[ K ] Strongest Deliveryman

In the heart of Kang-soo Choi, there is only one place he wants to be in – Seoul. That was the direction his late father kept looking at because that’s where his wife has left him for, presumably in search of a better life.

So Kang-soo wanders from community to community, working two months at a stretch as a food delivery man, with the belief that he can comb every inch of an area to find his estranged mom. Once he has flushed out all the ratholes, he moves to the next precinct, and then the next. No time to waste.

One day, he finally meets his ‘Waterloo’ in Lee Dan-ah, a young woman working hard to make enough money to emigrate because her country is just too cruel for young people who are not born with a silver spoon.

Of course they fall in love.

First aired in 2017, this series is even more poignant in the time of Covid-19, where many societies are discovering that without these brave delivery men and women, lives would have been even more unbearable.

Needless to say, Kang-soo is no ordinary delivery man but one with a robust business plan. Not only that, with one cough, he can easily mobilize 380 riders.

In the Singapore context, Strongest Deliveryman is probably most akin to Ninja Van + Deliveroo + Lalamove. I wonder what the stories of these brave founders will be like?

For a K-drama, Dan-ah and Kang-soo kiss more than the usual Korean screen couples. Were Go Kyung-pyo and Chae Soo-bin really dating then? Or maybe it’s just because they went to the same university?

If you are a fan of the Good Boy in Start-up, you may be sad to know that Kim Seon-ho plays the ‘best man’ again but in this case, one with quite a lot of backbone.

Ko Won-hee probably went to the same plastic surgeons and acting school as Seo Hyun-jin but credit must go to her for working very hard.

What’s even more watchable for me is the side drama in Jang Dong-soo and Soon-ae. How do gangsters love? You have to watch these two to find out for yourself.

But like most Korean meals, you ought to look beyond the beef and pork and pay close attention the side dishes. Without them, this meal/series will not be the same.