Business Proposal

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Business Proposal (Korean: 사내 맞선; Hanja: 社內맞선; RR: Sanae Matseon; lit. In-House Confrontation) is a romantic comedy South Korean television series based on the webtoon of the same title written by HaeHwa and illustrated by Narak. Directed by Park Seon-ho and written by Han Seol-hee and Hong Bo-hee, it stars Ahn Hyo-seop, Kim Se-jeong, Kim Min-kyu, and Seol In-ah. It tells the story of Shin Ha-ri, an employee who accepts to go on a blind date in place of her friend, but finds out that her date is actually her boss. The series aired for 12 episodes on SBS TV every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST) from February 28 to April 5, 2022. It is also available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions.

Synopsis

Shin Ha-ri (Kim Se-jeong) goes on a blind date after she accepts to replace her friend, Jin Young-seo (Seol In-ah), whose father had arranged it. The plan is to have Ha-ri 'getting rejected' by her prospective partner. However, it goes awry when her date turns out to be Kang Tae-moo (Ahn Hyo-seop), CEO of Go Food, the company where Ha-ri works. Tae-moo, who is being pressured by his grandfather Kang Da-goo (Lee Deok-hwa), the chairman of Go Food's parent company, to go on blind dates with suitable marriage partners, decides to marry his blind date partner to avoid going on the rest of the dates, without knowing she is the fake Jin Young-seo or that she is his employee, which she assiduously tries to hide. However, Ha-ri's fake identity, but thankfully not her employment status, is soon exposed after the real Jin Young-seo gets into a parking accident with Cha Sung-hoon (Kim Min-kyu), Tae-moo's secretary, who was acting as Tae-moo's driver at that moment.

After Ha-ri's identity is exposed, Young-seo tricks Ha-ri into meeting with Tae-moo at his request. When he asks for her real name, Ha-ri lies and says that her name is Shin Geum-hui (the same name as the female lead of a popular fictional television series) to hide that she is his employee. Tae-moo bullies and bribes Ha-ri into pretending to be his fiancée in exchange for a payment of 800,000 won per date after his grandfather threatens to send him on countless blind dates. The cash-strapped Ha-ri desperately needs the money to bail out her consistently impecunious parents, so she accepts. During the course of fake dating, Ha-ri uses her new identity alongside a fake background, created for her by Tae-moo and Sunghoon, to make a good first impression on Tae-moo's grandfather. While the relationship starts out frosty and uncomfortable, the couple soon grows closer until Tae-moo finds out Ha-ri's real identity. Despite feeling betrayed, Tae-moo still loves Ha-ri and they later became a couple as he told Ha-ri he knew the truth of her identity.

Meantime, Young-seo moves out of her father's house to escape his demands to attend blind dates and finds out, in a comic moment involving a marauding cockroach, that she is now Sung-hoon's neighbor, the man with whom she had become infatuated at first sight after meeting him at a convenience store. While Young-seo is attracted to him, Sung-hoon is upset with her for deceiving his boss, so he constantly tries to avoid her. Still, he cannot further deny his growing affections for Young-seo when he realizes it eventually, and they got together.

Cast

Main

• Ahn Hyo-seop as Kang Tae-moo, the new CEO of Go Food, a subsidiary of the chaebol founded by his grandfather. After graduating from Harvard University, he joined Go Food, worked at an overseas branch, and returned to Korea recently. He is forced to go on a blind date by his grandfather, who wants to see him get married.
  • Park Jae-joon as young Kang Tae-moo
• Kim Se-jeong as Shin Ha-ri, a researcher part of Go Food's Food Development Team 1. She disguises herself as a vixen after she accepts to replace her friend, Young-seo, on a blind date.
• Kim Min-kyu as Cha Sung-hoon, Tae-moo's chief secretary of Go Food. He grew up in an orphanage sponsored by Go Food's parent company, which was founded by Tae-moo's grandfather, and has become like a brother to Tae-moo.
• Seol In-ah as Jin Young-seo, Ha-ri's best friend and the only daughter of the chairman of Marine Group, the parent company of Marine Beauty, where she works as a marketing team leader. She asks Ha-ri to replace her on a blind date with Tae-moo, since she wants to wait for her true love.

Supporting

People around Tae-moo

• Lee Deok-hwa as Chairman Kang Da-goo, Kang Tae-moo's grandfather and the founder of Go Food's parent company, Geumhwa Group. He wants to see his grandson get married and thus he tries to send him on a blind date.

People around Ha-ri

• Choi Byung-chan as Shin Ha-min, Ha-ri's younger brother.
• Kim Kwang-kyu as Shin Joong-hae, Ha-ri and Ha-min's father. He and his wife own a chicken place.
• Jung Young-joo as Han Mi-mo, Ha-ri and Ha-min's mother. She and her husband own a chicken place.
• Song Won-seok as Lee Min-woo, Ha-ri's classmate in university and her unrequited love for seven years, he now works as a chef.
• Bae Woo-hee as Go Yoo-ra, Min-woo's girlfriend, a food stylist.

Go Food Employees

• Kim Hyun-sook as Yeo Eui-ju, the manager of Food Development Team 1. A talented career woman with a charming and strong personality.
• Lim Ki-hong as Gye-bin, the deputy manager of Food Development Team 1. He usually seeks any opportunities to advance in his career.
• Yoon Sang-jeong as Kim Hye-ji, an employee part of Food Development Team 1.
• Yoo Eui-tae as the leader of the Food Development Department.

Characters in Be Strong, Geum-hee

• Noeul as Shin Geum-hu, the first female lead in the popular fictional television "Be Strong, Geum-hui"
• Joo Hui-jae as Gwang-bok, the first male lead in the popular fictional television "Be Strong, Geum-hui"
• Seo Kwon-sun as Ms. Oh, a character in the popular fictional television "Be Strong, Geum-hui"

Others

• Seo Hye-won as Jo Yoo-jung, the director of Marine Beauty and cousin of Jin Young-seo. She and Young-seo are very competitive around each other.

Special Appearances

• Kim Won-sik as Mr. Park, the son of Chairman Kang Da-goo's close friend and a former director of Go Food. He got fired by Kang Tae-moo for taking bribes. (Ep. 1)
• MeloMance as themselves (Ep. 3)
• Lee Ki-young as Jin Young-seo's father, the chairman of Marine Group. (Ep. 3, 10–12)
• Lee Ki-hyuk as Shin Jung-woo (Ep. 4–6)
• Tei as the owner of a hamburger truck (Ep. 6)
• Kim Young-ah as Jin Chae-rim, the director of Marine Art Museum, Jin Young-seo's aunt and Jo Yoo-jung's mother. (Ep. 8–9)
• Hwang Bo-ra as Hwang Bo-ra, a STN reporter who interviews Shin Ha-ri and Lee Min-woo. (Ep. 9)
• Kim Jung-young as "Mother", a nun and caretaker at the orphanage where Cha Sung-hoon grew up. (Ep. 9–10)

Production

Development

Business Proposal was initially released as a web novel on KakaoPage between 2017 and 2018 by writer HaeHwa, who gained a following since his debut as a writer in 2012 for the "unconventional" themes of his romance novels. His stories mostly focus on the emotional growth of women who were hurt by their families and how they healed from their wounds. The novels also deal with the difficulty of becoming independent from parents in South Korea. Regarding Business Proposal, HaeHwa said he wrote it "with the mindset that it's easy to read, the content is lively and it's good to make it into a web comic", therefore taking a more classical approach to the romance genre, while still making the main character Shin Ha-ri an "independent" woman. The web novel went viral, reaching a total of 450 million views worldwide, including 160 million in South Korea alone, by the end of February 2022. Due to its early popularity, it was subsequently released as a webtoon developed by illustrator Narak in 2018.

The series was created by StudioS, co-written by Han Seol-hee and Hong Bo-hee, directed by Park Seon-ho and co-produced by Kross Pictures and Kakao Entertainment. The series was director Park Seon-ho's first project as a freelancer after leaving SBS. Park admitted that he had concerns about how to explain Kang Tae-moo's inability to tell the difference between Shin Ha-ri and Shin Geum-hui, the fictitious identity Ha-ri uses to disguise herself. He and his team then decided to introduce new scenes, such as Ha-ri trying to avoid eye contact with Tae-moo and the chase scene with her slipper, an allusion to Cinderella, to "make the flow more natural and the story more realistic". Additional changes included highlighting Ha-ri's competence at her job to emphasize "that Tae-moo would be unable to match Ha-ri and Geum-hui because of his strong impression". Screenwriter Han Seol-hee, better known for her work on comedy series, affirmed that what sets Business Proposal aside from other "contract marriages" storylines is its "unique sense of humour". She considers it the most important element and, as a result, Han said she placed less importance on the chemistry of the characters in order to keep the focus on the jokes while writing the script.

Casting and filming

Between March and May 2021, media reported that Ahn Hyo-seop and Kim Se-jeong had received offers to appear in the television series and were considering them. In the second half of 2021, Kakao Entertainment confirmed the casting of both actors, while Seol In-ah and Kim Min-kyu's respective agencies announced that they both would star on the show. Over the next few months, Kim Kwang-kyu, Jung Young-joo and Yoon Sang-jeong were cast in supporting roles, while screenwriter Han Seol-hee directly recommended Kim Hyun-sook, with whom she had previously worked on Ugly Miss Young-ae. On January 18, 2022, photos of the script reading were released. Some of the filming locations for the drama include Yongin Daejanggeum Park, Heyri Art Valley and the 1004 Yacht in Sinan County.

Release

The series was originally scheduled to be released on February 21, 2022. However, the filming schedule changed due to COVID-19 and the premiere date was postponed for a week to February 28, 2022. Business Proposal aired on SBS TV for 12 episodes every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST) till April 5, 2022. The series was also released on Netflix in selected regions on February 21, 2022.

A special episode consisting of popular scenes from the first six episodes was broadcast on March 19, 2022, with commentary from the main cast.

Episodes

Main article: Business Proposal/Episodes

Original Soundtrack

Main article: Business Proposal/Original Soundtrack

Business Proposal: Original Soundtrack Album

The soundtrack album for Business Proposal, coordinated and written by music director Park Se-joon, includes 12 songs, of which ten were previously released as singles throughout the drama's airing, and 23 score pieces. Notably, the album features pieces by Seo Jae-ha, Kim Young-seong and Han Jun. It was digitally released on April 6, 2022, after the ending of the series. Pre-orders for the physical version started on March 28, 2022, and the album was officially released on April 19.

The album peaked at number 11 on the Gaon Album Chart and as of April 2022, 14,499 copies have been sold.

CD 1
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Love, Maybe" (사랑인가 봐)	Kim Min-seok	MeloMance	MeloMance	3:05
2.	"Sweet" (스윗해)	Gadeul	Anne, Maxx Song, Wonjun	Lee Mu-jin	3:36
3.	"You Are Mine"	Gadeul	Aaron Kim, Isaac Han, Walter Pok, D'tour	Victon	3:27
4.	"Sun Shower" (여우비)	Ha Joon, Park Se	Seo Jae-ha, Kim Young-seong, Park Se-joon	Movning	4:16
5.	"Melting"	Gadeul, Zaydro	Zaydro	BamBam	3:04
6.	"Love, Maybe" (사랑인가 봐)	Kim Min-seok	MeloMance	Secret Number	3:05
7.	"Fall in Love" (사랑이 내 안에 들어와)	Lee Da-hyun	Ranic, Lee Da-hyun	Jihan (Weeekly), Park So-eun (Weeekly)	3:19
8.	"Closer"	Woo Ji-hoon	Woo Ji-hoon	Song Ha-yea	3:58
9.	"Whatever You Want"	Han Seung-yun, Gadeul	Han Seung-yun	Han Seung-yun	4:16
10.	"Spring Breeze" (봄바람처럼 날 찾아와)	Gadeul	Park Young-min, Yoon Byung-joo, Ko Deok-joon	New (The Boyz)	3:44
11.	"It's Up To You"	Park Se-joon, Han Jun	Red Socks, Inan	Moon Su-jin	4:28
12.	"Love, Maybe (Acoustic Ver.)" (사랑인가 봐)	Kim Min-seok	MeloMance	Kim Se-jeong	3:05
				Total length:	43:23

CD 2
No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Be Mine"	Woo Ji-hoon, Park Se-joon	1:05
2.	"Cream Shake"	Kim Min-ji, Park Se-joon	2:00
3.	"Forest Of Memories"	Lee Nyeom, Park Se-joon	2:42
4.	"Never Ending Falling Down"	Woo Ji-hoon, Park Se-joon	2:01
5.	"Peaches On The Bed"	Song Jin-seok, Hwang Seung-pil	1:39
6.	"Modern Show"	Song Jae-kyung, Park Se-joon	1:34
7.	"To Find You"	Kim Dong-hyuk, Choi Moon-seok	2:57
8.	"Awkward Situation"	Yoo Hee-hyun, Park Se-joon	1:44
9.	"In The West"	Na Sang-jin, Park Se-joon	1:51
10.	"Damn It"	Kim Tae-hwan, Park Se-joon	1:52
11.	"Let Us Go"	Woo Ji-hoon, Park Se-joon	1:38
12.	"Lemonade"	Kim Min-ji, Park Se-joon	1:23
13.	"Ullala Ullala"	Kim Dong-hyuk, Choi Moon-seok	1:52
14.	"My Honey Dream"	Lee Nyeom, Park Se-joon	3:33
15.	"After All"	Yu Hui-hyeon, Park Se-joon	3:27
16.	"BongKuRa"	Kim Tae-hwan, Park Se-joon	2:01
17.	"Candle Light"	Na Yoon-sik, Park Se-joon	2:45
18.	"Hi Kid"	Woo Ji-hoon, Park Se-joon	1:20
19.	"My Beauty"	Gim Dong-hyuk, choi Moon-seok	2:01
20.	"Samba Girl"	Kim Min-ji	1:53
21.	"God Of Love"	Lee Nyeom	2:17
22.	"Terrible Mistake"	Song Jin-seok, Hwang Seung-pil	1:52
23.	"Acoustic Romance"	Woo Ji-hoon, Park Se-joon	2:07
		Total length:	47:34

Special Track

Released on February 18, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Love, Maybe" (사랑인가 봐)	Kim Min-seok	MeloMance	MeloMance	3:05
2.	"Love, Maybe" (Inst.)		MeloMance		3:12
				Total length:	6:17

Part 1

Released on February 28, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Sweet" (스윗해)	Gadeul	Anne, Maxx Song, Wonjun	Lee Mu-jin	3:36
2.	"Sweet" (Inst.)		Anne, Maxx Song, Wonjun		3:36
				Total length:	7:12

Part 2

Released on March 6, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"You Are Mine"	Gadeul	Aaron Kim, Isaac Han, Walter Pok, D'tour	Victon	3:27
2.	"You Are Mine" (Inst.)		Aaron Kim, Isaac Han, Walter Pok, D'tour		3:27
				Total length:	6:54

Part 3

Released on March 8, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Sun Shower" (여우비)	Ha Joon, Park Se-joon	Seo Jae-ha, Kim Young-seong, Park Se-joon	Movning	4:16
2.	"Sun Shower" (Inst.)		Seo Jae-ha, Kim Young-seong, Park Se-joon		4:16
				Total length:	8:33

Part 4

Released on March 9, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Melting"	Gadeul, Zaydro	Zaydro	BamBam	3:04
2.	"Melting" (Inst.)		Zaydro		3:04
				Total length:	6:09

Part 5

Released on March 14, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Love, Maybe" (사랑인가 봐)	Kim Min-seok	MeloMance	Secret Number	3:05
2.	"Love, Maybe" (Inst.)		MeloMance		3:05
				Total length:	6:10

Part 6

Released on March 20, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Fall in Love" (사랑이 내 안에 들어와)	Lee Da-hyun	Ranic, Lee Da-hyun	Jihan (Weeekly), Park So-eun (Weeekly)	3:19
2.	"Fall in Love" (Inst.)		Ranic, Lee Da-hyun		3:19
				Total length:	6:39

Part 7

Released on March 22, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Closer"	Woo Ji-hoon	Woo Ji-hoon	Song Ha-yea	3:58
2.	"Closer" (Inst.)		Woo Ji-hoon		3:58
				Total length:	7:57

Part 8

Released on March 28, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Whatever You Want"	Han Seung-yun, Gadeul	Han Seung-yun	Han Seung-yun	4:16
2.	"Whatever You Want" (Inst.)		Han Seung-yun		4:16
				Total length:	8:33

Part 9

Released on March 29, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Spring Breeze" (봄바람처럼 날 찾아와)	Gadeul	Park Young-min, Yoon Byung-joo, Ko Deok-joon	New (The Boyz)	3:44
2.	"Spring Breeze" (Inst.)		Park Young-min, Yoon Byung-joo, Ko Deok-joon		3:44
				Total length:	7:28

Part 10

Released on March 29, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"It's Up To You"	Park Se-joon, Han Jun	Red Socks, Inan	Moon Su-jin	4:28
2.	"It's Up To You" (Inst.)		Red Socks, Inan		4:28
				Total length:	8:56

Bonus Track

Released on April 5, 2022
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Love, Maybe (Acoustic Ver.)" (사랑인가 봐)	Kim Min-seok	MeloMance	Kim Se-jeong	2:51
2.	"Love, Maybe (Acoustic Ver.)" (Inst.)		MeloMance		2:51
				Total length:	5:43

Reception

Commercial success

During its airing, Business Proposal almost doubled its television ratings, recording its highest rating in the ninth episode. According to Nielsen Korea, the series recorded a rating of 11.4% in its last episode. It also topped the Content Power Index (CPI) report with 357.7 points in the first week of April 2022. After its release on Netflix, Business Proposal debuted at number 6 on the platform's weekly viewership chart of non-English TV shows in the week of March 7 to 13. The following week it rose to number one, where it stayed for three weeks, recording 32.5 million hours of viewing for the week of March 28 to April 3 alone. It became the first Korean series produced and originally released by a local company to top the chart. The drama was particularly successful in Asia, ranking as the top series in multiple countries including Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore, while placing at number two in India and Sri Lanka, for the week of March 28 to April 3.

Following the series's success, Kakao Entertainment reported that the webtoon was now the second most popular romantic comic ever released on Kakao's platform, while the views for the original web novel increased tenfold. Furthermore, both held the top two spots for most viewed stories on Kakao's platform during the drama's airing.

Critical response

Despite the initial concerns of adapting a webtoon into a drama, Business Proposal received positive feedback for its way of embracing the clichés of the romcom genre and turning them into "slapstick comedy". Quincy LeGardye of Vulture individuated at least ten typical tropes of the romance genre used for either of the two main couples presented in the series and commented that the drama makes "smart decisions" about which to subvert and which to embrace. The familiarity of the story, derived from using common clichés, alongside its "unique and lovely" characters were named the strengths of the series.

The series was also praised for its way of depicting the issue of molka in South Korea. Jin Young-seo becomes a victim of illegal filming when her neighbor places a spy cam in a lamp he gave her as a housewarming gift. While often in fiction the victim reacts "passively" and lets others handle the situation for her, in the series Young-seo reports the crime to the police and brings evidence with her. It's also made clear that the punishment under the current South Korean law for the crime isn't enough through the words of the police officer who Young-seo speaks to. Furthermore, in many television series', the fictional illegal recordings are frequently broadcast, usually showing the woman losing consciousness and sometimes exposing parts of her body. Instead, Business Proposal avoids portraying the situation explicitly. After the incident, Young-seo goes through trauma and, as a result, she isn't able to use public bathrooms for fear of being filmed, showing how difficult it is for victims to overcome the pain. However, some parts were considered "disappointing". With his influence as a second-generation member of a chaebol family, the male main character Kang Tae-moo manages to gather the testimonies of Young-seo's neighbor's other victims and sues him, also buying out the company where he works at and firing him. The woman has to rely on a man at the end, while it "would have left a more pleasant feeling" if she had "avenged" herself. Furthermore, it was criticized how the situation led to Young-seo's romance with Cha Sung-hoon.

Viewership

Awards and Nominations

Gallery

Main article: Business Proposal/Gallery

References

This page uses content from an article at Wikipedia. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under either the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License or the GNU Free Documentation License.

External Links

• Business Proposal's Official Website (in Korean)
• Business Proposal on Wikipedia
• Business Proposal on MyDramaList
• Business Proposal on HanCinema
• Business Proposal on Netflix
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Spotify
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Apple Music
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Pandora
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Youtube Music
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Melon
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Flo
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Bugs
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Genie
• Business Proposal's Original Soundtrack Album on Vibe

v · d · e Business Proposal
Romance Comedy Drama
Production Created by StudioS Written by Han Seol-hee Hong Bo-hee Directed by Park Seon-ho Music by Park Se-joon Executive Producer(s) Kim Hyun-woo Distributor SBS Netflix
Cast Main Ahn Hyo-seop Kim Se-jeong Kim Min-kyu Seol In-ah Supporting People around Tae-moo Lee Deok-hwa People around Ha-ri Choi Byung-chan Kim Kwang-kyu Jung Young-joo Song Won-seok Bae Woo-hee Go Food Employees Kim Hyun-sook Lim Ki-hong Yoon Sang-jeong Yoo Eui-tae Characters in Be Strong, Geum-hee Noeul Joo Hui-jae Seo Kwon-sun Others Seo Hye-won Special Appearances Kim Won-sik (Ep. 1) MeloMance (Ep. 3) Lee Ki-young (Ep. 3, 10–12) Lee Ki-hyuk (Ep. 4–6) Tei (Ep. 6) Kim Young-ah (Ep. 8–9) Hwang Bo-ra (Ep. 9) Kim Jung-young (Ep. 9–10)
Original Soundtrack "Love, Maybe" by MeloMance (Special Track) "Sweet" by Lee Mu-jin (Part 1) "You Are Mine" by Victon (Part 2) "Sun Shower" by Movning (Part 3) "Melting" by BamBam (Part 4) "Love, Maybe" by Secret Number (Part 5) "Fall in Love" by Jihan and Park So-eun of Weeekly (Part 6) "Closer" by Song Ha-yea (Part 7) "Whatever You Want" by Han Seung-yun (Part 8) "Spring Breeze" by New of The Boyz (Part 9) "It's Up To You" by Moon Su-jin (Part 10) "Love, Maybe (Acoustic Ver.)" by Kim Se-jeong (Bonus Track)