Petty Romance 2010

Seoul, the present day, opens a door to a story about debt, ambition, and the blurred lines between art and desire. Jeong Bae is a struggling manhwa artist pressed to redeem a cherished family portrait, and in a desperate bid for money he enters a publishing company’s contest for an adult manga, a prize worth ₩130 million (roughly US$100,000). With his storytelling weakness laid bare, he posts a call for a professional writer and ends up hiring the self-important Da-rim. They strike a deal: split the prize 50-50 if they win, a pact that masks a growing tension as they move from collaboration to a delicate, uneasy partnership.

Unknown to [Jeong Bae], [Da-rim] recently lost her job as a sex columnist at Hot Girl — a magazine edited by her friend Ma Kyung-sun — where she tried to cover up a lack of real experience with men by copying material from the Kama Sutra to the Kinsey Reports. This backstory bleeds into their project as Da-rim brings a bold, reckless idea to the table: a female assassin named Ma Mi-so who holds her male victims captive for erotic kicks. The twist? Da-rim models the victim on her twin brother, Han Jong-soo, who shares a flat with her and can’t wait for her to move out, a detail that adds a volatile, personal edge to the story they’re about to publish.

Meanwhile, Jeong Bae’s friend and fellow competitor, [Hae-ryong], who has secretly bugged his own flat, starts to believe that Jeong Bae and Da-rim are carrying on an affair. The sense of suspicion intensifies as the pair push forward with their unsettling concept, each page of their collaboration bringing them closer to a provocative truth about desire, power, and the price of creative ambition.

As the manuscript takes shape, the lines between fiction and reality blur. Da-rim’s vivid, provocative scenes begin to reveal underlying insecurities and a longing that goes beyond professional rivalry. Jeong Bae finds himself navigating not only the pressure to deliver a winning work but also the uneasy emotional terrain stirred by Da-rim’s lingering feelings for him. The story they write grows darker and more personal, forcing both of them to confront what they truly want—and what they’re willing to risk to get it.

In the end, the tension between their ambitions and their emotions tests the very foundations of their collaboration. The competition becomes more than a quest for prize money; it becomes a mirror that reflects their own vulnerabilities, the complexity of desire, and the often complicated paths people take when art, money, and attraction collide.