Love Scout – Maybe We Could Start Over?

“Love Scout” is a 2025 Viki Original Korean drama series, with 12 episodes, and categorized as Workplace and Romance.

SUMMARY: A woman is a successful CEO of a headhunter organization but she clashes with a man who views her work as promoting chaos instead of harmony. Through no fault of his own he loses his job and ends up working as her assistant. She does not intend to make his job easy but he eventually convinces her that he is a competent professional. He can assist her professionally, but their relationship develops beyond the workplace.

♦ MEET Kang Ji-Yun

In “Love Scout”, Kang Ji-Yun is a successful CEO of a headhunting company. She finds the “best talent”, usually people already gainfully employed at a business, and then persuades them to work for another business. She usually makes them a tempting offer – more money, better working conditions, more freedom to work independently, etc. Most of the time, it’s an offer they can’t refuse. Kang Ji-Yun is immersed in her work. So much so that she rarely goes home when everyone else leaves the office and works late into the night. By the time she arrives home, she’s exhausted and passes out. She wakes up the next day and does it all over again and again … and again … until one day she faints at the office.

Her co-worker rushes her to the hospital and the doctor tells her what should seem obvious to her and to everyone who works around her. STOP WORKING SO HARD! You’re wearing yourself out. It’s not good for your health! Ignoring the doctor’s advice, Kang Ji-Yun goes right back to work. On the outside, some would just say that she’s a workaholic.

But that’s because they don’t see what’s inside. In Kang Ji-Yun’s life, she has suffered two (2) traumatic experiences that were devastating. She works excessively as a way to help cope with the pain. Working keeps her mind occupied but if she doesn’t stop both her mind and body are going to break down. But would a breakdown be more painful than the two life-changing tragedies that have left her traumatized?

ENTER Yu Eun-Ho

Yu Eun-Ho excels at almost everything. His friends say he’s “the first” in most of his endeavors. That’s not always good because he was the first to get married, first to have a kid, first to get divorced. Yeah. It’s not always good to be “first”. Still! His supervisors and co-workers respected him for his knowledge, talents, skills, integrity, and strong work ethic. But what do most of us work for? We work for our family. Our family is the priority and the reason we work. Yu Eun-Ho was told that his daughter was sick. He had to make a decision.

• Take parental leave, stay home, and take care of his daughter until her health improved. OR …
• Keep working because his career was important and he was on a path to success.

Taking leave right at this particular time on his job might cause him to fall off the ladder of success.

What did he do? He chose to take leave and take care of his child. This angered his supervisor who was really hoping that Yu Eun-Ho’s success would translate into his success as well. In the workplace, it’s called “riding on a person’s coattails” (i.e. gaining an advantage by associating with someone more successful). Yu Eun-Ho’s boss was so infuriated that when he returned to work after taking leave, his boss had it in for him. He did everything he could to make Yu Eun-Ho’s work life miserable. His boss was so mean and nasty that he succeeded in causing Yu Eun-Ho to lose his job.

Jobless but not childless.

Yu Eun-Ho needed to find work fast. The wife of his friend who had hiring authority at Peoplez, the headhunting company run by Kang Ji-Yun, hired Yu Eun-Ho to be Kang Ji-Yun’s secretary and assistant. Kang Ji-Yun was infuriated!

Well isn’t that just great for Yu Eun-Ho? He went from working for one infuriated boss to working for another infuriated boss. Before he started the job at Peoplez, he and Kang Ji-Yun had an unpleasant encounter. He didn’t think very highly of her headhunting skills and he didn’t hold back his words when expressing what he thought of her. Now he finds himself having to work for her and she doesn’t welcome him with open arms. He’s indeed a competent professional. There was indeed a legitimate job opening in the company. He did meet all of the qualifications to work as Kang Ji-Yun’s secretary and assistant. There was only one problem. HIS NEW BOSS DIDN’T LIKE HIM!

Kang Ji-Yun asked him how could she possibly work with a person who thought so little about the work she did and did not respect her. Yu Eun-Ho could understand why her opinion of him was not very high. But he thought: “Maybe we could start over”. He begged her not to judge him based on their past encounters. He said he had years of valuable experience and was sure that he could become a valuable asset to her company. Kang Ji-Yun was not easily persuaded. However, slowly but surely, he managed to win her over. Just in the nick of time too! Kang Ji-Yun had a ruthless competitor at another headhunting who was stealing her job candidates and trying to ruin her business. For this competitor, it wasn’t just business; it was personal.

Yu Eun-Ho would not only have to provide his boss with professional support, but emotional and mental support as well. Kang Ji-Yun did not always have her own company. She used to work at another headhunting company. One of those traumatic experiences happened at that company and the CEO of that was that company had it in for her. Can Yu Eun-Ho help Kang Ji-Yun fight back? He certainly knows what it feels like when someone has it in for you. The person at his job caused him to be unfairly terminated. Will the person at this company cause Peoplez, Kang Ji-Yun’s company, to go out of business?

Main Characters:

• Kang Ji-Yun (played by Han Ji-Min, “Miss Baek”, “Behind Your Touch”, “Yonder”, “Rooftop Prince”)
• Yu Eun-Ho (played by Lee Joon-Hyuk, “Vigilante”, “Stranger 1 and 2” “Along With the Gods 1 and 2”, “Dark Hole”, “365: Repeat The Year”, “Designated Survivor: 60 Days”, “Are You Human?”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 9.2 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8 out of 10 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9.8 out of stars

My personal rating is the same as the Viki viewers.

This is the first K-drama of 2025 released on Viki.com. Started off the new year with something easy and light-hearted. From the very first episode the male and female leads instantly charmed their way into my heart.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Love Scout Kicks Things Off Strongly | But Why Tho?

New SBS office romance drama ‘Love Scout’ off to a promising start with a viewership rating of 5.2% | allkpop

Love Scout: New SBS workplace romance drama attracts an encouraging 5.2% audience rating Singapore News | The Independent Singapore

TRAILER/TEASER:

LoveBreak_Official. “Love Scout.” YouTube, Video, 3 Jan. 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctha7kX82Y0.

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