7 K-Dramas To Watch If You Can’t Get Enough Of Seo In Guk’s Charm

There are some actors who defy labels like Seo In Guk. Having seamlessly shifted between genres throughout his career, he has consistently showcased remarkable ease and depth in every role.

From playing an endearing high schooler in the ’90s, to a warm-hearted chaebol heir, he switches gears and is also able to portray a brilliant profiler as well as a grim reaper. His versatility and performances have earned him both critical and commercial acclaim.

Seo In Guk has returned with a new rom-com, the office drama “See You At Work Tomorrow,” where he plays a prickly boss named Kang Si Woo. When Kang Si Woo gets entangled with his colleague, Ji Yoon (Park Ji Hyun), an unexpected romance unfolds. If you’re loving his new drama, here are seven more dramas which showcase his enduring charm.

“Reply 1997”

Seo In Guk shot to stardom with his breakout role as Yoon Yoon Jae, a reserved but fiercely loyal high school student secretly in love with his childhood best friend, Sung Shi Won (Jeong Eun Ji). However, Shi Won is hopelessly devoted to H.O.T and Tony An, and she only regards Yoon Jae as nothing more than a buddy.

Set in 1990s Busan, the nostalgic coming-of-age drama follows a close-knit group of friends as they navigate first love, identity, family, and their obsession with first-generation K-pop idols. And a present-day reunion gradually reveals who ends up with whom. Anchored by Seo In Guk and Jeong Eun Ji’s effortless chemistry, “Reply 1997” remains one of K-drama’s defining youth romances and the series that launched Seo In Guk into leading-man status.

Start watching “Reply 1997”:

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“High School King”

In “High School King,” Seo In Guk showcases his impeccable comedic timing as Lee Min Seok, a carefree high school hockey player who is forced to impersonate his older brother as a corporate executive.

What follows is Min Seok attempting to secretly run a corporate retail division during the day, play hockey and attend class at night, and not get caught by literally anyone, including Jung Soo Young (Lee Ha Na), the quirky, sharp-tongued secretary who is assigned to assist the “new director.” As Soo Young slowly starts to figure out that something is very wrong, Lee Soo Hyuk adds to the romantic tension as the suave executive Yoo Jin Woo.

Seo In Guk is essentially playing three characters at once: the hot-headed teenager, the composed executive he’s impersonating, and the version of himself that’s slowly falling for a woman nearly a decade older than him. And he makes all three completely convincing. It’s a pure comfort watch with some of the best comedic timing he’s shown on screen.

“Shopping King Louie”

Kang Ji Sung (Seo In Guk), nicknamed Louie, is the sole heir to Gold Group and the beloved grandson of its chairman. He has spent his entire life in a palace in France, pampered by the staff, and holds a bank balance large enough to buy anything that takes his fancy — and the habit of doing exactly that.

A trip back home to Korea ends in a car crash that strips him of his memory entirely, leaving him homeless in Seoul with no idea who he is. Go Bok Shil (Nam Ji Hyun), a warm-hearted young woman from the countryside who has come to Seoul to find her missing brother, finds Louie on the street and takes him in. He slowly becomes completely dependent on her while continuing to instinctively blow her modest earnings on things he doesn’t need. She alternates between exasperation and a helpless fondness for his puppy-like sincerity. However, unfolding behind the scenes at the Gold Group is a power play.

Watch it on a day when you need a drama that will make you smile for 16 episodes straight. Seo In Guk’s Louie is completely and irresistibly charming. This is the comfort drama that turned a lot of people into permanent Seo In Guk fans.

Start watching “Shopping King Louie”:

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“I Remember You”

This drama features Seo In Guk as a genius criminal profiler with a sharp tongue and a traumatic past. Lee Hyun (Seo In Guk) left Korea years ago to work as a profiler in the U.S., but a cryptic anonymous email about a murder case pulls him back home and unlocks a buried memory: as a child, he witnessed something involving a notorious criminal, and his younger brother Min disappeared shortly after.

Now, back in Korea and reluctantly helping the police’s Special Crime Investigation Team, Hyun crosses paths with Ji An (Jang Nara), a stubborn, emotionally tenacious detective who has been quietly investigating him for years and knows far more about his past than he does.

However, the enigma in the case is Jung Sun Ho (Park Bo Gum), a seemingly gentle young man whose connection to Lee Hyun runs deeper and darker than anything Hyun is prepared for.

Seo In Guk gives a performance that is completely controlled and quietly devastating, and you also get a gut punch from Park Bo Gum, who steals every scene he’s in. The central mystery of “is evil born or made?” drives the whole drama, and it asks that question with a lot more intelligence than most crime dramas bother to.

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“Doom at Your Service”

On the worst day of her life, the anniversary of her parents’ death, the day she discovers she has three months to live from a brain tumor, and the same day she finds out her boyfriend has a pregnant wife, Tak Dong Kyung (Park Bo Young) drunkenly wishes for the world to be doomed.

Her wish is heard by Myul Mang (Seo In Guk), a supernatural messenger between gods and humans whose very presence causes destruction: countries disappear when he breathes, seasons collapse when he walks, and lives are extinguished when he smiles.

Exhausted by his immortal existence and genuinely considering ending the world himself, Myul Mang shows up at Dong Kyung’s door and makes her a deal: he will let her live out her remaining 100 days however she wants without pain in exchange for her eventual wish for total doom. But neither of them is prepared for what happens next.

Seo In Guk delivers a restrained performance as a being who has never once been allowed to love anything, and he effortlessly shows what happens to him when he isn’t able to stop himself from loving anyway. His chemistry with Park Bo Young is incredible, quiet, and achingly bittersweet.

Start watching “Doom at Your Service”:

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“Café Minamdang”

Nam Han Joon (Seo In Guk) used to be one of Korea’s best criminal profilers. Now, he runs Minamdang, a high-end fake shaman café in Seoul where he reads fortunes, charges Seoul’s elite obscene amounts of money for “guidance,” and uses his profiling skills to make his readings so eerily accurate that no one ever suspects they’re being conned.

Running the operation with him is his childhood friend and muscle, Gong Soo Chul (Kwak Si Yang). Into this comfortable scam walks Han Jae Hee (Oh Yeon Seo), a passionate, relentless homicide detective in the major crimes unit who has been chasing the same criminal network for years. She immediately clocks that Nam Han Joon is not what he appears to be.

Working the same dangerous case from opposite sides of the law, their reluctant alliance — her badge and his instincts — brings them face to face with a web of corruption that reaches all the way up to assemblymen, police chiefs, and corporate power players.

Watch it for Seo In Guk who is genuinely funny, charismatic, quick, and completely in command of every scene. He does the conman-with-a-conscience thing he was clearly born to play so well.

“The Smile Has Left Your Eyes”

Kim Moo Young (Seo In Guk) is a mysterious figure who is unable to recall his traumatic past. It’s not just his memories that have disappeared, but also his conscience. He’s a master manipulator who charms and wreaks havoc with a smile that never quite reaches his eyes.

Yoo Jin Kang (Jung So Min) is warm, stubborn, and deeply kind — everything Moo Young isn’t — and from the moment they meet, she gets under his skin in a way no one ever has. Her older brother, Yoo Jin Kook (Park Sung Woong), is a detective who has been investigating a murder case that keeps circling back to Moo Young. And Yoo Jin Kook will do anything to keep his sister away from a man he is certain is dangerous.

The pressing question is: can a person who has never been allowed to love anyone actually learn how? The answer, when it comes in the final episode, will leave you sitting in complete silence.

Seo In Guk conveys Moo Young’s ambiguity entirely through his eyes. Is he a sociopath, or a broken man desperately trying to find his way back to himself? He delivers one of the finest performances of his career. The love story will break your heart, so keep the tissues handy, just in case.

Start watching “The Smile Has Left Your Eyes”:

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Puja Talwar is a Soompi writer with a strong Yoo Yeon Seok and Lee Junho bias. A long time K-drama fan, she loves devising alternate scenarios to the narratives. She has interviewed Lee Min Ho, Gong Yoo, Cha Eun Woo, and Ji Chang Wook to name a few. You can follow her on @puja_talwar7 on Instagram.