1st, this is not a thread about who Dal-Mi should choose. #Jipyeong hurts me, & not in the way people may think. Hence this thread just for him. He isn't a typical tsundere. He isn't cold, he's guarded. Despite his background, the fact that Dal-Mi's grandmother is both+ #StartUp

his only family and his only friend, he never pitied himself. He never blamed anyone else for his actions. He owed the person who showed him familial attention a favor, and he made it happen. This entire time he has supported the one person who means the world to him+ #StartUpEp9

In a way, Ji-Pyeong & Dal-Mi's grandmother have their own love story. Not a romantic one, a love story between a woman who wants to protect her family & a little boy who wants to protect himself. Their story is a heart-rending foundation 4 this drama. Their story & what+ #StartUp

they chose to do together is the entire reason Dal-mi & Do-San got a story. They brought these 2 people together, 2 people who need to prove something to themselves. Do-San needs to prove that he's more than the guilty little boy w/no self-confidence who made a+ #StartUp

mistake he's allowed to define him. Dal-Mi needs to prove that she made the right choices in her life. Ji-Pyeong never needed to prove anything to himself. He needed to survive, to not have to depend on anyone. He never undervalued himself. He knew exactly what he+ #StartUpEp9

was capable of, & he made his future a fortuitous one. But he never forgot the one person who saw the value in him, who saw the success he knew he could be. Dal-Mi's grandmother constantly asked him for help, and he always delivered. Even if it was wrong. No matter+ #StartUpEp10

what it meant for him. No matter how much he'd get hurt. He never intended to fall in love with Dal-Mi. Everyone says Do-San is the one that is lacking. Not Ji-Pyeong. From an outside monetary perspective, Do-San may appear that way. Ji-Pyeong built the comfort around + #StartUp

himself. He built the glass castle around himself & made Dal-Mi's grandmother the emotional Queen of it. If he loses her, he loses that presence in his life. I'm glad he's strong-willed & has a strong heart. Those letters weren't fake for himself or Dal-Mi. No matter+ #StartUp

how they started. Both of them needed a friend when they were children. Both of them needed to speak into the void, to release thoughts and ideas and feelings to someone they may never meet. There is safety in that. Admit it, we all tend to be more open online when+ #StartUp

we are anonymous than we tend to be with our own friends and families. Those letters were valid expressions of who they were, not who they became. Ji-Pyeong may not be the choice at the end of this drama. He may never have been a choice to begin with but when you quit+ #StartUp

seeing him as competition & see him as Ji-Pyeong, he is such a valid character. He makes things happen, for himself & the people around him. Even hurting some along the way. He's a mentor, a figurative fairy godfather with flaws. Maybe that's exactly what this show+ #StartUp

intends for him. Maybe he's simply a well-rounded, well-developed fairy godfather who has feelings for the FL while Dal-Mi and Do-San are both Cinderella. Yet, Ji-Pyeong is also villainized, a man who expects too much from people, a person who asks the tough+ #StartUpEp10

questions. As a man of business, he puts pressure on people. He treats those he might invest in the same way he was treated as a child before he met Dal-Mi's grandmother. He expects them to know the answers before he takes a risk on them. While Do-San is focused on+ #StartUp

loving himself, getting Dal-Mi to know and understand him, and building his confidence and his relationship with his father, Ji-Pyeong is simply learning to come to terms with the life he built for himself. Dal-Mi already understands who he was. She even probably+ #StartUp

understands a little of who he is now because of that, but she doesn't understand him the way her grandmother does, that place where his tenaciousness & his drive comes from. He places his personal life outside of his work life. This is important to succes but can also+ #Startup

bring heartache. Ji-Pyeong confesses his feelings but he never promotes himself. He never uses pity or his past to get her to like him in return. He has no expectations. He helps Do-San's cause more than his own. He is too harsh on Do-San, but I think this is because he+ #Startup

doesn't owe anything to Do-San. He needs someone to release his frustration on, and though Do-San doesn't deserve that, he becomes that person. In a way though, Do-San is learning from that harshness and pushing himself away from Ji-Pyeong. Do-San is learning to depend+ #StartUp

On himself because he doesn't want to depend on Ji-Pyeong. I feel like Do-San is going to end up Dal-Mi's choice. But I hope this show doesn't find a way to make Ji-Pyeong someone to hate in the process. As an orphan myself, I relate to him and his choices. #StartUp