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If you had the chance to work for the idol you’ve been a fan of for 13 years, would you take it? Nam Da Reum (Kim Hye Jun) does and soon finds herself caught in a love triangle between her longtime bias, Lee Chan (Cha Woo Min), and her new boss, Kang Ha Gi (Kang Hoon), in tvN’s new K-drama “My Bias, My Boss.” Here’s what you can expect from the drama so far.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
“My Bias, My Boss,” a K-drama adapted from Seong Eun’s webtoon “My Oppa Is an Idol,” opens about a decade before the present day, with Nam Da Reum attending a D.N.X concert and enjoying her youth as a devoted fan. The scene cuts to what feels like a very realistic progression in any fangirl’s life: she’s now a corporate worker. But not for long.
Nam Da Reum has handed in her resignation and applied to APPELLO, a fashion company where her longtime bias, Lee Chan, is the CEO. Thanks to her previous work experience, she lands the job, convinced that her dream has finally come true. She’ll get to work with her bias!
Except there’s a catch. APPELLO actually has two CEOs, and Lee Chan doesn’t work at the office. Instead, Nam Da Reum finds herself reporting to Kang Ha Gi, the CEO who is actually present at the company and whose first impression of her is far from favorable.
The best thing about “My Bias, My Boss” by far is that even though it becomes fairly obvious from the beginning who Nam Da Reum’s endgame will be, she has great chemistry with both male leads. More importantly, both of them show interest in her in their own unique ways.
First up is Kang Ha Gi, Nam Da Reum’s new boss. The two first meet under rather unconventional circumstances at a neighborhood bar, where Nam Da Reum throws an ice cube straight at his nose. It might just be the bloodiest meet-cute ever in K-drama history.
Unfortunately, Nam Da Reum has one major problem: she can’t hold her liquor and blacks out whenever she drinks. Naturally, she has no memory of meeting him.
She runs into him again at her old workplace on the very day she resigns. Kang Ha Gi is there to negotiate a business deal, while Nam Da Reum is on cloud nine after receiving her acceptance letter from APPELLO. In her excitement, she literally crashes into him and leaves an imprint on his heart, or, more accurately, her make-up leaves an imprint on his pristine white shirt. For Kang Ha Gi, it becomes an annoyingly memorable incident. For Nam Da Reum, however, the encounter barely registers. She’s far too excited about her new job to process what just happened and forgets about meeting him once again.
Finally, she meets him at APPELLO, where the team manager introduces Kang Ha Gi as the company’s CEO and promptly shatters the dream castle she had built around working with Lee Chan.
But Nam Da Reum also develops a rather interesting, and completely wrong, impression of Kang Ha Gi.
She first notices a photograph in his office. Although it’s a group photo with several staff members, she can’t help but notice that Kang Ha Gi appears to be looking at Lee Chan rather than the camera. Later, she comes across an online rumor claiming that APPELLO’s two CEOs, Lee Chan and Kang Ha Gi, are secretly dating. Nam Da Reum initially tries to convince herself that online rumors are just… rumors.
That is, until she spots a suspicious love letter in Kang Ha Gi’s room addressed to none other than Lee Chan. At that point, she’s convinced the rumors must be true. And this is where Nam Da Reum and Kang Ha Gi’s dynamic becomes particularly hilarious.
On one hand, Kang Ha Gi believes his new employee is completely cuckoo and possibly even a corporate spy who deliberately joined APPELLO to steal their business secrets. As a result, he keeps a close eye on her, convinced that she’s there to sabotage the company. On the other hand, Nam Da Reum is convinced that her boss is gay and secretly in love with her bias. Oddly enough, this misunderstanding starts to make her feel a little softer toward him.
These hilarious misconceptions between the two are exactly what create the perfect setup for a classic rom-com.
Of course, no true rom-com is complete without a love triangle, and as the title suggests, the third side of this triangle is none other than Nam Da Reum’s longtime bias, Lee Chan.
His relationship with Nam Da Reum follows a somewhat familiar idol-fan romance setup: the two have actually crossed paths years before.
However, their past connection isn’t quite the typical scenario where the idol has secretly been in love with his fan all along, as seen in dramas like “Lovely Runner.” Instead, Lee Chan once gave a handmade pendant to a fan and that fan happened to be Nam Da Reum. Now, after spotting that same pendant hanging around his employee’s neck, Lee Chan becomes curious about the girl who has remained a loyal fan even after D.N.X disbanded nearly 10 years ago.
And while both male leads show interest in Nam Da Reum, they do so in very different ways.
Kang Ha Gi is quiet and seemingly cold on the surface, but he clearly has a soft spot for the people he cares about, a classic tsundere type. When Nam Da Reum compliments his outfit, for example, he immediately checks himself out in the mirror, proving that beneath the intimidating CEO exterior is someone who is surprisingly conscious of how he looks.
Similarly, after noticing the pendant around Nam Da Reum’s neck, Lee Chan gives her his phone number and waits for her to call for days!
While the love triangle is still in its early stages, the contrasting personalities of the two male leads already make it easy to see why Nam Da Reum could find herself caught between them. Kang Ha Gi’s reserved, prickly personality creates plenty of comedic tension, while Lee Chan’s connection to her past as a fan adds a more nostalgic and romantic element to their relationship.
One seemingly small detail that the audience particularly appreciated, however, is that Nam Da Reum doesn’t get her job at APPELLO simply because she happens to be a longtime D.N.X fan or because of some stroke of luck. She gets the position because she is actually competent at what she does. It’s a refreshing detail that gives her character more substance beyond being the stereotypical fangirl protagonist.
Hopefully, the drama continues to highlight her professional skills in the episodes to come. It would be especially satisfying to see her competence become an important part of the plot, perhaps even having her knowledge and abilities play a role in helping save APPELLO from a major crisis. If the drama goes in that direction, it would be a fantastic way to give Nam Da Reum her own storyline outside of the love triangle.
With its mistaken identities, hilarious misunderstandings, idol-fan fantasy, and two very different love interests, “My Bias, My Boss” is already shaping up to be a lighthearted rom-com that knows exactly how to have fun with its premise. If you’re looking for a fun, easy-to-watch drama with plenty of laughs, romantic tension, and an entertaining love triangle, “My Bias, My Boss” is definitely one to add to your watchlist.
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Javeria is a binge-watching specialist who loves devouring entire K-dramas in one sitting. Good screenwriting, beautiful cinematography, and a lack of clichés are the way to her heart. As a music fanatic, she listens to multiple artists across different genres and stans the self-producing idol group SEVENTEEN. You can talk to her on Instagram @javeriayousufs.
Currently watching: “My Bias My Boss,” “Your Summer, My Storm,” and “The Affair was Just the Beginning.”
Looking forward to: “Four Hands, Two Sonatas,” “The Whimsical Return,” and “Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,” “A Love Other Than Yours.”
English (US) · 
Indonesian (ID) ·