In the End, Sin-yeong Is the One!

Among the three women portrayed in MBC’s recently-wrapped popular drama series “Marry Me,” which do single men in their twenties and thirties find the most desirable as a potential spouse? According to an online survey of 171 single men conducted by the marriage information company Duo, Sin-yeong (Myung Se-bin, 53%) came out on top, with Soon-ae (Lee Tae-ran, 35%) and Seung-ri (Byeon Jeong-su, 11.1%) taking the second and third spots, respectively.

Participants in the survey saw Sin-young as “a woman who is good at her work but is considerate of her man as well, with something of the ‘superwoman’ in her.” Soon-ae was described as “someone with whom you’d have a lot to talk about over the years,” while Seung-ri was considered “likely to be bold and wise in maintaining her family and home.”

The following is a record of the conversation that took place between three eligible bachelors—Lee Yong-beom (32, head of the finance department at Skylife), Lee Seok-min (26, graduate student and actor), and Lee Yong-ji (26, staff writer for cable channel m.net)—at a restaurant in Mugyo-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, on June 16.

--Sin-young would be gossiping with other women, then her voice would rise a pitch higher when she answers Jun-ho’s phone call. Isn’t that what women do? This series was educational, because it showed aspects that men never get to see.

--Wouldn’t women like Sin-yeong, Soon-ae, and Seung-ri be rare in real life?

--I’d thought so too, but a lot of women loved the show, saying, “That’s exactly how I am!” After seeing the show’s depiction of the more realistic side of women, I began to think, “I guess my future spouse would be like that, too.” Usually, melodramas on TV leave you with a vague fantasy about “landing a girl like Jun Ji-hyun,” but this was different.

--I was watching TV with my parents, and the scene where Jun-ho (Yoo Jun-sang) goes to a motel with a “flowersnake” (Korean slang for a female swindler who seduces men in order to steal from them) and dances half-naked on the bed with her came on. I actually do that as well. Because men would pretty much do whatever women pressed them to. I sneaked a look at my mom, and she said, “That’s kind of cute.” I liked that they gave a light spin on stuff that everybody does.

Did the show give too realistic an account of its women? The bachelors remarked that none of the three heroines really appealed to them as a spouse figure, but they agreed that the generally unremarkable Sin-yeong was the best among them.

--Sin-yeong’s devotion to her work was beautiful to see. Her frequent mistakes also made her seem more human and inviting. When she doused herself with water in order to “make her moves” on Jun-ho, it made me hope that maybe some woman would do similarly bold things to attract me.

--I think that Jun-ho began to love Sin-yeong when she helped him out of his tight spot after he’d been swindled by the flowersnake. That was the behavior of a true partner.

--But hardly any woman would do something like that in real life.

--Married men like the divorcee Seung-ri, the “dating expert.” They seem to think that they could handle her, because they’ve got a lot of inner strength and endurance stored up.

--I would date Seung-ri first to learn a lot about women, then go out with Soon-ae for a bit, and marry Sin-yeong in the end. It if were just dating, I could go for all three.

--I can’t imagine a romance with Soon-ae. I found it pathetic that she would appeal to men for sympathy about her difficult circumstances. I’d like to see her be more confident in her search for love, despite her financial straits.

On the show, Sin-yeong’s troubles begin with the line, “While we were working, studying, and earning, young girls just looking to land a husband got away with all the good men.”

--I think she’s right. 80 percent of Korean men don’t know women very well, and tend to fall for girls of that type.

--If a girl hooks her arm through yours and calls you “sweetie,” or shows up wearing something that reveals her cleavage, most men would be in a hurry to get her a bouquet.

--But that’s when men who do know women well start to distance themselves a little.

--When I go out drinking with other men, most of them would get a phone call from their wives and leave one by one, while I get stuck there till the last moment and end up taking care of the drunken ones. At times like those, I really want to get married.

--I know a few men in their forties who still aren’t married. They go online to chat on Cyworld, using “hip” internet jargon and living like young men.

Katherine Cho kathycho@donga.com