Backstreet Rookie

This is one K-drama where I have mixed reaction. This can be termed as Romcom with less of romance and more of comedy. On one side there is good hearted, helpful Choi Dae-hyun, who finds it difficult to say "No" to anyone and on the other side we have beautiful yet terrific fighter who is not afraid of beating bullies, if required. 

Dae-hyun used to work at a Head office but has resigned from there and now is an owner of 24*7 open Convenience Store. He has a steady girlfriend Yoo Yeon-joo for 2 years who was his boss at the office earlier and is a daughter of the second largest shareholder of the company (though our hero is unaware of her background). But she has risen to current position because of her merit rather than her background.

Jung Saet-byul is a 20 year old girl who has lost her parents and had to leave high school to support herself and her sister Eun-byul. Saet-byul feels that her sister should concentrate on her studies but Eun-byul is an aspiring singer. Saet-byul has a crush on Dae-hyun. When she sees the advertisement for part time job in Dae-hyun 's store, she immediately applies for the job so that she can remain near her crush. Dae-hyun has reservations of his own in aceepting her as a part timer in his store. But she proves to be a Marketing queen and sales graph of the store shows improvement. So he continues with her employment.  

Dae-hyun is a loyal lover and always puts Yeon-joo on the top of his priorities.  But due to status difference,  she finds it difficult to introduce him to her parents.  When Saet-byul joins his store, misunderstanding between the lovers reaches its peak. Saet-byul tries her best to remain away from the duo to give him the required space but in vain. Finally they break up. 

Now that the breakup has happened,  Saet-byul gets a clear ground. Dae-hyun slowly starts developing feelings for Saet-byul. In the meanwhile Yeon-joo has also progressed in her job and gets a promotion.  Now she gets to know the truth behind Dae-hyun's resignation from the Head office and opening a store of his own. She is trying to amend the wrongs in the past and also get back with Dae-hyun. 

This drama has a lot of supporting characters  like Kang Ji-uk who is super star, childhood friend of Saet-byul and trying to win her heart. Saet-byul has a best friend Hwang Geum-bi who is super rich and a big fan of Webtoon. Han Dal-sik is Dae-hyun's auirky best friend and is a webtoon writer. There are bullies. Saet-byul is a trained martial artist. So she has many action scenes. The action scenes are pretry good. Dae-hyun's mother who is an insurance agent and father who is perennially unemployed are always in search of opportunity to earn extra bucks. Yeon-joo's mother is seen to be flaunting might of money throughout the drama. All these characters have their fair share in the story as well as in the comedy.

But creating a comedy by showing a wife kicking and hitting her husband is not in a good taste. Also, Han Dal-sik flaunting hair locks which are unkempt and dirty to the extent of stinking and bees swarming is not really appreciated. 

Will Yeon-joo get successful and win Dae-hyun back? Will Saet-byul choose to remain with Dae-hyun or leave him? Will Eun-byul get break in singing? Will Kang Ji-uk get lucky in his pursuit?? Will the webtoon writer find his soul mate? I think we can easily guess answers to these questions even before watching the drama. 

Even with ordinary and guessable storyline, K-dramas are normally eventful and  entertaining. You can still watch the drama to get the answer of "how".

Show in a Nutshell: 

Audio: Korean

Subtitles available in: English Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Malay, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese 

 

Year: 2020

No. of episodes: 16

Where to watch: Viki, Netflix

Category: Romantic, Love triangle