With the craziness of the holiday season in full swing, there hasn’t been much time for me to marathon dramas. However, even as I’m baking a zillion cookies and sewing K-Pop plushies, I’ve managed to find the time to fit in a mini-drama here and there so I’ve still got a drama for you to watch this weekend. If you’re not too busy Christmas partying, that is.
Originally airing on Naver TVCast (and DTV and LINE), The Secret Message is the story of a heart-broken Korean documentary film maker, Woo Hyun (Choi Seung Hyun aka T.O.P) who travels to Japan to film subjects for his latest project and Haruka (Ueno Juri), a Japanese dancer to travels to Korea after losing the man she loves in a tragic accident. Though these two characters seem world apart, they’re brought together totally by accident (or was it fate?) when Woo Hyun has his phone stolen and it’s replaced with a phone whose number once belonged to Haruka’s lost love. Messaging back and forth, Woo Hyun and Haruka find an unexpected friend and slowly, the wounds of their broken hearts begin to heal.
With this being another short, web-drama, I can’t say a whole lot without giving the entire thing away. What I can tell you is that I started out watching this drama because I know T.O.P starred as the leading male and I finished watching it because I was totally engrossed in the story. There was just something about this drama, the way it was written and paced, that I really loved. It’s not a high-energy, fast-paced drama like a lot of the other mini-dramas out there but it’s still very easy to get into. There’s a lot of character development, for a mini-drama, and T.O.P’s quirky side is allowed to shine on more than one occasion, which I absolutely L.O.V.E.D!!!
As much as I loved seeing T.O.P finally star in a romantic drama, his character wasn’t the only one I fell in love with. Juri Ueno was absolutely brilliant in her role and I found myself wishing I could call her my friend. She’s got such a sweet aura around her, you can’t help but love her. In similar fashion, the rest of the cast is just as lovable, in their own unique ways. This truly was a brilliantly cast drama and the story, though familiar, was enjoyable to watch.
If you’re looking for a drama that’s short, sweet and refreshingly slower-paced at this time of year when everything’s a hectic, chaotic mess of holiday cheer, I suggest you check out The Secret Message. I really enjoyed it and hey, if you don’t really care for the story, having an excuse to squee over T.O.P for a couple of hours straight is never a bad thing!