Flower Boys Next Door

Flower Boy Next Door (Hangul: 이웃집 꽃미남; RR: Yiutjib kkonminam; also known as My Cute Guys) is a 2013 South Korean romantic comedy television series based on the webtoon by Yoo Hyun-sook titled "I Steal Peeks At Him Every Day" (Hangul: 나는 매일 그를 훔쳐본다).^[1][2] It stars Park Shin-hye as a lonely girl who never ventures outdoors, but is caught spying on her neighbor across the street by a different guy (Yoon Shi-yoon) and their weird relationship later draws her out of her shell.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

The series aired on tvN from January 7 to February 26, 2013 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 23:00 for 16 episodes. Directed by Jung Jung-hwa (who previously helmed Flower Boy Ramyun Shop) and written by movie screenwriter Kim Eun-jung (Gabi, Hwang Jin-yi), it is the third installment of cable channel tvN's "Oh! Boy" series of Flower Boy programming targeted at the teenage demographic.^[9]

Plot

Go Dok-mi (in Korean, literally "lonely beauty") is a shy, frugal freelance copy editor who, for a yet-to-be-revealed reason, refuses to leave her apartment or interact with people as much as possible. Every day, she anonymously receives a carton of milk with a post-it attached. Every day, using a pair of yellow binoculars, she steals peeks at her neighbor across the street, Han Tae-joon, as he goes through his daily morning routine. The last time she was outside, in a park on an autumn day, she had fallen in love with Tae-joon at first sight, following him and watching as he picked up a puppy in a box and took it home. When she looked out her window and saw him living in the apartment opposite hers, she thought of it as fate.

Webtoon artist Oh Jin-rak lives in the same apartment building as Dok-mi. He and his drawing partner Oh Dong-hoon have just finished their latest webtoon "Zombie Soccer," but it wasn't picked up because it supposedly plagiarized a video game by Enrique Geum. Jin-rak pitches a new story to persuade his editor Kim Seul-gi: the daily life of this one girl trapped in her apartment, and how her next-door neighbor draws her out into the world... and it'll be called "Flower Boy Next Door."

Enrique Geum arrives in Seoul from Spain, his reason for coming is "cupid's arrow." Though he's in love with his best friend Yoon Seo-young, she has feelings instead for his older brother, Han Tae-joon, so he intends to play cupid for the two.

When Enrique comes to stay at Tae-joon's apartment, he catches Dok-mi in the act. That same day, a new neighbor Watanabe Ryu moves into the apartment across to Dok-mi's (Jin-rak lives next door). And with all these new men suddenly entering her life, Dok-mi's solitary and orderly world is turned upside down.

Cast

• Park Shin-hye as Go Dok-mi. A modern Rapunzel, she has locked herself up in her "tower" to hide from the world.^[10]
• Yoon Shi-yoon as Enrique Geum. A genius who developed a wildly successful video game at 17, he is fun-loving, talkative, bohemian and can't get enough of soccer.^[11]
• Kim Ji-hoon as Oh Jin-rak. A rookie webtoon artist, he is attractive despite his difficult and stubborn personality. He is in love with Dok-mi.
• Go Kyung-pyo as Oh Dong-hoon. He is Jin-rak's roommate and drawing partner who freeloads off him, and is known around the neighborhood for his chic looks and wiles.
• Park Soo-jin as Cha Do-hwi, a businesswoman who runs a shopping mall. She projects an elegant, easygoing image, but her friendliness doesn't extend to Dok-mi, whom she bullied in high school. She falls in love with Jin-rak and tries to win his heart.
• Kim Yoon-hye as Yoon Seo-young, Enrique's best friend and first love. She is a free spirit who throws herself wholeheartedly after something she wants.^[12]
• Kim Jung-san as Han Tae-joon, Enrique's older cousin. He has a complicated relationship with Seo-young, and is liked from afar by Dok-mi.
• Mizuta Kouki as Watanabe Ryu, the new Japanese neighbor who came to Korea to learn the cuisine.
• Kim Seul-gie as Kim Seul-gi, Jin-rak and Dong-hoon's webtoon editor and the deputy manager of the Contents Development team.^[13]
• Lee Jong-hyuk as Hongdae guru (cameo, ep 1).
• Park Se-young as new artist who's similar to Dok-mi (cameo, ep 16).^[14]

Ratings

Soundtrack

1. Flower Boys Next Door (Title) - 이크거북
2. Ready-Merry-Go! - Romantic Punch
3. Talkin' Bout Love - J Rabbit
4. I Wish It Was You - Lee Jung
5. Pitch Black - Park Shin-hye
6. I Want to Date You - Yoon Shi-yoon
7. Memories of That Day - 이크거북
8. I Wake Up Because of You - Kim Seul-gie feat. Go Kyung-pyo
9. Look at Me - Son Hoyoung
10. Pitch Black (Acoustic ver.) - Park Shin-hye
11. I Wish It Was You (Inst.)
12. Talkin' Bout Love (Inst.)
13. I Want to Date You (Inst.)
14. I Wake Up Because of You (Inst.)
15. Ready-Merry-Go! (Inst.)
16. About Her (That Woman's Story Theme) - 이크거북

International broadcast

Broadcasting rights were sold to Japan for the highest price yet for a Korean cable series; it began airing in May 2013 on TBS.^[17] It also aired in ten other Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.^[18]

References

External links

• Flower Boys Next Door official tvN website (Korean)
• Flower Boys Next Door at HanCinema
• Flower Boys Next Door at the Internet Movie Database
• I Steal Peeks At Him Every Day webtoon at Daum (Korean)