strevisa

You are certainly right in your characterization of the writing. I myself was surprised that a non-Korean name was used for the new pseudonym.
I am guessing that the writer was impressed by the movie Life is beautiful, where the name Guido Orefice is used, and/or she may have had an Italian boyfriend (could have been a one-sided fling, too, her following for the Italian).
At any rate, greetings from Toronto.

It's an Italian name. It's also found in the Spanish- and German-speaking world. Does that raise problems?

Everything depends how the producers evaluate the different ratings (IMDb, MyDramalist, Korean ratings, Netflix, ...), especially in the light of THEIR expectations (testing a new writer? looking to define a niche? looking for some original view on love? looking to see the reactions of male vs. female viewers?).
Ditto for the companies with product placement.
As far as the years gone by, one can always make so-called prequels etc., placing the series not exactly at a point in time after the last scene in the first series.

The series makes some sense after reading what the writer had in mind.
Lee Seung Jin wanted to make a series about love, which in her views is being ostracized from current society (I think it reflects autobiographical problems, which she encountered).
However, in her understanding, love = anything, and she wrote a series, the title of which ought to have been "Was it anything?"

Soompi presents the writer as a female: "Lee Seung Jin explained why she chose to create a romance drama."
You can find the article under the title:
"Writer Of Song Ji Hyo’s New Drama Talks About The Cast’s Strengths, Reasons For Creating A Romance Drama, And More"

The series is over, with some "luck" there will be a second series (I may not watch it unless forced or handsomely paid for it), and I just wanted to list two things that the writer was unable to ruin:
1. using the Korean version of Dreams by the Cranberries. I liked it.
2. the scene with the big umbrella in the early episodes, with ODO "borrowing" a patio umbrella, NAeJ figuring out it came from a bar, and the bar owner coming out to chase the couple.

Guido Orefice is the name of the "hero" in the Oscar-winning movie "life is beautiful". Its main actor, the "clown" Benigni is unforgettable.
The implication of a Korean author hiding under an Italian name is super messy: DaeOh can't have written the novel in Korean, and must have had it translated in Korean for the Korean market, though that was the original text! Additionally, he started from scratch. No way would a publisher have just accepted stuff from an unknown author, and then publish it. Doesn't work that way.

"Dropped at episode 4 because the only likeable characters are, I'm guessing, 2nd leads that don't get the girl."
No, no, Dongchan got Hanee. :-)
Apparently, the bar lady is attempting to seduce a shy PaDo, and ditto for AhRin with Ryu.
The rest is akin to primordial chaos.

Maybe that's Hanee's maturity was stressed until the end. She is the real female lead (I think).
Also liked in the end that AhRin is also maturing and the bar lady is going after PaDo.
The end opens the possibility of a Was it love? 2.
Will the tv station (and the corporate sponsors) bless it and invest in it?

Hanee showed - AGAIN - she is more mature than her mom.
I am left wondering whether the series is based on some autobiographical stuff of one or a small group of friends, who shared info about their loves/hopes (memory of a high-school love? lived dreams about what could have happened? a platonic relationship that got stuck? ...).

Selfish, immature or a combination of both? Tough to say (at least for me).

Just started watching the series (only seen 4 episodes, though 6 are available). So far so good: action, details, characters, casus belli between cops and "the Crown" (I am in Canada), etc. I also find Bae DooNa very talented and charming, which may be affecting my evaluation.
At any rate, this Stranger 2 made me want to go back and see the first series again.

"Ae Jung, Yeon Woo, his mom, Ryu Jin, Jennifer Song, A Rin, bully kid, and his parents all disappear"
COVID-20! Already! That was fast.
Note: I'd add the dirty "reporter"and any triad survivor to the desaparecidos. Hope you don't mind.

So, the 4 guys are banding together into the 3 musketeers to face evil "Jennifer", her pseudo-reporter, and the triad guy who escaped from Hong Kong police.
Next week: showdown followed by nuptial bells (unless of course another typhoon hits the area).
10 years from now: Dong-Chan and Hanee chased by nasty triads, their old schoolteacher, and decrepit but still mudslinging "Jennifer": something to look for :-)

Thanks for the update. I asked. There is a big typhoon (it's monsoon season after all!) hitting Jeju and entering the Korean peninsula.
HOWEVER, is anything else being cancelled/postponed?
Is the series using this to fix some mess in the episodes?
I am a cynical kinda guy.

I see we are on the same wavelength :-)

Not my fault if you don't remember.

Can't remember the exact episode, but first he finds out he is the father when all the guys are milling around AJ's home. Then he tells Hanee that he is the father, infuriating - as usual - AJ.
Right now it looks that DaeOh will get AJ, her mom (who - one episode contradicting another - knew about the paternity and Daeoh "running away" but was happy to see him when he brought AJ home drunk with PaDo and Ryu) and their daughter.
It's unclear how the other couples will form.
Personally, I find the bar lady and PaDo having most personality, but that's me.
At any rate, the writer of this series is not sticking to a logical story (see above), so - as we say in French - faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l’avoir tué ( you can't fully predict the end).

If you want a tragicomedy, don't forget YeonWoo's mom and "Jennifer" Song.
They could have also added some side stuff about the nasty parents in the school, the guy getting trapped by a gold digger and the woman feeling old and unloved looking for a young guy (PaDo's bodyguard?), ... all to crumble in the last episode.
At least, had I written that series, I would have introduced that.

He actually thought that she would recognize him from the story in his book.
However, when she read the book, she didn't realize it at all as he version of the story was so different from his.
You are 100% correct: given the pseudonym and the angle of the story, there was no way she would have found out.
Then fate brought them together ...