23 K-Dramas About Falling In Love With The Boss

Summary

• K-dramas offer diverse storylines, including boss-employee romances, captivating audiences with dynamic plots.
• Streaming platforms like Viki and Netflix bring popular K-dramas like Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Pachinko to wider audiences.
• From romantic comedies like Romance is a Bonus Book to thrilling mysteries like Crazy Love, K-dramas offer a mix of genres and tropes.

K-dramas have a theme for almost anything a viewer is looking for, including boss and employee dramas in which the characters fall in love. There are suspense, dramas, thrillers, and highly popular love stories. Some may not want to admit it, but love stories involving falling in love with the boss are a guilty pleasure. Maybe it involves the shy new girl who catches the eye of the handsome and rich CEO. In some cases, the power play is reversed. Regardless, K-dramas have a way of hooking audiences with their dynamic storylines.

If looking for some new K-dramas to add to a watch list, look no further. K-dramas continue to rise in popularity as streaming websites like Viki and Netflix make shows such as Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Pachinko accessible to a wider audience. K-dramas are known to feature diverse storylines and transcend genres, but nothing beats classic stories of love and romance. In some K-dramas, romance meets intrigue as they highlight the relationship between an employee and their boss. These workplace romances are sure to keep an audience hooked.

Romance Is A Bonus Book

Released In 2019

The characters have a history that actually predates them working together.

Romance is a Bonus Book is an interesting boss and employee drama because the premise is different than so many others that exist. Most K-dramas with the boss-employee relationship feature the two meeting through their jobs and sparks flying. This isn’t a boss and employee who meet for the first time on the job and complicate their work life with a romance. Instead, the characters have a history that actually far predates them working together.

Cha Eun-ho (Lee Jong-suk) is the chief editor and author who has been a long-time friend of Kang Dan-i (Lee Na-young), a woman who finds herself down on her luck after her husband cheats on her. He’s hidden his real feelings for her, but when she gets a temporary job at his publishing company, his feelings, and their working relationship become much more complicated. It’s a sweet story about the unexpected in life. Romance novelists would call it a second-chance romance as the two connect in a new way.

Radio Romance

Released In 2018

Radio Romance centers, as the audience might expect, on working at a radio station. In this case, the focus is on a woman (Kim So-hyun) who has found herself working as a writing assistant on programs for a long time because she doesn’t appear to have the necessary skills to progress. She decides to hire a top actor (Yoon Doo-joon) who has the reputation for having a “perfect life” to make sure her radio program won’t be canceled.

The trouble is, her scripts aren’t always the best, and the actor genuinely cannot work without a script. Working on a live radio show means that he has to figure out how to expect the unexpected. The two find themselves having a hard time working together, but might end up as more than just boss and employee in the K-drama. Part of the fun of the show is seeing how the two are able to adapt and bond over their work as it brings them closer together.

Crazy Love

Released In 2022

Crazy Love features a wealthy CEO (Kim Jae-wook) who thinks someone is about to murder him and his secretary (Krystal Jung) who finds out she might not have long to live. Though the CEO is brilliant, he’s also seen as narcissistic by his employees and competition, and his secretary seems to be the only one who can put up with him, even agreeing to pretend to be his girlfriend as part of one of his schemes.

The relationship between the two main characters is only one small aspect of the sprawling K-drama. There are revenge schemes, corporate espionage, enemies-to-lovers, and so many other tropes crammed into one series that it’s more like a soap opera than the typical K-drama. It might not seem like that many tropes could work, but they do. It’s that sprawling nature of the show that makes it so fun. The love story is just the icing on the cake.

Suspicious Partner

Released In 2017

This office romance K-drama has a little more action than the usual one does. It’s also a legal drama, and one in which one of the main pairing finds themselves accused of murder. It features a prosecuting attorney changing their legal profession just as a big murder case crosses their path – and a bit of romance.

Just as the two of them begin to admit their feelings for one another though, one of them is accused of murder.

A prosecutor (Ji chang-wook) and a trainee (Nam Ji-hyun) work together on the murder case, but they also find that their own lives are more connected than they thought by past circumstances. Just as the two of them begin to admit their feelings for one another though, one of them is accused of murder. That makes for a rare conflict in a usual story of an office romance, and it keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat.

The mystery and the love story equally drive the series, which makes it unique among K-dramas in which an employee falls for their boss as well.

Forecasting Love And Weather

Released In 2022

Park Min-young has made a career out of appearing in romance K-dramas as successful businesswomen, and in this instance, she’s the boss of the boss-employee relationship. She’s promoted at work just as a new employee, played by Song Kang, enters her team, transferring from another office. They have a surprising connection though – their exes married one another after cheating on them.

They find themselves drawn to one another, even as they have opposing viewpoints at work on a regular basis. Their growing relationship is augmented by weather metaphors since they work for the Korean Meteorological Association. Their connection is also put at risk when their previous relationships become the subject of workplace gossip, and they struggle to keep their new relationship a secret. While there is a lot of drama surrounding them, their unfolding relationship is one of the sweetest parts of the show.

Their relationship also provides the centerpiece of the ensemble. As they fall for one another, they also nurture friendships with the rest of their team. When their relationship is accidentally exposed, the entire team supports them – just as they decide to break up – throwing another wrench into their dynamic. What they go through as they struggle to balance their personal lives with their work makes the show incredibly entertaining.

Coffee Prince

Released In 2007

A slightly common TV trope that viewers will see in K-Dramas is gender-swapping. This can be seen in the show Coffee Prince, one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss, where a cheerful and male presenting woman named Go Eun-Chan (Yoon Eun-Hye) is mistaken as a boy and hired by Choi Han Gyu (Gong Yoo), the grandson of a coffee magnate who has never had to work for anything in his life thanks to inheriting his position within a family business.

Coffee Prince
was a hit in South Korea and found further success in other Asian countries like Thailand and the Philippines, where local production studios remade their own version of the show.

Eun-Chan figures out that she has to keep her gender a secret if she wants to keep her job. Coffee Prince was a hit in South Korea and found further success in other Asian countries like Thailand and the Philippines, where local production studios remade their own version of the show.

Business Proposal

Released In 2022

The K-Drama Business Proposal is centered on a protagonist who pretends to be someone they’re not, and while that trope is fairly common in K-dramas, it is also one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss because of how the show handles the trope. A single woman named Shin Ha-Ri (Kim Se-Jeong) takes her friend’s place on a blind date, not knowing that her friend was set up with her boss Kang Tae-Moo (Ahn Hyo-Seop).

Since her boss doesn’t know who she is, she decides to keep up the ruse, only to find out that he wants to marry to get his relatives off his back about dating. That is actually where the conflict begins as she continues to hide who she is and the fact that she works at his company.

Business Proposal is actually based on a webtoon, which was a point of concern for many TV critics as they thought that the source material was weak and full of clichés. The series proved a lot of those critics wrong though as it used rom-com tropes to its advantage. The show is considered one of the best K-Dramas of 2022, thanks to its charismatic leads, straightforward plot, and lighthearted romance.

Don’t Dare To Dream

Released In 2016

In one of the best K-dramas about an employee falling in love with the boss, a temporary weather forecaster at a TV station named Pyo Na-Ri (Gong Hyo-Jin) has a long-time crush on her superior and colleague, Lee Hwa-Shin (Jo Jung-Suk). However, Hwa-Shin has always been arrogant and harsh to Na-Ri. That dynamic isn’t always a favorite for K-drama audiences, but the chemistry of the actors helps to sell the change in the relationship.

Hwa-Shin’s feelings towards Na-Ri start to change once a charming man named Go Jung-Won (Go Kyung-Pyo) shows interest in the lovable weather forecaster. And of course, as most K-dramas featuring romance do, the main love triangle isn’t the only romantic entanglement in the series. Don’t Dare to Dream was received well for its conversation on ethics in journalism, its effective comedy, and its romantic scenes. The series was also nominated for several awards in South Korea in 2016.

Oh My Ghost

Released In 2015

Oh My Ghost is one of the most recognized supernatural dramas and one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss. It focuses on three main characters, and the main love story is between a young woman and her boss, who’s a famous chef. There’s a catch. Na Bong-Sun (Park Bo-Young) is shy and timid and has a huge crush on her boss, but she finds herself constantly getting into trouble at work. She can also see spirits thanks to her grandmother’s connection to them.

One day, she’s possessed by a young lustful female spirit who believes the only way to go to the afterlife is by losing her virginity. Being the puppet of the ghost, Bong-Sun now becomes a firecracker and confident woman. It’s the confidence provided to her by the spirit that finally allows her to catch her boss’ eye – and further complicates her life. The dichotomy between the lead and the ghost makes for some hilarious encounters and a perfect reason for her to become the center of attention.

Radiant Office

Released In 2017

The 2017 drama, Radiant Office has multiple elements that make it a fun boss-employee storyline and one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss like shifting perspectives and bickering chemistry. Eun Ho-Won (Go Ah-Sung) is down on her luck looking for work. She is so depressed at the state of her life, and doesn’t see a way to improve, that she attempts suicide. At the hospital, she learns she is terminally ill, but also gets the good news that she has succeeded in landing a new job.

The potential terminal illness gives her a completely new perspective on how she’s been approaching life.

With a new purpose in life, Ho-Won takes on her new job with full force. The potential terminal illness gives her a completely new perspective on how she’s been approaching life. Her superior and boss, Seo Woo-Jin (Ha Seok-Jin) thinks she’s a huge pain in the neck and often bickers with her because they don’t see eye-to-eye. Their odd relationship might just turn into something more, utilizing a common dynamic in K-dramas.

Protect The Boss

Released In 2011

This K-drama doesn’t have the typical boss characteristics seen in other shows, but is one of the best K-dramas about an employee falling in love with their boss. Protect the Boss centers around Cha Ji-Heon (Ji Sung), a childish director at DN Group who is almost as hapless at his job as he is immature. He soon meets his match in his new secretary, Noh Eun-Seol (Choi Kang-Hee), who, until she is placed with him, has had a hard time getting a job due to her trouble in her childhood.

Eun-Seol is determined to not lose her first professional job and gives it her all. Her kind and spunky demeanor starts to attract Ji-Heon and help him become a better leader. That’s not all, the K-drama has one of the best love triangles between Ji-Heon and his rival and cousin, Cha MuWwon (Kim Jae-Joong).

The series won eight awards at the SBS Drama Awards in 2011.

Master’s Sun

Released In 2013

Master’s Sun is another K-drama with a supernatural base and one of the best K-drama shows to feature an employee-boss relationship. Tae Kong-Shil (Gong Hyo-Jin) gains the ability to see ghosts after a bizarre accident and the ability becomes more of a burden to her as she struggles to cope with her everyday life. Her abilities leave her unable to keep a solid job. Kong-Shil works as a cleaning lady at Kingdom’s, a company that owns stores and a hotel.

She soon meets the company’s cold and distant CEO, Joo Joong-Won (So Ji-Sub). In a surprising turn of events for her, whenever Long-Shil touches Joong-Won, the ghosts disappear. After some begging, Joong-Won stays by her side in return for her help in recovering something stolen from him when someone tried to kidnap him. The series is certainly full of just as much supernatural drama as it is romance. The unusual premise for bringing the two together is part of what makes the show so intriguing.

Jugglers

Released In 2017

2017 was a good year to binge-watch multiple boss-employee relationship K-dramas. Jugglers followed the trend and revolved around a secretary and her cold-as-ice boss. In one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss, Jwa Yoon-Yi (Baek Jin-Hee) is a devoted and diligent secretary who is put on hold when her boss’s wife accuses her of having an affair with her husband.

On the other end, Nam Chi-Won (Daniel Choi) is assigned to be the managing director at Yoon-Yi’s company. Yoon-Yi becomes his secretary. Chi-Won suffers from childhood trauma and is indifferent to socializing. After Yoon-Yi gets drunk at a dinner party, Chi-Won takes her home and realizes she lives in the place where his trauma originated. Seeing the ‘tenant wanted’ sign on her door, he becomes her neighbor to overcome his past.

One of the best aspects of the series is that the boss-employee relationships here are varied. While romantic relationships do provide much of the entertainment in the series, the variety in the relationships is what provides the backbone of the show.

My Secret Romance

Released In 2017

What happens when one meets their one-night stand three years later? To make matters worse, he happens to be one’s new boss. In one of the best K-dramas to show the employee-boss dynamics in a romantic relationship, Lee Yoo-Mi (Song Ji-Eun) is insecure about herself but has to attend her mother’s wedding. She meets Cha Jin-Wook (Sung Hoon). They’re less than cordial with one another but soon start to feel an attraction and spend just that one night together.

Yoo-mi is unaware of his identity and flees the following morning. Years later she is hired to be his nutritionist. Jin-Wook changed his ways after that night, took over his father’s company, and never forgot Yoo-mi. Though he’s seen as a flirt by the outside world, he’s been carrying a torch for her ever since. He tries to romance her and get to admit her feelings for him. Interwoven is a storyline involving Yoo-mi’s baby brother that involves a whole lot of miscommunication regarding who his parents really are, only adding to the misunderstandings and comedy.

Rich Man

Released In 2018

Rich Man might also be known for its original Japanese television drama version, Rich Man, Poor Woman. One of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss was a 2018 remake that did very well on Korean television. The show takes an interesting route with the main male character. The CEO of a popular IT company has a facial recognition disability. This means he is unable to recognize his first love.

At an employee recruitment meeting, he picks on several of the potential recruits looking to work with him. In particular, he makes smart remarks about a young woman with a photographic memory. Instead of allowing him to walk all over her as the other potential recruits do, she stands up to the mean CEO and says something that catches his interest. She ends up working for the company and helping the CEO, changing both of their lives.

The dynamic between the two, as well as his inability to recognize faces, makes this series vastly different from other workplace romances. There’s a whole different layer to the character as a result.

Strong Girl Bong-Soon

Released In 2017

Strong Girl Bong-Soon is a highly popular K-drama, so much so that it has its own spin-off series. In one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss, a young girl is born with unexplainable superhuman strength, a family trait inherited by the women in her bloodline. This leads to an intriguing storyline.

After beating up some bullies, she is hired by a rich CEO of a gaming company. While having a crush on her friend, she starts to realize who she really has feelings for. All while protecting her CEO from a possible threat and kidnapper. The show’s lighthearted comedy and relatable themes make it a good K-Drama for those unfamiliar with the genre.

It also, however, has a lot of tropes seen more often than dramas than comedies, giving it a more soap-opera-feel that fans of K-dramas will likely enjoy. The show features elements of rom-coms, action-comedies, crime dramas, workplace comedies, and more. All of these disparate elements might not seem like they would work together, but they do.

My Shy Boss

Released In 2017

Sometimes opposites attract in the most bizarre way possible. My Shy Boss or Introverted Boss follows the tumultuous relationship between a CEO and his new employee. In one of the best K-dramas about an employee falling in love with the boss, the CEO of a public relations firm is the exact opposite of what one expects. He’s highly introverted, shy, sensitive, and can come off as cold. As a result, his employees can’t get to know him very well and it wouldn’t seem like he would be able to interact with clients well.

On the other hand, the company hires a new employee who is extroverted, loud, and not afraid to speak her mind. She takes a particular interest in the shy CEO and wants to uncover who he really is under his hood. In fact, she’s got a surprising revenge scheme in mind, but things don’t always go according to her plan.

Lucky Romance

Released In 2016

Audiences will surely have a good laugh with this K-drama with its peculiar antics. The series is inspired by a 2014 webtoon, and it’s another case of opposites attracting. In Lucky Romance, a 26-year-old attractive woman is highly superstitious, believing she was born unlucky. She follows every precaution possible and consults a shaman about her sister. The only way to save her? She has to sleep with a man born in the year of the tiger.

She soon meets a CEO and genius game developer who happens to fit her criteria. Their personalities clash since he believes in science and rejects the supernatural, but Shim Bo-Nui (Hwang Jung-Eum) is determined to save her sister even if it means wooing her boss. It’s definitely a different take on an employee-boss relationship in a show and the sheer determination of the characters is fun to watch.

Level Up

Released In 2019

Level Up follows a lot of the typical boss-employee storyline details mixed in with some drama and is one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss as a result. This CEO specializes in helping reconstruct failing companies. He takes on a company called Joybuster despite his previous childhood trauma with gaming. He tries to keep his personal and professional lives completely separate, which makes him appear cold to outsiders. He’s also something of a perfectionist, which leaves him with a reputation of always getting his job done.

As the new CEO of the company, he soon meets its head game designer. A passionate and sweet young woman clashes with her seemingly cold and meticulous boss. The entire premise surrounds whether they can put their differences aside and complete their new game – and maybe fall in love along the way. Their dynamic is a common one in this subgenre of romantic K-dramas, but the addition of a gaming company makes it feel fresh.

Hotel Del Luna

Released In 2019

Hotel Del Luna is a fan-favorite K-drama about falling in love with the boss that doubles as a ghost story. It’s also one of the best romantic K-dramas with fantasy elements. Jang Man-Wol (Lee Ji-Eun) is moody and bad-tempered for having run Hotel Del Luna for thousands of years. She runs the hotel, however, because she must atone for her indiscretions in life and change her attitude.

The hotel is only visible to souls, ghosts, and then, humans at special times of the year. Things heat up when the hotel gets a new general manager due to a contract signed by his father. Gu Chan-sung (Yeo Jin-goo) is a stoic MBA graduate who has to confront his fear of ghosts. He soon changes his demeanor and helps melt Man-Wol’s heart and keep her safe.

She Was Pretty

Released In 2015

She Was Pretty is a fun roller coaster ride for anyone who watches and is one of the best K-dramas to feature an employee-boss relationship. Fans of Parasite will recall the lead actor in this K-drama. Two childhood friends grow up on the opposite ends of the spectrum for both success and looks. Kim Hye-jin (Hwang Jung-Eum) ends up having her father’s red cheeks and frizzy hair, while Ji Sung-Joon (Park Seo-Joon) becomes a strikingly handsome man.

They decide to reconnect but Hye-jin backs out upon seeing how much they’ve changed. Instead, he mistakes her best friend for her, creating a fake love story. Sung-Joon then becomes her boss at her magazine company, unaware of who she really is. The conflict then lies in if Sung-Joon will recognize his first love and fall head over heels again or if a co-worker will woo her away.

What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim

Released In 2018

What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim is at the top of the list and regarded as one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss. Kim Mi-so (Park Min-young) has been Lee Young-Joon’s (Park Seo-Joon) right-hand woman for years as his secretary. Her announcement of resignation doesn’t sit well with her cold and professional boss.

The boss then starts to see his secretary in a different light beyond the professional. There’s jealousy, romantic gestures, and changing of heart in his drama. Not to mention there are some steamy moments in this passionate K-Drama. Young-Joon will do whatever he can to keep Mi-so in his life. Rom-com fans might even think of this as the South Korean serial version of the Sandra Bullock movie Two Weeks Notice.

Her Private Life

Released In 2019

Park Min-Young is back for yet another romantic storyline as Sun Deok-Mi in Her Private Life , one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss. The show is also one of the best K-dramas based on a popular Korean webtoon. Deok-Mi is a talented and highly regarded art curator who harbors a secret. She’s an obsessed fangirl. Her secret could ruin her career at the museum.

An acclaimed but retired artist, Ryan Gold (Kim Jae-Wook) becomes the museum’s new boss. After some rumors spread, Gold and Doek-Mi must pretend to date to stop scrutiny toward her favorite idol and new museum client. Fake dating soon starts to blossom into real love. Deok-Mi must try and let go of her secret fan page and obsession in order to focus on her real life.

When it comes to Korean shows that involve an employee and boss relationship, there are a huge variety to choose from. Action, drama, comedies, and even the supernatural can come into play in this list of K-dramas.