Comic Kim Kyu-won performs carrying a bald wig and a vest that includes the SK hynix brand in a scene from Coupang Play’s comedy present “SNL Korea 8” launched in April. Captured from Coupang Play
“Hynix almighty!”
The exclamation didn’t come from a church, however fairly a luxurious clothes retailer in Seoul. When a clerk noticed a buyer carrying a vest with the emblem of chipmaker SK hynix printed prominently throughout it, she gave him the royal remedy. She repeatedly exclaimed “Hynix almighty!” The clerk fully modified her perspective towards the balding man in a shabby jacket, whom she had beforehand greeted with a mocking tone.
The scene, a part of an April episode of Coupang Play comedy present “SNL Korea 8,” satirizes a quickly altering social local weather. The general public view of engineers — males as soon as deemed as “engineering nerds” — has reworked as a result of semiconductor business increase and big efficiency bonuses that got here with it.
Shift in workplace romance settings
The worldwide chip and synthetic intelligence (AI) increase has reshaped the conventions of tv romance. Electronics firms are rising as new settings for workplace romance, recasting engineering graduates as romantic leads.
TvN drama “See You at Work Tomorrow!,” which concluded final month, embodies this shift. Workplace romances historically centered on legislation companies in dramas like “Legislation and the Metropolis” and “Past the Bar,” department shops in “My Dearest Nemesis” and “VIP,” and broadcasting stations in “Worlds Inside” and “Be Melodramatic.”
The brand new tvN collection as a substitute facilities on a romance between two engineering graduates at an electronics firm. The broadcasting business tailored the unique webtoon set totally at a chipmaker to replicate how the standards for social standing and fascinating jobs have modified in Korea.
Finish of plaid-shirt stereotype
The shift extends past the setting of workplace romances. The best way tv dramas painting the romantic attraction of engineering professionals has additionally developed.
In “See You at Work Tomorrow!,” feminine protagonist Cha Ji-yoon (Park Ji-hyun), a senior product-planning worker, develops romantic emotions for her superior, Kang Si-woo (Search engine optimisation In-guk), when he fills an workplace board with mathematical formulation to repair a product-development error. Whereas previous dramas relied on the sharp eloquence of attorneys, technical problem-solving has now turn out to be a supply of romantic attraction.
“Aren’t you an engineering graduate? I believe you’d have executed properly even for those who did extra inventive work.” As this line reveals, the drama treats creativity as inherent in engineering expertise. It’s a stark departure from the stereotypical male engineer that dramas have portrayed up to now, breaking away from present tropes relating to look and eloquence.
Within the drama, Kang wears modern fits, simply wins over feminine colleagues and speaks concisely throughout shows to earn the corporate president’s recognition. He isn’t depicted as the standard engineer in a plaid shirt and horn-rimmed glasses. Viewers responded positively to this transformation, leaving feedback resembling “engineering-style flirting is charming” and “his speech is concise due to his engineering background” on video clips the place he declares he has “by no means misplaced to a machine.”
This mix photograph reveals the evolving portrayal of male engineers in tv dramas. Search engine optimisation In-guk, left, who performs an engineering skilled within the lately concluded drama “See You at Work Tomorrow!,” wears a modern swimsuit, whereas Nam Joo-hyuk, who portrayed a rookie engineer within the 2020 drama “Begin-Up,” wears a plaid shirt. Courtesy of tvN
Traditionally, tv producers hardly ever solid engineers as romantic leads.
“The stereotype of male engineer was somebody good with machines however missing emotional intelligence,” an nameless tv producer who beforehand directed a lawyer-led melodrama mentioned. “In order that they weren’t usually used as romantic leads.”
Nonetheless, “See You at Work Tomorrow!” recasts that actual stereotype as a romantic lead. The development extends past a single present. Comparable narratives, such because the drama “LOVE.exe,” launched final winter on the streaming platform Wavve, have emerged in fast succession over the previous yr.
Newfound benefit in relationship market
The cultural shift of engineers rising as romantic leads mirrors actuality. On-line, a photograph of a person occurring a blind date carrying clothes with a chipmaker’s brand lately went viral as a meme. In college admissions, candidates now add semiconductor departments to the standard Korean acronym for elite medical, dental and pharmacy colleges, creating a brand new top-tier designation.
A viral meme reveals a person carrying clothes with a SK hynix brand, jokingly describing the look because the “greatest blind date outfit.” Captured from on-line discussion board
What precisely makes a semiconductor engineer engaging within the relationship and marriage markets? Three nameless feminine workplace employees of their 20s shared what appealed to them, excluding excessive salaries.
“An mental feeling? They seem like they’ve experience and can be good at their jobs. Since their main and career are male-dominated, it looks as if there would not be girls round them, which additionally generates a positive impression,” one mentioned.
One other mentioned, “I believe that as a result of he works in a serious business of the longer term, I’d be capable of introduce him to the folks round me with out hesitation after they ask what he does. After all, if he really confirmed as much as a blind date carrying a shirt with a semiconductor firm’s brand on it, that is likely to be a little bit of a turn-off.”
“Even when his seems to be or different issues aren’t my fashion, when going residence after the blind date, I believe I’d suppose, ‘Is not it a little bit of a waste if I simply let him go?’ or ‘Ought to I date him briefly?’ So long as he would not act boastful about working at a chipmaker,” a 3rd one mentioned.
Even when excluding excessive salaries, the ladies targeted on skilled status, the symbolism of a key future business and social standing. The occupation itself holds newfound romantic attraction robust sufficient to outweigh bodily attractiveness.
The development has additionally drawn worldwide consideration. Bloomberg reported that the semiconductor increase is reshaping preferences in Korea’s marriage market, quoting a matchmaking company supervisor who mentioned she had by no means seen staff of chipmakers turn out to be so fashionable in her 15 years within the business.
These real-world preferences are additionally felt within the tv business. A drama manufacturing firm official with over 10 years of expertise mentioned producers continuously talk about creating tales about semiconductor engineers as a substitute of attorneys.
“The speak is that setting a narrative in opposition to a chipmaker background attracts viewers in additional,” the official added.
The semiconductor increase has not solely modified the commercial panorama, it has fully rewritten the romantic splendid portrayed in workplace dramas.
Understated romance, new masculinity
The explanation engineering professionals have emerged as romantic leads isn’t just because the career’s growingg status.
A shift in how folks type relationships and alternate feelings has additionally performed a task. In an period of emotional fatigue that comes from emotional overload and exhaustion, the emotional restraint and matter-of-fact speech that have been as soon as thought of flaws within the stereotypical male engineer at the moment are considered as romantic benefits.
Novelist and tv drama critic Park Jin-gyu identified the background of this shift.
“If love was used as a life-or-death material in previous content material, today it’s utilized in popular culture to create small disruptions and sparks of pleasure in a repetitive every day life,” Park mentioned. “In an period cautious of emotional over-immersion, the stereotypical male engineer who alerts affection via transient, dry phrases and actions fairly than dramatic emotional shows, has emerged as a personality archetype completely fitted to an understated romance.”
The newfound attraction of the engineering-minded man additionally alerts an evolution within the splendid picture of masculinity itself.
In the course of the period of business capitalism, society prized a robust, macho masculinity symbolized by troopers or development employees. Later, within the service and finance period, a classy and compassionate masculinity represented by professionals like attorneys turned the perfect.
Lee Jong-suk, left, and Moon Ga-young painting attorneys concerned in a office romance at a legislation agency within the drama “Legislation and the Metropolis” (2025). Courtesy of tvN
Within the AI period, the technical experience symbolized by builders and engineers, mixed with a demeanor that’s not excessively swayed by feelings, holds newfound romantic attraction.
“Fairly than the paternalistic intimacy like safety and devotion anticipated of males up to now, a ‘sensible intimacy’ that types correct and rational relationships within the individualistic period is drawing consideration as a brand new masculinity,” mentioned Kim Sung-yoon, a full-time researcher at Dong-A College’s Institute of Convergence Data and Society.
Rising desire for rags-to-riches saga
The newfound romantic attraction of the hands-on technical competence of builders and engineers additionally displays a cultural response to an period the place photos, movies and even writing are simply generated by AI.
Kim Hern-sik, a specialist at Jungwon College’s School of Social and Cultural Research, defined the shift.
“As artificial and digital content material proliferates, the power to construct and function one thing bodily, which can’t be changed by phrases, holds newfound romantic attraction,” Kim mentioned. “If the social authority of a career itself was the article of envy up to now, really making one thing and producing a tangible outcome has now turn out to be the usual for a brand new appeal.”
Whereas professions outlined by eloquence, resembling attorneys, have been beforehand the usual romantic leads, hands-on technical competence now sparks romantic pleasure. In “See You at Work Tomorrow!,” the 2 engineering graduates lastly open up to one another and kiss whereas dismantling and repairing an analog audio system.
Kang Si-woo, left, performed by Search engine optimisation In-guk, kisses his co-worker Cha Ji-yoon, performed by Park Ji-hyun, whereas repairing an analog audio system within the tvN drama “See You at Work Tomorrow!” which concluded final month. Captured from tvN
Underlying this admiration for technical competence is a deep want for upward mobility. Jin Su-heon, a analysis professor at Chung-Ang College’s Institute of Multicultural Content material, analyzed the development.
“In a actuality grappling with a damaged social ladder, applied sciences like AI and semiconductors are seen as new alternatives to generate wealth and allow upward mobility via a person’s talent,” Jin mentioned. “Whereas a lawyer symbolized a rags-to-riches success story up to now, the expectation that an engineer can take that place within the AI period is now being projected onto romance narratives.”
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Instances, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Instances.
