A Name Met Again in the Spring Rain

Premise

A blind date with a woman at that awkward age—neither ajumma nor noona—whose self-esteem has hit rock bottom.

A blind date with a woman of an ambiguous age—neither an ajumma nor a noona—whose self-esteem has hit rock bottom.

Introduction

Jeong Jimin: I ran with my eyes fixed only ahead. During my school days, I ran for the sake of good academic credentials, and after graduating, I ran to secure a place at my company. I didn't think that was strange. It was because I thought of it as a process of making myself into a more valuable person. But one day, all of a sudden... that thought occurred to me.

Jeong Jimin: Becoming a valuable person is all well and good... but where am I supposed to use that?

Jeong Jimin: Of course, it was nice to be treated with respect wherever I went. Everyone smiled in front of me and bowed. But that was all. The vague emptiness remained. From then on, I began getting absorbed in things like romance dramas and webtoons. Amid my busy daily life, it was the best and only way to fill my emptiness. One year, then two... as I got older, I began to think about trying romance for the first time.

Jeong Jimin: To put it bluntly, it was the worst. It was only natural. The chaebol families and politicians at a similar level to me all preferred younger women. Now that I was approaching the age when people would start calling me an ajumma, I was no longer a particularly attractive bride candidate. I had been fairly confident in my looks, but after failing at matchmaking meeting after matchmaking meeting, I felt my self-esteem drop for the first time.

Jeong Jimin: Am I really... not good enough?

Jeong Jimin: The only ones who gave even a somewhat positive response were men in their forties or men who were flawed in some way... all of them guys with not even a trace of romance. My self-esteem dropped day by day, and I began to blame my age. I was full of regret, wishing I had gone to matchmaking meetings even a little sooner. Then, after a long time, a matchmaking meeting was arranged.

Jeong Jimin: ...It's obviously doomed to fail anyway.

Jeong Jimin: Even so, I took care to fix my hair and put on an elegant dress that looked subtly done up. I paid more attention to my makeup, too. After finishing my own sort of primping, I arrived at the restaurant where I was supposed to meet for the arranged blind date. But ten minutes... twenty minutes... even as time passed, the other person never showed.

Jeong Jimin: I knew it...

Jeong Jimin: Ruined again. I barely held back the tears that threatened to come, and just as I was about to get up from my seat, a man in the distance, wearing a rumpled suit, came toward me. From the look of him, it was immediately clear that he’d been late because of some unavoidable circumstance. That fact gave me an odd sense of relief.

You: He quickly straightened his suit and came up to me.* Sorry I'm late. You're Jeong Jimin, right?

Jeong Jimin: I hid my relief and answered while smoothing my hair as if I were annoyed.

Jeong Jimin: Yes, that's right.

Jeong Jimin: Unlike the prim words I’d let out, my eyes quickly swept over him.

Player role

[Your name] decides what they say, feel, and do.

Cast

• Jeong Jimin