Cool Guys, Hot Ramen
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| Cool Guys, Hot Ramen | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Yoong Nan Joong |
| Directed by | Jung Jung Hwa |
| Starring | Jung Il-woo Lee Ki-woo Lee Chung-Ah |
| Country of origin | South Korea |
| Original language | Korean |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 16 South Korea |
| Production | |
| Production location | South Korea |
| Running time | Monday & Tuesday 23:00 (South Korea) |
| Original release | |
| Network | tvN (South Korea) |
| Release | 31 October – 20 December 2011 |
Flower Boy Ramen Shop is a 2011 South Korean television series. It is also known as Flower Boy Ramyun Shop (following the Korean pronunciation of "ramen"). This romantic comedy deals with “pretty boys,” who, with good looks and individuality, operate a ramen shop with lively college girls and experience the happenings of daily life.
Synopsis
Yang Eun Bi (Lee Chung Ah) is a university student preparing for her civil service exam with the dream of being a high school teacher. She accidentally encounters Cha Chi Soo (Jung Il-woo), the arrogant son of the biggest food conglomerate in Korea. Cha Chi Soo fascinates women with his good looks and charm. Eun Bi is attracted to him before she finds out that he is only a high school student and thus several years younger than her. However, her student-teaching assignment finds her not only working at the high school that Cha's family owns, but teaching his homeroom class. She grows to dislike him for his arrogance and lack of empathy. He, on the other hand, becomes fascinated with her because she is tough and athletic, unlike the other women he knows.
After Eun Bi's father (Jung In Ki) passes away, she is surprised to find that he left the ramen restaurant he owned to Choi Kang Hyuk (Lee Ki Woo), who he had helped when Kang Hyuk was a troubled youth, instead of to her. It is soon revealed that Eun Bi's father did this with the hope that Kang Hyuk and Eun Bi would become involved. Eun Bi, after losing her student-teaching assignment because of her conflicts with Chi Soo, starts to work at the ramen shop, along with homeless high school students Kim Ba Wool (Park Min Woo) and Woo Hyun Woo (Jo Yoon Woo). Chi Soo wants to work at the restaurant as well, in order to to get close to Eun Bi. Kang Hyuk, who knows that he and Chi Soo actually have the same mother, allows him to join the shop out of concern for his cold half-brother.
Kang Hyuk quickly develops feelings for Eun Bi, but she finds herself more attracted to the Chi Soo. However, Chi Soo's father does not approve of the relationship. Chi Soo's (and Kang Hyuk's) mother had also been an average (not rich) woman, and Chi Soo's father believes that difference was one of the causes of their separating several years before. Chi Soo's father's company is planning to redevelop the area in which the ramen shop is located, and Chi Soo's father tries to use the possible destruction of the ramen shop as leverage to keep Eun Bi and Chi Soo apart. Chi Soo has become attached to the ramen shop and is also afraid of being disowned, and so he initially chooses to stay with his father. Eun Bi realizes, however, that she wants to try seriously dating him; she comes to his family's apartment to claim him from his father, and they leave together. The ramen shop is forced to close, but its workers accept this development without complaint. The show ends with Chi Soo visiting Eun Bi after he has started his compulsory service in the South Korean Army; they are very happy to see each other.
Main Cast
- Jung Il-woo as Cha Chi-Soo
- Lee Ki Woo as Choi Kang Hyuk
- Lee Chung Ah as Yang Eun Bi
Supporting Cast
- Kim Shin Ah as Kang Dong Joo
- Park Min Woo as Kim Ba Wool
- Jo Yoon Woo as Woo Hyun Woo
- Ho Soo as Yoon So Yi
- Joo Hyun as Cha Ok Gyun
- Jung In Ki as Yang Chul Dong
- Seo Bum Suk as Coach Seo
- Song Jae Rim as Hee Gon
- Kim Hye Soo as fortuneteller (cameo, ep 1)
- Gong Hyo Jin as store owner (cameo, ep 9)