CoffeeBlender

While I don’t like AKP’s ethics, the article on Pannchoa has more than a thousand comments. Though not all see the minor-adult issue as problematic, it is a hot topic on theqoo.

https://theqoo.net/index.php?mid=hot&page=2&document_srl=2379649963

Edit: additional link: https://theqoo.net/index.php?mid=hot&page=2&document_srl=2379567186

They did though. There’s even an English translation of the article.

https://www.allkpop.com/article/2021/10/netizens-are-criticizing-the-new-tvn-drama-melancholia-starring-im-soo-jung-and-lee-do-hyun

I agree with you that those scenes were shown to show the boundaries of their relationship and at the current timeline as shown on episode 10, those boundaries still exist. Maybe I am reading too deep into the dialogue and have profiled the writer based on her past drama but Seungwan saying that she is willing to wait four years for Yijin’s brother to turn 20 is an indication that nothing romantic will happen yet. The way I interpret the confession is platonic in nature though and in no way am I denying the beauty of their relationship. It’s clear that Yijin sees her more as a friend but there was restraint in that confession in my interpretation.

Also, if you see the comments of people being concerned with the age gap vs those who do not, those who do not see any problem with it are those, you can see that in general, those who do not find any issue with the age gap are ruining the enjoyment of the drama by calling us backwards, haters and what not. I still love this drama that’s why I come back here to see different points of view but I cannot help but react to comments that are dismissive of the age gap issue without trying to understand why some find it as problematic.

As I have mentioned, I love this drama. I’ve been on a drama slump for a long time. If my interpretation of the confession is wrong, my view towards this drama would be the same because one, this type of relationship exists in real life even though it’s a no-no for me. second, I trust the writer that even if the story goes against what I consider to be right, I am sure that there is something to be appreciated from this drama. And with the age gap issue alone, my stand regarding a relationship between a minor and an adult was strengthened, which was totally different 25 years ago when one of my bestfriend’s boyfriend was an adult and we were in high school.

Yes, we have discussed our points in circles. Essentially, it’s the same conversation that we had yesterday. Aside from you being asexual, I think the difference in our opinions is based on cultural differences. I come from a country where parents setting a certain age, usually at 18 or after graduating from college, where it’s okay to have a boyfriend or girlfriend is considered as normal so I do not see age as something that’s arbitrary.
I still believe that the romantic love confession is yet to be done. I still believe that putting the romantic love out there when one party is a minor as a no-no but it happens in real life so I had second thoughts regarding the confession. But, given what the writer has established so far, her past drama and the way she wrote the dialogues, the way the drama ended, and her being a part of the team that wrote Goblin, I am back to my original interpretation that the romantic confession is yet to come. So… let’s put an end to the circle. Obviously, you will never understand my point, which I firmly believe in.

Semantics matter in a relationship. If I remember correctly, we had a conversation about this a few hours before episode 10 aired. And based on my interpretation of Yijin’s confession, I am okay with his love confession because it was not a confession that was followed by “I will give you time to think about it” and the love was more of platonic than romantic.
Personally, I did not find the whispering to be flirty as there was a logical reason as to why they had to whisper. But as you have labelled it as such, and let us assume that Yijin was flirty and that the love confession was a romantic confession, did he do that as a way of expressing his romantic love at that and was comfortable doing so since Heedo already knows that he loves her romantically?

Based on my personal experience, once romantic love/like is verbalized and is reciprocated, there is a change in what is considered as acceptable behavior towards the other. There is also a change in what we expect from the other.

Lastly, the age gap conversation was present in the drama itself. Yijin said it himself that adults should date adults or something to that effect. Heedo felt insecure because she was obsessed with collecting stickers but Yijin was concerned with work. Heedo also did not like that Yijin saw her as an adult. Yijin also called Heedo and the others yedura/kids/students when they went on an outing. The writer makes the age gap apparent and important in the drama.

Yes, it would be a problem. Heedo graduating means that she gets exposed to university life and more people. My Korean friend said that uni life is totally different and there is this tendency to overcompensate the experiences they have missed out as they are busy preparing for uni life. Hence, they go on MTs and enjoy their time a lot, at least when they are freshmen students. Also, as an adult, what Yijin stopped them from doing, ie drinking alcohol, she can freely do it once she turns 20, Korean age. Graduating from high school would mean Heedo will meet other people as an adult and further figure out her feelings if what she feels for Yijin is love in the romantic sense or love as a friend or love as a father figure. Given these and also given the fact that Korean society is conservative and that Heedo and Yijin are both public figures, it is better for them to start a romantic relationship after she graduates from high school. They were both warned that being close will lead to their falling out, what more if they were to become lovers while Heedo is a minor? It’s easy to say f*ck societal rules but we know that’s now how it works, especially in SK (even at present) where the “face” is highly values in their society. That’s why I’m curious to see if the hug scene will be shown later or have been deleted altogether or if the production company/TVN will release a statement regarding the age gap issue, specifically Heedo being a minor.

Edit: In addition, even among adults, one year matters as can be seen in how they address each other and the presence of high power distance/ranking based on age.

I still love this drama to bits but it does not mean that I would force myself to ignore what captured my attention. To do that would mean fanaticism already.

While I prefer that the L word was not mentioned, the explanation of Yijin and what happened after leans on the platonic side, at least from my perspective. I like that they did not do skinship as what normally happens after a love confession and that nothing changed in their interaction.

A four year age gap when one is 18 and the other is 22 va when one is 21 and the other is 25 is different. The writer is very clear on that. Case in point, Yijin himself said something to the effect that adults should date adults. Second, Heedo was insecure because outside fencing, her world consisted of collecting stickers while Yijin is already working. You say that he was forced into becoming an adult early and that’s exactly the point. Yijin has more experiences in the so-called real world and while we can say that in the alternate universe, he is still in college, graduating from high school enables a person to explore more about the world, especially in SK. Most of their days are spent preparing for university. In Heedo’s case, she herself said that she missed a lot of opportunities to experience what teenagers experience. Third, in episode 10, the contrast of Yijin and the “kids” was apparent in terms of knowing about household chores. Fourth, the statement of Seungwan to Yijin’s brother that she can wait for four more years. The title and synopsis also puts forward the recognition of age in the relationship between the two leads. Hence, I myself was surprised at the end of episode 9 when Yijin said the L word because it contradicts what was established in the earlier episodes. However, given the explanation of Yijin and what happened afterwards show that Yijin is showing restraint, which is consistent with what he has shown so far in the drama.

Age gap may not be an issue to you but the fact that there are people concerned about it shows that it is an issue to them and it does not mean that they are automatically haters of the drama. People have different triggers, like for example they know of someone or they experienced being manipulated by an adult romantic partner into doing things they would not otherwise do. You may say that Yijin is not like that and that is correct but while a drama is just a drama, when adult-minor relationships are romanticized, it may lead minors to think that all adults have good intentions but reality says otherwise. As you have dismissed the impact of age gaps in relationships based on your reality, those who see it as important also base it from their reality.

I trust the writer of this drama (given her previous drama) that while the L word was already verbalized, they will not have a relationship while Heedo is in high school.

Lastly, the mention of the actors and actresses ages is irrelevant as the issue being raised are the ages of the characters.

Different cultures, different standards and that is apparent in the writing of this drama, title and synopsis. You may eye roll all you want but the writer already established that Heedo and Yijin at their current ages in the drama will not yet cross the line, even after the love confession.

Moreover, the age gap is also apparent in the difference in maturity is also apparent in their trip, with him calling the others “kids.”

Comparing 18 again is like comparing apples and oranges.

She’s not yet an adult. She’s 19 using Korean age and not international age. Also, the writer highlighted the age gap herself during the dialogue of Seungwan and Yijin’s brother (who are both minors) that she can wait for four years as Yijin’s brother is 16 years old.

The age gap is not nonsense. In fact, the issue of age gap has affected the relationship between Heedo and Yijin where Heedo felt jealous/insecure of Yijin’s adult world and there she was obsessed with collecting stickers. She was even mad at him because of her perception that Yijin saw her as a child when he didn’t wipe off all of the ice cream from her face.

Also, I am not a hater of the drama. I love everything about the drama and I love how the writer has built the relationship of Heedo and Yijin… and that’s why I have a strong belief that the confession of Yijin is either a dream or imagination of Heedo or is platonic. The emotions are there but Yijin has shown restraint many times so I see him waiting before really confessing.

When I mentioned age of consent, this is because society recognizes the impact of age when it comes to maturity. Yes, Heedo is legally free to engage in such acts. However, given the nature of this drama, the love confession of Yijin being romantic given the age of Heedo feels off.

You may not see how a change in language changes the relationship but it does. It did. That’s why Heedo avoided Yijin after she confessed. Putting a romantic label changes the dynamics of a relationship in terms of expectations and boundaries. Given that Heedo feels insecure of the adult world of Yijin, if they start a relationship now, problems may arise because Heedo is still in high school.

The emotions are already there but part of what makes a relationship successful is the proper timing of words. In this case, the confession. Perhaps they will show in the drama how graduating from high school impacts the way Heedo sees herself in relation to the world and to Yijin. Anyway, four more hours to go before I get some answers to my question and see if my analysis of the writer is correct.

It’s the timing of the confession that bothers me as I mentioned earlier. I also mentioned that it’s obvious that what they have is more than friendship.

As someone who is not asexual, confessing (고백) does change the dynamics of the relationship when one verbalizes what they feel for each other. That’s why the confession she made when she thought Yijin was Injeolmi mattered to Heedo that she even avoided Yijin. That’s also why the label of their relationship (rainbow, scissor etc.) was something that Heedo brought up when they were looking at the rainbow. People can have feelings for each other but the moment they talk about it and define it, the dynamics of the relationship changes. Romance changes a lot in the dynamics of a relationship. Skinship is one. Decisions in life is another. I have seen to many cases of one or both redefining their goals in life because of their prioritization of their relationship. We’ll probably see that in the next episodes.

Laws regarding sexual consent, miniminum age requirement for marriage etc. are present for a reason. It may seem arbitrary to you but going beyond the drama, there are cases where a minor is made to do acts as a result of subtle manipulation and force.

Perhaps, you’ll better understand if you put your shoes in the characters (they are not asexuals). But as I have said, let’s just wait and see how the story unfolds. What I like about the writer is that she has a way of putting forward issues (like this one, the age issue) and layered characterswhere you get to see both sides of the coin.

Let’s see later how the series unfolds if that confession is indeed a romantic confession. What makes it uncomfortable for me is the timing of the confession. It is obvious that what Yijin and Heedo has is more than friendship. However, Heedo is still in high school while Yijin is an adult. It’s not about bending backwards but with Yijin’s personality of being an upright person and what happened recently - Yijin and Heedo’s mother meeting, Yijin confessing romantic love at their ages in the drama is off for me. [I am also a great fan of the writer’s previous work and the confession being a romantic one runs counter to her ‘pattern’]. Four years may not seem significant but these four years are significant when one is in high school. A lot of maturity and life experiences can happen within four years. Heedo is aware of that given her jealousy of Yijin. Yijin is also aware of their age gap. That age gap and what it means can also cause significant rifts in a relationship. If Heedo were my daughter, I would not approve of her being in a romantic relationship with Yijin given her age.

But, let’s just wait and see what will happen lol.

The ending was so heart fluterring! However, I feel like something’s off. I feel like Heedo was dreaming, imagining or that the word ‘love’ was platonic. Maybe it’s because I don’t find it appropriate that their relationship be clearly defined as romantic as Heedo is still in high school.

I guess you did not finish the drama until the end. Yes, what happened to the assistant was not clear but KYH dis not die.

Maybe I expected more from the drama on how they dealt with that issue. The public knew about the workings of the OZ. Hence, the public knew that Bareum was purposely triggered. Yes, he did kill people but at the same time, the existence of the OZ puts forward the possibility of nurture having a stronger role in determining whether a person with a psychopathic gene will become a murderer. People hated CYS and people hated JBR. Then people voted to pass the bill. No discussions or even a quick scene of a TV debate whatsoever to show the complexity of the issue. Also, conducting a referendum on a bill seems to be a convenient way of the writer to prove her point. I tried searching on Google if this has been done on a law in SK but this was done for their constitution, which is the same case in my country.

He probably wanted to start anew. Based on my understanding of his character, his main goal was to kill HSJ and being a police officer allowed him more access to the HSJ. Now that HSJ and JBR are gone and that he killed an innocent person, I would understand why he would want to try something else.

Welcome. :)

Welcome. :)

Sorry. Thanks for reminding me.