Healing and Romance Drama of 2020

The title of this K-drama is It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. This K-drama’s story  is very interesting. But hopefully it’s wise to watch this K-drama. It tells the story of a romance between a caretaker at a psychiatric ward, who doesn’t have time for love, and a successful children’s book author, who doesn’t know the feeling of love.

The story begins with an animation. It’s said that a long time ago, there lived a beautiful girl in a castle located deep inside the forest. So one day, she left the castle to find herself a friend to play with. She offered them all sorts of amazing gifts, but nobody ever accepted her. Later on, she found out why. A monster who brings along the shadow of death. That’s what the people called her. “She’s a monster. A monster.”. She was very angry at every living soul in the world. And she needed to take it out on someone. Ever since she unexpectedly saved the boy from dying, the scary shadow that always followed her around suddenly disappeared. And the boy always followed her around instead. He always went with her whether it was day or night and whether she was in the mountains or a field. On a clear and sunny day, the girl asked him if he would always stay by her side. He said that he would never run away. Then, she said: “Even if I do this?” while tearing off the butterfly wing. The boy ran away after seeing her tear off the butterfly’s wing. The girl was all alone again, and the shadows of the death came back and whispered this. “No one can ever stay by your side because you’re a monster. Don’t ever forget that. Do you understand?”.

Moon Gang Tae lives with his older brother, Moon Sang Tae. Sang Tae has autism and he is a fan of Moon Young. Because of Sang Tae’s traumatic experience, they frequently move from town to town. Gang Tae takes up jobs as a caretaker in psychiatric ward at every place they settle in. He first meets Ko Moon Young while he’s working in a hospital.

“Do you believe in destiny? Who cares about destiny? If someone shows up when you need them, you call that destiny.” – Ko Moon Young

Ko Moon Young has antisocial personality disorder. She had a troubled childhood. She meets Gang Tae the second time, when the CEO of SangsangESang Publishing Company, which publishes Moon Young’s children’s book, wants to compensate for what Moon Young did to Gang Tae. At that time, Moon Young invites Sang Tae to her book signing event so she can meet Gang Tae again. Sang Tae’s so excited to hear that. He goes there with Gang Tae. At the signing event, he makes a fuss because of his autism. Gang Tae immediately calms his brother and Moon Young helps them defend Sang Tae for the commotion.

“Your eyes remind me of someone I used to know.” – Moon Gang Tae

“Who is that person?” – Ko Moon Young

“Someone who’s messed up. A woman whose eyes completely lacked warmth.”

“That woman. Were you afraid of her?”

“No, the opposite. I liked her.”

Circumstances lead Gang Tae to work at the OK Psychiatric Hospital in Seongjin City, the same city where Gang Tae, Sang Tae, and Moon Young lived when they were young. Meanwhile, Moon Young forms a romantic obsession for Gang Tae after finding out that their pasts overlapped. She follows him to Seongjin and teaches literature class at the hospital. Sang Tae also receives a counseling from Director of OK Psychiatric Hospital to deal with the trauma he has. The director asks Sang Tae to draw a picturesque view outside the hospital and Sang Tae accepts the request. The next day, Moon Young takes the hospital patient away by car. Gang Tae blocks Moon Young’s car to bring the patient back. After Gang Tae orders the patient to get out of her car third time, she and the patient leave Gang Tae and Gang Tae goes after them. Gang Tae continues to chase them until they stop at the election campaign for Kwon Man Su, the patient’s father.

“Why are you you always so angry at me?” – Ko Moon Young

“Because you make me get angry.” – Moon Gang Tae

“Why not just ignore me? But you know what? You should always be careful not to be off guard.”

Moon Young takes her father for a walk. But her father chokes her and calls her a monster. Because of that incident, she goes on foot all the way. Gang Tae sees Moon Young walking, but he ignores her. At night even though it’s raining, he meets Moon Young who was still walking and brings her to the house he lives in now. Afterwards, Moon Young makes a pact with Sang Tae. The agreement makes Sang Tae and Gang Tae stay at Moon Young’s house.

Over time, Gang Tae and Moon Young realize that they are in love. They spend time together. When counseling, Sang Tae tells the director and Gang Tae his traumatic experience. He says his mother was killed by a woman. On the woman’s jacket, there was a butterfly brooch. He also says that there was a mom’s butterfly and he saw tiny baby butterfly sitting on the mom’s butterfly’s back. At that moment, Gang Tae finds out that his mother was killed by Moon Young’s mother. Gang Tae feels sad and angry. However, he tries to cover up the incident and protect Moon Young.

“I hate kids and animals.” – Ko Moon Young

“Why?” – Moon Gang Tae

“They’re unreasonable, they whine all the time, and they always beg for love.”

“That’s why I like them. They make me care for them because they’re unreasonable. It’s cute to see them whine. And because they beg for love, it makes me grow fond of them. Just like you.”

After Moon Young’s father’s death, she sees Sang Tae’s drawing and realizes that her mother killed their mother. In his drawing, there is a picture of her mother’s butterfly brooch. This butterfly is one of a kind. Also, Moon Young and Gang Tae realize that Moon Young’s mother, Do Hui Jae, is still alive. Do Hui Jae lure Gang Tae so he can meet her. She meets Gang Tae and tells him the reason she killed his mother. She is knocked unconscious by Sang Tae and finally caught by the police. In the end, Moon Young and Gang Tae live happily with Sang Tae. 

Here's the trailer! Watch it!