Boyfriend on Demand, the K Drama that Taught me About Relationships

When I saw ads for Boyfriend on Demand, I thought it would be a cute and funny romantic comedy where everyone ends up with a happy ending. While that’s what it is on the surface, I found it to be the most relatable show I’ve seen in years.

Boyfriend on Demand follows Seo Mi-rae, a single woman who has given up on dating and spends her free time watching horror movies. Her friends and coworkers often pressure her about being single and urge her to date, and she often states that she’s happy with her life and doesn’t want to give up her free time. I was shocked to find that Mi-rae closely parallels me, since I am also single, with a love of horror movies and often teased about my dating life or lack thereof.

Mi-rae works at a webtoon company as a producer and gets assigned the company’s most difficult author, Ms. Yoon. The main character from Ms. Yoon’s webtoon is set to be featured in the Boyfriend on Demand subscription service, a service where you can live in the virtual world and date “perfect” men. Mi-rae is asked to test the technology and is even given a free trial.

She’s initially resistant to trying the service, but later decides to give it a try because she can’t afford to pass up something free. She’s then matched to Ms. Yoon’s creation, Choi Si-woo. This first match helps the viewer to see how the Boyfriend on Demand system works while inspiring Mi-rae at work. He also serves as a reason to keep using Boyfriend on Demand, until her time with him is up and she's forced to move on to the next match.

Her second match is Eun-ho, a handsome young man who seems to be taken from a college K Drama. On the surface, he seems like a fun and challenging love interest, but he soon brings back memories of Mi-rae’s first love and most recent breakup. She's forced to confront her feelings towards the way the relationship started, when she had been focusing on how negatively it ended. She didn't remember what it was like falling in love since she only focused on the end of their relationship. She was forced to acknowledge that they had once been happy, only to grow into people who didn't fit together.

This portion of the drama hit me harder than it should have. It forced me to confront my own feelings about relationships that I've had, and the pain they'd caused me. I had to admit to myself that I no longer remembered the good parts about any relationships I had been in, and that's probably why I was so hesitant to get into another, but those relationships must have been good at some point, or I wouldn't have stuck around.

The college relationship ends suddenly when Mi-rae's free subscription runs out. She tries to function without Boyfriend on Demand, but finds herself feeling the infatuation of an early relationship. She feels the need to get back to her ‘romance’.

Eventually, she breaks down and pays for the subscription, but she's not able to go back to the matches she had before. She tries out different matches, but none of them hold the allure of that “first love”.

As if reading her thoughts, a new match appears for her. It's Eun-ho, ten years later. She's more than eager to jump back in, and surprised to find that she gets to be herself in this scenario.

She seems instantly smitten, but can't help trying to coax real feelings out of him, such as jealousy. She begins to feel disappointed, like a woman noticing her partner is drifting away. A visit to a salon causes her to come face to face with a magazine article about Boyfriend on Demand. She has to face the reality that she's not the only one he's seeing.

She goes to confront her ‘cheating boyfriend’, and is offered the chance to upgrade her subscription for an experience that's unique to her. She quickly jumps at the chance and ends up matched with a man who looks like her workplace crush.

Mi-rae has refused to admit the crush, even to herself, so she finds herself hesitant to accept him. When she does eventually accept him, she has to acknowledge her feelings for him. She eventually explores a relationship with both versions of the man.

Her perfect match will be stuck as he's been designed, never growing or changing, even as Mi-rae does. He'll never hurt her, but he also won't change. He'll be stuck as the same version of himself, even as Mi-rae changes. He's the safe option, but he's not real, and he leaves her feeling conflicted.

The idea of a perfect guy has been thrown at women from a young age, which would make the technology from Boyfriend on Demand popular if it were real. However, it also would create issues, as the search for the ‘perfect man’ often gets in the way of the man who is perfect for us.

As Mi-rae continues to use Boyfriend on Demand, she learns that she was only single because she was afraid of the possibility of being hurt. Every relationship has the potential to end in pain, so is it worth it to experience the good when there might be bad as well?

Mi-rae was finally able to embrace the experience of starting a new relationship, even if it may end in pain. She went from being a woman who found comfort in her routine to a woman who was willing to risk eventually being hurt. Maybe I should learn from her and step out of my comfort zone.