AH

There are two conflicts in the drama. One conflict is in Argan. The other is between Izmael and Paltima.

Argan appears to be based on Afghanistan. The hostage crisis in Argan mentioned early on in the novel and in episode 1 of the drama appears to be based on the 2007 South Korean-Taliban hostage crisis in Afghanistan. And the internal conflict in Argan between government forces and rebel forces (mentioned a few times in the story as existing back when the male lead did his military service and then began his career as a war correspondent in Argan and also depicted at the end of the novel / in episode 12 of the drama) appears to be based on the Taliban insurgency against the NATO-backed Afghan government between 2001 and 2021.

Izmael and Paltima appear to be based on Israel and Palestine (specifically Gaza), and the conflict between those countries referenced in the news bulletin in episode 12 appears to be based on recent developments in the conflict between Israel and Gaza between 2023 and the present.

OP (user "my demon with the glory") only mentioned the Israel and Palestine references in the drama (which were not in the novel), not the Argan references (which were in the novel). So responding that "the war was in the novel" seemed a bit misleading (even if that wasn't your intention) and worth clarifying.

“Argan” was in the novel. “Izmael” and “Paltima” were not.

In some ways they followed the novel closely, and in other ways they didn’t.

Long before the finale, the drama made major changes to the story so that it differed from the novel. In some ways, they had to make changes, because the sexual parts of the novel were never going to be retained in a show with a TV-14 rating. So it seems like the writers decided to take many of the dark and sexual parts of the drama and make them more fluffy and romantic. But the specific changes they made in the drama ended up making the male lead’s choice to disappear feel a lot more out of the blue and nonsensical than it felt in the novel.

In the novel, things were very unclear between the leads before the male lead disappeared. He didn’t know how much HHJ loved him. He didn’t have a reason to think that his disappearance would feel like a nightmare to HHJ. He thought HHJ would be horrified by the truth about his identity and that he couldn’t even consider the possibility of being with her in a real romantic relationship because of the truth about him, his family, and the things they did to her and her family. He disappeared with no intention of returning, and given how things were in the novel, that made more sense than what we got in the drama.

And yes, HHJ went to Argan and wore a scarf in the novel. But she didn’t go walking off into the jungle alone in designer clothes the second she arrived. She didn’t know where to look for the male lead, so she worked at a sign language institute in Argan for months (hoping to hear about a lead she could follow) and wore clothes and gear that was more appropriate for the setting.

“Her breath caught in her throat, her scarf slipping from her head. After months in Argan, her sun-darkened face was slick with sweat, her hair falling naturally to her ears. She wore a simple black short-sleeved shirt, pants, and heavy military boots. Yet, the gun holster strapped from her shoulder to her waist, and the radio clipped at her side, made her look both unfamiliar and commanding.”

And yes, HHJ was sort of taken by a rebel soldier and sort of rescued by the male lead, but the details were pretty different. HHJ wasn’t taken hostage in the middle of nowhere along with a bunch of other foreigners for no reason. And the male lead wasn’t roaming across the jungle freeing random foreign hostages as he went until he just happened to come across HHJ and single-handedly rescued her (and who knows what happened to the other hostages?). Instead, HHJ was taken from the Argan sign language institute by a rebel soldier specifically so that she could translate for a deaf prisoner of war (the top commander of the Argan government forces, who had been captured), enabling the rebel forces to negotiate terms with him. And she and that prisoner of war were ultimately rescued by the Argan government forces, whom the male lead was secretly working with. The novel took the time to explain that this role for the male lead was a continuation of work that he had started in Argan many years ago, back when he was a war correspondent there. And it also made sense in the context of the male lead’s secret intelligence gathering network / work that he did in South Korea that was shown and explained in the novel, but that wasn’t fully shown or explained in the drama. When it came to rescuing HHJ and the prisoner of war, the male lead’s role mainly involved stalling the rebel forces (by making them think he was working for them), taking out *one* rebel soldier when he threatened HHJ’s safety, and driving away until the government forces could arrive and actually save them.

You’re welcome! I respect and envy your language skills! I really only speak two, and I make many mistakes when I speak in my second language.

Normally I’d say the word “joke” is close enough that people will understand your intended meaning and the difference isn’t important enough to require clarification. But since this topic is such a sensitive one and saying that a joke was made about it would likely make some people *very* upset, this is a rare situation where the difference really is important.

“Joke” really isn’t the right word.

They created a scenario that is obviously based on recent events in Israel and Palestine involving two fake countries with very similar names (Izmael and Paltima), and it was a bad idea for the drama writers to do that given how sensitive that ongoing conflict is. But they didn’t make a “joke”.

I know there are a lot of young, school-aged users in this comment section, but are you not aware that there are also many users here who have completed their academic careers? In some cases a very, very long time ago?

And even for the users who are still in school, if there was ever a time when they shouldn’t feel guilty about spending their free time on MDL instead of on their studies, surely Friday evening/Saturday morning would be it?

You’re welcome!

You’re welcome!

Those who have concerns with the politics in this drama are not concerned about the Argan storyline. In the novel at least, Argan appears to be based on Afghanistan and the hostage crisis mentioned in episode 1 appears to be based on the 2007 South Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan.

The concerns that some people have with politics in this drama are with the “Izmael” and “Paltima” subplot referenced in the news bulletin at the end of the drama, as that subplot appears to be based on recent events in the Israel-Palestine conflict, which is obviously highly sensitive.

Sort of. When HHJ finally found the male lead in Argan in the novel, he appeared to be acting as a negotiator for the rebel forces. The rebel forces had captured the most senior officer of the government’s military forces. That man was deaf and HHJ interpreted for him. He told HHJ that the male lead had long had a connection with the rebel commander (i.e., a connection dating back to his time as a war correspondent in Argan). HHJ translated the negotiations between the captured government commander and the male lead (who was negotiating on behalf of the rebel commander).

But then when a rebel soldier caused a conflict, the male lead attacked him and helped HHJ and the government commander escape from the rebel forces’ stronghold.

In chapter 67, the male lead and HHJ said the following to each other while they were escaping:

"Why are you even here?" Hee-joo asked angrily.

"Doing what I do best."

The jeeps on either side tried to box them in as Baek Sa-eon accelerated.

"Driving?" Hee-joo asked, confused.

He chuckled darkly. "No, scheming."

"…!"

"Exploiting weaknesses on one side to sell information to the other—it's what I’m best at."

The rear window shattered with a loud crash. He swerved sharply, causing Hee-joo to hit her head against the door.

"Back when I lived here for a while, I partnered with a group of international journalists to set up a shell company. Whether it was rebels or government forces, we gathered intel and traded it for favors," he explained, shifting gears roughly. "That interrogation video I shot back then? It was what got this chairman released from the prisoner-of-war camp. His hearing probably got damaged during that ordeal."

You're welcome.

I agree that Baek Jang Ho, Baek Eui Yong and Sim Gyu Jin are villains in this story, but I still view the real BSE as also being among the main villains. Especially in the drama where the real BSE had more autonomy and it seemed like he had not gone to jail for any of his crimes at any point. Yes, he was locked up by his family when he was a kid, but not very effectively if he was able to play with Ji Sang Woo, able to bump into Hong Yu Jin (HHJ's half-brother), and able to kill four young orphans. And later on he was able to live freely with the fisherman.

Novel spoilers ahead.

In the novel, after the real BSE regains his memories, he becomes Sim Gyu Jin's pawn and is used and manipulated by her (and Park Do Jae is also used and manipulated by her). The real BSE is still a villain in the novel, but he arguably has less culpability than the drama version of the character.

"Someone pointed out, that when he was cared for by fisherman, he sustained himself from killing people. Which means he was curable if they did it right from the early childhood."

In episode 9 of the drama, the fisherman told the male lead, "I'm sorry. I never should have saved him." and "He had lost all his memories. His mental abilities had weakened. So I thought it'd be okay if I quietly looked after him. But his natural instincts remained the same." Meaning that even after he lost his memories, the real BSE was still instinctively driven to harm animals and people.

In episode 10, when the real BSE confronted the fisherman, the fisherman told the real BSE, "I never should have let you live. When Baek Jang Ho tried to kill you, I should've let him."

Novel spoilers ahead.

In the novel, the fact that the real BSE's psychopathic tendencies and instinct to harm and kill remained even after he lost his memories was made even clearer. The real BSE lost his memories around the age of 15. He was raised by the fisherman for a time after that, but eventually he ended up going to jail for new crimes ("multiple violent crimes and attempted murder") that he committed after losing his memory. Law enforcement remained unaware that he was also the perpetrator behind his earlier crimes (e.g., killing Park Do Jae's sibling). He later regained his memories while he was in jail.

Thank you!

Please consider hiding this comment under a spoiler cover. Some drama viewers may not want to see novel spoilers.

IMO, the drama “missed this part” because the drama could not have used this line. The male lead in the drama did not intend to leave HHJ forever. As he reminded her in episode 12, he told her to wait for him to come looking for her, but he felt he needed to punish himself first.

Novel spoilers ahead.

Whereas the male lead in the novel thought that he could not be with HHJ and had no intention of returning to HHJ when he said that line.

Episode 12 has two separate international hostage incidents that occur in different countries, and the male lead’s role in each of those two hostage situations is different.

When the male lead was wearing tactical gear and rescued HHJ and the other hostages in Argan in episode 12, he was not acting as a negotiator. He seemed to be acting as some kind of rogue free agent.

In the novel, in both South Korea and in Argan, the male lead had set up intelligence networks that he used to gather and leverage information in order to gain power. When he faked his death and went back to Argan, he was not affiliated with the South Korean government.

Since the drama didn’t really show the male lead’s intelligence gathering network in South Korea, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the drama also didn’t have him leading an intelligence network in Argan, either.

Later in episode 12, when the male lead was wearing a suit and was dispatched by the South Korean government to help negotiate the release of South Koreans who were involved in the Izmael/Palima hostage crisis (not in Argan), he was acting as an official hostage negotiator and not as a rogue free agent.

Note: A version of the Argan storyline from episode 12 occurred at the end of the novel. Another hostage crisis (the one mentioned in episode 1 of the drama) also occurs in Argan at the beginning of the novel. The separate Izmael/Palima hostage crisis and hostage negotiator storyline from episode 12 did not occur in the novel at all.

Fair enough. Hopefully it was just a one-off mistake that won't occur again.

Very odd. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the comment was deleted in error because the mods were dealing with such a high volume of comments that violated the terms in this comment section?

But maybe try creating a new discussion in the support thread (https://mydramalist.com/discussions/support) to see if you can get clarification directly from the mods? If you still have an old tab open with the comment, submitting a screenshot of it would probably help.

You're welcome!

That's very concerning. Was the comment that you replied to also deleted? If so, do you recall if it included any content that violated the terms?

In most cases, comments that violate the terms will not be deleted immediately. I don't know the exact protocol that the mods follow, but it seems like users first need to report the comments that are in violation and then mods sometimes review those reports and make deletions in waves with a bunch of deletions being made at one time.

Do you remember Yu Ri's breaking news broadcast near the end of episode 12, where she mentioned "Izmael" and "Paltima"? That scene created a massive controversy that led to a campaign for certain netizens to give the drama low ratings (e.g., 0.5/10) and bad reviews as a form of protest. That accounts for a major portion of the ratings dip. You can read more about it in the discussion threads. The comment section became a warzone for several days and many of us would prefer not to reignite that level of hostility again here.

On top of that, many MDL users only rate dramas after they have completed the whole drama, so those users' ratings were only accounted for after the drama ended. And (even apart from the news bulletin scene controversy) many viewers (although obviously not all) felt that the ending was not as enjoyable as the rest of the drama. That also contributed towards the ratings dip.