Early on, I’ve decided that the titles in this drama should NOT be interpreted only from the business point of view. To do so, the viewer would miss out on the plot direction as well as the character development. To me, the titles of the episodes indicated how the lead characters, namely Dosan and Dalmi, and to some extent the side characters, like InJae and JP, were fulfilling the requirements of starting up – not a business venture, mind you – but a JOINT venture.

Simply put, the titles were rubrics to forming a personal relationship. That’s what the title Start-Up means in Episode 1.

Ep 1 Start-Up

Three characters were given the spotlight in this first episode. In chronological order, we saw the start of JP’s relationship with Granny, the start of InJae’s estrangement with her family, the start of Dalmi’s relationship with her imaginary pen-friend.

Then, there’s a 15-year time leap and we see another start-up…or should I say, follow-up?

Yeongsil warned JP about it, saying, “Today, the god of fate will send a gentle breeze into your peaceful life. You may run into someone you met briefly in the past at an unexpected place.”

The gentle breeze was Dalmi. She was the gentle breeze that made it possible for JP to reunite with the most meaningful person in his life, Grandma.

The fact is Grandma – not Dalmi – had the biggest impact on the trajectory of his life. He could barely remember what he’d written in the letters to Dalmi, but he could remember EXACTLY Grandma had told him. She said, “If you become successful, don’t call me. Don’t call me if you become rich and get married. Don’t call me if you’re happy. I don’t want to feel jealous. But call me…if you’re going through a rough patch. Come to me if it’s raining and you have nowhere to go like you once did. Don’t just stand in the rain. You know where to find the keys.”

Too bad, he only remembered the part where Grandma mentioned being rich in the future. He didn’t remember what Grandma said about getting married. Ha! He could have visited Grandma all along because he was single and lonely.

And too bad, he didn’t remember the letters, or he would have taken her words to heart.

A few days ago, I said goodbye to my dog, Mongsil. I consider him my little brother. I miss him like crazy. Yesterday, I cried a lot after seeing my shoe that Mongshil had chewed on. Isn’t that funny? I thought he’d always be with me. I took the time we spent together for granted when every moment was a gift. I should have been nicer to him. I regret everything these days. But then I realized something. The present moment is a gift, too. I’ll regret this moment as well. In winter, I’ll miss the green of summer. In the summer, I’ll miss the white snow. I’ve made up my mind to stop filling my days with regrets. That’s why I worked up the courage to write a letter to you. I like you so, Seo Dalmi. And I thank you for filling my present moment with excitement and happiness.”

Words of wisdom from Grandma:

1. Should have been nicer before something or someone disappears
2. Stop filling days with regrets

But the real start-up in this episode happened in the last minute of the episode. That drifting petal was the director’s way of highlighting the start of the romance between Dosan and Dalmi.

Through that petal scene, the director was guiding and informing the viewers to MAKE NO MISTAKE: Dalmi and Dosan were meant to be the couple from the very beginning. That gentle breeze which Yeongsil had warned JP about was, in reality, a gentle breeze connecting Dalmi to Dosan with the symbolic petal.

I remember writing that I felt cheated in Episode 1. We were given JP’s backstory in the Episode 1, but we were only given a petal scene for Dosan. But in hindsight, I should have known that petal scene was only meant to lay the groundwork. It was telling us that we were about to enter the story of Dalmi and Dosan. That was the start-up the title was referring to. It was establishing the literal and metaphorical connection through the use of the petal.

Ep 2 Family, Friends and Fools

Three kinds of people invest their money in start-ups: family, friends, and fools. In this episode, we saw Dosan’s parents getting upset with their investment in Dosan’s company. We also see JP telling the Samsan Tech guys that he definitely was NO Fool.

JP: Among the start-ups that I didn’t invest in, zero succeeded. None of them. I don’t want to lose the latter record. That’s why I am never going to invest in your company. It’s not because it’s early.

But in terms of the development of the love story, there were three sorts of people who were willing to help out Dalmi in the lie that she told her sister. In a fit of pique, she told her sister that she was dating Dosan and bringing him to the party. The people who came to her rescue were her family, a friend, and a fool.

Family obviously meant her grandma. The friend was her pen pal JP whom her Grandma contacted and asked a favor from. And the fools here were Dalmi and Dosan.

According to JP, Dalmi would be making fool of herself if she met Dosan.

JP: Considering how he ended up, it’s better if the two never meet. Not only will she be disappointed, but she’ll also be making a fool of herself.

Note: Listening to JP’s negativity, I’m not surprised that he was still unmarried at this time. Nobody wants to hear constant naysayers because it’s discouraging and depressing.

Dosan was also fool in many ways. JP called him a loser, didn’t he? Dosan was a fool who couldn’t even keep his company afloat. He had to sell their air conditioning and his baseball.

But he was a fool, too, for getting involved in Dalmi’s problem. JP offered to pay him money to show up at the party, but he turned down the money. Then, he still ended up going to party but without paid for it. In JP’s profit-oriented world, Dosan’s action would be considered foolhardy.

But the biggest way he was a fool was falling in love with Dalmi at first sight. He became a fool for love, and that’s why he answered her desperate text without hesitation.

Ep 3 An Angel: An investor who invests in budding start-ups and provides mentorship

Ostensibly, the angel here is JP. In the business world, he’s considered an angel investor. The magazine that Dosan read aloud to JP called JP a sherpa “The Sherpa people serve as guides in the Himalayas…’I want to be an investor like a Sherpa’… A companion who guides and protects entrepreneurs.”

Then, when he showed up at the networking party beside Dosan, Dosan called him an “angel” — in the business sense of an angel.

In terms of the love story, JP certainly dressed the part of an angel. He was dressed in white suit and he had a white car which I guess would be the equivalent of celestial white cloud. He was also angel when he saved Dosan from InJae’s questions and lent his car to him to bring home Dalmi.

But the real angel here was Dosan. To Dalmi, he was an angel.

Dalmi: I saw Dosan today. He gave me his number.
Grandma: What? Which Dosan?

Grandma was bewildered. As far as she knew, JP couldn’t fulfill the promise he made her, and Dalmi didn’t find Dosan at their meeting place.

Thus, she was asking Dalmi which Dosan showed up: whether it was the was Dosan whom JP claimed he found because of his capability and luck, or the Dosan whom Dalmi claimed to find by herself.

Note: She wasn’t at all referring to JP as Dosan. She wouldn’t confuse JP for Dosan because she knew they were two different people.

Dalmi: What do you mean? Nam Dosan. My first love!
Grandma: You said he stood you up.
Dalmi: We finally met. The timing was perfect. He showed up, looking like a runway model.
Grandma: What? He’s good-looking?
Dalmi: Yes, like a model. He looks amazing in a suit. My heart almost stopped.

And Grandma couldn’t reconcile Dalmi’s praises to JP’s criticisms. According to JP, he was “the worst of the worst. Most men look good when they put on a suit. It’s hard not to look good, but Nam Dosan managed not to look good in a suit.” Grandma said, however, “Dalmi said he’s very tall, like a model.” JP then piled on with his fault-finding, “He’s tall, but that’s about it. He’s lanky like a bean sprout. And his hair? Who cuts hair like that these days? I bet he cut it himself. That awful haircut. Gosh.”

Dalmi: Dosan is the star of the night. Grandma, do you know what AI is? Artificial intelligence.
Grandma: Yes, of course. People talk about AlphaGo a lot on TV these days.
Dalmi: He works in that industry. It’s the hottest field in the tech industry now. Do you know what’s so surprising?
Grandma: What?
Dalmi: He’s so modest. He’s not a show-off at all. He listened to all my nonsense and drove me home like a true gentleman. Gosh, he’s an angel. He doesn’t need laws.

There! She called him an angel.

Note: These qualities that Dalmi was attracted to ever since the beginning were Dosan’s real traits. He wasn’t lying when he behaved with modesty, humility, patience and respect.

“He doesn’t needs laws” means he didn’t need reminding on how conduct himself like a gentleman.

She was describing his personality as angelic. He had traits that made him lovable, like modesty, kindness, patience, respect and courtesy.

Once again, Grandma found this confusing because according to JP, Dosan was a psychopath.

JP: No empathy or emotions. I thought I was talking to a robot.
Grandma: Dalmi called him angel.
JP: Because I covered for him. Gosh, he told so many lies. I sweat buckets trying to cover up all his lies.

lol. He was stressing how hard he worked because he wanted Grandma to praised him. The contrast is painfully obvious. JP was no modest man.

Grandma: Thanks for your hard work. Sounds like you went above and beyond to help Dalmi save face.
JP: I don’t want to go on about it but it was so stressful. For real.
Grandma: Alright. Good job.

lol. JP just wanted praises from Grandma, too.

Grandma: Dalmi said God must have felt bad for everything he put her through. Maybe that’s why God gave her yesterday as a gift. That’s what she thinks. She said even when she turns 100 she’ll remember every second of every minute. It felt like a dream.

Here is Dalmi’s other definition of angel. She though Dosan was godsent, and a messenger from God that she was loved, too. God made her dream come true when Dosan unexpectedly appeared at the party.

Ep 4 Sand Box

The title had three different definitions of Sand Box. I’ll explain for the second.

1. A playground filled with sand to prevent injuries
2. A test environment for developers
3. A postponement of regulations for the release of new productions

“This is just a test.” Dosan was tested whether he would choose Dalmi, the amateur vs Injae, the professional. His friend urged him to follow “head over his heart” make a rational decision. Dosan replied that his choice was the same whether he followed his head or his heart.

Although this was only a mock-situation, it showed Dosan’s response to a dilemma. He would always choose Dalmi over anything else.

Ep 5 Hackathon

It’s defined as a sprint-like event where participants team up to create a software business model

The highlight of this episode is the Tarzan and Jane. The key point of a hackathon is collaboration. Because it is time-pressured and competitive, the best group is the one who can work under pressure together, given the different talents they bring to the table.

The Tarzan-and-Jane scene demonstrated that even though Dosan and Dalmi had different strengths and weaknesses, they could come together in a most effective way to complete the task. They are “machine-learning” from each other.

Ep 6 Key Man

Start-Up: Ep 6 The Key Man

Ep 7 Burn Rate

Start-Up: Eps 7 & 8 Titles and Traitor??

Ep 8 Backup

Start-Up: Ep 8 The Meaning of Backup, Part 1

Start-Up: Ep 8 The Meaning of Backup, Part 2

Ep 9 Risk

Ep 10 Demo Day

Start-Up: Ep 10 Demo Day, Part 1

Start-Up: Ep 10 Demo Day, Part 2

Ep 11 Exit
Ep 12 AcQhire: The act of buying out a company primarily to recruit its talent
Ep 13 Comfort Zone: A place where one feels safe and at ease.
Ep 14 Elevator Speech: A brief, persuasive speech during an elevator ride

Ep 15 Minimum Value Product

Start-Up: Ep 15 Minimum Viable Product, Part 1

Start-Up: Ep 15 MVP, Part 2

Ep 16 Scale Up

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To be continued.