Our Dating Sim has finally started! How will Lee Wan’s unrequited love end after his unexpected reunion with Shin Ki Tae, his first love?
‘Our Dating Sim’ is an eight-episode Korean BL web drama starring Lee Seung Gyu and Lee Jong Hyuk as Lee Wan and Shin Ki Tae, respectively. It follows the story of Lee Wan and Shin Ki Tae, who were best friends in school. But Lee Wan harbored romantic feelings for Shin Ki Tae and confessed them, causing the two to part on unhappy terms. Seven years later, they’re both navigating the job market, with Shin Ki Tae working as a programming ace at a gaming startup and Lee Wan pursuing his passion for illustration. When Shin Ki Tae’s company starts looking for an illustrator for a new dating-themed game, Lee Wan applies for the job, raising the possibility of a second chance at romance.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead. Read at your own risk.
Episode 1. Would you like to restart the game?
The story begins with two young men getting ready — one in a suit running to the bus stop — and the other one in casual wear, doing some coding on his computer before heading out of his apartment. The two arrived at the same time and accidentally bumped into the same elevator. The young man in a suit, introduced himself as Lee Wan to the CEO of RE:TRY, a game startup company who later asks him to relax as his hands were sweating out of nervousness. And the other young man in casual wear enters the room and introduced himself to Lee Wan as Shin Ki Tae, a planner, and developer. Lee Wan is stunned knowing that the person he bumped into is his old karma where a few seconds of flashback appears where he kissed him. However, it was cut when Ki Tae forcefully shakes his hands.
The meeting between Lee Wan, Shin Ki Tae, and the CEO begins, where the CEO wonders when he starts drawing. Lee Wan replies that he started drawing while preparing for his college admission. The CEO asks him again to relax and loosen up when he is shuttering. He also introduced that the company is planning to develop a dating simulator that focuses on school-related and is aimed at female users. He also expresses his love for Lee Wan’s webtoon and from the moment he saw it, without hesitation, he contacted him right away. Shin Ki Tae break the conversation by asking Lee Wan if he ever played their previous game before. Lee Wan respond he did. Ki Tae continues to ask him if he recalls the ending. Lee Wan can’t remember how it ends correctly but he thinks it had to do with escaping in the build. Upon hearing his answer, Ki Tae emphasizes an ending where he escaped. The CEO breaks their heated conversation by asking Lee Wan if their previous game was fun and his first job at a company. Lee Wan replied yes to the questions. Ki Tae resumes asking him related his art style and what he receives another recruitment offer while rendering his service to the project without delays as their goal is to launch the app in 3 months. Lee Wan’s art style is quite different from the company and at first, he asks to compromise. He later ended up agreeing to what the company requested and had no choice but to work with Ki Tae. He once imagined how their reunion looks like but it’s different from what it’s happening now.
As the meeting ended, they head to the elevator and later a girl named Jamie joined them. Inside the elevator, Jamie asks Ki Tae why he leave in rush yesterday and got bored when he left. Ki Tae smiled and replied, he had to leave earlier to fix the bug and promised to join the next company dinner. Ki Tae asks Lee Wan if he’s seeing someone. He added that he is curious since they were developing a dating simulator game. Lee Wan got surprised by Ki Tae’s question and when the elevator rang, he rushes to leave. Lee Wan receives a call from his sister who is asking how’s the job interview and where he shared that he’s not confident and uncomfortable working with Shin Ki Tae.
After seven years, Lee Wan meets his first love at the gaming company where he got a job interview. A flashback began where all started that set on February 10, 2015, when Lee Wan’s family suddenly went bankrupt and they started moving out their belongings from their house to a mover truck. Lee Wan’s received a text message from Shin Ki Tae to celebrate their graduation and he must join him and bring the camera. He left his sister inside the mover truck and runs towards Ki Tae to confirm something. At the school rooftop, Lee Wan courageously confessed his feelings to Shin Ki Tae and kisses him.
Episode 2: Timing.
After Lee Wan’s unexpected reunion with his first love, he is now drinking a can of alcohol and is still undecided about whether to accept the job offer or not.
A flashback begins, on their high school graduation day 7 years ago. Lee Wan headed to the rooftop where Shin Ki Tae and his classmates waiting for him. When Ki Tae noticed the camera, he asked his two classmates to take a photo of them together. After taking photos of Ki Tae and Wan, the two leave them on the rooftop to go to their next agenda. Lee Wan gathered all of his courage to confess his feeling to his first love, Shin Ki Tae, and kisses him. After what he did, Wan runs away intending to abandon everything including the camera. Meanwhile, Ki Tae was searching for him.
In their 20s, Lee Wan draws a man’s figure on his sketchpad while doing an errand by helping his sister in the restaurant run by his Aunt while Ki Tae is hanging out with his classmates in a restaurant. Tipsy Ki Tae takes out his mobile phone, refreshing his text conversation with Wan and hoping he will respond even tried to call him. Ki Tae blames himself for pushing Wan away, the one who likes him and disappeared and left him behind. Even though four years have passed by, Ki Tae still checks their text conversation while Wan, who is unbelievably sad, however, he doesn’t dare to talk with him.
Since that day, drawing became Lee Wan’s comfort whenever Ki Tae crosses into his mind, and fond of reading the viewers’ comments. He received a text message from Magic Toon Business Center’s PD Ahn informing him that he is qualified for the final interview for the new artists’ boot camp where he grab the opportunity to venture a different path. He went on the interview and the PD raises his concern that he can abandon the same character with the same expressions and dialogues. PD also explains that the boot camp is looking for an artist with various spectrums who can draw various drawings. He continues, if he can’t make it then he can try next time. Lee Wan thanks PD Ahn for the opportunity and wonders if he is ‘Gameboy’, who leaves comments on his works. It turns out it’s not him, so Wan starts wondering who he is. Leaving the company, his sister called him because someone is looking for him. It was Tae Ho, the CEO in the first episode.
Back to the present, Wan got notified of the new comment from Gameboy on his latest release stating, hopefully, Ian won’t run away in the next episode, to which he replied with gratitude for rooting for his work. The identity of Gameboy has finally been revealed and it turns out it’s Shin Ki Tae.
Watch ‘Our Dating Sim’ on GagaOOLala