Premiere Watch: Absolute Value of Romance
by stroopwafel
Time slot: Friday (single drop)
Broadcaster: Coupang Play
Genre: Coming-of-age, romance, youth
Episode count: 14
Global streamer: Amazon Prime
Reasons to watch: What happens when your secret life and public life collide? Coupang Play asks that very questions in its upcoming drama, Absolute Value of Romance, with Kim Hyang-gi headlining. Cha Hak-yeon costars, with Kim Jae-hyun, Sohn Jung-hyuk, and Kim Dong-kyu rounding out the main cast.
Kim Hyang-gi (with the bowliest of bowl cuts I’ve ever seen) seems like your average teenage girl, but she’s harboring a secret hobby: writing web novels. Unfortunately for our budding author, she can’t seem to get anyone to read anything she publishes online. That all changes when four new teachers (who happen to be best friends and roommates) report for work at her all-girls high school. The men set young hearts aflame and Kim’s imagination runs wild. Inspired by her teachers’ good looks and close relationships, she posts a web novel that features a BL (boys’ love) romantic quadrangle.
The work is a smash hit, and though she’s thrilled, Cha Hak-yeon quickly discovers that he and his friends have become the protagonists in her story. While Kim is mortified about Cha’s discovery, the real problem for Kim is when she starts getting anonymous threats to stop writing–or else her identity will be exposed. Will Kim give up her writing dreams, or will she find a way to keep writing and stay in school?
Watch for a comedic take on pursuing your dreams as a teen and what it’s like for a girl to learn how to navigate new challenges as she grows up. (I hope that includes a lesson on boundaries, depending on how she wrote the web novels.) If you’re BL-curious, this could be a good first step into the world of men loving men, as it will have both the BL narrative and a focus on our female protagonist, so you get to experience two worlds. Beautiful men aside, I’m always ready for a school drama and Kim Hyang-gi on my screen, so I’ll be tuning in.
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