Love and Leashes
モラルセンス ～君はご主人様～
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Two colleagues sign a three-month D/s contract; the rare romcom where the kink is treated as something you negotiate, not confess.
Jung Ji-woo is a sharp, capable manager at a public relations firm, routinely undermined and talked over by her male colleagues. A new colleague, Jung Ji-hoo, seems to have everything. Because their names are so alike, a parcel meant for him lands on her desk, and she opens it to find a leather collar and a leash. He insists they are for his dog, until a sex-shop coupon falls out of the box.
When Ji-woo apologises for her own bossiness, Ji-hoo takes it as a confession that she is a dominant and begs her to be his mistress. She refuses. Later he tells her, in tears, that a former girlfriend left him over his desires and that he has been ashamed of them ever since; she tells him she does not think he is a pervert. Asked why he wants her in particular, he names her confidence, her maturity and her integrity. She agrees, spends the night reading about BDSM, and they sign a three-month contract, she the dominant, he the submissive.
The sessions, some held in the office after hours, draw Ji-woo in and confuse her. When she asks him to be her boyfriend, he says he does not date. Together they rescue her best friend, Hye-mi, from a violent man at a love hotel. On the contract's last day Ji-hoo's ex, Ha-na, tells him his selfishness is why he cannot love; in their final session he kisses Ji-woo and admits he loves her and has been afraid, and she leaves. Then a junior colleague, Lee Han, accidentally emails a recording of one of their sessions to the whole office. When the management meeting turns into harassment, Ji-hoo takes all the blame. Ji-woo says their safeword to stop him; he goes on anyway, declaring that he wants to be with her. Ji-woo persuades Han to send the office recordings of several managers' affairs, and those managers are suspended. She and Ji-hoo begin dating openly, and keep their arrangement.
Starring
Seohyunas Jung Ji-woo
A capable public relations manager, undermined by her male colleagues, who agrees to become a new colleague's dominant.
Jung Ji-woo’s story
When her new colleague Ji-hoo begs her to be his mistress, Ji-woo refuses; she only apologised for being bossy. Then he tells her, in tears, about the girlfriend who left him over his desires, and she tells him he is not a pervert. Asked why her, he names her confidence, maturity and integrity. She agrees, reads about BDSM all night and signs a three-month contract. She comes to enjoy their sessions and to want more, but he does not date. On the last night he kisses her and says he loves her, and she walks out. When a leaked recording brings them before management, she uses their safeword to stop him taking the blame; he declares his love anyway. She has Han expose the managers' affairs, and she and Ji-hoo begin dating openly, keeping their arrangement.
Lee Jun-youngas Jung Ji-hoo
A seemingly perfect new colleague, ashamed of his wish to submit, who asks Ji-woo to be his mistress.
Jung Ji-hoo’s story
Ji-hoo has been ashamed of his desires since his girlfriend, Ha-na, left him over them. When his collar and leash reach Ji-woo by mistake, he claims they are for his dog. He takes her apology for bossiness as a confession, begs her to be his mistress and, once he has told her why, signs a three-month contract. Though jealous when she orders others around, he tells her he does not date. On the contract's last day Ha-na tells him his selfishness is why he cannot love; that night he kisses Ji-woo and confesses he loves her and has been afraid of being hurt. When a leaked recording puts them before management, he takes all the blame and, ignoring the safeword she uses to stop him, declares he wants to be with her. They begin dating openly and keep their arrangement.
Ahn Seung-gyunas Lee Han
A young employee devoted to Ji-woo, who leaks the recording by accident and then helps her strike back.
Lee Elas Hye-mi
Ji-woo's best friend, a dog-pub owner and a submissive, who calls her for help when a man turns violent.
Why it matters
Love and Leashes is a mainstream romantic comedy about BDSM that treats kink as something two adults negotiate rather than a dark secret to be confessed. Its apparatus is consent: a written contract, a fixed term, a safeword, and a friend rescued from a man who respects none of them. It also sets the story in an office where a capable woman is routinely talked over, so that her authority in private reads partly as a reply to her treatment in public. Critics differed on how far it gets. The South China Morning Post credited its effort to erase the stigma around BDSM while finding it slight; a Korean reviewer thought its subject would limit its appeal. The film leaves one knot untied: at its climax Ji-woo uses the safeword, Ji-hoo keeps talking, and the story calls it love. What stays open is where devotion ends and not listening begins.