K-Dramas have perfected the art of the love triangle—so much so that the phenomenon of the Second Lead Syndrome was born. We often find ourselves rooting for (or even falling for) the second male lead even more, and while they don’t get the girl, we wish they get their happy ending, too.
After all, many of these characters don’t just exist to antagonize the leading man. Throughout the series’ run, they often show off such great personalities and character development on their own. They have us genuinely wishing, kung ayaw mo girl, akin na lang!
The same goes for many of the brands we use. While it’s easy to get into the hype of using more popular brands - from food, clothing, and even our e-wallet, there are underrated brands that have pleasantly surprised us with a better service.
Here are second leads that certainly put a positive spin on what it means to be #2, but that still doesn’t stop us rooting for them - believing they should really be #1 in everyone’s heart.
Yang Do-hyeop (Chae Jong-hyeop), Nevertheless (2021)
Nevertheless asks: What happens when FWBs realize they have feelings for each other? But as the tumult and toxicity between Jae-on and Na-bi came to a head, we found ourselves asking another: What if Na-bi just grew up, realized what a catch her kababata-turned-hot YouTuber Do-hyeop actually was, and lived in happiness eating homemade noodles by the ocean forever?
Han Ji-pyeong (Kim Seon-ho), Start-Up (2020)
Team Good Boy forever, right? Ji-pyeong took care of Dal-mi like he promised her halmeoni, and we all swooned witnessing him earnestly (and charmingly) realize his true feelings for her. Brb, cringing over our own childhood penpals and wishing, sana ol.
Ji Seong-hyun (Lee Sang-yi), Hometown Cha Cha Cha (2021)
We have to give Seong-hyun credit for shooting his shot when he had his chance, but we give him even more props for not falling into the toxic trap of being nega over his TOTGA. He was legit supportive of both Mr. Hong and Hye-jin, and only let his adorable smile slip for like, one episode.
In Guk-doo (Ji Soo), Strong Girl Bong-soon (2017)
Tough but caring cop Guk-doo had Bong-soon’s heart at first, but he simply missed his mark. Fine, he may have been no match against the adorable puppy couple, but his rough-and-gruff vibe (and yes, jawline) gave us major SLS.
PayMaya
The ultimate second lead. While PayMaya is the country’s #2 e-wallet, we couldn’t help but feel that a lot of us have been missing out on their surprisingly better features.
First, there’s their free cash in at over 90,000 touchpoints nationwide including bank transfers, supermarkets, convenience stores, and even your community’s sari-sari stores. They also offer the widest range of over 1,500 billers and load items in the app, and access to legit casual sellers with their PayMaya Verified sellers. For security, they feature real-time transaction history updates on the app. And like many of our favorite k-drama second leads, they are ever-reliable with 99.9% uptime rate - so you can count on them in your time of need.
We’re still a little salty about these guys coming in second. After all, they arguably had more to offer without any extra stress or heartache, just like our go-to e-wallet, PayMaya. With surprisingly better features than your current e-wallet, there’s nothing stopping you from leveling up your cashless experience with the e-wallet that’s too good to be #2. And while it’s too late for our bida to give these guys a chance, will you be making the same mistake with PayMaya?
Give PayMaya Man and the PayMaya app a chance to make your cash transactions a little bit better. Download PayMaya app through the App Store and Google Play Store.