Series / Because This Is My First Life

See-hee and Ji-ho

"We are all living this life for the first time."

— Nam See-hee

Because This is My First Life is a Korean Romantic Drama from 2017. Two housemates, Nam See-hee and Yoon Ji-ho, get married for financial convenience. Since they aren't going to fall in love anyway, it shouldn't be that complicated. However, their feelings change over the next few months and their contract marriage becomes increasingly complicated.

Alongside See-hee and Ji-ho are two other couples. Ma Sang-goo and Woo Soo-ji, a pair of company executives, reunite a year after a fling and begin dating—under a contract that their relationship is kept secret and they don't discuss their private lives. Meanwhile, long-term couple Sim Won-seok and Yang Ho-rang struggle to communicate their feelings to one another and grow increasingly frustrated.

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Because This is My First Life contains examples of:

• Aborted Declaration of Love: Before Ji-ho leaves, she asks See-hee if there is anything he would like to tell her. He considers telling her that he loves her, but decides against because he's afraid telling her now will hold her back.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Won-soek and Ho-rang call each other "Soek" and "Rang".
  • Soo-ji and Sang-goo call each other "baby" and "Oppa".
  • When Ji-ho is called out on referring to her husband as "the landlord", she tries to pass it off as an affectionate nickname. Soo-ji and Ho-rang tease her, saying that it must be a roleplay scenario, but Boek-nam isn't convinced.
• All Men Are Perverts: Exploited by See-hee, to a questionable degree of success. When Sang-goo questions why someone as logical as See-hee who believes that marriage is an insensible system would get married himself, See-responds that Ji-ho is pretty and, as a man, that is his weakness.
  See-hee: If a man sees a pretty woman, does he look or not look?
  Sang-goo: He looks.
  See-hee: And if he can see her every day, does he marry or not marry?
  Sang-goo: He marries her.
  See-hee: Exactly.
• Alone Among the Couples: Discussed. Various characters discuss the benefits of marriage, including the fear of loneliness.
  • When Sang-goo chides See-hee for getting married for a house, See-hee counters that the uncertainty of knowing if you had a home is terrifying, and that he and Ji-ho had merely been helping one another through a suitable system.
  • Ho-rang talks about the loneliness of being unmarried while so many of her former classmates are married with children and how it leaves her feeling locked out of some of their conversations.
    Ho-rang: That I have worth as a woman, that I am just as good as everybody else. That's what marriage means to me.
  • See-hee and Ji-ho discuss how marriage gives a sense of belonging that one doesn't have when they are single.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents:
  • Ji-ho's father manages to get drunk and start rambling to See-hee both at their wedding and when See-hee goes to make kimchi.
  • See-hee's mother breaks into hysterics when she learns that Ji-ho, an unmarried woman, is living in See-hee's apartment and isn't his girlfriend. Her later treatment of Ji-ho (quietly shoving chores on her, talking about her like she isn't there, bursting into her home) is treated like this.
    See-hee: If you like, you can just ignore her.
    Ji-ho: Oh, I couldn't do that. She left after taking two anxiety pills.
• Amicable Exes: Jung-min and See-hee, as of the last episode.
• Anguished Declaration of Love:
  • Won-seok runs to the courthouse to give Ho-rang one.
  • See-hee gives one to Ji-ho in what he believes is a dream after she divorces him and comes back.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Ji-seuk is mentioned to leave all the household chores to his sister and simply not do them if she isn't around. He is also shown in a flashback to blow out her birthday candles. When she introduces him to See-hee, he keeps his cool for about thirty seconds before running into the house and loudly shouting his surprise that Ji-ho had met a man. During the ensuing dinner, he asks if Ji-ho is "preggers" due to her fast engagement, and to her and See-hee's horror.
  Ji-ho: There is one more factor... my little brother. He can be a bit much.
• Arc Words:
  • "Because this is my/your/our first ___" is repeated frequently to indicate the theme of change and new experiences.
  • "Because it's you" is also used several times as the reason for why someone wants to marry someone else, seemingly expressing a combination of affection and compatibility.
• Bad Boss:
  • The CEO of Soo-ji's company repeatedly harasses her, even after being called out.
  • Writer Hwang and Director Park refuse to take Ji-ho's feelings into account and try to bully her into forgiving Yong-seok.
• Bad Liar: See-hee and Ji-ho are very bad at lying, with See-hee being the worst. While Ji-ho is at least able to make up a love-at-first-sight story to explain why they're getting married so quickly, all See-hee can think to say is "she's very pretty." Meanwhile, Ji-ho keeps referring to See-hee either as her landlord or otherwise formally, which baffles everyone. The only reasons they get away with it are that both of them are considered eccentric by their friends and family and because by the time they have to act like a couple for an extended period of time, they've already fallen in love. Lampshaded when See-hee tells Ji-ho that he kept his investigation of Boek-nam secret because he didn't believe she could act oblivious convincingly enough.
• Benevolent Boss:
  • Sang-goo regularly treats his employees to lunch, rewards them financially for their hard work, and is willing to listen to their personal problems when he can.
  • Go Jung-min helps Jo-hi with her criminal lawsuit against Yong-Seok because she really wants to work with her, and mentions that she does the same for her other employees. She also insists on compensating Ji-ho fairly for her work rather than taking advantage of her low expectations.
• Betty and Veronica: Boek-nam is introduced as a potential romantic rival for See-hee, with See-hee as the reliable, home-owning, full-time-employed Betty and Boek-nam's "YOLO", motorcycle-riding, part-timer lifestyle as the Veronica.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The female leads. Soo-ji is the "mean and terrible" brawn of the three women, usually prickly, doesn't date men beyond one night stands, and encourages other women to protect their rights. Ho-rang is the pretty, feminine woman whose dream is to get married and become a housewife. Ji-ho got a full scholarship to a prestigious university and usually mediates for the other two, being the most reasonable of the three.
• Big Heroic Run: When his taxi is unable to reach Boek-nam and Ji-ho's location, See-hee gets out and runs the entire thirty-minute trip to get to her, thinking she's in danger.
• Blind Date: See-hee goes on several to appease his mother, and these are partially responsible for him asking Ji-ho to marry him.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer:
  • Sang-goo takes his employees out drinking, sings and dances, and occasionally comes to the office in pink, frilly pajamas. He also supports his employees and is a very successful CEO of a matchmaking app that he founded.
  • See-hee is described as being crazy among the top 1% of crazies, and his nickname at work is "Left-Mortgage, Right-Cat" to indicate his priorities. He is still very efficient at his job and is a successful CTO.
• Broken Bird: At least half of the main cast.
  • Soo-ji, having been raised by her single, disabled mother and not knowing her father, suffered rumors and gossip all throughout high school. She managed to study hard and make it to a prestigious university and then a prestigious company, only to suffer sexual harassment from her male co-workers. The experience has left her bitter to the world and rebellious against normalcy, afraid to hope for better.
  • Ji-ho spent her childhood being demoralized and ignored by her father for being a girl, to the point of running away in order to attend the University of Seoul. While she eventually achieved her goal of becoming a writer, she ended up quitting after the assistant director she was working with attempted to sexually assault her. Marrying See-hee was a last ditch effort to avoid homelessness and initially ruined her dream of finding love.
  • See-hee had a falling out with his father after he rejected See-hee's original choice for a wife because she was poor, and the woman in question then dumped him after they lost the baby and told him to never fall in love again. See-hee spent the next 12 years alone, believing he was undeserving of love. When he does fall in love again, he is unable to tell her before she leaves.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl:
  • See-hee is quiet, stubborn, and stoic, contrasting with the friendly, easy-going and expressive Ji-ho.
  • Soo-ji and Sang-goo are a gender-inversion, with Soo-ji being angry and aloof while Sang-goo is patient and gentle.
• Calling the Old Man Out: When See-hee finally speaks to his father, he tells him how much hurt him 12 years prior to the events of the show. His father refuses to admit fault and tells See-hee that his actions were his only option as a parent.
• Cannot Spit It Out: See-hee is unable to tell Ji-ho that he loves her because he can't find the right way to say it.
• Career Versus Man: Deconstructed.
  • This is expected of Ji-ho after she marries See-hee. The fact that she works part-time is commented on by her in-laws and friends, several of whom see it as odd at best and a failure of See-hee as a husband at worst. However, Soo-ji points out that it's reasonable for Ji-ho to keep working after marriage, since the economy no longer allows for See-hee's paycheck to support both him and a wife.
  • Soo-ji invokes a gender-inversion of this trope, insisting that if Sang-goo wants to date her, he should sell his company. However, she isn't serious and only said it to underline the consequences she would face if they dated and broke up.
• Cry into Chest: Won-seok and Ho-rang do this a few times to each other.
• Cynicism Catalyst: See-hee's cynical feelings towards marriage and meddling parents all started 12 years prior to the show, when his father threw him out of the house.
• Cynic–Idealist Duo:
  • Sang-goo and See-hee have opposing views on love. Where Sang-goo believes in love, See-hee believes that nobody gets married for love because there are too many other factors to consider.
  • Sang-goo and Soo-ji have this dynamic as well, with Sang-goo seeing domesticity as pleasant and desirable and Soo-ji seeing it as a sure-fire way to end one's sex-life.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Soo-ji and Sang-goo's relationship.
• Disappeared Dad: Soo-ji doesn't know who her father is.
• Dissonant Serenity: See-hee calmly smiles while he explains that Ji-ho's room is where he planned his death to take place. Because it's well-ventilated.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Soo-ji is extremely attractive and responds to most of Sang-goo's objections with a pout, leaning forward and asking, "What, you don't want to?" Sang-goo almost always finds this sufficient reason to agree with her.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Sang-goo is patient and understanding with Soo-ji, even when her closed-off demeanor hurts his feelings.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: See-hee starts realizing his feelings for Ji-ho when Boek-nam starts paying a lot of attention to her. When she rides home on Boek-nam's motorcycle, See-hee asks Ji-ho if she rode the bus home, knowing that she hadn't. She doesn't respond and he asks her to tell him where she was. Ji-ho asks if she has to answer that question, and he tells her she doesn't. Even though they aren't actually in a romantic relationship and Ji-ho rejected Boek-nam anyway, the whole scene is uncomfortable and feels exactly like a husband finding out his wife is cheating.
• Double Take: After See-hee asks Ji-ho to marry him, she automatically responds affirmatively before doing a verbal double-take upon registering what he asked.
• Dramatic Irony: The audience is aware that See-hee and Ji-ho are not the same gender, but the two of them don't realize until the second episode.
• The Dutiful Son: Soo-ji's future plans revolve around taking care of her disabled mother.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Boek-nam can be seen on the bus in front of See-hee and Ji-ho in the third episode, several episodes before he appears as a named character.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: All three couples are put through the wringer, being forced to deal with fundamental issues in their relationships before being able to be happy together.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Ji-ho stares at See-hee several times, noting that even the back of his head is dashing to her.
  See-hee: What is it? Is there something on my face?
  Ji-ho: (internally) Yes. Handsomeness.
  • Soo-ji and Ho-rang drool and giggle over Boek-nam's dimples and muscles.
• Ethical Slut: Soo-ji sees no problems with hooking up with men regularly, though she draws the line at men she works with and is furious when Yong-Seok attempts to sexually assault Ji-ho and when she thinks See-hee made an unwanted pass at Ji-ho.
• Fake Relationship: What See-hee and Ji-ho are initially.
• First Girl Wins: Won-seok rejects Bo-mi, even though the two of them are well-matched, because he can't get over Ho-rang.
• First Kiss: Ji-ho gets her first kiss in the first episode when she impulsively kisses See-hee, who she doesn't know is her housemate yet.
  • There first kiss as a couple doesn't occur for another ten episodes, when See-hee admits his feelings for Ji-ho indirectly.
• First Love: See-hee, for Ji-ho.
  • Won-seok and Ho-rang, for each other.
• Flipping the Bird: Sang-goo does this to Deputy Park from the back of Soo-ji's motorcycle.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Ji-suk, Ji-ho's younger brother, lives with her and is supported partially by her income. When Ji-ho returns to the house at the beginning of the first episode, she is irritated but not surprised to find the house a mess and beins cleaning up.
• For Your Own Good: See Calling the Old Man Out.
• Freudian Slip: Ji-ho refers to See-hee as "the landlord" twice in a conversation with her friends, who comment on it being a strange thing to call her husband. She quickly tries to cover it up by laughing and loudly wondering why she did that. Soo-ji teases her and asks if she and See-hee have a landlord-tenant roleplay.
• Gamer Chick: Bo-mi is good at videogames, analyzing Won-seok's strategy at a racing game and presenting him with ways to improve it. She also goes to a figure shop to geek out every Friday.
• Good Parents: Both Soo-ji's and Ji-ho's mothers are loving, supportive parents who want their daughters to be happy.
• Held Gaze: Jung-min and See-hee have a long, tense moment when they run into each other after 12 years.
  • Several between Ji-ho and See-hee, indicating their Unresolved Sexual Tension. This is why her sister-in-law begins to suspect that something is off about their relationship, since "such a look couldn't happen between husband and wife."
• Honest Corporate Executive: Jung-min could have easily taken advantage of Ji-ho's low standards, but still insists on paying her a fair price for her work and even advises her to hide her shock in the future. She helps Ji-ho file criminal charges against the man who sexually assaulted her before she signed the contract.
• Ice Queen: Justified. Soo-ji is a female executive in what is very much a hostile environment. She has to contend with male coworkers who sexually harrass her daily and undermine her.
  Soo-ji: Yes, I am mean and terrible. That's how I've made it this far.
• Innocently Insensitive: The "I want to get married" guy didn't realize that he was the catalyst for Ho-rang's relationship ending and insisted on driving her to her exes apartment and ends up being seen by him.
• Insatiable Newlyweds: Played for laughs.
  • In the first episode, Ji-ho walks in on her brother and his wife having sex. Later, both her and him express horror at the idea of continuing to live together because of this.
  • Ji-ho fields some uncomfortable questions around her sex-life with See-hee (that doesn't actually exist) because it is assumed they are this.
  Soo-ji: You guys are newlyweds. You must be in the mood 24/7.
• Insecure Love Interest: Won-soek is convinced that he's making Ho-rang miserable and it causes him to hate himself.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Sang-goo is friends with Won-soek, who is 10 years younger than him.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: See-hee initially believes Ji-ho is this since he was told she was a man. He asks Bo-mi if it was common now for men to use pink after seeing her room and the pink heart she left on the housing contract.
  • See-hee himself qualifies, according to Won-Soek, who claims that no one would expect a person with a quiet personality and a cat to be a man.
  • Sang-goo wears pink, frilly pajamas and a sleep mask to bed. In one scene, he's getting his nails done at a salon.
• Introverted Cat Person: See-hee rarely goes out and is usually at home or work, and most of his social needs are filled by his cat, Kitty.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After Ji-ho asks to terminate their contract, See-hee gives up on telling her he loves her or giving her the book he bought for her because he's afraid doing so after they've separated will weigh her down.
• Love Epiphany: See-hee realizes that he's in love with Ji-ho while they're drinking beer and watching soccer. Ji-ho has a similar one when she wakes up one morning and sees him cleaning the litter box.
  See-hee: This woman's heart is adorable to me.
• Marriage Before Romance: Ji-ho and See-hee begin falling in love after their marriage.
• Marriage of Convenience: Ji-ho and See-hee get married because she needs somewhere to live and he needs the extra income.
  See-hee: (to Sang-goo) To me, it was just an extra room. But to her, it was a room she really needed, a desperate space. So I shared it with her using a suitable system. And I needed the money.
• Meet the In-Laws: Played for laughs with See-hee and Ji-ho's parents.
  • Mr. Yoon interrogates See-hee as to what he does for a living, and everytime See-hee explains too in-depth, the sound of a large, growling dog plays until See-hee repeats himself using smaller words. When he lets slip that he has been living with Ji-ho, Mr. Yoon becomes enraged. Ji-ho kicks See-hee to force him into a kneeling position and chokes out one of the "secret weapon" phrases, looking pained.
  • Mr. Nam demands to know why Ji-ho wants to marry his son, so she refers to See-hee as "my sweetie" and declares that she loves him. This satisfies Mr. Nam, but See-hee looks horrified.
• Mistaken for Gay: Prior to his engagement, See-hee's coworkers made bets on his sexuality, with over half of them betting that he was gay. Ho-rang also suggests he may be gay, due to his certainty that he would never marry and never fall in love with Ji-ho.
• My Beloved Smother: See-hee's mother regularly sets him up with women he has no intention of dating and shows up in his home unannounced, rifling through all the drawers as if she lived there. It goes to the extent that See-hee changes the passcode on his apartment to prevent her from barging in.
• My Greatest Failure: See-hee's feelings toward how his relationship with Jung-min ended.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: See-hee believes that Boek-nam is a stalker and so kicks his bike over. Turns out, he really was just a nice kid who happened to think Ji-ho was cute and couldn't understand why she was loyal to a fake husband.
• Odd Friendship: The social, smooth-talking Sang-goo and the quiet, blunt See-hee are not only coworkers, they've been best friends for 18 years.
• Oh, Crap!: Yong-seok, upon realizing See-hee didn't know that he was the reason Ji-ho no longer wrote dramas.
• Ominous Walk: For some reason, Boek-nam doesn't see why walking slowly towards a woman and smirking, at night, minutes after pointing out that her husband likely wouldn't come get her if something happened, could be taken the wrong way.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Played for laughs with Bo-mi and Ji-ho. Bo-mi thinks she is talking to a very late delivery girl, while Ji-ho thinks she is talking to See-hee, her landlady.
  Ji-ho: ''(recognizing Bo-mi) Oh! You look a lot younger in person.
  Bo-mi: This is the first time we've met.
  Ji-ho: The cat...? The house...? (motions to sandwhiches) These are for you.
  Bo-mi: What? How could you come so late? Lunch is almost over.
  Ji-ho: I'm sorry—I left as soon as you texted...
  Bo-mi: Excuses. You always say you're on your way.
• On the Rebound: Won-soek and Ho-rang after their break up.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Anytime See-hee acts out of character is usually an example of his feelings for Ji-ho.
  • He is willing to knock over Beok-nam's very expensive bike when he believes she is in danger from him.
  • When the two of them divorce, See-hee gets very drunk, something he has been careful to avoid, and takes all of his vacation days at once.
• Parental Abandonment: Soo-ji's father left her mother before she was born and she doesn't know who he is.
  • See-hee's father threw him out of the house and the two are so emotionally distant that they only communicate through See-hee's mother. After the ancestral ritual, See-hee tells Mr. Nam that their relationship is so cold and distant that he might as well not have a father.
• Parental Marriage Veto: See-hee's backstory.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: See-hee's room is decorated with blue while Ji-ho's is pink. These are their first clues that something is off about their arrangement.
  • Won-seok tends to wear blue, while Ho-rang wears pink, and their apartment is decorated with soft pinks and blues.
• The Power of Love: Subverted. The main theme of the series is that it takes more than love for a marriage to work and that people get married for many reasons beyond love; however, love is the primary motivation for each couple. Each couple has several examples of this.
  • See-hee and Ji-ho get a divorce and then remarry under a new contract in order to preserve their relationship, because the pressures of Korean tradition threaten to smother their budding romance.
  • Soo-ji and Sang-goo struggle to make their relationship work, and it isn't until Soo-ji begins to work through the pain she's suffered before they can build a healthy relationship together. Even if they loved each other before, her unwillingness to trust others made a real relationship impossible.
  • Ho-Rang and Won-seok consistently misread each other's signals and fail to communicate their feelings. It's not until they start being honest about their feelings with each other that their relationship works.
• Race for Your Love: Won-soek mistakenly believes that Ho-rang is going to marry her new boyfriend and races to stop her.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech
  • Ji-ho gives Yong-Seok one after he attempts to assault her.
  Ji-ho: Do you know the worst thing about you? It's not that you played with my heart for three years, or that you messed with my work, or that you hit on me when you had a girlfriend. It's that this is the only place I had to sleep, and you just kicked me out of here. I just wanted to sleep, you bastard!
  • Won-seok gives a milder version to Ho-rang, asking if she thought she was the only one suffering.
• Rescue Hug: See-hee saves Ji-ho from getting run over by a cyclist by pulling her against him.
• Second Love: Ji-ho, for See-hee.
• Secret Relationship: Part of Soo-ji's conditions for entering a relationship with Sang-goo.
• Sham Wedding: See-hee and Ji-ho have one after their families insist that a marriage without a ceremony doesn't count.
• Shotgun Wedding: Used twice.
  • The first time, this trope is played for laughs. When Ji-ho returns from working in Seoul for three months, she finds her brother in bed with a woman. Then she finds out that that woman is his wife. And she's going to be an aunt.
  • The second time, it's played for drama. See-hee got his college girlfriend pregnant and intended to marry her to preserve her reputation.
• Showing Up Chauvinists: Bo-mi, Soo-ji, and Go Jung-min all do well in male-dominated fields (engineering, business, and TV production, respectively).
• Single Tear: Won-seok has one when he ends things with Ho-rang at the bus stop.
• Stalker with a Crush: Boek-nam is clearly interested in Ji-ho and seems to know a lot about Ji-ho and See-hee. Subverted, since he has a perfectly reasonable explanation for how he knows certain details and most of the rest was just coincidence.
• Unable to Support a Wife: Won-soek's reason for his unwillingness to propose to Ho-rang.
  • This is what See-hee claims as his reason. It is at least partly true, since he points out most of the women his parents set him up with plan to quit their jobs and expect a comfortable lifestyle with children. See-hee can barely afford his own expenses and has to take on tenants to do so.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The "I want to get married" guy didn't realize that Ho-rang was still in a relationship.