Unless you don’t mind spoilers, this post has to read after Episode 10 because I’m going to compare Goo and Daniel Choi’s character.

Episode 10 is here: Today’s Webtoon: Ep 10 Long Takes

Episode 3 Title: You will not arrive at paradise if you run away.

Note: the title on Viu is a bit different from Viki. Viu subbed it as “There’s no paradise for you to escape to.” I’ll go with Viki’s version because Viu’s sounds fatalistic and hopeless. I don’t think that’s the tone of the episode.

In contrast to Daniel Choi’s character (DCC) who had a problem making up his mind whether to leave or stay at Neon, Goo was unequivocal about leaving the Webtoon Department from the get-go.

Also unlike Daniel Choi’s character who was clueless about the company’s future plans, Goo knew the team was going to be replaced, since almost the beginning. He didn’t hide it from MaEum when she talked him out of resigning in Episode 2.

ME: But it’s not true, right?
Goo: About what?
ME: About resigning. You are not going to, are you?
Goo: I will. If he can’t accept my transfer request.

He was referring to their Team Director.

ME: Why?
Goo: Are you asking because you don’t know?
ME: But still…your time and effort spent trying to get into Neon will become a waste, Jun Yeong. Don’t do that. If you endure and be strong…

She faltered because a) she remembered that Goo didn’t like to be told to endure be strong, and b) she saw that smirk on Goo’s face.

Goo: Let’s stop being strong. Let’s stop working so hard. How can I work even harder? Stop working so hard, too, On Ma Eum.
ME: What?
Goo: There’s no need to work hard and struggle to become a full-time employee. This team will be gone next year anyway.
ME: What?
Goo: Editor-in-chief Jang Man Cheol and his staff will probably be laid off at the end of the year. Because of poor performance. They said they will hire you as a full-time employee if you work hard. They lied to you, On Ma Eum. They plan to get rid of you after using you as a contractor for a year. So, find your way, On Ma Eum. Don’t waste your precious year with false hope.

Given that we already know of his beloved sister’s death in Episode 10, it’s understandable now why he would be angry that MaEum was being a fool of,

and adamant about not wasting time on futile pursuits.

He was frustrated that she was so naïve that she couldn’t see that she was being exploited.

It’s too late to write my usual “First Impressions” for this show but I’ll say this much:

When I saw the camera shot of this Episode 2 ending,

I realized why this drama began with the imaginary battle.

MaEum was fantasizing that she was the cartoon character, Gumiho Princess, in a bare-knuckle fight with her enemy who looked like Goo.

The fight scene was supposed to foreshadow their differences. MaEum is an idealist and optimist, a Pollyanna sort of character. Goo, on the other hand, is a realist and pessimist. He sounds like Jeremiah from the Bible who prophesies the doom and gloom of the land.

The conflict here is how to move them towards the middle so that MaEum is not all-heart, and Goo is not so cynical all the time.

In Episode 3, we begin to see MaEum’s impact on Goo.

1. First, she sowed the seed of change in Goo’s mind.

In a way, she’s the gardener trying to make flowers bloom in Goo’s world.

ME: You said the editorial team will be gone if we can’t bring up our performance. What if we can perform well? Can this team keep going as is?
Goo: (not saying anything)
ME: All right then. I’ll try harder. Even if you laugh at me, Goo JunYeong. I will work twice or three times harder so that this team doesn’t vanish.
Goo: Even if you may be discarded after a year?
ME: Yes. Since we can change the future. Worrying about an uncertain tomorrow and shivering in fear and lying low… that’s definitely not my style.

Meaning, she wasn’t the type to run away. Just like the title says, she’d keep on dreaming and working hard to create her paradise.

ME: (continuing) Besides, if I dreamed about a guaranteed future in the first place, the Olympic gold medal wouldn’t have been my goal. I will no longer say things like “Be strong” to you. Whatever decision you make, it’s yours to make. But don’t you dare guarantee other people’s future. Not just me, but everyone in the Webtoon Editorial Department is doing their best. And they will continue going forward. All right then. (bowing)

My Comments:

a. She was clearly upset with him but she was able to express with frankness. This is the advantage — and attraction — of being the same age. With DCC, she had to resort to tricks like crying to be able to persuade him to do anything. But with Goo, she could speak her own mind because they’re equals.

b. Her promise not to interfere with his decision-making didn’t last very long.

c. The nice thing about Goo is that he pays attention to her…unlike DCC. DCC gave her a monthly assignment to write about the duties of a PD, but he read none of five emails she sent him. What a waste of time!

2. Next, the Team Leader gave Goo advice. 

He didn’t expect Goo to request to leave the team.

TL: Transfer to a different team? The work doesn’t suit you?
Goo: (admitting it) No.
TL: (sulking) Really? You made the decision after just one month.
Goo: I made up my mind much earlier. I’m just telling you now.

I like that he didn’t beat around the bush, and that he didn’t let their senior/junior ranking inhibit him from going after what he wanted. To my ears, he sounded more professional than his boss who was trying to butter him up.

TL: Really? That’s a shame. When a talented person like Goo JunYeong joined our team. I was really happy.

Goo looked down. He wasn’t going to be persuaded to stay so he found this kind of talk awkward.

TL: Okay, I will find out the process from HR.
Goo: I already asked HR. Instead of me requesting the transfer, they said there’s a higher chance of processing quickly if you transfer me.

Lol. To add injury to insult, Goo wanted TL to transfer him so the change could be expedited.

TL: Ah. You already looked into it. (pouting) Which team do you want to go to?
Goo: Service planning team. If not, I’d like to go to any other service team.
TL: As long as it’s not our department, right? (grinning)

He grinned to hide his hurt feelings. Goo could only look down again. What else could he say?

TL: I see. I’ll find out since you want it, but Jun Yeong-ssi, the company isn’t a university.
Goo: What?
TL: Just because you don’t like the job doesn’t mean you can withdraw and retake the course easily. It’s not a place like that.

From the Team Leader’s perspective, Goo’s a spoiled new hire. Having graduated from top schools, he viewed the corporate world professional world like grad school where he drop and add classes according to his preference. He wasn’t “professional.”

From the Team Leader’s perspective, he was nothing like MaEum.

MaEum trained as a professional athlete, so she already knew the work ethics demanded of professional. As she told Artist Na, she had to compete even with a torn ligament because it was her job to play. “A professional prioritizes promises.”

Also, Go was nothing like the cartoonist Pomme, either. Pomme suffered many body aches and pains, but she worked through them because the deadline didn’t wait. She was a professional, too.

To the Team Leader, Goo wasn’t a professional because he couldn’t bear to suffer the indignities that went with the job (e.g., he was made to unclog Pomme’s toilet). He assumed that Goo thought too highly of himself. Although he didn’t say it outright, he viewed Goo as unprofessional for not enduring.

TL: All right, anyway I’ll find out from HR. Before the transfer is finalized, keep it a secret from the other team members. And I hope you try your best on your assigned tasks.

He was about to leave when he remembered one more advice.

TL: “You will not arrive in paradise when you run away.” Do you know that saying?
Goo: No.
TL: Of course, you don’t. It’s from a very popular cartoon. (stops himself) I just thought of it. (exits)
Goo: (to himself) Is he saying that I’m running away?

Goo followed the matter up with him a few days later.

The Team Leader told him that he refused to transfer him. Goo pointed out, objectively speaking, he wasn’t any help to the team. He didn’t know anything about comics, and he’d just caught up with reading Neon webtoons.

The Team Leader agreed. He brought up MaEum to make an example. She was encountering difficulties with her deadline but she was persevering, unlike Goo who breezed through his deadline yet wanted to quit.

Goo: You really care about Goo MaEum.
TL: She tries her best on everything and at full throttle, so how can I not appreciate her? How come you are not like that, Goo JunYeong? You said you don’t know anything about comics, but you don’t do anything. You don’t even try yet you ask for a transfer. You are smart, Goo JunYeong. If you take one or two hours every day after work, you can catch up quickly if you read just a few famous comics. You can even read them when you have time at work.

He meant that Goo wasn’t putting in the effort. Compared to academic work, comic reading should’ve been a piece of cake for him.

TL: (pours him a drink) I asked HR. I asked if they sent you to our team by error or something. But they said it’s absolutely not the case. Then, I have no reason to send you to a different department. Helping you learn something is more beneficial for the company. For now, try your best to focus. Then, you’ll see the next stage. There’s nothing in this world that is worthless. Even leftover drinking snacks can become tasty stew when recooked well.
Goo: But I’m not a leftover.

The Team Leader didn’t expect Goo’s rebuttal. He didn’t expect Goo to be offended. I must say that if I were Goo, I would’ve found the Team Leader a bit patronizing here. He didn’t get that he was wasting Goo’s skills. It’s like using a Ferrari to deliver pizza. You could do that, but why would you?

Goo: “Try your best at work. Then you will see the next stage.” Are you sure about that?
TL: What is that you want to say?
Goo: I heard the Webtoon Service Team may be gone after one year.
TL: (sighing)
Goo: What if the team is gone after I give my all? Who’s going to be responsible for my one year?

This is a reasonable expectation. If he was going to invest himself and expend his energy on a project for a year, he wanted to make sure that the outcome would be beneficial or profitable for him, and not a net loss.

Goo: But never mind me. How about On MaEum, who’s running around to become a full-time employee? You keep saying “try your best” without any context but I don’t bet on something that has no chance.

He brought up MaEum because it bugged him that she was being deceived and exploited. He was pointing out that the Team Leader was a hypocrite. He voiced his appreciation for MaEum’s hard work yet he thought so little of rewarding or compensating MaEum’s hard work with a full contract, must less a stable employment.

The Team Leader dodged the issue.

TL: (laughing) Oh, really? Hey. Do we look like a hopeless gambling table to you?
Goo: (not responding)
TL: Okay. Fine. Let’s just say you’re right. Like you said, Goo JunYeong, if we don’t show good performance this year, I will probably get laid off. In the worst-case scenario, all the PDs I brought in with me for the editorial staff can be laid off at once.

Here, we can see one good effect of Goo’s straightforward talk. He forced the Team Leader to face the facts. Personally, I think one of the weaknesses of this Team Leader is that he turns a blind eye on problematic things when he should face them head-on.

TL: (continuing) But Goo JunYeong…not you, Goo JunYeong. You’re the only hired employee in our department. An elite employee who was well-known throughout the company since the day you got hired. If they form a new webtoon team or even if they bring in a third-party team, who’s going to be the central figure in that team? It’s you, Goo JunYeong. The company sent you to our team to suck all the know-how out of us. Don’t you get it?

The Team Leader was saying that Goo alone was the indispensable member of the team so he shouldn’t worry about his own job security. But that wasn’t really Goo’s point. Goo wanted to know how the Team Leader was going to take responsibility for him and MaEum should their team be dissolved at the end of the year.

TL: Wow. Look at this. I thought you were smart, but not really. Or you’re still a chick that couldn’t hatch from the egg. Who will be responsible if you try your best at work? If you try your best at work, then your surroundings. You don’t know the pleasure in that yet. For now, break out of that shallow shell of your pride.

My Comments:

a. Essentially, Goo heard the same chirpy outlook from the Team Leader that MaEum had told him earlier. The two believed that all you need was positivity and hard work to change the future and everything would fall into place. They forgot the other details.

The Team Leader and MaEum were like two peas in a pod. But while Daniel Choi’s character served as the Team Leader’s moral support when things went awry, Goo took it upon himself to be MaEum’s support. He showed up Artist Na’s place to make sure that the cartoon was uploaded in time, without any hitch. The following day when MaEum thanked him, he said it was nothing.

b. The dialogue between Goo and the Team Leader told me that Goo wasn’t at all the type to flee from a problem. If he had shied away from their discussion, then he would’ve been running away. But the fact that he sat down and told his boss frankly what was bugging him showed me that he wasn’t afraid.

In a sense, he was like MaEum, too.

c. The Team Leader assumed that Goo’s notion of a “paradise” meant a cushy job. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. Goo was willing to fight as long as the goals were worth fighting for.

d. I think the Team Leader should follow his own advice since he does a lot of running away from painful situation himself. That’s one reason he has yet to reach “paradise” in his career. He doesn’t like conflicts so he avoids them by pretending not to see them and/or by delegating the problem to somebody else to handle.

e. If I were Goo, I wouldn’t want to work with the Team Leader either. He isn’t willing to fight for his team. All he does is wring his hands. He’s been facing criticisms for his bureau’s unprofitability, but he still hasn’t devised, coordinated, or implemented any plans to resolve that issue.

That’s how Goo will be critical to the team. With his data analytics, he can figure out a strategy to make their Webtoon Division profitable. But as of Episode 10, the Team Leader has him doing a job that’s a mis-matched to his skillset. He shouldn’t be a PD. He should be managing (or mining) the data to uncover how to increase traffic to their webtoons, anticipate readers’ demands, improve service, cut costs, assess performance, and so on. As of Episode 10, the Webtoon office seems to be running on “feels,” and nobody — least of all, the Team Leader — is focused on the financial or business side of the operation.

The story comes off as unrealistic that way.

3. MaEum asked Goo not to quit.

She originally said that she wouldn’t make Goo change his mind. But after he dropped by her comic store, she chased after him to get him to reconsider resigning.

ME: Goo JunYeong-ssi!
Goo: Yes?
ME: I don’t think that you are trying to run away. (sheepishly) I also didn’t run away from judo, either.

I don’t think she notices how often she uses her judo background as a reference point. And I don’t think she notices that she’s putting on her charm offensive her.

ME: But… I hope you don’t quit the company, JunYeong-ssi.
Goo: Why not?
ME: JunYeong-ssi, you are my only rookie colleague. (pouting)

He found her aegyo cute because he smiled at her silly reason for staying at the company. She was saying that he should waste one year with her.

ME: (in a whiny voice) We might be colleagues only for a year, but still. You are my one and only rookie colleague. I hope you won’t quit.

This is different from her crying at Daniel Choi’s character farewell dinner.

ME: I don’t know how long it will last, but I want us to work together at the company. (saying it with aegyo) I’m sorry that it’s such a selfish reason. But I mean it.

Goo: Out of all the reasons that I’ve heard so far, it’s the most reasonable explanation.
ME: (beaming at him)
Goo: See you tomorrow at work.
ME: See you tomorrow at work. For sure! Bye!

My Comments:

a. MaEum gets attached to people easily.

She didn’t like Goo to quit because Goo was her “one and only rookie colleague.” Since they went through the hiring process together, she regarded him as a partner in her journey. She didn’t want to lose him.

In Episode 10, she showed similarly attachment to Daniel Choi’s character. He was her “first immediate supervisor” and her first mentor. She was wailing at dinner because she didn’t want to lose him.

It’s interesting though that she wasn’t this clingy when she left judo and her female judo friend.

b. In Episode 10, DCC singled her out as one of his two reasons for staying. He said that he had a friend he needed to look after, then she told him to stop crying.

His reaction is similar to Artist Na who didn’t want to make MaEum cry. He didn’t want her to learn that he was seriously considering retiring “Gumiho Princess.” He was worried that MaEum would cry her eyes out.

Both these ahjussi couldn’t handle MaEum’s crying.

In contrast, Goo just watched from the sidelines when she was left by her dad outside the judo studio, and again when she started crying at DCC’s supposed goodbye party. He could sense her overwhelming sadness, but he wasn’t fazed by it.

c. I find it interesting then that MaEum tried aegyo to make Goo stay. I take this as a sign that she’s comfortable with him to do aegyo because they’re the same age.

However, despite doing aegyo, she has never spoken banmal with him until Episode 10. I think this has something to do with Goo’s demeanor. He seems to be a stickler for formal rules.

That said, I don’t know whether Goo was being sarcastic or sincere when he said that of all the reasons for him to stay, her demand was the “most reasonable.”

Of course, he knew that her “selfish” reason for him to stay was the most ILLOGICAL and unreasonable one. Why should *her* selfish reason override his more pressing concern that the job was a dead-end?

If this kdrama had been a straight-up romcom, I would’ve considered his answer swoon-worthy. Why? Because he was saying that her wish is his command. She only needed to request something, and he’d do it, no matter how ridiculous it was.

d. Goo dropped by MaEum’s family’s comic book store the night after he decided to skip his job interview for another company. He discovered MaEum’s handwritten notes, and borrowed the “Berserk” series by Kentaro Miura. The fact that MaEum and the Team Leader had the same favorite quote from the book tells me how similar in life philosophy the two were. No wonder the Team Leader liked her during her interview!

But it also tells me that, contrary to the Team Leader’s assumption, Goo had no intention of running away. He stayed up all night reading the comic series because he wanted to understand where the Team Leader was coming from.

4. Goo changed his mind.

Goo: Team Lead, I never intended to leave the battlefield, and never dreamed about paradise, either.

By this, I think he meant that he was NOT looking for fame or glory.

Goo: (continuing) Instead, I was searching for a better battlefield. I didn’t think this team was fit for me to fight fiercely. I was arrogant.

Goo: I thought over the things you said. You said if I try my best at work, my surroundings will change, right?
TL: Yes, I did.

MaEum’s and Goo’s goals intersect at this point. They both would like to change the environment. But while MaEum is focused on the general principles (i.e., Work harder! Do my best!), Goo is detail-oriented.

Goo: I will give it a try and change my surroundings so that this team can be the right battlefield.
TL: All right.

My Comments:

a. As long as Goo doesn’t become a turncoat, the Webtoon Department can use his expertise to fend off Director Heo’s hostile plan to fire the PDs. As of Episode 10, I think he’s still underutilized.

I notice however that MaEum is willing to listen to him, and not resent his arguments, when he gives her the economic or business perspective. Case in point, Episode 6 when she was angry that DCC kept defending their mean colleague, PD Kwon.

But Goo pointed out that the real “deputy editor” in the company was profit. Based on his analysis, he found out that PD Kwon managed projects that had high sales and profit margins. He discovered success-guaranteed originals, brought in rookie artists at a low cost, and created bestselling series. His projects did well too in secondary copyrights sales and overseas sales.

He concluded that MaEum and rest of the PDs could put in the time on specific artists and take care of them because PD Kwon made sales with his marketable webtoons. His data-driven explanation made MaEum see *sense* whereas DCC’s approach was to make MaEum *empathize* with PD Kwon.

b. After watching Episode 10, I’m intrigued that Goo’s concept of his workplace environment is the polar opposite of Daniel Choi’s character’s idea. Influenced by what MaEum wrote about the qualities of a good PD, DCC began to see the Neon  workplace as a garden.

In comparison, Goo calls his workplace a “battlefield.” He’s searching for a battlefield where his skills are tested, and his protection is needed.

That’s why I said I should Episode 10 should be viewed in context of Episode 3. I thought the two men have different approach to life which makes it interesting to find out which one will suit MaEum better.

Okay, moving on to “Love Between Fairy & Devil.” I believe it ended today.