring when we saw the scene of him being super kind to his niece, that showed a different side of him I feel we would be able to see if Su Hyeon wasn't just pushed to the brink of insanity. I honestly felt bad for him at times, he did do horrible things to Da On as well and wasn't the best person to be around but I really do feel sympathy of what he could've been if it hadn't been for the actions he made because of once again love and obsession. This leads me to my next point before I talk about Seong Hyeon and Da On, Jae Min and Su Hyeon saw Da On as a possession rather than a person they wanted to love and take care of, they were both fighting like cats and dogs over another human being with feelings and emotions and making dumb decisions like fake dating between each other just for what? At the end of the day Da On liked both Jae Min and Su Hyeon at some point, if either of them had done the right thing and done things properly like Seong Hyeon, they could've had the happy ending the so craved with Da On. But they chose to be dumb and toxic about it and look where that lead them. I do feel for Su Hyeon, maybe because in a way he was manipulated by Jae Min into fake dating him so neither of them could have Da On but Jae Min always had an ulterior motive, theres a reason he's labeled Black Flag, this man was no doubts the villain of this story and it infuriated me whenever he would pop up and ruin everything again. But anyway, lastly we have our Green Flag, he's honestly all there is to a Green Flag and what we all look for in a partner, he managed to love Da On and care for him properly, no single toxic behavior was done, everything he did was for him, this man risked his life for him, he did everything thats expected of someone that truly loves someone else, a literal sweetheart, even when he woke up after being stabbed the first thing he asked was "how did the presentation go", LIKE HELLO?! He's just perfect. And I'm so happy things worked out for both of them and they got their happy ending, the way we all wanted it to go. It just shocks me how he was able to deal with 2 men who were so toxic and dealing with Da On trying to push him away, plus waited a whole year to be with Da On again. That's just true love man. He cared so much about Da On, and Da On deserved this love. Now this brings me to Da On, our main character, I felt really bad for him, and understandably so. He came from a broken family, a gambling addict of a father and an absent mother/sick? Not sure about what was her deal. Having to have young siblings in which I'm sure he took the role of being both father and mother and taking care of them, once he had the chance to escape he did and tried to make a life for himself, regardless of all the trauma he was about to experience with Jae Min and Su Hyeon, he had already experienced some trauma with family, his dad always asking for money so he could continue his gambling addiction, and ruining his reputation in his work place by showing up and making a scene. Then when Jae Min ordered that guy to make him drunk and then took pictures of him in bed almost shirtless, the shit this man experienced was honestly devastating. He deserved to feel love and be loved but instead he had days and days of misery because 2 guys didn't know how to love properly. It hurt me so much when it got to the point that Da On was saying how he doesn't deserve to love or be loved because in the end they all end up being hurt. I was like "NO" because he deserves love and more, he deserves to feel what it is to truly be in a happy healthy environment and relationship. And Seong Hyeon was that for him, so I'm glad once again that things worked out and we got our happy ending, I would be a mess if we didn't. But anyways, this is the longest review I've done in a long time but I just had so much to say about this series, its so different from the others, I haven't seen a love square ever because not even love triangles are my thing but this one was very interesting. I recommend watching, it's an 8.5/10 for me.

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It has the most toxic and green flag characters

This is my new top series of all time. I absolutely love (fictional) toxic queer relationships. And, I enjoyed guessing who was more unhinged and being very surprised!

I really liked how the story unfolding, and going from hating a character, tolerating them, being sympathetic, pitying them, then REALLY enjoying them.

Joo is such a golden retriever, I love him <3

The only thing that REALLY irritated me was the miscommunication between Daon and Joo. I understand that it was for tension, but still.

With each f*cked up thing that happened, I got more and more excited. Nonstop calling? yessss. Possessive behavior? Yesssssss. Stalking? YES. OBSESSIVE behavior? YES! Alliance of unhinged behavior? YESSSS. EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION??? HELL YES I’M IN. (Especially because it somehow manages to have a happy ending, so I went through this emotional rollercoaster and still finished in a positive mood.)

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Secretly Awful Friends for Poor Daon

I have mixed feelings about what I'd personally rate this drama. There were parts about it that I absolutely commend it for, but then there are parts that I felt were too rushed or poorly done. That being said, I still think I liked more about this show than I disliked.

I personally really liked how they showed how there are different ways of being abusive to someone, whether it be physical, financial, verbal, or emotional; Daon when through it all with dealing with his parents and his "so-called" best friends from university. He very much was a victim of the people in his life and I really commend this show for actually giving him his happy ending with Seonghyeon. Unfortunately, a lot of romances (especially BL for whatever reason) love to give their protagonists an ending with the people that treated them poorly compared to someone that treated them well.

And, in comparison to many romance stories with protagonists stuck in an unfortunate situation, Daon doesn't really feel like a blank state. He actually learns respect for himself by the end and it was genuinely satisfying to see considering how much control his abusers thought they had over him. Seeing him not giving in to his parents' demands because he knew it would ultimately be for the worse was extremely satisfying to witness because of how often characters in stories are shown to let avoidable circumstances have power over them. Yes, he was gullible when it came to Jaemin, but that was easily because of the way Jaemin molded him and strung him along to be the way he wanted him to be. With Seohyun, Daon learned not to stretch his hope out thin that he would return or change, and that scene when he returned the ring was really powerful. He decided to be straightforward and honest with Seohyun and that showed just how mature Daon was in comparison to him and Jaemin.

Jaemin and Seohyun are a good example of what to avoid in a partner or friend. The series did well to show how although they have many differences, they are both two different types of abusive. Seohyun was stubborn, extremely ill-tempered, demanding, and impulsive. His anger issues made his attempts to win Daon over fall void and this would cause him to lash out as a result. Daon knew to just distance himself from someone like this whenever he acted this way, which seemed to start back when he pretend dated Jaemin. Jaemin, on the other hand, was far more intimidating as he actually paid off on his threats. He was manipulative, obsessive, selfish, and unhinged. He really was far more selfish than Seohyun to the point that he wanted to keep Daon pining after him forever without ever giving him the satisfaction of confirming his feelings for him. He would put his own self-satisfaction above ever making Daon truly happy because he was only concerned with what he wanted in the long run and naturally assumed Daon would comply with that. Oh boy the way he was on edge when he realized that Daon was learning to respect himself and move on from him after Jaemin was cruel with his rejection. He only had eyes for one thing ("thing" as a word choice because both Seohyun and Jaemin seemed to view Daon as a prize to win), and once he realized he was losing it, he wanted to take it with him into his grave. He had an extremely perverse nature that he hid behind a flawless facade. People like that are truly terrifying and I think the show did a good job of showing that.

Seonghyeon was an actual green flag that was refreshing to see in BL land. You rarely get to see a healthy romance flourish but Secret Relationships was clear about writing him in a way that felt possible yet also idealistic. I enjoyed how much he contrasted with the toxic duo because it showed all the more what traits in a healthy partner should look like. He was caring, playful, earnest, and loyal. He never wanted to usurp control over Daon from the other guys and he was honest about his intentions with Daon. Daon truly deserved to be with someone that actually valued his opinion and respected him as a person like Seonghyeon did. I commend them breaking the tropes that are sadly attached to much of BL media.

That being said, I have a few issues with the show. First, I feel like the runtime was the main issue that spawned the other issues as a result. Much of the characters' backstories felt underdeveloped which left me wanting to know more. If we got to see more of Daon's life growing up then his current actions would be better explained and he would be more sympathetic. As for Jaemin, we never get to see much of anything about him past a few vague memories of Daon seeing him when he was younger. We never get to see what Jaemin was like before Daon nor what all caused his obsession to begin and persist for 11 years. However, I'm inclined to believe it may have been done on purpose to show that Jaemin had always been perverse and selfish deep down; something that a backstory might take away from by making him seem "misunderstood" or "sympathetic." I was still curious to see the extent he went through for 11 years to possess Daon though, so much so that I felt his insanity break at the end felt a little misplaced and spontaneous. Seohyun's backstory was alluded to being demanding because of his family situation, which definitely explains how he got a personality as ill-mannered as he has, but I still feel like there was such a drastic change between when Daon knew him in university versus the present time that I wanted more context of what happened when he was abroad to cause that. Seonghyeon's backstory being included would have also been nice but I understand it wasn't a necessity compared to the other three because his kindness was much more blatantly caused by a kind influence like his grandmother in his life.

Also, why did Daon jump in Seohyun's ride just to avoid Seonghyeon? That seemed too dangerous for him to use just as an out.....and although it was very vague, I think in like episode 6 Daon and Seohyun were alluded to have slept together after Daon dragged him into his house to stop him from fighting Seonghyeon. And if that's true, that was most definitely forced and changes how I'd view Seohyun from being a potential threat to an actual one. It made me really uncomfortable because of how forceful and intimidating Seohyun had been with Daon just moments prior; especially the forced kissing. That scene was the one that made me the most uncomfortable in the entire show-that and when Jaemin forcefully gave Daon a hickey. Daon really did just serve to please these two in their eyes.

My other issue is why the hell did he give a presentation when his love is knocking on death's door???? I don't think I would be mentally well enough to do that considering how his best friend of 11 years he was in love with just attempted to murder-suicide him after chloroforming him, his psycho ex-friend tormenting him recently and coming out of nowhere, and oh of course his lover was just STABBED by his psycho bff of 11 years. What the fuck Daon!?!??! I got to know what was going through the author's head at that point, man.

In conclusion, I really liked the message of this show: have respect for yourself and don't let people treat you terribly, regardless of how long you've known them. Find someone that will treat you with mutual respect and don't let people have control over how you view yourself.

Would I recommend this show? I don't know. I think that the idea was great, but the short runtime took away from the impact it deserved to have. If the Webtoon it is based off of is more complete (and the art style isn't terrible), then I'd recommend reading that instead. Also, the actor who played Jaemin was unsettling as hell and I 100% want to watch anything else he appears in because he did really well (though they all did well).

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Honestly, I didn't expect much from it, because we've seen a lot of Korean BL and I expected it to be nothing like the previous ones. Actually, the only reason I wanted to watch it was my beloved Junseo. Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised. The guys have extremely great visuals and each of them plays a completely different character, like completely. I didn't expect it to be fun and that it would be such a hit. The Koreans pleasantly surprised me with this one and I still can't get over how great it was. Usually there are actors who do a great job with the fact that the plot itself is about nothing, but this was something completely different. The description itself was not much either: a love triangle, okay we get it and a lot of people will judge it accordingly, but I think it's a mistake, because this series was really great and I'm still a little bit left out of it. Truly one of the best Korean BLs for me!

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