#hyun jae really was the star in this subplot

[what-breaks-my-heart]

A Promise I Could Not Keep - The Tragic Melo of Shin Hyun Jae

@have-yet-to-decide​ and I agreed that Hyun Jae x Young Hee deserved its own separate melo. While the screen time focused on Young Hee in the earlier part of the drama, Hyun Jae received more screen time towards the end, and I loved how Choi Chan Ho delivered a convincing performance. Boy, did I cry a lot during his scenes.

One of the little gems the drama managed to tell was his relationship with Young Hee’s mother. Young Hee might have thought that her situation was a burden to Hyun Jae, but it was not the case for Hyun Jae. He loved Young Hee for who she was, and never did it occur to him that she was a burden.

And because of that, he had a good relationship with her family. Even when her mother did not ask him to help prepare for her late father’s memorial, he insisted on helping out, because to him, her late father was his own family too. I mean, they have been dating for over ten years for God’s sake!

Spoken like a true SNU law school graduate

He knew how Young Hee had a tendency to wallow in self-pity and put a barrier around her, even with her own mother. He knew her mother felt guilty for not being able to provide her with a normal life like an average person, and how Young Hee resented that. He knew her mother felt she was a bad mother for making Young Hee too independent.

Despite that, Hyun Jae tried to assure Young Hee’s mother that he would become the person Young Hee could lean on, so she did not have to continue worrying about Young Hee living alone in her fortress of solitude.

This was not easy, given Young Hee’s victim mindset and tendency to cut off people from her life because she believed everyone who entered her life would become miserable.

Hyun Jae knew he had to be with Young Hee, not because he felt sympathy for her, but because in his mind, it was her and her alone. Young Hee was the reason he became a good husband material. He was a high school trash before he met her. He knew she was her North Star, her guiding light, and he was willing to throw away the good life his parents had been providing him, just to be with her.

However, he also acknowledged that he could not beg her to stay with him, because she was hurting and resenting herself while they were together.

He knew it very well, but he could not make himself walk away. Ironically, he himself had been miserable since breaking up. Young Hee’s intention to push Hyun Jae out of her misery made him live within his own misery instead.

So he decided to linger around her, always ready to catch her whenever she fell down.

True enough, she did finally reach out to him.

A happy ending for my boi 🥺🥺

But Hyun Jae would have to live the rest of his life, knowing he could not stay by Young Hee’s side when her mother passed away. He would have to live the rest of his life, knowing Young Hee’s mother’s last memory of her was a daughter who stayed in her fortress of solitude. Sure, they believe in ancestors being able to see what happened in the world from the afterlife but she could not be there in person to see Young Hee getting married and become a mother herself, and that was her biggest wish - to not let Young Hee cry when she was becoming a mother because she missed her so much.

Having failed to keep his promise, Hyun Jae would carry that guilt to his grave.

[koreandragon]

Honestly can you just answer all of them?

Favourite Couple

i’ll just say my top three ok cause...impossible question: 

Go Dong Man and Choi Ae Ra from Fight For My Way because the friends to lovers trope is strong with this one and it’s done so well

Eun Dan Oh and Haru in Extraordinary You because they’re the cutest?? have you seen them together?? also the possibility of them being a couple in another manhwa in the past is just *chef’s kiss*

Lee Jung In and Yoo Ji Ho from One Spring Night because they absolutely destroyed me every week. the pining, the angst, the sweetness

Favourite Actor

*looks at the thousands of gifsets and pictures of Ji Chang Wook* idk man there are just too many

Favourite Actress

Park Bo Young is definitely one of them but I love Jun Ji-Hyun very much

Favourite Drama

holy shit, um...While You Were Sleeping, Strangers from Hell, Extraordinary You, Life on Mars, Black, Designated Survivor: 60 Days, Fight for My Way, One Spring Night

Favourite Trope

when for some reason they get stuck in tight spaces or accidental too close physical encounters. those drive me wild

Least Favourite Trope

is wrist grabbing a trope? no but i’m kinda sick of the “we actually met when we were like five and you did something that changed my life” trope

Favourite Genre

Crime and Romance and when these combine i go nuts

Least Favourite Genre

political (although designated survivor was the fucking best)

Favourite Idol Actor

ugh, Cha Eunwoo, Park Jinyoung, Lee Junho, Bae Suzy, Henry

Favourite Web Drama

i don’t think Wednesday 3:30pm is one but that was a short drama? i haven’t actually seen any web dramas.(is i picked up a star on the road a webdrama? it was shit but i watched it)  i have started the universe’s star tho

Worst Ending

not particularly worst but w two worlds got so messy by the end, it was really hard to watch. also Black had a pretty weird ending, the kind that kept me up at night but i loved it

Messiest Plot

w two worlds BY FAR. i know people say this about melting me softly but it will never compare to w two worlds, jesus CHRIST

Favourite Villain

Choi Yoo Jin from The K2, period

Character You’re Supposed To Hate But Don’t

Choi Yoo Jin from The K2 lmao. i actually shipped her with Jae Ha. 

An Actor/Actress You’d Watch In Any Role

Ji Chang Wook *looks at melting me softly* and Park Bo Young

Favourite Sageuk

Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, Tale of Nokdu, Love in the Moonlight

Hated Character You Loved

Nam Eun Ki from Her Private Life...although i didn’t finish the show, i never  hated him like lots of people did. 

i saw some people didn’t like Yeo Jin Woo in Memories of the Alhambra because he was a bit arrogant but i loved him so much

Loved Character You Hated

Luca from When the Devil Calls Your name annoyed THE SHIT out of me. i do not care how cute he is, he was the most annoying person i have ever seen. 

i didn’t hate Ku Chan Sung in hotel del luna but he wasn’t someone i liked either. i actually don’t like yeo jin goo at all so maybe that’s why

Anna in The K2 because her character was really bland and just idk?? she was so uninteresting to me

Ji Sung Joon in She Was Pretty was not a good character, he didn’t desrve to end up with the FL and as much as i LOVE Park Seo Joon, that role didn’t do it for me

Couple That Should Have Stayed Platonic

Jae Ha and Anna in The K2. ji chang wook usually has chemistry with everyone he plays with but yoona and him just really didn’t have it. also her character was so plain, i just wished they stopped the unnecessary romantic subplot with them

i might get shit for this but Kim Shin and Ji Eun Tak in Goblin, i have expressed many times how uncomfortable the age difference was. also they worked so well as friends?? they always bickered and joked, it was so funny? they got so cheesy when they started dating it just wasn’t doing it for me

Most Annoying Family/Parents

Lee Jung In’s dad in one spring night. yall know why

ma dong chan’s family and go mi ran’s mom in melting me softly

Favourite Sidekick

Gong Soo Chang in Two Cops

Secretary Cha in designated survivor 60 days

Min Ja in Healer

Kang Dong Cheol in Life on Mars

Ji Eun Hyuk in Suspicious Partner

Ra Do Woo in Terius Behind Me

Kim Ji Woong in Oh My Venus

Favourite Group Of Friends

the losers in Fight for My Way

Worst Kiss

oh man there are just really too many of those

Touch Your Heart was really cute but the kissing scenes were tragic and what was even more tragic, was that they did THAT to lee dong wook and yoo in na out of all people

Favourite Kiss

Suspicious Partner, hands down. that shit SLAYED my ass

A Scene You’ve Rewatched A Million Times

the umbrella scene in The K2. “lift your head. straighten your back. your enemies are watching” god tier level of tension and acting on both sides

A Drama You Enjoyed, But Will Never Rewatch

almost all of them that i enjoyed. there are very few exceptions.(currently rewatching fight for my way) they’re too long and i have many more to watch

A Drama That Had A Strong Premier But Fell Apart

W Two Worlds again. it started off great but it fell apart like a jenga tower

Automatic Mood Lift OST

as i got to this question my spotify playlist decided to play Say to Myself from when the devil calls your name, so that is one

while you were sleeping

angel’s last mission: love 

strangers from hell (The Rose - Strangers, specifically)

A Lead You’d Marry

the character or the actor? i’m gonna assume character. Jung Joon-Hyungfrom weightlifting fairy kim bok joo

Haru from extraordinary you

Ji Ho from one spring night

A Well Loved Actor/Actress Who Just Doesn’t Appeal To You

I mentioned Yeo Jin Goo before, idk why so don’t ask

An Unexpected Ship

Choi Yoo Jin and Jae Ha in The K2 (ofc it didn’t happen but i didn’t expect to ship them)

but i also didn’t expect Ji Eun-Hyuk and Cha Yoo-Jung from suspicious partner to rekindle their relationship after what happened

Song Hae-Rin and Ji Seo-Joon in romance is a bonus book

Favourite Crackship

Grim Reaper and Kim Shin

Actors You Wish Would Work Together

it’s really hard to find korean actors who haven’t worked together. i mentioned park bo young and lee jong suk before but apparently they already made a movie together, so i’ll say ji chang wook and park seo joon (tell me if they have, i don’t fucking know at this point)

First Drama

Strictly speaking, it was Secret Forest aka Stranger

Oldest OST You Still Listen To Regularly

i don’t watch old dramas because they make me cringe