Idol’s Childhood Friend

rob z says:

Ok, twenty chapters in, and here is a quick pre-review based on 20+ chapters. There will be some spoilers, so be forewarned.

For reference, I am a big time pure love fan – it’s my favorite tag. But I am having a real hard time getting into this. Story starts with MC in the army finishing up his mandatory military service. He has a childhood friend he has known for 15 years, who is a member of one of the most popular idol groups in Korea (think Blackpink level – MC indicated they are right up there with BTS). They have kept in touch and are still very close. MC is a smart introvert, and childhood friend (call her FMC) is obviously more outgoing (apparently she was a bit of a tomboy when they were younger).

MC finally gets out of the army and is visiting Japan. FMC just finished up a trip with her bandmates and came to Japan to meet him (basically calls from the airport and says “hey, I’m here, let’s meet up”). MC basically is a tsundere @hole to her on the phone (and continues to be a tsundere @hole pretty much the whole novel). In general, I don’t get the banter they have – I think the author thinks it’s some kind of cute childhood friend thing, but it doesn’t come across that way – he’s just a jerk. FMC finally bullies him into getting together.

Unbeknownst to MC, FMC had a girl-talk session with her other bandmates before the trip where they tease FMC about how she must be dating MC. Won’t get into details, but in short, FMC denies they are dating, saying they are just good friends, but starts thinking about it, maybe realizing there is something there.

*****Mild Spoilers below******

MC and FMC have a trip together, and after much cajoling, FMC films a vlog of her trip. They apparently have a good time, although MC continues to be a tsundere. Towards end of trip, FMC confesses, and MC says “I love you …. like a friend.”

Brief interjection here: the mtl is not very good, which is very problematic in a novel like this where phrasing and nuance are important. Noble did not use the good mtl, which is a shame. Thus, some of the stuff below is what I understand, but could have misread things.

Basically, MC seems to have loved the FMC for a while, but never confessed. Then it seems he was internally suffering for years trying to be with FMC and hiding his feelings, and finally gave up on her romantically (but still remained friends). So by time FMC confessed, it was “too late”.

Vlog gets published on line, and is a huge hit – millions of views. Afterward, FMC does some kind of social media video about the Vlog, also millions of views. This leads the FMC’s production company to want to make a short video series about FMC and MC. In the middle of this, FMC and MC have another talk, and FMC makes a bet with MC she will make MC fall for her in 6 months, or give up. And the story goes from there.