[Specially written for Soompi’s 15th Anniversary. Thanks a lot, Susan! ;)]

Hello! I am muchadoboutlove, a blogger at the talking cupboard. I’ve been an avid drama watcher since I was young, thanks to my father. Korean drama is my latest obsession and the blog was created to become my drama watching diary. Soompi is one of the earliest sites I frequented when I first got my very own internet connection  and it’s the first forum site I’ve ever registered with under the name kaeruchan (that is my nickname back in secondary school). It’s not too much to say that I got to learn so many things and meet amazing people through the wonderful site that is Soompi. For the 15th anniversary of Soompi, I feel so honoured and flattered to be given this opportunity to write for Soompi.

Have you ever encountered a couple or pairing in a K-drama or a K-movie that wasn’t the OTP (One True Pairing) or the main couple, but you loved this couple as much, or even more than the main couple? I have a few, or indeed, a handful of these pairings that I really wish to see again, paired together in a drama. Since these actors and actresses, who were once second leads, rise to become the main leads nowadays, it can be hard to see them meet again in dramas, but a fan like me can dream…right?

I present to you, My 15 Dream Pairings…with some exceptions.

• Jung Il-woo & Moon Chae-won

These two were the second leads for My Fair Lady/ Take Care of the Young Lady (2009), starring alongside Yoon Eun-hye and Yoon Sang-hyun. I have to admit that I never thought that their characters Tae-yoon and Ui-joo would end up together. They keep chasing after the main couple but just like the other dramas, the pairing of Kang Hye-na and Seo Dong-chan are destined to be together. So Tae-yoon and Ui-joo are left behind, but they are not wasted, thank God. I love the hint of a new romance between them at the very end of the series, but I not easy fan when it comes to satisfying my drama imagination. That’s right, I keep waiting for them to somehow find their ways together again in a drama, but this time as the main leads. Both Jung Il-woo and Moon Chae-won are awesome when it comes to sageuk, so I really want to see them act together in a sageuk one day!

• Eom Ki-joon & Seo Hyo-rim

Some of you might remember them from Scent of a Woman (2011) as the seconds leads to Lee Dong-wook and Kim Sun-ah. But before that, they were the second leads in Worlds Within/ The World that They Live In (2008). They were super cute there, mostly because Seo Hyo-rim’s character Hae-jin managed to melt the cold exterior of Director Song Kyu-ho (Eom Ki-joon). So I was super excited when they were cast together in Scent of a Woman. I was hoping to see their interaction in that drama, but nothing. Nada. Nothing. But it was quite logic, considering how evil Im Se-kyung was and dorky Poopy Seok didn’t need the torture to keep up with the fox. Dear directors, please pair these two together again! I want to see their chemistry and friendship one more time…

• Lee Min-ho & Yoon Eun-hye

Believe it or not, both of them starred in a drama together but sadly, it was just a cameo for Yoon Eun-hye back then. She made a short appearance in Personal Taste as Jeon Jin-ho’s ex-girlfriend/college junior. It was such a short scene but that left me craving for more of this pairing. Is it too much for me to see these two beautiful people together in a project again?!

• Song Joong-ki & Seo Hyo-rim

I think this couple had it all: from a drama together, to MCs and even a couple pictorial. They were even rumoured to be dating back then! Song Joong-ki and Seo Hyo-rim were the MCs for Music Bank before they were cast together in Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2009). Their scenes together were not that many, but I fell for them after the first time where Gu Yong-ha and Ha Hyo-eun officially met. It might be because of Yong-ha’s playboy nature that I found them so compatible back then. It’s a sad thing that they didn’t end up together in the end, but one can always wish for another reunion in the future, right?

• Lee Seung-gi & Moon Chae-won

The young, wild, and carefree couple in Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy (2009). Time sure flies so fast and I couldn’t believe that Moon Chae-won was the second lead for quite a few numbers of dramas. I love Seung-mi before she joined the evil side together with his mother and her high school romance with Hwan was just adorable! Maybe it was just a one-sided crush, considering how Hwan treated like a little sister at times. Actually, I think that Seung-gi has good chemistry with all his co-stars so far, but it won’t hurt to anticipate how these two will play out a couple if they are cast together in the future…plus, they’re already close friends with each other!

• Moon Geun-young & Park Jin-woo
  

These two are probably the cutest pairing because I first saw them in the movie My Little Bride (2004) as high school sweethearts although Bo-eun was dating Jung-woo after she married her husband. Of course, they didn’t end up together but they met again in the drama Painter of the Wind (2008). They were rivals in the drama, but the highlight was the scene where Yun-bok disguised herself as a gisaeng and Hyo-won was attracted to her. I blame their chemistry that made me going gaga over them until today and that scene remains as one of my favourites in the drama.

• Park Shin-hye & Jung Yong-hwa

My confession: I really loved Mi-nyeo and Shin-woo in You’re Beautiful (2009). I really did. So when they didn’t end up together, I was among the thousands of fans that wished for Park Shin-hye and Yonghwa to be cast together again in another project. So when they joined Heartstrings…okay, I was really excited, but decided to check out the drama after it finished airing. These two are sure precious in their own way, gaining so much love from the fans who gave them the name Dooley Couple. Both of them repeatedly denied any rumour about their romantic relationship and said that they’re just friends, but that stint of giving flowers in Baeksang Awards for two consecutive years can’t be something ordinary…Hehehehe. Instead of another drama, I want them to be featured in a couple pictorial for a magazine, because I love Korean magazine’s spreads.

• Kim Bum & Kim So-eun

Awww…so many fond memories of them. Aside from the curls of Gu Jun-pyo, another thing that reminds the fans of Boys Over Flowers (2009) how much they loved the drama is probably Soeul Couple, taken from their characters’ names So Yi-jung and Choo Ga-eul. Although they were the secondary couple, they had to overcome their own problems in order for them to earn their happy ending in the drama. Oh, remember how the playboy Yi-jung impressed everyone with his saxophone and he also gave Ga-eul a makeover? There were some memorable scenes of them in the drama that didn’t seem to satisfy the craving of the fans that wished to see them again. They did some CFs together, but is it enough? No, I still need this pairing to happen again!

• So Yi-hyun & Kim Ji-suk

The newest secondary pairing in this list, they were in Cheongdamdong Alice (2012). I didn’t find both of them likable at the beginning of the series and it wasn’t near the end until I find them sort of pitiful. I symphatized for their characters and because of the tiring game of push and pull between the main leads, these two were some sort of happy pills amidst the problems surrounding the main OTP. They didn’t have any hint of getting together romantically at the end of the drama, but the friendship between the characters gives off some sparks of the chemistry that could have been there. Come on, I never saw both Kim Ji-suk and So Yi-hyun in any main roles, so it’s about time to see them shine! Bring them together..who knows, the results might be better than what we expected?

• Yeo Jin-gu & Kim Yoo-jung

Child actors also deserve some love, so I just  have to include Yeo Jin-gu and Kim Yoo-jung in my dream pairings. They were together in Iljimae (2008) as the child version of the main couple and in The Moon that Embraces the Sun (2012), their status were elevated, from child version to the teenage version of the main leads. Both of them are growing up really well, be it in their looks or their skills. Who knows, maybe we’ll get to see these two as the real main couple in several years’ time?

• Park Shin-hye & Baek Sung-hyun

The examples of child actors that have grown up but never left the industry. Park Shin-hye and Baek Sung-hyun were the younger version of Choi Ji-woo and Kwon Sang-woo’s characters in Stairway to Heaven. Although I can’t really remember how they were in the drama, but seeing both of them have grown up really well, I’m anticipating to see how their chemistry will turn out to be after all these years.

And the few exceptions I’m willing to make, because these couple are just precious to me:

• Kang Dong-won & Ha Ji-won

It would be interesting to see this couple to team up with each other again. They were the main and only couple for the movie Duelist (2005) and boy, their chemistry was just amazing, enough to make me cry for the perfection. I only watched this movie for the first time in 2011, but I could see why people are still crazy over the movie. Both of them are the A-list stars but it won’t be too much to ask for Kang Dong-won and Ha Ji-won in a movie together, right?

• Yoon Eun-hye & Joo Ji-hoon

This pairing is the main leads in Goong/Princess Hours (2006) but they still hold a special place in my heart. Joo Ji-hoon and Yoon Eun-hye are my first OTP and they are the first couple that I’ve ever shipped so faithfully, because the drama itself was and still a drama that I treasure so much. They were the people who taught me how to be a delusional fan, shipping an imaginary pairing in a drama. Lee Shin and Shin Chae-kyung got to be one of the best couple with best chemistry I ever seen in a K-drama, and because of that, I would really happy to see them in a drama again. I won’t be choosy and if someone wants to put them together in a movie, I’d be more than grateful to have my OTP again!

• Lee Seung-gi and Shin Min-ah

Ah, the Hoi-hoi couple. I was so crazy over them back in 2010 and one of the reasons why I joined Soompi back then. Stalking the forum of My Girlfriend is a Gumiho was my daily routine and this couple were just lovely. Who could hate these cutie pies?! I still love them to bits and even if I have to wait for several more years, I’m willing to do so if I can see them as a pair again.

• Moon Geun-young and Joo Won

This is just a random pairing I came out with back then. I realized that both of them have the same surname and they are of the same age. Interesting. They have never met in a project that I’m aware of, but since both of them are still young, it’s worth the wait to see how these two strong actors will fare out in a drama together.

There, there….my 15 dream pairings that I’d like to see again as the main couples in dramas, or better, movies. What about your dream pairings? Is there any actor and actress in your mind that have or never worked together that you’d like to see them being paired in a production?