AH

It changed my theory for Myeol Mang for sure.

The Pinocchio part is brilliant. Thanks for sharing!

That makes me think of the part about fortune and misfortune sometimes having the same face, so they're difficult to differentiate. Is it auspicious because it's lucky, or ominous because it's the precursor to something unlucky?

Does 333 have a particular meaning in Korean? Something like 666? I'm wondering if there's a reason they had Myeol Mang show up at her door at 3:33 AM.

^ This 100%. I have a few critiques but for the most part I'm really enjoying it. It's very addictive.

I wonder if Myeol Mang was human once and wished for doom to be brought upon the world at the same moment that a star was dying, and the deity partly granted his wish / partly punished him by making him Doom? And when he said that Tak Dong Kyung thought the same thing at the same time as him, it wasn't just that he wants the world to end now so he can die, but also that he made the same wish on his birthday when he was human?

The Deity did say that Tak Dong Kyung would not "resign herself to the world" the way Myeol Mang did, and Myeol Mang then said he would make Tak Dong Kyung resign herself to the world. Idk if that phrase is equally vague in the original Korean dialogue or not, but I think this is basically saying that Myeol Mang once wished for the world to end and the Deity thinks that Tak Dong Kyung won't do the same. At that point in the story, Myeol Mang was still determined to make Tak Dong Kyung wish for the world to end. It was before he accepted Tak Dong Kyung's alternative tactic of having Tak Dong Kyung fall in love with him so he can die (and she can live) when she fails to wish for the world to end. So making her resign herself to the world = wishing for the world to end.

Also I wonder if the Deity needs Doom / has an interest in spreading misfortune because she only exists because people called out for a god, and that typically only happens when people are suffering or they thank god when they avoid or overcome suffering?

The part I don't really get is why Doom needs to be sentient. If people calling out for a god created the Deity, there almost certainly must have been misfortune before she came into being (and obviously before she created Myeol Mang as the master / personification of Doom). Myeol Mang says he's being punished and I'm guessing (as noted above) that means he was human before he became Doom and that being Doom is his punishment, but in addition to that, perhaps the Deity created him so that she could feel like a benevolent god herself while still ensuring that someone else (Myeol Mang) was forced to unleash a minimum amount of misfortune consistently, to ensure that people would keep calling out for god so that she will continue to exist.

When writers build romance up quickly it's usually so they have time to take it away from us painfully for a bit before giving it back.

Right now the deity's position seems to be: (a) she won't let the world end; and (b) Myeol Mang cannot escape his fate or behave in a way that is contrary to her program (e.g., falling in love). It doesn't seem like she has Myeol Mang's best interests at heart, so I don't think she's trying to teach him to love being doom. I think it's more likely that she would consider Tak Dong Kyung dying a worthwhile price to pay (just like her own illness) for preserving the system as it is with the world not ending and Myeol Mang not escaping his fate.

I'm not sure how the writer will end things, but I hope the leads somehow figure out a way to set Myeol Mang free from being Doom. In reality, there's no need for a conscious being to become the personification of doom. Death and loss may be necessary, but it doesn't need to be directed by a conscious person. Having to play that role is a cruel punishment for Myeol Mang. So I'd like to see him set free from that role. It would be nice to see him decide not just that he wants Tak Dong Kyung to live, but that he wants to live with her and then fight to make that happen. Ideally I'd like to see Tak Dong Kyung live and Myeol Mang become human to have a happy ending with her, but that might be too happy for this type of drama.

I'll take a sad or bittersweet ending as long as it makes sense / is well written. Sad but satisfying is better than technically "happy" but badly written and unsatisfying IMO.

Doom seems like a really good translation though, compared to the alternatives. His jurisdiction is much broader than just death or destruction. So far we've either seen it include or Myeol Mang has told someone that it includes: a sink hole, death, forcing a murderer to live with the pain of dealing with the consequences of his actions, lights flickering / breaking, car crashes, medical emergencies, flowers dying, heat waves, pictures falling, and bad / unhappy marriages. So he's not just an angel of death or a god of destruction. It seems like he's a harbinger of misfortune more generally. When he focuses it he can keep it fairly contained (making a murderer live with consequences) but when he tries to avoid unleashing misfortune it gets bigger and out of control (on the scale of a record breaking heat wave or a person dying by suicide).

So there's no version of this drama where Tak Dong Kyung is actually going to wish for the world to end. Her only alternative seems to be breaking the contract and invoking the penalty. The penalty is that the person she loves most will die and she will live (Myeol Mang confirmed that she would live if she broke the contract in episode 3). I can only see four (technically five) possibilities.

Option 1: Tak Dong Kyung loves Myeol Mang the most at the end of the contract period, per her plan, and he dies. His wish is fulfilled. But the deity says he can't escape his fate so it seems unlikely that she would let this option happen.

Option 2: The person Tak Dong Kyung loves the most in that moment is herself (perhaps she uses her wish to make this so). She dies accordingly without having to end the world. I really can't imagine Myeol Mang would let this option happen. Maybe if he refuses to grant this wish it would constitute breaking the contract from his end. See Option 4.

Option 3: The contract is nullified. Perhaps Tak Dong Kyung uses her wish to nullify the contract somehow. Maybe if she wishes for Myeol Mang to be human, the contract would cease to exist? Or perhaps she could wish that they never met? Or that she would take his place as Doom? Or that whatever events led Myeol Mang to become Doom never happened so he never becomes Doom in the first place. In that scenario, I like to think we would get to see Myeol Mang and Tak Dong Kyung meet as humans in an alternate timeline.

Option 4: Myeol Mang breaks the contract before Tak Dong Kyung, meaning that her penalty is not invoked. To break his side of the contract, I assume Myeol Mang would either have to refuse to grant Tak Dong Kyung's wish (one that he is capable of granting) or he would have to stop protecting her from her pain, even if she "recharges" her protection. I don't think the second option is likely (even though he has withheld his hand for a bit before to make a point), but maybe he would refuse to grant her wish if it would bring her harm. I wonder what the penalty would be if he breaks the contract?

Option 5: Technically the fifth option is that Tak Dong Kyung loves someone else (i.e., her brother) the most at the end of the contract period, but I really, really don't think that's how this drama will end.

About being the first, in the Viki subtitles she poses that as a question to Myeol Mang when she surprises him in his car in episode three.

If Myeol Mang can use his power to make Tak Dong Kyung love him, does that mean Tak Dong Kyung could use her wish so that the person she loves the most is herself so that only she dies when her time is up and the world / her brother / Myeol Mang are all spared?

Okay one more question.

The deity made Tak Dong Kyung remember seeing Myeol Mang in the funeral hall and later says to Myeol Mang "Isn't it the first time a human remembered you?". I thought the implication based on that and other instances (e.g., at the hospital after the murderer tried to stab Myeol Mang) meant that humans weren't supposed to be able to remember Myeol Mang. But Myeol Mang didn't seem surprised when Tak Dong Kyung remembered him throughout episode 1 even before they had a contract. He was only surprised when Tak Dong Kyung said she had seen him before at the funeral hall. He also wasn't surprised when Tak Seon Kyung recognized him. And as you mentioned the ladies in the hospital all remember seeing him, so maybe it's not that all humans forget Myeol Mang. Maybe it's a plot hole.

Or (this is a very loose theory and I don't really think it's canon) perhaps it was surprising that Tak Dong Kyung remembered that encounter because Myeol Mang has been reset before for not behaving the way he was "programmed" to, including sometime after Tak Dong Kyung's parents' funeral, and that should mean that no one other than the deity would be able to remember seeing him before the reset? It will be interesting to see what the rules are for resets.

Dr. / writer Jung Seung Jun can remember that he met a man on the roof who he thought fell. He did see Myeol Mang's face for at least a few moments during that encounter and thought that man was old enough to be a doctor and didn't really recognize Myeol Mang when he brought flowers for Tak Dong Kyung. In that second encounter he thought that Myeol Mang was clearly younger than Tak Seon Kyung, who is played by a 25 year old. I thought Myeol Mang appeared differently to Jung Seung Jun the second time they met, but maybe he just didn't get a close enough look at him the first time. I wonder if Jung Seung Jun asked if they had met before based on vaguely recognizing Myeol Mang's appearance or if it was more of a feeling.

I have so many questions but I'll only ask two. Why does Myeol Mang drive when he can just appear places? I get it makes sense for things like driving Tak Dong Kyung and Tak Seon Kyung home from the hospital, but for other times, especially when it's just him, I don't get it.

Also if Tak Dong Kyung is the only human who can remember / recognize / call Myeol Mang, why can Tak Seon Kyung remember Myeol Mang? He doesn't see Myeol Mang's true appearance and the appearance he sees changes a bit (he thought Myeol Mang died his hair) but he still recognizes him as his Hyung-nim. I wonder if Tak Seon Kyung had met Myeol Mang in a different context, if he maybe wouldn't recognize him again, but since he knows Myeol Mang as the man his sister is dating, that changes his ability to remember / recognize Myeol Mang because of the association with Tak Dong Kyung? Or is Myeol Mang letting Tak Seon Kyung recognize him? It seems like Myeol Mang by default appears differently to each person, and differently to people each time they see him, but he can also choose to appear as someone recognizable (e.g., Tak Dong Kyung's CEO) when he wants to.

I watched it in one sitting. The first three quarters were great. The last quarter... the drama would've been better without it IMO.

We clearly have very different interpretations of this drama. I agree that KSY must have been "awake" in the sense that she was aware enough when JBH left to know who he was and that he was gone, and she appears to be aware of / have memories of what happened while JBH's soul was in command of her body. But she seemed to be silently aware in the background the entire time JBH was present. The writers never portrayed her as communicating with JBH or taking control of her body. At most, I think her love for the King influenced JBH's feelings, but only because her feelings aligned with feelings that JBH was developing himself (and trying to resist). Based on everything I saw, I don't think JBH was ever influenced by KSY's existing feelings for anyone else. When I say that KSY "wakes up", I mean that her consciousness came to the forefront and took over her body again. Even though she seems to have been aware of what was happening, it was like she was in a coma but able to see what was happening up until JBH's soul left (tbh I find this a bit creepy and prefer to think that she was asleep, but I agree that the evidence obviously shows that she was aware). Like when JBH briefly went back to his body and couldn't move or speak.

I completely disagree with the notion that the King fell in love with KSY and not JBH. As I see it, everything in the drama suggests that he fell in love with JBH's soul and personality in KSY's body. The King starts to change his feelings about the King when JBH saves JHJ without expecting any thanks. Then he feels guilty for trying to kill JBH, and when JBH gets angry on the King's behalf, the King is touched. The King also comes to enjoy JBH's odd and amusing behaviour. He's had so few moments of fun, or joy, or laughter, and JBH is full of happy, upbeat energy. There are more examples (the banquet, offence as defence, etc.) of things that are distinctly JBH that the King fell for. The only thing that comes from KSY that might have influenced the King's feelings was the fact that she is the person who he met in the well as a child. But the writers gave us a whole scene where the King tells JHJ that he didn't fall for her because he thought she was the girl from the well. The obvious implication is that he also didn't fall for JBH/KSY because KSY saved him as a child. He was already in love with JBH by the time he realized KSY had saved him.

We can each have separate interpretations. That's fine. But it's a bit ridiculous to suggest that anyone who watches this drama and doesn't think this was primarily a romance between the King and KSY is misunderstanding the drama. There is a mountain of evidence that supports that interpretation.

If you watch it as above, you will still see JBH go back to his own time, but you will skip the parts where (major spoilers ahead) KSY wakes up and continues to be married to the King for the rest of their lives as if she is the person the King fell in love with all along. You'll skip the fact that she never explains that JBH is gone (or why her personality / way of addressing the King changes) so that the King only has a vague sense that he's lost something without understanding why.

Consider watching up to 21 minutes and 7 seconds into episode 20 (pause right at that point). Skip to 51 minutes and 18 seconds in and start watching again there. Skip 56:45 - 56:56 (or just turn the subtitles off for those seconds). Finish watching at 1:01:34. If you watch it like that, it's still not a perfect ending but you will avoid some of the details that I found most disappointing. I'll put a tiny bit more detail under a spoiler guard below.

I dropped Run On 13 episodes in after getting bored. Then came and watched this drama in three days.