A cruel fate destined by the cosmos brings doom knocking on one woman’s door.
Synopsis
Doom At Your Service or One Day Destruction Entered The Front Door Of My House is a drama about a dark fated destiny between Tak Dong Kyung (Park Bo Young), a woman with only three months to live and Myeol Mang (Seo In Guk) a divine being that is destruction and doom itself.
Exhausted and overwhelmed by the misfortunes of her life, Dong Kyung makes a desperate plea one night for the world and all her miseries to come to an end. Intrigued by her heartfelt desire, Myeol Myung agrees to grant her a wish in the hopes that she’ll bring catastrophe, eradicating the world and the heavenly deities that preside over it – her wish becoming a catalyst that defies the laws of nature.
Being chosen by doom himself, Dong Kyung bears the weight of the world on her shoulders with calamity to befall her from her pact with Myeol Myung and as a consequence, must wear a red stringed bracelet in which Myeol Myung signifies his protection over her to prevent her from feeling pain; a feat only destruction himself could accomplish since she’s felt pain her entire life.
This in turn, intrigues the deity responsible for Myeol Myung and pits them against one another but Myeol Myung is in for a shock as Dong Kyung’s wish is to love him, love him enough so that he can’t live without her humanly existence.
Tak Dong Kyung
Orphaned at a young age and the eldest of two siblings, Dong Kyung has learned to bottle her emotions to the point that even the news of her shortened lifespan doesn’t stop her from clocking into work and continuing life as usual as an editor. She’s set her own dreams and desires aside all her life, cracking only from the incessant intervention of a celestial being that wants her to end the world.
As a character, she’s so effectively compelling and so much emotion is displayed even when she doesn’t utter a word. Obviously, we have Park Bo Young to thank for that but Dong Kyung never reacts within a normal capacity. She’s willing to look Myeol Myung in the eye and face him head on, no matter the nightmares he shows her. This is largely due to her belief that misfortunes are always coupled with fortunes and not even doom can escape the balance of the universe.
She’s probably just also really compelling because she’s stuck doing a job she doesn’t really care for and no longer dreams of pursuing anything, and that’s a reality not always present in fantasy romance dramas. Dong Kyung is also a far cry from an optimistic or bubbly personality, her ordinary persona all the more great to see when she has her moments of bravado.
Despite her wish for the world to disappear and her troubles along with it, her desire and will to live is out in the open when she decides to love Myeol Myung – if death loves her back, then surely he can’t kill her?
Myeol Myung
Created by a deity, Myeol Myung is doom and destruction incarnate and is essentially, chaos itself that brings pain and death in his wake. The mythos is still being revealed in regard to his being but we do know quite a bit already.
Firstly, Myeol Myung cannot stop from inflicting death or bringing destruction in the world since without doom, there wouldn’t be a need for either faith or hope, nor a dependency on a deity. Him ceasing to play his role results in more harm towards himself and subsequently the world.
Secondly, he doesn’t sleep or eat but has the capacity to imitate humans and blend in with them and can disappear when he wishes. Similarly, he can teleport Dong Kyung to places or visit her in her dreams, invading her subconscious.
Thirdly, he can take on any form of identity and read the minds of humans but once a pact has been made with them, the mind-reading comes to an end in order for the other being to sincerely announce their wish without him knowing beforehand.
Overall, Myeol Myung is quite literally the force to be reckoned with but that comes along with the expense that humans either, “resent him, want him, or fear him,” and there is no in between. That is, until Dong Kyung comes along.
Na Ji Na, Cha Joo Ik, and Lee Hyun Kyu
How refreshing is it to know that there is no love triangle for our main couple? The Beauty Inside writer really played with our expectations and gave the second leads their own subplot with a love triangle that doesn’t infringe on the central story. It’s more like a romantic comedy embedded into a tragic fantasy romance to give us the best of both worlds in which the characters all know each other.
The supporting characters stem from Dong Kyung’s workplace, her closest friend, Na Ji Na (Shin Do Hyun) being an author signed onto the company she works for while her team leader Cha Joo Ik (Lee Soo Hyuk) has a history with Ji Na who can’t seem to move past her first love, Lee Hyun Kyu (Kim Tae Oh)…so yeah, we’re in for an entirely different ride with their sub-story; a little break from all the dark and doom to some fluff to even things out.
At this point, it’s hard to make it whether these characters will remain outside of their initial relationships with Dong Kyung and whether their love triangle will ever come to intersect or impact the main leads. One thing’s for sure though, Myeol Myung doesn’t care and only has time enough for Dong Kyung so the chances of them ever getting in the way or weighing in are slim.
Overall Impressions
I’ll be brutally honest with you guys, I’ve been avoiding K-dramas that are categorised under romance for a while now since there were so many misses rather than hits. I’ve even been so dissatisfied as to go back to older series and rewatch them which is something I normally never do since there is always a new series coming out!
What I’m really driving at is subpar quality of either writing, characterisation, or even acting but Doom At Your Service has saved my romance loving soul from the depths of despair. It is so so good. I cannot praise this series enough for how impressive it is in its uniqueness and phenomenal chemistry that makes an hour breezily go by. I am invested. I ship it. And I am here for it!
The subject matter may be extremely depressing but the actors do all the heavy lifting in portraying a complex and dark story of fantasy. There have only been four episodes and already, there are so many memorable moments that leave you wanting more. At times the romance may seem like a slow burn but then at other times, it progresses faster than we expect, coinciding with Dong Kyung’s ticking time clock as she doesn’t have much time to live.
Doom At Your Service is about the darkness meeting his light and finding a reason to not give up on humanity. With extraordinary chemistry and a celestial being we’ve never seen before, reapers and goblins can move aside since destruction is going to make a name for himself in the K-Drama world.
Release Date: May 10, 2021 (Eng Sub available on Viki)
anon
I decidedly disagree. I think this show is absurd and has no logic whatsoever. The contract make no sense and it’s just a mechanism to get them to “decide” to love each other. Apparently that’s a great idea because if you decide to love you’ll definitely fall in love. And yes, even though you don’t want to doom your current loved one it makes perfect sense to doom your future loved one. Also, because that suits both of them so well, the drama can now conveniently utilise every romantic trope under the sun. From my perspective, this show is both cringey and preposterous. Out of the current batch of full length dramas, only Dark Hole is worse. Of course, you have some gems in the current lineup that’s why, (Law School and SYHH) but this is, for the lack of a more civil word, garbage.
j
I think part of love is actually deciding you’re both committed to each other in the relationship. I don’t think they both realize the consequences of loving each other just yet because they’re both pretty stubborn that they won’t ever fall for each other. Aside from the whole I’m going to fall for you because I need to to, I think the trope works because I think they’ve already kind of fallen for each other before they even realized it.
Anonymous
I really love this drama, it feels like a breath of fresh air after a long drought. There has been a decided dearth of good kdrama romance genre for the past year or two which formerly had been the hallmark of Korean dramas with all the recent focus being on murder thrillers, makjang and mental health. And Seo In Guk with Park Bo Young have palpable chemistry. What’s not to love? They both play world weary and jaded characters who are hanging on to their sanity by just a thread. The last kdrama I enjoyed this much was Hotel del Luna. I’m interested to see how things pan out, hopefully the drama doesn’t lose its momentum but continues to get better as it goes on.
Anonymous
Frankly speaking, I’m not a fan of this drama as well. It’s like the writer is trying to be smart but everything is off. It’s somewhat pretentious.
Violette
I agree! I’ve been avoid romantic Kdramas too. I am surprised that I am enjoying everything about the drama but it was really the rooftop scene in ep. 3 that sealed the deal for me. It’s much more romantic than I thought it was going to be given how the story literally starts with announcing our lead is going to die within 100 days. I don’t mind the agreement and some inclusion of drama troupes – it is a Kdrama after all; also realistically what romantic Kdrama isn’t build on some troupe? I think what set off the connection between the two main character is that both are internally at the same place: lonely, isolated, and not feeing loved. This is what drew M to DK and I’m looking forward to how the story develops.
Sandy Carver Koch
All I can say is I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF THIS MOVIE