Shin-Ae's sister is Meg
But she's only her half-sister. That's why they got separated. Solomon divorces are actually quite rare, unlike what fiction might have you think. Usually the court rules for siblings to stay together. But half-siblings getting separated isn't as unusual. So this is probably what happened: The mother first had Meg, but apparently things weren't working out so well with Meg's father. She met Shin-Ae's dad and had Shin-Ae, while Meg's father had Alyssa with another woman. It would explain why Meg and Alyssa both have English names - they were named by Meg's father - while Shin-Ae is korean. In the flashback, Meg wore fancier clothing than Shin-Ae. Shin-Ae is the younger sister, so if Meg got fancy clothing, Shin-Ae ought to also wear fancy clothing, simply because of hand-me-downs. But she doesn't... because they're presents from Meg's father. So clearly, Meg and her mother occasionally visited Meg's father. Shin-Ae's father was probably not happy about this, and while he wouldn't stop his step-daughter from wearing gifts from her father, he's not okay with his own daughter wearing them. This explains why Shin-Ae's parents were arguing, and why Shin-Ae felt that it was her fault somehow - because her name kept getting brought up in their arguments. At some point, Meg's mother sees her chance to get back together with Meg's father - Alyssa's mom is either dead or gone - and she takes Meg with her. Shin-Ae's mother cuts off all contact with her other daughter, because she doesn't want to ruin things between her and Meg's father this time.- Jossed.
Alyssa was friends with Shin-Ae because Meg asked her to be
Building on the above theory. Through the blurs, it's just barely possible to read that the name Shin-Ae calls before getting pushed is "Alyssa", and that they used to be friends. During one of Meg's visits, she must have told Alyssa about her other younger sister, Shin-Ae. Alyssa promised to be nice to Shin-Ae because she wanted to get closer to Meg. Meg didn't tell Shin-Ae about Alyssa - maybe the visits to Meg's father were supposed to be a secret, because Shin-Ae's dad would get mad. However, after Meg and her mother moves in with Alyssa and her dad. Meg no longer has contact with Shin-Ae, and would have to rely on Alyssa for news on her little sister, placing Alyssa in an ideal situation to tell a bunch of lies about Shin-Ae. She probably didn't like Shin-Ae very much, because she saw her as a rival for Meg's affection. Taking this theory further, Alyssa might be the reason why Meg and Shin-Ae never saw each other again.- Jossed as well.
Shin-Ae is going to end up homeless
Shin-Ae's dad came home early and started drinking because he lost his job. He just couldn't bring himself to tell Shin-Ae. In any case, even if he still had his job, from the look we get at the bills, it's inevitable they'll get kicked out in a month or so. From last month's debt, even when Shin-Ae's dad still had a job, he could only pay 500$ of it, and now they're facing a bill of 2237$. The situation is hopeless. Of course, there are indeed some people they could contact for help if they Ain't Too Proud to Beg - but the problem is that Shin-Ae IS too proud. In the latest chapter, she tells Kousuke that a handouts from him or his family is the last thing she wants. She'll cough blood before she bites back those words. Besides, she would probably much rather beg her mother if she has to beg anyone... but given how coldhearted her mother was in separating Shin-Ae and her sister, there's a good chance the mother will refuse them. End result - Shin-Ae ends up on the street in the middle of the freezing winter. Shin-Ae's dad is going to commit suicide
Dad's totally gonna die.- Not having high hopes for him, eh?
- I've lost count of all the death flags he's tripped over.
Yeong-Gi’s mother was a superstar, and Nol was named Yeong-Gi by accident
Kousuke’s mother hating Yeong-Gi is easily explained by Yeong-Gi being the result of an affair, but even Daddy Hirahara hates him. So why not just ignore Yeong-Gi’s existence? Simple. Because that would make the scandal even worse. If Yeong-Gi’s mother was a beloved celebrity, there’s no way the pregnancy could be swept under the carpet. To drive the nail deeper, Daddy Hirahara probably asked Yeong-Gi’s mother to get an abortion, and she was like, “nope!” and told the press how mean he was being.Daddy Hirahara had to save the Hirahara company’s reputation, so he decided to capitulate and made a deal with Yeong-Gi’s mother - They would tell the public they were friends again, but secretly have nothing to do with each other ever, and Yeong-Gi would be raised by his mother alone.Then Yeong-Gi’s mother up and dies, soon after birth.Press attention flares up again, and the press goes to Daddy Hirahara for the name of the poor baby, because they need it for the headlines. He can’t admit that he doesn’t know, so he comes up with a name on the spot: Yeong-Gi.Now the problem is just that the birth certificate says Nol… Well, a fake ID can get you far in life. Daddy Hirahara can’t see any reason to embarrass himself by admitting he lied! Who needs health insurance anyway?When Yeong-Gi gets drugged, he tells Shin-Ae he doesn’t want to cause a commotion. That is, if a doctor checked his files and saw that there seemed to be a mistake with the names…This theory explains why Soo jokingly asks Yeong-Gi where he was born - anyone who bothers to do a google (sorry, woogle) search can read all the juicy details about Yeong-Gi’s birth. And that’s why Yeong-Gi is occasionally forced to spend time at the mansion. Because they’re pretending to be a happy family that lives together, and how would it look if Yeong-Gi was never there when the Paparazzi came knocking?- Jossed.
Parental Marriage Veto will be in full effect when Shin-Ae meets the father...
...as her Deadpan Snarker tendencies and background ensures that he will never let either of his two sons ever have a relationship with her, let alone marry her, if not from disgust of the idea of marrying off either one of his two heirs to someone from a lower class, then simply out of personal spite. Once she hits the Despair Event Horizon, Shin-Ae will try to use favor to help the company her father works in
Cut to a scandal when word gets out on why a company that underwent so much trouble was given so much aid out of nowhere.- Alternatively, it will be refused, due to the risk of the above.
Yeong-Gi will dump Alyssa after he finds out about what happened between her and Shin-Ae
It's implied that the two girls used to be friends before they had a fight that ended with Shin-Ae getting injured. Since Shin-Ae will inevitably run into Alyssa again, Kousuke and Yeong-Gi will notice the tension between them and try to figure out what happened between them. Yeong-Gi will find out what happened and dump Alyssa. Yeong-Gi dates Alyssa just for Show.
He might have dated Alyssa to get recognition from his Dad, or he is being forced to; or another plausible theory is that he was afraid of losing Alyssa as a friend and decided to ask her out, similar to what he did to Soushi and Dieter of pretending to need extra math lessons, despite doing the questions with ease in contrast to them *as noted by Shin-Ae. Everytime some one compliments Alyssa, he never seems to agree to an extreme or be happy about it, when someone makes remarks about her perversely he doesn't seem too agitated or jealous, which is weird since he can get agitated quite easily (kousuke).
Quimchee has also put Nol in the "dark" in art works several times, while his friends, Shin-ae and Kousuke are in the light, which might foreshadow how he fakes certain actions for his benefit. He might then break up with her, realizing he never liked her at all.
- Alyssa might have asked him out as well, since he was on top of the social ladder, being a Hirahara after all.
Shin-Ae's is actually a bastard child
Quimchee (the author) has stated that her eye color was inherited from her Father. She looks like her mother any other ways. However, looking at the mother from the flashback, she has light hair and her sister looks quite different from Shin-ae. That's why they got divorced. Solomon divorces It would also explain why Shin-ae was treated terribly during her childhood, without really knowing why (similar to that of Nol.)- Or could be the other way around.
Nol's real name is actually Nolan
Quimchee has stated that Nol's name is very complex, having 5 words or so, but she gave clues for his given name, which are:
1. His given name is ironic2. His Nana is Irish, so it's safe to assume that his name is Irish related3. Nolan is an Irish name, which means "Champion". Quite Ironic, since Nol certaintly didn't win the golden ticket in life, since he might be a bastard child and is miserably treated by his family.
- Nana's last name is Lochlainn which means: "land of the Vikings" Origin of Lochlainn: Irish.
- Confirmed in episode 148.
