I’m enjoying how the director and screenwriter set the stage of the story. I’m hooked.

It begins with the male protagonist Lee DongJin (DJ) prowling in a casino, observing some gamblers discreetly, and analyzing their “pain points.” Afterwards, in a presentation to the casino owner and managers, he explains the concept of “pain point.” It’s “the psychological Maginot Line [or] the amount of loss shocking enough to never return to a casino again.”

In other words, “pain point” is a person’s breaking point. DJ studies the maximum pain that an individual can tolerate until he/she breaks down.

Note: the Maginot Line is a term that originated from World War II. The French built fortifications on its northern border with Germany, thinking that this line of defense would withstand the German attack. However, the German didn’t even go through this defensive line (which was named after the French Minister War) because they cunningly went around it. I don’t know if DJ (or the screenwriter or the subber of this episode) is aware that by calling the “pain point” a Maginot Line, he’s inferring that the pain point is a FAKE defensive mechanism and that an individual’s initial shock/aversion to a loss could ultimately be breached and overcome.

Anyway….

It’s DJ’s job as a data miner to analyze the big data from various “customers” (note: I like how he neutralizes the language) with similar gender, age, living standard, casino adaptability, and other conditions, and to estimate a specific pain point. That way, he can signal a casino employee to step in to “reset” a customer who’s reached his pain point. The employee can distract the clearly stressed-out customer with an offer of free food or free lodging. By managing the customer’s pain point, the casino ensures that the customer will return to the table and continue gambling. In short then, it’s a smart business move to be cognizant of the gambler’s “pain point.”

DJ proves his point when he and the casino corporate managers spot a down-on-his-luck customer selling his vehicle for cash to gamble away at the table. It’s noteworthy that DJ doesn’t show any sign of remorse for his role in fostering the customer’s gambling addiction and eventual penury.

Moving on….

What interests me about this brief exegesis on “pain point” – lol, you didn’t think it was all irrelevant, did you? — is how it applies to our leads, especially DJ.

It’s very clear that he has a very high pain threshold. For example, when his expensive car was vandalized by an individual who apparently held a grudge against him, he seemed unbothered by it. Another example, his high school buddy cried off from a dinner get-together at the last minute, and he seemed unfazed at the prospect of dining alone. He seems unaffected by acts of violence, unforeseen events, and sudden change of plans.

The only time that his “pain point” is revealed is at the end of Episode 1: during his conversation with his high school buddy when he wonders about the existence of witches.

DJ: JoongHyuk, some people are a little weird, aren’t they?
JH: Mmmm. You?
DJ: Not me. What’s weird about me?
JH: You’re totally weird right now.
DJ: What I’m saying is. For example… (glancing at the baseball game on tv) Will he show that side again? It’s like whenever you go to watch a game in person, the team you support always loses. Do you get it?
JH: I think I do.
DJ: Whenever you look at a clock, it’s always 4:44. Whenever you line up at a restaurant, they run out of ingredients right before your turn. The machine that works just fine whenever other people use it, is always broken when you use it.

To me, his training in data mining is in full view at this moment. He has replayed and reviewed what happened to the female lead, MiJeong (MJ) and he’s now:

a. grouping big data points with similar conditions (i.e., the deaths of their male classmates in high school)
b. identifying patterns and relationships (i.e., they showed signs of liking her; they died after encounters with her)
c. detecting anomalies (i.e., lightning strikes, downed electric wires, sudden heart attack)
d. finding frequencies (i.e., every time, she’s around the boy)
e. linking one data to another (i.e., their deaths to her presence)
f. predicting what will happen (i.e., she will cause more deaths)

JH: Like Murphy’s Law or Sally’s Law?
DJ: Right. A law! There are strange laws in the world.
JH: There’s no law. It’s all just a coincidence.
DJ: What if there’s actually a law like that? What if there’s someone’s haunted by that dreadful curse for their entire life. Their life must be so hard.
JH: What on earth are you talking about?
DJ: Someone is haunted by the law of death like a curse. If I can understand the law, couldn’t I break the curse? Does it mean that I could save the person from the curse? JoongHyuk. Do you think (tearing up) there’s a witch?

This conversation indicates that he’s deeply affected by the MJ’s confession to the stray cats. She tells the cats that it’s been hard for her. She wonders whether she can really live without interacting with anyone. She neither knows how to live nor how to disappear.

Her admission makes him:

a. consider something he’s been in denial before: that she may very well be a witch,
b. realize the loneliness she’s been enduring since forever,
c. empathize with her pitiful and guilt-ridden existence,
d. want to manage her “pain point” for her.

Witnessing MJ’s “pain point” has triggered his own “pain point.” He’s considering stepping in to reset MJ’s life for her.

I guess that’s the primary reason I’m sticking around for now. I want to see if he’ll succeed in his objective or not, if he can use his data-mining technique to help her out without getting killed himself.

Plus, I need this kdrama to serve as counterweight to the more light-hearted “My Dearest Nemesis.”