New2Kdrama

to be fair, if HJP is not in the picture.

1. Dalmi would never give NDS a chance. NDS didn't know his name was being used, Dalmi would have realized she was lied to, and pretty much not have any further connection to Dosan. Dosan pretending that he was the guy from the letters, helped put him in a position where he can work very closely with Dalmi for months on end. An opportunity that would not be there if HJP was not in the picture.

2. Dosan probably loses his tech due to espionage, or he makes bad financial, business decisions. Because of HJP's investment in Dalmi, he also went beyond what was necessary to make sure Dosan's company doesn't go belly up or fail. In fact, even when he had conflicting feelings for Dalmi, HJP still practiced professionalism to make sure the right things are done.

3. Without the lie being perpetuated, Dalmi most likely would not have quit her dead end job to pursue a Startup with Dosan. She jumped at the idea to do so because in her head, she and Fake Dosan are long time friends. Without this perceived friendship, she would not have demanded Dosan to start a company with her. In fact, this point is further proven during the first few episodes in Sandbox.

For these three reasons alone, we realize HJP was very instrumental in Dosan and Dalmi being together. Without him, they would never have gotten together. Even if they had met a few times, it would not have been enough to make them fall in love, because consider this, Dosan only eventually changes and figures things out much much later in the relationship.

The writer wrote the plot poorly, by making the SML instrumental in the plot moving. Take out HJP, and there is no connection between the ML and FL. This is probably why people felt so strongly for HJP, because his character was the driving force of the plot, even with his limited screen time.

Going for what you want, versus not knowing or lacking the guts to do so has been an age old debate. And it affects many aspects of life.

Do we applaud the woman who is aggressive, and goes for a guy she likes? Or do we instead applaud the woman who plays coy, and waits for the guy to approach her?

Do we reward or promote the employee who is extroverted, social, and visible? Or the employee who has tirelessly worked in the shadows for the company, is a professional, and focuses on his work, but maybe doesn't vocalize as much?

Do we praise the fund manager, who allows emotion into his work, and makes emotional investments, and takes unsubstantiated risk because he feels passionate about the investment? Or the fund manager, who knowing he is not dealing with his own money, chooses less risky investments?

In dating life, I often see women be more attracted to the older man, who seems to know what he wants and how to get it, but later on, ends up cheating on the gf/wife, for the EXACT reason the girl found him attractive. I find, sometimes overconfidence can be a downfall in men, as they feel they can get away with anything.

Why not give the shy, nice guy a chance? Just because he doesn't know what he wants? Seems unfair to the nice guys. Just because a guy isnt' a risk taker, or a born leader, or a go getters, does not make him less of a man. At least not in my eyes.

I find that between partners, part of the duty of men and women is to bring out the best of each other.

Sorry, I just had to comment, because my husband is the opposite of yours, in that it took him a while to figure things out, but the journey we both had to figure it out together was amazing.

But in the end to each her own.

I like you assessed each character, let me just address your assessment on Dosan and Dalmi.

I won't dwell too much on your thoughts on Dosan, but I didn't see much of what you saw, but I would like to talk about Dalmi more.

Now Dal Mi, our fearless, smart FL. Loved her character, loves Suzy's acting. She was broken when she discovered the lie because she has started caring for NDS aside from the childhood letters, but believed in herself and carried on working hard to achieve her dream, even after her team pretty much dissipated in the middle of the show because of a mistake. Loved her.

As i've stated before, Dalmi is frankly a embarrassment to women in the Tech Industry. Her portrayal of being inept and way over her head multiple times in the story paints a bad picture of women in the tech industry. She constantly sought out Dosan to help her with almost everything, which was so disappointing.

I feel similarly to any women's portrayal in a male dominated field. Like I've seen shows where the women as a chef is shown to be completely inept, even though women chef's are some of of the best in the world.

There was such heavy blatant sexism in their portrayal of Injae, Dalmi, and the Mom. As a women, I felt Dalmi's portrayal of a woman in a tech industry is very poor. In fact the dialogue in the show even questions it. "What's her background?, no experience, no education". This leans heavily into the stereotype or generalization in the tech industry that women who are more attractive will get ahead. In fact the crux of the story dealt with how the most powerful member of the Samsam Tech team has fallen in love with a women, and suddenly that women is given de facto power over many things. In the real world, this would be grounds for dismissal and scandalous. A very dangerous sentiment the show is portraying.

Injae on the other hand, is what a women in the Tech Industry looks like. Competent, smart, hard working, and ahead of the curve, because as any women in a male dominated industry will attest, you need to work twice as hard as the men to get in a higher position. In fact the show addresses this with how her step father and step brother treated her. And not get there, because the CTO has a crush on you, and your sister is CEO...

Actually, quite the contrary, almost every lie, mistake, and manipulations he did throughout the show not only went unpunished, but was strangely rewarded. Just like a child with a parental safety net, he was always safe. Think for example Yong San's brother, who literally did not have a safety net and he paid for it. Stark difference here. I also felt how ironic it was that HJP was his safety net.

HJP did apologize to Dalmi actually, and not only that, he never put Grandma's name through the mud to do so. He owned up to it.

And this goes back to the age old question, if two people conspire to do a devious act, but you are the one to actually do the act, you are just as guilty as the two people conspiring. And this is how any rule of law will see it. That's why there is such a thing as "Accessory to a Crime"

I think you are viewing what HJP did in a bit of an unbiased lenses. HJP never drags Grandma's name in the mud, he tells Dalmi the full truth. But he also states the explanation of why. He also doesn't trash Dosan's name to make himself look better.

If HJP is such a devious person, he could have easily told Dalmi, "I actually told Dosan to end it after that dinner party, but he decided to pursue the lie, and he even said he will keep lying until the life of the lie". Dosan literally says this in the first few episodes.

The manipulations, catfishing, and imposter syndrome didn't bother you at all?

And IMO, there is nothing senseless about Childhood connections to lovers. Even in real life, childhood friends, or people who were childhood friends, somehow find their way to each other, and it's pretty sweet.

Falling for someone who isn't who they say they are, and loves eavesdropping on my conversations, and puts undue pressure on me by placing me on a pedestal and making me his dream. Not quite as sweet IMO.

This isn't really a business drama, it's mostly romance. So that may explain why you liked it.

The FL did start off really well, but midway through she lost her agency, and deferred heavily to the ML.

I don't believe this show shows women's empowerment very well. It showed that women needs men to succeed, which is really a very archaic ideology.

If the show had focused more heavily on Injae, I would have liked it better as I felt that Injae did 10 times better in boosting the image of women in the Tech Industry than the FL did.

All the FL did was to show everyone that she can't do anything without her CTO (ML). Kind of sad, as the tech industry is already heavily dominated by men, especially in Asian countries like SK. The show would have broken some ground if they focused on Injae, or made the FL smarter.

Have the ML and SML sit down, and let the FL's shine.

What did I just watched...

Once I figured out who the main couple was, I couldn't believe at their complete lack of chemistry. In fact, many times I just felt that these couples were into each other for business purposes rather than true love. Seo Dal Mi in particular really feels like a huge opportunist, using male infatuation to get what she wants. She is fully aware that both men like her, and uses it to her advantages, kind of a turn off, and so different from other Kdrama.

Don't get me wrong, the second lead and female lead didn't make sense either. Would have preferred they all 4 stayed single and focused on business instead.

Not nam joo hyuk's best work, he really needs to choose better projects, this show did not paint him in the best light.

Suzy was ok, and Kim Seon Ho was ok. Grandma and Won In Jae are the saving grace of this show.

Really disliked the mom, is she even real?!?

Could not stand the Sam San Tech guys in general, my favorite was Cheul San, he was the show's only comedic part.

All in all a 7/10 for me. Not the absolutely worst show in history, but nowhere near as good as some people are making it seem to be honest. A shame as the music is good.