I wouldnt mind seeing Dong-ryong with his own happily ever after with that model gf he supposedly have. He was the only character unscathed from the complicated love stories his childhood friends went through. So would be nice to see him settled with a lovely woman and kids. Proving to be a better parent than his own.

@frabbycrabsis YES this write up was such a joy to read, I laughed all the way through it! I agree with everything you said, and reading this has made me miss those valuable side characters all over again. Especially Su-bong in W, I remember him almost as much as I remember Lee Jong-suk with a gun, and that's really saying something (so glad to see him back in Player ). Sometimes, I imagine short clips of the side characters (like an epilogue) doing their shenanigans after the finale of the drama, just to leave the audience behind with some humor or sentiment to truly remember the drama with. And that's why I really appreciate those drama writers who take the care and time to write some sort of satisfactory ending for every character of significance in the drama, just so our imagination can have a place to take off from.

@frabbycrabsis I love your Kang Ki-young character arc from Weightlifting to While You Were Sleeping. It could happen.

And I agree Su-bong deserved better in W. (Actually everyone deserved better than that second half)

THIS. I love this, and agree wholeheartedly! There is nothing worse than falling in love with a whole cast, only to have the final hour belong solely to a boring albeit cute main couple.

🤦🏻‍♀️ I can't believe you just made me watch part of Love Rain

Wait, what? I only watched the first half of Love Rain for SIG and then dropped the rest because I thought he wouldn't be in the second half. Was he?

Those four actors you featured steal every show they're in. I'm waiting for the drama where these four are the bromantic leads. Remake of Gentleman's Dignity, maybe?

Answer Me 1988 was one of my favourite from the series but the exclusion of Dong Ryung in the end was absolutely criminal!!! How could they???

@frabbycrabsis Wonderfully written it captivated from the start and I laughed till the end.😂
Thank you for the best epilogue which I could have gotten.💗
It's hard to watch the end if the character we like doesn't get their possible ending at the end. May be that's why I like Whats Wrong With Secretary Kim coz though the show was all about the main caouple but they never failed till the end to keep the focus on side characters too whom I loved.💗

Su-bong from W-Two Worlds not only deserved an awesome epilogue of his own, but also a whole new and much better drama for all he had to go through in that show. At the very least, the writer owed him his sanity and peaceful life from that freaky encounter with No-Face.

Dong-ryong! Absolutely, he was my favourite character in R88. Excellent post @frabbycrabsis. And Lol at Go Dok Jae’s head still stuck between the bars. 🤣🤣🤣
Dare I say it, but A Poem A Day could have given us a 20-second epilogue of Alligator washing up on the beach and being reunited with Nam Woo...🐊 and Nam-Woo walking into his new workplace with a hopeful smile on his face (and with Min Ho)...for further reading I recommend the extensive Alligator fanfic on the beanie walls, as well as @greenfields’ poetic epilogue post. 😊

I'm fully onboard with the Kang Ki-young crossover! Thanks for the laugh.

I loved Answer Me 1988 and Weightlifting Fairy! :D
Thanks for the article! It was a funny read... I loved it!

Another “Love Rain” mention! SIG made a huge impression on me in this show. I remember looking him up and telling my husband that he is super famous now, and that this was his first role! Thanks for including him.

Congrats frabby on being published 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 .
I enjoyed it so much .

The one drama where we got a satisfactory epilogue from the memorable supporting characters was Live Up To Your Name.
It was so tantalising that I was almost convinced we would have a second season but alas!

I agree with everything you just. So many great characters that were supposed to be side characters and ended up stealing our hearts (which is saying something because Answer me 1988 had a lot of amazing performances and Dong-ryong still managed to carve a special place in my heart).

Love Rain almost bored me to death, and I blame SIG for making me watch it til the very very end.

I love watching Li Si Eon, but besides W other memorable epilogue came to mind: Chief Kim and The Defendant, where he only showed up in the very last scene. Best scene stealer hands down🙌🏻

Okay thank you for mentioning reply '88, I was planning to do it but glad you did it frabbycrabis.
it is so true that half the members of the friend group were just forgotten in the end. I really wanted to see how the other boys were doing in the end T.T
I never got it.

Thanks to Soo Bong, I'll watch any drama Lee Si Un is in. He should have gotten some kind of award for that--it would not have been the same without his panicky hilarity. Surely Soo Bong did get to meet his manhwa crush. (But probably was speechless and didn't say anything in her presence.) If I remember right, the writer said that after the drama ended, Kang Chul still had the ability to travel back and forth between worlds. Then he could summon people, right? Perhaps he and Yeon Joo had a proper marriage ceremony (where they actually got to show up in person), because her mom would surely like to be there. I would think that he'd bring his close friends from the manhwa over to the real world. I imagine Soo Bong watching from behind, utterly awestruck to see a living, breathing So Hui, lol.

This was so well written .kudos @frabbycrabsis 👌👌👌
Every character you mentioned deserves their own HEA..one of the many things I love about kdramas are these guys and girls who take up the best friend/side kick roles and manage to steal the show and our hearts.It is always sad when they get left behind during the usually strapped for time,gotta squeeze it all in finale but it is heartening that us fans know they are sometimes the special sauce that makes a show cracktastic.

Thank you for writing about the characters who are the unsung drama heroes. They are often my favorites too and I love watching actors grow while playing these supporting roles.
I loved reading this, @frabbycrabsis !

"Perhaps Kang Ki-young could snap at the end of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-ju just in time to play the terrifying cat/sibling-murderer in While You Were Sleeping?"

Or maybe always-an-extra-never-a-star Uncle got his big acting break, and the WYWS villain was his first speaking role. And in the Weightlifting Fairy universe he becomes popular in thrillers and crime dramas. He gets *one* role as a quirky comic relief but it seems *so* out of character that he doesn't do it again; but being typecast as psychos and evil masterminds isn't bad work if you can get it so he has a long and lucrative career. =D

Kang Ki-Young is one of my faves. I find myself coming up with headcannons about his characters all the time.