[WebToon] A Business Proposal

We’re back with a new Webtoon feature! I finally got around to reading ‘A Business Proposal’, and today I will tell you why you should too. If the name sounds very familiar, it is because it was adapted into a drama earlier in 2022. You can read our review of the show here.

An office romance that has all the right ingredients; Ridonkulously hot male lead who’s a ‘robot’ CEO? Check. Shenanigans? Check. Adorable secondary lead couple that gets you right in the feels? Check and check.

A Business Proposal

When Shin Ha-ri showed up to her friend’s blind date (in Korean it’s more of a marriage interview, being set up with the intention to marry) she meant to put the guy off by acting crazy. What she did not expect, was that her partner would be the most bullheaded man in the country. On the other hand, Kang Tae-Mu just wanted to not deal with blind dates and his pushy grandfather anymore. So he decided he will marry whoever shows up. No matter what.

So, when he calls her after and asks her to marry him, she’s shocked, to say the least. Before she has a chance to process her shock, she also finds out he’s none other than the CEO of her company. The man who famously hates lying. Suffice it to say, she’s officially freaking out.

The verdict

Especially if you enjoy a solid, lighthearted office romance, this series just ticks all the right boxes. I think, especially for Webtoons, it’s a genre that’s ovresaturated, and it’s hard to find truly worthwhile series that stand out. Other excellent examples are series such as ‘What’s wrong with Secretary Kim‘ or ‘She would never know‘ – both also adapted to dramas.

What I particularly liked about ‘A Business Proposal‘ was the humour, and that it had a healthy relationship with melodrama; Yes, a tiny bit here and there just for the tension, but it never devolves into a super long plotline that you need to drag yourself through. Terrible tropes averted, that’s the best kind. It’s fundamentally a comedy, and I appreciate that it doesn’t forget itself along the way. If anything, any hint of melo gets shut down so fast that it’s almost included as a nod to the genre trope and then promptly subverted because we’re all super over it.

I caught myself laughing out loud a lot while reading this. The meta references to ‘Goblin’ in particular absolutely did me in.

If you have watched the drama, I definitely urge you to read the Webtoon as well; There are enough differences between the two to keep you curious and invested. On the flipside, if you haven’t watched the drama, I’d say read the Webtoon first. It’s not too long, plus, it’s completed, so you can binge your way through it fairly quickly.

Oraianthi
Avid manga fan, language nerd, RPG-gamer and coffee addict, I accidentally wandered into K-pop fandom in 2009 and stuck around to share the love ^_^