Flower Boy Ramyun Shop

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Oh yeah, I'd buy ramyun from these boys. [1]


Flower Boy Ramyun Shop is a Korean Drama that ran from October to December 2011, airing on South Korea's TVN cable network. A girl, some cute boys and a ramyun shop. What could possibly go awry?

Yang Eun Bi, a former volleyball champ and high school delinquent, is now trying to get a teaching position by acting as a student intern at Cha Sung High School. She dreams of finding that perfect guy, using a 1-100 point scale. Enter Cha Chi Soo, whom she rates as a perfect 100. That was, of course, before she found out he is 19 years old, one of the students in her class, the grandson of the namesake of the school, and heir to a huge conglomerate.

Choi Kang Hyuk, a mysterious and tall fellow, shows up with ownership papers for her late father's ramyun shop, written in crayon and signed and chopped by her father. Together they reopen the shop, calling it "Flower Boy."

The chosen employees include:

  • Kim Ba Wool, also known as Crazy Chicken and a gang leader;
  • Woo Hyun Woo, a poor high school student who has loan sharks after him; and,
  • Of course, Cha! Chi! Soo!

As the series progresses, hearts begin to boil over like a pot of noodles! For Crazy Chicken, it's Soo Yi. For Eun Bi... well... the pot is still percolating on that one.

Tropes used in Flower Boy Ramyun Shop include:


  • Actor Allusion:
    • Chi Soo broods at the "Cha Coffee Shop," the same shop the actor's character frequented in 49 Days.
  • A-Cup Angst: Eun Bi gets upset when Chi Soo justifies touching her chest as "it's hardly any different from mine."
  • Adult Child: Kang Hyuk
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Chi Soo and Eun Bi.
  • Bishie Sparkle: Chi Soo is covered with them when he's introduced on the airplane.
  • Break Her Heart To Save Her: Chi Soo to Eun Bi in Episode 15. He tells her he never loved her and just wanted to play with a commoner's heart. Truth is, his dad threatened to destroy her shop and house unless Chi Soo broke it off and went back to the Family Business.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Korean-Japanese Kang Hyuk
  • Can't Believe I Said That: After Ba Wool finally calls Soo Yi out on her left hand/right hand metaphor by providing one of his own ("Eun Bi front, Soo Yi back"), he stomps off and mumbles to himself, "I can't believe I said that to Yoon Soo Yi."
  • The Cameo: Chi Soo goes to a music store to find a particular song, and behind the counter is actress Gong Hyo Jin. The song in the background is "De Geun De Geun (Heartbeat)" from the soundtrack of the Korean Drama Best Love. (Gong Hyo Jin plays Gu Ae Jung, the main love interest in that series.)
  • The Chick: Woo Hyun Woo is the most sensitive of the group; he also smothers the team, especially Ba Wool.
  • Christmas Cake: Lampshaded, in that Eun Bi mentions 25 years as the "Christmas" age in episode 1.
  • Cool Big Sis: Eun Bi to Ba Wool, who admires her for being a former gang leader, and the daughter of a man he idolized.
  • Conscription: Chi Soo.
  • Doting Parent: Chi Soo's dad, in spades.
  • Dramatic Shattering: Actually comedic shattering, when Eun Bi drops a tea cup after Chi Soo's dad offers her the teaching position back.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Eun Bi in the third episode, after burying her dad.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Eun Bi drops her teacher ID badge and whacks Chi Soo in the head with a volleyball for making fun of her.
  • Eastern Zodiac: Both Chi Soo (1993) and Kang Hyuk (1981) are roosters. Eun Bi is a rabbit, which makes her 6 years older than Chi Soo and 6 years younger than Kang Hyuk.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Chi Soo and his cronies, especially the shirtless Pool Scene
  • Evil Debt Collector: Hyun Woo is being chased by debt collectors.
  • Extreme Doormat: Soo Yi willingly and immediately follows every edict from Chi Soo, even if it includes dating someone else.
  • Family Business: The Cha Sung Group.
  • Five-Man Band:
  • Genki Girl: Eun Bi, who looks at the positives in any situation not involving Chi Soo.
  • Heartbeat Soundtrack: When Chi Soo leans in for a kiss...
  • Hurricane of Euphemisms:
    • Poop
      • "If you take a dump, you have to flush!"
    • There are many mentions to a person's unique smell.
    • Chi Soo's language when he talks about his feelings for Eun Bi is almost always Double-Speak.
    • Soo Yi, who's dating both Chi Soo and Ba Wool, tells Ba Wool that "Chi Soo is her left hand, Ba Wool is her right." Later, she mentions that she's right-handed.
  • Hurricane of Puns:
    • The Ramyun Shop is originally called "Eun Bi Ramyun" or "If it's Eun Bi"
      • Ba Wool also says "If it's Eun Bi"
    • One of Eun Bi's nicknames is "eun-nem-bi" (steel pot).
      • She uses it later to explain her feelings for Chi Soo. "You said it's your first time, feeling chest pain and nausea. I’ve felt it before, and I know how crazy hot it boils, and how dangerous it is. Since I'm eun-nem-bi, I boil faster and hotter than anyone else."
    • Chi Soo calls Eun Bi "eebbeunie" (pretty).
  • Imagine Spot: Eun Bi has a dream where Chi Soo is locked in a tower that she had to climb in order to rescue him.
  • In-Series Nickname: Ba Wool is known in school as "Crazy Chicken." Also, Chi Soo frequently refers to Eun Bi as "Intern" and Kang Hyuk as "Tamanegi," which is Japanese for "onion."
  • Karaoke Box: The gang goes out to cheer up Eun Bi one night.
  • Lampshade Hanging:
    • After finding out that Kang Hyuk and Chi Soo are brothers, Ba Wool asks, "What type of makjang is this?" [2]
      • Episode 14 is called "The Difference Between Makjang and Soonjung." [3]
  • Like an Old Married Couple: Kang Hyuk and Eun Bi's father Yang Chul Dong

Yang Chul Dong: You jerk. Your boss says he's dying and you come 13 hours later? Did you forget our agreement?
Kang Hyuk: Hearing your voice, you would have been fine even if I came back 13 years later.
Yang Chul Dong: I couldn't die yet because I wanted to ask you why you're late!

  1. ↑ Left from right: Kim Ba Wool, Cha Chi Soo, Yang Eun Bi Choi Kang Hyuk and Woo Hyun Woo
  2. ↑ Makjang, which is also a type of soybean and pepper paste, can refer to a drama that uses outrageous storylines, such as rape, birth secrets, and fatal diseases, to keep the viewers hooked.
  3. ↑ Soonjung is a genre like the Japanese 'shojo,' which is more pure/innocent.
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