Moon Ga-Young And Choi Hyun-Wook Play To Win In ‘My Dearest Nemesis’

Soo-jung’s lack of money and connections makes her a likely target for high school bullies. Luckily, the heroine of the k-drama My Dearest Nemesis is not so easily bullied. She boldly stands up to anyone who wants to give her a hard time. She also won’t let anyone disparage her kid brother, so when he scores low on a video game, she takes over and plays in his stead.

While role playing, Soo-jung, played by Moon Ga-young, meets an impressive Black Dragon fighter figure, who wants to protect her and asks her to join his team. They grow closer as they battle the game’s many ferocious wolves. Things are going so well in the game that Soo-jung can’t help but want to meet him. That is until she actually meets him. Soo-jung, 19, discovers that the Black Dragon who arrives for their meet-up is actually in middle school, so she naturally rejects him and stops playing. The disappointment she feels when learning his true identity makes her even more cynical and also more aggressive about standing up for herself.

More than a decade later they meet again. Joo-yeon, played by Choi Hyun-wook is the director of the department store where Soo-jung works. He’s still engaging in battles, but rather than vanquishing online wolves, he’s taking on corruption in the corporate world. As a corporate heir, he must project a certain image, so he wears suits and ties in public. In private he hasn’t changed much since middle school, devoting his personal time to heavy metal bands, comics and wearing lots of studded leather. He’s neatly dissected himself into two personas.

Since he’s all business in public, Soo-jung may not recognize him from the game they once played together. Nor does the fact that he’s the director of the store where she works intimidate her. Yes, he’s her boss, but Soo-jung has been called a “director killer” for all the directors she’s managed to get fired. Yes, he’s the boss, and he could fire her, but he has to do what his grandmother says, which means he won’t want his grandmother to know how he spends his free time. His new alter ego is something Soo-jung knows about and can use as leverage. The new game is on.

Soo-jung and Joo-yeon made a great team in the game, but how do those skills translate into navigating the real life corporate world? It’s an interesting twist on the poor-girl-meets-chaebol rom-com premise that promises lots of funny scenarios and the lead actors have the comedic timing skills to make this drama entertaining.

Moon Ga-young previously appeared in Delightfully Deceitful, Shooting Stars, True Beauty and Tempted. Choi Hyun-wook starred in Twinkling Watermelon, Weak Hero Class, Twenty-five Twenty-One, and DP Season Two. Lee Se-mi, who appeared in Wonderful World and The Worst of Evil , plays Ha-jin, another game player and Soo-jung’s friend. Kwak Si-yang, who appeared in Lovers of the Red Sky and Cafe Minamdang, plays Shin-won, Joo-yeon’s childhood friend.

My Dearest Nemesis is based on a Naver web comic by Hyejinyang and was adapted by Kim Soo-yeon. It’s directed by Lee Soo-hyun, who previously directed Delightfully Deceitful, Shooting Stars and The Witch’s Diner.

The drama airs on Viki.com in the U.S.