Start-up

Friendship, Comedy, Romance

Seo Dal-Mi and Won In-Jae are sister. Since they were young, their parent has divorce. The reason why both parent splits way is due to money. Seo Dal-Mi’s father decided to quit his job and wanted to start-up his own business. However, his idea has been disagreed by his wife. Seo Dal-Mi and Won In-Jae used to have a close relationship. However, Won In-Jae became more distant from her sister ever since her mother re-married with a rich stepfather. Seo Dal-Mi’s father also passed away since she was young. He met an accident.

Choi Won-Deok (Seo Dal-Mi’s grandmother) saw Han Ji-Pyeong in the raining day. He was looking for a cheap rent house. Choi Won-Deok offered him to stay at her shop. She even told him where the key is and also prepared some food. The next day, Choi Won-Deok remembered that she left some hard earn money in the shop. She worried that Han Ji-Pyeong might ran away with that money. Fortunately, he did not. 

Choi Won-Deok asked him to write letter to her granddaughter as to accompany her during her tough time. Han Ji-Pyeong suggested to use another name to write the letter for her. He read the news about a student who won first prize in mathematic in the newspapers. He suggested to write the letter under his name, Nam Do-San. Choi Won-Deok agreed with it.

Han Ji-Pyeong was an orphan. He was a high school student. The orphanage kicked him out and gave him some money to survive for his own. He is a smart student, who won the virtual trading competition. He wanted to earn his money by using his skill, but he can’t open a trading account since he was still a minor. 

Choi Won-Deok brought him to open an account in the bank. At the same time, Han Ji-Pyeong also opened a trading account under her name. He made a lot of money from there. Choi Won-Deok was shocked when she found out that her account has 10 times more money. She gave her money to Seo Dal-Mi’s father who used that money to run his business. Han Ji-Pyeong checked the bank account and found out that the money has gone. He was frustrated and yelled at Choi Won-Deok. Choi Won-Deok returned his money back to him. Han Ji-Pyeong wanted to use that money to further his study in university. He also planned to buy a house too. Before he left, Choi Won-Deok gifted him a pair of new shoes. She did not ask anything for return. In fact, she asked him to come to her when he was in need of help. Han Ji-Pyeong was really touched and hugged her before he left.

15 years later, Han Ji-Pyeong has owned a Venture Capital company. He was surprised to hear the name Seo Dal-Mi during a lecture at Sandbox. Sandbox is a place which gathered all the entrepreneurs and also provided them with guidance and support throughout the course. Han Ji-Pyeong followed Seo Dal-Mi after the event. He finally met Choi Won-Deok, who still running a hotdog business.

Seo Dal-Mi met her sister, Won In-Jae. Won In-Jae believed that Seo Dal-Mi was not live as easy as she was. She also looked down at Seo Dal-Mi for having no money to buy a new high heel. Seo Dal-Mi felt that she has been challenged by her sister. She lied to her that she was living in great life and also had a boyfriend, Nam Do-San. Won In-Jae invited her to come to a networking party. She asked her to bring along her boyfriend too. After the incident, Seo Dal-Mi felt guilty for what she did. She could not even know who Nam Do-San was. She tried to search in social media, but none of them came out. She was nearly disappointed with it.

The next day, Han Ji-Pyeong came to see Choi Won-Deok. He was glad that he met her. He gave her his name card. He would also like to repay her kindness but Choi Won-Deok rejected his offer. After hearing from Seo Dal-Mi to look for the real Nam Do-San, Choi Won-Deok came to Han Ji-Pyeong’s office to meet him. She asked him to look for the real Nam Do-San. Fortunately, Nam Do-San was also running for start-up company. He has been sending his business plan to Han Ji-Pyeong’s company. Han Ji-Pyeong then went to his office to meet him.

Nam Do-San is the founder of Samsan Tech. He has 2 co-founders, Kim Yong-San and Lee Chul-San. However, the company is not doing well. They invented AI program with high accuracy. Nam Do-San’s father has been scolding him for wasting money on his business and wanted to stop investing in his company. Nam Do-San was short of money, so he decided to sell his valuable item in order to support his business. He posted a baseball with signature to sell it off via online. Seo Dal-Mi saw the post and quickly get in touch with him.

Han Ji-Pyeong felt that this guy was not suitable for Seo Dal-Mi. He was not as successful as he seemed. He told Choi Won-Deok how bad about this guy was. When Choi Won-Deok told him that Seo Dal-Mi was going to meet up with Nam Do-San, he quickly stopped him. He dragged Nam Do-San into his car and told him the whole story. He even asked him to read those letters that she wrote for him. Han Ji-Pyeong asked him to help Seo Dal-Mi to attend an event for her. He offered him 2 million dollars to complete the task. Nam Do-San knew that he was an angle investor, so he asked him to allow him to join Sandbox rather than taking him money. However, entering Sandbox was out of his ability. Nam Do-San also asked as if he had read his business plan. Han Ji-Pyeong told him that his business plan was a failure and has no hope of success.

Choi Won-Deok wanted to tell her granddaughter the truth about the letter. However, Han Ji-Pyeong persuaded her not to tell her and let her be happy with current situation.

Nam Do-San thought about it and decided to attend the event for Seo Dal-Mi’s sake. Han Ji-Pyeong was surprised to see him at the event. However, he has to pretend to know Nam Do-San well. He also borrowed his car for him drove Seo Dal-Mi home. Seo Dal-Mi was happy to see her first love in person. Over the years, she has turned down other guys due to Nam Do-San. Nam Do-San also never dated any woman in his life. She was his first love as well. 

Seo Dal-Mi decided to follow her father footstep to start a new business. She quitted her job and went to the so-called Nam Do-San’s office. After Han Ji-Pyeong being informed about it, he quickly brought Nam Do-San’s computers and also his friends to come to his apartment. He made it seemed like the apartment was Nam Do-San’s office. Seo Dal-Mi was surprised to see Han Ji-Pyeong showed up everywhere. She told Nam Do-San that she wanted to start a business just like him. She also gifted a fortune plant to him to wish his business good luck.

Seo Dal-Mi wanted to fulfill Nam Do-San’s wish for his birthday (Han Ji-Pyeong’s birthday). However, Han Ji-Pyeong cannot remember the what wish did he made. Seo Dal-Mi borrowed a blanket from her grandmother. Her grandmother was worried about her for her first date. After seeing the letter, she was less worry. Han Ji-Pyeong taught Nam Do-San how to be gentleman and all stuffs that could win over Seo Dal-Mi’s heart. Seo Dal-Mi was going to play a game with him and his friends. Before she left home, her grandmother prepared a lot of food for them. When Han Ji-Pyeong saw it, it touches his heart.

Nam Do-San asked Han Ji-Pyeong for some tips on his business plan. Han Ji-Pyeong told him harshly that his business plan cannot be work. Although Nam Do-San won the CODA competition, many investors turned down his offer. There are even some of the developers tried to steal his idea. Han Ji-Pyeong stopped them and chased them away. Nam Do-San felt down but at the same time he also hoped that Han Ji-Pyeong can guide him. Nam Do-San decided to join Sandbox. 

Won In-Jae felt that her effort was wasted after being used by her stepfather. She was frustrated and decided to quit her job and start-up a new business. She also applied to join Sandbox as well. During the first screening, Won In-Jae, Nam Do-San and Seo Dal-Mi were successfully selected. They attended 3-days hackathon event to come out with a new business plan. Nam Do-San asked Han Ji-Pyeong for his advice before the 3-days hackathon event. Han Ji-Pyeong told him that he was not suitable to become a CEO, he has to choose the right CEO to run the company. Nam Do-San felt being insulted by Han Ji-Pyeong, however, it is true that he failed to secure an investment from the investor.

Won In-Jae has a great team. Suddenly, two teammates failed to come due to personal reason. They had no choice but find other developers from the event. She was surprised to see Nam Do-San attended 3-days hackathon event.  Seo Dal-Mi was surprised too. Nam Do-San has no choice but to admit that he lied to her about his business being great. Since Won In-Jae and Seo Dal-Mi were being selected as a CEO, they need to find their teammates. Won In-Jae and Seo Dal-Mi offers Nam Do-San and his friends to join their team. After much consideration, Nam Do-San decided to choose Seo Dal-Mi. Seo Dal-Mi also found another teammate who was expert in design.

Soon after, Nam Do-San’s friend found out that Seo Dal-Mi did not attend college at all. They felt embarrassed and disappointed that they joined a lousy team. They even looked down at her. Nam Do-San tried to persuade his friends not to be judgmental. Seo Dal-Mi did not go to college because she did not want to burden her grandmother, who sold off her shop to pay for her tuition fees. After three days of discussion, they came out with a great business plan. Han Ji-Pyeong also helped Seo Dal-Mi with her speech. During the presentation, Seo Dal-Mi performed really well. Her presentation was impressive. Seo Dal-Mi’s business plan was about using mechanic learning to detect forge handwriting. Won In-Jae also did the similar study as well. She was using AI to create different pattern of handwriting. Since both of them was contradict to one another, Won Doo-Jung (Won In-Jae’s stepfather) suggested Seo Dal-Mi to use her programming to test run Won In-Jae’s business plan. It came out that Seo Dal-Mi’s programming was not as successful as she claimed. This made her teammates disappointed with it.

After the panel judges’ discussion, Samsan Tech and Injae Company have been selected to join Sandbox program. They will be given a large sum of money to run their business. Sandbox also provided them as much resources as possible to support their business. Seo Dal-Mi wanted to asked Han Ji-Pyeong a few questions, but it was being distracted by Nam Do-San. Nam Do-San told her that he and Han Ji-Pyeong were like brother and their relationship was really close. 

Seo Dal-Mi chosen Han Ji-Pyeong to be their mentor. When Han Ji-Pyeong went through their shareholder list, he commented that CEO should hold the majority of the shares, rather than split the shares equally. Because of this, Nam Do-San’s friends fought with one another. They did not want to give up their share to Seo Dal-Mi. Nam Do-San tried to calm them. Han Ji-Pyeong said to Seo Dal-Mi that she was the main problem. She needed to find a way to handle these issues. Seo Dal-Mi did some research and also kept messaging Han Ji-Pyeong on how to be a good CEO. Han Ji-Pyeong told her that there is no guideline to become a good CEO. After much consideration, Seo Dal-Mi decided to let Nam Do-San to hold the majority of the shares. Nam Do-San intended to tell Seo Dal-Mi the truth, even though Han Ji-Pyeong strongly against it.

Seo Dal-Mi invited Nam Do-San to come to her house to greet her grandmother. Her grandmother was shocked to meet Nam Do-San. She saw him at the hospital when he sent his friend to the hospital to wash off his eyes. Her grandmother gave him some clue to pretend to know her for a long time. She told him not to tell Seo Dal-Mi about her visual impairment. She did not want Seo Dal-Mi to worry about her. 

Han Ji-Pyeong worried that Nam Do-San will tell Seo Dal-Mi the truth, so he came to her house. Han Ji-Pyeong and her grandmother pretended not to know each other. Nam Do-San signaled him that he did not tell her the truth. Han Ji-Pyeong and Nam Do-San helped them to repair their light bub and also some household core. Han Ji-Pyeong and Nam Do-San stayed for the dinner. Han Ji-Pyeong was jealous when Nam Do-San showed his caring towards Seo Dal-Mi. At night, Seo Dal-Mi’s grandmother asked her whether did she like the old Nam Do-San or the current ones. Seo Dal-Mi preferred both Nam Do-San.

Seo Dal-Mi and her teammates brainstormed about their business plan. Everyone liked the idea of Nam Do-San who suggested to use AI to help those visually impairment patient to improve their lives. He was inspired by Seo Dal-Mi’s grandmother. Although the idea is good, the development of the AI costs a lot of money. Seo Dal-Mi sent their proposal to Han Ji-Pyeong as they were to find investors to invest in their business.

Han Ji-Pyeong did not admit that he has feeling with Seo Dal-Mi. He threw away the fortune plant. However, the guard returned the plant back to him. He also ignored Seo Dal-Mi’s messages and also calls. Seo Dal-Mi wondered why he reacted this way. Sooner, Han Ji-Pyeong took it back and treated the plant with care. 

Seo Dal-Mi asked Han Ji-Pyeong when was his birthday as she wanted to treat him. She was surprised that Han Ji-Pyeong has the same birthday as Nam Do-San. 

Won In-Jae has secured an investment from a bank during the competition. Her mentor, Yoon Sun-Hak was proud of her. However, she wanted her not only care about profit but to do something greater than money. Won In-Jae overheard her conversation with Han Ji-Pyeong. Therefore, she tipped off to Seo Dal-Mi to look for her stepfather to ask for investment. Because Seo Dal-Mi did not have enough money to develop her AI, so she discussed with her teammates about this matter. She tried her best to persuade Won Doo-Jung with their business plan to improve on Won Doo-Jung’s business.

Han Ji-Pyeong checked his email and read their proposal. He realized that Seo Dal-Mi was going to meet Won Doo-Jung.  Han Ji-Pyeong checked it out about Morning Group investment on AI project. Han Ji-Pyeong knew that Won Doo-Jung was going to exploit Samsan Tech. He was not sure whether Seo Dal-Mi will accept his offer, but he texted her to record the meeting just in case.

Seo Dal-Mi followed her mentor instruction to record the meeting. Seo Dal-Mi and Nam Do-San were angry towards Won Doo-Jung and Won Sang-Su (stepbrother) when they hired them as a part timer rather than a developer. Nam Do-San felt being insulted by Won Doo-Jung. He smashed his name plate and left the office. Won Doo-Jung filed a lawsuit against him for threatening. 

Although the discussion was not successful, Seo Dal-Mi decided to go with their original plan to develop an AI to help visual impairment patient. Seo Dal-Mi proposed her plan to Han Ji-Pyeong. Han Ji-Pyeong liked the idea, but he also worried about the cost for their business. Therefore, he disagreed with the plan. Seo Dal-Mi managed to persuade him and wanted to go through the rough path. Han Ji-Pyeong tried his best to support her by giving her the name list of potential investors that might interested to invest in their business. Seo Dal-Mi met many of the investors, but she could not be able to persuade them to invest in their business. 

Seo Dal-Mi talked to one of the investors, Lee Hye-Won. She went to the outskirt with her while talking about her business plan. After they were done talking, Seo Dal-Mi had not idea where she should go to. Lee Hye-Won contacted Han Ji-Pyeong to bring Seo Dal-Mi home. Seo Dal-Mi fell asleep in his car. Han Ji-Pyeong did not wake her up. Instead, he looked through their business plan and made some comment on it. Seo Dal-Mi woke up but she left her scrunchies in his car. Han Ji-Pyeong saw Nam Do-San was just nearby. He gave the scrunchies to him to return to her. Han Ji-Pyeong wanted to make Nam Do-San jealous. However, Nam Do-San did not show his jealousy in front of him. Han Ji-Pyeong was a bit surprise about it.

Seo Dal-Mi did not want to disappoint her teammate regarding the investment. She asked Han Ji-Pyeong not to tell them. Nam Do-San’s AI was successful and it has been tested run by visual impairment patients and they really like it, including Seo Dal-Mi’s grandmother. 

Her team uploaded the apps to monitor how many people has been downloading them. The respond was not good. After Nam Do-San’s cousin reached out to Park Chun-Ho, Park Chun-Ho helped Nam Do-San to promote his start-up business. He attended the interview and spoke about Nam Do-San’s apps. It has gained a lot of attention from overseas. Many people have been downloading their apps and left a good review for them. Han Ji-Pyeong has surprised with the news.

Nam Do-San told Seo Dal-Mi about her grandmother’s condition. Seo Dal-Mi was pretty upset and worried about her grandmother. She decided to put all her effort to find investors. Seo Dal-Mi decided to persuade her stepfather again to invest in their business. When she arrived there with her sister, she saw Nam Do-San was begging with him. After learning the issues, Seo Dal-Mi used the recorded meeting conversation to threaten him to invest in their business and also lift the charges against Nam Do-San. In order to take care of his image and reputation, he agreed with her deal.

Seo Dal-Mi bought a meal for Han Ji-Pyeong to thank him for his support and also as his belated present. Han Ji-Pyeong really enjoyed it. When she read his notes on the business plan, she realized that the handwriting seemed familiar. She checked it with the letters wrote by Nam Do-San, and it seemed like the same person.

Han Ji-Pyeong and Seo Dal-Mi’s grandmother had an argument. Han Ji-Pyeong wanted to tell Seo Dal-Mi the truth behind the letter, but her grandmother against it. Han Ji-Pyeong sent a message to Seo Dal-Mi’s grandmother saying that he will take the letter from the bird house. Seo Dal-Mi accidentally took her grandmother’s handphone and she saw the message. In order to confirm, she came all the way to her grandmother’s old shop. Han Ji-Pyeong was shocked to see her in front of him reading the letter. Seo Dal-Mi was surprised too. She also gave a call to Nam Do-San and asked him where did they used to send letter to each other. Nam Do-San could not be able to answer that.

After that day, Han Ji-Pyeong told Seo Dal-Mi the truth that he pretended to be Nam Do-San to write letters to her. He also confessed his feeling towards her. However, she did not give him any response. Seo Dal-Mi also accepted his apologized. Nam Do-San felt that he had let Seo Dal-Mi disappointed. He was ashamed to face. Seo Dal-Mi also tried to avoid him as much as possible. She was so confused that she did not know who she loved the most.

Right before the Demo Day, Seo Dal-Mi and Nam Do-San had a talk. Nam Do-San encouraged her and believed that they can made it. Han Ji-Pyeong wanted to talk to Seo Dal-Mi, but he has been stopped by Kim Yong-San and Lee Chul-San. Both of them disliked him. Han Ji-Pyeong wanted to offer them a plan B if they failed during the Demo-day. Kim Yong-San felt really pissed off. He confronted Han Ji-Pyeong and asked him regrading his brother’s death. Han Ji-Pyeong had no idea what did he mean. After investigating, he found out that Kim Yong-San’s brother used to join Sandbox too. However, due to Han Ji-Pyeong’s harsh word during the Demo-day, he committed suicide. After he found out about it, Han Ji-Pyeong did not join as a judge during the Demo-day.

During the Demo, Seo Dal-Mi and her sister’s team compete with one another. It has been proven that Seo Dal-Mi’s team invented better technology compared to her sister’s. Seo Dal-Mi’s team won the first prize. Alex Kwon offered them 3 million won for investing. Seo Dal-Mi was looking for Ji-Pyeong to share their victory, however, she could not find him. She managed to contact him and learnt that he was sick at home. She left some porridge and placed in front of his corridor.

After discussing with her team, they decided to accept 3 million won investment. Seo Dal-Mi and her team also planned to do another business for car that does not need a driver to drive. They discussed about the money that they received and how to come out with a proper plan.

Han Ji-Pyeong came back to work and realized that Seo Dal-Mi and her team was going to sign a contract with Alex Kwon. After reading the contract, he realized that something missing in the contract. Alex Kwon was trying to disband their team and only brought their engineers to work for them. Han Ji-Pyeong tried to stop them, but Kim Yong-San and Lee Chul-San did not believe him. After signing the contract, Seo Dal-Mi and her team found out the truth. Kim Yong-San and Lee Chul-San were guilty that they did not listen to what Han Ji-Pyeong said. 

Seo Dal-Mi asked Han Ji-Pyeong’s opinion on this issue. Han Ji-Pyeong suggested that since they had already signed the contract, they might just accept it. Nam Do-San felt that it was a fraud that Alex tried to deceive them. He was looking to sue them for deceiving. However, Seo Dal-Mi talked to him with those harsh words so that he can go to work with Alex without them. Nam Do-San felt being dumped by Seo Dal-Mi and decided to go to Silicon Valley with Kim Yong-San and Lee Chul-San. At the same time, Seo Dal-Mi was looking for a job. Fortunately, her sister also looking to hire more manpower. And she accepted her to work for the company.

Three years later, Seo Dal-Mi has setup another subsidiary under her sister’s company. She was working hard to promote the car for the needy. Nam Do-San, Kim Yong-San and Lee Chul-San were very success during the three years working at Silicon Valley. 

Seo Dal-Mi’s company faced ransomware issues. She asked around as if anyone from IT can solved their issue. Seo Dal-Mi was surprised when Nam Do-San contacted her. Nam Do-San, Kim Yong-San and Lee Chul-San helped her to resolve the issue.

Three of them decided to come back to work in Seoul. They got interviews by Nam Do-San’s cousin. There were many investors came to see them to express their interest to invest in their business. Seo Dal-Mi also came to see Nam Do-San a few to persuade him to join them as their developer. However, Nam Do-San turned down the offer because he did not want to have any connection with her. Seo Dal-Mi was really persistent to persuade him. In the end, he agreed to join them. 

Kim Yong-San asked Yoon Sun-Hak’s opinion whether these investors are worth to let them invest in their business. He also asked Han Ji-Pyeong’s advise as to do a start-up company or hired as a developer. Han Ji-Pyeong expressed that they should join Seo Dal-Mi’s company as a developer.

Han Ji-Pyeong felt threatened by Nam Do-San when he appeared at Sandbox. Han Ji-Pyeong purposely made Nam Do-San jealous of him for winning Seo Dal-Mi’s heart. He also wanted his letters back. Nam Do-San unwilling to give him because that was what he treasured. After having a drink with one another at Nam Do-San’s house, Han Ji-Pyeong decided to give up and tell Nam Do-San that Seo Dal-Mi actually has feeling for him. Nam Do-San returned his letters and also fortune plant for him.

Han Ji-Pyeong was surprised to see Choi Won-Deo came to his house. Choi Won-Deo understood his situation and provided comfort for him. She knew that he was heart broken and was all alone in a nice house. She invited him to come over to visit her as often as he liked. 

Seo Dal-Mi’s mother has filed a divorce case with Won Doo-Jung. Won In-Jae also would like to dissolve her adoption with Won Doo-Jung. She felt sorry for her grandmother since she was late to visit her grandmother. 

There two developers from In-Jae company left after the ransomware happened. They moved to Morning group and worked with them on the same project. After realizing this, Won In-Jae was extremely angry. Although both companies ran the business, Nam Do-San managed to outdo his programming and able to create a better version of car. Won Sang-Su and the two developers faced law suit due to their wrongdoings. Nam Do-San found out that these two developers were the one who sent ransomware to Company.

Won In-Jae proposed to Yoon Sun-Hak that they were looking for investor to invest in their company as they would like to expand their business. Yoon Sun-Hak found the business plan was really, and agreed to invest on it. She let Han Ji-Pyeong to handle this case. Han Ji-Pyeong was surprised with it, as he did mention to Nam Do-San that he will not invest in his company. He was embarrassed and asked him whether would he accept his investment. And he said yes. 

Three years later, Seo Dal-Mi was able to expand her business into global company. She got married with Nam Do-San and continued to work together with her teammates. 

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