Start-Up is a Korean Drama from 2020 that aired in South Korea on tvN and internationally on Netflix.
It centers around two sisters, Seo Dal-mi (Bae Suzy) and Seo In-jae (Kang Hanna). Fifteen years earlier, their parents divorced when dad Chung-myung quit his job for a risky start-up idea. Faced with the decision of which parent to live with, In-jae went with mom Ah-hyun and Dal-mi went with her father.
Their fates proved very different. Ah-hyun married a rich guy, In-jae took her stepfather's name (so now she's Won In-jae) and now she's a high-powered executive in her stepfather's empire. All is not well, however; In-jae's relationship with her mother has grown cold and Ah-hyun regrets marrying her second husband, who turned out to be a serial adulterer.
While In-jae was living in the lap of luxury, senseless tragedy derailed Dal-mi's life. Back in 2005 her father had an innovative business idea about basing a food order service around cell phones, then rapidly turning into pocket computers. He won crucial financial backing for his new business...and that very day he was hit by a car and killed. Dal-mi as a consequence is still working minimum-wage jobs and living with her grandmother Won-deok. She is jealous of her sister and determined to make a success of her own life.
Meanwhile, there are two men that interact with the sisters. Ji-pyeong is now a rich venture capitalist, but back 15 years ago he lived with the sisters' grandma, Won-deok, for a while when he was an orphan fresh out of the orphanage. He has a soft spot for Won-deok, who is the closest thing he's ever had to a family. When Dal-mi needed cheering up after her parents divorced, Won-deok prevailed on Ji-pyeong to be a fake pen pal to provide Dal-mi with a friend. The two of them chose "Nam Do-san" as the name of the pen pal, based on a newspaper article about a boy of that name winning a math competition.
Now Dal-mi, furious at her sister upon In-jae's return to Korea from the USA, is determined to find Do-san and get his help in starting a business of her own. Won-deok meets Ji-pyeong and calls in her favor, asking him to find the real Do-san. It turns out that unlike Ji-pyeong the wealthy investor, the real Do-san is basically a failure. His own little start-up, Samsan Tech, is going nowhere. Will Dal-mi finally find success with the real Nam Do-san? Will Ji-pyeong find the courage to express his feelings? Who will fall in love with whom?
Not to be confused with the American series StartUp.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: As the gang is getting all giddy about going to America, they wonder if they should take American names. Sa-ha says she already has one: "Stephanie". Sa-ha is played by American actress Stephanie Lee.
- Animated Credits Opening: The opening titles are presented with abstract animation meant to suggest the parts of computer chips and circuit boards.
- As You Know: Ms. Yoon actually says "As you know," when explaining to an underling and the audience that "Demo Day" is the day that potential CEOs talk to the Sandbox board, and are required to answer tough questions from the board about their products and business models.
- Bad Boss: The reason Mr. Seo quit his job back in 2005 was that he had a vicious monster of a boss who was given to not just screaming at his employees, but physically assaulting them and kicking them. The daughters pleaded with Mrs. Seo to understand, but she was too worried about losing her husband's salary.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Episode 8 ends with Dal-mi revealing that she secretly recorded the meeting with Mr. Won. She demands that not only should Mr. Won decline to press charges against Do-san, he has to also back their NoonGil app for the blind. When an angry Mr. Won says that's blackmail, Dal-mi says "Let's say I'm negotiating with you. That sounds better." He caves.
- Bland-Name Product: In episode 2 Dal-mi searches for Do-San on a search engine called "Coocle".
- Brutal Honesty: In episode 8 the Samsan Tech gang is trying out "NoonGil", their new app that combines recognition software with AI technology to be an aid to the visually impaired. They point a camera at Chul-san and say "Who is this?". The app answers "It's a man in his twenties wearing fake glasses to look stylish." It's true, as Chul-san is wearing glases he doesn't need because the ravishing Sa-ha says glasses on a man look cute.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: In episode 10 Yong-san finally confronts Ji-pyeong, saying that Ji-pyeong killed his brother Dong-su. A nonplussed Ji-pyeong has no idea what Yong-san is talking about, which only enrages Yong-san more. (Dong-su was an aspirant CEO at Sandbox, and Ji-pyeong's ruthless questioning exposed his bad business model and drove Dong-su to suicide.)
- Call-Forward: In the first episode Mr. Seo shows he has a shrewd vision of the future. He tells Dal-mi to imagine cell phones, then used basically for calling and texting, getting better and better and turning into pocket computers. He plans for his business to cater to that emerging market. He's then killed by the Diabolus ex Machina.
- The Cameo: Park Chan-ho, Real Life professional baseball player (in the KBO and Major League Baseball both) and Do-san's favorite athlete, pops up in episode 8. Do-san's cousin sends Chan-ho the picture of Do-san with his baseball hero and mentions the new Samsan Tech app; Park Chan-ho then mentions it in an interview which makes it go viral. He appears again in an episode 12 flashback that shows him signing a baseball for young Do-san.
- Comforting Comforter: Even after the Disappointed in You tongue-lashing that Mr. Nam gives his son in episode 2, Do-san still tucks his dad in when Mr.Nam is sleeping on the couch.
- Contrived Coincidence: Seoul, a huge metropolis of well over ten million people, and characters from dramas still randomly meet each other. This trope, one of the most common in Korean Dramas, is Lampshaded by Chul-san after he and Yong-san run into Sa-ha completely at random.Chul-san: My gosh, what a crazy coincidence...Seoul is a huge city!
- Deadly Nosebleed: In the first episode Mr. Seo is hit by a car. The car wasn't going all that fast and he is seemingly able to shake it off and go to his crucial meeting, but the nosebleed he gets as his meeting ends indicates that he is more injured than it seems. Sure enough, he dies on the bus home.
- Description Cut: In the first episode, Ji-pyeong is skeptical of the pen pal idea, asking "Do you really think this will excite her?" Cut to Dal-mi, skipping with glee to the birdhouse to retrieve a pen pal letter from "Do-san".
- Diabolus ex Machina: In the first episode, Mr. Seo is hit by a car and killed just when he was on the cusp of success, having won backing for his start-up.
- Disappointed in You: A lot angrier than this trope usually is, as Mr. Nam, chasing after his son in episode 2 with a bat, yells about how he's going to lose his money and how Do-san is a failure who isn't married and the Nam name will die with him.
- Dramatic Drop: Dal-mi dramatically drops her purse in episode 3, when she sees her mother for the first time in many years and Mom gives her a hug.
- The Faceless: The unidentified person in episode 6 who is shown posting "I want to get my revenge" as his reason for entering Sandbox. He is also shown leaving a white rose as a memorial on the bridge over the river—at the spot where Ms. Yoon, in a flashback, saw a young man jump to his death. The unidentified man wears a hoodie and his face is hidden from the camera. (He is revealed in episode 10 to be Yong-san, the third member of Samsan Tech.)
- The Fellowship Has Ended: Episode 12. After Alex of international conglomerate 2STO promises Do-san that he'll keep Samsan Tech together, Do-san and Dal-mi agree to a $3 million acquisition deal. Alex, who was lying, promptly dissolves Samsan Tech, hiring only the three boys who do the programming. Yong-san, Do-san, and Chul-san go off to America to work for 2STO. Sa-ha and Dal-mi are fired. Dal-mi and Do-san break up just when they looked to be getting serious. The episode ends with Dal-mi applying for a job with her sister's company.
- Flashback: The first episode is mostly this, as a series of flashbacks shows how the Seo marriage fell apart, the sisters were separated, and cruel fate intervened when Mr. Seo was on the verge of success.
- Glasses Pull: Ah-hyun does this in episode 8 when she finds out that In-jae, who has already quit her stepfather's company, has also moved out of home and taken a studio apartment.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: In-jae and Dal-mi. In-jae eventually grew to resent their father for his failure, and scorned Dal-mi for making the wrong choice. Dal-mi for her part is bitter about her sister abandoning her and jealous of In-jae's money and success. She's determined to become a success herself and prove her sister wrong. The two sisters and their two startups are rivals for a long time, but that eventually goes away when Samsan Tech is acquired by 2STO and Dal-mi joins her sister's company.
- Gray Rain of Depression: It's pouring rain in episode 12 as Dal-mi, who figures out that Do-san isn't going to honor the deal with 2STO (actually very good for him) as long as she isn't coming along, breaks up with him. Do-san is left getting soaked in the rain after Dal-mi gives him back the autographed Park Chan-ho baseball.
- Internal Reveal: Episode 9, in which Dal-mi finally figures out that Do-san and Ji-pyeong have been lying to her about who wrote the letters all those years ago.
- Lap Pillow: The show starts edging into Homoerotic Subtext when Do-san is using Chul-san's lap for a pillow, as the Samsan Tech boys take a break and sit outside for a while at Sandbox.
- Maintain the Lie: In the first few episodes Ji-pyeong goes to a lot of trouble to make Dal-mi think that Do-san is a successful CEO like the fictional "Nam Do-san" described in the letters. He makes Do-san drive his fancy sports car. When Dal-mi says she'll meet Do-san in his office, Ji-pyeong frantically rigs up his own office as a fake Samsan Tech office, instead of letting Dal-mi see the crummy attic room that is the real home of the company. After it finally becomes obvious that Do-san is not a high-rolling CEO, Ji-pyeong says that he only helped Maintain the Lie because Do-san is his best friend...which is another lie that he has to maintain, like in episode 6 when he's left scrambling to cover up after not recognizing the name of Do-san's father.
- Out of Focus: In-jae. It's clear that Dal-mi will be the protagonist, but at the beginning her sister is the second lead. They are set up as rivals, and contrasted against each other in Contrast Montages, and In-jae gets story beats of her own. Her frosty relationship with her mother, her poisonous relationships with her adopted father and brother, and her Rage Quit from her dad's company to start her own all get story time. However, after In-jae Company makes it through Sandbox along with Samsan Tech, In-jae has less and less to do in later episodes. She never gets a boyfriend, the inner workings of her company are never seen, and she isn't even seen in the last episode when her subsidiary company (being run by Dal-mi) lands a big deal.
- Piggyback Cute:
- If there were any doubt which of her beaus will end up with Dal-mi, it disappears at the end of episode 14 when Do-san has to give Dal-mi a piggyback ride through a swampy, weedy area.
- Subverted in an earlier episode when Ji-pyeong has to give a very drunk Do-san a piggyback ride, and Do-san barfs all over Ji-pyeong's shirt.
- Pop-Up Texting: There's a lot of this between Do-San and Dal-mi, including a three-way text exchange in episode 3 when Do-san sends her texts to Ji-pyeong to get his input on what to text back.
- Punctuality Is for Peasants: When Mr. Won is late to show up for the networking party in episode 3, his wife grouses about how he always does this to look important.
- The Reveal: Episode 10 reveals that Yong-san was The Faceless, the guy in a hood who put "I want my revenge" as his reason for joining Sandbox. He blames Ji-pyeong for the death of his brother.
- Running Gag: Ji-pyeong's experimental AI assistant, which is constantly bothering him by either answering rhetorical questions or giving the wrong answers.
- Serious Business: In episode 9 Do-san reveals that he cheated 15 years ago to win that math contest award...well, he sort of cheated. He was stuck on one particular problem when a gust of wind blew another contestant's paper over to him. Do-san saw the correct answer, used it, and won. Do his parents do the logical thing, and say that it was 15 years ago and not really a big deal anyway? Of course not. Instead they act like he's a serial killer, with an enraged Mr. Nam taking the big sign celebrating Do-san's victory off the wall and breaking it in half.
- Sleep Cute: Do-san and Ji-pyeong both sack out on the floor of a room in Won-deok's house. They wind up snuggled up next to each other. Do-san is pretty shocked about this when he wakes up.
- Spit Take: Ji-pyeong does a spectacular one in episode 3 when Dal-mi says she's following his example and quitting her job to start a company.
- Split Screen:
- Used in episode 2 to show the contrast between the sisters as they go through their morning routine. In-jae wakes up in a fancy apartment and puts on fancy designer shoes, while Dal-mi wakes up in a tiny cramped room and puts on her ratty old pumps.
- In episode 3 when Do-san and Ji-pyeong are asked, separately, whether they have feelings for Dal-mi. Do-san is honest and says "yes" while Ji-pyeong lies and says "no".
- Start My Own: After finding out that she's getting pushed aside at her family's company in favor of Mr. Won's son by his first marriage, In-Jae Rage Quits and elects to form her own start-up. She winds up going to the same Sandbox competition as Dal-mi.
- Team Power Walk: An over-the-top instance of this in episode 5, when Dal-mi and her new recruit to Samsan Tech—tall, gorgeous designer Sa-ha—walk into the conference room in slo-mo, complete with dramatic lighting behind them.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: Played with and ultimately inverted. Chul-san and Yong-san, college buddies, start a knitting club at school, with the express purpose of meeting the girls they assume will join. Who joins instead? Do-san, who is really into knitting. Won-deok had to give up her corn dog truck due to her deteriorating eyesight.
- Thanksgiving Episode: Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving. Dal-mi has dinner with her mom and grandma—Mom having apparently reconciled with her younger daughter—but In-jae apparently doesn't feel comfortable with her family and doesn't attend.
- Time Skip: Three years between Episodes 12 and 13 following the dissolution of Samsan Tech. The boys are making great money as 2STO programmers in Silicon Valley, but miss home. In-jae's company is thriving, and Dal-mi has done so well in her sister's business that she has been given a subsidiary to run, one involving self-driven cars.
- Title Drop: In the second episode, when Do-san says that his start-up is struggling but he still hopes for success.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: In-jae shares a very uncomfortable elevator ride with her stepfather Mr. Won at Sandbox in episode 6. Having already Rage Quit his company, she says she's not interested in letting him mentor her start-up.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Do-san is desperate for approval from his parents. In episode 9 he says in anguish, "I feel like I always disappoint you no matter how hard I try!"
