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Friendly Rivalry, starring Lee Hye-ri and Chung Su-bin, aired on February 10. The drama, which has been adapted from a webtoon, is a mystery thriller set at Chaehwa Girls’ High School, an elite institution for South Korea’s top 1 percent, where fierce academic competition drives students to their limits.
Woo Seul-ki, played by Chung Su-bin, is an orphan raised in the provinces who transfers to the elite Chaehwa High School but struggles to fit in. Yoo Je-yi, portrayed by Lee Hye-ri, is the school’s most powerful student. Wealthy, intelligent, and manipulative, Je-yi takes a special interest in Seul-ki, leading to a tense relationship of friendship and obsession.
In the first two episodes of Friendly Rivalry, Seul-ki joins Chaehwa Girls High to find out more about her father's death. Meanwhile, Je-yi, the top scorer, seems to be a bit too nice to her.
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Friendly Rivalry: Why does Seul-ki join Chaehwa High?
The first episode of Friendly Rivalry starts with an introduction to Seul-ki's life. After having been invisible her entire life, Seul-ki starts to get bullied at school as well. One of her seniors at the orphanage helps her earn some money by making her get prescription drugs through fake IDs.
Listening to his advice, she starts taking her studies seriously and sees a change in the attitude of people around her. She is treated better, and her classmates stop bullying her.
However, in the process, she starts taking the drugs as well, eventually increasing the dosage. Determined not to fall back, she works harder and makes it to the top of her class. She also gets into a girls' high school in Gangnam since she finds that her father is there.
On her first day at Chaehwa High, she sees Yoo Je-yi, the school president, addressing the new batch of students. She asks everyone to observe a minute of silence for the deceased teacher Woo Do-hyeok. After going around the campus, Seul-ki finds her classroom and finds an empty seat for herself.
As the students wonder which class Je-yi will be joining, she enters the classroom. After going around the class, she decides to sit beside Seul-ki and introduces herself only to get a dry response from her seatmate.
Later, three students come to Seul-ki, asking to change seats with her. Since Na-ri sits at a front bench, Seul-ki decides to change it with her. As they are speaking, Je-yi shows up and takes Seul-ki to have lunch with her and her friends.
In the second episode of Friendly Rivalry, Seul-ki sits with Choi-kyung, Joo Yi-ri, and Je-yi at lunch. As they start talking about their backgrounds and aspirations, Choi-kyung and Yi-ri find Seul-ki weird for wanting to get into the medical department without any private tuitions or cram school. She sees everyone having a pill after lunch.
While transferring her seat, a girl asks her whether she asked Je-yi. Seul-ki finds it unnecessary and extends a bottle of water to her since she sees her taking the pill without any water. However, the girl pours it all out, saying that she could've added something to the water and that life gets difficult after getting chosen by Je-yi in this episode of Friendly Rivalry.
When Choi-kyung asks Je-yi not to associate with Seul-ki, she offers her the position of class officer to bump up her grades. Later, seeing Seul-ki sit elsewhere, Je-yi tries to sit beside her, but Seul-ki asks her not to disturb others.
After school, Seul-ki goes to stay with her father's second wife. When she asks if she found her father's phone in his belongings, she refuses. However, she pulls it out of her bag after she leaves.
Later that day, she collects Chaehwa's uniform from a suspicious source and cleans it in the laundry. As she is doing so, she receives a call on her father's phone, but the caller does not say anything.
The next day in school, Na-ri spills her drink on her, and the whole class laughs at her as she tells that there is a semen smell coming from her uniform. This makes her nervous as she remembers being bullied and beaten up on the terrace. As she is washing her shirt, Je-yi comes and hugs her from behind and offers her a new shirt. However, Seul-ki refuses and asks her to stop her kindness.
The teacher gives the class a test. Seul-ki finds that all the questions are out of the scope of what has been taught. Je-yi scores the highest, and the students all gather around her to find the answers. She finds from the teacher that the test was just for the coaching centers to know their level.
At lunch, Na-ri accompanies Je-yi instead of Seul-ki as the students laugh at her, looking at her pictures at the laundromat in this episode of Friendly Rivalry. While scrolling through hate comments, she finds a test paper from a coaching institute that has seven questions similar to the ones on the class test.
She visits the coaching center to discuss fees and, while on her way back, starts recording a class. The consultant finds her and chases her as she gets into a lift.
When the elevator opens, she finds Je-yi, who tells her to hide on the terrace till she calls her. On the terrace, Seul-ki starts sweating profusely as her memories of getting bullied come back. However, Je-yi comes to her soon and extends her hand to her. With this, the second episode of Friendly Rivalry ends.
The next episode of Friendly Rivalry is scheduled to be aired on February 12.
