Woo Young-woo
"My name is Woo Young-woo, whether it is read straight or flipped. Kayak, deed, rotator, noon, racecar, Woo Young-woo."
Portrayed by: Park Eun-bin
Woo Young-woo is the latest up-and-coming attorney at the prestigious Hanbada law firm who recently graduated at top of the class at Seoul National University and made the news as the first licensed autistic lawyer in Korea. Raised by a struggling single father and diagnosed as a child after a long speech delay, Young-woo surprised her father and neighbors by being able to recite her father’s law books in great detail with an almost photographic memory. Now that she is an adult out in the real world, Young-woo must navigate the complications of adult relationships, office politics, and societal expectations of finding a place for herself in the world.- Attention Deficit... Oh, Shiny!: Whenever an opportunity to talk about whales presents itself.
- Child Prodigy: She’s very knowledgeable about and interested in legal systems, to the extent that her father would use law metaphors as a means to communicate with her.
- The Cutie: Young-Woo is incredibly sweet, lovable, and innocent for someone her age and her cute and wholesome appearance and positive and endearing quirks compliment her inherently adorable nature.
- Daddy's Girl: Though to be fair, she didn´t even know who her mother is for the longest time.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Young-woo's flashes of insight are signaled by the scene shifting to soft lighting and a gust of wind blowing her hair before fading to shots of whales or dolphins.
- Freak Out: She’s prone to these during sudden moments of Sensory Overload (i.e. sudden/ prolonged loud noises, and new and unfamiliar food dishes), which is Truth in Television for autistic people who were born with heightened senses.
- Friendless Background: Was often made fun of by other children in the schools she attended as a child, until she met Geu-ra-mi, and later Su-yeon.
- Lack of Empathy: Subverted. Young-woo is an interesting example of a character who may not appear to be outwardly empathic but is undoubtedly a wonderful person. As a consequence of being autistic, Young-woo is likely affected with Social-Emotional Agnosia (a trait common with autistic people), which means she has great difficulty in reading social cues, can't easily identify other people's emotions, and has trouble understanding them unless it's a situation she has personal experience with, causing her to seem overly-blunt and pragmatic to some people. This sometimes helps her as an attorney, as she's able to examine cases logically and is less prone to her emotional responses getting in the way, but it sometimes harms her friendships, as she can be Innocently Insensitive and have great difficulty noticing whenever she hurts the feelings of others until she is told. However, she has an extremely strong moral compass and cares deeply for others; empathy may not be her strongest suit, but compassion is, and her sense of altruism is higher than that of most of her colleagues. She's a very good case study in the distinction between empathy and morality, and how not appearing to be outwardly empathic doesn't mean that someone is cruel nor lacking in compassion and empathy.
- Literal-Minded: Happens often in social situations as an autistic woman, but it is defied when her love and knowledge of whales helps her see potential solutions to cases.
- Nice Girl: As far as Young-woo is concerned, there really isn't a mean bone in this girl's body. Even though she can be Innocently Insensitive and isn't always aware of how others are feeling at first (which is a characteristic flaw that most autistic person have to deal with in the form of Social-Emotional Agnosia), Young-Woo is nevertheless very warmhearted and compassionate and cares about the well-being of others, but most especially her friends, father, and clients.
- Photographic Memory: Her biggest advantage as an attorney is that she can recall the Korean law to the smallest detail.
- Repeat to Confirm: She displays echolalia as one of her symptoms in the first episode which is inexplicably dropped permanently afterwards.
- Rules Lawyer: Literally.
- Secret Handshake: Has one with Geu-ra-mi that starts with Geu-ra-mi rapping, "Woo to the Young to the Woo", and Young-woo following, "Dong to the Geu to the Ra-mi".
- Soapbox Sadie: She is seen protesting dolphinariums at one point and even ropes Jun-ho into supporting her.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Her's is Gimbap.
- Verbal Tic: Young-woo exhibits echolalia, which is where someone reflexively repeats things other people say. She also ends her sentences with soft consonants where Koreans would normally use hard consonants.
- Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: All of Young-woo's clothes are slightly too big, which make her appear more childlike and innocent.
Woo Gwang-ho
Portryed by: Jeon Bae-soo
Young-Woo´s single father who runs a Gimbap café. He was once a law student himself.- Keeping Secrets Sucks: He is trying to keep multiple secrets about three different people (his daughter, Han Seon-young and Tae Su-mi) from each other, which proves to be too much on occasion. He eventually comes clean with some of them over the course of the show.
- Parents as People
- Willfully Weak: He has a fully legitimate degree in law. He just chose to never practice in order to avoid running into Tae Su-mi.
Lee Jun-ho
Portrayed by: Jeon Bae-soo
An employee at Hanabada who works for Jung's litigation team. He is the first member of the team Young-woo meets on her first day at the firm (not including Su-yeon who she knew in university) and quickly falls for her innocence and quirky personality, becoming protective of her.- Ladykiller in Love
- Support Party Member: As the only non-attorney on the team, he is this. He is supposedly a bit of a Knowledge Broker behind the scenes, but the most we ever see him in assisting is driving the car.
Jung Myung-Seok
Portrayed by: Kang Ki-young
A senior attorney at Hanbada in charge of Woo and two other rookies. After a rocky start he comes to trust Woo deeply.- Amicable Exes: With his ex-wife, Ji-su. She is shown to still hold a torch for him, she just can´t handle his Workaholic tendencies.
- Benevolent Boss: He treats his rookies very well; he puts up with Woo´s quirks to the best of his abilities and even openly admits that he can learn some things from her. He is also seen taking responsibility for Woo and Su-yeon when they make a blunder by antagonizing an influential doctor.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Why Hanbada, the largest or second-largest law firm in the country would assign several extremely important cases, some of which the company´s entire reputation hinges on, to him and his team of three rookies instead of a group of much more experienced lawyers, is anyone´s guess.
- Married to the Job: To the point where his wife left him over it.
- Odd Friendship: He strikes one up with Hairy.
- Older Than They Look: He is at least in his mid-forties, even though he looks like he could be in his late twenties.
- Relegated Mentor: Though less because he wants to and more because he is diagnosed with stomach cancer.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Woo on multiple occasions asks him for his advice when faced with the dilemma of representing a client who is morally or even criminally in the wrong. He admits that he chose Lawful for himself, but encourages her to find her own path.
Kwon Min-woo
Portrayed by: Joo Jong-hyuk
Another rookie attorney working under Jung Myung-Seok. He is terribly ambitious. He is also Jun-ho´s flatmate and best friend.- Heel–Face Revolving Door: He has a brief stint where he tries to frame Woo for a document leak in order to blackmail himself into a job at Taesan, but eventually decides to comes around.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He comes to distrust Young-woo, calling her autism a masquerade to get away with things he and Su-yeon couldn´t and believes she conned her way into a job at Hanbada. He also ships Jun-ho with Su-yeon which the latter even calls him out on.
- Raised Catholic
- Secret Chaser: He is hellbent on learning Woo´s secrets and eventually figures some of them out, to the unbeknownst of Woo herself.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: With Su-yeon. Eventually evolves into Belligerent Sexual Tension.
- Social Climber: Strongly implied. He mentions that he really needs to earn money, presumably to help his ailing parents. He also makes a derogatory comment about spoiled upper-class kids in episode 2, and his opinion of Woo takes a nosedive when he learns that her father is acquainted with Han Seon-Young.
Choi Su-yeon
Portrayed by: Ha Yoon-kyung
Yet another rookie attorney working in Jung Myung-seok´s team. She went to law school together with Young-woo. Her father is a high-ranking judge.- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: The most prominent one for Young-woo.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Her date with Hairy goes terribly. And thereafter she picks up a Gold Digger.
- Ojou: Min-Woo calls her a princess on occasion in regards to her wealthy family, though she doesn´t particularly fit the character part, as she´s rather snarky.
- Shipper on Deck: For Young-woo and Jun-ho.
- Spoiled Sweet: She repeatedly stands up for Young-woo when she doubts herself, sometimes against her own better judgement. She displays also great zeal when given the chance to stand up for her convictions by defending a North Korean defector.
Han Seon-Young
Portrayed by: Baek Ji-won
Hanbada´s CEO. She went to law school together with Woo Gwang-ho and Tae Su-mi.- Arch-Enemy: To Tae Su-mi.
- Manipulative Bitch: She pulls multiple schemes over the course of the series to harm Taesan and Tae Su-mi in particular.
Dong Geu-ra-mi
Portrayed by: Joo Hyun-young
Woo Young-woo´s best (and for the longest time only) friend. She works in a local pub run by "Hairy" Kim Min-shik.- Bully Hunter: She used to be one back in high school.
- Evil Uncle: Her father´s two older brothers conspire to divide most of her grandfather´s inheritance between them while leaving her father with the taxes and debt.
- The Lad-ette
- Those Two Guys: Other than the episode that focuses on her family, she is always seen alongside her boss.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: She´s the tomboy, Young-woo is the girly girl.
Tae Su-mi (Spoilers!)
Portrayed by: Jin Kyung
Former CEO (and daughter of its founder) of Taesan, Hanbada´s biggest competitor. She recently resigned her position in order to embark on a campaign to become the country´s Minister of Justice. She´s also Woo Young-woo´s biological mother.- Iron Lady: Unlike Han Seon-young, who often laughs sarcastically, she remains stoic almost all the time.
- Family Versus Career: She chose the career.
- Lady in a Power Suit
- Uptown Girl: She used to be one for Woo Gwang-ho which is why she eventually broke it off.
