Strong Girl Bong-soon

Strong Girl Bong-soon (Hangul: 힘쎈여자 도봉순; RR: Himssenyeoja Do Bong-sun; literally "Strong Woman Do Bong-soon"[1]) was a 2017 South Korean television series starring Park Bo-young in the title role as a young woman with superhuman strength. It aired twice a week on the South Korean cable network JBTC from February 24 to April 15, 2017, for a total of 16 episodes (approximately 17 and a half hours). In terms of American TV it would be more properly described as a Miniseries.

Unemployed 27-year-old Do Bong-soon is the latest recipient of a mystic gift of profound strength which has been passed down in her family from mother to daughter for generations. This gift of strength comes with a catch, though -- if it's misused (specifically, if an innocent is harmed with its use), it will desert the recipient. Her mother misused her strength and lost it, so Bong-soon is very cautious about using hers -- but when she does, she can flip automobiles over effortlessly or send large men flying hundreds of feet with a single blow. Of late, though, she has been having trouble controlling her strength, giving her no small amount of concern and even more reason to be cautious in its use.

Despite her gift, though, she has no particular urge to go out and use it for anything. Instead, her dream is to become a video game programmer and to create a game with a main character based on herself. She also desperately wants to become a tall, willowy and elegant woman, which is the ideal physical type of her long-time crush, In Guk-doo. Guk-doo, an abrasive young police officer recently exiled reassigned to Violent Crimes Team 3 at the neighborhood police station, has been a friend of hers since high school, but is unaware that she's been pining for him for years; instead, he seems to regard her as an annoying, trouble-prone little sister.

Ahn Min-hyeok, the young CEO of AINSoft, a video game company, witnesses her using her strength to demolish a band of criminal thugs. He immediately seeks her out and hires her as his bodyguard. Min-hyeok, who hates and distrusts the police, has recently been receiving anonymous threats and blackmail attempts, and has even been pursued by a masked stalker; he is concerned for his life, although he hides it well under the appearance of a spoiled, playful man-child. Having an apparent "secretary" who can lift a school bus is an advantage he intends to make full use of.

Not long afterward, a murder and a series of kidnappings strike Dobong-dong, the Seoul neighborhood in which Bong-soon lives. And when her best friend Na Gyeong-shim is attacked by the kidnapper, Bong-soon becomes determined to catch the culprit. With help and training from Min-hyeok, she manages to gain control over her strength again. And soon, Min-hyeok and Bong-soon find themselves and their relationship growing into something more -- as the kidnapper turns his attention to her.

As much a Dramedy as a drama, Strong Girl Bong-soon slowly evolves from a strange mix of Romantic Comedy and Police Procedural into an outright Mystery/Thriller. It blends a serious (and indeed sometimes disturbing) crime plot with a gentle, oddball romance. Even at its most serious it is leavened with moments of comedy and humorous sound effects that can create a somewhat dissonant combination to Western sensibilities.

The series was a commercial hit and became one of the highest rated dramas in Korean cable television history. As of the beginning of 2019 it can be seen on Netflix as well as the Rakuten VIKI service on Android TV and Amazon Fire TV. And an American version is being developed for broadcast on The CW.

Note: This work page was written based on the Rakuten VIKI version. Due to differences in translation and subtitling, there may be some variations in the tropes and their implementation between it and the Netflix version.

WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.

Tropes used in Strong Girl Bong-soon include:
  • Abduction Is Love: Seems to be part of the kidnapper's motivations, given him casting his victims as "brides". Then again, his fascination with Bluebeard suggests his "love" isn't a very healthy one. For anyone.
  • Adorkable: Min-hyeok, when he's not hiding behind his spoiled man-child persona or being the president of AINSoft.
  • All Abusers Are Male: Averted. Aside from the kidnapper, the only truly abusive character in the show is Bong-soon's mother, Hwang Jin-yi.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Bong-soon's feelings toward Guk-doo, although after the events of episode 5, Min-hyeok suspects it's not quite as unrequited as Bong-soon thinks -- even though Guk-doo is in a serious relationship with someone else. He's right. Unfortunately for Guk-doo, he rants at Bong-soon one time too many in episode 7 and she gives up on him.
  • Almost Kiss:
    • There's one between Guk-doo and Min-hyeok while both are falling-down drunk in episode 6 -- and the only reason it's "almost" is because a very sober Bong-soon stops them.
    • Three episodes later, there's an Almost Kiss between Bong-soon and Min-hyeok as she's drying his hair after washing it in his hospital room. (It Makes Sense in Context.) Min-hyeok stops it when he realizes that Bong-soon is about to kiss him only because he wants it, not because she wants it.
    • Another happens in episode 12. In a private moment Min-hyeok leans in with obvious intent to kiss her, and then grins and kisses her on the forehead instead. However this one is after they've gone well beyond "almost" several times already.
  • Always Someone Better: Min-hyeok and Guk-doo are this to each other, as seen in episode 6 -- Min-hyeok demolishes Guk-doo at pool, and Guk-doo takes him to the cleaners in darts.
  • Amateur Sleuth: Bong-soon's determination to find the kidnapper makes her one in purpose if not necessarily in skills.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Mother: Bong-soon's mother Hwang Jin-yi is a self-centered, two-faced bitch who is effectively trying to seduce Min-hyeok by proxy through her daughter solely for his wealth and status, and as such gushes over him whenever they meet.
  • Ambition Is Evil: Seems to be part of the ethos by which whatever granted Bong-soon's family the gift of strength judges their use of it, with personal aggrandizement and enrichment definitely disapproved of.
  • Amusement Park: In episode 7, Bong-soon takes Min-hyeok to Seoul Land, an actual park near Seoul, to cheer him up.
  • Arranged Marriage: When Min-hyeok's (false) reputation for being gay begins to adversely affect his family's company (a different one from AINSoft), his father threatens to arrange a marriage for him; Min-hyeok responds by claiming Bong-soon is his girlfriend. (Bong-soon goes along with it for double pay.)
  • The Atoner: Baek Tak seems to become this after waking up healed in the hospital in episode 11; he leaves the hospital and heads off on a pilgrimage, the destination of which we see in episode 12.
  • Ax Crazy: The kidnapper, although he takes most of the series to reveal just how much so he is.
  • Babies Ever After: Part of Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's happy ending in episode 16 is the birth of twin girls. And with her family, you know what that means...
  • Bad Guys Play Pool: Inverted in episode 6, when Min-hyeok and Guk-doo, in a fit of dick-waving competition, include a cut-throat round of pool as part of their "all nighter".
  • Badass Grandma: Bong-soon's grandmother. Played with in that super strength and martial arts mastery do nothing to make arthritis less painful.
  • Badly-Battered Babysitter: At the end of episode 16, the two (male, gangster) nannies (provided by Baek Tak!) for Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's twin daughters quit because the infants keep beating them up accidentally. When Min-hyeok takes over their care, he gets knocked down and black eyes, too.
  • Bandage Mummy/Bandaged Face: All the actual criminals beaten up by Bong-soon in episodes 1 and 9 end up this way in the hospital, eventually filling several wards. Most of them get out by episode 14.
  • Bare-Handed Truck Stop: In a flashback in the first episode, Bong-soon is shown stopping a speeding car with one hand when she is no more than seven or eight years old.
  • Beach Kiss: Episode 12, between Bong-soon and Min-hyeok. Unlike most examples of this trope, it's not an homage to the kiss from From Here to Eternity; they're standing up in their street clothes while barefoot in the surf.
  • The Beard: In episode 6, when his father threatens to make an Arranged Marriage for him to counter rumors that he is gay, Min-hyeok claims that Bong-soon is actually his girlfriend. Bong-soon puts up with it, but is not happy about it. Ultimately subverted because Min-hyeok isn't actually gay and at this point definitely has feelings for Bong-soon, even if she's not aware of them. (And by episode 12, she is aware of them and reciprocates.)
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Bong-soon is sweet, calm, patient (though not infinitely so), and will put up with a remarkable amount of insults and abuse from gangsters, delinquents and other unpleasant people. Once you cross a certain line, though, she will destroy you. (Part of this patience, though, comes from her knowledge that if she misuses her strength it will be taken away. She almost never uses her strength impulsively or for her own benefit.) Played with in that she is anything but stoic or blandly smiling when someone is pushing her too far -- she can and will express her displeasure with their behavior with her facial expressions. The audience quickly learns which look means she's still going to hold back for a while, and which look means she's about to open the whoop-ass can.
    • With her change of attitude near the middle of the series, Bong-soon becomes a bit less patient. But she still chooses to endure a certain amount of disrespect rather than be the aggressor.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Kim Gwang-bok is the first of the thugs whom Bong-soon beats up in the first episode. He is the skinniest and most cowardly of the lot, is the subject of a great deal of Toilet Humor stemming from his injuries at Bong-soon's hands, and in general appears to be the Butt Monkey among Baek Tak's foot-soldiers, as well as the show's overall comic relief. His attempt to revenge himself on her in episode 7 is pathetic and goes nowhere. He is also the one that takes a knife to the ambush of Bong-soon in episode 9 (against Baek Tak's orders), and ends up stabbing Min-hyeok.
  • Big Brother Is Watching: The kidnapper has a wall full of monitor screens connected to cameras he's planted or tapped into all over Dobong-dong, including inside the office of Violent Crimes Team 3, which has been tasked with finding him. He even has Hee-ji's cellphone bugged or tapped (somehow) after she comes to his attention as Guk-doo's (former) girlfriend.
    • In episode 12, Min-hyeok replaces the gem in a necklace for Bong-soon with a tracking device because he's decided she's entirely too likely to take off into danger in the middle of the night. He's right. He has the tracking info relayed, among other places, to his phone so he always knows where she is.
    • Min-hyeok also apparently can hack into military surveillance satellites and use them to track Bong-soon.
    • And in episode 15, he uses a camera drone to track (and help herd) the kidnapper on the docks at Incheon.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: Finally happens between Bong-soon and Min-Hyeok on the beach in episode 12.
  • Big Eater: When she's in a good mood, at least, Bong-soon can really pack it away. She doesn't have an infinite capacity, though, as the double-breakfast event in episode 8 shows.
  • Big No: Given by an obnoxious driver in episode 6 when he discovers his car's been flipped on its roof and its wheels have been torn off -- apparently by Bong-soon as part of punishing him for being an abusive sexist ass.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Bong-soon's mother, Hwang Jin-yi, who presents a pleasant, sometimes even simpering, face to most people outside the family, but is domineering, bullying and emotionally abusive to her husband and daughter while fawningly supportive of her son the doctor. And this is an improvement over her personality when she was younger, when she used her own gift of strength to bully her way through life. She seems to get better where Bong-soon is concerned after getting called out over it in episode 7. And we find out much later that there's a reason why she favors Bong-gi -- but it still doesn't excuse how she treats her husband and daughter.
  • Bittersweet Ending: On the one hand, the kidnapper is caught and convicted, Min-hyeok and Bong-soon get married and have babies (twin girls), Guk-doo gets promoted to the Gangnam police station, and Bong-soon goes on to be Seoul's resident superhero. On the other hand, the kidnapper's victims (other than Gyeong-shim) are implied to be so psychologically damaged that they'll never have normal lives again. And the babies keep giving black eyes to Min-hyeok and the nannies.
  • Black Bra and Panties and other Stock Underwear: When Min-hyeok (at Guk-doo's request) takes Bong-soon into his home to hide her from the kidnapper, her mother packs an endless assortment of frilly lingerie and nightwear for her -- the better for her to seduce him, of course. When she discovers what her mother's packed with Min-hyeok at her side, Bong-soon is mortified.
  • Bloodless Carnage: Averted. This is a show that initially plays every lost tooth, bloody wound and broken bone for laughs -- and then plays it terribly straight in episode 9. Played with in episode 15, when Bong-soon is shot by the kidnapper -- the audience's expectation that there won't be blood even if she's killed is used against them to hide the fact that she is unharmed thanks to a Bulletproof Vest.
  • Bloody Handprints: In episode 14, but more smears than prints, though -- left by Min-hyeok on the locked metal doors behind which a depowered Bong-soon is chained to a pipe with a Time Bomb duct-taped to her by the kidnapper. Min-hyeok ripped up one hand trying to beat his way through the doors and just kept going.
  • Bluff the Impostor: In episode 12, after several text message exchanges with Gyeong-shim sound wrong to Bong-soon, she asks the person on the other end how "Wild Soybean" (Gyeong-shim's dog, who died the year before) is. When the other person says "fine", she knows that Gyeong-shim's been taken by the kidnapper.
  • Brand X: AINSoft is NCSoft with the serial numbers filed off. The AINSoft office scenes are actually filmed in NCSoft's offices in Seoul, and NCSoft has a Product Placement deal with the production; the screenshots we see of AINSoft's flagship game The Chronicle of Albertan are actually from Lineage Red Knights, an NCSoft product.
  • Bring It: The stance and gesture Bong-soon makes while saying "Come on" during the fight in episode 9 (which can be seen at 2:20-2:25 in the video on the Awesome page; it's also a quote from/Shout-Out to the 2013 Korean action movie New World.
  • Broken Masquerade: There never was very much of a masquerade to begin with -- Bong-soon's family knows about her strength, of course, given that it's a family trait, as do a few family friends (but not all). And neither she nor her grandmother show any hesitation to use their strength in public when sufficiently motivated. But by halfway through the series, Bong-soon has rapidly come to the attention of (among others) the president of a video game company who needs a bodyguard, a gang of teenagers who decide that they're her minions, an entire criminal organization, a kidnapper who has been abducting women for his personal harem -- and the subject of her unrequited affection from whom she's hid her strength for more than a decade, who also happens to be a police officer. Oh, and the members of the criminal organization have no compunctions about telling anyone just what she's capable of, for all the good it does them. And she doesn't even bother hiding her strength from the shrewish Camp Gay manager Min-hyeok sticks her with, in order to show that he won't intimidate her.
  • Brought Down to Normal: In episode 13, the kidnapper, having learned of the "catch" to her gift of strength, arranges for Bong-soon to unknowingly harm an innocent thinking they are him, and she immediately loses her super-strength.
  • Bullet Time/Overcrank: Often used for the (sometimes humorous) effects of Bong-soon using her strength.
    • Episode 4 has a literal bullet time moment, when the camera follows a projectile fired by Min-hyeok's stalker in slow motion.
  • The Bully: Bong-soon's mother Hwang Jin-yi. Like Bong-soon, she possessed the gift of strength as a child and teen, but misused it not only to be a champion weightlifter but to abuse and intimidate other competitors. She lost her strength, but not her bullying tendencies, as she now bosses around her husband Do Chil-goo and Bong-soon.
    • A gang of delinquents that Bong-soon encounters early in the series. They change their ways after meeting her she beats the crap out of them and become her loyal, if somewhat dim, self-appointed minions.
    • Team Leader Oh Dol-ppyeo (AKA "Gristle") flat out informs Bong-soon in episode 11 that he is going to bully her because he doesn't like her.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Team Leader Oh Dol-ppyeo of the Planning and Development Team at AINSoft, AKA "Gristle". He gets away with his Camp Gay appearance and outrageous (often hysterical) behavior because he is the best at finding promising new game proposals and shepherding them to very successful products -- over 80% of the games he's overseen have gone on to become major successes.
  • Calling the Old Woman Out: In episode 7, when her mother accuses her of bullying a group of teens for money based on a neighbor reporting that they treated Bong-soon with respect, Bong-soon explodes at her and for the first time demands to know why she's treated as though she's a delinquent when she's never been anything but a devoted, well-behaved daughter. It goes on for quite a while, as Bong-soon tearfully lists her grievances. (Given how nicely Mom treats her in the next episode, it seems to have had some effect.)
  • Camera Abuse: As part of her initial training in episode 7, Min-hyeok has Bong-soon try to gently flick Go pieces across the game board. After the first one whizzes past him like a bullet and embeds itself into a piece of furniture, he has her change position such that she's facing the viewer instead of him -- and her second try appears to embed itself in the viewer's now-cracked TV screen. (A quick change of camera angle reveals that it is indeed embedded in a damaged TV screen -- but it's Min-hyeok's TV, not the viewer's.)
  • Camp Gay: Team Leader Oh Dol-ppyeo of the Planning and Development Team at AINSoft.
  • Can't Hold Her Liquor: Bong-soon seems to be a lightweight when it comes to alcohol -- she hardly drinks anything in episode 4 before she's totally blitzed. Then again, she does have basically the body mass of a chipmunk...
  • Car Fu: The kidnapper attempts to run down Guk-doo when escaping from the trap he laid for Bong-soon in episode 13.
  • Cassandra Truth: The gangsters whom Bong-soon beats up in the first episode try to tell the police what she did to them, but they are not believed. (Even though a half-dozen schoolchildren who saw it all support their story.) Nor does anyone on the hospital staff (other than Bong-soon's brother) believe their tales. Unfortunately for Bong-soon, their boss believes them enough to go out and confirm how dangerous she is.
  • Cat Scare: Toward the end of episode 5, mob boss Baek Tak and two of his flunkies are actually patrolling the Dobong-dong neighborhood to protect it from the kidnapper, when a cat leaps out of an alley and scares the hell out of them.
  • Celebrity Impersonator: "Charles Go" -- a "consultant" brought in by Baek Tak in episode 8 for help on dealing with Bong-soon -- really, really wants to be Steve Jobs.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • Some of the training exercises that Min-hyeok uses with Bong-soon show up in later fights -- for instance, the stone-flicking mentioned above in Camera Abuse comes back in an episode 8 fight where she flicks a thug's teeth out of his mouth one at a time.
    • The walnuts Bong-soon puts in her pocket before heading out to rescue her "kidnapped" mother.
    • The multiple mentions that her strength will be taken away if she misuses it.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: It takes several episodes before we see the kidnapper without a mask -- except we do: he's Kim Jang-hyun, one of the first witnesses to be interviewed by Guk-doo's group, and a flashback in episode 8 reveals that he planted a camera in their office so he can watch them and see how their investigation is progressing.
  • Cherry Blossoms: In episode 16, Min-hyeok proposes to Bong-soon while they're on a sidewalk lined with cherry trees, during the blossom season so they're being showered with sakura petals as he puts the ring on her finger.
  • The Chessmaster: Kim Jang-hyun tries to be this, with plans for many eventualities, but is constantly sideswiped by circumstances -- like a girl with super-strength -- he did not expect. Even when he knows what he's up against in Bong-soon, he's constantly underestimating the limits of her strength (if, indeed, her strength has limits).
  • The Chikan: Bong-soon encounters one on the Seoul Metro and leaves him with a severely broken finger.
  • Cliff Hanger:
    • Episode 6 ends with Min-hyeok waking in his bed in the middle of the night with a knife pressed to his throat.
    • Episode 13 ends with Bong-soon unconscious after losing her strength and the kidnapper having driven off the road and into a lake.
  • Cold Sniper: When arranging to be smuggled out of Korea in episode 15, Kim Jang-hyun also buys a Soviet-vintage Russian sniper rifle with the obvious intent of shooting Bong-soon before he goes. And he does get off one shot at her when they force him into a confrontation.
  • Comes Great Responsibility: This is built into the gift of strength, which will desert its recipient if they misuse it.
    • In episode 8, Bong-soon makes the conscious and deliberate decision to actively use her strength to help people instead of trying to ignore it and live her life quietly, reasoning that this is why it was given to her family in the first place. And by the end of episode 16, she's actually become Seoul's resident superhero.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Two heavyset housewives taking part in the neighborhood meeting in episode 8 are more upset that the kidnapper is slighting them by abducting only skinny women than they are that he is abducting women at all.
  • Confound Them With Kindness: One of the tactics Bong-soon uses in dealing with "Gristle", as early as episode 11, but it becomes her primary tactic in episode 15.
  • Conservation of Ninjutsu: Seems to be averted throughout the series -- however many of them there are, the Mooks all seem to fight at about the same level. Which is to say, they quickly get their clocks cleaned by Bong-soon.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Strongly implied of Min-hyeok's father. Explicitly stated of his business associate, the gangster boss Baek Tak.
  • Cowboy Cop: Guk-doo increasingly becomes one the more times the kidnapper strikes, especially after Bong-soon foils the first attempt to take Gyeong-shim. He may always have been something of one, though; his reassignment to Violent Crimes Team 3 at the start of the series is implied to be in some way punitive.
  • Crime-Time Soap: Sometimes wanders into this territory, but the police are always of secondary importance to Bong-soon.
  • Cute Bruiser: Bong-soon, who may also be a Glacier Waif, as we never see her be particularly speedy; during the ambush in episode 9 she never exceeds a brisk walk while fighting her way through Baek Tak's men.
  • Cyclic Trope: Invoked in-universe in episode 12. When "Gristle" criticizes her game as something "old fashioned" that no one will want to play, Bong-soon points out that video game types go in and out of style and her game will capitalize on a type that's coming back into style.
  • Danger Takes a Backseat: The kidnapper uses this ploy for one of his victims.
    • In episode 6, Bong-soon herself does it to an obnoxious, sexist driver who had been berating a woman he'd rear-ended. The guy, being the sleazeball that he was, thought she wanted him to take her to a secluded spot to have sex with him. Of course, she had something else in mind.
  • Dawson Casting: In flashbacks, Bong-soon, Guk-doo and Min-hyeok at high school age are played by their "adult" actors, who are all in their late twenties.
  • Deadly Fireworks Display: Inverted in episode 14, when a depowered Bong-soon with a Time Bomb duct-taped to her by the kidnapper pleads for the return of her strength so that she can save the life of Min-hyeok, who refuses to leave her alone to die. A brilliant white light erupts from a bank of clouds that swirl into existence overhead and bathes her as her strength is restored.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: On her first day at AINSoft, Bong-soon accidentally injures Min-hyeok's secretary, Gong, when he orders her to demonstrate her strength. When Gong gets back from the hospital several episodes later, he is terrified of her. But over the course of the next six or episodes, Gong comes to know her, and basically becomes her only friend at AINSoft outside of Min-hyeok.
    • Then there's the gang of delinquents that she encounters around the same time. They change their ways after meeting her she beats the crap out of them and immediately become her loyal minions. It's only cemented when she later defends them from a small group of genuine criminals.
  • Delinquents: Bong-soon encounters a gang of high school bullies several times in the first few episodes and completely cows them, essentially becoming the leader of the gang and making them act responsibly and honorably. Mostly.
  • Diary: In episode 10, Grandma shows up with a stack of journals, containing the personally-written accounts of many generations of the family's strong women, for Bong-soon to read and begin contributing to. (True to form, Bong-soon's mother only wrote two lines before deciding it was too much trouble.) Bong-soon adds her own contributions starting in episode 16.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: Well, that's what happens when you're oblivious and an ass to her for nigh unto 15 years, and only after she meets another guy do you realize your own feelings, Guk-doo.
  • Distant Prologue: The first episode begins with a scene of Min-hyeok on a bus that has abruptly stopped after careening out of control on an overpass; sitting in the rearmost seat, he watches out the window as a girl in a pink hoodie (Bong-soon, of course) lets go of the bus and walks away. We find out later that this took place about a decade before than the rest of the series.
  • The Ditz: All of Bong-soon's teenage "minions" give off this vibe. They seem remarkably hard-of-thinking at times.
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul": Steve Jobs-wannabe "Charles Go" will not take it well if you address him by his real name.
  • Does Not Know His Own Strength: Bong-soon suffers from this as part of having lost some control over her strength at the start of the series. The damage she does to the thugs in the first episode is mostly accidental, from unintentionally overdoing it, and not much later she inadvertently injures Min-hyeok's (male) secretary Gong while trying to demonstrate her strength at his request.
  • Domestic Abuser: Bong-soon's mother Jin-yi. She emotionally abuses Bong-soon and her husband, Do Chil-goo, and routinely bullies both of them. And in episode 8 it appears that she has physically attacked her husband (albeit off-screen) in a jealous rage because he was laughing and smiling while talking to an attractive female customer, leaving him with a black eye and a split lip. While her friends believe she beat up her husband, it turns out he actually injured himself in an accident; when accused, Jin-yi explains and tells them she is non-violent and prefers verbal means, like the "fact-strike" and "glare-attack".
  • Doppelgänger: Team Leader Oh Dol-ppyeo (derisively nicknamed "Gristle" by his coworkers from a pun on his name in Korean), the head of the Planning and Development Team, is a dead ringer for Kim Kwang-bok, the thug who knifed Min-hyeok in episode 9. (They're both played by the same actor.) Bong-soon notices the resemblance, and keeps asking if "Gristle" has a twin. They briefly come face-to-face in episode 15.
  • Down in the Dumps: The kidnapper's lair is under a massive auto wrecking yard that he owns, which also helps him dispose of the cars he's stolen in the process of committing his crimes -- either his victims' cars or someone else's. (It also happens to give him a distinctive odor of rusting metal and oil/gasoline that several persons who have encountered him -- including Bong-soon -- comment upon.)
  • The Dragon: Subverted by Agari, Baek Tak's right-hand man, who seems to be little more than an administrator and is not even as personally formidable as one of his rookie foot-soldiers.
  • Dramatic Hour Long: Actually, after accounting for commercials, the run time of each episode is anywhere between 65 and 72 minutes.
  • Drinking Contest: Min-hyeok and Guk-doo cap off their manliness competition in episode 6 by each polishing off a line of boilermakers.
  • Driving a Desk: Appears to be totally averted, with all shots in moving vehicles done live on the road.
  • Drop the Hammer: Bong-soon's video game alter ego "Bbong Ssuni" wields a massive war hammer, which is actually a giant walnut hammer (a variety of nutcracker) in reference to her family's shop.
  • Duel to the Death: Baek Tak insists his men battle Bong-soon in this way in the ambush he's planning in episode 8.
  • Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Seen from the other side with Bong-soon's attempts to use English words and phrases, and usually mangling them.
  • Equivalent Exchange: In episode 14, Bong-soon's mother explains that while the girls of the family have super-strength, the boys tend to be weak and sickly. (And that's why she favored Bong-gi over Bong-soon, because she felt he needed it.)
  • Every Car Is a Pinto: Averted. When Kim Jang-hyun's car goes off the road and plunges off a cliff in episode 14, it does not explode. Instead, it falls into a body of water below.
  • Everybody Owns a Ford: Averted -- any non-junker car in this show has had its logo blacked out or obscured.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Guk-doo's fellow police officers on Violent Crimes Team 3, other than Team Leader Yook, seem to be known only by nicknames: Bulgom (Brown Bear), Neokboi (Knock Boy), Heollaengyi (Hell Angel) and Dotbogi (Magnifying Glass).
  • Everyone Can See It: Everyone but Guk-doo knows that Bong-soon has been carrying a flame for him since high school. Min-hyeok figures it out within minutes of meeting him for the first time.
  • Everything Sensor: In episode 13, Min-hyeok manages to tap into... something... that locates and provides a wireframe rendering of the kidnapper's underground lair overlaid on a real-time satellite image of the junkyard.
  • Evil Gloating: Kim Jang-hyun indulges in this whenever he can get away with it. Sometimes it's to lure someone into (or deeper into) a trap. And sometimes it's just to celebrate how much smarter he is than anyone else.
  • Expy: Bong-soon and Min-hyeok accidentally base the villain for Bong-soon's game on Secretary Gong.
  • Fainting: "Gristle" suffers a Girly Man Faint after Bong-soon tells him she's an alien. He suffers another in episode 15, when she wraps a second piece of cutlery around his wrist.
  • Fake Weakness: In episode 6, Bong-soon feigns weakness during breakfast the morning after Min-hyeok and Guk-doo's Drinking Contest, both to get Guk-doo to "help" her, and to taunt Min-hyeok (who knows very well that she's anything but weak).
  • "Falling in Love" Montage: Played with for Guk-doo in episode 11, where (as he realizes he's in love with Bong-soon) he gets a montage of moments from his life where Bong-soon was there but he ignored her and her feelings for him.
  • The Family for the Whole Family: The gangsters (geondal or jopok in Korean) whom Bong-soon beats up in the first episode, and who make repeated appearances in the hospital, as well as their boss Baek Tak, who decides that if this little girl can hospitalize a half-dozen of his foot-soldiers, he wants her in his organization. (He later decides that getting revenge for the humiliation she's unknowingly inflicted on him is more important.)
  • Fictional Video Game: The Chronicle of Albertan, which is the flagship product of AINSoft, but by no means is their only game. For instance, as of episode 16, there's also Super Girl Bbong Ssuni, a side-scrolling Platformer designed by Bong-soon herself.
  • Fight Off the Kryptonite: In episode 14, Bong-soon -- who lost her strength after Kim Jang-hyun set her up to unknowingly injure an innocent -- is chained to a pipe with a Time Bomb duct-taped to her by the kidnapper. She pleads for her strength to come back not to save her own life but so that she can save the life of Min-hyeok, who refuses to leave her alone to die -- and has it returned, apparently by divine fiat.
  • First-Name Basis: Min-hyeok and Bong-soon make this leap in episode 12. They even go as far as pet names for each other -- when Min-hyeok affectionately calls her "Bong-bong" in a text message, she calls him "Min-min" right back, which amuses and delights him to no end.
  • Flashback: Early in the series we get flashbacks to various points in Bong-soon's childhood and teen years.
    • We also get a flashback to her mother's teens, when she misused her strength and lost it.
  • Foot Focus: In episode 12, as Bong-soon in Min-Hyeok spend an afternoon at the beach, the camera focuses on their bare feet in the surf as they stand face-to-face inches apart from each other.
  • Freak-Out: "Gristle" has several in episode 11, all due to Bong-soon flaunting her strength in front of him to show him that he won't intimidate her. One of these actually ends in a Girly Man Faint.
  • Frying Pan of Doom: In episode 7 Bong-soon takes out two hired killers who have broken into Min-hyeok's home with a frying pan. (Non-stick and aluminum, not the traditional cast iron, though.) Amusingly, the frying pan ends up with a massive cartoon-style dent in it -- from the fist of the first killer she encounters.
  • Functional Magic: In addition to the mystic origins of Bong-soon's strength, we see evidence of other real magic. For instance, the fortune teller/priest whom Bong-soon's mother consults creates a functional love charm (which accidentally makes two thugs fall in love with each other), and he is later briefly possessed by the spirit of Bong-soon's great-grandmother.
  • The Gloves Come Off: For Bong-soon, the fight at the start of episode 9. Interestingly, it's when she learns that Baek Tak isn't holding her mother captive that she decides to cut loose.
    • Even more so several episodes later when she swears to take down the kidnapper with her own two hands.
  • Gold Digger: Bong-soon's mother wants her to be one and marry Min-hyeok for his money.
  • Gondor Calls for Aid: In episode 15, Bong-soon, Min-hyeok and Guk-doo have teamed up to chase down and corner Kim Jang-hyun together, and to do so call in support from almost everyone else in the series -- Guk-doo's colleagues, Bong-soon's teenaged minions, Baek Tak's connections with the criminal underworld -- Min-hyeok even has AINSoft's games pop up wanted posters for Kim on a regular basis. It pays off -- they hound him into making a hasty attempt to leave the country, and Baek Tak tells them where and when it'll be -- and that he's bought a Sniper Rifle as well.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Definitely played with in the case of Detective Neokboi, who has a nasty facial scar one might think would be more appropriate to a criminal character.
  • Gossipy Hens: Bong-soon's mother and her two friends, who seem to occupy a table in the family walnut pie shop and talk about both their neighbors and the local redevelopment project at least Once an Episode during the first half of the series.
  • Gratuitous English: "Charles Go", from episode 8, peppers his speech with a lot of random English.
    • Bong-soon tries to use the occasional English loan-word, but usually mangles it.
    • Not unexpectedly for an Asian production, almost every character owns at least one item of clothing with inexplicable English on it. Among them:
      • One of the neighborhood ladies who is always in the presence of Bong-soon's mother wears a pink sweatshirt with "Hobart College" on it.
      • Bong-soon's brother Bong-gi has a T-shirt reading "Under Cover Maniac". In six-inch-tall letters.
      • Bong-soon has her pink hoodie with "Aloha" on it, and late in the series wears a T-shirt that appears to read "A Girl Is A Gun".
      • One of her teen minions is always in a "Mickey Mouse" T-shirt.
      • Guk-doo is seen in a "Golden State Warriors" T-shirt
    • "Gristle" uses English when he's especially overwrought. Episode 14 is the prime example.

"Run, Bong-soon! Ruuuuuuuun!"

  • Green-Eyed Monster: Throughout episode 15, both Bong-soon and Min-hyeok are subject to petty jealousies over each other. Fortunately, they manage to straighten things out.
  • Hacker Cave: A relatively bright and cheery example is seen in the room full of computers and video games that Min-hyeok has behind a hidden door in his walk-in closet.
  • Heel Face Turn: The gang of delinquents whom Bong-soon defeats and effectively takes over begins acting responsibly and honorably -- and they love her for it.
  • Hidden Depths: Gangster boss Baek Tak has published five books of poetry under the pen name "Madame Duck".
  • Hideous Hangover Cure: The morning after Min-hyeok and Guk-doo's Drinking Contest, Bong-soon takes some revenge by making them both extremely spicy "hangover soup" -- Min-hyeok's far spicier than Guk-doo's -- along with a large breakfast that she certainly knows neither will feel like eating.
  • Ho Yay: When they both get outrageously drunk in episode 6, Min-hyeok and Guk-doo (who are both straight, and dislike each other) are clearly attracted to each other; Bong-soon even has to interrupt when they start closing in on a kiss.
    • The two burly contract killers sent to Min-hyeok's house by Baek Tak in episode 7 get hit with a "romance charm" and end up in love with each other.
  • Hopeless Suitor: Once he actually figures out his feelings for Bong-soon, Guk-doo is too late to do anything about them -- but he tries.
  • Horrendous Home Remedy: Bong-soon's family has a guaranteed cure that's been handed down from mother to daughter from time immemorial: "poop liquor" -- an alcoholic beverage made from fermented shit. Amazingly -- or maybe not, given how much Functional Magic there is in the series -- it actually seems to work on everything including physical injuries.
  • Human Aliens: Bong-soon claims to be one in episode 11 in order to mess with "Gristle"'s head.
  • I Have Your Mother: At the end of episode 8, Baek Tak lures Bong-soon into an ambush by faking the kidnapping of her mother (who is out of town).
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: During the first third of the series there is a very strong undercurrent of this in Bong-soon's personality -- she's almost embarrassed by her strength, even ashamed of it at times. But when her friend Gyeong-shim is attacked by the kidnapper, she re-evaluates herself and her strength, and resolves to make the best use of it in finding and punishing him.
    • In episode 13, she actually acknowledges to Min-hyeok that she will never be normal.
  • I Want My Mommy: Bong-soon at a moment of utter disgust and exhaustion during the guys' competition in episode 6. Given what a bitch her mother is, this says something.
    • In episode 7, the kidnapper's latest victim repeatedly calls out, "Mom!"
  • The Illegal: Baek Tak says the monk Nizamuddin from episode 12 illegally immigrated to Korea from India. Subverted -- Nizamuddin is a Korean native and a scam artist pretending to be from India.
  • Imagine Spot: A prominent device in the first two-thirds or so of the series; there's at least one in practically every episode, usually but not always showing Bong-soon's fantasies and imaginings. Some examples:
    • Episode 4 features an amusing one, in which Bong-soon imagines a crisply-uniformed Guk-doo appearing at her door, only to be distracted away from her by a cross-dressing Min-hyeok; at some point it must have transitioned from a daydream into an actual bad dream, as it ends with her suddenly sitting up in bed the next morning.
    • In episode 6 Min-hyeok, Guk-doo and Bong-soon all imagine different but equally unwelcome results of Guk-doo staying over at Min-hyeok's mansion.
  • Implied Threat: In episode 11, after a meal with the shrieking Camp Gay manager "Gristle" freaking out about her strength, Bong-soon offers him a "gift" -- and wraps a piece of metal cutlery around his wrist. She then smiles widely at him and tells him, "Next time I'll make you a necklace!"
  • In a Single Bound: When she confronts Kim Jang-hyun (aided by Min-hyeok and Guk-doo) in episode 15, Bong-soon demonstrates that she's finally realized her strength lets her make massive leaps.
  • In Vino Veritas: In episode 4, Bong-soon goes to a club with her brother Bong-gi, Gyeong-shim, and Min-hyeok, where she gets smashed, dances wildly and then accidentally destroys part of the club. When they get back home she then tells Min-hyeok off for his (feigned) attraction to Guk-doo (see Mistaken for Gay below), threatens to damage or disappear various of his body parts, and then ends with wishing to be unemployed again.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: While ranting about Bong-soon in episode 11, "Gristle" makes a lame pun on "alien" and "Lee Kye-in", the star of the long-running Korean police drama Chief Inspector.
    • "Gristle"'s nickname itself is a lame pun in Korean on his real name.
  • The Ingenue: Bong-soon has elements of this character type, but she's just a bit too worldly to really be a true ingenue.
  • Instant Humiliation - Just Add YouTube: Dozens of people take videos of Bong-soon's drunken meltdown in a dance club, and they all seem to get posted on what appears to be the Korean version of YouTube. Naturally, she's mortified.
    • In episode 8, Bong-soon's pack of teenaged minions decide to post a video of her effortlessly defeating three thugs masquerading as a "neighborhood watch" patrol.
  • Ironic Echo Cut: Not of dialogue, but a situation: in episode 8, Min-hyeok is pressured (by Bong-soon's mother, of course) into having a big breakfast with Bong-soon's family when he arrives to pick her up for a morning appointment. Despite this, it's clear that he enjoys the relaxed atmosphere, the laughter, the food, the company, and their tacit inclusion of him in their family. It is immediately contrasted with the breakfast with his family to which he brought Bong-soon afterward, which is stiff, formal, and uncomfortable for just about everyone involved.
  • It's a Small Net After All: Videos of Bong-soon's drunken spree in a club in episode 4 are all over the Net within a day. And Min-hyeok can call one guy and get every single copy purged in an afternoon.
  • It's Not You, It's Me: In episode 6, Guk-doo's girlfriend Jo Hee-ji breaks up with him, honestly explaining to him that she's been "wavering" about their relationship and has been seeing another man (Bong-soon's brother Bong-gi, but she doesn't mention that).
  • It's Personal: When his friends Bong-soon and Gyeong-shim become targets of the kidnapper, Guk-doo's professionalism as a cop (never strong to begin with) begins to erode somewhat.
    • Conversely, Kim Jang-hyun takes Bong-soon's interference in Gyeong-shim's abduction very personally, making it a point to go back after Gyeong-shim and use her to lure Bong-soon into a trap. And after Bong-soon forces him to abandon his underground lair, frees the girls he's been holding there (other than Gyeong-shim to her despair) and makes him the target of a nationwide manhunt, all he cares about is tormenting and destroying her.
  • Jerkass: Both Guk-doo and Min-hyeok come across this way, but while Guk-doo is genuinely abrasive with most people (and really a monumental ass towards Bong-soon much of the time), it's just protective coloration for Min-hyeok.
    • Even when Guk-doo figures out that he's in love with Bong-soon, he still can't quite shed all his Jerkass ways -- in episode 11 police business forces him to bail on a meeting with Bong-soon where he was going to confess his feelings, just a minute before she arrived. At no point in the ensuing few hours did he call her to tell her why she got stood up even though it's pretty clear he had at least a few free minutes to do so.
    • Kim Jang-hyun is a Jerkass, too, reveling in how much smarter he is than the police pursuing him and taking a special delight in taunting them in person -- and targeting Hee-ji specifically because of her relationship with Guk-doo. And it doesn't stop there.
  • Just Friends: Near the end of episode 11, Guk-doo finally gets a private moment to confess his feelings to Bong-soon -- and she stops him before he can say it, telling him that she would rather he be the friend he always was and nothing more.
  • Just in Time: In episode 14, Bong-soon is given her strength back barely seconds before the bomb duct-taped to her is to go off; she has just enough time to break free of her chains, burst through the shed doors, and throw it into the sky over Seoul.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: During one of "Gristle"'s rants in episode 11, this one in front of Min-hyeok and Secretary Gong (who both know about her strength), he shrieks

"She calls herself 'Strong Woman Do Bong-soon'! ... She gets even stronger Friday and Saturday nights at 11!"

while the show's theme song starts playing as background music. As noted above, "Strong Woman Do Bong-soon" is the full title in Korean, and it was originally broadcast at 11PM on Fridays and Saturdays.
  • Like Brother and Sister: This seems to be how Guk-doo views his relationship with Bong-soon through the first half or so of the series -- and how Bong-soon wants it to stay in the second half.
  • Line-of-Sight Name: We find out in episode 7 that Bong-soon and her brother Bong-gi (full names Do Bong-soon and Do Bong-gi) were actually named (by their mother) for the neighborhood they live in (Dobong-dong). Given how Korean names work, this is apparently intended to show that their mother is far less clever and creative than she thinks she is.
  • Locked in the Dungeon: The kidnapper does this with the women he's abducted, in what appears to be a functional jail built under the business he owns.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The monk Nizamuddin, who constantly flips his hair back over his shoulders in an ostentatious manner.
  • Love Confession: Min-hyeok makes his in several stages, staring in episode 8 when he first tells Bong-soon that he feels something for her more than a boss-employee relationship, and culminating in a dramatic moment in episode 11 where he actually begs her to return his feelings while managing not to lose his dignity in the process.
    • Guk-doo decides to confess his feelings to Bong-soon in the same episode, but a police emergency forces him to stand her up moments before they were to meet and, focused entirely on the emergency, he fails to call her and explain what happened and why. By the time he finally gets to speak with her, she's already accepted Min-hyeok's confession and, in an ironic echo of how he would never let her speak, refuses to let him make his confession to her.
    • Bong-soon finally returns Min-hyeok's confession with her own in episode 14 -- even though her feelings have been obvious for at least a couple episodes by that point.
  • Mad Bomber: After his plan to have "seven brides" is thwarted by Bong-soon, the kidnapper -- now on the run from a nationwide manhunt -- infiltrates AINSoft with a bomb in his backpack, intent on punishing Bong-soon for her interference. Doing possibly fatal damage to Min-hyeok's company would be Bonus Points on top of that.
  • Malevolent Masked Men: The kidnapper is initially seen[2] only when he's wearing a creepy rubber mask that covers his entire head except for his eyes and mouth and makes him look vaguely inhuman. He abandons this mask in episode 14 after using it to disguise an innocent security guard as himself.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Baek Tak was hired to keep Min-hyeok from taking the helm of his family's company by Min-hyeok's half-brother Ahn Dong-suk -- the only member of his family whom Min-hyeok liked and trusted.
  • The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Both expressed and averted. At least part of the reason Bong-soon never catches Guk-doo's eye is that she's too successful at hiding her strength from him, and comes across as a weak and foolish girl. On the other hand, Min-hyeok witnesses her using her strength before ever meeting her (twice, in fact, although he doesn't realize that at first), and seeks her out because of it -- and falls for her regardless of it.
  • Meaningful Echo: In episode 7, when Min-hyeok and Bong-soon's father are alone in the walnut shop, her father (who has caught on that Min-hyeok already has feelings for his daughter) very seriously asks him to take care of her. An episode later, when Min-hyeok takes Bong-soon to his family as his "fiancee", his father speaks to her alone and asks her to take care of him.
  • Meaningful Name: Monk Nizamuddin's name is both that of an area in India and a religious figure from that area.
  • Mega Corp: The Ohsung Group, the chaebol owned by Min-hyeok's father Ahn Chul-do, which he wants Min-hyeok to take over -- and which Min-Hyeok's mysterious stalker doesn't.
  • Men Don't Cry: Averted in episode 7 -- when Min-Hyeok discovers that the one behind the stalking and threats was his half-brother Dong-suk -- the only member of his family whom he loved and trusted -- he breaks down in tears.
    • Also averted in episode 16 by Guk-doo after he finally accepts that he and Bong-soon will never be anything more than Just Friends.
  • Missing Mom: Min-hyeok's biological mother, who seems to have been his father's second wife, died years before the start of the story; his father has since remarried to a much younger woman who appears to be little more than a Trophy Wife.
  • Mistaken for Cheating: When he learns that Bong-soon is spending time with her boss outside of work hours, Guk-doo assumes that Min-hyeok has or is planning to seduce her, and tries to order her home.
  • Mistaken for Gay:
    • Min-hyeok is widely thought to be gay; he isn't, but he encourages this reputation for his own purposes, and even uses it to tease Bong-soon when he learns of her crush on Guk-doo.

"Your boyfriend has a nice ass."

      • However, it gets out of hand when the false reputation hits the newspapers and has an adverse effect on his family's company.
    • Some AINSoft employees think Secretary Gong has come out of the closet after catching him in several Not What It Looks Like moments while he's trying to console "Gristle", who is heartbroken that Min-hyeok is actually straight.
  • MMORPG: AINSoft, Min-hyeok's company, runs a very popular fantasy MMORPG called The Chronicle of Albertan.
  • Moe: Although this is a Korean series and not Japanese, Bong-soon's video game alter-ego "Super Girl Bbong Ssuni" very clearly touches on this trope.
  • Mook Chivalry: This is allegedly the plan for Baek Tak's ambush of Bong-soon in episode 9, but it doesn't quite work out to one mook at a time, no matter what he said beforehand. When she proves too formidable for one-on-one fights, he starts ordering waves of four to eight men to attack her at a time. (Although the last wave basically begs her to show mercy, as they don't want to attack her.)
  • Mook Horror Show: The fight at the start of episode 9. The last wave of mooks actually beg her to show mercy to them because they're being ordered to attack her against their wills (and better judgment).
  • Moving the Goalposts: Min-hyeok promises Bong-soon that she can "graduate" from being his bodyguard to joining the Planning and Development Team for his company's MMORPG just as soon as she... well, every time she asks, he's got a new reason why she's not ready yet. (Mainly because he's come to enjoy her constant companionship even as early as episode 5, and doesn't want her to not be by his side.)
    • In episode 8, though, he actually installs a computer at her workstation for her to try her hand at development -- without ever leaving his office.
    • In episode 10, he promotes her to the Planning and Development Team -- while leaving her an intern, and putting her under the direct supervision of a shrieking Bad Boss of a Camp Gay manager.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: Bong-soon is a tiny, slender girl who doesn't look like she should be able to fling grown men a hundred feet in the air or pull a bus back onto the road. Min-hyeok even comments on the disparity in episode 6.
  • Nepotism: Averted. Min-hyeok appears to be jerking Bong-soon around when he allegedly promotes her to a full-time position on the Planning and Development Team under a shrieking harridan of a Camp Gay manager in episode 10. However, he privately admits to Secretary Gong that he is actually putting her through everything in full view of the rest of the company so that it will not be seen as the boss giving his girlfriend a cushy job. It's also a Secret Test of Character, as he wants to see how she'll cope with adversity in the workplace.
  • Never Bring a Knife to A Fist Fight: Averted in episode 9 by Kim Gwang-bok, the thug who up to that point appeared to be nothing but comic relief. Against Baek Tak's orders he brings a knife to the ambush of Bong-soon, and as she's standing in front of the gangster boss after defeating all his other men, rushes out to stab her in the back. Min-hyeok beats him there and takes the stab wound instead.
  • Never Found the Body: After Kim Jang-hyun's car ran off the road and plunged into a lake in episode 14. You know what that means...
  • Never Hurt an Innocent: Although there are other ways to misuse the gift of strength, this is apparently the most important restriction on its use.
  • No Escape but Down: Kim Jang-hyun's escape by car early in episode 14 ends with him plunging off a cliff into a lake.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Guk-doo does this several times to thugs that he believes are serious threats to Bong-soon's safety and well-being -- and to Kim Gwang-bok after he almost knifes her.
  • Oblivious to Love: Guk-doo regarding Bong-soon, for well over a decade. He stops being oblivious about a week too late.
  • Off-Screen Breakup: Averted with Guk-doo and Hee-ji. And averted again in episode 16 with Hee-ji and Bong-gi.
  • An Offer You Can't Refuse: When Baek Tak calls one of his hired killers after Bong-soon captures them in episode 7, Min-hyeok answers the cellphone and offers to return them without police interference if Baek Tak reveals who hired him. Baek Tak caves almost immediately.
  • Oh Crap:
    • Baek Tak in episode 9, when he realizes one of his men has just knifed the son of his business partner.
    • Guk-doo when he discovers critical evidence that can link Kim Jang-hyun to the kidnappings -- after he's just illegally assaulted him. On video.
    • In episode 14, Bong-soon and Min-hyeok when they realize they accidentally based the villain for her video game on Secretary Gong.
  • Old Master: Bong-soon's grandmother, who has both the gift of strength and martial arts training.
  • Older Than They Look: Bong-soon looks to be college-age or maybe even younger (there are moments one could swear she was 14). She's actually 27. (Her twin brother Bong-gi is a practicing doctor.)
  • Ominous Music Box Tune: One plays in the presence of the kidnapper every once in a while during the early part of the series.
    • The same music box -- possibly -- plays the tune while Guk-doo is searching AINSoft for Kim Jang-hyun in episode 14. He finds it in a stairwell in front of a locked door he cannot get through. When it finishes, it pops open to reveal a jack-in-the-box with a toy Time Bomb strapped to its chest.
  • One-Doctor Hospital/Surgeons Can Do Autopsies If They Want: Bong-gi seems to be the only doctor ever present in the hospital where he works. Despite being an orthopedist, he has duties and treats patients everywhere in the hospital for just about anything, and is even on duty in the ER in episode 9 when they bring Min-hyeok in. Partly justified with the ward full of gangsters, because as an orthopedist he'd naturally be treating the bones his sister broke, but that's no excuse for doing things that would realistically be tasked to nurses or orderlies -- or other specialists.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Team Leader Oh Dol-ppyeo of the Planning and Development Team at AINSoft, better known to just about everyone else in the company as the Korean word for "gristle" (a pun on his last name). No one but Min-hyeok and Secretary Gong uses it to his face (he throws a tantrum if they do), but it's the only way anyone else refers to him when he's not in the room.
  • Oral Fixation Fixation: "Gristle" is constantly chewing bubble gum, and snaps/pops it to punctuate when he's particularly annoyed with the person he's talking to -- which is usually Bong-soon.
  • Orbital Shot: The camera spins around Bong-soon as she enters Kim's junkyard in episode 13.
  • Out of Character Alert: When the kidnapper exchanges text messages with Bong-soon while pretending to be Gyeong-shim, whom he's abducted, he makes several such errors, starting with addressing her far too formally and finally failing a Bluff the Impostor test. Chillingly, when he knows he's been discovered, he addresses Bong-soon with Gyeong-shim's affectionate nickname for her before sending a video demand for a face-off.
  • Pillar of Light: In episode 14, Bong-soon is bathed in light which shines down on her from a glowing something in the night sky.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Bong-soon, of course. Actress Park Bo-young (and thus Bong-soon) is only 5'2" (157 cm) tall. Just to make the point, Bong-soon almost always wears flats or sneakers. (And amusingly, when she does wear heels, she's still much shorter than anyone else.)
  • Police Brutality:
    • Guk-doo has an unfortunate habit of inflicting No-Holds-Barred Beatdowns on suspects.
    • Team Leader Yook's superior himself has an unfortunate habit of kicking Yook and his men to emphasize his anger with them. It's unclear if this is just him being a Bad Boss, or if this is acceptable behavior in the South Korean police.
  • Police Procedural: Interestingly, the segments of Guk-doo and his coworkers actually working as a police officers come across this way.
  • POV Cam: Min-hyeok's flashbacks at the start of episode 11 to confessing his feelings to Bong-soon (which happened at the end of episode 10) are done in this manner, with a stunned Bong-soon staring right into the camera.
  • Power Incontinence: At the start the series, Bong-soon has recently been having problems controlling her strength.
  • Power Loss Makes You Strong: Played with in episode 14. The short time -- no more than a week or so -- that Bong-soon spends without her strength mostly demonstrates how hard her life is without it -- and, as Kim Jang-hyun intended, it makes her a potential victim as well. The only part of her life where it proves a benefit is when she learns that Min-hyeok cares about her whether she's strong or not.
Left to right, Min-hyeok, Bong-soon, Guk-doo.
  • Power Walk:
    • Bong-soon gets one right in the first episode as she walks away from the thugs she's just beaten up -- it's pretty much the first time Min-hyeok sees her face.
    • At the end of episode 15, Bong-soon, Guk-doo and Min-hyeok Power Walk away from the captured Kim Jang-hyun.
  • Prison: In episode 16, as the voice of a judge recites the decision of the court and the sentence imposed, we watch as a pair of guards walk Kim Jang-hyun down a cellblock and force him unwillingly into his cell. The view then shifts to the inside of KIm's cell -- which is somewhat less pleasant than an American jail cell -- as he essentially throws a tantrum over being caught, convicted, and incarcerated.
  • Punched Across the Room: In the final moments of episode 7, Bong-soon shoves Guk-doo a good twenty feet away when he gets between her and Kim Gwang-bok, who is trying to get revenge on her. It's an important moment, as it's the first time Bong-soon has ever used her strength in his presence -- and the casual way she flings him to one side reveals she's no longer infatuated with him.
    • At the end of the ambush in episode 9, Bong-soon lifts and throws the last four of Baek Tak's men hard enough to send them flying a good fifty feet -- and leave dents in the metal door and brick wall they hit.
  • Race Against the Clock: The last quarter or so of episode 14 runs on a 15-minute countdown until a bomb planted by Kim Jang-hyun goes off in the AINSoft building. The final three minutes are even more tense.
  • Race Lift: And an In-Universe one, at that -- Monk Nizamuddin from episode 12 onward looks awfully Korean for someone who's supposed to be Indian. Lampshaded by Agari and another of Baek Tak's thugs, who start expressing doubts that he's really from India. And confirmed when Agari spots a tattoo on Nizamuddin's back -- of a map of South Korea with "My Home Town" labeled. (In the last episode he's revealed to be a religious con-man who is of course Korean.)
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Compared to the few other police we see, the squad to which Guk-doo is assigned comes across this way.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Team Leader Yook. When Guk-doo finally reveals Bong-soon's secret to him in episode 13, he asks once "you're not joking?", and when Guk-doo confirms he's serious, Yook nods and basically says, "well, that makes everything else make sense."
    • Whatever divine power(s) granted the gift of strength. (Most likely Haneullim, the sky-god of Korean shamanism.) Even though Bong-soon was tricked into breaking the restrictions on her strength's use and had it taken away, it/they clearly reconsidered the circumstances after her pleas in episode 14.
  • Record Needle Scratch: A hard-to-notice example occurs during a conversation between Bong-soon's parents in episode 6.
  • Recycled Set: Generally averted, with the show's beautiful location shots and the real working businesses and offices used for many of the interiors -- but it's pretty obvious that there is only one private hospital room set, and it was redressed only slightly between its many uses for Secretary Gong, Gyeong-shim, Min-hyeok, the kidnapper's victims...
  • Redheaded Hero: Bong-soon, whose hair is a light auburn shade. Subverted in that she dyes it; we see in flashbacks and photos that her true hair color is Shiny Midnight Black.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Kim Jang-hyun has chutzpah in spades. From volunteering to be interviewed by the police as a witness to his own crime (so he can plant a bug in their office) to kidnapping a girl under a police guard right out of the hospital to taunting the cops who are staking out his wrecking yard, this is a guy who thinks he's smarter and smoother than anyone else, and acts accordingly.
  • Repeat Cut: Occasionally used to emphasize the importance of a moment, such as when Min-hyeok kisses Bong-soon on the forehead in episode 12 -- and the start and end of the kiss each get their own repeat cut. An interesting variation is seen in the very first episode, when Bong-soon makes a solo Power Walk away from the thugs she's just demolished, and the screen splits with each cut, each panel having a different level of close-up on her.
  • Required Secondary Powers: Averted; the gift of strength passed down through Bong-soon's maternal line is admittedly magical, and apparently handles all necessities -- and objections -- automatically. That said, events in episode 14 make it clear that along with the strength, Bong-soon normally has some small degree of invulnerability and what might for lack of a better term be called immovability or imperturbability -- meaning she is unlikely to be knocked over or pushed aside by a shove powered by normal human strength.
  • Revenge: The kidnapper takes Bong-soon's interference in his first attempt to abduct Gyeong-shim very personally -- and goes out of his way to "punish" her for it. He also targets Hee-ji not just because she fits his target "type", but also specifically to get back at Guk-doo.
  • Right Behind Me: In episode 5, Secretary Gong is cataloging the damage Bong-soon did to the thugs from the first episode, all but saying how much of a monster she is (and how he got off easy with only a damaged tailbone) -- while Min-hyeok is desperately trying to warn him that Bong-soon is in the room with them, hiding under a desk. He only stops when she comes out.
  • Romantic Comedy: Much of Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's early relationship plays out this way.
  • Ronin: Bong-soon is the Korean equivalent of the modern version, having failed the entrance exams to get into any college because she spent her entire senior year of high school focusing on the school's knitting club and (very slowly) making a scarf for Guk-doo.
  • Running Gag: Bong-soon, regarding "Gristle", keeps asking, "Are you sure he doesn't have a twin?"
  • Scenery Censor: We cannot see at first how badly Min-hyeok is wounded when he gets stabbed in episode 9 because of the (in)convenient placement of a chair between him and the camera.
  • Scenery Porn: There are many absolutely beautiful locations in use throughout this series. For example, AINSoft's offices are the actual offices of gaming company NCSoft (and are utterly gorgeous); and the exterior of Bong-soon's family home is actually a museum (the Ihwa-Dong Village Museum) located in Seoul (though not in the Dobong-dong neighborhood).
  • Second Act Breakup: Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's developing relationship hits a major rough patch in episode 13 when she's so intent on rescuing Gyeong-shim from the kidnapper that she refuses to wait for his help doing so, and he's upset with her for not waiting and throwing herself into danger without him at her side. It's not really a breakup, and the tensions are resolved before the end of episode 14, but it's not exactly an unalloyed happy thing either...
  • Secret Test of Character: While Bong-soon's "promotion" to the Planning and Development Team in episode 10 is in part a way for her to establish "cred" in the company so as not to look like the boss is giving his girlfriend a cushy job, it is also (as Min-hyeok tells Secretary Gong) a way for him to see how she responds to adversity in the workplace.
  • Self-Made Man: Min-hyeok. He didn't want anything to do with his family's business, as it has organized crime connections -- and he rather disliked almost everyone in his family -- so he went off and started his own. Which in six years became one of the biggest MMORPG companies in South Korea.
  • Shame If Something Happened: Of the pair of comic actors they've acquired to fake a call claiming Bong-soon's mother has been kidnapped, Baek Tak's right hand man Agari says:

I'm sure they'll do well, if they want their legs and arms.

  • Sherlock Scan: Guk-doo's superior, Team Leader Yook, appears to be able to do this, at least once in a while.
  • Shrine to the Fallen: Min-hyeok has one of these for his mother in the form of a tree with an identifying placard that seems to be dedicated to her memory. Bringing Bong-soon there in episode 8 flags a major change in their relationship.
  • Shy Finger-Twiddling: Min-hyeok does this while mocking Bong-soon about her unspoken feelings for Guk-doo in episode 10. He does it again while talking to her, apparently unconsciously, in episode 16.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Once they get together, Bong-soon and Min-hyeok are frequently too cute to bear. Secretary Gong in particular is almost appalled at their behavior in the office.
  • Slow-Motion Pass-By: Gangster Kim Gwang-bok and his Doppelgänger Oh Dol-ppyeo (AKA "Gristle") in the hospital in episode 15. Gristle being who he is, he shrieks in terror at the sight.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat: This is just about the only way Min-hyeok and Guk-doo can talk to each other, with snide comments and (not-so-)veiled insults and neither willing to give an inch to the other. Despite this, they manage to work together well in episode 15, along with Bong-soon, when planning how to catch Kim Jang-hyun, and executing their plan.
  • Sniper Rifle: Kim Jang-hyun buys one from a criminal contact while arranging for his escape from Korea in episode 15.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Appears to be in use during the fight at the start of episode 9, with Baek Tak sending first the "rookies" at Bong-soon, then more experienced men, through several waves until she gets to Agari, his right-hand man, and then Baek Tak himself. Ultimately subverted in that the mooks fail to get more competent as she works through them, Agari is basically an administrator weaker than the rookies and Baek Tak himself is too terrified of her to do anything but address her politely.
  • Spandex, Latex, or Leather: Averted in the glimpse we see of Bong-soon acting as Seoul's superhero in the final moments of episode 16 -- she's wearing a (new) pink hoodie and jeans, basically.
  • Special Effect Failure: Sadly, a lot of the effects used to demonstrate Bong-soon's strength on-screen early in the series are a bit crude or obvious, including both practical effects and Conspicuous CG. Special note goes to the rather unconvincing dummies of Min-hyeok and Guk-doo that Bong-soon carries over her shoulders in episode 6.
    • The fight with Baek Tak's foot-soldiers at the start of episode 9 is very well done, though.
    • The painted backdrops of Seoul (usually at night) outside the windows of Bong-soon's bedroom and the generic hospital room set are somewhat less than convincing.
  • Spinning Paper: No spinning, but a series of newspaper headlines about the kidnapper and his latest victim slide across the screen to show the passage of time in episode 8. We get another similar use in episode 13 after the kidnapper's victims are rescued.
  • Split Screen
    • In the very first episode, a three-way Split Screen is used to combine a Power Walk with a Repeat Cut to put a very special emphasis on the first time Min-Hyeok sees Bong-soon's face.
    • Episode 15 has a split screen on Bong-soon and Min-hyeok as they are trying (and failing) to go to sleep in their separate homes while intensely missing each other.
  • Squeaky Eyes: A rare live-action example occurs in episode 12 when the leader of Bong-soon's teenage minions realizes that Baek Tak, whom they're pursing with intent to get revenge for his attack on her, was on the same bus with them while they were harassing him over the phone -- a moment after he gets off.
    • To be fair, many other blinks seen in the series also get sound effects, but not squeaks.
  • Squick: Anything to do with the "poop liquor", a home remedy made by Bong-soon's family from fermented shit.
  • The Stakeout: Violent Crimes Team 3 maintain one on Kim Jang-hyun once they're certain he's the kidnapper. Sadly, their best efforts turn out to be kind of half-assed. He's completely aware that they're watching him despite no longer being assigned the case, and he even taunts them about it.
  • Stalker Shrine: Min-hyeok has a very subdued example, in that the secret door in his walk-in closet has a painting on it (apparently made from memory) of the mysterious girl in a pink hoodie who saved his life (and the lives of everyone else on the bus with him) in the earliest scenes of the series. (The girl is, of course, Bong-soon, but he doesn't make the connection until he sees her in the same pink hoodie in episode 9. Bong-soon knows about the painting, but doesn't realize it's her for another three episodes after that.)
  • Stock Sound Effects:
    • The show is punctuated by a selection of sound effects that are either directly lifted from Hanna-Barbera cartoons, or are excellent recreations thereof.
    • The classic "bionic jumping" sound from The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman also gets used in association with Bong-soon's strength.
    • Whining puppy noises are frequently used in moments of embarrassment or humiliation, especially for women.
  • Stood Up: Guk-doo does this to Bong-soon in episode 11 when a police emergency takes him away from a meeting with her only moments before she appears. Guk-doo, being who he is, doesn't call her to explain what happened or why.
  • Stuff Blowing Up:
    • In episode 13, we find out that Kim Jang-hyun made arrangements for his minion to blow up the lair under the junkyard if he has to make an escape. Being half-addled by drugs (and not terribly bright even without them), said minion doesn't actually do a good job at it, despite the fireball he causes.
    • In episode 14, Kim manages to get a bomb into AINSoft's offices, and sets it to go off on the roof. While it's duct-taped to a depowered Bong-soon.
  • Superhero: In the final minutes of episode 16 we see that Bong-soon has essentially become this, watching over Seoul in her pink hoodie and responding to emergencies.
  • Super Strong Child: Technically all female children in the family's line of descent, but we are shown Bong-soon at age 8 or thereabouts performing a Bare-Handed Truck Stop during a Flashback in the first episode.
    • Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's twin daughters in the final minutes of episode 16, who while still in the cradle are capable of knocking down grown men and giving them black eyes.
  • Super Villain: While it doesn't appear that he ever consciously thinks of himself that way, Kim Jang-hyun certainly acts the part.
  • Taking the Bullet: In episode 9, Min-hyeok interposes himself between Bong-soon and a thug attempting to knife her in the back, and takes the stab wound himself.
  • Teach Me How to Fight: Something like this is in play when the delinquents whom Bong-soon has cowed beg her to be their master in episode 4.
  • Tempting Fate: Putting your face within a foot or so of Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's twin infant daughters. You're just asking for a knock-down and a black eye.
  • Testosterone Poisoning: Seen in action with Min-hyeok and Guk-doo's extended dick-waving contest in episode 6.
  • Theme Tune Cameo: In episode 16, Bong-soon's teenaged minions sing "Super Power Girl" along with the soundtrack while watching a video of her lifting a car off an accident victim.
  • This Is Reality: Inverted during Secretary Gong's rant about Bong-soon in episode 5 -- he says, "How can she be so strong? Is this reality?"
  • Three-Point Landing: In the final moments of episode 16, Bong-soon leaps off the top of the AINSoft building -- thirteen stories up -- and lands in the street below in this posture.
  • Time Bomb: In episode 14, Kim Jang-hyun slips into AINSoft, abducts a depowered Bong-soon, and chains her to a pipe on the building roof with a time bomb duct-taped to her.
  • Time Skip: Episode 16 has multiple skips, including one that jumps over at least nine months. The final scenes take place at least two years after the rest of the series.

"She calls herself 'Strong Woman Do Bong-soon'!"

    • Min-hyeok also calls her this during a private (and tender) moment in episode 16.
    • And in the final lines of the series, Bong-soon identifies herself this way as well.
  • Together in Death: In episode 14, when Bong-soon is chained to a huge pipe in a locked shed on AINSoft's roof with a Time Bomb duct-taped to her, Min-hyeok refuses to leave despite her pleading with him to save himself. He tells her that he'd rather die with her than live without her.
  • Toilet Humour:
    • Kim Gwang-bok, one of the gangsters whom Bong-soon put in the hospital, repeatedly loses control of his bladder at the sight -- or even mention -- of her. A lot of "pee" jokes get made at his expense. Ironically, he's the one who wants to (and eventually does) confront her to get revenge.
    • And then there's the horrendous home remedy Bong-soon's grandmother brings, and which her mother leaves in the hospital: "poop liquor", a beverage (!) made from fermented shit. It's the subject of much discussion, consumption, and humor.
  • Training Montage: Much of the back end of episode 7 is one, when Min-hyeok starts training Bong-soon in control, although it seems mostly to cover one long day's work. We get another in episode 8 which seems to cover many days -- and which has an immediate payoff later in the episode, and at the start of episode 9.
  • Tranquil Fury: During the fight against Baek Tak's organization in episode 9, Bong-soon doesn't show her usual expressiveness, instead maintaining a constant expression of mild irritation on her face as she demolishes every man in front of her and ends up standing before a terrified Baek Tak. It only breaks when Min-hyeok takes a knife meant for her.
  • Transparent Closet: Inverted. Despite having the reputation that he's gay, everyone who meets Min-hyeok tells Bong-soon he's obviously straight. She finally starts believing them in episode 8.
  • Triang Relations: At the start of the series, at least, Bong-soon is A in a Type 4 relationship, with Guk-doo and Jo Hee-ji as B and C. (And this is just the most recent iteration, with various other girlfriends for Guk-doo all the way back to high school being C.) But almost as soon as she appears on screen, Hee-ji starts gravitating toward Bong-soon's brother, Bong-gi, and they begin forming what appears to be another Type 4 relationship where Guk-doo is A. At least, until she breaks up with Guk-doo in episode 6.
    • In episode 9, once Guk-doo's learned that Bong-soon is very much not a weak and silly girl, a new Type 4 starts forming where Guk-doo is A, Bong-soon is B and Min-hyeok is C. It only gets worse for him by episode 11, when Guk-doo's decided that he's in love with Bong-soon after all, but by this point Min-hyeok has confessed his feelings to her, and Bong-soon is feeling the mutuals with him. (Especially ironic, because police business forced Guk-doo to run out on a meeting where he was going to confess his feelings for her, giving Min-hyeok the chance to act on his.)
  • Turn in Your Badge: In episode 10 Guk-doo voluntarily gives up his badge and handcuffs after stepping over the line and assaulting a suspect while pursuing the kidnapper. He gets them back by the end of the episode.
    • In episode 12, Team Leader Yook and everyone else in Violent Crimes Team 3 does the same when their superior tells them not to pursue Kim Jang-hyun after Gyeong-shim's abduction is discovered. (Ironically, this will protect them from retribution, because the superior will be punished and certainly demoted if it comes out that an entire team quit on him because of his orders.)
  • A Twinkle in the Sky: A rare live-action instance appears in episode 4, when Bong-soon kicks a soccer ball with her full strength and apparently puts it into orbit.
  • The Un-Reveal: Bong-soon tries to tell Guk-doo about her strength in episode 5, but being the ass he is, he berates her for putting herself in a dangerous situation and refuses to let her get a word in edgewise.
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: Guk-doo, who doesn't realize he's in love with Bong-soon until she's given up on her Unrequited Love for him and moved on.
  • Unskilled but Strong: Bong-soon, at least at the start of the series.
    • Averted utterly by her grandmother, who has both the gift of strength and martial arts training.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The crowd in the street below the AINSoft headquarters react far more strongly to the fireworks that go off a few minutes later than to the mysterious cloud formation and brilliant white light in the sky which shines down on Bong-soon in episode 14. Then again, it might have been Invisible to Normals.
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: Two in episode 6 -- one for Min-hyeok in the wake of his Drinking Contest with Guk-doo, and another for an obnoxious driver whose car Bong-soon spun like a top -- with him in it.
  • Walk and Talk: Episode 9 has one with Violent Crimes Team 3 striding quickly through a remarkably extensive building set (which might actually be a location shot) while brainstorming about the kidnapper.
  • Walking the Earth: Near the end of episode 11, it appears that Baek Tak has taken off on a journey of/for enlightenment after discovering that the "poop liquor" has almost completely healed him of his injuries. Fortunately for his enlightenment, his walk only lasts an episode or so, and he can take the bus part of the way.
  • Wedding Day: Bong-soon and Min-hyeok get married near the end of episode 16. And it seems like everyone but her teenaged minions shows up and gets their pictures taken with the bride -- even Baek Tak and his men!
  • What the Hell Are You?: Baek Tak's approximate reaction the first time he personally witnesses Bong-soon's strength in action.
    • In episode 11, "Gristle" shrieks "What are you?" at Bong-soon several times after she tauntingly demonstrates her strength in front of him. (She tells him, "I'm an alien.")
  • When Elders Attack: When Bong-soon's grandmother makes her first appearance in episode 6, she takes out a young tough by knocking him down with a thrown bundle of clothes.
  • Will They or Won't They?: Definitely in play between Bong-soon and Min-hyeok by a third of the way through the series. Two-thirds of the way, it's definitely "Will".
  • A Wizard Did It: Bong-soon's family received the gift of strength so long ago that they've forgotten where it actually came from. Events in episode 14 strongly suggest that its origin is divine in nature, and its use and users are being actively monitored.
  • Working the Same Case: No accident or confusion involved -- Violent Crimes Team 3 (of which Guk-doo is a member) and the Special Investigations Team/Special Task Force (the name varies) are both pursuing the kidnapper -- but when Guk-doo's Cowboy Cop tendencies get the better of him one too many times, Team 3 as a whole is pulled from the case. (This doesn't stop Team Leader Yook from deciding they'll "unofficially" keep pursuing it.)
  • A Worldwide Punomenon: Because of how he says them, some of the things monk Nizamuddin says in episode 12 can be understood in two entirely different ways -- to the confusion of his listeners.
  • X-Ray Sparks: In the third episode, this happens to a poor schmuck whom Bong-soon accidentally forces to taser himself while she's tying him up.
  • Yakuza: Baek Tak and his minions are the Korean equivalent thereof, called geondal or jopok. The unorganized street toughs that Bong-soon and others also encounter are called kkangpae.[3]
  • You Just Told Me: Bong-soon tricks Min-hyeok into admitting his age in episode 14 in this way.


  1. ↑ We use the title Strong Girl Bong-soon because both Netflix and Wikipedia use it.
  2. ↑ Except once -- see Chekhov's Gunman, above.
  3. ↑ No, that's not a typo. It really does start with two "k"s.
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