K-DRAMA FIRST LOOK: “No Gain No Love” Sets Off on an Enchanting Journey with a Woman Determined to Seize Every Opportunity

August 29, 2024
FEATURES/K-DRAMA RECAPS

Living up to her name, our leading lady wants no losses in her life. And if being single will make her lose out on life opportunities, our heroine will go ahead and get married immediately.

But for a wedding to go through, one needs a partner. And who would be a better suitor than our convenience store part-timer who might not be fond of our heroine for now but will fall for her along the way? And isn’t she just the same?

Bunny S. watches No Gain No Love on Prime Video

Opening Week Rating:

No Gain No Love Opening Week Story

“Congratulatory money is supposed to be give and take, but I have only ever given.”

We open the drama with our leading lady, Seon Hae-yeong (Shin Min-ah), attending the wedding of a colleague. Handing over a money envelope, she laments the fact that she keeps giving out congratulatory money without receiving any in return since she has yet to get married. And incurring losses is one thing Hae-yeong can’t put up with since she was a child.

 

As it turns out, the groom is her ex-boyfriend. Given how she was the one who broke up with him, it might be safe to say she doesn’t have any lingering feelings. But when she learns that the wedding day also marks the couple’s first anniversary, she gets mad. It has only been six months since the breakup. Which means the ex-boyfriend dated both women at the same time. He was also brazen enough to pretend to be heartbroken over the breakup and then propose to his other girlfriend on the same day.

As revenge, Hae-yeong turned her outfit into a wedding dress of sorts and made sure to ruin each photo she was in. Or that is what she imagined doing. Instead, the only thing she could do was catch the bouquet. Good for you, girl!

Confronting her ex, Hae-yeong argues she only needs the congratulatory money back. But the ex-boyfriend counters that he will only give her that money if she gets married, wondering if such a “calculative” woman could find someone who would agree to marry her.

Flashbacks show us that the reason she broke up with her ex-boyfriend wasn’t that she fell out of love as she claimed back then but because the ex-boyfriend regarded Hae-yeong’s sick mother as a burden, asking if she was the only one who could take care of her mother. Sparing him the trouble, she dumped him shortly after. And I have to say it is her gain to get rid of that trashy man.

Aside from getting her money back, a more urgent reason arises for Hae-yeong to rush to get married. An in-house contest is announced and the winner will get to work under the CEO’s supervision. The catch: due to some family history, single women aren’t allowed to work closely with the CEO. Poor Hae-yeong might lose out on the chance to get promoted only because she is a single woman. Seriously!

“If only you were married, the fast-track promotion would have been yours.”

If marriage was something one could do by themselves, Hae-yeong would have gotten married ages ago. But how can she find a suitable man on such a tight schedule? Out of the blue, a light bulb goes off in her head. While drinking her sorrows away at the convenience store she frequents, it occurs to Hae-yeong that it won’t be a bad idea to marry Long-term Part Timer, Kim Ji-wook (Kim Young-dae).

For now, all we get about Ji-wook is the fact he got raised up by his grandmother (cameo by Kim Hae-suk) after getting abandoned by his parents. And for unrevealed reasons, Ji-wook knowingly messes up job interviews, claiming there is something he wants to do. But it isn’t clear yet if that mission has to do with working at the convenience store.

Moreover, Ji-wook was appointed as a civil officer after reporting wanted criminals and catching a few on his own. Long story short: people around him deem Ji-wook as a wingless angel who always helps others out and feeds stray cats. But something about him feels suspicious to me. Is he just a goody two-shoes who wants to provide people with the support he couldn’t get or is there a bigger secret at play here?

Ironically, Ji-wook gets along well with almost everyone around him except for Hae-yeong. And given her feisty personality, that should come as no surprise. Still, it is hilarious how Hae-yeong basically chose her enemy as her potential fake groom and kept trying to convince him that she was a kind and modest woman like his perfect type to get him on board.

Unsurprisingly, she gets turned down. But another situation arises that made Hae-yeong more antsy about getting married. The ex-boyfriend steals her idea and submits a proposal in the contest. When confronted about it, he has the nerve to claim that single women wouldn’t be allowed on the team anyway, so she should think of it as a relief that her idea will be implemented.

Seeing how Hae-yeong won’t fall for those sugar-coated words, the ex-boyfriend plays my-mother-in-law-is-the-CEO’s-mother’s-friend card. When Hae-yeong doesn’t budge and threatens to reveal their relationship, the ex-boyfriend argues he will paint Hae-yeong as a jealous woman who can’t get over her now-married ex-boyfriend. Except, she turns the table on him. She is getting married in a month.

“Are you really going through with the fake wedding?”

Someone as competent as Hae-yeong can get everything prepared by then, but what about the most important thing, the groom? Luckily for her, Ji-wook has a change of heart and agrees to act as her fake groom. After all, he can’t have her get involved with wicked men while trying to find a fake groom at the pumpkin market. In return, Ji-wook has one condition, a home. But it isn’t for him but for a stray cat that needs some special care for a week.

Hae-yeong’s criteria for picking Ji-wook are that he doesn’t have many connections, is a part-timer, and most importantly, he isn’t good-looking, so he would be pretty forgettable to the guests. (I don’t agree with the latter but I guess the hairstyle is hiding Kim Young-dae’s charming face.) Hae-yeong plans to steal the show so the guests would only focus on her and forget about the groom. You see, she is thoughtful enough to worry about the possibility of other people pestering Ji-wook after the deal is done.

But we are in drama land, so things don’t go as planned. While at the bridal shop, Hae-yeong runs into her ex-boyfriend and his wife, who happens to work at the same company as them. Having spotted Hae-yeong and her ex-boyfriend together in the past, Ji-wook can tell just by the name that he was Hae-yeong’s ex-boyfriend. However, that encounter didn’t leave a good impression on Ji-wook. He is rather disgusted by how the ex-boyfriend wanted Hae-yeong to abandon her sick mother.

Pulling the curtains, Ji-wook steps out of the fitting room, looking dashing in his tuxedo. Thus, leaving both Hae-yeong and the wife stunned. And this is where we end our opening week. By now, Hae-yeong must be eating her words about Ji-wook not being good-looking, but we have to wait until next week to see how their fake marriage deal will turn into the beginning of a love story.

No Gain No Love Opening Week Musings

On paper, Hae-yeong might not be a likable person, but something about Shin Min-ah’s portrayal makes her endearing. Also, I appreciate how layered Hae-yeong is. She might come across as cold and calculative, but it is only a facade to protect herself from being hurt. Back when she was a child, Hae-yeong’s mother used to foster children for a living. Growing up, it has always hurt Hae-yeong how good her mother was to others while not caring about her.

My heart went out to her when Hae-yeong started to question if she was lovable. Getting “abandoned” by her mother left a scar in Hae-yeong’s heart and then meeting that trashy ex-boyfriend only made things worse. So, I hope by the end of the drama we see a more self-confident Hae-yeong who has learned to treasure herself the way she is.

Luckily for Hae-yeong, she has people who sincerely care about her, though she might not realize it. We don’t get much details but Hae-yeong is still close to two of the girls her mother fostered and one of them lives with Hae-yeong in the same house. Sisterhood romance and female friendships are one of the favorite catnips, so let’s hope this one turns out entertaining.

As for Ji-wook, we have more questions than answers, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Insisting to tag along so that Hae-yeong won’t go alone to the bridal shop shows us that Ji-wook is a caring person underneath his not-so-approachable exterior. And that is enough to make me invested in his character arc.

Photos and Videos: tvN Drama

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Bunny Sonaki

I am Bunny. Just like you, I am smitten with Kdramas and look forward to watching every Kdrama out there, but is that dream ever possible since they keep showering us with new dramas every day? For me, Kdramas are my comfort zone and a warm hug that makes it possible to face up to whatever life throws my way.

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