Kim Shin, a decorated military general from the Goryeo Dynasty, is framed as a traitor and killed by his master, the young King. Years after his death, he is cursed by the almighty to stay immortal forever and endure the pain of seeing his loved ones die as a punishment for the beastly killings he committed in the wars to protect his country. He becomes an immortal goblin, helping people with his powers and being a kind man in spite of his grieving past. The only way to put an end to his immortality is the Goblin's bride, who can see and remove the sword in his chest and end his painful life. Closer to the present day, Kim Shin has waited 900 years for a human bride to end his immortal life. One night, he saves a dying pregnant woman who is destined to die. The woman gives birth to a baby girl named Ji Eun Tak. 19 years later, Ji Eun Tak is a bubbly high school student who remains cheerful and hopeful despite her tragic life. She summons the goblin by chance and their fates begin to entwine. Kim Shin's nephew Yoo Deok Hwa leases Shin's house to a Grim Reaper and the two end up living under the same roof. Sunny is a charismatic young lady who runs a chicken shop in which Ji Eun Tak works as a part timer. As the lives of Kim Shin, Grim Reaper, Ji Eun Tak and Sunny interweave, a deeper story unfolds as they are not just strangers who met-by chance but people with deep-rooted relations.

Cha Eun Ho is a successful and handsome writer who is also the youngest chief editor at a publishing company. He has a calm demeanor and remains reasonable at work. He then becomes involved in the life of his childhood friend, Kang Dan Yi who was once a popular copywriter. She is now divorced, a single mother, unemployed and struggling in life though still attempts to find a job, but even with her once good career, she cannot. However, in a desperate attempt to find a job, she lies about her background and begins to work as a temporary worker in the same building under none other than Cha Eun Ho. As they become involved in each other's life more than often, a love story begins to unfold.

Inspired by a classic Joseon legend from Korea's first collection of unofficial historical tales, about a fisherman who captured and kidnapped a mermaid, this drama tells the love story between the son of a Joseon noble family named Kim Dam Ryung (Lee Min Ho) and a mermaid he named Se Hwa (Jun Ji Hyun). Sometime during August, 1598, newly appointed governor Kim Dam Ryung stays for a night at an inn run by Lord Yang (Sung Dong Il). During that evening, Lord Yang shows Dam Ryung a captured mermaid named Se Hwa. Later that night, Dam Ryung releases her into the ocean and, before she swims away, Se Hwa reaches out her hand to Dam Ryung which he briefly holds. In the present day, Heo Joon Jae is a smooth talking conman with magician like abilities. He works with Jo Nam Doo and Tae Oh. For their next score, Joon Jae impersonates a prosecutor and swindles a large amount of money from a wealthy suspect's mother. Joon Jae then escapes to Spain and stays at an oceanside resort. Meanwhile, Shim Chung is a mermaid who gets caught in a tidal wave and is washed ashore near the oceanside resort. There she meets Joon Jae.

A story about a man employed in a psychiatric ward and a woman who is a popular writer of children's books. The drama tells the story of Moon Kang Tae, a community health worker at a psychiatric ward who doesn't have time for love, and Go Moon Young, a successful children's book author with antisocial behavior who seems to have never known love. After meeting one another, the two slowly begin to heal each other's emotional wounds.

Jin-wook and Yoo-mi meet at a Gangwon-do resort and get caught up in a series of misunderstandings and accidents. Yoo-mi was charmed by Jin-wook's sly and playful personality, and they unexpectedly spend the night together. However, Yoo-mi disappears in the morning, leaving Jin-wook feeling perplexed and irrationally angry. Three years later, the two meet again when Yoo-mi becomes a nutritionist at the company cafeteria where Jin-wook works. They pretend to not recognize each other, while fighting their attraction for each other.

A nostalgic trip back to the late 1980s through the lives of five families and their five teenage kids living in a small neighborhood in Seoul. Times may have been a little simpler, less technological, but still just as challenging to get through a typical day of life in the late 1980s. Five childhood friends, who all live in the same Ssangmundong neighborhood of Seoul, lean on each other to survive their challenging teen years and set a path for their futures. Sung Deok Sun (Lee Hye Ri) struggles for attention as the middle child in her poor family while also carrying the burden of her 999th ranking in school. Kim Jung Hwan (Ryu Jun Yeol) only has a one-track mind for soccer, even after his family becomes rich overnight. Sung Sun Woo (Ko Gyung Pyo) is the perfect student, student council president and a caring and dependable son in his family. Ryu Dong Ryong (Lee Dong Hwi) is a geek who knows more about girls and life than the rest of his friends, but his poor academic score prevents him from being able to go to college. Choi Taek (Park Bo Gum) is a genius baduk player who dropped out of school to go professional. As the group of friends get into and out of mischief around the neighborhood, what experiences from these memorable times together will they carry with them into their future lives?

Poor girl Jan Di attends elite Shin Hwa High, where she's bullied by Joon Pyo, leader of F4 (the four richest and most gorgeous boys). Joon Pyo becomes attracted to Jan Di, but she has a crush on Yoon Ji Hoo, Joon Pyo's best friend. This is a Cinderella story about the F4 friends and the normal girl who manages to break into their clique and win their friendship along with the romantic affections of two of the four.

Cha Eun Sang and her disabled mother both have to work hard, humiliating jobs, in order to support her older sister who's at university in America. Cha Eun Sang can't wait for her sister, who's her idol, to come back to Korea, and start earning money, so she can stop washing dishes and get a degree herself. However one day, Cha Eun Sang learns that her sister is about to get married, and realizes she'll never return to Korea, so she'll forever have to wash dishes. She resolves to go to America as well, and get better life. However, what she finds in America is far worse than she could ever imagine. Her sister is not only not getting married, but is also not at university, and is earning money working as a waitress, and maybe some shadier side jobs as well. After her sister notices her, they have a fight, she takes all of Cha Eun Sang's money and runs off, leaving her to cry and gather her broken dreams of the pavement. This entire exchange is observed by mysterious Kim Tan, who has completely different set of problems, but decides to take Cha Eun Sang's problems on, as well. At first reluctant to go with a guy who seems all to well acquainted with LAPD, she agrees to go with him simply so to not spend the night on the street. Kim Tan who is same age as her, leaves with no parents around, in a big, luxurious house, which makes her immediately assume he's a drug dealer. Instead of calming her down, he suggest he might also be dealing in human organs to support this life style. Meanwhile in Korea, we see group of privileged, spoiled high schoolers, the future 1% of Korean society, who all seem to be familiar with Kim Tan, and not many of them are fond of him. One of these is Choi Young Do, tall, handsome genius, with rancid personality, who learns that before getting his own stately resorts, he'll first be getting same aged, equally beautiful and "pleasant", step sister, Rachel Yoo, who's also engaged to be married to none other but his arch enemy, Kim Tan.

Ko Dong Man, a high school Taekwondo champion who is now pursuing a career in the UFC, and Choi Ae Ra, a dynamic girl whose desire is to become a famous announcer, have been best friends since childhood. Now, they have to confront the change in their feelings towards each other as well as overcome difficulties to make their dreams come true.

Nestled deep in the heart of Seoul's thriving downtown sits a curious hotel, the like of which no one has ever seen before. Old beyond measure, the building has stood for millennia, an ever-present testament to the fact that things are not always what they seem. Running this hotel is Jang Man Wol, a greedy, suspicious soul who has spent the past thousand years acting as the establishment's CEO. Cursed for a sin she can no longer remember committing, Man Wol is doomed to spend all of the eternity running this odd establishment, catering to the needs of a most peculiar clientele. Her only hope of escape is to find someone who has committed a worse sin than her own but after a thousand years, she's beginning to lose hope. However, things take an interesting turn when Goo Chan Seong shows up. Once the youngest assistant manager ever to work at a multinational hotel corporation, Chan Seong finds himself forced to manage the Hotel del Luna because of a deal his father made with Man Wol years ago. A stickler for rules and regulations, he's a perfectionist to the extreme but that may be exactly what this odd establishment and its cursed CEO needs.

K-dramas to watch

More lists by Moriah Ephraim

My Favorite K-Dramas