Nevertheless,
わかっていても
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
She knows he is bad for her and goes anyway — a butterfly-tattooed art student and the choreography of wanting.
Yoo Na-bi, a sculpture student at Hongseo University, has given up on love, though not on dating. Her boyfriend, an artist who taught at her exam-prep art school, exhibited an obscene sculpture modelled on her without asking, and then she caught him with another student. She no longer believes in destiny. Then she meets Park Jae-eon, a student in her department with a butterfly tattooed on the back of his neck, who is kind to everyone, flirts easily, finds relationships a bother and never shows what he feels. They fall into something without a name: time together, no promises, and other women in plain sight; at one point he kisses a girl outside Na-bi's building. Her best friend, Oh Bit-na, warns her. Na-bi knows, and goes back anyway.
Later her childhood friend Yang Do-hyeok, a cooking student with a popular YouTube channel whose first love was Na-bi, comes back into her life and courts her openly, and Jae-eon, for once, is jealous. Around them the friends pair off: Bit-na and Kyu-hyun admit how long they have secretly been together, and two classmates, Yoon Sol and Seo Ji-wan, find their way to each other.
After a bitter fight in the pouring rain, Na-bi tells Jae-eon to disappear. Then the sculpture she has made for her exhibition is found smashed. Jae-eon offers to help rebuild it, on condition that he stays away once it is done. They work in silence for days and finish the piece, an angel with tattered wings; he starts to say something, stops, and leaves. He sets his pet butterflies free. At the exhibition her professor offers her the chance to go to Paris, and Do-hyeok brings flowers; she apologises for breaking his heart. That night she finds Jae-eon alone in front of the angel. She tells him she knows he will hurt her again, and nevertheless... The series ends with the two of them walking hand in hand.
Starring
Han So-heeas Yoo Na-bi
A sculpture student hurt by an ex who exhibited her body, who has given up on love but still wants to date.
Yoo Na-bi’s story
Burned by her last boyfriend, Na-bi no longer believes in destiny. Then she meets Jae-eon, a flirt who does not do relationships, and falls into something without a name: nights together, no promises, other women in plain sight. Her best friend, Bit-na, warns her; she goes back anyway. When her childhood friend Do-hyeok courts her openly, Jae-eon is jealous for once. After a fight in the rain she tells him to disappear, but when her exhibition piece is found smashed, she accepts his help to rebuild it, on condition that he stays away afterwards. At the exhibition her professor offers her Paris, and she apologises to Do-hyeok for breaking his heart. That night she finds Jae-eon before the angel they rebuilt and tells him she knows he will hurt her again, nevertheless... They walk away hand in hand.
Song Kangas Park Jae-eon
A charming sculpture student with a butterfly tattoo who flirts freely, avoids commitment and hides what he feels.
Park Jae-eon’s story
Jae-eon keeps butterflies and is surrounded by women who are more than friends and less than lovers. He draws Na-bi into something without a name and goes on seeing other women in plain sight; he even kisses a girl outside her building. When her childhood friend Do-hyeok courts her, he is jealous for once. After a fight in the rain, she sends him away. When her sculpture is found smashed, he offers to help rebuild it and then stay away, and he keeps his word: they finish the angel in silence, and he leaves without saying what he started to say. He sets his butterflies free and shuts himself away at home, and a sketchbook of his drawings of her reaches Na-bi. On exhibition night she finds him before the angel, and they walk away hand in hand.
Chae Jong-hyeopas Yang Do-hyeok
Na-bi's childhood friend, a cooking student with a popular YouTube channel, whose first love was her.
Yang Hye-jias Oh Bit-na
Na-bi's best friend, bold in her own love life and sharp about men, who warns her off Jae-eon.
Lee Ho-jungas Yoon Sol
A gifted, reserved classmate of Na-bi's, who slowly admits her feelings for her friend Ji-wan.
Yoon Seo-ahas Seo Ji-wan
Sol's cheerful best friend and Na-bi's classmate, who falls for Sol.
Why it matters
Nevertheless is a romance about knowing better. Its Korean title means 'I know, but', and its heroine sees every warning sign in the man she wants, names them, and chooses him anyway; the series takes a young woman's desire seriously as a force of its own, not as a lapse of judgement. That is its interest and its trouble. It begins with a man who displayed Na-bi's body without her consent, and it lets her decide for herself what her body and her time are for, but it also leaves her to do all the emotional work for a man who will not say what he feels. Critics split over the ending: honest about young love, or a red flag dressed as romance. It also gives an unforced place to a love story between two women. What it leaves open is whether choosing what will hurt, with open eyes, is a kind of freedom.