Reviews

The acting the Top notch

I absolutely loved Devil Judge.
Ji Sung as Judge Kang Yo-han is magnetic — charismatic, cold, unpredictable, and completely magnetic every time he’s on screen. His performance is one of the strongest things about the drama. He makes the character feel powerful, layered, and dangerously interesting.
I also really enjoyed the villain. The intensity and presence they bring make the story so much more gripping.
Just to be clear for anyone wondering: this is not a BL drama. There is strong male chemistry and intense interactions between the leads, but the story itself is not queer-coded or romantic in that way. It’s a dystopian legal/crime thriller centered on power, justice, revenge, and a broken system.
If you like dark, stylish, high-stakes dramas with an unforgettable lead performance, Devil Judge is very worth watching. Kang Yo-han alone makes it memorable.

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Jung hae in face card was the only thing saving this

12hours of bullshit
he take her to a village nobody has a common sense to Wonder who the f is she
and reason they hide her is so stupid just explain the situation to a girl
they lied to the girl until she lost her mind
good way to start a relationship
and this show tried have a crime plot but failed miserably
but i like the fact that gangster guy was a bad guy till the end even though he had backstory
and honestly Male lead when he is a gangster is very different than the guy he is with the girl it almost like they are two different characters

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A thinking person's drama

This one is hard to rate. It is a complex mystery set in the Ming dynasty. No idol actors here. A series of murders in 1609 is somehow connected to a fire that wiped out a family twenty years previously, a connection a lowly constable discovers as he delves into the murder of his mentor. The connections and motivations are complex, and the drama requires one's full attention throughout. The script is excellent and the plotting meticulous and coherent. Everything makes sense without requiring suspension of belief at any point. The reason I find it hard to rate is that it really does take commitment on the part of the viewer without any of the usual eye candy, romance, and excitement of the typical C-drama, so I know it's not for everyone. I may have to watch it again to comprehend it fully because I failed to give it 100% of my attention 100% of the time. I highly recommend this drama, but only to serious drama watchers because it's deep and it spends no energy on entertaining the viewer with the usual tricks and shiny people. Nevertheless, it is excellent and unique--a thinking person's drama--and I should definitely mention that the cinematography is remarkable, too.

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A toxic love story

As a non-novel reader, this drama was pretty good, actually. I only saw a few spoilers for the novel from time to time. I did like the casting, especially the main characters, who did an amazing job portraying their characters.

Their relationship is toxic at many points. Him not knowing how to express his feelings and speak nicely was a very big red flag to me. Like, if your boyfriend speaks to you like this, please leave 😭. He did love her, but he didn’t love her correctly or respect her enough, in my opinion, during the 6 YEARS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP.

As for Flora, she was honestly sometimes stupid in her actions and in the way she viewed their relationship, which she sometimes didn’t acknowledge enough in certain situations. But she was so blinded by love and their intimacy together that she stayed for 6 years despite the lack of trust and sweetness in his words.

They both had their flaws, as they are human, so it was realistic to some extent, but also very frustrating. Like, I was so happy when they broke up and she didn’t hold back her words because, honestly, she needed to say those things.

As a woman, dating your superior is never in your favor because, in the end, she was the one who lost her promotion that she had worked so hard for over 6 years. So I was really happy that she chose herself, her career, and her self-respect.

What I found rushed was the ending, since we only had 24 episodes instead of 34. That means many things should have been explained and deserved more screen time. Like how much time he spent courting her again in Harbin, and more of their relationship, showing him pursuing her and making efforts for her. Because we didn’t get much of that, and there were also other side plots, like Lumi’s love life and others, that deserved a little more attention.

But the wedding proposal was kind of cute because, at that moment, he told her all the words and apologies that she deserved to hear, during the proposal and even before.All their memories together and the necklace of the missing letter from the typewriter.Like him admitting that he didn’t speak nicely to her and even that he fell in love with her first but didn’t cherish her enough. But even that it’s crazy it’s took him 8/9 years to be able to say those words and speak nicely. Also it was rushed bc they broke up and 3 episode of him pursing her and 1/2 of episode of them back together and engaged ?? We deserved more episodes so that the ending wasn’t rushed and the period of getting back should have been longer since their relationship needed many things to evolve.

One of the major reasons why I didn’t give it a 9/10 is because the timeline in the drama is so poorly explained. Like, the years of their relationship go from 4 to 6 in one episode, and there are so many other things that didn’t make sense, making it hard to understand the timeline.

I wish they had explained the timeline better and hadn’t rushed the ending. It was kind of rushed.

But overall, it was good and exciting to watch!!✨. But in real life never get into this type of relationship please 😩

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Disappointing. (This really should have only been 8 episodes in length...)

Unfortunately-- given the fact that this is based on a work by one of my favorite BL mangaka, and was not something I'd ever expected to see adapted into live-action (because this particular manga was published around 10 years ago!), so I was originally pretty excited about it-- this was quite disappointing, because it didn't work well either as an adaptation *or* as its own standalone work. And most of the reason for this is because of its length.

This story could have been perfectly told in 8 episodes. However, since the producers decided to make it 12 ep.'s instead for some reason, that forced the pacing to drag out to an atrocious degree, *and* also made the writers completely invent a bunch of padding to fill that time out. Now, don't get me wrong, some of the extra stuff was okay-- for example, the extra few scenes with Wataru's friend group and coworker were sweet, at least-- however, unfortunately, most of it was instead just completely unnecessary nonsense (like that whole new invented school 'friend' of Chiharu's, who was literally only there to cause more trouble and misunderstandings between the leads {thanks to what seemed to be an unspoken one-sided crush, no less...?! For pity's sake, can we really not be free of stupid love triangles even when the original work it's based on didn't have any love triangles whatsoever??? 😬🤦🤦}). And all of the extra invented angst between the leads in the latter part of the show was completely unnecessary, too-- and, again, was literally only there to fill out airtime, not to improve anything about the characterization or plot.

Even looking at this show without adaptation in mind-- just as a standalone work-- the pacing is so frustrating that I don't know how anyone who was just going into this as-is (without first having read the manga) even managed the patience to finish it.

Now, that said, the reason I still have this rated at a 6.0 is because the first few ep.'s were actually pretty good (for context, I had originally thought that this was on track to be an 8.0 show, but unfortunately all the borked pacing and bad filler tanked that...), and the actors (particularly Wataru's actor), bless them, did try their best with what they had to work with. Unfortunately, though, I really can't recommend this even as a standalone (not to mention as an adaptation) because it was just really not well-done overall. 😕

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i like the fact that they separated the fan and employer

good drama not a fresh story line but I like this better than idol andi
female lead never had romantic interest toward idol and as a fangirl i understand that
she come to work for him and had a huge personal growth and became independent
ceo is a nice working character and not a toxic person. so 10/10green flag vibe and idol guy is selfish in love and i like the fact that he fight for her.
and but the first love girl is a very unnessary character.
and this show portrait the grey characters and selfish personalitys perfectly.
and as a fangirl idol plot line is so good i wish they had more of that.

overall great drama if you are looking for cliché kdrama with great characters with personality

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Hypnotized stillness and love story waste session

A love story about a romance that has overstayed its welcome. Lovely.

…At the beginning of the last episode, I was questioning why both sides were trying so hard to push them back together. In the middle, I wanted to hit both of the main characters.

And the ending presents us with… well, nicely said, nothing.

I had slightly higher expectations for this, but no. This is just the embodiment of dragged-out nothing. :(

It’s not that this is that bad series. The story isn’t terrible, the characters are cute, the actors are fine, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with the acting or the production. My problem is that the series screams that it has nothing to say beyond:

“I fell in love with you when we were kids. I found you again later. I still loved you. I wanted you. I thought you were never going to be mine. I entertained the idea. I left ("betrayed you"). And now you have trauma and we have to overcome some obstacles.”

Okay. But… what else?

The problem is that the characters are constantly being positioned as a romantic couple, while the series seems terrified of actually showing us what that means (beside waiting foor each other, ok - not presented the best IMeducatedO).

Whenever the story gets anywhere near the dangerous territory of them actually having to behave like a couple, it seems to retreat. One leaves for school, the other works, they come back, they travel, they watch movies, they exist next to each other… and that’s about it.

There is an enormous amount of hesitation about whether they actually want to be together, but almost no romance, attraction, chemistry or meaningful tension to compensate for it. There is chasing, there are obstacles, there is supposed to be emotional turmoil — but very little of it actually feels dramatized.

And yes, you can probably explain some of this through Japanese storytelling conventions and the tendency to leave certain things understated. Fine. But I personally don’t get much pleasure out of watching something that spends this much time telling me that two people love each other without giving me much to actually experience about that love.

The biggest problem is that most of the central conflict could have been solved by communication...

...And communication isn’t just the problem between the characters. It feels like there is a communication problem between the creators and the audience as well.

“I love you, but we’re going to be separated for four years. Actually, six.”

…Why?

This might have worked in a time when the only way to communicate was to send a letter by pigeon. But we have phones. We have messaging. We have video calls. If you genuinely don’t have time to communicate with someone you supposedly love for years, then at some point the problem isn’t the circumstances anymore. You just have other preferences. Period.

I know some people strongly dislike one character because of what he did, said, or failed to do, while others sympathize with him. And honestly? This series has become so bland to me that I don’t even care.

And that, in itself, is a problem.

I have definitely seen worse series. I have seen worse stories, worse characters and worse acting. But I have also seen much, much better — and I genuinely don’t understand why nobody seemed particularly interested in pacing, momentum or dramatic impact here.

Still water can be beautiful, but even that needs to be done properly.

This was supposed to be a drama.

It needed to be dramatized.

“ We love each other, but we’re going to separate for six years” is not, by itself, a compelling dramatic structure (esp. not if you have two uninterested parties in one relationship really). Especially when those six years could have been filled with an actual relationship, actual conflict, actual intimacy, actual growth — literally anything (in their situation, that would be such a beautiful story to watch).

So yes, cute characters. Cute story. Cute actors. Cute series.

And simultaneously, I would still like to hit both main characters over the head with a pan.

I just hope they leave this one alone.

Because, honestly, I have watched worse-rated series that I would rather get a second season than this one.

Please. No second season.

I don’t want to fall into this pit of despair again. Thank you very much.

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More Than Just a Romance

I honestly didn’t expect *The Early Spring* to become one of those dramas that stays in my mind even when I’m not watching it. I started it mainly because I was curious about the leads and the overall vibe, but somewhere along the way I became completely invested in the characters and their relationship.

What I liked most is that this doesn’t feel like a typical sweet and easy romance. The relationship is complicated, and both characters have their own flaws. I know some people may find certain parts of their dynamic frustrating, especially because there is a clear difference in their personalities and positions, but personally, that was also one of the things that made the drama interesting for me. They don't feel like perfect fictional people who always make the right decision. They make mistakes, misunderstand each other, get hurt, and slowly learn from their experiences.

The chemistry between Jing Boran and Sun Qian is probably one of the biggest reasons I enjoyed this drama so much. Their interactions don't feel forced to me. Even their small expressions and the way they look at each other can communicate a lot without needing a huge romantic scene. There is a certain tension between them that keeps the relationship interesting, and I genuinely looked forward to their scenes.

I also really liked Shang Zhitao as a character. She isn't someone who immediately has everything figured out, and I actually appreciated that. Watching her gradually become more confident and find her own voice made her journey much more satisfying. I especially liked that her character isn't defined only by her relationship with the male lead. She has her own professional struggles, ambitions and moments of growth.

Luan Nian is definitely a character who won't be everyone's cup of tea. He can be arrogant, difficult and frustrating at times, and I completely understand why some viewers might dislike him. But that's exactly why I found his character interesting. I didn't need him to be perfect from the beginning. What mattered more to me was seeing the different sides of his personality and how his experiences affected the way he treated the people around him.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the atmosphere of the drama. The cinematography, locations, styling and overall visual direction make it very easy to get immersed in the world. There is something about the way the drama presents ordinary moments that I really like. It doesn't always need a huge dramatic event to make a scene memorable.

The workplace aspect was also a pleasant surprise for me. I usually get bored when a romance drama uses the workplace only as an excuse for the leads to meet, but here the professional side actually contributes to the characters' development. It gives Shang Zhitao opportunities to grow independently instead of making everything revolve around romance.

Of course, the drama isn't perfect. There were moments where I wanted the characters to communicate more clearly instead of creating unnecessary misunderstandings. Some decisions made me frustrated, and there were definitely moments when I thought, *please just talk to each other*. 😭 But surprisingly, those flaws didn't ruin the experience for me. If anything, they made the characters feel more human.

I also think this is one of those dramas where your enjoyment depends a lot on what you expect from it. If you're looking for a completely healthy, fluffy and uncomplicated romance, this probably won't be everyone's ideal drama. But if you enjoy complicated characters, strong chemistry, character development and a relationship that isn't perfect from the beginning, I think it's worth giving a chance.

And honestly, the biggest reason I'm giving this a **10/10** is simply because of how much I enjoyed watching it. I wasn't watching it just to finish the episodes. I was actually looking forward to the next one, thinking about the characters after an episode ended, and wanting to see where their relationship and individual journeys would go.

For me, that's what makes a drama memorable. It doesn't have to be flawless to deserve a high rating. Sometimes a drama can have a few things you would change and still give you an experience that you genuinely love.

**The Early Spring was definitely that drama for me. 10/10.** I loved the chemistry, the characters, the atmosphere and especially the feeling of watching two imperfect people slowly grow through their experiences. I can understand why some viewers won't connect with it, but personally, it worked extremely well for me.
**Definitely one of my favourite watches this year.** ❤️

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Why are they fighting eachother on a team based show?

I hate this season so much.

I hate the entire hotel concept and points. Can't we just have smart ppl solving things together? Why make it a competition? It's so stupid.

I hate the rating of achievements that doesn't even make sense cuz some contributions aren't seen as contributions even tho they couldn't solve without it.

I hate the fighting eachother instead of fighting alongside eachother.

I feel like I'm watching Forest Evolutionism instead of Great Escape.

They do this sort of things with Detective College all the time. When they test the waters for new shows or new concepts with them for a season or two (and then launch the new show without them 😒).

And I don't mind it there cuz they get to experience different concepts and the show is never boring. But this is Great Escape. Detective College is a game show without a concept. (Even when the detective assistant was decided by the results the games were diverse and different.)

Great Escape is an escape room. Were a TEAM is locked and is trying to escape. Not a competition. AN ESCAPE ROOM!

I hate the undercover so much. They're way too familiar with one another so they can just sense when something is wrong.

When Apo and Wentao were undercover in the past they got caught so fast. They won just because the others decided to (and I quote) "give the undercovers some space (to work with)" and let fate decide the order of the players that will go into the room and they ended up one after another so when one make changes the others can't do anything about it before the second undercover is in.

On the other hand when they're faced with plot and evidence based suspects they have a harder time to find the bad guy like on 院人全年无休计划, on Detective College S1 Ep 14-16, on Detective College S2 Ep1-4 etc. Those stuff are fun. Keep those, stop with undercovers on shows WHERE THEY DON'T BELONG!

I wish we had more fun interactions with the npc. I got excited about a mother and son interaction just for it to go nowhere. For now we didn't get anything close to the level of S5, Enqi and Lucy awkward but cute interaction or Wentao and his older brother that wanted to kill him. Or even Kaikai and his alien daughter.

In short, I'm disappointed but not surprised.

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A love story can be messy, toxic, and yet beautiful❤️

The Early Spring is not for people who only enjoys a nice love story as this drama isn't. The leads aren't nice either. They are flawed and have their shortcomings. But they want to love and be loved. It's just their flaws and their insecurities are the main hurdles. And that made their love toxic. But their love is true, and for their love, they are ready to grow.

You don't always need to be better to deserve love. Along with love, you can become better.

Before the drama premier, I have already read the novel and enjoyed it. But as the drama is different, I'll mainly talk about the drama. Firstly, 24 episodes are not enough to express the characters, their relationship and their flaws. In many of the leads' misunderstandings, I felt it could be more slow and shown more deeply. I wanted to understand them more, but there was not enough material. And therefore, there was a disconnection with the characters. Or, I had to put effort myself and analyze the characters so that I could understand them. And let me tell you, you can misinterpret a lot here. However I still want to give a big applause to Jing Boran (Luan Nian) and Sun Qian (Shang Zitao), they had done a remarkable job in this drama. Their acting, chemistry, and their own understanding of the characters, deserves appreciation. At some points, their chemistry was the one saving this drama.

Still, the makers did a good job covering everything in just 24 eps. The direction, lightning, cinematography and music came out perfectly. Even with the fast pace, you find yourself lost in the story, and waiting for the next eps. All the supporting cast, they were perfect. No actor made me feel that they could have been better. I also loved, they gave quite a lot of screentime towards Shang Zitao's ambitions and her journey from an employer to starting a startup. It really inspired me that for a woman who comes from a small town and have no connections, her career is the most important. And at the same time, they rightfully showed that this journey can be brutal too.

About editing, I found it too inconsistent. I would love if there were time skips mentioned directly. I found it too confusing about how many years have passed. Also the scene changes felt too abrupt, as the mood changed too, and I didn't have enough time to go with it.

But overall, I enjoyed watching the drama, it was fun. Also we don't find this type of dramas often, and i don't think it's wrong to enjoy a toxic love story. Rather than glorifying it, you can just learn what you must not do in your own relationship. Many of chinese novels have complex characters, but on drama, they change it to green flag, perfect ones. I don't have anything against of it, but in reality, we are not perfect. Also, otherwise, all the dramas will have the same template. The Early Spring brought a different spice on the pallet, and we can enjoy it simply without getting too involved. Maybe take some lessons and go with our life.

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Miscommunication is the great villain

I want the head of the person responsible for reducing the drama to 24 episodes. I NEED MORE.

This is the story of two people unable to communicate to each other and how this cracks their relationship.

Shang Zhitao is a young woman, fresh out of university, a bit naive and immature, she meets a guy older than her, her boss, the company forbids relationships between colleagues. It’s understandable why she’s so insecure.

Luan Nian is a man of no kind words, he doesn’t understand his own feelings and doesn’t know how to show affection. His mouth is quicker than his thoughts. He speaks first and thinks about it later. Words can hurt as much as actions, you can do the most caring things to your partner, but if you only have harsh things to say, this is still a toxic behavior. I don’t get why people look aside on this, blaming only her, there are no excuses for they he speaks to her.

It’s not about taking sides, they both have their issues. The miscommunication was the biggest villain here and they’re both to blame.

Acting was SO GOOD, the chemistry was outstanding. They made us feel all kinds of emotions: anger, sadness, happiness. They made us root for a break up and yearn for their relationship.

Cinematography was beautiful, loved the color grading. Episode 19 made wanna go to Tibet.

The OST is one of my favorites of 2026.

My only complaint is that I feel like the drama was a little rushed in some points, maybe because it was shortened. I’d have loved to see their baby girl.

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Perfect BL for beginners

This was an easy-to-watch series with solid acting & is very light on the BL. Light on the romance, really. The most intimate thing that happens is hand-holding. I'd recommend this series to anyone wanting to get into BL who doesn't want it to be the focal point of the series, or see any NC scenes. I feel like the pacing was also good considering very little was actually going on.

The actors all have really good chemistry; It made the friendships and the family dynamics (even though some are VERY unresolved) more believable. It also helped that most of the characters were emotionally intelligent enough to understand what was happening without having to be told.

I do hate the miscommunication trope, but this time it bothered me very little because I could sympathize with them for not being able to confess & feeling rejected (confession or not), and not being able to move on. This show also showed how one lie can snowball into another & become a bigger & more stressful problem as time goes on, and I think they handled it alright. It could have been better; it could have been worse. Seung Won definitely learned from his mistake & that's what's important.

The way the scenes were laid out is also something I don't normally like, but they made it work in this series in a way that made the story feel complete instead of disjointed.

The only thing I would have changed is that I wanted to spend more time with Hui Su and Seung Won as a couple. We built up to it for so long that it felt like we deserved more.

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Sexy Underground Romance. Great Chemistry.

When I saw the extraordinary 8.7 rating for The Early Spring (at least when I first started watching it), I wondered: what kind of modern office romance, with the usual CEO-and-young-intern trope, could possibly deserve a rating that high? So I gave it a try. Four episodes in, I was already on the verge of dropping it. However, as I plodded along, the great acting persuaded me to stay.

It turns out the boss is basically a two-faced creep. In public, he's serious, always wearing a stern expression, and rude to the extreme. But in private, he's a sexy, aspiring singer—and, well, pretty horny. Despite all that, he's upstanding and devoted. And the female lead? She's timid, awkward, and naive—the perfect prey for a hungry wolf. And yes, she falls for him.

I was actually surprised that I haven't seen more criticism from the "Me Too" viewers about the male lead taking advantage of his subordinate. Yes, their sexual encounters are consensual, but she was still under 18 (according to her employment record which I feel could be a mistake because she has just graduated college, so she must be in her early 20s unless she's a prodigy) when they first slept together. Add the boss-subordinate power imbalance to the mix, and it's hard not to feel uncomfortable with the setup.

That said, I think the biggest appeal of this drama is exactly that: the secret, intimate, forbidden office romance. Despite the tropey and predictable plot, I was mesmerized by the cities—Beijing and Harbin, which helped me continue, especially in the beginning.

On the funny side, I was surprised to discover that quite a few of the high ratings seem to come from middle-aged women. They are completely mesmerized by Jin Bo Ran's sexiness and happily compare him with their own husbands and bosses, whom they say "make them puke." Apparently, Jin Bo Ran is giving a lot of viewers something their real-life men aren't!

Despite my rocky start with the drama, I have to admit that I eventually came to enjoy the drama—and a big reason is the acting.

Jin Bo Ran and Sun Qian are both excellent.

Jin Bo Ran naturally has a stern-looking face, so playing Luan Nian is almost a perfect fit for him. His serious, restrained, and unwavering demeanor feels very natural. But what really impressed me was watching Luan Nian completely break down and cry. Those scenes were genuinely heartbreaking, and Jin Bo Ran absolutely nailed them. His performance made the character much more complicated and vulnerable than he first appeared.

Sun Qian is equally convincing as Shang Zhi Tao, the timid and naive young intern who gradually grows into a confident professional. Her transformation feels believable and unforced. And honestly, I can understand why Shang Zhi Tao is attracted to Luan Nian from the moment she sees him. Young women can certainly be drawn to mature, powerful, successful, and good-looking men—and Sun Qian does a great job making that attraction feel natural and believable.

And then there's the chemistry between Sun Qian and Jin Bo Ran.

It's amazing.

Their on-screen chemistry is intense, sensual, and probably the biggest reason romance fans will keep watching. There are substantial intimacy scenes throughout almost the entire drama, so if you're looking for a romance with plenty of physical chemistry, this drama definitely delivers.

So, would I recommend The Early Spring?

Yes—but with a big caveat.

If you can get past the uncomfortable premise of a boss seducing his very young intern, and you're willing to stick with it beyond the tropey beginning, there's actually a lot to enjoy here: beautiful city scenery, strong performances, emotional moments, and some seriously impressive chemistry between the leads.

For romance buffs, especially those who enjoy a secret office romance with lots of intimacy, this may be one worth watching.

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if you like light romcoms.....

I really liked the drama tho i expected it to be better started with a great interesting plot! But it's alright it was more like one time watch drama cute little romcom ntg so special but feel good drama. I really loved the relation development of lee chan and nam da rum at the end i thought they won't stay as fan-idol or even as friends I'm so glad that they did! And the group comebackkk ohh my godd i felt ever bit of that scene it was only 6 months ago that bts did their comeback after 4 years i really went back in time and felt that emotions again maybe thats why I'm little protecting this drama becoz its close to my heart honestly they could have done better but i have no objection also the last scene where she referred ha gi as her light too who was always beside her, i really liked that scene so much. Loved it if you wanna watch feel good light romcom then go for this one!!

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