[비즈한국] Gong Ji-hyuk finally found out that Ko Da-rim is not a married woman! Viewers who watched episode 8 of ‘Kiss at a Bad Time!’, which aired on December 4, must have all shouted, “Finally!” To have a man, who had tried to bury his feelings and enter into a political marriage because he thought the woman he fell in love with was already married, find out on the very day of his engagement party that she isn’t married—this might remind avid viewers of the shock in ‘Coffee Prince’ (2007) when Choi Han-gyeol (Gong Yoo) discovered that Go Eun-chan (Yoon Eun-hye), who had been cross-dressing, was a woman on the day she intended to reveal her true identity.
Honestly, when I first started watching ‘Kiss at a Bad Time!’, my jaw dropped in astonishment. Are they really pushing that kind of narrative? Are they really saying those lines? Are they really acting that way in that situation? ‘Kiss at a Bad Time!’ drags in every possible cliché of a Cinderella story that one might think, “Surely not?” Some might ask how it’s any different from previous Cinderella-style dramas like ‘Business Proposal’ or ‘King the Land’. To that, I would firmly say: It is different. ‘Business Proposal’ had a clear, fun approach to twisting and tweaking clichés, and ‘King the Land’ followed them while presenting a 21st-century Cinderella who could fend for herself without the male lead’s help. On the other hand, ‘Kiss at a Bad Time!’ is a drama that clearly bucks the trend of the times.
The general story is as follows: The female lead, Ko Da-rim (Ahn Eun-jin), is a 30-year-old long-term civil service exam student with no work experience. Through a misunderstanding on Jeju Island, she gets entangled with second-generation chaebol Gong Ji-hyuk (Jang Ki-yong), and these encounters continue to repeat. When Ko Da-rim accidentally introduces Gong Ji-hyuk as her boyfriend to an ex-boyfriend she bumped into on the island, Gong Ji-hyuk, who went there to scout the ex-boyfriend (a famous AI developer), immediately plays along to build a rapport. However, by pretending to be a couple, they end up kissing. And this happens in just the first episode! Well, the title is ‘Kiss at a Bad Time!’, so they had to get to the kissing part quickly, but regardless, the drama completely ignored any emotional "build-up" process typical of other shows.
After one kiss, sparks flew between the two. But Ko Da-rim suddenly leaves. This is because news arrived that her married younger sister had run away with her husband after using her parents' property as collateral for private loans, causing her mother to collapse. What does the wealthy heir Gong Ji-hyuk do to find Ko Da-rim? Like a 20th-century romantic hero, he uses the neighborhood Ko Da-rim mentioned (one with a large grandfather tree in front of a supermarket) as a clue, makes a list, and manually crosses off locations as he searches. In the meantime, to support her family, Ko Da-rim sees a job posting for a "career-interrupted" task force team at ‘Natural Bebe’, a baby goods company run by Gong Ji-hyuk’s father, and lies that she is a married woman with a child to get hired. Yes, the next sequence is exactly as you’d expect.
Once Gong Ji-hyuk becomes the team leader, he finds out the reunited Ko Da-rim is a married woman with a child and tries to keep his distance, insisting, “I’m the team leader, you’re the team member!” However, there’s no way to control the chemistry that has already been triggered. Ko Da-rim also finds her heart fluttering for Gong Ji-hyuk despite her lies. Situations also constantly weave them into a fated relationship. To be precise, Gong Ji-hyuk keeps saving Ko Da-rim. He punches her ex-boyfriend for harassing her, saves her from loan sharks who were about to harvest her organs and pays off her debt, performs a "princess carry" to take her to a private hospital room after she collapses from stress-induced gastritis, and eventually finds her when she faints after rolling down a mountain slope that doesn't even look dangerous.
Of course, Ko Da-rim has her merits. From the first scene of episode 1, the drama tries hard to show that even though Ko Da-rim lacks any worldly qualifications, she possesses a warm heart. She closes the open bags of others on the street and helps an elderly woman with mobility issues cross the street. Not forgetting to balance this, the drama also gives Gong Ji-hyuk the clichéd narrative of having scars and distrust toward love caused by his father, so that he can be healed by Ko Da-rim’s heart.
As such, ‘Kiss at a Bad Time!’ has taken every single cliché of the 20th-century Cinderella story. In exchange for the clichés, it has abandoned probability. Abandon any questions about why she had to lie about being married just to get a job with a net monthly salary of a measly 2.27 million won. Abandon the question of why the company’s hiring process is so sloppy, even for a temporary task force team. Also, abandon the question of why, even if it's at the request of the man her fiancée loves, Yoo Ha-young (Woo Da-bi) doesn’t tell Gong Ji-hyuk the full truth even while being branded a homewrecker.
If you give up on expecting a narrative with probability and emotional build-up early on, you’ll feel at ease. You just need to open your eyes wide and enjoy the mellow gaze and sharp jawline of Jang Ki-yong as he recites cartoonish lines. You can enjoy the loveliness of Ahn Eun-jin as she purses her lips like a startled rabbit. Once you do that, the thought of escaping will vanish. While I still find my jaw dropping at every moment, rather than the initial shock, I now feel a kind of awe for the persistence of a drama that pushes a Cinderella story so brazenly and straight-faced. Oh, maybe Ko Da-rim is more of a ‘Candy’ than an aristocratic Cinderella.
In 2025, you might be embarrassed to openly admit that you enjoy this drama as an intellectual. Even so, the ratings for ‘Kiss at a Bad Time!’ are good. It is not only No. 1 among weekday dramas, but it also continues to maintain the No. 1 spot in the 2049 target viewership ratings, which is a key metric. Why? Is it because the majority of people are not intellectuals? Of course not. Is it because of the fatal charm of Jang Ki-yong and Ahn Eun-jin? While the actors’ charm is clearly a huge driving force for watching this show, that alone doesn't explain it.
In fact, while this drama seems anachronistic, it is also a work that accurately hits the trend of Y2K nostalgia. It targets the sensibility of those days when we would squeal at Won Bin in ‘Autumn in My Heart’ shouting, “How much is it? How much do you want!”, or Park Shin-yang in ‘Lovers in Paris’ yelling, “That man is my person! That man is my lover, why can’t you just say it!” Look at how it brings back the 20th-century Cinderella and Candy, whom we thought had disappeared, in their original forms. While "political correctness" and creative hybrid genre shows are good, is there anything as powerful as the memory of "wasn't the old days good?" The moment songs like Jo Sung-mo’s ‘Dajim’ and Emerald Castle’s ‘Footsteps’ played in the karaoke room where a subordinate took Gong Ji-hyuk to console him before his engagement in episode 8, the drama’s brazen straightforwardness made sense. It was a strategy to show the younger generation a unique retro trend while simultaneously having the middle-aged generation relive the familiar sentiments of those days.
So just enjoy the returned Candy. Enjoy the pure-hearted devotion of the male lead, whether he is a Terius or an Albert. Though, I feel like one return of this Candy might be enough for now, but we’ll see.
Who is writer Jung Soo-jin?
She has worked at various magazines, covering and writing about movies, travel, and popular culture. She doesn't want to fall behind on trends, but she has become an "old soul" who only predicts obvious clichés in the next scene while watching the latest dramas. She is drifting through the vast OTT world, trying to regain her lost instincts. Her current wish is for an integrated OTT subscription plan to be released.