K-DRAMA

The Heart-Pounding Time Between Imagination and Reality

The “K” brands, taking the first letter of Korea, are spreading across the world. They have taken root as a trusted brand for people. As people are spending more time at home due to the pandemic, the K-content market is embracing an unexpected boom. The most popular of all is K-Drama. The fast-paced and breathtaking storylines, compact organization, thought-provoking plots, appropriate editing with no boring moments, and the most good-looking celebrities starring in TV dramas are attractive enough to catch everyone’s attention. Recently, as the OTT market where people can watch TV programs on the Internet is expanding, K-Dramas are being exported worldwide across national borders. In this episode, we take a look at how to enjoy K-Dramas twice as much as before.

1. Read the original stories of K-Dramas where you can imagine the scenes

K-Dramas are riding a perfect wave with the development of OTT (Over-The-Top) services and are being widely enjoyed around the world. Netflix, the biggest pay-to-watch streaming service in the world, is basking in soaring profits as more people are staying home due to the pandemic. The number of paid subscribers in the first quarter more than doubled year on year, and it has recorded exponential growth reaching 45.2 billion won worth of brand value. The best supporter behind such rapid growth is indeed the K-Dramas. Ranking in the top 10 most-watched dramas in almost all Asian countries, including Japan, Hongkong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, is proof that K-Dramas are winning fans around the world.

Netflix’s Original “The School Nurse Files,” recently produced and funded by Netflix, is drawing great popularity in Korea and the world. School nurse Ahn Eun-Young, who has a special ability to see ‘jellies’ invisible to others, discovers a hidden mystery in a high school she was newly assigned to and goes on adventures to solve the mystery with her colleagues. This fantasy drama’s original story is <School Nurse Ahn Eunyoung (Minumsa)>, a full-length novel written by Chung Se-Rang. The book has other entertaining elements than the drama, as there is room for imagination alongside various episodes. If you could not fully understand the story in the drama, you may want to look at the book’s details. So, if you would like to catch two birds – the fun of imagination and cute visual elements – at once, we recommend you to watch the drama with the book in your hand.

Meanwhile, “When the Weather is Fine” is a drama about peaceful love. It is a heartwarming romance novel where the main character moves to the countryside after being exhausted by their busy urban life and meets her classmate from a long time ago running an independent bookstore. Its original story is <I’ll Find You on a Beautiful Day (Sigongsa)>.If you would like to experience the sweetness and fluttering moments of love along with the beautiful scenes in the drama, how about reading this book, too? You will find yourself smiling as you feel small but precious happiness as you flip the last page of the book.