It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the fall of 2019, and the world was divided over one simple yet inflammatory question: Are you Team Sun Oh, or are you Team Hye Yeong?
For the uninitiated, the question, of course, refers to the love interests in Netflix’s popular K-Drama hit, Love Alarm. In the webtoon and K-Drama of the same name, Kim Jojo (Kim So Hyun), a high school student, was regularly forced to confront a difficult romantic choice: the son of a wealthy family unloved by his parents, international model and most popular boy in school Hwang Sun Oh (Song Kang) or his best friend Lee Hye Yeong (Jung Ga Ram), who works various part-time jobs to support his mother who works for and takes care of Sun Oh’s family.
Talk about a tough decision. Now on the cusp of season two, dropping March 12th, here are five reasons I can’t decide if I'm Team Sun Oh or Team Hye-Yeong.
Their Chemistry With Kim Jojo
From the beginning, Hye Yeong has always respected Jojo’s feelings and boundaries. He doesn’t judge her on her past or the terrible rumors that have been spread about her. When he finally confesses, it’s in a mature way that feels organic and real.
Jojo and Sun Oh have that special first-love kind of chemistry. From his witty comments and playful banter with Jojo to his lack of fear to share his emotions and giddiness every time she rings his alarm, it’s hard not to feel their electric chemistry through the screen.
Picture-Perfect Moments
After Gul-Mi bullies Jojo at home, our favorite knight in shining armor, Hye Yeong, arrives to whisk Jojo away on his bike. He takes her to a beautiful bridge and tells her to scream – a way of getting all her stress out completely. As they both take turns letting out heartfelt shouts into the proverbial unknown in the snow, Hye Yeong decides to pursue Jojo more openly.
When a fire breaks out in Jojo’s shared room during a school trip, she hallucinates and sees flashbacks of her painful past, eventually leading to a panic attack. As she comes to, embarrassed by what her fellow students witnessed, she hurries away and into Sun Oh’s arms, and together they head to the bay where they hold each other until sunrise.
Their Sincerity
Hye Yeong is the ultimate nice guy, mama’s boy. Not only is he incredibly patient with Jojo (and everyone else around him), but he is a genuinely caring person who goes out of his way to help her when no one else will.
Sun Oh is the proverbial “Mr. Fix-It.” He understands Jojo’s traumatic past and never misses the occasion to cheer her up. Whether it’s paying for her to be able to eat in the school cafeteria or confronting Jojo’s cousin for instigating fake rumors, his support for her is seemingly endless.
Undeniable Tension
From the moment Hye Yeong inadvertently rang Jojo’s alarm in the school nurse’s office, he doesn’t let the fact that she has no romantic feelings towards him sway his heart. He still wants what is best for her, to know her as a friend, and doesn’t try to steal him away from Il Shik and later Sun Oh—instead, he chooses to watch and love her from afar.
It was love at first sight for Sun Oh when he notices Jojo getting on a bus to travel from her job at a restaurant back to her home – ending in a fleeting glance between the two as the bus passes by. The tension builds at school when the two run into each other on the stairway and eventually boils over when she bumps into Sun Oh in an alleyway on the way home, and he kisses her.
Love That Pulls At Your Heart Strings
Hye Yeong spent most of his youth having a one-sided love for Jojo. He waits for years, and when he runs into her at the same university, he decides it’s his turn to pursue her. From looking for her every day at the library so they can study together and showing up at her house to block her from being hit by a book that was thrown out by Gul-Mi to telling her he’s going to pursue her the old-fashioned way, Jojo eventually looks forward to seeing him as well.
Sun Oh’s love for one another is pure and innocent, with no expiration date, or so it seemed. However, following the accident that left Sun Oh injured during the school trip to Jeju Island, she convinces herself that she will eventually hurt Sun Oh if the relationship continues so she publicly breaks up with him. Despite his refusal to accept that she no longer loves him and his continued attempts to take him back – she rebuffs him.
Fast forward four years, and nothing has changed for Sun Oh. He still deeply loves Jojo and can ring her alarm every time he gets within 10 meters of her, even after how heartlessly she broke up with him. With a shield that keeps her true emotions from ringing on her loved one’s app, it’s obvious that she still loves him when she tries to get the shield removed at the end of season one.
So, who do you hope Jojo chooses in the end? Tell me in the comments.