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1[Updated] The Ten Commandments of KBLs
These are the commandments that have been handed down to us by the gods of Korean BLs. They shall be the commandments by which any present and all future KBLs may be judged. (N. B. See below for an explanation of my ratings.)1. Thou shalt not kiss. Thou shalt not, in any meaningful sense of that word, "kiss". Thou mayst, however, press thy lips against another man’s as you would a leper’s.
2. Thou shalt not utter the word ‘gay’. For it is a sin. Thou mayst love another man, but if any man shall ask of you if you do, thou mayst answer, “I like not men, I like only you.”
3. Thou shalt refrain from all carnal desires. For it is a sin. The submissive shall resist all attempts at intimacy, and the dominant may not pursue the submissive unless it is known that all his attempts shall prove fruitless. (Aptly mayst thou call this 'ironical'.)
4. Thou shalt respect the difference in height between the dominant and the submissive. Six inches will suffice, a foot too much, three inches too little. As below, so above.
5. Remember thou that there exist only three acceptable settings for a KBL. School, university, and office. For these do encompass all of life. Thou shalt invest thy characters in white jackets with blue borders if at school, leather jackets and hooded sweaters at university, and ill-fitted suits for work.
6. Remember thou that there exist only three acceptable plots for a KBL. Friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, and (adopted) brothers to lovers. Thou shalt entertain no other plots besides these.
7. Thou shalt employ no actor that is not thin, wanting of water, and starved for nutriments. The actors must have defined chests, six (or better yet, eight) pack abdominals, and flawless skin. Thou mayst coat the skin with three inches of wall paint to whitewash all flaws.
8. The writer shall inscribe in each tale at least one instance of timejump, forced separation or miscommunication. The unimaginative shall employ all three.
9. Thou shalt choose from among the following ornaments at least three to embellish thy tale: the slipping towel, the towel bath, an accidental fall or catch, sleeping-beauty false-kiss, somnolent confession, gentle lock-of-hair restoration, alcoholic amnesia, and rain-born fever.
10. Thou shalt by no means indicate homophobia in thy tale — in this, our most homophobic realm — unless it furthereth thy plot and our cynical purpose. Friends and family shall be universally supportive, unless it force a separation between thy characters. Remember thou always that this is a world of pandering fantasy, not reality.
Biblical Proportions:
Commandments Broken: 1 (!!!).
Commandments Obeyed: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Ratings:
*For the first commandment broken, I'll add a whole extra star. Again, what?!? They're allowed to do this in KBLs?
*For each of the commandments obeyed, I'll deduct half a point from the story, which brings it down to 1.
*I'll give the cast a 6, purely because I'm in love with Jung Jae Bin. But because I didn't get to see him shirtless, one point deducted. As for Jeon Yu Bin, did he have to look so constipated all the time?
*Was there music in this show? I don't remember.
*I'll give 5 stars for 'rewatch value', because I'm going to watch that kiss over and over and over again.
Reader's Digest:
DO SAY: I am the Lord, thy God.
DON'T SAY: Thou shalt lie with mankind as with womankind. That is love. Scratch that. That's fucking sexy.
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an indie mini series done right
Overall: I enjoyed how this was centered on the main leads (no love triangles/cliche female characters/random side plots). 7 episodes about 10 minutes each. Aired on GND Studio YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-UjFgW8TJEcVMXRV63uoHXg7rXv7mwll&si=9uCOLI4bRiXQRyBdContent Warning: non con touching
What I Liked
- centered on the 2 leads
- made me chuckle a few times
- good way to show time passing
- realistic way to show a character was queer
- protagonists apologized
- good kissing (that last kiss was awesome)
- production value
Room For Improvement
- started with a flash forward
- with such short episodes, they should have released at least 2 per week
- a continuity error with hand placement when the one guy was reading the comic
- the not respecting boundaries/acting a little too carefree (it made a little more sense with the revelation in the final episode but the other character didn't know that earlier)
- odd that they camera blocked the cheek kiss
- episode 6 could have been better spent instead of the jealousy stuff
- cliche end of episode 4 plot point (had plenty of time to explain)
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Love on the clock, but don’t expect overtime! Short and sweet! !!
My Damn Business is a mini-series that blends light-hearted humour with a sweet office romance. Despite its short runtime of around 10 minutes per episode, the series does a good job of developing its two leads, Han Yu Jin and Yoon Su An and crafting an engaging story that kept me hooked every week.The chemistry between the leads is the highlight of the series for me. From the first episode, it was evident. Han Yu Jin is confident, assertive and just a bit dominant while Su An is reserved, shy and cautious. Their contrasting personalities created a fun and sort of affectionate push-and-pull dynamics.
The romance here is not in grand gestures but in small, meaningful moments, in those quiet glances, subtle touches and tender conversations over drinks.
However, I wish the episodes were a little longer. It would have allowed for more depth to the characters and the workplace setting and also made the pacing a lot smoother. Also, waiting for a single episode per week made the story feel a bit disjointed.
The cinematography and production were good that it felt much larger and more polished than you'd expect from a short format.
Also that ending shot was beautiful! <3
Overall, this mini-series was a guilty pleasure with a satisfying romantic comedy that delivered even though it has pacing issues considering its short run time. Hoping to see more dramas with longer runtime.
Recommended if you are looking for a light, sweet and feel-good romance. There is nothing groundbreaking or deep here but few cliche tropes that are done well.
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Short, lot's of clichés but cute
While the story is ridled with clichés, they are not cringe. The chemistry between the two lead actors is great. Also Jeon did improve compared to his previous outings.There is not much to tell you about this short series, I felt entertained and the 80mins were not a waste of time. So, if you want to turn your brain off, wind down from a hard day, this show will calm you down, you will get some grins out of it and overall it's cute to watch.
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None of my damn business
The best thing about this was the chemistry between the leads, it just worked. And when you have seven episodes, around 10 minutes each, you're kind of depending on the chemistry to pull through and lucky for them, it did.Because the story tried to fit ten different tropes into one series and I honestly couldn't right up to the finale if they resolved everything or not. You had your phone call misunderstandings, you're jealousy of an ex who's not really an ex, the kiss after a drunken night out, and of course, the moment where your boss discovers an 18+ webtoon on your pen drive which was supposed to have documents. And I'm racking my brain to see if they resolved everything as I write this review, and I guess they did..? Kind of, because once you get past the point where the writer and the audience (me), stops bothering about the story, you hinge on good acting, and good chemistry, which two thumbs up.
It's a K BL, the cinematography was obviously beautiful and it's so incredibly short that it can be watched in one sitting. Or you can take your time. It's just basic, trope filled fun and.. yeah. It's good, fun and you can watch it or not, it's none of my damn business.
(See what I did there? Yeah?)
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Short and Sweet
"My Damn Business" is a short, tropey-but-sweet romance drama, that could happen "next door to you".With "My Damn Business", GND studio (formerly Guy Next Door) have released their second multi-episode mini drama. Before this one, "Fake Buddies" was released as seven loosely connected episodes, and before "Fake Buddies", they only made short comedic skits.
It's maybe also a good idea to keep in mind that they posted a note on YouTube in summer 2024 (unfortunately deleted by now), in which they mentioned that the "channel is run by three people who handle all the content creation".
So, GND Studio is very much a small start-up, with extremely limited ressources and even less experience with longer dramas.
As with "Fake Buddies", they used their experience with the short form and with working with a minuscule budget to their advantage:
1. They chose a plot that did not require a lot of actors, only few simple sets, and that could be told in a few short scenes.
2. Each episode was comprised of one simple and short story arc, which could begin and end within the same episode -- and still moved the relationship forward.
Other things I noticed:
* I mostly like the chosen background music -- especially the percussion piece in the first episode but also the melancholic piano piece. The jazzy tune at the bar was a bit annoying but we've heard worse.
* The company is called GND International.
* Acting, wrinting and editing came together to create a story that gets to the point quickly but is still slow enough in the important moments for the emotions to unfold.
* One thing that should have been made clearer for the viewers was the intention of Han U Jin in the first two episodes. I think quite a few viewers (me included) felt his actions toward Yoon Su An were too much -- when it was just his extremely awkward way of flirting, where he tried to use any opneing he saw to get closer to Yoon Su An.
* Both Han U Jin and Yoon Su An were a bit awkward, fumbled interactions, and still managed to solve their issues in the end by expressing their concerns and desires. Apart from their too good looks, they really felt like two "guys next door" to me.
With an overall runtime of just over an hour, this drama is a quick sweet snack in between longer and heavier dramas.
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A cute, short web series
So, let me start off by saying that I understand some of the earlier concerns about one of the main characters and how he was portrayed. Personally, it didn't bother me that much as a viewer because I just took that to mean that's the kind of character he is in the series.But, the series itself...the two main characters together were cute. I also enojyed it when the co-worker from another section visited them and also found them in somewhat compromising positions- that was always hilarious to me.
While they may have met some small hurdles in the development of thier relationship, they were always able to sort that out in a quick manner, which is a plus for me compared to another series that I am watching and its feeling like its just dragging.
So, all in all, it was a cute fluff series with a few things that can be swen questionable but they still delievered in thier acting and story telling.
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Two co-workers pass like ships in the night
I really wanted to like this drama. It looked promising in the previews. On the plus side, it gets right to the action without unnecessary side characters. This is primarily a two-character study. Jung Jae Bin as Mr. Han is unlikeable from the start. He's the cliche dirty old man stereotype. The twist here is Yun Su, played by Jeon Hu Bin, is the handsome office assistant instead of the cliche woman-as-sex-object character. There's never sufficient motivation for YunSu to be attracted to Han and, true to the way Han's character is drawn, YunSu is mostly repelled by his leering advances as bad habits like smoking and drinking to excess. Things get more interesting in Episode 5 when Mr. Park appears, but he comes too late to save this story. Also the female interest, the character Choi, is wasted. She could have been a confidant and advisor to Yun Su. In fact, it's never clear what their relationship is. The mysterious recruiter Hwang provides the comic relief, always appearing at embarssing moments. Given that Yun Su was never really interested in Mr. Han, I speculated that he'd end up with recruiter Hwang in a surprise twist. No such luck. The photography and settings are stunning, but the music is a bit elementary. They would have been better off with stock music. I look forward to seeing Jeon Yu Bin in a BL story with a stronger script. The kissing scenes were unusually bold here. Some reviewers have complained these BL dramas aren't "gay" enough but frankly any story where two guys are actually friendly to each other is unusual enough without getting bogged down in romantic love cliches. We've seen all of those tropes a million times in straight dramas.Was this review helpful to you?
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Our Damn Business
This was fun. It was light. It was humorous. It was also very predictable. One thing it definitely wasn't, it wasn't boring. From the moment Jin laid eyes on Su An it was off to a great chase of how to get Su An interested in him. From massages to stretches to after work drinking. He tried it all. He was his late night bestie, bad mouthing Su An's exes as if he knew any of them. The one thing he was sure of, he was lost to Su An and the only solution, was to make him his. Su An, fearful of being hurt, was not going to be rushed or played with. Hwang, their office co-worker, resigned himself to be the unwilling viewer and with his penchant of walking in at the wrong time, provided some of the comedic charm.Jeon Yu Bin (Su An) is a good actor and together with Jung Jae Bin (Jin) had great connectivity. It was a pleasure seeing them interact with each other. Su An's blank stoic expressions were the exact opposite of Jin's continual happiness. Even when angry, his face still invited Su An in.
What I truly liked about this short series was that it knew what it was and didn't have grandiose plans. It kept within the boundaries of a light comedic office romance and every moment wasn't wasted. JYB seems to fit well into these shorts and anyone viewing any would not be disappointed.
It's worth the watch.
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Make the best out of the limited-time drama duration
It is another short but fun web series that executed a well-presented love story from a lovely pair. The visuals and the chemistry are surely top-notch. The leads can surely know how to act and deliver their script flawlessly.I was in awe during one of their passionate kissing scenes; he lifted his head back to continue the attempted kiss was insanely great. They got closer the more alcohol they drank together. Also, the “good night” from the fifth episode was charming.
Jealousy can make the romance spicier in a good way. I love that sudden entrance of the male second lead. Although he only lasted for a single episode, it was enough to add flavor to the romance of the main couple.
In the finale, I think creating a history from them in the past was unnecessary but it was still cool. Nevertheless, ending the series in another fiery kiss like they wanted to eat each other so badly was phenomenal.
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A normal office romance
In my opinion My Damn Business had its ups and downs like for me I felt the show was good at the beginning, but then it became a little boring to me that I kinda didn’t want to watch it anymore since the plot wasn’t really moving anywhere. I will warn that there may be spoilers so be aware.I felt this plot was basic because we have seen the office romance so many times and only a few were actually good. I really love Su An and I feel like he’s so precious, but even though he looked so adorable he was a very cold character, but it makes sense because of what he experienced from his past relationships. The plot starts off with Han U Jin as the team leader who just got told that their company is losing so many employees and that they may need to shut down the company which means that he basically had no one in his team until he was given Su An to join his team. U Jin was very enthusiastic and happy to see someone knew, but Su An was like the definition of an introvert which was wanting to not have any conversations with him. One day Su An gave U Jin a flash drive for a presentation to be looked at, but instead he gave him his friends BL novel that she was making and U Jin was very surprised by seeing it and kept asking Su An if that was the way he likes his relationships to be or if that’s his type. This made Su An want to stay as far and as cold as he can be to U Jin because he kept teasing him which made Su An sad until Su An heard from Hwang that U Jin faced a yelling from the owner of the company since he took the blame then Su An had a change of heart and they went out for drinks, but while they were drinking U Jin asked if they can date and then Su An said sure and they kissed, but the next day they acted like they weren’t dating and were back to being just team leader and team member. Then Su An heard U Jin on a call who said that he doesn’t want to date a younger guy and stuff which made Su An not like him again until they were on an overnight trip together and Su An told him the truth and how his ex’s were and how he doesn’t trust men anymore and then U Jin said he won’t be like them so they started dating again. Then they were on a cafe date, but it was also a meeting and who they were meeting with was Su An’s senior Yeong Chan and they were flirting and had more chemistry than U Jin and Su An, but U Jin got jealous and talked with Su An about it and they moved on with them kissing each others hand. The show ended with the company shutting down and they are packing up and U Jin tells Su An that he saw him at a cafe when he used to work there and kept visiting it because of him.
Before they’re about to leave they have a kissing scene and that’s how the show ended which was kinda not the best ending because we don’t get to see them outside of the office or what they did with their life. Overall, the show was very short but also was kinda good at certain points, but I do recommend if you like office romances or like short BLs.
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Quite nice
I liked it a lot more than I expected. The actors did a good job and the story was pretty well written. Kind of wished it was longer, the two guys were just so sweet like candy.Han U Jin- He seemed like a chill guy who goes after what he wants, very determind I guess. I think this is the first time I have seen this actor.
Yun Su An- I liked him because he seemed professional with his mind on one path. He was also sweet at times with his cute but alluring eyes. I didn't recognize him but when I saw his past projects I realized that I have seen him before in His, Ice Cream and Actor:eal which I thought were quite good.
Hwang- I loved the fact that he kept walking in on the couple. His reactions were funny, especially in the last episode. I have seen the actor in Fake Buddies and thought that he was really good.
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