#happiness tvn

[suzannahnatters]

Trope Talk: Friends to Lovers

I almost never talk (or even think) about the friends-to-lovers trope; it's never really been on my radar as a Thing I Love. There are two main reasons for this. First, in romance, I tend to adore a good, spiky enemies-to-lovers situation. Second, when it comes to friends, I actually go feral for platonic friendships, particularly m/f friendships, that STAY friendships. I want to talk about those too, but over the past week I had the absolute pleasure of watching the kdrama HAPPINESS, which features an absolutely marvellous friends-to-lovers situation (with added slowburn marriage of convenience). That reminded me that there are a few friends-to-lovers stories that I absolutely adore - Jane Austen's EMMA, for instance (particularly in the Johnny Lee Miller / Romola Garai miniseries adaptation), or the ambiguously romantic friendship FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD. So, let's talk about one thing that makes this trope difficult to pull off, plus some things that make a friends-to-lovers work for me.

DIFFICULTY: Romance Where Most of the Work Is Done The problem with friends-to-lovers, and the thing that makes it offputting for me, is that you're coming into the story with a couple who have already done most of their work. They already know each other, often quite intimately. They already respect each other, they already like each other…where do you take things from here? How do you make this interesting when the two people are already on the same page and fanatically devoted to one another?

For me, the most important thing when constructing a romance is to create a push-pull between the characters. They need a compelling reason to be together, and a compelling reason to be apart. In an enemies-to-lovers story, the reason to be apart is far stronger than the reason to be together, but because the trajectory is towards togetherness, I can see far more scope for creativity in ETL than I do in FTL, where the reason to be together is usually far stronger than the reason to be apart. The journey is far shorter in FTL than it is in ETL.

But, I think the solution is to be smart about what kind of conflict works best for the story and the characters you have in mind. Let's talk about conflict for a moment. Conflict can be of two sorts: internal, inside the character, and external, between the character and others. In romance, there is a third layer of conflict, which sits between internal and external. Let's call it intimate conflict: it's the reason the characters should be apart.

In an ETL story, the intimate conflict is often the same as the external conflict: the reason for the characters to be apart is because they are on opposing sides of a war. They are each other's antagonists. In a FTL story, the characters are usually allies or colleagues, fighting together on the same side. As a result, the situation with the conflict isn't so simple. The intimate conflict is going to be different to the external conflict.

In EMMA, the reason the characters are apart has a lot to do with Emma's age. Since she's significantly younger than Mr Knightley, she's never really seen him as a romantic prospect at all. She also intends never to marry, and focuses on other people's romances rather than her own. Similarly, Mr Knightley has always seen Emma as a younger sister, and he hasn't come to see her as a romantic prospect either. There's very little external conflict in EMMA, which I think is unusual for a friends-to-lovers story, but what there is focuses on Emma's efforts to find a good match for her protege Harriet. Mr Knightley isn't exactly her ally in this, but as Emma falls into one social snarl after another Mr Knightley is usually the one who helps her out of them. Austen makes it work, but the point is that the story is a VERY slow burn in which the romance only develops very late in the piece. In this, it's a typical friends-to-lovers story.

By and large, I think friends-to-lovers works best when the romantic realisation hits late. Friends-to-lovers IS a shortcut. All the work of slowly building trust, respect, and liking for one another has already been done when the story opens, so it's a great choice for either a) supporting characters who don't have as much screentime or b) situations where there's a strong external conflict to provide a sense of threat to the story. In FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, the romance that sent me feral is one glimpsed in the margins of the story between two supporting characters, Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye. The intimate conflict between them - the Reason To Be Apart - is, according to the author, that as military officers the two of them aren't supposed to start a relationship. The external conflict on top of this is that the two of them are conspiring to overthrow their nation's dictator and they can't afford to be made each other's weakness. In HAPPINESS, meanwhile, the relationship got off to a rocky start when Yi Hyun asked Sae Bom out within seconds of meeting her (and being pushed off a roof by her). Sae Bom turned him down right away and like Emma, still hasn't figured out that she might be falling for him by the time she decides that she might as well get fake-married to him for the nice apartment she's always wanted. The intimate conflict is thus simply that Sae Bom hasn't got around to returning Yi Hyun's feelings yet. The external conflict is very strong to compensate for this, however: the two of them are fighting zombies together, and that's not even mentioning the HOA.

An enemies-to-lovers story doesn't work for HAPPINESS, even though there would be enough screentime for it, because the themes and the antagonists don't allow for it. The antagonists are both literal monsters (the mindless zombies) and figurative monsters (the scummy rich). One of our beloveds does eventually become a literal monster, but this doesn't create an ETL situation because it's a morally neutral state and their innate goodness prevails even when having episodes. As for the figurative monsters, their whole deal is that that is NOT a morally neutral state and they got to where they are by being genuinely irredeemable people. This means that none of them can genuinely fall in love. So, ETL would be impossible in this situation. The third option would be a meet-cute with zombies, but this would also detract from the themes of cosiness, happiness, safety and domesticity which the show pits against the evil rich. Friends to lovers, in this setting, is the only choice.

So now that we've talked about some of the thematic and structural situations that might lend themselves to writing a friends-to-lovers story, let's talk about the things that can make this trope TRULY delicious.

CHEMISTRY: Of A Friendship Kind A lot of romance is, let's face it, very badly written. It's as though most writers think that two pretty faces + some light banter = believable romance. It can be very difficult to believe that two people who just met each other five minutes ago would be dying for each other now. Friends-to-lovers solves this problem by starting with two people who already know, like, and respect each other, and the only hard part is to sell the audience on why these two obviously appreciative people HAVEN'T yet sealed the deal. Further: sometimes for whatever reason the characters don't see each other in a romantic light, or better yet they DO but for Reasons have decided to deny those romantic feelings and simply enjoy the philos love which they CAN have without insisting upon the eros they CAN'T have. Either way, the friendship chemistry between them is likely to feel real, mature, and grounded. You really believe that these people care for each other in a uniquely unselfish way - which makes their eventual romance epiphany all the more powerful.

Emma and Mr Knightley are a great example of this. The Romola Garai miniseries turns this up to 11 by giving the two of them amazing chemistry. Their faces light up when they see each other, sometimes from far away. They're drawn together in every space they mutually inhabit. From the very first episode they're revolving around each other and although neither of them have realised it's love, their attraction is palpable. There's an age gap in EMMA which some modern viewers may find slightly problematic, and Austen (and the show's director) do a fantastic job of selling this relationship through the chemistry and framing of the relationship as a genuine friendship on both sides long before it becomes explicitly romantic.

EQUALITY: The Couple That Battles Together Stays Together Romance can come with a lot of baggage around inequality. A lot of people even today still view power and maturity imbalance as being definitionally romantic. A lot of men still want to feel stronger, smarter, richer, and more intelligent than their female partners. In a world where the sexes have often been unequal, a male/female friendship can be radically levelling. This has been acknowledged by scholars studying friendships across history. When a man befriends a woman, it's a signal that he appreciates her as she is, that he recognises her as a kindred spirit and an equal in ways that aren't always indicated by romantic interest. He knows that a sexual relationship with her is off the table, but he wants to spend time with her anyway. Their relationship is often founded on mutual interests and occupations, as well as on simple respect and enjoyment of each other's company.

This means that a romance which starts out as a friendship often achieves a sense of unique equality between the two partners, because we've already seen the two of them working together. It also leads to a strong partnership between them as they tackle all their problems together. (ETL also achieves a sense of equality, of course, but this comes about as the two characters battle and outwit each other). HAPPINESS is a great example of this: Yi Hyun becomes a detective partly because Sae Bom has become a special forces officer, and together the two of them keep the peace and battle zombies in a locked-down apartment building. Roy and Riza are also an iconic battle couple in FMAB, and even though Riza is Mustang's military subordinate their relationship is clearly one of such mutual dependence and respect that it doesn't come across as unequal.

BICKERING: When Acting Like an Old Married Couple Isn't Just for Lovers Just because a couple are longtime friends doesn't mean they can never disagree, which is why the greatest one-sentence friends-to-lovers romance in history comes at the end of CS Lewis' THE HORSE AND HIS BOY: “Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I'm afraid even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up they were so used to quarreling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.”

Most friends-to-lovers stories I love don't have all that much intimate conflict between the characters: the focus is squarely on the two of them fighting the world together. They may bicker and banter, but they always have each others' back. The notable exception happens in EMMA, especially the Romola Garai miniseries, where once or twice Mr Knightley gets quite exercised as he rebukes Emma. I think the thing to notice is that while in an ETL story the conflict between the characters normally involves a genuine attempt to destroy or frustrate the other character in some way, and in a meet-cute story the characters come into conflict out of a misunderstanding of each other, in a FTL story the conflict arises out of the characters' intimacy: that is, they are so comfortable in each other's company that they find it safe to disagree with or insult each other.

DEVOTION: I Would Die For You Let's face it: some of the most scream-inducing stuff in a romance are the moments when the two leads start putting unreserved trust in each other. They start throwing themselves in front of bullets for the other person. They start being utterly and totally vulnerable with each other. Sometimes this is delicious because it conflicts with who they ought to be: perhaps they have all sorts of reasons to distrust each other, perhaps they should be trying to kill each other and they know it. But friends-to-lovers skips right past all that. This is just who these two are, you know? They're utterly devoted to each other. They will take bullets for each other without even thinking. In their case, it doesn't contrast with their better judgement: it contrasts with the way they interact with everyone else around them.

Again, this is why I think FTL works best when the couple are up against strong forces of external antagonism - monsters, zombies, or just some really despicable blighters. When you can't trust ANYONE but This One Person? When the whole world is dangerous, except for the absolute safety of YOUR person? That's when FTL ascends and becomes truly superior. That's why nothing hits as hard as the moment in FMAB when Mustang muses over a chessboard about all he has lost - his pawn, his knight, his rook, and his bishop. "And worst of all…they've even taken my queen." unhinged screaming

VULNERABILITY: If You Dare Hurt Them Much of the fun of ETL is seeing the characters go a little unhinged, as a treat. Well, if you've been building your FTL pair right, you get to see them go unhinged in stereo! You've given them a sense of utter devotion to each other, and you've put them in incredible danger. Now it's time to split them up and put each of them in danger separately…just so the other one can go beast mode getting them out. They are each other's ultimate safety, and God help the fool who puts either of them at risk. As exhibit A, I call the HAPPINESS car chase to the stand. Yeah? YEAH.

EPIPHANY: The Love of Their Life Was There All Along At some stage, if this is going to be a FTL story, there needs to be the romantic epiphany when the pair realises that their friendship has turned into romance and that they want to be more than friends. There are a few ways to play this. Sometimes, both of the couple realises during the course of the story, as in EMMA. Sometimes, one of the couple has been romantically interested in the other for years, as in HAPPINESS, but the other one hasn't come around yet. And of course, in FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST the romantic interest remains undeclared, but the scene where Roy compares Riza to his queen has the same emotional wallop because it's the moment at which the audience realises that he views her differently to the rest of his friends - he sees her both as his most powerful ally, and as his wife.

The unique FMAB example aside, however - much of the power packed by this moment of the story has to do with the protagonist realising that the love of their life was there all along, and perhaps they nearly missed them. In EMMA, Emma only figures it out in a fit of jealousy when Harriet claims to be in love with Mr Knightley (it's hilarious that throughout the entire book she never tries to set anyone up with her village's most eligible bachelor). In HAPPINESS, Sae Bom figures it out after Yi Hyun makes a farewell video confessing that the reason he agreed to their marriage of convenience was because he is genuinely in love with her; the marriage which was fake to her was real to him all along. Combined with the knowledge that she might be about to lose him forever, this is enough to make her acknowledge her own feelings.

MORAL COMPASS: I Know You're In There, Fight But here's what I think is my absolute favourite thing about friends to lovers. It's something that happens in all three of the FTL examples I've been analysing here, and it's also something that has deep roots in the way friendship has been viewed throughout history. In Edmund Spenser's FAERIE QUEENE, each Book focuses on a specific virtue - holiness, temperance, and chastity, for instance. Book IV deals with Friendship, and in this book Spenser defines friendship as being built on a foundation of other virtues. That is, evil people literally are incapable of true friendship because they do not have what it takes to treat another human being with genuine kindness and selflessness. All three of my favourite FTL stories follow Spenser in pitching the friendship as a moral compass for one of them.

In EMMA, Mr Knightley regularly rebukes Emma for her social failings. When he points out her rudeness to Miss Bates, it's a huge turning-point in their romance. Emma's response, which is to acknowledge her faults and try to put things right with Miss Bates, is what awakens Mr Knightley to his love for Emma. On the other hand, Emma realises that Mr Knightley is a big part of her moral compass and superior to the other men she knows, and it's this that makes her realise how necessary he is to her.

EMMA is a lowkey example, but FMAB and HAPPINESS come out swinging when it comes to the moral compass, and it's absolutely spectacular on both occasions. One of the reasons Mustang depends so deeply on Riza is that she is his protector, not just in a physical but a moral sense. She is the one who has promised to put him down if he ever loses his way. Naturally, this moment comes for them, and the two of them survive it, but only barely. And it's GLORIOUS. HAPPINESS plays things a little differently: there's no long-standing promise between them, but the whole show, the characters are told that those infected who really wish to resist the thirst can do it. When Sae Bom comes charging in to get her husband at the end, he's about to lose his battle, but she manages to pull him out of his episode. Again, it's glorious.

CONCLUSIONS I love ETL stories for their intensity, their moral complexity and the delicious emotional contrasts at play between loving a person and wanting to defeat them. But…as hard as it can be to find really good ones, a great friends to lovers story comes with all those things and can be just as satisfying.

#trope talk #writing advice #writing #romance tropes #friends to lovers #ftl #fmab #fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood #fma:b #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fullmetal alchemist #emma #jane austen #happiness kdrama #happiness tvn #happiness #tvn happiness

[haveyouseenthisseries-poll]

#tv shows #tv series #polls #happiness tvn #han hyo joo #park hyungsik #park joo hee #2020s series #south korean series #have you seen this series poll

[muttonthings]

Kdrama Challenge

Day 3: Favourite Lead Couple

Lee Gon+Jeong Tae-eul- The King: Eternal Monarch

Ahn Min-hyuk+Do Bong-soon- Strong Woman Do Bong-soon

Lee Jun-ho+Woo Young-woo- Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Jang Uk+Jin Bu-yeon- Alchemy of Souls

Jung Yi-hyun+Yoon Sae-bom- Happiness

Cha Eun-jae+SEO Woo-jin- Dr. Romantic

#kdrama #kdrama challenge #the king: eternal monarch #alchemy of souls #extraordinary attorney woo #happiness tvn #strong woman do bong soon #dr. romantic

[alltomevibes]

ig I'm currently going down memory lane of the best dramas I've ever watched but happiness had me in such a CHOKEHOLD. like,,, that drama had me bawling out in tears and also shifted my tastes in media low-key. it was life changing idk man.

#alltomevibes #personal #happiness 2021 #happiness drama #happiness kdrama #happiness tvn #tvn happiness

[tokkiheart]

Happiness Review/General Thoughts

I figured that since I enjoyed this K-Drama as much as I did, I might as well write a review about it.

Please note that this is going to be a review written by someone who doesn’t generally watch horror genre content. The closest I have ever gotten to it prior to this show was Supernatural.

As always, I will endeavor to keep this spoiler free!

Genre(s)

Idol Drama • Fantasy • Action • Thriller & Suspense • Drama

Synopsis

This show focuses primarily on Officer Yoon Sae Bom and Detective Jung Yi Hyun. Yoon Sae Bom is a special agent with quick wits and reflexes and another special quality. She earns the opportunity to move into a new apartment set aside for civil servants in a coveted apartment complex by pretending to marry high school friend Jung Yi Hyun. Yi Hyun is a police detective investigating the spread of a mysterious disease. They are trapped in their apartment building when Han Tae Seok, head of the task force to control the spread of the disease, orders the complex to be sealed off from the rest of the city.

Quarantine and disease reveal a social caste system, bringing out the best and worst of the apartment residents.

(Source: MyDramaList)

My Review (Spoiler Free)

This drama was good. Considering the last time I had been recommended a K-Drama to watch, I was fully expecting to get a sense of things being too bleak and heavy and needing to take a break or being too grossed out by the monsters to be able to watch. Neither of those things ever happened, I wound up binge-watching this drama within 24 hours - it was that good.

Happiness has just the right balance of humor and heart to mix with the dark and foreboding nature of the show.

On top of this, their version of zombies are much less grotesque than what I’m used to seeing in media (by which I mean ads for zombie type movies, shows, games, etc. because, again, this isn’t my typical type of show). They’re not missing giant patches of skin, they also don’t have exposed bones or internal organs. They’re more human than monster, especially because they have a period where they’re sane and very very human. Which, I really liked. I liked seeing the “monsters” and those who got bitten/scratched by them as being more morally grey and dependent upon who they are as a person/individual instead of as an inherently evil monster who is irredeemable.

Even though this show doesn’t really advertise a romance, there’s a wonderful slow-burn friends to lovers storyline in this show which I absolutely adored! The lead actors really brought their A games and sold the show and the romance! If that’s not enough, the little found family they made is just so cute. 🥹💜

While I certainly can’t speak for experienced horror genre watchers, I can speak for the absolute soft fluffballs who don’t really do horror. I would recommend watching this K-Drama just as I was recommended to watch it. This show is honestly great if you want to lightly dip your toes into something a little more horror-y, without getting too uncomfortable.

Rewatchability

Overall, I’d say this show is highly rewatchable. In fact, I’m fighting the urge to rewatch the show right now as I’m writing this.

Considering this show has only 12 episodes, each at an hour long, it is very easy to watch and rewatch this show!

#kdrama #happiness tvn #happiness kdrama #kdrama review #han hyo joo #park hyungsik #honestly so glad my mutual recommended that I actually go ahead and watch this show #spoiler free review

[tater-tots-last-of-the-romanovs]

Obsessed with the scene in Happiness where Yi Hyun races after the car to save Sae Bom. It's like, ten minutes ago he couldn't run to play pro baseball, but apparently he can now outrun a car provided that the car in question has his wife unconscious in the back.

#happiness kdrama #yi hyun #sae bom #fellas is it romantic to chase after a car to save your platonic wife #asking for a friend #happiness tvn #han hyo joo #park hyungsik

[monimoonn]

You really just have to add Zombies to literally any piece of media and I will eat it up like a starving man no questions asked.

#resident evil #am I a fan of the resident evil games #yes #will I absolutely enjoy the new Netflix series despite everything #also a yes #I just freaking love zombie media #and how it brings out the best AND worst of humanity #it doesn’t even necessarily have to be good #very honorable mentions below #all of us are dead #happiness tvn #izombie #zombieland double tap #black summer #train to busan #the last of us #not really zombies per say but the narrative is the same #I’ll keep adding the more I remember #28 days later #zom 100: bucket list of the dead #high school of the dead #jungkook #school live!

[whynotbehere]

Every time i find a new thing to fixate on, one of these little shits ends up being connected to it.

#stop stalking me #wooga squad #hwarang #happiness tvn #itaewon class #parasite #strong girl bong soon #train to busan #bts v #its okay #i love them

[mkayoung]

ocs as tumblr posts

#kdrama #kdramaedit #happiness tvn #oh my ladylord #she was pretty #about time #are you human too #business proposal #sweet home #the game towards zero #go minsi #ok taecyeon #seol inah #seo kangjoon #park seojoon #lee sungkyung #im jinah #park hyungsik #edits #with love #ch. jaeyong kwan #ch. yeonhee kwan #otp. yeonyong #ch. hanna sterling #ch. charlie jin #otp. jinna #ch. daewon roe #ch. bommi yun #otp. dammi #ch. river seong

[leoamadeus]

nothing is more painful than not being able to browse tumblr abt a show you're watching bc the risk of spoilers is too high

#gilmore girls #used to be #happiness tvn #but i finished it

[mortalorphans]

hi ᡣ𐭩

i’m joey & i’m a trans dude !

tbh this account doesn’t have one singular purpose, i’m part of very many fandoms & i’ll prob post abt most of them :’) it’s also my personal account so, yeah…

⌞i’ll post about daily things (probably, maybe) & i’ll possibly talk about trans things & mental health (i’ll tag it dw) since i have OCD, anxiety, audhd & i’m a system⌝

that being said, i’m an artist & i stopped drawing for a while bc of depression but i’m tryna get back into it & i’m hoping to be able to post art regularly. i don’t really have a specific style yet, i’m still figuring out what my style of art is… but i do really like drawing bodies & doing paper sketches using ballpoint pens of random stuff

i’m also an (amateur) gamer ! i mostly play nintendo icl (splatoon & mario kart usually) but i do play xbox as well & i’m always looking for ppl to play games with bc it can get boring on your own :/

some of my other interests include:

⟡ writing ~ creative writing got me through most of my life & i absolutely love love love writing so much !

⟡ watching tv ~ specifically shows like TMNT, icarly, heartstopper, very many kdramas, some animes, stranger things, only murders in the building, etc. i’m a huge marvel fan too & i’m a total sucker for horror movies & thrillers !

⟡ reading ~ i have so many books but i always go back to that one book i’ve read forty million times. iykyk :’)

⟡ music ~ bring me the horizon, motionless in white, slipknot, twenty one pilots, nothing,nowhere, yungblud, nvthvn, piri, ren, stray kids, twice, itzy, ateez, le serrafim, newjeans, michael jackson, 2mello, bbno$, and more !

⟡ research ~ absolutely adore researching. idc what it’s about. i love to know the how/why/etc. i think this comes from my background in biomedical science?

⟡ other ~ i love going for walks, fashion is a massive love of mine as well, i like cooking a lot too, stargazing, watching reaction videos, and i’m a dancer as well

i hope to make friends here, or at least find people who like the same things as me & hopefully have fun. i’m not new to tumblr but it’s been a long time

see you around ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

#new account #art #artwork #digital art #sketch #queer art #my art #lgbtqia #transmasc #trans ftm #queer #gay #heartstopper #kdrama #happiness tvn #sweet home #nintendo #splatoon #splat3 #inkling #writing #fanfic #writeblr #writer things #bands #bmth #miw #slipknot #moots #art moots

[muslimintp-1999-girl]

This is also like a recommendation list coz all of these are awesome

#signal #memorist #vagabond #beyond evil #flower of evil #happiness #tvn happiness #happiness tvn #tvn signal #signal tvn #kdrama #kdramas #polls #poll

[delicatebluebirdruins]

I got curious and... apparently in South Korea giving people apples is a form of apology... and Andrew gave the sweet old cleaning lady [who he is going to murder soon] and apple... i need to recover

#happiness tvn #happiness kdrama

[arislary]

#aourd #happiness tvn #choi namra #lee soohyuk #yoon sae bom #jung yi hyun #kdramaedit #kdrama #all of us are dead

[muttonthings]

Kdrama Challenge

Day 26: Show that needed more episodes

Happiness

Yumi's Cells

The Witch's Diner

Moving

#kdrama #kdrama challenge #happiness tvn #yumiscells #the witch's diner #moving

[tokkiheart]

My Favorite Supernatural K-Dramas for the Spooky Season

Spooky season is coming up and I wanted to make a list of my personal favorite K-Dramas with Halloween vibes.

Sorry for any zombie lovers out there who may happen to stumble on this list, I’m afraid that I’m not a fan of zombie movies/shows, so you’re literally not going to find any on this list.💔

Hotel Del Luna

I’m going to start this list off with the 2nd K-drama that I ever watched and it’s chocked full of ghosts (a whole hotel full!)

This is a K-Drama about Jang Man-wol, a female not-quite-ghost who is bound to a supernatural hotel for ghosts. At this hotel, the ghosts are taken care of so that they can eventually move on. One day, a living man ends up stumbling his way in to the hotel and attempts to steal from it. Man-wol catches him and ultimately spares his life, for a price. He has to give her his son when he reaches a certain age. Said son eventually gets brought in as the new manager for Hotel Del Luna and he eventually falls in love with Man-wol.

This drama can be a bit slow in places, but it’s really interesting and enjoyable in my opinion. You’ll definitely fall in love with all of the ghosts who work at Hotel Del Luna!

I found this drama hilarious at times and sad at other times, I 100% recommend having a box of tissues ready for the end of the show though, I know that I cried a lot after watching it for the first time. I was an emotional wreck and hid out in my room for a day because I didn’t want my family to know that I had cried that much.

Blood

This is a vampire K-Drama and the only vampire one I’ve seen so far lol To be honest, I don’t even know if I’ve even ever heard of any other vampire K-Dramas. I found this drama’s take on vampires to be very interesting and I rather liked the creativity. Disclaimer though: I still have 7 episodes left to go of this show, but I still recommend it!

This drama is a rom-com medical drama that is about Jisang, a doctor who was born a vampire in a world in which a virus is what turns people into vampires. Jisang doesn’t drink blood and he has a good heart & moral compass, he and his friend/roommate are trying to find a cure for his vampirism. The female lead, Rita, is intrigued by him and wants to learn more about him as she suspects that something about him isn't normal.

I feel like this drama isn’t really well known, I certainly can’t find too many gifs for it here on tumblr and I don't see it used a lot in K-Drama edits on YouTube either lol The tiny blurb you find for this show on Viki and Kocowa really don’t help much in terms of getting attention or interest since they literally just say "A medical drama about a vampire doctor." Which, is true, but is very basic and bare-bones lol

This drama came out in 2015, so it probably seems like it was trying to get in on the vampire craze that swept the world after the hype of Twilight, but it’s definitely better than Twilight (it also has a better love story!). It also has one of my favorite tropes where the romantic leads met as kids.

Happiness

Quite possibly the only zombie-esque show that will ever wind up on any of my list since I don’t like zombies lol

This wonderful show is about a fake married battle couple who scored a sweet sweet deal on an apartment just before the zombie pandemic breaks out because the female lead Yoon Sae Bom got enough points due to her job performance and also getting fake married to her friend since high school, Jung Yi Hyun (who has been in love with her since literally falling for her in high school).

Honestly, someone experienced the pandemic and was like: This, but zombies.

Anyway, this show has just the right mix of slight horror elements, social commentary, fluff, humor, heart, found family elements, capped off with a delicious slow-burn friends to lovers story arc.

My Roommate Is A Gumiho

Making a return appearance on one of my lists, is this show. Can you tell that I love it?

On top of the supernatural element already present in this drama with there being a Gumiho as the first male lead and an ex-Gumiho as the second female lead, there's also some horror-y scenes early on in this show which feel perfect for the spooky season.

Overall though, this drama is pretty light and extremely funny, so if you're looking for something softer to enjoy during spooky season, this drama could fit the bill!

Goblin: The Great & Lonely God

This drama is considered a classic for anyone to watch I think. This show has great autumn vibes that are perfect for the season and it’s a cute, funny show, also heartwarming and heartbreaking.

You’ve got ghosts, grim reapers, some gods(?) and our Goblin.

The Sound of Magic

This is potentially a weird drama to add on this, but since my lists are limited to what I have seen so far, this is getting added for reasons lol

This drama is a musical and is available on Netflix. To really briefly summarize this show, it's about a girl who had to grow up too quickly because she has to support both herself and her younger sister, who were abandoned by her dad who is running away from loan sharks. She happens to meet a magician who never really grew up (and likes it that way) and appears to perform real magic!

It's an interesting drama which is definitely worth the watch! It's got some scary/horror-y elements to it, so that's why I'm including it on this list. The show only has 6 episodes, each at an hour long, so you could finish this show in less than a day.

Doom At Your Service

I'm gonna say that I'm including this because Doom is essentially like the grim reaper, but more? He’s the embodiment of death and destruction and he can be pretty scary. He's especially scary in episode 12.

Some Supernatural K-Dramas On My List To Watch:

Adding this section just to highlight some dramas that I know of that also fit this list. While I haven’t seen them yet, I am interested in seeing them over the course of this spooky season!

Bring It On, Ghost

A drama about a college student who can see and communicate with ghosts and decides to use those skills to work as a exorcist to earn some extra money.

Oh My Ghostess

I would be lying if I said that this wasn’t on my list because of a bias’s cameo in the show (that bias is Seo In Guk).

Anyway, this show is about a “painfully shy and timid” woman who has the ability to see ghosts and works as an assistant chef at a restaurant whose star chef she happens to have a crush on. She ends up being possessed by the ghost of a young woman who died without ever having experienced any romance in her short life, so she basically wants to live vicariously through the female lead.

Master’s Sun

A K-Drama that is very basically about a woman who can see ghosts, but suddenly can’t whenever she happens to touch this one rich guy. Due to this, she tries to stick around him so she doesn’t have to see ghosts.

I’ll be honest, I have only considered watching this show because of Seo In Guk. I made it a goal to watch as much of my bias’ filmographies as humanly possible.

The Guest

Something that was suggested to me, it’s a little out of my comfort zone, but it seems pretty interesting, so I’m willing to give it a go! This K-Drama is about three people who are bound together by a tragic past: a psychic, a priest and a detective. Together, they work to bring down a powerful, bloodthirsty spirit.

Kissable Lips

I came across this K-Drama on Viki, it’s a short 8 episode long BL drama about a vampire who is tired of being a vampire, but the only way to bring an end to his immortal existence is to drink the blood of a pure human in order to become human himself. Apparently, pure blood humans are incredibly rare, but he manages to find one, who is clueless about the fact that he is one.

Apparently there’s also a love triangle (I guess I’ll just have to grin and bear it), but otherwise this seems like a pretty interesting show and I’m willing to kill like an hour and a half watching it for the sake of the spooky season lol You can watch it as episodes or as a movie apparently.

Sell Your Haunted House

This is a K-Drama about a woman who is the owner of a realtor company that specializes in selling haunted houses as she happens to have inherited exorcism abilities from her mother. She ends up teaming up some conman who suggests that they start exclusively selling houses which are haunted by vengeful spirits and lingering ghosts.

This is a romantic comedy with what sounds like an interesting premise, so I’m willing to give it a go!

#kdrama recs #kdrama recommendations #kdramas #kdrama #doom at your service #my roommate is a gumiho #hotel del luna #blood kdrama #happiness tvn #goblin the lonely and great god #the sound of magic #bring it on ghost #oh my ghostess #the guest #kissable lips #sell your haunted house