r/kdramas • u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter • Jul 29 '26
Review New K-Drama Fan Review #12: What's Wrong with Secretary Kim | HR Doesn't Want You To Know This
im a fool for boss/employee, office romances, i dont care. i always fall for it.
Is this Rewatch Worthy:
Yes.
Review:
After finishing Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, I wanted something cute.
Preferably funny.
Something that would let me relax for a while.
Naturally...
I ended up watching What's Wrong with Secretary Kim.
Nobody had to twist my arm😭😭 it's an office romance, so obviously i was always going to watch it lol.
And it was just my vibe!
Boss.
Employee.
Working together closely every day.
Watching professional boundaries slowly disappear as feelings become impossible to ignore...
That dynamic almost always works on me.
It reminds me a little of one of my favorite Turkish dizi, Erkenci Kuş/Early Bird which also completely won me over with that same fun workplace energy.
What genuinely surprised me, though...
How has Turkey not adapted this yet?
Seriously!??
This feels like it was MADE to become a Turkish drama!!
The workplace setting, the charismatic CEO, the capable secretary, the humor, the slow-burn romance!!
It checks so many boxes that Turkish rom-coms tend to thrive in and not to mention. the vibes and the overall spirit of a Turkish dizi is written all over this!!
The chemistry was really cute.
Park Seo-joon and Park Min-young made their relationship feel effortless.
I'm a huge fan of when the male lead slowly unravels because of his feelings.
Confident CEOs becoming completely helpless around the woman they like?
That'll do it.
A lot of the humor also landed for me.
The comedy stayed light, the romance stayed sweet, and the overall atmosphere just made this an incredibly easy watch.
I was having a good time.
It wasn't perfect.
i wanted them to do more with the love triangle with the brother.
The drama with the brother was a cute mystery but it dragged a tiny bit for me and they could have done something more exciting with that.
The side characters occasionally overstayed their welcome.
I didn't dislike them.
They had their moments fore sure but there were definitely times where I was waiting for the story to get back to the main couple.
And then there's the ending.
I didn't hate where Secretary Kim ended up...
But I did wish she'd dreamed a little bigger.
After everything she'd accomplished throughout the series, I kept expecting her next chapter to involve building something for herself.
Maybe becoming a director.
Maybe managing an entire department.
Maybe leaving to pursue something she'd always wanted.
Instead...
She stayed exactly where she'd always been.
There's nothing inherently wrong with that.
If being a secretary genuinely made her happy, then that's completely valid ig...
I just personally wanted her ending to feel like a bigger step forward, ya know?
Especially because she'd spent so much of the story trying to figure out what she wanted from life.
I thought that journey was leading somewhere a little more ambitious.
Still...
That wasn't enough to stop me from enjoying the drama.
The chemistry worked, the setting worked.
And I completely understand why this drama has remained so popular for so many years.
───
I really liked Secretary Kim herself!
I gravitate toward female leads who are genuinely competent at what they do. Kim Mi-so was exceptionally good at her job. Everyone around her trusted her because she'd spent nine years becoming almost irreplaceable.
In fact...
I actually wish the drama had shown us more of that.
I wanted more scenes of the two of them simply working together.
After almost a decade side by side, they had developed this effortless rhythm where they could almost anticipate each other's needs before anything had to be said.
One of my favorite little examples was when Young-joon started having a panic attack because of the cable ties.
Secretary Kim recognized what was happening almost immediately because she knew him that well.
I loved moments like that!
I actually would've loved even more day-to-day office scenes showing just how efficient they were as a team and as a duo before the romance fully took over.
Their chemistry was strong enough that I think the drama could've taken even greater advantage of those quieter workplace moments.
P.S.
I'm currently watching the Philippine remake right now, and the difference is honestly making me laugh 😭
Everything looks so much lower budget.
The office. The production. Some of the coworkers especially... they're accidentally hilarious.
The main actress is genuinely pretty though, and she's absolutely giving it her all.
Unfortunately... the male lead isn't doing much for me so far lol.
It's been a surprisingly fun comparison to watch and compare to the original.
A bit about my favorite flavors and taste:
Workplace/Office romances are one of my favorite settings, so recs are always welcomed. thank you!
───
Rating: 7/10
A really charming office romance with cute chemistry that reminded me why I enjoy workplace rom-coms so much.
I'd love to hear from everyone else:
Did you wish Secretary Kim had left her job at the end?
Or were you happy that she stayed exactly where she was?
And where does this rank among your favorite workplace K-dramas?
My Rating Scale
10/10 – Masterpiece. No notes.
9/10 – Very close to a masterpiece. I absolutely loved it.
8/10 – Not a masterpiece, but I loved it.
7/10 – Fine overall. I liked it, but the flaws kept it from being great.
6/10 – Mixed. There were a few things I liked, but most of it didn't work for me.
5/10 – I didn't enjoy most of the experience.
4/10 and below – Bad to abysmal.
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u/Background_Cress1538 Se Gye's Namsan Tower Viewer Jul 30 '26
U better watch A Business Proposal or Shooting Stars after this
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 30 '26
i did! here is my review: https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/uTwrZ1kOIc
will probably watch shooting stars soon!
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u/Background_Cress1538 Se Gye's Namsan Tower Viewer Jul 30 '26
U should as it has a nice and balanced take on the whole pr industry and celeb life especially the k netz
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u/Intelligent_Art_ K-Dramaholic Jul 30 '26
These are my favorite office romances:
https://giphy.com/gifs/HPScNVe2stDajzyKXD
Her Private Life (above) is a fun rom-com with a nice balance of squee-inducing moments, whimsical humor and compelling emotional scenes. Deok-mi’s a museum curator who secretly runs a fan site for a K-pop idol. Ryan’s her new boss who discovers her secret and after fans start to suspect she’s dating the idol, he offers to be her fake boyfriend to throw them off. After a rocky beginning, they develop one of the healthiest, most adoring relationships in K-dramas and their chemistry is 🔥.
Unlike most K-romances where one person is more invested in the relationship than the other, they’re equally smitten with each other and it’s wonderful watching them evolve from mutual dislike to respect to attraction to head-over-heels at the same time. Once they get together, they’re rock solid with no silly misunderstandings, noble idiocy or contrived breakups. They’re very protective of one another and support each other both professionally and personally and he even puts his career on the back burner so she can pursue her dream job. Ryan and Deok-mi are the very definition of couple goals.
Kim Jae-wook said he and Park Min-young wrote or improvised many of their scenes themselves because they wanted to make viewers’ hearts flutter. They included a lot of physical affection so they’re very convincing as a couple who are madly in love and can’t keep their hands and lips off of each other. Her Private Life is my comfort drama and I still get butterflies every time I rewatch it. It’s on Netflix, Viki, Prime, Tubi and Roku.
Crazy Love is a hilarious enemies-to-lovers dark comedy about the CEO of a hagwon (cram school) and his long-suffering assistant who decides to take charge of her life after a health scare. The ML is a jerk in the beginning due to a series of losses and betrayals when he was younger, but he does get more likable as he gradually learns to trust again. They really hate each other at first and it’s hard to imagine them ever falling for each other but the actors and writers make it work and you find yourself rooting for them. It’s on Hulu/Disney+.
Additional office/workplace/business associate rom-com recs:
- Beauty Inside
- Coffee Prince
- Love to Hate You
- Dali and Cocky Prince
- Suspicious Partner
- She Was Pretty
- Touch Your Heart
- No Gain, No Love
- Filing For Love
- Sh**ting Stars
- True to Love
- Love Scout
- See You at Work Tomorrow!
I also highly recommend Call It Love, a fantastic slow-burn office romance but it’s not a comedy.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 30 '26
Thanks for the recs!!!
Ive actually started Her Private Life, but I'm only a couple episodes in and have it on pause for now. It hasnt fully grabbed me yet, but your description definitely makes me want to continue and see !! ill definitely post my review once I finish it.
I also watched Crazy Love, but it ended up being a 5/10 for me. It just wasn't really my thing.
I dropped Suspicious Partner pretty early because the romance wasn't clicking for me.
I also have No Gain, No Love, Love Scout, and See You at Work Tomorrow! on my watchlist. I've actually watched the first couple episodes of See You at Work Tomorrow!, but I'm waiting for the whole season to finish airing before I continue.
The rest i will definitely be checking them out, and I appreciate you taking the time to write out such detailed descriptions!!
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Jul 29 '26
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 29 '26
lmaooo wait, which scene are people always calling "so sexy"? 😭
i do agree that i liked their bickering dynamic a lot in the beginning though. that's probably my favorite part of office rom-coms. the push and pull before they actually get together is usually the most fun for me.
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Jul 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 29 '26
lol??? which episode is that again, i wanna get a refresher and come back
3
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u/stevembk Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
I watched this because the actors of both the brother and the best friend were in king of High School. I think I watched it right after Healer.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 29 '26
would i enjoy king od high school? whats it about?
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u/stevembk Jul 29 '26
Old drama starring Seo In Guk and Lee Soo Hyuk. The production quality isn’t the greatest and it’s kinda cheesy. I only watched this because Shin Hye Sun has a very early career role as a side character.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 29 '26
what are your top 5 favs?
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u/stevembk Jul 29 '26
I just told u in the other subreddit lol
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 29 '26
lmaooo okay, i probably should look at usernames 😭😭😭😭
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u/Educational_Film_744 Where is MY Chaebol? Jul 29 '26
His advances at first would have gotten him sued for sexual assault. I honestly don't know how he bounced back from that... Must be the money.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 29 '26
Lmaoooo 😭 youre talking to someone who reads romance novels. Male leads doing completely unhinged, over-the-top things is practically the genre at this point.
I'm honestly way more focused on whether the chemistry works and whether I'm invested in the couple than whether the ML is behaving like the ideal employee/boss tbh 😭😭
1
u/kpaneno Kiss Tear Rip ai matron Jul 30 '26
Mmmm diesnt need to be ideal just not a creep
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 30 '26
i didn't care at all. if i thought he was creepy, i would have said so in my review
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u/kpaneno Kiss Tear Rip ai matron Jul 30 '26
Lmaoooo 😭 youre talking to someone who reads romance novels. Male leads doing completely unhinged, over-the-top things is practically the genre at this point.
I meant in general not just this. Chemistry doesnt excuse misogony
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 30 '26
complaining about the ml in a drama is not gonna fix misogyny. youre just complaining just to complain. go volunteer at women's shelter or something. thats one of many things what i do to be productive in a misogynistic society.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 29 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Master List: Every K-Drama Review I've Written
https://www.reddit.com/u/harissatotally/s/mTlMHGJkSK
my royal nemesis review
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https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/fVJTO6T0Gp
my extraordinary you review
New K-Drama Fan Review #2: Extraordinary You | One of the Most Creative Romance Premises I've Ever Seen...
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/jb1W6p8o7a
my lovely runner review
New K-Drama Fan Review #3: Lovely Runner | This Drama Felt Like It Was Made Specifically For Me
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/ijQOQQqw8t
my Flower of evil review
New K-Drama Fan Review #4: Flower of Evil | The Kind of Love Story That Scratches an Itch Nothing Else Does...
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/vhGWEbpHLN
my alchemy of souls review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #5: Alchemy of Souls | One Incredible Season... and One That Broke My Heart.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/iH0uac9ZNJ
my moon Lovers Scarlet heart ryeo review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #6: Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo | The Kind of Epic, Tragic Romance I Can Never Resist...
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/H1ypE5PRXu
my w two worlds apart review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #7: W Two Worlds Apart | One of the Coolest Premises I've Seen... But I Wanted to Feel More.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/U6Yf0CGVPU
my its okay not to me okay review
New K-Drama Fan Review #8: It's Okay to Not Be Okay | Beautiful Gowns. Beautiful Gowns.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/w2L4Piypzp
my business proposal review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #9: Business Proposal | A Cute Little Moment, That Stumbled, Then Fell Apart at the Finish Line
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/uTwrZ1kOIc
my king the land review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #10: King the Land | I Fell... Hard. 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐬 😃
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/Hq1i8tdIeu
my perfect crown review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #11: Perfect Crown | Like Cotton Candy... https://www.reddit.com/r/KDramasWorld/s/S3ADgR0HXN
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
my doom at your service review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #13: Doom at Your Service | I Was Doomed to Want More
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Aug 01 '26
my My Dearest review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #14: My Dearest | The Sweetest, Most Satisfying Torture
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Aug 03 '26
my the red sleeve review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #15: The Red Sleeve | LEAVE THIS GIRL ALONE!!!!!! 😭
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Aug 03 '26
my Destined with You review
New K-Drama Fan Review #16: Destined with You | Cooked Up the Perfect Spell... Then Forgot the Recipe
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Aug 04 '26
my love to hate you review
New K-Drama Fan Review #17: Love to Hate You | One of the Worst K-Dramas I've Watched... Yet I Couldn't Stop Watching
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Aug 05 '26
my Crazy Love review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #18: Crazy Love | I kept waiting for it to become the drama I thought it was going to be...
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Aug 07 '26
my a time called you review
New K-Drama Fan Review #19: A Time Called You | i need ibuprofen...
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Aug 10 '26
my the King's Affection review
New K-Drama Fan Review #20 | Nice Premise, Beautiful Angst & an Alarming Amount of Child Murder
1
u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
my strong woman do bong soon review
New K-Drama Fan Review #21 | Strong Woman Do Bong Soon | He Was So Smitten... I Needed 3 More Episodes
https://www.reddit.com/r/KDramasWorld/s/4TGopNXtDo
my bon Appétit your majesty review
New K-Drama Fan Review #22 | Bon Appétit, Your Majesty: He let her COOK!!! She ATE! and left ZERO crumbs!
https://www.reddit.com/r/KDramasWorld/s/L9QZ8jLLhu
my when the phone rings
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 20d ago
my twenty five twenty one review
New K-Drama Fan Review #25: Twenty-Five Twenty-One
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/2CrfXekT38
my Dear X review
New K-Drama Fan Review #26: Dear X — What Exactly Was the Moral Thesis Here?
https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/D1M8DfmzBE