The Midnight Romance in Hagwon: Episodes 5-6 by Dramaddictally The strategizing never stops in the dog-eat-dog world of the hagwon. But this time it’s in our heroine’s favor when she receives an offer that’s tough to turn down. And just as her work life takes a topsy-turvy turn, her love life follows suit — with a second irresistible offer.  EPISODES 5-6 This drama is building in an incremental way that’s simple but so effective. Rather than throwing curveballs, it just climbs and unfolds. It’s got moments that feel almost stagnant, followed by tense scenes that hit hard precisely because of the dragging moments that got us there. I’m more and more invested with each episode. This week, after the “failure” of their free lecture, Hye-jin and Jun-ho are called into the director’s office where they think they’ll be reprimanded. Instead, the director gives them a nonsensical spiel about how he wants to start a new branch of Daechi Chase in another district — and Hye-jin should spearhead the venture. That might sound fine and dandy …

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon: Episodes 3-4 by Dramaddictally The cut-throat competition of hagwon teachers intensifies as our leads team up to take down their enemy. But all that strategizing and planning means late nights at the office — where an undercurrent of romance is afoot, even if it looks like our heart-eyed hero and his overworked advisor are just going over their lecture notes.  EPISODES 3-4 I like that these episodes have their own mini-arc and we get to follow a project from inception to resolution — chalking up a point for our hagwon heroes at the end. With the competition between schools as well as individual teachers at the center of our story, I get the feeling that we’re in for more of these self-contained battles each week, ramping up the action toward the never-ending war for the students’ attention. And of course, on the sidelines, we have our romance, which is a slippery, slow-moving thing that feels almost too fragile to mention. As of yet, it’s just a former student with a …