@egads Congrautions on being published.💗 Such a beautiful write up.
Your friends and family are awesome.👍
Your style of dressing is much more comfortable and more relatable than the other heroin's.
Ahjumma was the hero in Healer for me too. I could relate eating the same food for days sticking to computer to keep the mind busy and the guilt which she carried. Though I'm not an introver like her or you, I'm in the category of secondary extrovert.
Thanks to you now I want to watch Lookout.

I love Ajumma. She is a great one to take inspiration from, though maybe get some more fresh air. When he sees her for the first time...❤
Wonderful essay.
If you have hermit tendencies it is so easy to fall deeper into that roll. I was just reminding myself I need to keep contact with people and not always have them carry the responsibility.

I really need to check out the other two dramas especially Lookout. I'm curious about Key's acting.

Ajumma was great in Healer and so is your post @egads! She was such a reminder that good, helpful people exist "behind the scenes", as they say. Thanks for sharing this with us!

@egads congrats for being published!

I love this! thank you for making gimbap rolling badass hacker Ahjumma the real star of the show! Never thought finally someone noticed her (she was overshadowed by the ever brightning Mr Healer) and put it in the best writing.

*buuuut Ajumma does wear nice dress once in a while when she's "forced outside in order to get things done." 😜

Good one @egad. I enjoyed your article.

I'm glad the Healer-love around here got you to watch the show and that you chose Healer's Ahjumma as your fave character. She's the one I identify with the most as well. And no matter how many other shows are better made than Healer, that show has a special place in my heart for the solidness of that show and for all the love and warmth that ensued here during it's run.

If not for being forced to come out of myself by family, work and my volunteering activities, I'd end up much like Ahjumma myself. I easily become lazy about dressing up and I've never followed trends, at least at the trendy times 😂.

LOL over your 2nd lead affectations. I really despise their inability to take no for an answer and their plotting of ways to pin first love to their side. It's good that you're getting out to meet up with people. 🍺 Here's to more good times being with the people who care about you. Cheers! 🍺 😇 😃

Hacker Ahjumma is love. ^^
Congratulations, Egads! I enjoyed reading your article, <3

Congrats, @egads! I enjoyed this piece. I would happily be a hermit as well, but as opposites attract, I have too many people in my circle that force me out into the world. And I loved Key and Kim Seul-gi in LOOKOUT! I also thought it interesting when he first met her, that he had a stereotype in his head of what she looked like and totally overlooked her. I feel that if I ever met any of you Beanies, I’d do the same! But now, I have a good idea of what I may see if I met you: an ahjumma donned with knitting needles and that unmistakable knowing smirk that she actually runs the show!

Dear @egads... and I ask this in all seriousness... are you me?

Wait, you knit. No, you're not me.

The one thing Ahjumma did that I truly identified with was stating that she was happy because she'd found the perfect kimbap mat and I think that's something we can all relate to.

Congrats on being published!

Congrats on getting published. I enjoyed reading your story. I am glad you going out more. Back in 2016, I was like you staying in a place with no movement. I remember staying for 6 months at home without stepping foot outside the house. All I did was watch dramas upon dramas and loosing contact with people. Then did I really care, nope I don't think I did. My family pushed me out too and sent me away for studies so I could mix with different people.

Am I still the same person as I was before?
Yes, in a way I am. Even moving to a different country, I still don't have frends and mostly alone but I am happy. Thats the key fact, if you are happy with the way you are then all izz well...

Sorry I rambled a lot but I really could relate to your story..

(*fangirl mode on* ^^)
What a gorgeous write up @egads. In all seriousness, you're clearly great fun to talk to. I'm happy your family keeps you coming out and engaged. :)

What an interesting and fun read! I can relate to many things you write.

I have missed some fashion trends altogether and I like to think it's a good trait - don't follow fashion blindly. Actually, the truth is I prioritize value and comfort over fashion. If I figure something is going to be in fashion for a while, I won't buy it. Comfort is the most important. Our weather here is too hot, so if I have my way, i will go everywhere in tanks, shorts and slippers. If the climate is temperate, I suspect I will be wearing close to your style. I was shocked to see girls in shorts during winter in Korea. Maybe it's their way of burning fats.

I can't retreat into my own world as much because I have kids at home. It was almost impossible when they were younger. Now that there are older, it's they who want to keep me out of their room and business. So I am having more time for myself. It's something I relish.

Will you write a story about your first love and/or the irrational revenge you are planning now? You got me interested! I'd love to read.

I LOVE IT!! I can relate in many ways. I have forever lived with my nose in a book. I’ve been called out by my relatives for not socializing because I wanted to finish a new book I got. Come on, you can’t blame a girl for wanting to finish the Half Blood Prince after FINALLY getting a copy a week later than intended. I have the same outlook at you when it comes to “dressing up”. Fashion? It’s called being comfortable. Makeup (or as I call it, war-paint), is only for when I know I’m going to get attacked by a flock of older ladies at a wedding or some event if I don’t have SOMETHING on. Doing your hair? It’s called air drying and putting up in a pony. Accessories? Please. It’s too painful to talk about. BOOKS? GIVE ME ALL OF THEM! There is no such thing as too many books.
Hands down YES to Ajumma from Healer! She was bad-ass awesome without a care in the world attitude . Just like how you are with your asymmetrical haircut paired with those threader earrings and the fabulous long coat, @egads! It seems like you have fantastic friends and family and they’re lucky to have you to protect them! I’ll have to check out Lookout now.
Congrats on getting published!

Great post!
Ajumma was one of the best secondary characters ever.

Oh my goodness. I am you. Computer screens, thrift store clothes, Amazon, eating kimbap by the roll. Ahjummas of DB unite! (online, not in a real place, otherwise I have to put on clothes and stuff)

@Egads (ssssssssss!) Love your piece. :D I have nothing witty or fun to say, so *bows to our real-life Ahjumma and offers a cake of malabrigo*

Thanks for the article @egads. Healer Ahjumma has brains and great computer skills so not a bad person to take after at all. I'm afraid that her style is closest to my style too. In my area you aren't dressed without a layer of fleece most of the year. Fleece jacket, jeans and waterproof shoes are my standard going out of the house "fashion".

Thank you gifting us with a thought-provoking, engaging piece of writing; I loved it! I too find myself also gravitating toward certain characters in dramas (Oh hae Young continues to be my spirit animal!). Healer brought me into the kdramaworld so I have a special fondness for all of them.

And to all the ajumma fashionistas out there; our theme song!!

https://youtu.be/QK8mJJJvaes

Dear @egads, Bravo! What a wonderful post and congratulations on being published.
HEALER was my first kdrama so it holds a special place with me. I chose my DB name in homage to HEALER. I am a guy but if I was a woman perhaps I would of chosen the name Min-ja.
Kim Mi-kyung (Min-ja) of course is one of my favorite character actresses.
I can relate to many of your points. I am more intro than extrovert and in many ways I prefer solitude. I live in a city of millions (NYC) and make a point of going out everyday even if it is for less than an hour.
Thanks for letting me go down memory lane.
Sidebar. I scanned the headlines of @javabeans HEALER recaps (2014-15) (about a year before I came to kdrama land) and the episode 20 recap lists 11,187 comments over 42 pages! (That must be a record.)

@egads - love this post! I'm a big fan of Ajumma as well. That's my kind of dress-code...

I relate to this so much @egads , in spite of the aegyo persona that comes out when the actual interactions with people comes out. If I had my way, i wouldn’t leave the house on my days off work (unless it is to wander around the park/library/tea shop by myself). But, during a rather bleak period of my life the therapist I was seeing finally knocked it into my head the dangers of my tendency to “self isolate.” (Being the cute competent persona requires so much energy, maybe one day I won’t be so afraid to show my inner grump).

Anyways, enough about myself. Congrats Egads Ahjumma! This was such a wonderful write up ~ Ahjumma is my role model as well! *goes back to my knitting as I watch dramas*

Thank you, @egads!!
This is so filled with heart, humor and wit! I would love to meet you someday in a virtual ahjumma space. I think this is my life's goal now. Meet the real ahjummas who gracefully manage the world in secret!

You'll know me when you see me. I'll be the person reading while walking down the street, wearing a khaki plushy coat (I swear! It's so soft and cuddly, why doesn't everyone wear this?!) and some sort of scarf around my neck so that I don't catch a cold. I might not hear you if you speak to me. The book is so engrossing... almost as good as your essay. 💖

Grumpy hacker ahjumma is one my favourite characters!!! And what a great write up @egads! You write so well! *finger hearts*

@egads What a great write-up and one I can definitely relate to! And I agree, if not for friends and family who need me, I would hide out in my room watching dramas all day (or night).

P.S. I know that this was also an ode to MG's coat porn, right? :)

Congratulations and thanks for writing, @egads. I've been a professional stick-in-the-mud for decades. What are these "trends" to which you refer?

One of these days I'll have to catch up with Kim Mi-kyung in HEALER. ;-)

I. LOVE. THIS. you have such a beautiful way with words. I love how you have a full emotional understand of what you like and what you relate to and how confident you are with it. Keep doing you @egads ❤️❤️

Though I dropped Healer halfway, Ajumma was my favourite. Especially her statement about hating this crap called happiness. Our hot errand boy showed extreme introvert tendencies too with his dream of buying a desert island and with his preference for spending time on the rooftops rather than on land among other people. I can relate to them deeply. I also work alone without colleges or customers and I love every moment of it. I think people are overrated in real life because of their pettiness and their love of the annoying small talk. Fictional characters are much more intriguing and ispirational. I'm afraid I'm not a sweet person beneath the gruff exterior as some might say. I do keep myself to myself except here on DB where I can read ispirational comments and stories in connection with dramas that I'm crazy about. One of my hobbies is jotting ispirational quotes from books, movies, dramas, forums etc. down in my notebook I carry. For me this is a life-saver in order to keep me relatively sane day after day. Thanks for you all.

hehehee..i read "introvert" in title and i knew it has to be you to write it...
i loveddd reading it.. it was like reading my ownself doing what I love to do. and first 2 paragraph made me do *same pinch**hi fi* to you cause thats exactly my non-existent fashion sense or lack of going behind trends...

its always fun to know how other introvert handle the people interaction... and it was so well explained using Healet Ahjhumma as an example...

thanks for sharing @egads.

What a joy it is to read your essay today, @egads. Though I have less time to this semester to watch dramas or visit DB, you remain one of my favorite voices on the interwebs.

@egads
I can't believe I hadn't read this piece of perfection!! Thank you SO much for sharing!
I also have never gone after a trend. I've always been made fun of ("made fun of," since it's never actually serious) because of my lack of fashion sense. I always wear whatever I want, whatever's comfy, and have never really cared about following trends since I don't get why everyone needs to wear the same thing. I think it's silly!
Ahjumma was probably my favorite part of Healer, with those coats and those scarves, and she also ate in front of the computer!!! It made me wish I'd studied something related to computers lol.
The character that went beyond being relatable to me, however, was Cha Hong-do. My gosh, I can't begin to tell you how much I cried with that ending shot on ep 2 where they zoomed in on her red face while asking for help! I still get shivers down my spine. I have a slight issue with my face getting red ALL. THE. TIME. It's not even because of me being embarrassed...I'll get red if I laugh, cry, if I start talking to someone I wasn't talking to before, if someone greets me on the street...and on, and on, and on. What kills me is that, just as with Hong-do, I get redder solely because I know I'm red and I think people will believe I'm embarrassed when I'm not. I couldn't believe there was a character like that in dramaland, I can't explain how amazing it was for me!
This has gotten way too long, but I just wanted to say YES to all you wrote. Especially to looking for threader earrings <3

Sorry for being late , But later better than never 😀😅
Congrats on being published 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 , I enjoyed going through it .