Start-Up: The Real Story

There will be many angry viewers out there who will convince you that Start-Up's story made no sense and that the writer is a hack. Don't believe them. Start-up is a wonderful, heart-warming story. It's pretty easy to understand as long as you are really paying attention instead of banking on kdrama tropes. 

So fair warning, for those who would rather not be spoiled leave now, but for those who want to read on, please do: 

Start-Up: The Real Story (that Deluded Viewers Refuse to See) 

Dalmi was a 12-year old girl who was writing penpal letters to a boy she thought was also 12. He was eloquent, gentle, and always on her side. The memories of the letters are so fond, her mental image of this secret admirer (who she never meets face-to-face) becomes a larger than life standard against which she would measure all other boys. 

Fifteen years later she finds out it was actually an 18-year old boy who started writing the letters as a favor to her grandmother. It's a relationship that started with a lie. A well-intentioned lie but still not the truth. The 18-year old boy was not a secret admirer who wanted to be her friend. Eventually perhaps he did start writing the letters in earnest. And the letters did bring her comfort. For this, she would always be grateful.

Also 15 years later she meets a boy who she was instantly physically attracted to, who listened patiently to her and could always see the value in what she was saying, who helped her grandma cope with blindness, who helped her dream big and was always on her side. His name was the name of that long-lost penpal but he didn't write those letters. Their relationship also starts out with a lie but in the end real feelings grow between them. They survive many crises together and come out stronger. Even when she had broken his heart, he continued working on the application that her grandmother needed. Because he loved her that much. Because her grandmother deserved at least that much. 

The letters were a sweet fond memory. But she didn't need their comfort anymore. She had found someone who always came to her when she needed him. Who did not speak with the eloquence of the letters. But who turned out to be all the good things that she had imagined the boy who wrote the letters to be: 

... he was kind and gentle with her; 

... he was always, always completely on her side. 

And she loved him. 

His name was Nam Do San. 

The End.