Lee Jae-hee, Seo Mi-do, and Han Tae-sang against a backdrop...of mudflats?
When A Man Loves (in Korean, 남자가 사랑할 때) is a 20-episode 2013 Korean Drama aired on the MBC network. Han Tae-sang is a thug and part of a loan shark gang. Meeting a plucky high school student during one of his shakedowns, he reforms, and seven years, later, is a successful financier. He bumps into Seo Mi-do again, and tries to prove he is a better person and worthy of her love. However, other evils rise from the past: Gu Yong-gap, a former gang peer who harbors deep hatred for our hero; his former boss' Gangster Moll Baek Seon-joo, who has wanted Tae-sang for almost a decade. There is also Lee Jae-hee, the cute younger brother of Chang-hee (who is in prison). Jae-hee also feels attraction to Seo Mi-do. The series aired 2013 summer.
The series provides examples of:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Mi-do
- Apron Matron: The ramyun shop owner.
- Badass Bookworm: Tae-sang
- Being Good Sucks: Being a former gangster, Tae-sang has to deal with the mistrust and aftermath of his former profession.
- Berserk Button: Don't mess with Mi-do when Tae-sang is around.
- Bilingual Dialogue: At a business meeting with Tae-sang, Jae-hee uses or translates French, English, and Japanese.
- Blatant Item Placement: Tae-sang decides to go camping for some indiscernable reason.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Seon-joo, in spades!
- Dark and Troubled Past: Chang-hee served seven years in prison, and flashbacks tell us he was a pretty dark guy even before then.
- Dogged Nice Guy: As the second lead, Jae-hee is too earnest and likable to be hated. Much.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Seon-joo
- Eiffel Tower Effect: Namsam Tower can be seen from the top of the office building where everyone works.
- Engrish: Jae-hee speaks four languages, but his English is pretty garbled.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: The stab wound on his shoulder means Tae-sang has to take off his shirt to show it. Yay!
- Gratuitous English: An episode is set in Guam
- Green-Eyed Monster: Seon-joo for anyone other than her.
- Loan Shark: Tae-sang meets Mi-do while threatening to burn her father's bookstore.
- Love Makes You Evil: Yong-gap is inherently a monster, but this is exacerbated by his Unrequited Love for Seon-joo
- In Love with the Gangster's Girl: Yong-gap has had the hots for his late boss' girl even before the boss had a fatal accident.
- Missing Mom: Tae-sang's mother supposedly ran off twenty-one years ago with a married man.
- Mr. Fanservice: Tae-sang has about 7 shirtless scenes in the first two episodes.
- Pool Scene: Mi-do sees the scar on Tae-sang's back for the first time.
- Shirtless Scene: Both leads get their airtime.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Jae-hee mentions to his brother that he seems to mumble when he's having a nightmare.
- Unrequited Love: Jae-hee for Mi-do, Seon-joo for Tae-sang.
- Vacation Episode: Mi-do goes to Guam ostensibly to review resorts.
- Workaholic Tae-sang
