Tired of Silly Romance? These 5 K-Dramas Know How to Serve a Realistic Love Story

There’s no wonder that K-dramas are getting more and more popular with each day, as they still manage to cover all the different topics starting from love and romance, and going all the way through zombie thrillers and action dramas.

However, romantic comedies are still considered to be one of the most popular genres in the industry, although many K-drama fans may think that there's been too much of them lately and it’s great that the focus is now on more realistic and mature love stories.

So here are 5 K-dramas we think are your must watch if you are in the mood for something more serious.

1. My Liberation Notes (2023)

One of the most rewatchable series of recent years, My Liberation Notes, is set in Sanpo Village. The place is kind of popular – not because everybody likes it there, but because they can’t wait to leave it.

Chang Hee, Mi Jung and Ki Jung are siblings who also dream of changing their lives and freeing themselves from the nonsense of their village, but one day something happens that makes them think... Mr. Gu, a mysterious man, appears in the neighborhood and becomes an interest for Mi Jung, the youngest and most reserved Yeom sibling.

“It’s definitely a slow drama, however I think it’s worth watching. I watched it months ago and I’m still thinking about it, it’s truly like nothing else I’ve seen. It’s not just a slice of life drama or an escapism one, it shows life realistically and how tedious it can be,” Redditor Loose_Seaworthines said.

2. Lost (2021)

Another drama with the most realistic portrayal of life and love is Lost, which premiered in 2021. This K-drama focuses on ordinary people with ordinary problems who dream of changing their lives because they suddenly realize they are unhappy with how they turned out.

A woman in her forties and a young man in his late twenties find each other in similar life situations and unexpectedly become the ones who are about to save themselves.

3. Call it Love (2023)

The K-drama revolves around two people who are deeply affected by the bad times in their lives, but the fact that they found each other at the end of their adventurous journey was the only thing that saved them.

Sim Woo Joo's life was shattered when her father died and she was kicked out of her own home by her father's mistress. In order to get revenge, she approaches Han Dong Jin, the son of her father's ex-lover. The two fall in love and a romantic story blossoms out of nowhere.

4. The Midnight Romance in Hagwon (2024)

The final episode of the series aired just recently and turned it into something definitely worth watching on a journey to find something real. What the fans of the K-drama love the most is the mature romance of the series, blossomed out of something unpredictable and uncommon.

In the center of this K-drama is the story between Lee Joon Ho and Seo Hye Jin. Joon Ho returns to the academy where he used to study in order to meet his first love, his teacher, once again and maybe this time do everything right. The slow romance and the cautious approach to life shown in the series is really something.

5. Twenty-Five Twenty-One (2022)

It's easy to live when you have a dream, right? But what do you do when those dreams seem out of reach? Na Hee Do is a teenage fencer who wants to become a national sports star. She has to go through so many difficulties to get there, but her desire is so big that she can handle anything.

At this moment in her life, she meets Baek Yi Jin, a young man who is unemployed due to the crisis that made his father's business go bankrupt. But meeting Yi Jin changed his life for the better.