Unlike previous years, this year Korean dramas focus on exploiting female protagonists who are afraid of love. No matter how old they are, they still dread starting a relationship.
Yu Na Bi – Nevertheless
Han So Hee portrayed Yu Na Bi, a female art student with a sensitive soul, in the drama “Nevertheless,” which aired in the middle of this year. Yu Na Bi is unlike anyone else at the age of 21-22, who wants to love passionately. Yu Na Bi is no longer as open in love as she once was due to a major heartbreak with an old love.
When she was still in love with her ex, Yu Na Bi was “gaslighted” by him and he even flirted behind her back. That’s why Yu Na Bi falls in love with Park Jae Eon (Song Kang), but she still doesn’t dare to enter into an official relationship with him. Yu Na Bi eventually overcame her fear and began dating Park Jae Eon, but their relationship is unlikely to last long.
Yumi – Yumi’s Cells
Yumi, a woman in her late twenties, is played by Kim Go Eun. She isn’t as dreamy as Yu Na Bi at this age, but she isn’t in any rush to start dating or marry. Yumi, like Yu Na Bi, used to be deeply in love. She once gave her “heart” to the other while dating and her heart was broken. Yumi‘s heart has been closed for more than three years as a result, rendering her love cells comatose at the same time. Yumi wanted to fall in love as well, but she couldn’t get over her fear of being hurt again.
It wasn’t until she met Woong (Ahn Bo Hyun), that Yumi‘s love cells woke up and she allowed herself to risk again in this “love game”. But, in the end, things didn’t work out for Yumi, and they broke up. The sad scene also reminds viewers of Yumi‘s love cell’s bitter remark: “Perhaps Yumi’s life would be less painful without me.”
Ha Young Eun – Now We’re Breaking Up
If falling in love was difficult at a young age, it will be even more difficult for a woman approaching her forties. In Now We Are Breaking Up, Ha Young Eun (Song Hye Kyo) was also passionately in love in the past, but, like Yu Na Bi and Yumi, she lost the strength to love again when everything fell apart. Furthermore, Ha Young Eun is afraid of falling in love due to the other stresses she is carrying.
Ha Young Eun has a more difficult life than she appears, and if she does not give it her all, all of her efforts will be for naught. So her life at the age of 38 has no room for love anymore. Ha Young Eun also wants to fall in love and find her own soulmate, but there are more obstacles in her way than just a heartfelt or rational decision.
To summarize, despite the fact that they are both “afraid of love,” the “fear of love” of these three female leads is somewhat different due to their ages. Yu Na Bi is “afraid of love,” but she still wants to crash into it, despite the fact that she knows it will harm her more than help her. Yumi understands how to strike a balance and is more careful not to make the same mistakes in the past, showing a calm and mature part of an adult even though she then still failed in dating. And Ha Young Eun was so “afraid of falling in love” that she would always deny it and try to avoid it at all costs. She always “smashes” a love feeling before it forms. Perhaps love is the last thing on Ha Young Eun‘s mind when it comes to her life’s priorities.
