You fair broke my heart with this, Woo-young. I’m going to need some time to forgive you for this casual wtf-ery.

(1) staff member enquiring into student’s dating life = not okay
(2) assumption that one’s romantic opportunities are entirely dictated by whether one has offers and not, yknow, by whether you reciprocate anyone’s interest

Please get over your Mi-Rae crush and go back to being one of the few decent men in this show.















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    I found that scene really uncomfortable to watch. I guess we were given a heads up when someone said he usually dates model types.

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    It. Is. Never. Okay. To. Date. Your. Students.

    I like this character. Yes he is a good man, yes they are both adults and close in age, but everything about this is inappropriate, and I hope hope hope it will be addressed instead of romanticized.

    Additionally, even as I think of it more, having one of his students as a roommate, even if it is an act of substantial kindness, is fraught with complicated power dynamics that are not good.

    7
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      I hate it so much. I hate it I hate it I hate it. It’s not okay. It’s not cute. It is an abuse of a position of trust and responsibility. And it can be difficult to makes boundaries clear when the age gap is negligible, but none of that negates the power differential that makes anything approaching equality next to impossible.

      Honestly, I had mentally glossed over the oddness of their cohabitation. But you’re right.

      Aargh. This show.

      7
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    I didnt like this scene either. I don’t mind the crush but did not like that he decided to act on it in this way. Or that she should want to date because she is pretty so the boys will want to is just…..
    But I do ship him with Oh Hyun-jung, so not sure how to work that out. Also, really like the big brother relationship he has going with KS. He is a bit of a caretaker and it is really cute when applied towards his roommate.

    6
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      At least with Hyun-Jung they’re in different departments, so they don’t encounter each other in a teacher:student relationship. But he is Mi-rae’s teacher.

      As @egads mentioned, the cohabitation hijinks are a bit weird. Even if it comes from a place of kindness. There aren’t any boundaries between person and professional with Woo-young. Everything is quite muddled.

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        In real life I’d be concerned, unless they had a prior relationship, if he just moved in with his TA. And the TA would probably have to acknowledge a conflict of interest.
        But for the sake of the show it doesn’t bother me. I like the forced cohabitation trope even with bromance I guess. 🤷‍♀️
        But absolutely in real life our young men should be protected just as much from potential harm.

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    Just curious, what a TA means in Korea. Where i come from TA’s are usually students who assist teachers in class/projects. Teachers Assistant.
    They are usually Masters students or Phd or research scholars. So technically they are students but get paid to assist teachers.
    Is that not the case here?

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      That’s what I’m assuming it means. That’s what it means in the UK and Ireland, too. I’m assuming Woo-young is a PhD student?

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        Well, clarification: in these islands teaching assistants are usually called “tutors” or “demonstrators”. They usually run tutorials or laboratory demonstrations, which run alongside lectures and seminars given by more senior teaching staff. In these roles they can have some to total responsibility for managing/leading their class group sessions as well as any associated administration and assessment and marking. They may also have office hours and be a point of contact for students about the course/module/programme. This seems to map to Woo-young’s role/responsibilities. In any event, it seems he is both a student and a member of the teaching staff.

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      Yep it works both ways – upperclassmen TAs are lower salaried and are still in education, whereas graduate TAs are higher up the ladder with more responsibilities. I’m not sure which of the categories woo-young fits into, but if he’s still in education whilst at the university, for me personally, it doesn’t pose much of a problem. It’s clear he’s still part of the department, and shares similar status to the rest of the upper classmen.

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        That’s cool that it’s not a problem for you but even if Woo-young is a senior undergraduate student this behaviour is pretty problematic and inappropriate. He is a student and he is a staff member in her department. It’s not appropriate for a staff member to quiz their student on their dating preferences. Never mind intend/hope to date them while they are still one’s student. It is grossly unprofessional.

        Honestly, if I caught one of my fellow postgrad tutors having this conversation with a freshman student I would absolutely skin him/her alive.

        2
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          For sure, in RL it would most definitely breach professional conduct, at least where I’m from, or at the very least, be frowned upon, but in drama terms, Woo-young hasn’t really crossed the lines in terms of letting his personal feelings dictate his professional duties – for that reason, I’m willing to cut the guy some slack. Plus, I imagine university codes of conduct varies from place to place, so maybe it’s not wholly unacceptable in some countries.

          2
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            The conversation itself is unprofessional. Having this conversation at all was inappropriate. The fact that we know he is interested in Mi-rae romantically makes it worse. As her senior/tutor he should never say or do anything that indicates whether he is attracted to her or whether anything she says could be construed as flirtation or an expression of romantic interest. She should be able to be confident that he is interested in her academic progress and general wellbeing only, without wondering or worrying about ulterior motives. The show presented this as a nice scene but it was another example of a male character offering unsolicited commentary on the attractiveness of a female character, with the added ick of that guy being a tutor.

            I don’t really get the drama/RL distinction. In that, yes, this is drama, and many dramas (not just Kdramas) are pretty regressive in their politics. But I don’t think I should need to switch off all my critical faculties when I watch a drama. I try to celebrate the fun and thoughtful and beautiful parts, and I criticise or take the mick out of 1 in 10 problematic AF parts.

            There aren’t any policies around this in my university or in most universities in my part of the world in fact. In fact, these kinds of scenarios have been romanticized and normalised for a very long time in European cultural representations of tutor/tutee relationships. I don’t think this is a question of needing to engage in cultural relativism.

            Again, it’s cool that this doesn’t bother you. But it does bother me, and I do think my reasons for being irked by it are legitimate.

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            Ah I apologise, my stance was not intended to negate yours – your reasons for being irked are completely justified, and valid. All part of the viewing experience I guess – to each their own! 😅

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        I think it’s a bit tricky since he directly is engaged in teaching her a class and she is a freshman. I have known TA’s and students in a relationship but it was usually a post grad student and a PHD TA. It was more of an equal dynamic since they seemed more like colleagues at that point.
        I wish the show just kept him as a senior. Not sure why he had to be a TA. I heard in the webtoon he is just a senior.

        2
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          It’s definitely a tricky scenario, partly because it deals with professional ethics which is based around conflict of interest.

          Whilst it’s a lot more clear cut for teaching professionals (lead educators), those who hold the role of a student/grad TA, the rules do seem a tad bit more skewed, in that even though they’re expected to adhere to professional codes of conduct, they’re not bound by them.

          I also think such codes of conduct are not universally applied, but are, to some degree, culturally shaped. Policies which govern the West, especially in relation to the workplace/educational settings, need not hold the same level of stringency elsewhere (and vice-versa) – like the system of seniority for example.

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          It can be tricky. But once folk are in that teacher:student relationship, i.e. one is the other’s teacher in a formal capacity, then dating and conversation of this type should be off the table.

          Students dating one another outside of that? Cool. Whatever. The problem is that he’s a TA. It’s a pity the show decided to change his role, as you say.

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    I also think that it’s inappropriate of him to ask Mi Rae out. He is no longer a sunbae only, but a teacher (or TA) in their Chemistry lab course!
    The fact that he likes Mi Rae alone is enough to destroy her, not to mention he thinks of dating her!
    Kids might spread rumor that he gives her/her team special favors, or she seduces him for grades only… >.<
    I just wish that the show write him as a sunbae only – who stays at school for post doc. or who runs a private lab next to the school that the kids visits regularly, not any teaching involved!

    3
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      The fact that he likes Mi Rae alone is enough to destroy her, not to mention he thinks of dating her!
      Kids might spread rumor that he gives her/her team special favors, or she seduces him for grades only… >.<

      Yup. Terrible no good bad idea.

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