âOnce you start working, youâll realize youâre no longer the center of the universe, you realize thereâre many people who are better & scarier than you and you need to accept that you cannot control everything.â
Seventh K Drama: Cheese in the Trap
If thereâs one word to describe this drama it would be problematic. But somehow, it depicts the ugly side of society â people will only care about you if they can get benefits from you and once the benefits ran out, theyâll leave you acting as if nothing happened. Sometimes you just canât help but feel trapped in this fucked up society that we live in and this drama shows that.
Hong Seol is a junior university student who took a year off because of her familyâs financial instability and also because of her sunbae Yoo Jungâs actions that scares her. When she gets back to school, Jung became warm and friendly towards herâŚthe question is why?
There are mixed reviews about this drama and despite me describing this as problematic, I actually enjoyed watching this (although the ending was really disappointing). The chemistry of the main couple was on point and sometimes I wish they dated in real life hihi. Anyway, while this drama is a bit charming, it showcases the harsh reality of people only befriending you when they need you and will leave you when they no longer need you. Sometimes the real world sucks.
Anyway, I would like to discuss only the two main characters of this drama â how different and similar they areâŚhow both of them are like cheese in the trap.
The main characters in this drama are the hoobae Hong Seol and the sunbae Yoo Jung. While they have their differences, I believe that they are also very similar. Hong Seol came from a humble background: she came from a middle class family who needs to work really hard in order for them to make ends meet. While life is tough, sheâs a very determined and hardworking person. However, kind people are most of time gets taken advantage of. Â Since Seol is hardworking, she takes her studies seriously. Most of her classmates rely on her on academic stuffs. Seol has the ânever complain, always giveâ kind of attitude so she always extend a helping hand to her schoolmates even though those people are obviously just befriending her because of the benefits. It is when the benefits end that you will know peopleâs true colors. When Seol had enough, those people that suck up to her ended up to be the first to turn their backs on her and even call her greedy. Thatâs the time you know that most people nowadays will only be there if they can gain something from you. Most people are users and I hate that. Yoo Jung, on the other hand, came from a wealthy background. His father is a rich businessman and since heâs an only child, heâs the sole heir to their business empire. At such a young age he already knew how horrible people is thatâs why he keeps his guard up. In some ways, he is also like Seol with a ânever complain, always giveâ kind of attitude but thereâs more to it. He may be helpful to people but he also know how to make them pay. I think if his life has a theme song it would be âLook what you made me doâ since it was peopleâs actions towards him that led him to becoming somewhat a âmonsterâ. I know that itâs not a good thing to take revenge on people but is it really bad if you would let them taste their own medicine? Anyway, I do believe that Jung needs psychiatric treatment because it might eat him up alive one day if he continues with his actions.
Like a cheese in the trap.
I guess all of us have experienced feeling out of place, like we canât help but ask this question: âsaan ba ako lulugar?â If you do good, people will abuse you. If you fight back, youâre a bad person. I just canât understand it. I guess thatâs how both Seol and Jung have felt. Seol has always been kind to her schoolmates but ended up getting betrayed by them. Jung used to trust people but all they did was to take advantage of him so he ended up cold hearted. But whatever you do, people will always have something to say, right? We are all like a cheese in the trap, caught up in this crazy and fucked up world but we just got to be stronger and wiser for us to survive cause in the end, if they try to get us (if the mouse tries to get the cheese) it will mean danger to them and somehow to ourselves as well since weâll be affected in one way or another.
 Between the two main characters, I can say that I am more like Seol (or used to be like Seol) than Jung since even though I also have revenge thoughts, Iâve never put them into actions. I used to be like Seol â a person with a ânever complain, always giveâ attitude but it is tiring especially when youâre the one who needs someone the most and you will realize that you have no one. I guess the key here is communication â you gotta speak up when theyâre already crossing the line. Things will be settled when you talk it out but if they still donât cooperate then itâs their problem already and not yours. With Jung though, I feel like what he needs the most is understanding and guidance. Jung has to understand too that revenge is not the answer.
Btw, hereâs some quotes from the drama that I liked:
âLiving in society isnât something you can do alone.â Â -Professor Kang
âManagement = Communication. It means communication is everything!â -Professor Kang
âPeople who play victim will always end up like that, losing what they have as they attempt to gain what isnât theirsâ âYoo Jung
âWhy is it that people always want what belongs to other people? Then they delude themselves thinking other peopleâs things are theirs when in the end they lose whatâs their own.â âYoo Jung
âI had no time to look sideways. I looked straight ahead so I wouldnât fall. And I thought I had lived harder than anyone else around me.â -Hong Seol
âTeach him that perseverance is true talentâ âIn Hoâs former teacher
âThe little things in life flow like shallow water. It is still shallow water, like all people do â it can be enduredâ -Hong Seol
âThere are ups and downs in relationship but maintaining longevity is hardâ
âNo matter how rock bottom you are, you shouldnât bring harm to people who care about youâ
âDonât put up walls and look down on people because among those people, there are some who sincerely wanted to be friends with youâ -Sang Chul
ââŚ.you know that hurting someone means that it will come back to you.â âHong Seol
PS this is probably the most unruly blog post Iâve ever written. I hope you get my interpretation of Cheese in the Trap though. I loved the drama although it was a bit stressful to watch lol. #TeamSunbae #SometimesTeamInHo
For other kdrama related blog posts: tinamaetales.tumblr.com/tagged/k+drama