Actor Kim Hyang-gi is expected to completely erase her youthful child actor image with "The Absolute Value of Romance."
On the 17th, Coupang Play series "The Absolute Value of Romance" was first released. "The Absolute Value of Romance" is a high-teen series about a high school girl who wrote BL novels with handsome teachers as protagonists, who in reality encounters unexpected moments with them and becomes the protagonist of a turbulent school life. On the day of the first release, it unveiled episodes 1 through 4 in succession, boasting a fast pace from the start.
The drama begins with failed BL web novel author Yeo Eui-ju (played by Kim Hyang-gi) meeting new neighbors. In reality, Yeo Eui-ju is an ordinary second-year high school student, but she kept the secret that she was a writer of a failed BL novel serialized for 100 episodes whose view counts, including her own, were at most 2 per installment. Although her younger brother knows this and teases her by calling her a "pervert" and blackmails her, Yeo Eui-ju dreams of becoming a popular web novel author while letting her imagination run wild.
Then four handsome teacher neighbors move into Yeo Eui-ju's neighborhood. Ga Woo-su (played by Cha Hak-yeon), Jeong Ki-jeon (played by Son Jeong-hyeok), No Da-ju (played by Kim Jae-hyun), and Yoon Dong-ju (played by Kim Dong-gyu) are the protagonists. Yeo Eui-ju lets her imagination run wild at the sight of the four she happened to encounter. In Yeo Eui-ju's imagination, Ga Woo-su and Jeong Ki-jeon become rivals over Yoon Dong-ju and transform into BL characters who fight, quarrel and show affection to each other.
Eventually Yeo Eui-ju serializes a new web novel inspired by them. Perhaps because it was reconstructed based on vivid conversations of real people, the novel shot to number one in the rankings as soon as it began serialization, exciting fans. The attention Yeo Eui-ju, who had been a failed writer, receives for the first time in her life is simply sweet. But she is anxious that it might be revealed that she used people she meets every day at home and at school as character motifs.
Moreover, Yeo Eui-ju's relationship with Ga Woo-su, her homeroom teacher and math teacher, was strained from the start. She was suspected of surreptitiously filming Ga Woo-su and Yoon Dong-ju on their way to work, and at school she was labeled a "math dropout" with a 4-point math score. Above all, Ga Woo-su linked a classmate who had been mentioned as a troublemaker in her class to penalty points, and especially demanded from Yeo Eui-ju a reflection letter and after-school math, revealing a hostile teacher-student relationship toward her.
Meanwhile, "The Absolute Value of Romance" delivers laughs by switching between the unpredictable reality of a high school girl and a BL web novel. In unpredictable developments, Yeo Eui-ju's situation becomes hopelessly tangled, and because of equally unexpected turns, relationships sometimes progress rapidly. In particular, the interplay of Yeo Eui-ju and Ga Woo-su, shifting between a hostile and a teacher-student relationship, draws attention.
Meanwhile, Kim Hyang-gi's performance stands out. A former child actor known for her youthful, baby-faced looks, Kim Hyang-gi fully elevates the charm of the clumsy but never hateful lovable protagonist Yeo Eui-ju in "The Absolute Value of Romance." Having built solid acting skills in numerous works, her consistent ability to inhabit the character is striking. Whether she nosebleeds from BL fantasies, falls victim to the new homeroom teacher Ga Woo-su's unfair criticism, or sheds sincere tears trying to correct a small mistake that almost escalated, it is Kim Hyang-gi who gives credibility to the cartoonish Yeo Eui-ju's characterization.
The chemistry shown by the four handsome teachers, including Cha Hak-yeon, Son Jeong-hyeok, Kim Jae-hyun and Kim Dong-gyu, adds to the knowing smiles. In reality they are handsome teachers any high school girl might swoon over, but in Yeo Eui-ju's imagination their brazen transformation into BL characters adds buoyant humor. As a result, attention is focused on what the absolute value of this romance centered on Kim Hyang-gi will be.
[Photo] Provided by Coupang Play.
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