Spill the Beans: Catching the Lee Min-ho virus and learning to heal

by HeadsNo2

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K-drama gifts are my favorite—one time my friend gave me M&M’s printed with Taecyeon and Kim Jae-wook’s faces (from Who Are You). But Cozybooks sounds like she has the best friends and pillow collection ever:

My drama love started as normally as any other, I guess—a friend from my high school Chinese class knew I liked manga and anima, and couldn’t resist telling me to try this new Korean show she actually loved (You From Another Star, if you’re interested). Needless to say, I was hooked, if not by the story, then by Kim Soo-hyun’s gorgeous face. From there, I graduated to Master’s Sun—So Ji-sub was my favorite new person for a while, and then Healer, and so on.

I thought I’d kept my secret love pretty well under wraps until last Christmas, during my senior year of high school. We decided to play Secret Santa for the week as a grade, and on the “Get to Know your Giftee” sheet, I put So Ji-sub as my favorite actor, with Master’s Sun as my favorite TV show. Little did I know what was coming.

I arrived at the senior’s tree later that week to see So Ji-sub staring up at me amidst all the other presents. A picture of his face attached to a shirt-and-sweater covered pillow. He even had a little “Hello, my name is So Ji-sub” sticker on his chest. It was hilarious and slightly embarrassing, and I totally carried him around to every class that day (and to work after that).

Despite numerous attempts by my siblings to steal his sweater, I have kept him well dressed and with me to this day; he now lives in my apartment at college. I have also managed to convert a few friends to K-dramas (and Lee Jong-seok, forever my favorite). So when me and my new-to-dramas friend were talking about gift giving this Christmas, she said, “Oh, I’m gonna make you another Korean pillow, man.” I thought she was joking—she was not. I now have a Lee Jong-seok pillow to pair with So Ji-sub, and I’m almost hoping this becomes a Christmas tradition. I decided it was really time to share the story too, because while K-dramas remain the best thing since sliced bread, great friends make them even better.

 
There’s not so much bean-spilling in this one, but it’s certainly something beanies can help with. Mikgoo wants to know where to do some drama tourism:

Hi! Well, I saw a similar question here from a tourist, and since I’m planning a visit to Seoul this spring, I decided to ask for help. There are some places that I want to go that were featured in dramas, so I was hoping that someone here has been there.

First, where is that rooftop restaurant from Master’s Sun? The restaurant where Gong-shil and Joong-won met again after Gong-shil went on a trip to recover her memories and discover the reason she sees ghosts. I simply love the view from that deck.

Second, where is that spa that Bok-shil and Louis (from Shopping King Louis) spent the night, the one with “A Whole New World” soundtrack playing?

Lastly, would it be easy for a tourist to eat at a pojangmacha since I’m not Korean? That’s all! Thank you so much, beanies!

 
Lee Min-ho: The Gateway Drug. Lulu shares her story:

Hi Dramabeans team! This is the story of how I brought my friend/classmate/colleague into the world of K-dramas.

I was initiated into K-dramas by watching Stairway to Heaven in 2013 when it was announced that it would air on national TV. I was never into Asian dramas, but I googled it, and it got my attention because Latin American soap operas are nothing like that, and they last up to five months on air, so the short format got me interested. So I didn’t wait and went to YouTube and marathoned my way into it. I cried my eyes out, and the ball started rolling—next thing I knew, I was a junkie.

I watched Stairway to Heaven, Winter Sonata, Autumn in My Heart, You’re Beautiful, and then I stumbled onto Boys Over Flowers, which I had read about while searching for new ones. I liked Lee Min-ho, so I looked for his work and since I read that City Hunter was so good, I started watching it. OMG, I was so hooked by Episode 3 that I thought, “Is this one really this good?” I thought I was crazy and that I was being driven by Lee Min-ho’s hotness and acting, so I decided to share my addiction with my friends. Turns out only one of them heard my pleas to watch City Hunter with me. It took some logistics, but she caught up with me.

She became less obsessed than I was. We even planned to watch the last two episodes at the same time, we both live in different cities, and we finished Episode 19 crying. And then by Episode 20, our communication failed, and I texted her how the final scene ended, which spoiled her for the finale. And it turned our plan into a mess, lol. I still can’t believe I did it, but it was a connection problem.

She fell for Lee Min-ho, and I introduced her to this whole new world. I told her my favorite dramas and she watched them, found new ones for me to watch, and we both drooled over Lee Min-ho.

We became a lot closer because of watching K-dramas—there was a lot to discover and love. The stories are so different from Latin American shows. The emotions are prettier, the views, language, food, music, culture… and the 16-20 episode count is just enough to make a good story.

Thank you Dramabeans, you guys were a huge part in my search for new dramas.

 
What a beautiful and inspiring story. Thank you for sharing, miliver:

Hello Beanies,

It’s been quite some time for me to contemplate whether or not to share my story. But after a while, I decided to share this to all you beanies, who have been like an extended family to me. This might be a long story, but here it goes.

I don’t quite remember which drama got me hooked into dramaland. Maybe it was Endless Love, Boys Over Flowers, or Coffee Prince (for Gong Yoo, obviously!). But I guess it was around 2008 when I started binge-watching so many dramas. I was recently graduated then and got a job out of town, around two hours flight from my hometown. So I had to find some activities during the weekend, when I could not afford a flight ticket back home to see my family and my boyfriend. That was the beginning.

We decided to get married after four years of being in a long distance relationship. He was the one who could accept my crazy addiction for fangirling over Korean actors, which he often said were too pretty with all the makeup. My husband was more the manly type, with a crazy addiction for sports and a healthy lifestyle. After the wedding, we were still apart for two years before finally settling in the same town. It was the best period of our married life. We compromised by sitting together on the sofa—he’d watch soccer games on TV while I watched dramas on the laptop. He sometimes joined me for Running Man sessions every Sunday morning, but that was as far as he could go. No dramas for him.

After six months together, we got the bad news. He was diagnosed with the most malignant type of cancer. We could not really grasp the diagnosis because the cancer was also rare, thus, not much information could be found. And besides, my husband was a strong fighter and nobody could have guessed he was a patient. He stayed positive, cheerful, strong, and still looked like a healthy person. He endured almost ten different types of treatments within two years (surgery, chemo, radiation, you name it). Almost every doctor told us that nobody could have endured so many treatments, but somehow he did. We asked and went everywhere we could, and spent so many days in the hospital. And during that time, I managed to force him to watch one drama, thinking it could distract him from the pain. But unfortunately I picked God’s Gift — 14 Days, which was a disappointment given the ending (wrong message just because of fate). Only then did I realize that the only drama watching experience with my husband was his consolation for me, for spending so much time in the hospital.

After all those treatments, the cancer relapsed. But he stayed positive and never let me believe that he would be gone. I was still hanging onto the thin hope that somehow, miraculously, he would be cured. But this is reality and not dramaland. He passed away soon after. I wasn’t really surprised, maybe because I unconsciously prepared myself for that moment. His condition deteriorated fast within weeks before, and we never had the farewell conversation because he always dismissed negative thoughts.

That was the only thing that I regret. I wished we had this conversation, because I felt so lost without him. I wanted to know what he’d wanted me to do after he’s gone.

I hate terminal illness dramas afterwards, since everything reminds me of those worst moments. But given so many praises over Marriage Contract, I decided to give it a try. One scene from this drama hit home for me: It was when UEE’s character told her in-law that she’s dying. That was the conversation that I hoped for, but watching that scene, I realized that I might not have wanted it anyway. I understood my husband’s choice for not having this conversation. And until now, I stay strong even after he’s gone, and that might be the only thing he wanted.

So now I am living my life as usual. Dramas are my consolation, they make me giddy and happy. Dramas provide different perspectives to my life and make me appreciate it more. If my life was a drama, I think it’s in the mid-series, and the pace will pick up soon afterward. And while waiting for the next chapter, I am drowning myself with more dramas (my list is 150 and going). I have Joo Won by my side now to accompany my watching (it’s my cat, a female one, haha). She’s not picky, and I have full control of the TV now. And Gong Yoo might join us soon, after Joo Won gives birth. You see, my life is not that bad after all.

I have always been a silent reader, but I’d like to say thank you to all the awesome Dramabeans staff members and beanies out there. Your posts and comments always make my days. Cheers!

 
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