Start-Up

October 17, 2020

Seo Dal-mi (Bae Suzy) dreams of building a tech startup despite lacking connections or capital. Her grandfather sets up a pen-pal relationship for her — with Han Ji-pyeong (Kim Seon-ho) pretending to be Nam Do-san.

October 17, 2020

The real Nam Do-san (Nam Joo-hyuk) — whose failing startup needs the Sandbox incubator application — is recruited to play the pen-pal. He meets Dal-mi and immediately struggles with the deception.

October 24, 2020

Dal-mi and Do-san's team enter Sandbox — the Pangyo Techno Valley startup incubator. The startup world's specific culture, competitiveness, and idealism are established.

October 24, 2020

The love triangle between Dal-mi, Do-san, and Ji-pyeong is fully operational. The drama's most contested K-drama relationship of 2020.

October 31, 2020

The team's first Sandbox pitch. The drama's most detailed engagement with actual startup culture — the product, the presentation, the investor relations.

October 31, 2020

Do-san's feelings for Dal-mi — which arrived before he had processed them — complicate the already-complicated deception.

November 7, 2020

Ji-pyeong's genuine care for Dal-mi conflicts with his growing feelings and his role in the original deception.

November 7, 2020

The Sandbox world at its midpoint. Digital Media City and Pangyo establish the dual geography of Dal-mi's professional ambitions.

November 14, 2020

The pen-pal deception is coming closer to exposure. Do-san must decide what he will do when it does.

November 14, 2020

The truth about the letters is revealed to Dal-mi. Her response — and who she actually wants — became the drama's most discussed plot point.

November 21, 2020

The relationships re-form around the full truth. The drama's second half.

November 21, 2020

A major investment decision forces both the business and personal storylines to a crisis.

November 28, 2020

Dal-mi and Ji-pyeong, Dal-mi and Do-san — two possible futures for the drama's romantic resolution.

November 28, 2020

The startup's future is at stake. The professional and personal converge at Pangyo.

December 5, 2020

Final choices about the business and the relationships. The drama's resolution takes shape.

December 5, 2020

The finale. A drama whose love triangle divided fans entirely — Team Do-san and Team Ji-pyeong never reached agreement — but whose portrait of startup culture and female entrepreneurship was its genuine achievement.