On July 31 of 2024 Youtuber mindcpr posted his video K-drama where Korean guy and a Brazilian girl meet for the first time in London. Maybe that day, or somewhere in August the Youtube algorithm found that I had to watch it. I usually didn't watch video's like that but I did watch it. Maybe I was bored, I don't know. Anyhow, watching one video on Youtube makes you see follow up videos too and until today I enjoyed the journey.

As the video title suggests, this is video is about a South Korean boy (Hakku) and a Brazilian girl (Tata) meeting in London. This happened after Hakku, who makes travel vlogs on his channel, posted a video from somewhere in Brazil on some social network and Tata viewing it and responding something like "Do you, as a Korean, speak Portuguese?". This ended up in a conversation between the two and in this video we see that Hakku decided, as it seems under the guise of a collaboration with a language app called ELSA, to fly to London and meet Tata there. Tata is a cosmetic medicine specialist working in London and her goal is to open a clinic in her home country when she has saved up enough money.

From the first video it is clear that these two young fancy each other. The two flirt with each other in such a way that sparks fly from your screen. While Hakku seems to enjoy his time with Tata there, and has a good reason to stay with Tata in London because she is treating his baldness, he must continue to travel every now and then since that is his job and that is how he makes his money. So, together they travel to a couple of countries and locations in the UK.

Then on October 29 Hakku posts his video My Brazilian friend reaction after I asked her to be my girlfriend. Hakku confesses his love for his Brazilian friend Tata, asking her to be his girlfriend and travel together. Tata expresses her concerns about living just by traveling and the challenges of staying in England, but she appreciates Hakku’s romantic gesture and their shared dreams. She wants to be Hakku's girlfriend and, after much deliberation, decides to give up her job and travel with him. Hakku has to make the promise to bring her to Brazil in 2025. While traveling we see the couple have discussions on their future and both are making efforts to learn to speak the language of their partner.

And so it happens. The now couple takes us to various locations. Iceland, Italy, Cape Verde are the locations we get to see through their eyes. And then the two travel to South-Korea where Tata gets to meet the parents of her boyfriend. From South-Korea they make trips within the country, go to Japan, China, Macao and more. Finally they travel to Brazil to meet Tata's family. After spending some time in Brazil en visiting landmarks there, it is back to Europe.

Then Hakku surprises Tata by going back to London. He has a plan, but doesn't tell Tata about it. On their first anniversary Hakku proposes to Tata, who is very surprised and she says YES! We can see Hakku's proposal in the video My Brazilian girlfriend’s reaction when I proposed to her. In the following two video's we see them visiting the English and Scottish country-side. The atmosphere in their video's remains warm, playful and deeply affectionate. Their dynamic can be characterized by love, humor and a shared commitment to building a life together.

And then the K-drama begins. While videos were posted regularly on Friday, there is no video after the episode in Scotland that was expected to drop on the 5th of December. A few days later, comments started to appear with rumors that the couple had separated. Tata posted on her Instagram that she was looking for an English speaking Korean lawyer. But no clear word from the couple about what was going on. People started to ask what is happening and making guesses what was happening. People were guessing "financial reasons", "Tata's expensive wedding wishes", "One of them would have cheated on the other".

Then a community post from Hakku which is a heartfelt announcement explaining that the two have mutually decided to part ways after a loving relationship, asking for understanding, respect, and support while they take time to heal and wish each other well. A few hours later Tata responds below Hakku's post in which she thanks supporters for their encouragement, clarifies that the breakup was not due to marriage or financial issues, asks people to stop harmful speculation, and requests compassion while the author focuses on healing and rediscovering herself during a very difficult time.

Although this break-up, some 2 weeks after the proposal, is obviously hard for both (Tata wrote that she had lost 5KG since) it is also strange. I want to refrain from over-analyzing and speculating but want to share my opinion. 

Hakku communicates in his post in a cognitively regulated, structured way. That is what we see him doing often in videos. There are often doubts about his future. Would he be able to support a family and would he still be able to travel? Travel-based careers are extremely difficult to integrate with family-oriented plans.

Tata communicates more in an emotionally expressive, personal way. In the videos she often thinks how her life will look like when they have children and where the couple is going to live.

Here is where the love story between a boy from South-Korea and a girl from Brazil stops. At least for now, until a new video from Hakku appears. Maybe he wants to explain more in that video. I found that Tata continues to post every few days on her Instagram.