Likeable or Not


Likeable or Not is a South Korean television series starring Han Ji-hye, Kim Ji-seok, Jo Dong-hyuk, Yoo In-young, and Lee Young-eun. The daily drama aired on KBS1 from September 3, 2007 to May 2, 2008 on Mondays to Fridays at 20:25 for 172 episodes.
It was one of the most highly rated Korean dramas since 2000, reaching a peak viewership rating of 43.9%.
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Synopsis

Baek-ho and Dan-poong

Baek-ho and Dan-poong first meet during Dan-poong company food testing at a mart. They continue to run into each other in various farcical situations. Baek-ho eventually starts working in the marketing department of Bonjour Foods, where Dan-poong is his superior. At first, she is exasperated by his inexperience, but is eventually impressed by his work ethic and innovative ideas.
Baek-ho falls in love with Dan-poong, but is afraid to tell her because Dan-poong is dating his high school classmate, Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo is a doctor from a wealthy family, and is therefore a very eligible bachelor. However, Dan-poong realises that she doesn't love Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo decides to leave to America so that DanPung can search for her own happiness. Sometime after, Dan-poong realizes she loves Baek-ho.
Baek-ho and Dan-poong want to get married, but must first endure the fierce opposition of her mother and brother Seon-jae, who also hates Baek-ho for being his boss's stepson and favorite. During his cruel reign at the helm of the company, Seon-jae relegates Baek-ho to do menial work and hard tasks to prevent having him as a rival in the company. Dan-poong's mother eventually relents after Dan-poong protests by starving herself. Once married, they are a very happy couple. About two years after their wedding, Dan-poong becomes pregnant.

Seon-jae, Soo-ah, and Ji-young

Seon-jae and Ji-young have been dating for about 8 years. Ji-young was a loyal girlfriend, and stood by Seon-jae throughout college, his study abroad and army service. They are in love and plan to get married.
Soo-ah, to keep her mind off the fact that her father is marrying another woman who already has a son, meets Seon-jae and becomes infatuated with him. She chases him relentlessly, ignoring the fact that he already has a fiancée. Helping Soo-ah is her grandmother, who wants to give Soo-ah everything she wants, and Seon-jae's hypocritical mother, who craves wealth and power for her son. Eventually, Seon-jae is swayed, and cruelly dumps Ji-young to marry Soo-ah.
Seon-jae and Soo-ah's marriage is not happy, because Soo-ah is selfish and spoiled. She is also very jealous that Seon-jae may still have feelings for Ji-young. Seon-jae does in fact have feelings for Ji-young, especially because Soo-ah is selfish, and Ji-young was a sweet and kind person. Although they do not have an affair, Seon-jae continues to go see Ji-young whenever he is stressed. He even asks Ji-young if she would get back together with him, and even gives help to Ji-young's family when they have financial troubles without being asked.
After marrying Soo-ah, Seon-jae is given a very high position in Bonjour Foods. While working there, he acts very arrogant and above the law. He eventually creates a slush fund, and bribes a government official. When Man-soo finds out of this, he suffers a brain hemorrhage, and goes into a coma. During Man-soo's coma, Seon-jae is promoted to Bonjour's president. But Man-soo eventually wakes from his coma and, with Baek-ho's help, fires Seon-jae. The police have also begun to investigate Seon-jae's crimes. Due to this scrutiny, Seon-jae's father resigns from his position in the government. After seeing his father sacrifice himself for him, Seon-jae finally repents for his misdeeds. He divorces Soo-ah to spare her the burden, and turns himself in to the police. Soo-ah goes to Paris to forget about Seon-jae.
After serving time, Seon-jae begins to work at an organic farm, and enjoys his modest and hardworking life. Soo-ah returns from Paris, and they get back together. They also stop hating Baek-ho and accept both his status as a member of the family and his marriage to Dan-poong.
After being dumped by Seon-jae, Ji-Young is devastated and takes a long time getting over Seon-jae. She reconnects with an old classmate, Woo-jin, who had a crush on her in the past, but gave her up because she already had a boyfriend. After tentatively dating Woo-jin for a while, she eventually decides to marry him. At the end of the series, they are a happy couple.

Man-soo and Dong-ji

Man-soo and Dong-ji were young and in love, but broke up because Man-soo's mother, Mrs. Choi opposed the marriage. Man-soo married another woman, and then became widowed. Later on, they reconnected, and marry again. Man-soo's mother still opposes this marriage, but finally relents. After the marriage, she continues to treat Dong-ji badly, and also her son, Baek-ho.
Dong-ji suffers under Mrs. Choi's abuse for a long time, but Mrs. Choi eventually sees that Dong-ji is a good person, and accepts both her and Baek-ho as members of the family. At the end of the series, Baek-ho is revealed to be the biological son of Man-soo. It is never revealed why Dong-ji never told this to anyone, or whether she knew it herself. With this, all opposition by Mrs. Choi is dropped permanently. In the final episode, we learn that Dong-ji is pregnant.

Cast

Main characters

Supporting characters

;Na family
  • Kang In-deok as Na Gi-tae
  • Kim Hye-ok as Lee Jong-soon
;Kang family
  • Kim Hae-sook as Oh Dong-ji
  • Kim Chan-woo as Oh Dal-hyun
  • Park Jun-mok as Oh Chan
;Bong family
;Hwang family
  • Seo Seung-hyun as Hwang Dal-rae
  • Kim Sung-hwan as Hwang Jae-bok
  • Lee Ja-hyun as Hwang Mi-ae
  • Eva Popiel as Sonya
;Extended cast
  • Lee Joong-moon as Jang Hyun-woo
  • Ban Eul-soo
  • Lee Sang-yoon as Seo Woo-jin
  • Ko Mi-sook
  • Han Kyung-sun as Geum-ja
  • Park Jung-woo as Team leader Park
  • Baek Seung-hee as Lee Soo-jung
  • Seo Yoon-jae
  • Yoon Joo-hee as Seo Joo-kyung
  • Choi Seung-kyung as Mr. Shin
  • Kwon Oh-hyeon as Event office president

Awards

;2007 KBS Drama Awards
;2008 2nd Korea Drama Awards

International broadcast