I was looking for Han Joo-wan’s latest project yesterday when I stumbled upon a web drama he starred in earlier in February, entitled Devil’s Diary. Web drama tend to be misses for me because I often lose interest in the middle of the series (despite the bite-size episodes) but I think I am lucky to discover this one, because it is just a four-part drama, 15 minutes each. Hence, I decided to spend less than one hour for Devil’s Diary and it was such a cute, cute show.

There is no subtitles available for the videos on Naver, so I figure out that I should do a short summary of the show 😀 It starred Han Joo-wan (of Hwajung, Joseon Gunman, Wang Family, and Yeonwoo’s Summer) and Lee Shi-won (of I Have A Lover and Who Are You – School 2015, although some of you might be more familiar with her role as the kindergarten teacher in Misaeng) as the devil and the human, respectively.

Check out the channel on Naver here! http://tvcast.naver.com/whynot You might want to watch it first to experience the cute firsthand before coming back here if you need help with regard to the details 😉

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Cheon Nara, whose name literally means ‘heaven’, is a normal lady working a normal office job who suddenly starts seeing glimpses of a man in suits smirking at her. She lives alone and of course, freaks out when she feels that there is someone following her on her way home and makes the decision to buy a taser. It turns out that the man is no ordinary man; he is a devil who appears before her, black wings and all, to offer her three wishes. Nara’s response to his revelation is something Mr. Devil has not prepared for: she completely ignores him and his offer, doubting her vision. He tries to prove his identity, only to lead her into believing that she has a disease and has started having hallucinations.

 

Mr. Devil only told half of the actual reason to Nara, and he is there to take her soul as his last mission. He has to reap human souls using the wish-and-reap method since he is not an official Reaper yet, and completing this task promises him a promotion to become a full-time, heartless Grim Reaper. Well, bad news for him as Nara is not an easy target as what he initially thought it would be!

 

So, our desperate Mr. Devil tries to persuade her into asking for any wish, following her around the house and the office but Nara is unfazed, thinking that he is just her imagination. He is going crazy but it can’t be helped, since he needs to follow the procedure in order to protect her soul from any wound. His method of using temptation to lure her into the trap is not working, so he make her trip on her way home one night. That turns her into a crying mess and he is concerned for her, but Mr. Devil still tries to ask for her wish. Unfortunately, her belief of him being her imagination only grows stronger.

 

Seeing how Nara is treated badly by her superior at her workplace, Mr. Devil makes a special offer to her (in a total CF style) : he can also do curses if she wants to, because he is a capable, no ordinary devil. Nara already has her own “Praise Circle” reserved for her bad boss, because badmouthing him will only extend his life. That does not mean her work life is any easier, but she has a Section Chief Yoon taking care of her. Our Devil takes note of her growing crush, but his wish-begging routine is slowly turning into him watching over Nara everywhere she goes.

 

Another reminder comes from the above for Devil to hurry up with his task, but he is not ready when Nara treats him like her imagination, that is being extremely at ease (read = no clothes on) at home one day. Oopsie! Cue a flustered Mr. Devil there, who stammers through his inquiry about Section Chief Yoon. He offers to help her but she doesn’t need that, as she already got a date with him.

 

The date serves as an eye opener for Nara, as she finds out that the Section Chief is a lot cheesier than what she imagines him to be. Devil is fuming at her strings of rejection, blaming her ‘Heaven’ name for it. His minion appears to encourage him, reminding Devil that he is capable of being ruthless and evil. But then, minion is actually there to remind his master about the repercussions of devils being tempted by precious souls like Nara.

 

He is ready to show no-nonsense when Nara returns home, only to have the drunk Nara falling into his arms and finally asking him for a wish: to bring back her parents. They passed away when she was still young, leaving Nara with no recollection of them except for a family photo. Now, it gets clearer why she is so unfazed at the sight of him, since she is more scared of humans compared to ghosts and things unseen to naked eye. Mr. Devil got a wish but this time, it is something out of his jurisdiction since her parents are in heaven. Awww, too bad for both of them..

 

Although he can’t fulfill that wish, at least it pushes him to do more things for her, from fixing her breakfast like a domestic helper, to doing a little revenge on her bad boss. Nara starts to believe that Devil is not her imagination and behaves (by dressing) properly in his presence. He can’t hide his curiosity on the Section Crush she crushed on, but his question makes her notice that he looks somehow similar to her crush. Nara gives him a peck on the lips (!!!) and that only makes him even more curious about her.

 

She starts treating him like a friend everywhere she goes but of course, that does not look normal at all in other people’s eyes, considering how she is giggling and talking to thin air. Her colleagues notice how she is looking brighter these days and Section Chief still thinks that she is in love with her, although her texts say otherwise. Mr. Devil is there witnessing everything and he is about to approach the chief, but his minion interrupts him to bring a new order: forced execution of Nara in three days, cause of death being fall from a high place.

 

That causes Mr. Devil to disappear from Nara’s sight and he is nowhere to be seen. However, that doesn’t mean he is not taking care of her; he saves her from falling down flights of stairs using the Section Chief and warns her against going to high place through her office mates. Nara is so relieved when her Devil appears in front of him, thinking that he has disappeared because her sickness has gotten better. He pleads for her to give him just one wish so that he can delay the time for her death, but she doesn’t want him to disappear. Awwww! The wish is not her main concern, as Nara wants to give Mr. Devil a name because she doesn’t know how to call him when he disappeared the other day. Double awwww! Her choice for his name is Gong-jak (which has dual meaning – Duke and peacock – but guess which one is for him) since his wings remind her of the bird and he does have a temper like a cocky peacock. HAHAHAHAHA!

 

So, Mr. Peacock Devil is okay with day, because his priority is to keep her safe from any high rise place or building. He warns her against going to those places, not even the rooftop, and exerts his energy to break down the elevator. Death is waiting for her at every corner as he saves her from falling into a manhole, and Nara starts to suspect that something is going on. Devil still refuses to tell her anything saves for the fact that his promotion will never happen. Suddenly, a man hits her while passing by, causing her to topple and fall into the ventilation window. Devil stops the time and brings her back to safety, extending her life by saving her from a near-death experience.

 

Still, everything comes at a cost, and Nara is left by herself, accompanied by the memories and reminders of her Peacock Devil as she goes on with her life, with only one wish….

Until one day, after some time has passed, Nara goes home to find a man on her doorstep wearing only a blanket.

 

LOL that is her Peacock Devil who is now a homeless man! He’s sobbing, blaming her for causing everything that happened to him: from a dead man being selected to become a Reaper apprentice, he is kicked out of his role as a Devil and has to live as a human! Gone all the spiffy suits and hair, but Nara is totally grateful to have her Peacock back. Plus, he is actually younger than her by a year! Thus, he begins his new life, as a real domestic helper at home, sleeping in his favourite place the bathtub.

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Although the title is Devil’s Diary, the story is more like a closer look into Nara’s life through the Devil’s eyes. She is just an ordinary woman in her late twenties leading an ordinary life, eating ordinary food, just going about her life in the most ordinary way. Nothing special is going on for her, so she is not even curious about Mr. Devil and his offer when he comes into her life, thinking that he is just a fragment of her imagination. Perhaps, her neutral uptake to everything in her life is the best asset for her, because that saves her from dying at such a young age.

Nara’s reaction (or lack thereof) affects Mr. Devil because like what he has stated, his job has been smooth-sailing prior to his encounter with her because of the human’s nature of falling prey to temptation. She is a rare case of someone who is neither satisfied nor dejected with her life. The more he tries to lure her into the wish trap, the more he is drawn into her. I guess even the devils themselves are not safe from their own curiosity! Plus, she is considered a precious soul even by the Reaper standard, so that speaks volume of her personality and why she is set as Peacock Devil’s final test. Although he fails the test, I think he gains a lot compared to what he lost, and having Nara is another type of Heaven for him. She is someone with lots of love to give, so whoever gets to receive her love is one lucky guy 😉

If you have an hour to spare, watch this and tell me what you think about it ❤