Series / Business Proposal

Business Proposal Promotional Poster

"“Instead of a fake relationship, why don’t you try one? You might think it’s a waste of time to be in a relationship right now, but if you think long-term, it might be more efficient."

— Shin Hari'

Business Proposal (Korean: 사내맞선) is a South Korean romantic comedy television series based on the webtoon of the same title written by Hae Hwa and illustrated by Narak. Directed by Park Seon-ho and written by Han Seol-hee and Hong Bo-hee, it stars Ahn Hyo-seop, Kim Se-jeong, Kim Min-kyu, and Seol In-ah. It tells the story of Shin Ha-ri, an employee who accepts to go on a blind date in place of her friend, but finds out that her date is actually her boss. The series aired for 12 episodes on SBS TV every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST) from February 28 to April 5, 2022. It is also available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions.

Shin Ha-ri (Kim Se-jeong) goes on a blind date after she agrees to replace her friend, Jin Young-seo (Seol In-ah), whose father had arranged it. The plan is to have Ha-ri 'getting rejected' by her prospective partner. However, it goes awry when her date turns out to be Kang Tae-moo (Ahn Hyo-seop), CEO of Go Food, the company where Ha-ri works. Tae-moo, who is being pressured by his grandfather Kang Da-goo (Lee Deok-hwa), the chairman of Go Food's parent company, to go on blind dates with suitable marriage partners, decides to marry his blind date partner to avoid going on the rest of the dates, without knowing she is the fake Jin Young-seo or that she is his employee, which she assiduously tries to hide. However, Ha-ri's fake identity, but thankfully not her employment status, is soon exposed after the real Jin Young-seo gets into a parking accident with Cha Sung-hoon (Kim Min-kyu), Tae-moo's secretary, who was acting as Tae-moo's driver at that moment.

Despite the initial concerns of adapting a webtoon into a drama, Business Proposal received positive feedback for its way of embracing the clichés of the romcom genre and turning them into "slapstick comedy".Quincy Le Gardye of Vulture individuated at least ten typical tropes of the romance genre used for either of the two main couples presented in the series and commented that the drama makes "smart decisions" about which to subvert and which to embrace. The familiarity of the story, derived from using common clichés, alongside its "unique and lovely" characters were named the strengths of the series.

Tropes:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Yung-Joo's obsession with Sung-Hoon is treated as harmless and hilarity.
  • Jung-Woo's admiration of Yeong-Seo is more sinister and creepy.
• Aborted Arc: or perhaps a red herring; in an early episode Yeong-Seo suggests that she heard Tae-Moo's family was killed in the car accident as part of a conspiracy; hence why Chairman Kang does not employ other family members in his company. This set-up never goes anywhere.
• Above the Influence: Sung-Hoon tries this with Yeong-Seo when he comes onto him while she is drunk, but ultimately gives her what she wants.
  • Director Yeo gives Associate-Director Bin this benefit when he confesses to her, only for him to grab her hand and tell her that he's sober
• Accidental Kiss: When Ha-Ri shoves Tae-Moo a little too hard out of the way at her house, resulting in her falling on top of him and accidentally kissing. Hilariously, the same thing happens in the show within a show, "Be Strong, Guem-Hui," with the characters commenting on the absurdity of the trope.
• The Ace: Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri. Tae-Moo graduated Harvard early, was a track and field star, won many prizes, and every project he worked on has been a success. Ha-Ri created two top five best sellers, with one of them being in the top 3, is shown to have a great work-ethic and ability to present new ideas, and is the youngest winner of the company's coveted Mega-Hit award.
• Actor Allusion: when Ha-Ri berates her brother for wanting to be an idol by saying it's not easy; the actress Kim Se-Jeong is an idol in addition to being an actress
  • Ha-Ri's beautiful singing voice is brought up multiple times, when Kim Se-Jeong was in the idol group IOI she was a lead vocalist
• Adaptational Jerkass: Chairman Kang is more antagonistic in the show compared to the webtoon. **Tae-Moo as well, in the webtoon after discovering Ha-Ri's identity he thinks about it, but ultimately does not punish her.
• Adaptation Expansion: additional scenes were added compared to the webtoon to help explain why Tae-Moo doesn't recognize Ha-Ri on sight, such as the slipper chase scene.
  • Ha-Ri's motivation for money is expanded upon, while the economic downturn caused her parents to go into debt, the show adds the additional reason of Ha-Ri accidentally shoving the neighbor and causing him to go to the hospital, as well as breaking his sign.
• Adaptation Deviation: many from the original source material
  • a minor one, but Ha-Ri has an iPhone in the original whereas now she has a Samsung.
  • Ha-Ri's wig as Geum-Hui is pink in the webtoon, whereas in the show it's a slightly different shade with highlights.
  • Hye-Jin in the webtoon is Min-Woo's girlfriend, but in the show he explicitly rejects her.
  • Ha-Ri's relationship with her coworkers is far more pleasant in the show and her department is different.
• The Alleged Boss: Yung-Joo to Yeong-Seo, Yung-Joo has a higher position in the company but doesn't seem to ever be at work, gets talked back to by Yeong-Seo, and is shown to be stuck in the position solely because her mother doesn't want Yeong-Seo to be promoted.
• Almighty Mom : Ha-Ri's mom is a force to be reckoned with, firing sparklers out of her back as she rushes to attack Tae-Moo with a banana.
• Alpha Bitch: Yoo-Ra in spades, her jealousy in posting false rumors about Ha-Ri and Tae-Moo cause Chairman Kang to initially disapprove of their relationship.
• Amusing Injuries : Ha-Ri's bruise on her eye, despite it logically being quite painful due to how it looks and the fact that it was caused by a baseball to the face, is played for laughs.
• Animal Motifs: Tae-Moo is represented by the Archaeopteryx, whereas Ha-Ri has instances where she is represented by cat noises, and Ha-Ri's mom is associated with lion roars.
• Annoying Laugh: Associate Director Bin has a tendency to ham it up, even in situations where it would be inappropriate.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Every character has their moment of this
  • Tae-Moo declares his love for Ha-Ri in the Ikea-showroom when he has her pinned against the wall and begs her to ignore all the logistical issues.
  • Ha-Ri in the taxi driving over to the hotel where Tae-Moo is supposed to have his blind date
  • Yeong-Seo to Sung-Hoon after there is a misunderstanding over their drunken one-night stand.
  • Played with for hilarity when Yung-Joo crashing Sung-Hoon's apartment while she is drunk and declaring her love for him.
• As Himself: MeloMance appears as themselves in Episode 3 for a concert. Fitting, considering that their music is used throughout the show.
• Artistic License – Biology: It doesn't seem likely that a bruise of that size and intensity would heal fully within a week
• Artistic License – Law: the contract that Ha-Ri signed was clearly under duress and the penalty for 100x damages is likely unenforceable; but the Ha-Ri does explain that even though the contract might not be enforceable, litigation could cause her real name to be revealed.
• Asshole Victim: Min-Woo leaving Yoo-Ra is entirely her own fault.
• Armor-Piercing Response: When confronted by Min-Woo about why he is dating Ha-Ri, Tae-Moo gives Min-Woo a verbal beat-down for suggesting that she is not good enough for him.
• Arranged Marriage: Yeong-Seo's parents were subject to one, her parents as well as Chairman Kang are adamant on finding these for their heirs.
• Badass Boast: constantly and without a hint of irony by Tae-Moo, which initially Ha-Ri says is "weird" but warms up to it by the end.
• Bad Date: Ha-Ri did this on behalf of Yeong-Seo once to avoid a suitor, she tries it again with Tae-Moo and the result was not what they wanted.
• Baitand Switch: done twice by Tae-Moo
  • First when sampling Min-Woo's food, he makes it seems like he is about to insult it, but actually compliments it instead.
  • At the playground after a date, Tae-Moo leans in like he's about to kiss Ha-Ri, but instead grabs a piece of food off her cheek. He kisses her after she complains later.
• Beach Episode: Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri's second business trip, although amusingly it is cold at that time so they are wearing their coats and no one else is on the beach. They somehow still manage to make it romantic.
• Becoming the Mask: Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri both develop feelings for each other while they are fake dating. In one scene, the drama "Be Strong, Geum-Hui" is playing and a character within the show asks for Geum-Hui, to which Ha-Ri responds. Yeong-Seo comments on how engrossed Ha-Ri is into her character.
• Benevolent Boss: Tae-Moo is portrayed as such, he knows the ins and outs of his company, acknowledges when lower-level employees make contributions, and does not tolerate directors simply taking credit for their underlings work.
• Berserk Button: comparing Tae-Moo to the Archaeopteryx really gets under his skin.
• Betty and Veronica: Min-Woo, Ha-Ri, and Yoo-Ra.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ha-Ri at work is docile and obedient to her superiors, but whenever they mention asking her to resign, she is quick to defend herself and her accomplishments.
• Big Applesauce: Tae-Moo lived in New York for a spell, goes to New York in the ending for his grandfather's treatment, and has a business trip there where he hallucinates Ha-Ri over and over.
• Big Eater: Tae-moo and Ha-Ri are shown to both have a refined palette and appreciation for rare foods.
• Big Fancy House: Although we never see all of Chairman Kang's house, glimpses of it during the first meeting with Ha-Ri (pretending to be Geum-Hui) show that the estate is probably quite large.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: A rare-aversion for the most part in a K-Drama, only Yeong-Seo has a less than amicable relationship with her father. Sung-Hoon, Tae-Moo, and Ha-Ri have parents/parental figures who may not agree with everything they do, but ultimately do want what's best for them.
• Birthday Episode: Twice in the series
  • The first episode takes place on Ha-Ri's birthday. She thinks that Min-Woo is going to confess to her, only to have her spirits crushed.
  • The beginning of Episode 12 is set on Young-Seo's birthday, with her spending the beginning of her day starting with Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri revealing their relationship to Ha-Ri's parents and ending with Young-Seo finally cutting off ties with her father for good.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Yoo-Ra accuses Ha-Ri of being this
• Bland-Name Product: Early on, when talking about the behind-the-scenes footage to the commercial shoot, the assistant indicates they were going to upload it to their "Youtube channel." However, later, when the plot revolves around Ha-Ri and Min-Woo's chemistry for the second commercial, the platform is suddenly referred to as "Nerd-Tube"; likely because the plot was starting to revolve around online-bullying, although the interface is clearly Youtube.
  • "Be Strong Geum-Hui" is produced by SBC, not to be confused with SBS, which produced this show.
  • Averted for everything else. Pretty much every single product shown is real.
• Blatant Lies: As expected for a romantic comedy K-drama, there are plenty of examples
  • Yeong-Seo is asked by Ha-Ri if she wants her to go on another blind-date, she says no, then Ha-Ri ends up being trapped with Tae-Moo.
  • Tae-Moo constantly lies to his grandfather about his dating status.
  • Ha-Ri in the first half is constantly lying to Tae-Moo, most notably in the cafe scene after Tae-Moo has discovered Ha-Ri's true identity and Ha-Ri has to lie on the spot.
• Butt-Monkey: Associate Director Bin, despite outranking half the people on his team, finds himself on the butt end of many jokes from everyone.
• Clothing Damage: On their anniversary date, Ha-Ri's dress rips, although we don't get to see it.
• Comforting Comforter: offered by Tae-Moo during the fake anniversary date when they are sitting outside the convenience store. Her taxi arrives before he lets her borrow his zebra lapel tuxedo.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Half of the plot of Yeong-Seo and Sung-Hoon's relationship wouldn't have happened if they just discussed how they felt.
• Cast Full of Rich People: This trope is played with; three of the characters grew up in very wealthy households but Sung-Hoon, while well-off, is not ludicrously wealthy, and Yeong-Seo has her credit card taken away in the second episode.
• Captain Oblivious: Ha-Ri during the "business" dates with Tae-Moo. She really thought they were going to see a movie for research purposes and doesn't understand why Tae-moo was pretending to be her boyfriend until he spells it out for her.
• Celebrity Paradox: On the date of the fake anniversary, Yung-Joo wanders into the shop and asks for "Kim Se-Jeong's outfit that she wore at the press conference for her latest TV show." She then looks and sees Ha-Ri leaving with said dress; surely she should have noticed the uncanny resemblance between the two.
• Character Development: many characters, including some supporting characters
  • Tae-Moo learns that there is more to life than business and that love is not a waste of time
  • Ha-Ri gets over her first-crush of Min-Woo and learns to move on with another lover.
  • Yeong-Seo finds her own identity and carves her own path independent of her father
  • Associate Director Bin has the courage to speak up about his desire for Director Yeo, resulting in them starting a relationship
  • Yung-Joo gets on better terms with Yeong-Seo
• Child Prodigy: Tae-Moo graduated Harvard at 16, meaning that he was likely well-ahead of his classmates when he was a child.
• Clark Kenting: the show goes to lengths to avoid this, but it can't be helped that even with the makeup and the wig, the disguise is at best paper-thin.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: What Yoo-Ra accuses Ha-Ri of being, upon reflection, Ha-Ri acknowledges that this is probably true and does not harbor ill-will against Yoo-Ra for what she did.
• Clueless Boss: Yung-Joo as well as Director Go.
• Crimefightingwith Cash: Yeong-Seo and Ha-Ri are told that Jung-Woo will not face anything more than a fine due to the limitations of the law, but luckily for them Tae-Moo uses his connections to buy the company Jung-Woo works for to fire him, in addition to using his wealth look for Jung-Woo's other victims and provide them with lawyers to sue him.
• Comically Missingthe Point: When Director Yeo berates Hye-Jin for talking about her crush with Min-Woo by telling her to "read the room" and that there is "someone else who has had a crush on him" , Associate Director Bin mistakenly believes that person to be Director Yeo.
• Comically Small Bribe: To get into Yeong-Seo's good graces for asking Sung-Hoon to go on a blind date on his behalf, Tae-Moo gives Yeong-Seo appears to give Yeong-Seo something very valuable; however it is later revealed that it was simply a cute video of Sung-Hoon heartbroken over Yeong-Seo with a bottle of wine.
• Contrived Coincidence: As is typical with a comedy Kdrama, the series has this in spades
  • Min-Woo happens to stop by the fried chicken shop at the same time that Yoo-Ra wants to berate Ha-Ri and he also happens to catch the tail end of their conversation where Yoo-Ra reveals that she cheated on Min-Woo
  • Min-Woo cuts his hand and the bandage wrapper happens to fall into the cabinet where Ha-Ri's fake relationship contract is in.
  • Yeong-Seo and Sung-Hoon keep running into each other at the noodle shop, its even lampshaded by the characters
  • Yeong-Seo happens to pick an apartment that is right next to her crush.
  • For that matter, the fact that Yeong-Seo develops a crush on the Secretary of the guy she was supposed to have a blind-date with
  • Ha-Ri just happens to have a bunch of coupons for her family's restaurant in her bag at the time that she runs into Tae-Moo for the third time.
  • Ha-Ri running into Yoo-Ra and her other two unnamed friends in the hotel lobby during her business trip counts; even if the script tries to come up with a reason for why it happens.
  • Ha-Ri runs into the first car she sees to avoid Min-Woo seeing her in her Geum-Hui makeup, resulting in her running coincidentally into Tae-Moo's car and arguably causing the entire plot to happen.
  • Lampshaded by Yeong-Seo and Ha-Ri when discussing the fact that Yeong-Seo now lives next to Sung-Hoon after Ha-Ri just ran into both of them at Min-Woo's restaurant. They comment, "Are they going to show up now?" when some other people walk into the restaurant, but it turns out to be other people.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Sung-Hoon fits this, Tae-Moo does not have his birth parents anymore but he does have his grandfather, so somewhat averted.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: as stated in interviews, Tae-Moo's outfit changes from darker to lighter as he falls in love with Ha-Ri.
• Cool Boat: Tae-Moo's grandfather's yacht that is borrowed during the second business trip counts at this. Ha-Ri's friends are certainly impressed.
• Cool Car: Tae-Moo's blue Ford Mustang with the Ford nameplate removed. Ha-Ri's brother's admiration of the car on the street is how the couples gets caught.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Tae-Moo pretends to be this to get Ha-Ri's friends jealous while they are having dinner together. Eventually becomes true for the most part.
• Creepy Cockroach: Ha-Ri, Sung-Hoon, and Yeong-Seo are all deathly afraid of cockroaches, with Sung-Hoon emptying THREE whole cans of roach spray to kill one roach.
• Destroy the Evidence: Jung-Woo tries to do this when running away with the spy camera, but Tae-Moo finds it and points out that what was a mere fine before has become a more serious criminal act since he tried to get rid of the evidence.
• Distant Finale: There is a one-year time skip in the final episode.
• Didn't Think This Through: Ha-Ri lies to Tae-Moo about her work being far away; however when meeting up with her later now she has to go all the way away from Seoul to meet Tae-Moo for lunch.
• Disgusting Public Toilet: a variant of this; Yeong-Seo is unable to use any toilet other than the one at her house, but not because of cleanliness but because of her trauma from being secretly recorded.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri kiss each other in the Ikea-showroom but when Ha-Ri rejects him afterwards Tae-Moo has many demands to be compensate for the kiss.
  • Tae-Moo's initial motivation seems more driven by the fact that he was called an Archaeopteryx as opposed to the fact that he was lied to.
• Dramatic Drop: A weirdly crucial plot point; Ha-Ri's reaction to seeing Tae-Moo and dropping her parent's business cards pigeonholes her into cooperating with Tae-Moo's plan.
• Dramatic Irony: Yeong-Seo comforts Ha-Ri after the first date by assuring her that there's no chance that she will run into the company president, the next day she runs into him in the elevator.
• Embarrassing Old Photo: more cute than embarrassing, Yeong-Seo asks Sung-Hoon's mother for a photo of Sung-Hoon when he was younger. Tae-Moo also wants to keep a photo of Ha-Ri when she was younger as well, to her embarrassment.
• Everyone Can See It: Between Ha-Ri and Min-Woo. Yoo-Ra and Young-Seo know that Ha-Ri has a crush because she told them, but all the netizens on NERDTUBE also see the chemistry that the two have.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Min-Woo overhears Yoo-Ra talking about her infidelity to him. Ha-Ri overhears several employees talking about Tae-Moo's parents.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: in the final episode, Chairman Kang has one of the directors call Tae-Moo to fake an emergency, but the director is technology illiterate and fails to hang up the phone, revealing the entire plot to Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri who have a look of disbelief on their face.
• Fish out of Water: subverted; with these chae-bol romantic dramas, typically the rich character has to experience "normal things." that they've never done. In this case, the only time Tae-Moo experiences something "normal" that a chae-bol like himself would have never experienced is when he rides the subway in Seoul. Throughout the show, he shows that he has experience working in a service industry job, (he and Sung-Hoon were part time waiters in NYC) has eaten tteokbokki, and enjoys an unremarkable corn-dog at the amusement park.
• Friendto All Children: Yeong-Seo's reaction to a child marking her expensive clothes causes Sung-Hoon to develop a crush on her. Later at the orphanage, the whole main cast shows off how good they are with children.
• Food Slap: Characters keep commenting on the overuse of this trope in the Kdrama "Be Strong, Geum-Hui" as the main characters get slapped with a crispy pork cutlet and fried chicken. Chairman Kang comments that the cutlet looks like it hurt because it looked extra crispy.
• Forgotten Anniversary: Both Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri are guilty of this with their fake relationship, Ha-Ri forgets it during a late night discussion, but Tae-Moo forgets about it when Chairman Kang happens to spot the date in Sung-Hoon's calendar, resulting in him berating Tae-Moo.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: in the steamy kiss scene between Yeong-Seo and Sung-Hoon, he tosses his glasses to the side.
• Gossipy Hens: Ha-Ri's workplace sure is full of these, that's how she learns about Tae-Moo's reason for hating the rain, her co-workers in Food Development Team 1 are constantly gossiping, culminating in her co-workers standing up for her when other co-workers are gossiping about Ha-Ri and Tae-Moo.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: Plenty of examples of this but also some subversions
  • Subverted in that both marriage proposals by the two main couples take place without much fanfare, with Yeong-Seo and Sung-Hoon getting engaged on the side of an overpass.
  • Tae-Moo pays a day's worth of profit to the gourmet hamburger stand owner to get him to show up to the beach, but subverted in the sense that Tae-Moo never ends up revealing that he did this
  • Hilariously played with when Tae-Moo planned to first ask Ha-Ri to marry him, he had the staff ready to serenade her, present her with an engagement cake and engagement flowers, but she misinterpreted the situation entirely and instead has a presentation regarding why she should keep her job.
  • While not as flashy, Sung-Hoon invests his entire life savings into Yeong-Seo's dream business
  • The entire first anniversary is filled with these, Tae-Moo explains that his grandfather loves K-Dramas and thus expects him to go all out on their date
• Gratuitous English: Several characters
  • Whenever Tae-Moo is talking to any foreigners he speaks English. It makes sense in-universe as his character spent a lot of time in the United States and went to Harvard. **In the fake meeting story between him and Ha-Ri, they speak English to each other initially before realizing they are both Korean.
  • Yeong-Seo's cousin Yoo-Jung and her mother speak excessive English to really emphasize their annoying tendencies.
• Gray Rain of Depression: In-Universe, Tae-Moo lost his parents due to an accident in the rain.
• Growling Gut: After wandering around after the Melo Mance concert, Ha-Ri's stomach growls, prompting the two to look for street food.
• Happily Married: Ha-Ri's parents are happy with each other, Tae-Moo's parents before their death seemed this way as well. Averted with Yeong-Seo; her dad explicitly kicked out his wife for "not meeting his standards."
• Happy Ending: Chairman Kang approves of Ha-Ri and Tae-Moo and they get engaged, Yeong-Seo has started her new company with Sung-Hoon's help and Director Yeo and (just promoted) Director Bin are still going strong.
• Hard-Work Montage: Ha-Ri when she is working on making the ravioli cheaper, unaware that Tae-Moo is messing with her.
• Hate Sink: Min-Woo and Yoo-Ra have basically no scenes making them sympathic.
• Hopeless Suitor: Yung-Joo to Sung-Hoon.
• Hypocriticalhumor: Ha-Ri's mom spends a scene telling Ha-Ri not to attack hit Yeong-Seo, something that she does constantly to everyone else
• Idiot Ball: An entire episode's worth of drama could have been avoided if Sung-Hoon simply kept his girlfriend in the loop about Tae-Moo asking him to go on a blind date for him.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Tae-Moo tricks Yeong-Seo by mentioning that Ha-Ri had the same bag, for Yeong-Seo to say that one was Chanel and the other is YSL; revealing that Yeong-Seo does know Ha-Ri and was in fact lying.
• Inner Monologue: every so often with Ha-Ri, but especially notable in the cute scene where Tae-Moo brings ointment for her bruise to her.
• In-Series Nickname: Archaeopteryx for Tae-Moo.
• Insistent Terminology: at the end, now-promoted Director Bin takes issue with Director Yeo still calling him "Assistant Director Bin"
• Inthe Hood: Ha-Ri meets Tae-Moo with wearing a huge visor covered with her hood. Ha-Ri also disguises herslef with a hood and face mask during the presentation of Min-Woo's ravioli.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: all over the place
  • the crowning fourth wall leaning moment has to be when Ha-Min (Ha-Ri's brother) complains that the K-dramas will shoot anywhere that will pay them, while the sign for GOOBNE chicken is right next to him.
• Lethal Chef: Yeong-Seo cooks a meal for Sung-Hoon, with Sung-Hoon commenting that the food is overall too salty, overcooked, undercooked, and generally poor. Yeong-Seo is not amused.
• Matchmaker Failure: Chairman Kang and Director Jin with their respective heirs.
• Meaningful Gift: although it's debatable how much Ha-Ri meant at the time she gave the gift for it to be a romantic gesture, it becomes a recurring symbol for Tae-Moo to remind himself of Ha-Ri.
• Meet Cute: Sung-Hoon and Yeong-Seo literally crashing into each other is this. Yoo-Jung, Yeong-Seo's cousin, believes that her meeting with Sung-Hoon is this, much to the latter's annoyance.
• Meet the In-Laws: every possible permutation is explored, Ha-Ri meets Chairman Kang both as Geum-Hee and herself, Tae-Moo meets Hari's parents as both himself and as Mr. Bin, Yeong-Seo meets Sung-Hoon's adoptive mother, Sung-Hoon has a tense dinner with Yeong-Seo's father.
• Mission Briefing: After signing the contract, Sung-Hoon gives a presentation to Ha-Ri with all the relevant details to memorize for the upcoming fake dates with Chairman Kang. The presentation takes place in a darkened room with a projector for a Mission Impossible vibe.
• Monochrome Past: When recounting the story of how they met, the footage is in black and white except for Ha-Ri's yellow rain coat and umbrella. On their rainy day date in the future, she pulls out a yellow umbrella.
• Mundane Object Amazement: averted; Ha-Ri expected this with Tae-Moo in regard to Korean street food, but he proudly proclaims that not only has he had it, he has sampled and tasted many different version to perfect his company's version.
• Nerd Glasses: Ha-Ri in flashbacks are shown with these to make her look younger. Perhaps she got LASSIK done at some point, or they were primarily aesthetic.
• Nightmare Sequence: Ha-Ri has a nightmare where her identity is exposed by her mother at the Founding Anniversary event, resulting in her being hauled away by Tae-Moo's bodyguards.
• No Name Given: Ha-ri and Yoo-Ra's friends who they meet at the hotel.
• Nosebleed: In Episode 2, when talking about how Ha-Ri stood out from the rest of his blind dates, his nose starts bleeding.
• Once More, with Clarity: used extensively during the date in the rain, revealing that Tae-Moo figured out how Ha-Ri tried to protect him from the rain while not making it obvious that she knew what happened.
• Perp Sweating: A non-police example; somehow Tae-Moo and Sung-Hoon have Jung-Woo in a dark room with a single light which looks like a police interrogation room.
• Potty Emergency: Ha-Ri desperately rushes to another bathroom stall outside the corporate building after discovering that the restroom she used had spy cams installed. She ends up getting stuck in traffic, and when she finally finds the bathroom, the door is locked. Thankfully, Tae-moo breaks down the door for her in time.
• Precision F-Strike: A hilarious one when Yung-Joo realizes that Yeong-Seo is dating Sung-Hoon, complete with a screen graphic and beep censor.
• Product Placement: played with hilariously; the characters comment on the product placement in the in-universe K-drama that everyone is watching while doing exactly the same thing.
  • Ha-Ri's parents run a GOOBNE chain restaurant. A lot of attention is paid to the food.
  • Everyone sure likes the same brand of beer.
  • every single phone is a Samsung, with all characters using a Galaxy Flip, with the exception of Tae-Moo, who has a Galaxy Fold.
  • Hye-Jin produces some sort of face cleanser in the final episode and almost a minute is dedicated to watching her put it on
  • averted with the Ford cars, for whatever reason the FORD badges are removed from Tae-Moo's Mustang and Sung-Hoon's Expedition.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Jung-Woo is shown to have sufficient eyesight without his glasses, which makes Sung-Hoon suspicious of him. The reason for the fake glasses is never revealed, but it was probably intended to reflect that Jung-Woo had a camera inside the glasses.
• Police Are Useless: A policewoman flat out says that there's nothing they can do for the Ha-Ri and Yeong-Seo, despite the fact that Jung-Woo had been caught many times before.
• Race for Your Love: In episode 8, after finding out that Tae-Moo is scheduled for another blind date, she races over to the hotel where he is having the date. He races over to her house and they both get stuck in traffic, resulting in them meeting in a picturesque place for their big-damn kiss.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn: as expected in a K-drama, the fake anniversary leaves both of them with real feelings.
• Romantic Rain: Rain reminds Tae-Moo of his parent's accident and thus he is scared of it, but after talking about it with Ha-Ri and sharing his feelings, he is able to look out the window and forgive himself for his role in his parent's death.
  • This was also Ha-Ri's idea for how they met for when they were fake dating.
• A Round of Drinks for the House: done multiples times throughout the show
  • Tae-Moo buys everyone's drinks when taking food development team 1 out for dinner
  • When Ha-Ri introduces Tae-Moo as her boyfriend to the restaurant owner at which she is a regular, Tae-Moo offers to buy everyone's meal in the restaurant.
  • Done by Yeong-Seo to distract Ha-Ri's parents from the drama involving Yoo-Ra, Min-Woo, and Ha-Ri.
• Running Gag: Several throughout the show
  • As their relationship progresses, Tae-Moo's name in Ha-Ri's phone goes from "DO NO ANSWER" to "Archaeopteryx" to finally "President Kang"
  • The Archaeopteryx sound effect is played constantly whenever Tang-Moo gives a serious look or whenever he calls or texts Ha-Ri.
  • The Show within a Show and its outlandish nature and mirroring of the plot
  • The fact that Ha-Ri drinks a lot
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here : On the first date with Tae-Moo, while he is paying for the hotel room, Ha-Ri attempts to book it out of there only to be stopped by a woman who mistakes her for another woman.
• Scream Discretion Shot: Happens twice, with both times in front of Ha-Ri's parents restaurant. The first time is when Ha-Ri ambushes Yeong-Seo and they are both screaming as Ha-Ri is about to hit her with a broom, the second time is when Ha-Ri is trying to fight off her mother from beating Tae-Moo with her banana.

• Sinister Surveillance: Jung-Woo, hides a peeping camera in a lamp to Yeong-Seo and has done this to many other women as well for perverted purposes.
• Sadistic Choice: Chairman Kang in the final episode gives Ha-Ri the choice to be reassigned to a factory outside of Seoul where she would have nothing to do or to resign.
• Secret Relationship: Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri go through various stages of this, first they are fake publicly dating albeit as a different person, then they are secretly really dating, before finally coming out as publicly really dating.
• Security Cling: Yeong-Seo jumps into Sung-Hoon's arms when she runs out of her apartment scared of the cockroach.
• Shipper on Deck: Yeong-Seo to Ha-Ri with both Min-Woo and Tae-Moo. She just wants her friend to find love.
  • Chairman Kang to Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri when he still thinks that she is Geum-Hui. Especially notable when forces Tae-Moo to go to the concert and even sits outside to make sure he doesn't leave.
• Slapstick: several examples throughout the show
  • Ha-Ri's slipper improbably flies directly into Tae-Moo's nose, causing a nosebleed
  • During their first work business trip together, Ha-Ri signals to Tae-Moo to hide by slapping him in the face over and over
  • Chairman Kang falls into a big plastic bowl with cabbage in it as a result of Ha-Ri opening the bathroom door too fast.
• Shout-Out: Two shout-outs to BTS; Hye-Ji when eavesdropping on gossip refers to a Mr. Cho who apparently looks like Jung-Kook, and Associate Director Bin references "Blood Sweat and Tears," and "Dynamite" when mixing bomb shots, complete with snippets of the choreography.
• Show Within a Show: "Be Strong Geum-Hui" is a romantic kdrama that has plot developments mirroring the developments of the show proper, with various characters complaining about how unrealistic it is while it happens around them.
• Shrinking Violet: Tae-Moo and Chairman Kang both see Ha-Ri as this initially, this is partly the explanation for why it takes them so long to realize that she is not the same person as Geum-Hui, who has a different personality.
• Sleep Cute: After Tae-Moo and Ha-Ri consummate their relationship at the hotel they refer to as the "Christmas Tree," Tae-Moo is enamored by Ha-Ri being asleep in the bed; which makes her feel shy.
  • Spoofed in episode 3, when Ha-Ri falls asleep almost onto Tae-Moo's shoulder. He flicks her off and she leaves an imprint on the window. His reaction to seeing the imprint does show that she left an impression on him though.
• Snooty Sports: In the first episode, Director Park skipped Tae-Moo's inauguration ceremony to play some golf; unfortunately for him Tae-Moo also skipped his inauguration ceremony to mess with him.
• So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe, it's the main reason most of the characters enjoy watching "Be Strong Geum-Hui" despite their nonstop complaints about the plot.
• The Squad: the four members of Food Development Team 1 are incredibly close, supporting each other without question and constantly going out together to celebrate.
• Standard Office Setting: Played with, while the office dynamics within Food Development team 1 are quite typical, a scientist for an instant food company is novel.
• Straight Man: Sung-Hoon is this for Tae-Moo and Yeong So's antics.
• Stylistic Suck: the show within a show, "Be Strong Geum-Hui" is deliberately overlit, featuring cheap sets, overdramatic acting, blatant product placement, and even overrides the show's cinematic aspect ratio in favor of a 16:9 TV aspect ratio when it occupies the full screen.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Chairman Kang discovers Ha-Ri's tickets for MeloMance, his K-drama obsessed mind comes up with a reason for why Tae-Moo was not aware of the tickets and Ha-Ri goes along with it.
• Sunglasses at Night when meeting with Tae-Moo as Geum-Hui, Ha-Ri wears sunglasses to help hide her identity.
• Supremechef: Min-Woo and Tae-Moo are both shown to be great at cooking, Ha-Ri is shown to be an excellent food scientist although is never seen preparing meals, Sung-Hoon is self-admittidly not good at cooking and Yeong-Seo is shown to be terrible.
• Tempting Fate: Yeong-Seo says to Ha-Ri, "What are the chances of an employee running into the president?"
• That Poor Cat: the cat screeching sound effect was used in one of episodes.
• Theme Music Power-Up: For the final kiss of the show, the main romantic theme of "It must be Love" is sung instead by Kim Se-Jeong.
• There Is No Killlike Overkill: Sung-Hoon dropping three cans of bug spray to kill a single cockroach, especially given that the cockroach was already trapped.
• This Is Reality: characters constantly react to plot developments by saying "this isn't a drama."
• This Song Goes Out to TV Tropes: At the MeloMance concert, the song "This must be Love" is dedicated to Ha-Ri and Tae-Moo.
• Time Skip: A one-year timeskip is present in the finale.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: when Tae-Moo discovers that Ha-Ri has been lying to him, he makes her work life a living hell just to be petty. He feels bad about it when his antics cause her to burn herself and that makes him realize that he cares for her.
• Tranquil Fury: Tae-Moo's response to Min-Woo on the boat when asked why he is dating her counts as this.
• True Companions: Ha-Ri and Yeong-Seo are like this. Sung-Hoon and Tae-Moo as well.
• Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Ha-Ri just can't catch a break and keeps running into Tae-Moo and Chairman Kang in the elevator.
• Unusual Euphemism: In the first episode, Ha-Ri refers to her breasts as "Samantha" and "Rachel."
  • When her friends are texting asking how she ended up dating the president, they attribute her lack of response to being busy doing "the sideway shuffle."
• Use Your Head: When trying to stop Tae-Moo from making sounds and alerting her brother and father, Ha-Ri accidentally knocks him out cold with a headbutt.
• Vertigo Effect: When Ha-Ri walks in on Yoo-Ra and Min-Woo, a Hitchcock zoom is employed to show Ha-Ri's shock.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: the show manages to avert this, both marriage proposals are low-key with few antics.
• Worth It: When explaining her relationship with Min-Woo to Tae-Moo, Ha-Ri smiles and says that she was very happy during those seven years, even if she never ended up with Min-Woo.
• Working Out Their Emotions: Tae-Moo destresses by cleaning and cooking; which he does at Sung-Hoon's apartment much to the latter's annoyance.
• Work Offthe Debt: A montage shows Ha-Ri's post college years trying to work off her debt and help her parents, and the debt is part of the motivation for going along with Tae-Moo's scheme.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: Ha-Ri's off the cuff comment that they do not use artificial coloring increased sales by 20% according to the characters of the show, which seems like a crazy amount considering the company apparently makes sales in the trillions.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: For the first part of the show, Tae-Moo is able to get Ha-Ri to get along with whatever he wants since he knows where she lives.
• You Must Be Cold: Tae-Moo asks Ha-Ri to let him know if she feels cold during the last part of their fake anniversary date.

“Let me say this again. I have feelings for you, Ms. Shin and I won’t give up. If you reject me, I’ll ask you out again and again until you finally like me back. So, you need to brace yourself.”

— -Kang Tae Mu'