One

Honestly, I wasn't expecting her to have similar vibes to Sungjil: clumsy young rookie who has a habit of saying thoughtless words and acts kind, accommodating towards her boss. But yeah, I like the way Dowon is being so casual towards Seju. Most other people in her shoes would have been anxious to act like that around their employer.

I don't know how can some assume she resembles the young Sumin, i think she was more like 'tanned' Sungji, but not as pure as her. The good points Dowon has but Sumin doesn't are her persistence and carefreeness. She didn't give up even though Seju rejected her food many times, to the point that she could finally dine with her boss. That means she must have offered many more after the sweet potatoes or else Seju wouldn't sit in the same table with her. Second, she doesn't really take Seju as her boss, but rather as a normal person, that everyone is equal. Meanwhile it was too obvious of Sumin to think that she's too much for Seju, she always had that inferiority complex around Seju. So I think being with Dowon, Seju can act like herself more.

ah sorry i Typed wrong name lol. Sumin thought Seju's too much for her. (⊙…⊙ )

O, that's actually an interesting point, I didn't think about that! But that's true, there was a scene when Sumin was studying with Seju in her room and this whole "inferiority complex" was mentioned then, I completely forgot about it. Although I wouldn't necessary say that Seju couldn't act like herself around Sumin, cause for me it seemed like she was the only person that she could be herself with, but you are right - it's great that Dowon is not treating Seju like her boss and seems to genuinely act friendly towards her, purely because that's the type of a person she is, not because she wants to gain something out of it. And these two will definitely benefit from it somewhere in next chapters, cause I doubt that even Seju can keep herself closed and distant from other people for so long, especially in an enormous and empty hotel

from my point of view, Seju has been faking herself for too long, especially that laughter of hers when she was staying in Sumin's house and generally throughout those 10 years after the breakup as well. She actually didn't feel well inside but she still acted like everything is ok around Sumin. Compared to the time in Paradise, I don't think she smiled that often. Seju had been pushing aside her own feelings to stay with/get Sumin back. That shall be the core problem. Just like the first time they met, her 1st smile to Sumin was fake to some extent (at least 10%) because she was told to do so by that man next to her, which eventually made Sumin fall in love with Seju at first sight and approached her. However her cold attitude to Dowon is literally the her real treatment to other people. Her true-self. Seju didn't even confide in Sumin about her family issues. I don't know whether it's because she doesn't feel the need to or she's so used to suppressing her miserable feelings (chap 8x when she rushed out of Sumin's house)

I guess Dowon also knows something which will make them become closer, and she may have gone through some incidents too because if not, a swimmer like her wouldn't be a caretaker in this deserted villa at this young age. Perhaps she commited crime lol or she was demoted or escaping reality like Seju lmao.

I'm of the same agreement that Seju never really open herself up, even with Sumin. It feels like she's always been running away from her problems whenever she used Sumin to comfort her. And Sumin herself wasn't being assertive enough to make an effort to understand and solve her issues, just allowing her girlfriend to do whatever she wanted back then, no questions asked. I still stand by the belief that their relationship was destined to fail, even if it weren't for those incidents in the past.

Having probably been used to superficial acting all her life, where fake people always approached her with ulterior motives, Dowon would be a breath of fresh air for Seju. Someone who is genuinely friendly towards others without asking anything in return and is seemingly so carefree that she'll treat everyone equally regardless of hierarchical position. Right now, they're not off to a good start, which I kind of expected since Seju is a pretty reserved character, but that could change in the next chapter if Dowon does know a thing or two about her mother. But yeah, it would be nice to learn more about Dowon's background, considering we know very little of her compared to Seju.

As for how a former swimmer like her ended up becoming a caretaker for a deserted villa, maybe it has nothing to do with a dark and troubling past that lead her to it. She probably retired from the sport when she hit her early 20s, which isn't unusual for competitive swimmers, considering the rigorous training they do takes a heavy toll on their bodies. Like every athlete who left the sport, she has to adjust back to normal life, so she found this job to make a living and perhaps trying to figure out her new purpose.

I think that Dowon could just end her career because of her age, cause she's almost 30 and for a professional athletes in case of some sports it's pretty old (although I have no idea at what age she stopped swimming, maybe there was something more to it and I'm really really hoping to find out more about her background. IN general I hope that One will be longer than Paradise, cause there could be so much to the story and character's relationship development). Or she could be injured in some way that would prevent her from continuing her swimming career? That's always possible, although of course I'd have to be something that still makes it possible for her to take care of an entire mansion

As far as Seju's emotional suppression and general reluctance when it come to discussion her problems or showing them in any way - I completely agree with you. Actually your comment made me realise that yes, she was hiding things from Sumin as well, although Sumin in general was aware of Seju's family situation but she definitely lacked assertiveness that Down has. I wouldn't go as far as saying that they relationship was destined to fail, because after all I still see Seju and Sumin as more compatible that Sumin and Sungji and there is always a chance that as time goes by Sumin would grow up to be more assertive, just like she eventually got more comfortable with sex and being dominant, but this is something we probably won't even find out.

But I agree with the fact that Dowon will be a bit of "a fresh air", just like you said, especially that Seju isn't really used to people being nice to her just because, without wanting anything in return, although at the beginning she'll definitely be annoyed by this type of person.
This is what bothered me about Nami's character for example - yes, she was very persistent (which is also a quality that Dowon has), but she acted that way because she wanted something out of Seju and that's it which is why I'm genuinely happy that Team Gaji didn't turn Seju and Nami into a couple, although it would definitely be convenient for a plot purpose.

This side-story would probably be the longest one, I'm guessing around 20 chapters, maybe even more. Don't expect Seju to fall head over heels for Dowon overnight. It's going to be a slow burn where it's going to take a while for Seju to heal and realize Dowon is the one for her. I'm kind of hoping there's going to be a plot aside from just romance involved. Since the villa was originally used as a hotel in the past, perhaps Seju can be motivated to start it back up (with Dowon giving her the push) and she could hire Dowon to be the general manager or her secretary perhaps. Later on, she could expand her hotel business across other places, make a big name for herself. That's one way for her to improve her self-worth since she thinks she's useless and has nothing good to show for.

I actually also think Seju and Sumin’s relationship was destined to fail regardless of that cheating incident, in fact it’s just a push to make them break up sooner. The point is, they’ve been miscommunicating for too long, hiding deep down emotional feelings from each other, focusing too much on future like Sumin said in Paradise last chap, they only talked about their dreams everyday rather than live in the present and enjoy each moment. They didn’t even know much about the other’s family background. Simply put, the way their world revolves only 1 person is unhealthy. It might be okay back then but sooner or later, they will be exhausted to death for constantly running away from problems and faking yourself to please your partner.

Being with Sungji, Sumin can enjoy whatever she does in her own life, has her own freedom and interact with any person without worrying that it will upset Sungji. Just because their bond currently (less than 1 year) isn’t as great as Sumin and Seju (17 years) doesn’t mean it won’t last long. What if Sumin Sungji have been together for 18 years? Would your opinions change? Everything requires time to build.

I seriously hope Sumin and Seju would never go back together. She had been involved with too many mental problems since the moment she was born but nobody has helped her face and deal properly with it. I don’t want to see Seju being partly depressed and partly happy like when she was with Sumin anymore. I mean, she will immediately become an indifferent, negative, cold-hearted, depressing woman once Sumin isn’t around. Seju has to find 100% inner peace. That whether or not the person you love is staying next to you, you still can treat the world with full of positivity. That love helps brighten your entire world, not just give you a vague light in darkness when that person shows up.

About Dowon, It’s normal for a competitive swimmer to retire at such age. But considering her genuinely friendly personality towards people, I think there has to be a certain dark reason why she out of sudden chose a job where she almost has no one to interact with. Seju went up to 4th floor, not using elevator, but still didn’t even encounter a single maid/bodyguard. It feels like there’s only Dowon in the villa all this time, which might be true, no one is living there since it’s not used as a hotel anymore. But why Dowon has to take care of this huge cheap crap all alone? Friendly like her must have felt very lonely just by reading job description, but she still chose it. And when Seju arrived, Dowon be like “I finally found someone to share my food” Lmao. Also, considering her clumsy words, I don’t think she has worked with an employer in this management field before either. It’s really weird that she chose something completely different from her abilities. That’s why I think she actually doesn’t want to work in this deserted villa, but she has to due to some reasons. I had a feeling her past is somehow interesting, if not Team Gaji doesn’t really need to mention she’s a former swimmer. It has something to do with it. Perhaps they will reveal her story in next chapters.

I'm very sure One is longer than Paradise, at least 20 chapters and at most ~~30+ Because it's really not easy to make Seju change her mindset towards love/life. It's 5x-10x harder for Seju to move on than Sumin so we need baby steps for her story. Team Gaji really did make a lot efforts on building her character as well so I guess One story won't disappoint me that much lol. First chapter of One seems very slow too, just about how they met and how they should call each other lol. Then, with the way Seju thinking about how her mother used to live in this villa, I also think she will do something to re-run it in the future regarding Seju's a true businesswoman, she has never wasted time doing nonsense things (like how she disapproved of the unemployed Sumin only staying at home knitting scarf for Sungji, or how she's the most successful that even lent money to the most powerful eldest brother among her siblings) Hopefully Dowon will become the one for Seju and perhaps general manager like eikichi said to help Seju find motives in life and realize her self-worth as well.

Well, when it comes to the Sungji-Sumin relationship, yes I don't see them as compatible, but not because I'm comparing the length of the time they've been together to the time Sumin was with Seju. It has nothing to do with Seju, but more with the fact that Sungji as a character was never very much developed, or at least I definitely failed to see her as a well-developed character, especially in comparison to the other two, but on her own I also think that she lacks flaws or other traits that would just make her more human, you know? She just kind of reminds me of a character that was half-created because she served mostly one purpose and that's it. And as a result I don't see them as compatible - not necessary because I liked more how Sumin and Seju used to love each other, cause heck I'm all for her new journey in One and I really hope she'll learn how to be happy again, but because we didn't really get to see Sungji outside of her crush and then relationship with Sumin. If we did, then maybe I wouldn't be bitter about the fact that Sumin could forgive Seju, cause I really want to see Sungji as a person who can be not just a good love interest and an interesting character in a first place and I still can't. So yes, if these two could last 18 years, just like you said, of course my opinion would change, because this is a thing that I can't imagine as possible but if it turns out to be possible, then there is nothing to doubt or argue about, right? I hope it makes sense sdfghhsds

But back to Dowon, it's true that her personality and the type of job she has are contradictory. I think she mentioned that only cleaning company visits this hotel once a month, but outside of that it looks like she's all by herself there. Well, was, cause now she's there with Seju. Maybe there was something that happened in her previous career that made her decide to take more quiet and isolated job, or there is someone who actually told her to work there. Overall, this type of place looks like a great hiding spot for me - no-one lives there anymore, there are no clients and barely any visitors.

As for the hotel business thing, I'd absolutely love to see Seju turning this place into an actually functioning hotel again and possibly planning to grow this investment in the future with Dowon's help. As you mentioned, she has no problem with developing such a business and regardless of the fact that she probably has enough money to not have to work for at least couple years, I feel like starting something like this would be very beneficial for her mental health, even just by proving to her that there are still things she can do in this world which means that she's not useless or worthless and overall starting a business from almost nothing would be a great way to keep her mind busy. Not to mention that if Dowon was a part of it, this would bring them closer together, although I hope that One will be about more than just their love story. Especially that Seju has a tendency to distance/shelter herself from other people and in past she had no trouble thinking that in this huge world full of different people she could only live with Sumin and failed to see this type of mindset as unhealthy. What I'm trying to say is that an isolated hotel creates a "perfect" environment for this type of mindset and general desire to avoid any unnecessary or annoying human interactions and I really want to see her interacting with other people, so she won't have this kind of thoughts again