17 Revenge K-Dramas With Gripping Plots & Satisfying Endings
If you have a thirst for, well, revenge storylines, then you'll want to watch these equally thrilling K-dramas
By Cheryl Lai-Lim and Hana Lee -
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There’s nothing sweeter than a good K-drama revenge plot: a traumatising origin story that kickstarts the entire narrative, gripping plot twists that will have you on the edge of your seat, and a satisfying ending where vengeance is served in favour of the one seeking revenge.
Thankfully, there are plenty of choice picks when it comes to such shows. Whether you’re on the hunt for a new K-drama to satiate your sense of justice or after a heart-pumping thriller, these revenge Korean dramas should do the trick.
The Glory
The plot: Revenge is a dish best-served cold (alongside plenty of drama) in The Glory. Screen darling Song Hye-kyo stars as the main protagonist Moon Dong-eun. Having been subjected to extremely violent bullying and assault by four of her classmates in school as a young teenager, Dong-eun is now a woman hell-bent on revenge. She concocts an elaborate plan that’s dark and thrilling, with only one goal in mind: the downfall of her bullies.
The cast: Song Hye-kyo, Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-yeon
Watch it on: Netflix
The Impossible Heir
The plot: When Kang In-ha (Lee Jun-young) finds out he is the illegitimate son of a conglomerate owner, he sets out to claim his place in the family. However, he is looked down upon by his new family. His childhood friend, Han Tae-oh (Lee Jae-wook), is a cold person, having been mocked for being the child of a murderer. When they become adults, the two unlikely friends team up to help In-ha rise to the top of his family's company.
The cast: Lee Jun-young, Lee Jae-wook, Hong Su-zu
Watch it on: Disney+
Vigilante
The plot: Based on a Korean comic, this drama revolves around the story of a man who lives a double life: in the day, he is a model student at the police academy, and at night, he hunts criminals who received light sentences despite the severity of their crimes. He started his vigilante ways after his own experience — a man had killed his mum for no apparent reason, but only received a jail term of three-and-a-half years. After he became an adult, he saw that the killer continued his deviant ways, and took matters into his own hands by beating him up. Meanwhile, Jo Heon, the team leader of an investigation team, hunts down the Vigilante.
The cast: Nam Joo-hyuk, Yoo Ji-tae, Lee Jun-hyuk
Watch it on: Disney+
The Penthouse: War in Life
The plot: You can't talk about revenge dramas without mentioning The Penthouse. The drama best describes what a "makjang" or soap opera is, with its twists and turns as the episodes and seasons progress. The drama follows the lives of the rich who reside in luxury apartment Hera Palace. Their lives take a turn when a young girl who was their children's classmate falls to her death at the apartment. While investigating her death, the families find themselves entangled in murders, frauds, and more.
The cast: Lee Ji-ah, Kim so-yeon, Eugene, Um Ki-joon
Watch it on: Viu and Netflix
Perfect Marriage Revenge
The plot: Love a good family drama? And by that, we mean a family that is dramatic. Then this one's for you. Jung yoo-min plays Han Yi-joo, the eldest adopted daughter of a rich family. Despite her attempts to win her family over, they remain cold towards her. She is a talented painter, and helps her mother paint imitations of famous paintings.
However, she realises her mother has been using the paintings for scams and made her the scapegoat. She also finds out her husband is in love with her younger sister, and has filed for divorce. She runs away and gets into a serious car accident, but survives. However, she is killed by her mother's assistant in the hospital. When she wakes up, she finds herself living a year before the accident, and realises she has been given a second chance at life. She vows to exact revenge on the family and her husband.
The cast: Jung Yoo-min, Sung Hoon, Jin Ji-hee
Watch it on: Viu
Marry My Husband
The plot: You might have heard of this drama or even seen the cuts on TikTok. When it comes to revenge dramas, few are as satisfying as this. It follows the story of Kang Ji-won, a cancer patient who was murdered after witnessing her husband having an affair with her best friend.
Following the intervention of her deceased father's spirit, she is brought back to life, and finds herself travelling back in time to before she married her future husband. She vows to exact revenge on the two of them, by setting them up to marry, so her best friend would go through the same hardships she did when she was in the marriage.
The cast: Park Min-young, Na In-woo, Lee Yi-kyung
Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video
Red Swan
The plot: Kim Ha-neul plays the characters of Oh Wan-soo, a top golf player who marries the heir to the Hwain Group. She becomes the chairperson for a foundation, and spends her time doing philanthropic work. Seo Do-yoon (Rain) joins the security team and becomes her new bodyguard. He graduated from the police academy, and is gifted in martial arts. However, he has an ulterior motive for joining the company. Through him, Wan-soo finds out that the family has been keeping a secret.
The cast: Kim Ha-neul, Rain
Watch it on: Disney+
Taxi Driver
The plot: If you haven't watched Taxi Driver, we recommend watching both seasons one and two, because every episode is worth your time. The drama revolves around a group of workers from a taxi company who helps victims or families of victims of crimes exact revenge or bring the criminals to justice, when the law has failed to. Each member of the team also has a personal trauma, which makes them empathetic to the victims, and willing to go the extra mile to make sure justice is served.
The cast: Lee Je-hoon, Esom, Pyo Ye-jin
Watch it on: Viu and Netflix
Snow White's Revenge
The plot: If you're all about the soap drama life, you're in for a ride with this. This 96-episode series follows the story of Moon Jung-in, an ambitious woman who married for money. She stole her husband's assets and ran away to set up her own entertainment company. She meets Jin-ho, a man who aspires to be an actor, and looks like her first love. But Jin-ho is engaged to Seol-ah. When Jin-ho disappears because of Jung-in, she plans to get revenge against her. This is not her first encounter with Jung-in, as the man Jung-in stole assets from and left hung out to dry is Seol-ah's father.
The cast: Han Bo-reum, Han Chae-young, Choi Woong
Watch it on: Viu
Again My Life
The plot: If you could have a do-over in your life, how would you change it? For prosecutor Kim Hee-woo (Lee Joon-gi), it meant taking the man responsible for his death to justice. The prosecutor was killed by a corrupt politician, Cho Tae-sub, while investigating his crimes against his superiors' advice. In the afterlife, he meets a grim reaper who gives him a chance at a second life, with the condition that he brings Tae-sub to justice. When he awakens, he finds himself back to 15 years ago, before he entered college, and prior to his parents' deaths.
The cast: Lee Joon-gi, Kim Ji-eun
Watch it on: Viu
Vincenzo
The plot: Another Song Joong-ki revenge drama that is worth watching is Vincenzo, in which he plays a lawyer who was adopted by the Italian mafia and became their consigliere. After the death of his adopted father, his adopted brother tried to kill him, leading him to flee to Seoul. He tries to recover gold bullions that his business partner had hidden in a building before he died. However, he finds out that the Babel Group has illegally taken over the building with the intention of demolishing it. He plans to stop it, and teams up with lawyer Hong Cha-young whose father was killed by the Group after discovering that the company is a shell company for a drug cartel.
The cast: Song Joong-ki, Ok Taec-yeon, Jeon Yeo-been
Watch it on: Netflix
Remarriage & Desires
The plot: Rex is an exclusive matchmaking agency that caters to the wealthy. Their clientele are the people who want to marry rich, and the rich who want to maintain their social status through marriage or remarriage. Among their clients are Seo Hye-seung (Kim Hee-seon) and Lee Hyung-ju (Lee Hyun-wook), who sign up with their own agenda. For Hye-seung, the agenda is revenge.
The cast: Kim Hye-sun, Lee Hyun-wook, Jeong Eu-gene
Watch it on: Netflix
Eve
The plot: Revenge that is 13 years in the making — that is the main plot of Eve. Seo Yea-ji acts as Lee La-el, whose father was killed when she was a teenager. His death was orchestrated by Kang Yoon-gyeom and his family. As an adult, she seeks revenge by seducing him, but ends up falling for him. Yoon-gyeom, unaware of her real identity, continues the affair with her. La-el is aided by Seo Eun-pyung, a human rights lawyer who helped her flee South Korea after her father was murdered. A word of caution: there is a sex scene in this drama, so make sure the kids are asleep if you're streaming this on TV.
The cast: Seo Yea-ji, Park Byung-eun, Yoo Sun
Watch it on: Viu and Netflix
Reborn Rich
The plot: Song Joong-ki is no stranger to revenge storylines, having starred as a revenge-seeking lawyer and a consigliere for the mafia in his 2021 hit, Vincenzo. In Reborn Rich, he is now a trusted employee at Soonyang Group. He is betrayed and murdered by a member of the Soonyang family to cover up a tax evasion scheme, but instead of dying, he finds himself transported back to 1987 in the body of the youngest son of the same family.
Seeking revenge for the injustice he suffered, he plots a hostile takeover of the Soonyang Group. His revenge plan is carefully laid out over a series of surprising plot twists.
The cast: Song Joong-ki, Lee Sung-min, Shin Hyun-been
Watch it on: Viu
Mine
The plot: Revenge is complicated in Korean melodrama Mine. The popular series offers a peek behind the gold-clad life of secrets and life in high society and portrays ambitious women on their self-identity discovery journey whilst freeing themselves from the prejudices of society.
Veteran actress Lee Bo Young is Seo Hee Soo, a former top star who gives up her thriving career to become the second daughter-in-law of the Hyowon Group chaebol group. However, she soon realises that her husband isn’t the man she thought she had married – and she starts fighting for what is rightfully hers after the truth about him unravels.
The cast: Lee Bo Young, Kim Seo-hyung, Ok Ja-yeon
Watch it on: Netflix
My Name
The plot: Gritty and intense, noir crime and thriller series My Name is full of unexpected twists. Han So-hee brings main character Yoon Ji-woo to life. Ji-woo, who witnessed her father’s murder, is determined to seek revenge. To avenge her late father, she joins a crime syndicate. After undergoing rigorous training to hone her fighting skills, she changes her identity and infiltrates the police force, in order to find the man who killed her father.
The cast: Han So-hee, Park Hee-soon, Ahn Bo-hyun
Watch it on: Netflix
Lawless Lawyer
The plot: In this courtroom thriller, a former gangster-turned-lawyer (played by Lee Joon-gi) and a righteous lawyer who had her licence suspended (portrayed by Seo Ye-ji) team up to avenge the death of their mothers, who were murdered. Their opponents include one of South Korea’s powerful and revered judges and a gangster-turned-politician. Be warned: almost every episode ends on a cliffhanger, and you’ll likely spend sleepless nights finishing all 16 episodes.
The cast: Seo Ye-ji, Lee Joon-gi, Lee Hye-young, Choi Min-soo
Watch it on: Netflix
A version of this article was originally published on Her World.