Living Tribunal

From the scale of 1-10, how annoying is Situ Ling as a SML here guys?

Kisskh, Minidrama

You keep saying this is about emotions not landing, but then you dismiss the character entirely as unjustified, and that is where the argument breaks. A character does not need clear emotional signaling for their behavior to make sense. That is a failure of execution, not proof that the motivation is made up afterward.
The show has established the dangers of his powers before the wedding fire through consequences, not speeches. We see debt destroy a family, we see him arrested for saving people, and we see villains start targeting him. Her reactions line up with those events. Saying it is “retroactive justification” ignores that the cause and effect were already there on screen.
You are also shifting the goalpost. First it was realism, now it is emotional payoff. I agree she is unlikable and the chemistry is weak. But being unlikable does not equal being nonsensical. Many characters are intentionally written to be uncomfortable before development. If the writers wanted her to be immediately sympathetic, they would not show her making harsh, controlling decisions.
At this point, the issue is not that her behavior lacks logic. It is that the drama fails to make you feel her fear or conflict. That does not invalidate the logic behind her actions. You do not have to like her, but saying her behavior “does not make sense either way” ignores what the show is actually showing, even if it is showing it poorly.

You are not getting my comment because you are equating “unlikable” with “illogical,” and those are not the same thing. Yes, the drama is fantasy, but it very clearly uses real consequences like debt, arrests, public backlash, and violent retaliation. That is the world the writers created, so reading her actions through realism is not forced, it is intentional.
Calling her money obsessed does not mean her behavior makes no sense. She is written as someone shaped by financial insecurity, and that mindset explains why she makes harsh, unfair decisions. Selling his table and appliance in episode 1 was selfish, but it shows desperation and control, not the absence of care. People under financial pressure often prioritize survival over emotional fairness. That is a flaw, not bad logic.
Her fear of his powers does not need to be verbally stated to exist. The narrative constantly shows what powers do to families, debt, loss of stability, and danger from villains. Her reactions align with that pattern. The wedding hall fire does not prove her wrong either. It happened because villains were targeting him, which is exactly the future she feared. Being saved creates gratitude, not long term safety.
If she feels emotionally flat or lacks chemistry, that is a writing and direction issue. But emotional dullness does not equal meaningless behavior. You do not have to like her, but reducing her to “just money obsessed” ignores that the story consistently ties money, safety, and power together. The logic is there, even if the character is uncomfortable to watch.

The wedding hall fire actually proves her original fears. It happened because supervillains were targeting Sang Ung due to his powers. The fact that she needed saving was caused by the same abilities she was worried about in the first place.
Her gaze changing is an emotional reaction to being rescued, not proof that her concerns were wrong. Gratitude does not erase the danger, legal trouble, or constant risk that comes with being close to him.
Even though it is a fantasy series, the story itself shows real consequences like debt, arrests, and innocent people getting hurt. Her anger is not lack of love. It is a realistic response to a life that is clearly dangerous.

Not every human being wants to do good deeds at the cost of their own happiness. She is like that too. You cannot expect her to be an overly idealistic goody two shoes person who would be happy about him saving a bus when it results in the loss of their shared dream. She is a practical person. She understands that if he starts helping others once, he will not be able to stop, and their situation could end up like Sang Ung’s parents.
We saw how his father ended up with a three billion won loan because of using his powers, yet did not even have a decent house in his own name, while his mother had to work relentlessly just to earn money for their home.
As for the boils and itching on his body, she does not know that they happen because he does not help others. There is no scene or dialogue showing that this was ever explained to her. So how can we say she does not care about him based on that alone?
She is a practical person who also understands that while superpowers may sound cool, they bring serious consequences, just like what happened when he saved the bus. He was arrested for doing a good deed, and there is a real possibility that people might try to exploit or harm him because of his powers. So why is it wrong for her to be angry about that?

I don’t really see it that way. People react differently under stress, and not everyone suddenly becomes emotionally perfect just because something dramatic happened. The money argument might be annoying, but it fits her personality and how she deals with anxiety.
And it’s not like she knows how to suddenly handle a bf who has a superpower. It’s natural that she is unsure about it. From her point of view, his whole life and by extension their relationship just changed overnight.
It’s still ep 2 currently, and we might get a character improvement over the episodes. Judging her as completely two dimensional this early feels a bit unfair.

Because they were in a relationship for 9 years. You can't expect them to giggle and dance around each other like a first timer in a relationship. They were comfortable with each other and had a a spouse like understanding and behaviour.

I don't think she is annoying. She felt like a real person who is just obsessed with money but who isn't tbh? I would probably love to have a wife like her.

That is exactly why I gave the example of Love on the Turquoise Land, where the same situation happened but with the genders reversed. The problem here is that we do not actually know whether Da Rim truly tried everything or not because none of it was shown to us. She could have tried recreating their shared moments, revisiting places that mattered to them, or even going back to Jeju together to help jog his memories.
Ji Hyeok’s mother, who is the closest person to him, knew about their relationship. Da Rim could have involved her and used that support to convince Ji Hyeok to go on trips or do things connected to his past. Instead, after a certain point, the focus shifted to Da Rim being busy with her work rather than actively helping him relive his memories.
If you watch the last two episodes of Love on the Turquoise Land, the exact same resistance happens from the amnesiac lead, yet the male lead there keeps trying relentlessly despite being rejected, ignored, and treated coldly. That effort is what made the difference.
I understand why it was written this way. Most viewers are women, and dramas often glorify male leads like Ji Hyeok who give their all while female leads put in the bare minimum. If Da Rim had actually prioritized Ji Hyeok at any point in the drama, this arc might have felt earned. But she never truly did, and with the amnesia storyline, it just made it feel like she was in the relationship out of circumstance rather than genuine emotional investment.

I was actually happy when I heard that Ji Hyeok was going to lose his memories because I thought that finally Da Rim would chase after him or try to repay even a fraction of what he did for her. But no, the writers still went with another time skip instead of showing Da Rim genuinely trying to help Ji Hyeok regain his memories. As usual, after taking a few half hearted steps, she completely stopped caring about him.
This trope was handled so much better in Love on the Turquoise Land, where the female lead loses her memory in the last two episodes and the male lead does everything he can to help her remember. Even when she was cold and rude to him, he never gave up and kept trying, unlike Da Rim here.
At this point, I guess it is just an unfulfilled wish to see recent female leads put as much effort into relationships as male leads do. The only recent dramas where the female lead loved more than the male lead was Speed and Love.

Imagine this: you find out from a friend that someone has a crush on you and wants to meet you at a particular park at a specific time. You are unable to make it to the meeting because you get into an accident. Now, in a small business circle like theirs where everyone knows everything about each other, is it really possible that the other person would not know about the accident?
Lin Yusen knows that the accident was not FL’s fault, but he cannot accept that she completely forgot about both the date and him. I am not sure whether the drama will show that the ML already had feelings for the FL, but even so, his anger makes sense. She herself said she has a good memory, so how could she not know that he had an accident and not even come to meet him? Even if she didn't come to meet him in the hospital, she should atleast remember him when she met him in the office(in his perspective).

It will be the catalyst that will help Yusen confess. So he will know around ep- 20 to 24 I guess.

He is not finding fault with her because he thinks she caused his accident or is responsible for it but rather he feels angry that despite claiming to want to date him, she doesn't remember him at all. She didn't even go to meet him in the hospital too. We know that it wasn't her but he doesn't know that.

It's the daughter of the woman FL's Father take cares of now. She goes around saying in business parties that she is Chairman Nie's daughter that's why it caused confusion for ML that it was FL who wanted to date him.

If JiHyeok really gets a amnesia in the last ep as the theories say and Da Rim has to chase him, I will be the most happy one. At least then we can see Da Rim giving her love to Ji Hyeok instead of receiving it all the time as usual.

Is it ever mentioned in the drama that he abandoned her in China? I also do not recall any scene or dialogue saying he refused to meet her there. If that is shown, please share the episode and timestamp because I might genuinely be forgetting.
Their divorce happened when Mumu was very young, so it is natural that her mother had custody. But having custody is not the same as abandonment, especially when the drama never shows or states that he deliberately left her behind.
Yes, Jin Zhao spending most of his life looking after him clearly shows he was a flawed and irresponsible parent, and I am not denying that. Both parents were wrong in their own ways and I agree with that.
My point is simply that emotionally neglecting a child who did nothing wrong is more harmful in my opinion. As a spouse, the mom was better. As a parent, I personally think he was better. Both failed like you said, just in different ways

Mumu's mother was a demon in human form. I'm so uncomfortable and awkward watching last few episodes because of her. I don't think her father had many serious flaws tbh but just to shown her mother in a good light, they tried to make him seem bad.

I hope they do not go down the route of turning the SML into an obsessive, unhinged villain who constantly harasses the FL and tries to break up the main leads. He should be given minimal importance, just as he was in the novel. There should be no villain arc or revenge plot against the leads, especially the ML.

I really liked how this drama portrayed a genuinely good stepmother. She was the best parent for me in the whole drama. I hope more dramas show stepparents as good rather than demonizing them.