I expected this series to be trash after I read the first few chapters. After all, I'm not fond of idiot protagonists who lack self awareness & critical thinking skills, and I dislike stale, sexist kdrama & shoujo tropes. Manhandling, kabedons, a**hole flower boys, rude love interests, "evil" Miss Perfect rival, hot-tempered/dense/naive/painfully average/clumsy heroines...? No thanks.
What saved this series for me was the surprising self reflection that came in later chapters, the unexpectedly genre-savvy trope subversions, and the greyness of it all (in terms of who was in the right/wrong).
With the help of other characters who were honest/blunt about her mistakes/character flaws, the heroine acknowledges her failings, struggles to move past them, and do better. She proves to be much less naive and dense than I'd feared, though still clumsy/avg/hot-tempered.
The male lead wasn't as much of an arrogant jacka** as I had initially pegged him as, and he was much more honest about his emotions than I had expected someone of his stereotypical profile to be. The "bad guys" or the antagonists (the ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend) were portrayed in an unexpectedly mature way as the story progressed, with no sugarcoating or excessive demonizing. Yes, they made terrible mistakes, and yes, they were selfish. But they had depth, and they were capable of recognizing their flaws.
Still wouldn't call this an Excellent story, but it's not bad.