Your Loss, World.

This.

I recently watched Coffee Prince with a Kdrama virgin. While she enjoyed the show enough to pack all seventeen hours into one week of viewing, it was clear from the beginning that she would never become a helpless Korean drama addict like me.

Which of course got me to thinking about all the many things that she—and the rest of the non-drama-watching world—will never understand.

—That feeling in your chest when the couple you’ve spent fifteen episodes rooting for finally, finally kiss.

—That feeling in your chest when you accept that the couple you’ve spent fifteen episodes rooting for will never, ever kiss.

—Kdrama blogs.

—The torture of waiting for the next episode, and how it gets exponentially worse when the raw video is online but the subs are still hours away.

This.

—Watching your favorite drama. Again.

—Knowing the primetime TV schedule off the top of your head . . . for a country that’s 6,000 miles away.

—The sorrow of your favorite actor enlisting.

—The giddy anticipation when he announces his comeback project, two years later.

—Flower boys.

—Talking to another drama fan and realizing you speak the same language—and it’s not English. (Or even Korean.)

—The excitement of having a whole new batch of dramas to look forward to every three months, all year round.

This.

—Calling in sick because you just can’t wait for the next episode.

—The pain of hitting the “play” button on the last episode of a drama you really loved.

—A sophisticated appreciation of the finer things in life, like instant noodles and Asian alcohols.

—Being able to navigate through Incheon Airport by memory, even though you’ve never been there before.

—The true meaning of the word Fighting.

This.

—The fear that a show you desperately want to watch will never be subbed in a language you speak.

—Finding it a pleasant novelty to hear people on television speaking your own language.

—The knowledge that episode 16 beats an extra hour of sleep every time.

—The bizarre appeal of Boys over Flowers.

—The courtly love of a gentle and kind second male lead (who’s still never going to get the girl).

This.

—Having a Kdrama story for everything. (It’s raining while the sun is shining? Fox rain! Think that younger man is cute? Noona romance!)

—Never wanting to eat anywhere that isn’t a Korean restaurant.

—The lemming-like attraction poor girls have for chaebol sons.

—The satisfaction of knowing that, unlike in real life, Kdrama villains almost always get exactly what they deserve by the end. (And so do Kdrama lovers.)

—That through-the-rabbit-hole feeling of discovering a whole new world that’s only as far away as the nearest Internet access point. (Who needs Wonderland when there’s Asia?)

Any others?