Dee Girl Crush

" If they don't take this opportunity to make it a romance drama off then they just gonna end up having low rating show"

Romance dramas aren't getting good ratings these days though unless they have a big budget marketing and Hallyu stars (which this drama has neither) so I find this take strange. This story is very cynical about traditional romance, there's no love triangle and Yeojun and Soohyun's bromance is like the only truly strong mutual relationship according to the drama's own chart so if you don't want to watch a drama about "queers" then I suggest you move on from this one.

(putting it under spoilers in case there are people who rather go into the drama blind)

Sobin is trying (but failing) not to fall into another one-sided love with Yeojun who is flirty and affectionate towards her, but his interest in her may actually be non-romantic. Soohyun and Sobin's main connection is that they're both good friends with Yeojun. It's basically their webtoon relationship only real difference is Soohyun and Sobin actually hang out together while in the webtoon they barely interacted.

I uploaded the relationship chart in the photos (I'm assuming it counts and MDL won't delete it?), there are translations floating around on twitter. You can also check out the wiki page that's been updated to include the extended character descriptions from KBS's programming page. Also, watch the latest teaser that you can find on Victory Contents Youtube page (KBS page is region restricted). It focuses on Yeojun and Sobin and gives you a pretty good idea of the type of relationship dynamic they have.

The Viki synopsis is misleading and most of those places online were just speculating. Nothing official from KBS or Victory Contents has said anything about that being the plot. They've released all the character descriptions + relationship chart showing the relationship between the three leads to be a bromance (Yeojun & Soohyun) and budding romance (Yeojun & Sobin), not a triangle.

He doesn't appear much in the beginning but eventually becomes the 3rd most important character in the story as he has the love/hate family drama with Yeojun and enters a relationship with Soohyun later in the webtoon. If you check out the daum page you can even see the main poster/header is with him, Yeojun, and Soohyun: http()//webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/campuslife . I'm pretty disappointed with Junwan's role reduction too which I feel is a combination of them focusing more on the "College version of Misaeng" concept so the Yeo family drama storyline was reduced + Inwoo becoming RWTMR lead which left him with less time to film for this. It would've been refreshing to see a campus/youth drama focused on three mls instead of the usual 2 mls and 1fl dynamic.

Sobin is the highest billed female character due to her role in Yeojun's story but still considered a secondary character overall whose arc mainly revolves around her trying to get with (then get over) her love of Chanki. I love Kang Minah too so I can't really complain too much about her getting a more prominent role here. My main worry was that they'd incorporate her more into story through some contrived and ooc triangle or not do enough with her but it appears they will flesh out her story by making it more about her battle with mediocrity.

No... kissing between two of the MLs, Soohyun and Yeojun's older brother Junwan who start dating.

The fl here isn't a fl at all in the webtoon. She's just a support character. The main three with the complex relationship in the webtoon is Yeojun - Soohyun - Junwan. All guys lol

Great point about how the cold jerk/bad boy as the first lead thing may tie to that whole thing society pushes about how women essentially are suppose to "raise" their own husbands/romantic partners. If the first ml changes at all, it's only after a long period of the fl having to do all the emotional heavy-lifting and dealing with his crap. The "reward" at the end is usually a handsome, wealthy men (now with manners) that she can marry. For works with this type of dynamic written by a female writer, you have to wonder how much of that is really her preference or if it was just successfully internalized misogyny.

I've never experienced SLS nor really understood the love for that trope for some of the exact same reasons you listed here. It felt too much like these second leads were your Nice Guy (tm) whose only purpose was to present artificial tension to the story and drive ship war community engagement. I'd go even further and say I feel the first male lead being some cold jerk while the second lead is the nice one trend feels like it's done to make Nice Guys in real life feel validated as a lot of them have that toxic mindset that women just prefer "jerks" and that's why they can't get the girl despite being such a "catch". They never see themselves as the problem but the woman's "bad" choices. That's just my little conspiracy theory since plenty (not all) of this stuff is getting produced and written by men but maybe it's just some cultural thing I'm missing.

Female lead agency in supposedly female-centric dramas is a whole topic on its own but yeah it's her choice in the end that she's entitled to so I don't see what's the need to get into these huge discourses that I see a bit too often in the aftermath of triangle dramas.

Korea has been very slow to be more inclusive of queer folks in network dramas (as more than just a minor character). Even with BL being a lucrative market for a long time, they only very recently started producing those dramas and mainly as just short form webdramas. Things are improving though as 'Mine', a major cable network drama, has a lesbian character in the lead role and its ratings are very good. Idk if KBS being a public channel and arguably the most conservative of the big 3 is ready to be that bold but stranger things have happened.

Bromance has its fans just like romance, womance, etc does but doesn't typically get the lead focus in dramas so I think people are just excited to see a primetime drama that has it as the main relationship. Also the webtoon this drama is based on is famous for its bromance between the two male leads so people are curious to see it.

River Where the Moon Rises

Since you're from the West, I assume you're familiar with the phenom of straight men who like and are turned on by seeing lesbians together. It's kinda like that but for straight women. A lot of BL is targeted toward straight women and is written by them so it takes their tastes in romance and what they find attractive into greater priority than what gay guys like. It has a huge female audience by design. A lot are into it bcs they fetishize gay men ngl but for plenty, it's just another type of romance genre to enjoy. Also there's straight guys who enjoy BL & yaoi too (look up the term 'fudanshi').

Nothing official has mentioned a love triangle so far. The main focus is on the trio of Jun, Sobin, and Soohyun's relationship which has just been described as "strange" and unusual. The only romance hinted at is between Jun and Sobin. Soohyun has his own love problems going on with other characters in the original story but it's unclear if they're going into it much (if at all) since it hasn't been mentioned.

I'd love to see their pairing. They would look great together as either on screen siblings or a couple imo.

I believe he had a bigger role originally (closer to his importance in the webtoon) and they had to cut it down due to him suddenly having RWTMR on his plate tbh. I'm disappointed because the Yeo family drama is one of the most intense, dramatic storylines in the webtoon so I was really looking forward to see Inwoo act those scenes and see more of his chemistry with Jihoon & Inhyuk. But I understand as well, he's gotten a lot more recognition now and is a busy man. Appreciate still having a talent like him on this drama in any capacity.

Oh, a reply? Appears though my answer may have been later, it was the one that struck a nerve which means it did what it was supposed to do. No need to thank me. :-)

Don't worry too much about the plot. It's a slice of life drama so it's gonna be light on plot and heavy on character interactions and development. Check out the drama when it airs and see if you like the characters and where their journeys seem to be heading, if so, then the writer did their job correctly. :)

Sooyoung is older than Yoojung & was already famous as a visual member from one of the biggest Asian girl groups in the world way before you likely heard of Yoojung. Choi Tae Joon is not only Youngdae's senior in acting by 16 years, he's more famous than him as well (only reason he hasn't been heard about much lately is because he enlisted). You're trying way too hard to sound "savage" and instead just revealed that's you're young and ignorant.

Jun and Sohyun's relationship is just that: ambiguous. Nothing more than a bromance. Jun is straight and exclusively dates and sleeps with older women and as far as we know, has no romantic interest in men. The author actually got criticism for queerbaiting their relationship. Currently in the webtoon, they have grown apart & Sohyun starts dating Junwan while Jun and Sobin grow closer. They're just friends but they have these heartfluttering moments of sexual tension like almost kisses & fake out confessions though it's mainly Jun teasing Sobin. They also fake date so Sobin can try to get revenge on Chanki by making him jealous. That's why I say it wouldn't be a big change to make them a couple in the drama since the possibility gets teased in the webtoon anyway.

Like I told the other person that asked, I get all my information about the webtoon through friends who have read it in Korean up to the current chapters and they tell me spoilers of what's happened so there really isn't links to translated material that I can provide unfortunately. I'm hoping the drama will be popular so international translators will pick up the webtoon.

The only thing that's been hinted at as far as love lines in the drama is that Jun (Jihoon) and Sobin (Minah)'s friendship may be turned into a romance. Which isn't really a big change from the webtoon story because they have this "Will they, won't they?" kind of sexual tension going on anyway. This would make them a (sort of) love triangle with their friend Chanki (Jungwoo) who Sobin is in an unrequited love with. No mention or hints at all of if they're gonna adapt Sohyun (Inhyuk) and Junhwan (Inwoo)'s BL line. The official press articles have been pretty vague so far about what the exact relationships between the main characters will be. I would love for them to adapt it but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Ngl, I was a little worried this would be pretty boring halfway through the first ep but it did pick up by the end and second ep has me hooked. This is the type of cheesy, adult romcom goodness I been missing. Too many teen (can't relate to anymore) and love triangle (lord I'm so tired of that trope) focused romances these days that's light on the comedy. Geunyoung is stubborn to the point of being dumb tbh but I get the whole "not holding back anymore" thing as someone who also bottles their emotions and can completely understand her hate of Who Joon, I do NOT like him at all lol. I get he thought she was a paparazzi but after learning she was a journalist for a magazine he was doing a shoot for and accidentally getting her fired, would it literally kill him to acknowledge he's the one with all the power and influence to make things right? Instead he just keeps fueling her antifandom by denying her a sincere apology, using her for a photo op, and not doing anything to help resolve the misunderstandings that got her fired. But I guess if either lead were capable of talking with each other & clearing up the misunderstandings, the drama would've ended at the very first episode. I hope whatever "redeemable" qualities this ml has that's buried deep deep inside come out soon though bcs rn I'm Team Revenge. lol