vHari-

I agree this trope is cheap and needs to go. At least they implemented it early on rather than dumping it on us in the last couple of episodes like most dramas. As you said, aside from "developing" the romance this seems to be mainly used for fans to find some justification for her feelings. Their romance will always be weird no matter when they get together because she will have viewed and treated him as a student before the start of their relationship. It would have been better if she knew he was an adult prior to him joining the school, but plot ig.

In these kinds of romantic scenarios, I don't think too deeply if the show provides some decent justification, and to me, this interpretation of her memories is enough to alleviate some of the weirdness.

Everyone knows the childhood friend trope is overdone in dramas to develop romance. However, I think it might actually be used effectively here. The most controversial thing about this show is that the FL appears to be falling for the ML while still believing he's a high schooler. Although, during the romantic scenes thus far it seems that the FL is recalling her memories with younger ML and remembering the romantic feelings associated with those memories. So, she is not actually developing romantic feelings for current Hae Song.

At least that's how I see it, since most romantic scenes have a related flashback. Maybe I'm just coping to make it less weird 😅.