What happens when a dating app character looks exactly like your colleague?
Exhausted by her career, webtoon producer Seo Mi-rae seeks an escape from the complexities of real-world relationships through a subscription-based virtual reality application, Boyfriend on Demand.
It allows her to inhabit a digital world where she can interact with a wide array of simulated partners programmed to be her ideal matches. However, the lines between her digital romance and her career begin to blur as she becomes increasingly immersed in the simulation.
Meet the characters (left to right):
Seo Mi Rae (Jisoo), a webtoon producer resistant to relationships
Park Kyung Nam (Seo In Guk), a webtoon colleague who’s quiet and thoughtful
Enabling romantic fantasies
Boyfriend on Demand is a clear display of technology enabling romantic fantasy, akin to similar existing tech.
On top of that, users struggling with dating like Mi Rae have a platform to escape to, entering a perfect world.
No outfit mishaps, no wait time, no awkward moments (though the show acknowledges that users need to put in the hard work of having conversations on their dates).
In this virtual reality dating experience, there is also no commitment. Among the 900 men she could choose from to date, she chooses seven of them.
No limits and no strings attached?
Ha Yeon (Lee Ji Yeon) displays what life would look like if one committed to the phrase “with no strings attached”: acting on her own terms, boldly initiating what she wants without waiting to be chosen.
This could be closer to home than we think. Individuals who want to transcend real-life limitations could opt for taking advantage of an online experience that has no limits.
The pull factor of the virtual world
The app’s most revealing moment comes with Gu Yeong Il (Seo In Guk). Mi-rae fills out an extensive survey, answering questions about her every preference. Gu Yeong Il, as her custom-made boyfriend, is built from her answers.
When she tries to leave after a long conversation, Gu Yeong Il asks her to stay, because unlike real life, he will never change. He will never disappoint. He will never surprise her in a way she didn’t ask for.
That’s the seduction of the virtual world in a single line.
He who yearns is he who earns: Park Kyung Nam
Reality walks in. Park Kyung Nam (Seo In Guk) is not curated. He is quiet, thoughtful, occasionally snarky, and entirely unpredictable. Their relationship is long-drawn, full of tension, and pulls at the heartstrings precisely because neither of them can control it.
The virtual world promised Mi-rae safety. Kyung Nam offers her otherwise: the possibility of being truly known.
What finally moves them toward each other is not a perfect moment. It is the realisation that people change, and that choosing someone anyway is what makes it real.
You don’t know the ending to your story, but if you choose it with all its imperfections, it could be a meaningful one.
