StayPositive

That's a valid criticism and I can see why you feel that way. I personally like plots the most, when romance is a "side story", because I feel like in everyday life you meet and talk with people, go about your life and romance slips in, but it's not the only reason for your existence (in some other dramas every choice of a character and their personality sometimes seem to only based on the fact that they're in love,... And that's not really a personality/interesting character to me).

I can't agree on feeling nothing between Sun and Peace, but I think that's a personal impression so I can't really say anything to "change" your perspective.

About the story: I feel you to some extent. The drama is very plot heavy and tries to be complex, with many characters/plans/different motives and tries to "squeeze" them into these 12 episodes. I think to one extent (because they have to do a lot of world building, since the story is plot driven) that's also why the romance isn't so prevalent. To me it seems like they're trying to build conflict/heighten the inner struggles and concerns between Sun and Peace as they try to navigate a life of crime they don't really want and being in to gangs that are enemies. I mean it makes sense if them to hold back their feelings, but I believe that now, since Sun obviously knows "for sure" that Peace likes him that their romantic feelings will be more central/dramatic (?) in the upcoming episodes... We've still got 6 Episodes to go!
If you don't feel like watching anymore though, then I can understand 💕

I see what you mean. Maybe Mr. Joe thought they'd do anything to get in and he wouldn't have cared if they got caught... Nothing is for sure 😅😂.
And I'm definitely waiting for the sparks to fly as well! (also I hope you could see my previous comment in full, for some reason I can only see half of it (?). By your reply though I'm assuming you could see the whole comment ^-^ )

I'm honestly not sure, but in the end Jihoons "sidekick" (idk) said "they got out, should we tell Mr. Joe?" (or something along those lines). So maybe they thought Sun & his friends would fail the mission (so in a sense it would actually have been a setup and they probably would have failed without Tian) and they wanted to use them as a bait/distraction to get out their friends/fellow gang members. I also think that Mr. Joe really couldn't care less about what happens to Sun and everyone else, so using them as bait makes a lot of sense to me. Mr. Joe's plans are an ongoing mystery though ;)

I actually thought that was the real mission and they simply used Sun and his gang as a tool to get into the port, in other words they set up Sun to find a way into the port, used an excuse as to why they needed to get in and secretly (because they didn't want Sun & the others to know) "smuggled" out the Koreans. That's probably also why they needed a second van, so when they drive back the others wouldn't know that they bow have "more Koreans"... but I'm not sure. In any case I would find it hard to believe that Junho plalled all of this on his own.

I don't remember clearly, but I'm not surprised. I mean in Asian countries they often call non-blood related family brother/sister/aunty ect. It leads a bit to confusion though when you're not used to that ;)

This is very short, but cute. I don't really get the LGBTQ Tag (it doesn't have to do much with the story in my opinion, but maybe I'm just blind). I really enjoyed it because of the absolutely gorgeous Nature that was shown and the acting felt super realistic/natural to me. This is a real "slice of life" mini "movie" (16 min), you seem to simply have a peek into the main person's life, while he visits a village he used to live in. If you have some extra time and like watching something calm I would recommend this...

I think she has to be a friend. Anything else wouldn't make sense. For example the dad's friend would have greeted the girl as well if she had been the daughter of his friend. Also the crazy loanshark woman would probably ask her for money if she was the actual daughter. So yeah, I'm pretty sure she's just a good friend.

So for scientific reasons I rewatched the scene and it is very much unclear what the plan is. I think they're intentionally leaving the viewers in the dark about the plan or they're trying to do a "show not tell", by simply showing us what they're doing. Maybe Joe didn't even reveal his entire plan (he doesn't have to), maybe he just said they need to do X-Action (as said, it's not clear what) and they will receive their reward. I definitely agree with @FeiZhou that Joe probably wants a monopoly or at least more power than Madam Yao. Jihoon did also say no one could contact Madam Yao, so maybe the business relationship isn't going very well, so Joe wants to take over things forcefully (rather than "sneakily").

Anyway, I'm curious to see how this develops.

Well I wouldn't necessarily say this drama tries to be very realistic, it's more, well, dramatic.
I mean I think he was surprised for a second that Peace fought so well, but honestly he didn't really have time to react. And at the end it was obviously more important to help/save Mei and get her to the hospital than ask Peace questions about his fighting. Also, Sun later says he tried to contact Peace, but he never replied, so maybe he was trying to meet and talk about what happend... But well after the meeting with the father of Peace (Joe) I think it was quite obvious to Sun as to why Peace was able to fight so well.
And personally I don't mind the slow romance development. This story relies a lot on world/plot building and I feel like a bigger focus on the love story would mean more plotholes. I believe their attraction will become a greater conflict/struggle in the future where they realize their feelings but know they "can't be together"... For well, even more drama ;)

I was literally thinking the same thing, or well, since I don't know a lot about drugs, I thought the smoke had to at least make them get suuuper high or something 😂😂

It seems so. I'd say it was at least 2½ years, because she visited him 4 months into him serving his sentence. So if we guess that she moved in about a month later and we assume Sun saved here really soon after coming out of prison (although that actually did take some time), it would be at least 2½ years, although it was probably more about 3 years... Which is crazy if you think about it, I mean the trauma for Mei 😖

I think you're right, that's also what I thought...

I understand the confusion about how strong Sun is buuut, I think his strength is "plot-dependent" (😂).
What I mean is: Of course he won't be weak at any point of the story, but, depending on the scene he'll be just as strong/weak as he needs to be for the plot to evolve. So yeah, in one scene he'll be stronger than usual (because he's supposed to win) or he'll be a bit weaker (because he's supposed to struggle/lose).

What can we take from this? Dramas don't follow logic all the time ;)
I'll be enjoying it either way

Ok, so I flippin live this series. Like, more than any of the others currently/recently airing.
The people have personalities outside of the fact that they like someone!! So refreshing to see.
And also, am I the only one that thinks Madam Yao has a slight resemblance to the Korean actress Kim you jeong? Maybe it's just me, ...
I honestly can't yet explain why I'm enjoying this so much, but I really feel the tension and chemistry between the two MLs. Also a big plus: they're not uni/high school students that still act like they've missed out on the part of "becoming mature" after they get older.

So for anyone thinking about watching this, please do (only reason not to: you can't stand watching dramas on the more violent/dark side and prefer fluffy BLs)

I'm not sure if you saw that the reason people are disappointed in the show is because it is an adaptation of a popular manhwa. In the manhwa there was no straight couple. Not only that, there were two BL couples. In the series they just took away one couple, then added an (kind of unnecessary) straight couple and honestly they had pretty much the same amount of screentime as the "main" bl couple. It was disappointing because people were looking forward to an adaptation true to the source material, but they simply changed the whole dynamic and toned down the queer aspects of the story. If you look at the drama in this light, the criticism is more than justified.

I agree, I didn't feel like continuing after watching episode 9... The plot just didn't get me hooked at all. The acting is good, but I felt the story was lacking at some point.

Hello,... So if there is anyone out there, like me, that thinks this series is nice and the acting is undoubtedly good, but still doesn't understand why people love this series to an uncommonly high extent - I feel you. It's a good watch, but I was never really hooked and I am talking about the story/plot. The acting WAS really good, but the plot just didn't catch my attention at all... Anyway, to everyone that found true enjoyment watching this, I'm happy for you. For everyone else that didn't, I can relate...

He's a really good/natural actor!

I kind of want to scream… (and its not because its so amazing, not saying it‘s bad, but it makes me want to scream 🥹😂)

Happy Birthday 🥳 🌸✨