“Business Proposal” opens with a woman walking into a blind date she has no intention of winning. Shin Ha-ri, played by Kim Se-jeong, is there to scare off a suitor on behalf of her friend Jin Young-seo, whose father arranged the meeting. The plan collapses in one line: the man across the table is Kang Tae-moo, CEO of Go Food — the company where Ha-ri works.
That is the engine of SBS’s 12-episode romantic comedy, and it runs clean from the first hour to the last. The show aired Mondays and Tuesdays at 22:00 KST from February 28 to April 5, 2022, and streams on Netflix in selected regions.
Trailer, via Netflix K-Content.
Shin Geum-hui and the 800,000 Won
The premise does not stay simple, which is to its credit. Tae-moo (Ahn Hyo-seop) is being pushed by his grandfather, Go Food chairman Kang Da-goo (Lee Duck-hwa), toward blind dates with suitable marriage partners. His solution is to marry the woman he just met, avoiding every date that follows. He does not know she is the fake Jin Young-seo. He does not know she is his employee.
Ha-ri tries to hide both. The real Jin Young-seo (Seorina) eventually confesses to Tae-moo that she hired someone to impersonate her, which exposes Ha-ri’s identity but not her employment status. When Tae-moo asks Ha-ri for her real name, she lies: Shin Geum-hui, borrowed from the lead of the fictional series Be Strong, Geum-hui.
Then comes the deal. Tae-moo bribes and bullies Ha-ri into playing his fiancée for 800,000 won per date. Her parents are consistently impecunious. She needs the money. She accepts.
The show’s best trick is that this arrangement has a floor. Ha-ri builds a fake background with help, and the fake dating carries its own deadline. Every scene of the pair performing for the chairman is a scene of Ha-ri performing for her employer, and the show knows the difference.
Two Couples, One Structure
Kim Min-gue plays Cha Sung-hoon, Tae-moo’s secretary, who meets Jin Young-seo during her exchange with Tae-moo. The second pairing gives the series its parallel track, and the structure is deliberate:
| Pairing | The obstacle | The mechanic |
|---|---|---|
| Ha-ri and Tae-moo | He is her CEO; she is hiding her job | Fake engagement at 800,000 won per date |
| Young-seo and Sung-hoon | She hired an impersonator; he is Tae-moo’s secretary | Introduced through the same blind-date scheme |
The office and family ranks fill out around them. Kim Kwang-kyu plays Shin Joong-hae, with Jeong Young-joo as Han Mi-mo and Kim Hyun-sook as Yeo Eui-joo. Go Wook appears as Lee Min-woo, Choi Byung-chan as Shin Ha-min, Im Gi-hong as Kevin, and Yun Sang-jeong as Kim Hye-ji. Lee Duck-hwa’s chairman is the pressure source for the whole plot.
Casting came together over 2021. Media reported between March and May that Ahn Hyo-seop and Kim Se-jeong had offers and were considering them; Kakao Entertainment confirmed both in the second half of the year, while Seorina and Kim Min-gue’s agencies announced their stars. Screenwriter Han Seol-hee recommended Kim Hyun-sook directly, after the two worked together on Ugly Miss Young-ae. Script-reading photos went out January 18, 2022.
Filming locations include:
- Yongin Daejanggeum Park
- Heyri Art Valley
- the 1004 Yacht in Sinan County
What the Show Gets Right
The series is based on the web novel of the same title by HaeHwa, created by Han Sul-hee, adapted by Han Seol-hee and Hong Bo-hee, directed by Park Seon-ho. Twelve episodes is the right length for this story. A longer order would have forced the fake engagement to repeat itself; a shorter one would have cut the second couple, which is where the show’s warmth actually lives.
The lie about Ha-ri’s name is the sharpest piece of writing in the series. It is not a grand deception. It is a small, specific, practical lie told by an employee to a man who signs her paychecks, and it holds because the show never lets Ha-ri forget what it costs her.
Kim Se-jeong carries the double performance — the woman who wants to be rejected and the woman who has to be wanted — and the role requires both at once in nearly every scene. Ahn Hyo-seop’s Tae-moo is funnier the more rigid he plays it, which is the correct read of a man who tries to solve a grandfather problem with a marriage contract.
A Transaction That Has to Be Earned
Business Proposal is not trying to be more than it is, and that is the point. It takes one clean comic idea — a blind date that turns out to be your boss — and refuses to waste it. The 800,000 won per date is not a romantic gesture. It is a transaction, and the show is honest about that for long enough that the eventual feeling has to be earned rather than assumed.
The audience score on TMDB stands at 8.5 out of 10 across 795 votes. That number holds up against what the series actually does. This is a show that knows its own machinery and runs it without a wasted episode.
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