This started as an answer to below, but kinda balloon to something more so I put it as its own comment.There were…
Competence porn. I almost dropped this because I thought it was going to be yet another Tsundre Prince x numpty naive girl rom com. But she's actually great at her job- never backs down when it comes to her expertise. And the writers don't fall into the trap of squealing FL, which is what is most annoying. Yeah, she is naive and doe-eyed and very very ignorant but this is explained somewhere in ep07 through inference. Chu- Chu was well-guarded by her father and brother and since they're coroners they did not mingle much with the other villagers much. So understandably, she behaves this way because of a lack of social skills. BUT she prefers to observe and tries to stand up for herself if she feels she is able to. Her characterisation makes sense to me so far.
Great first 10 eps followed by 5 ok eps (after a 3 year time jump) followed by really great ending that I loved…
I'm just up to episode 5 and I can understand why main female lead decides to marry the second lead. Her father is low-key abusive towards her and her mother - it's so subtle the 2 women cannot recognise the manipulation the killing words that man puts out. This sort of thing goes on all around us and women don't recognise such abuse because it's not physical violence. Also, this is 2002 - pre-social media - Korea was pretty conservative and a slap probably doesn't register as 'physical abuse' especially when there are no easy support systems
Her characterisation makes sense to me so far.