When you realize the second lead was also a good choice. Second Lead Syndrome changes everything.

*These are some honorable mentions:

1) Hometown Cha Cha Cha
2) Marriage Not Dating
3) Nevertheless
4) Once Upon a Time in a Small Town
5) The King: Eternal Monarch
6) Start Up
7) Wait, My Youth
8) Use For My Talent
9) The Sound of Magic
10) Itaewon Class
11) Somewhere Only We Know
12) Kiss Sixth Sense
13) Tell Me That You Love Me

They (could have) Picked the Second Lead.

KBS2

Working-class highschooler Jan Di (Ku Hye Sun) secures a scholarship at the prestigious Shin Hwa High School. Shin Hwa is attended by elites, most infamously the F4 — the four richest boys in school. Not one to stir up trouble, Jan Di keeps to herself... until her best friend accidentally drops ice cream on F4 leader Goo Joon Pyo (Lee Min Ho). After Jan Di stands up for her friend, her anonymity goes out the window and the F4 won't leave her alone. However, as Jan Di learns more about the F4, she realizes that there's more than meets the eye... and it seems Joon Pyo feels the same way. Will this unlikely duo find romance? Released in 2009 and based on the Japanese manga of the same name, this drama is a worldwide phenomenon and a fan-favorite classic. It was directed by the late Jeon Ki Sang and Lee Min Woo.

Boys Over Flowers

🌸The Fabulous Four Team🌸

School bullies have made life hell for Im Ju Gyeong (Mun Ka Young), who torment her relentlessly for being “ugly.” So when she transfers high schools, she decides to turn over a new leaf by using tips she learns from social media to transform her appearance! Donning a new look and carefully maintaining her "ugly secret," she slowly gains confidence in herself while making genuine friends including Lee Su Ho (Cha Eun Woo), the most popular boy at school, and his close-friend-turned-rival, Han Seo Jun (Hwang In Yeop), a troublemaker with a kind heart. Caught in a love triangle and constantly at risk for having her secret exposed, what will happen if Ju Gyeong's new friends learn about the "real" her? Will she find true love with either of her suitors? This series was adapted from the viral 2018 webtoon "True Beauty".

True Beauty

True Beauty Team

Kim Tan (Lee Min Ho)’s wealthy parents have been grooming him to take over the lucrative family business, the Empire Group, since he was just a young boy. His jealous older half-brother Kim Won (Choi Jin Hyuk) – already a successful executive at the firm – is a constant thorn in Tan’s side. Tan, meanwhile, is engaged to an heiress, Rachel Ryu (Kim Ji Won), the scion of a powerful, hotel-owning family. But while he is studying in the United States, Tan meets and falls for Cha Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye), unaware that she is the daughter of his family’s housekeeper. As super-rich families hatch plans for their children’s future, could love put an end to their ambitious schemes? This 2013 South Korean drama series was directed by Kang Shin Hyo and Boo Sung Chul.

Heirs

The Heirs Team

After losing her mother and finding out that her college funds were stolen by her cruel stepmother, Eun Ha Won (Park So Dam) is in desperate need of a job. After a chance encounter with an incredibly wealthy old man who admires her straightforward personality, Ha Won becomes a housekeeper for the man’s three grandsons. Living with the brooding Kang Ji Woon (Jung Il Woo), the charming Kang Hyeon Min (Ahn Jae Hyun), and the affable Kang Seo Woo (Lee Jung Shin), Ha Won faces unexpected challenges and even more unexpected romantic tension. As her relationship with the cousins deepens, she must navigate her new life and determine where her heart truly lies. This 2016 South Korean romance drama was directed by Kwon Hyuk Chan and Lee Min Woo, based on the web novel of the same name by Lee Min Young.

Cinderella and Four Knights

✨ Cinderella's Knights ✨

Sung Deok Mi (Park Min Young) is a dedicated art gallery curator who’s even more dedicated to her “job” as the fansite owner for boy group member Cha Shi An (Jung Je Won). While Deok Mi keeps her fangirl activities a secret at her day job, the new gallery director Ryan Gold (Kim Jae Wook) manages to discover her extracurricular activities. As Ryan learns more about Deok Mi's secret, he disrupts her carefully guarded life, sparking unexpected changes. With her personal and professional worlds colliding, Deok Mi must navigate the complexities of love, fandom, and her secret. Can she keep her passion concealed, or will it redefine her life forever? This 2019 Korean drama was based on the webtoon “Noona Fan Dot Com” by Kim Sung Yeon, and was directed by Hong Jong Chan.

Her Private Life

The Undercover Sasaeng Team

Tencent TV

Seventeen-year-old high school friends and neighbors Chen Xiaoxi (Shen Yue) and Jiang Chen (Hu Yi Tian) have grown up together. Although they share a close bond, they’re very different: Xiao Xi is easygoing and doesn’t like to study much, while Jiang Chen is known as an A student and is well-liked because of his good looks. Despite their differences, Xiaoxi has a secret crush on her childhood friend, and Jiang Chen pretends he doesn’t notice or care, but his feelings for his neighbor aren’t entirely platonic either. As they begin the transition into adulthood, will they finally have the courage to take their relationship out of the friendzone? This 2017 Chinese drama series was based on the novel “To Our Pure Little Beauty” by Zhao Gang An and was directed by Yang Long.

A Love So Beautiful

Pure Love Team

Yoon So Ah (Shin Se Kyung), a pragmatic neuropsychiatrist, struggles with her family’s ancient duty to serve Ha Baek (Nam Joo Hyuk), a reincarnated water god. As So Ah navigates her demanding medical practice and the burden of this strange legacy, Ha Baek begins to develop feelings for her. However, their relationship faces complications from Hoo Ye (Im Joo Hwan), a CEO who clashes with So Ah over land but falls for her, and Moo Ra (Krystal Jung), a goddess from the Water Kingdom who resents So Ah for capturing Ha Baek's affection. Meanwhile, Bi Ryeom (Gong Myung), a wind god with unspoken feelings for Moo Ra, adds to the tension. Can So Ah and Ha Baek's unusual relationship withstand these celestial rivalries and find a future together? This 2017 South Korean drama was based on the webcomic by Yoon Mi Kyung and was directed by Kim Byung Soo.

The Bride of Habaek

Is it raining yet?

JTBC

Born from a long line of women gifted with monumental strength, Do Bong Soon (Park Bo Young) is far from ordinary. Only able to use her power for good, Bong Soon agrees to work as a bodyguard for Ahn Min Hyeok (Park Hyung Sik), the recently endangered chaebol heir and CEO of gaming company Ainsoft. With dreams of developing a video game of her own, Bong Soon hopes that by working with Min Hyeok, she’ll find a way to turn her dreams into reality. Meanwhile, her childhood friend, Detective Gook Doo (Ji Soo), is on the hunt for a kidnapper whose path soon crosses with Bong Soon. Using her gifts for the greatest good, will Bong Soon find her life full of everything she’s dreamed of and more? This is a 2017 South Korean romantic comedy series directed by Lee Hyung Min.

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Small but Mighty Team

During the Joseon Dynasty when women were not expected to be smart or allowed to be educated, Kim Yoon Hee (Park Min Young) was both. 

After her father passes away and her brother becomes ill, Yoon Hee disguises herself as a boy and takes on her brother’s identity to get odd jobs and help support her struggling family. When she realizes that there is good money to be made, Yoon Hee begins to take the entrance exams in the place of other students who want to get into the prestigious Sungkyunkwan University. 

During one such test, Yoon Hee is discovered to be perpetrating the illegal activity by the morally upright Lee Sun Joon (Park Yoochun), who threatens to turn her in. 

But believing that Yoon Hee is a boy, Sun Joon encourages her to take the test herself (with her brother’s identity). Both pass the exam and get into the university and become roommates. As Yoon Hee is now enjoying the glories of getting a higher education, she befriends the playboy Goo Yong Ha (Song Joong Ki) and the rebellious Moon Jae Shin (Yoo Ah In) and starts to develop feelings for Sun Joon – all the while trying to keep her true gender a secret from her new friends and the other male students. 

Can she keep up the charade long enough to get the education she desires and keep her emotions at bay? 

“Sungkyunkwan Scandal” is a 2010 South Korean drama series directed by Kim Won Suk and Hwang In Hyuk. It is based on the bestselling novel The Lives of SungKyunKwan Confucian Scholars by Jung Eon Gweol. The series won numerous drama awards, and Park Min Young and Park Yoochun received numerous Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Couple awards.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Hwayugi follows the story of Jin Seon Mi (Oh Yeon Seo), who was born with the ability to see spirits. One day, she is asked by a strange man Woo Ma Wang (Cha Seung Won) to retrieve a fan from a haunted house. She is blocked by Son Oh Gong (Lee Seung Gi) who asks her to blow out five candles to free him in exchange for protection. Upon doing so, her memory is erased by Son Oh Gong, who runs away.
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Years later, Jin Seon Mi, now running a real estate business specializing in stigmatized properties, bumps into Son Oh Gong, who is trying to do good deeds in order to have his immortal status restored by Heaven. Through radical circumstances, Son Oh Gong is now bound to Jin Seon Mi and must protect her from supernatural forces, or risk his own goals. What fate lies ahead for this odd partnership?

Hwayugi

The Monkey Minions

Ji Hong is a doctor who decided to become a high school teacher. He meets Hye Jung, a reckless student who happens to be his favorite neighbor’s granddaughter, and later turns out to be his student. Their deep relationship leads them to face accusations of being in a romantic student-teacher relationship. Thirteen years later, they suddenly bump into each other in the neurosurgery department of the same hospital. Hye Jung is determined to avenge her grandmother’s death, believing it was due to medical malpractice, while Ji Hong is out to protect his high school sweetheart. They face numerous challenges in the operating room and within their relationship, while political disputes involving the hospital and its investors also provide obstacles.

Doctors

Nerves Gone Wild Team

Growing up an ordinary country blacksmith, Lee Soo (Seo Ji Hoon) had no idea he would ever rule all of Joseon; but, at the age of twenty-three, that’s exactly what happened. Now as king, Lee Soo is finding it hard to adapt to the restrictions of palace life, especially where matters of the heart are concerned.

Having loved Gae Ddong (Gong Seung Yeon) for as long as he can remember, he always thought she would be the one he would someday marry; but now, as king, that dream has become nothing short of impossible. As a commoner, Lee Soo has no chance of making Gae Ddong his bride but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

Hiring the best matchmaking agency in Joseon, Lee Soo asks the talented Flower Crew to transform his first love into a noblewoman. Accepting the king’s request, Ma Hoon (Kim Min Jae), Do Joon (Byun Woo Suk), and Go Young Soo (Park Ji Hoon) take Gae Ddong into their care. There’s just one problem, transformations like this aren’t easy and there’s a lot of work to do!

Risking their lives to help the king, can the Flower Crew help Gae Ddong blossom into a beautiful noble flower or will this job prove to be impossible?

Based on the novel by Kim Yi Rang, “Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency” is a 2019 historical romantic comedy drama directed by Kim Ga Ram.

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