Rewatched this again after I couldn't find anything I wanted to watch that's new & decided to write a review. Since this was my gateway cdrama years ago, it holds a special place in my heart but the things I remember being bothered with the first time around were more part of the fun rediscovery of the story this time around. I say this because you could be watching this the first time with similar eyes to mine. ;p

The first time around, I was constantly annoyed with the FL for any number of reasons. She's really uptight but it grows on you. She's also demure to the point of you realizing it must be some kind of cultural statement to create a FL like that. I mean, comparing her in the match to Xiao Nai would indicate that she holds some standard of perfection, right? (I kept wanting to be annoyed that they were both supposed to be gods and goddesses of the school but the teenage girl fantasy stuff was VERY strong with this one, so I let it go. Her friends only harassed about her looks occasionally but the level of attention the ML was on was just unbelievable.) The music w/the slo mo...niiiice. ;) Let's just say I liked her more knowing beforehand that she was going to reveal 75% of her character in via internal dialogue and that she was a crappy kisser. S'okay cuz Yang Yang made it up for her in those parts! :) I didn't fall for the ML until about 25% of the way in because he was also reticent and conveyed most of his emotions in subtle eyebrow movements. Again, it was much more fun on the rewatch to see it so early on; the first time, he appeared more deadpan to me because he doesn't show too much emotion early on. Once he began pursuing the FL outside the game, he had me! He started smiling more and they started smiling more and oh, it was a super sweet sticky icky love fest, lol. Also, the way he pursues her is straight-up fantasy fun and my favorite kind of ML-- one who knows what he wants and decides to go after it with determination and resolve. It's super hot!

T he video game element was weird to me the first time as well but I'm 100% okay with it now! I've gotten into Wuxia & martial arts style cdramas since then, so thought the incorporation of the game world was really fun. It was also SUPER fun seeing the boys in their game roles again. They were one of my favorite parts of this show. (It's also been fun to see so many of the actors in dramas since then, as each has continued to have a successful career!) Each of their personalities were perfect for being friends and business partners together--yes, it pulled away from the romance a bit but only a little bit, okay?! While her relationship with her friends was much stronger in the earlier parts of the drama, his kept going on throughout. I enjoyed her relationship with them as "one of the guys" and their lunch dates outside the office, though .

OST is pretty great, too! :D. Some of these songs so easily get stuck in my head!!!