When you hear “K-drama’, you’re probably thinking about the cringe-worthy and mushy romance where the male lead always has a superiority complex and the female lead is poor or the male lead is a rich chaebol with a childhood friend that’s in love with him and a female lead with rough edges and pitiful background. If that is what you are thinking, sorry to burst your bubble, but Korean dramas are more than that. Ranging from romance to crime to fantasy and even business, the Korean movie industry has always left us dumbfounded with some of its amazing and well-planned plots.
While it cannot be denied that most of the kdramas are full of romance, there are also business dramas you can watch that’ll help you learn about growing your business from a different perspective. Business kdramas around aspiring youths who are looking to stand tall and make it in the dog-eat-dog world. If you’re an entrepreneur and not a fan of movies but you’d like to watch some that can help your mindset in your business and change it for the better, here are some awesome kdramas that you can watch:
1. START-UP
Start-up is a business-themed drama featuring popular Korean actress Bae Suzy as the female lead. She played the role of Seo Dal-mi, a young aspiring lady who made a bet with her elder sister after their parents got separated when they were young due to a financial crisis. Dal-mi was torn between staying with her dad and living with her mum who was married to a rich man, however, she decided to stay with her dad, who was a struggling entrepreneur who had a great idea about business. Unfortunately, Dal-mi’s father lost his life but his efforts were not in vain as it birthed Sandbox, a program for start-up businesses. Dal-mi lost connection with her sister (Won In-jae) but years later she met her and decided to make a bet to succeed with her sister without any financial help from her parents. Won In-jae also decided to start over again as an aspiring CEO by entering Sandbox where she set up a team to fight and win. Seo Dal-mi also met Nam Do-san, someone she thought was her childhood pen friend, and took charge as the CEO of Samsan Tech. It was a rollercoaster of unrequited love, pain, fear, and doubt but the story won’t be complete without adding the mentor Han Ji-pyeong who pushed Do-san and his team to their limits
The lesson learned from this movie is that in the business world, you don’t just jump into making decisions all by yourself, you should consider having a mentor and a team who is ready to stand by you at all times regardless of the mistakes that you make. Also, as a business owner or a CEO, you should always be ready to take responsibility and not run away from the bad decisions you took. Dal-mi and her team’s perseverance took them to the end and they finally became successful.
2. ITAEWON CLASS
This k-drama is one of the most emotional dramas you’d ever watch but there are lessons to learn from it. Park Saero-yi (Park Seo-joon), a high school student turned ex-convict decided to start a rival company just for revenge. Although his motive was quite negative, with the help of his friends/colleagues he was able to get what he wanted. It was a stressful journey of betrayals, fear, and loss but Saeroyi didn’t allow that to faze him and even fell in love with the social media influencer, Jo Yi-seo who helped and gave his ideas on how to grow his restaurant, Danbam. When Yi-seo stepped into his business, she brought to light how social media could be used as a tool in promoting his business, and thanks to Park Sae-royi’s eagerness to learn and acceptance of his teammates, his business became the very best he wished for. We still can’t believe that he got his rival to bow down at his feet. The lesson to learn from the k-drama is to always as a business owner be open to ideas from your team and don’t just overlook anyone. Anyone you hire, no matter who they are or what their background is, they are useful and placed there for a purpose. A business owner should also invest his trust in his team and be able to work with disappointments and betrayals.
3. I’M NOT A ROBOT
Don’t just get carried away by the title and the romance, there’s also a side of the business to this award-winning k-drama. Jo Ji-ah ( Chae Soo-bin) a hardworking and beautiful young lady who has amazing entrepreneurial ideas always dreamed of being like her dad and starting her own business causing her to apply for entrepreneur competitions to earn money for herself. She always got pressured by her brother to get a job and pay off her debts but this proved impossible, so she decided to take a gig from her ex-boyfriend by pretending to be a robot. Ji-ah got paid after the gig but later fell in love with the boss of her ex-boyfriend. One thing to learn from her is her unrelenting pursuit to ensure her dream came true. She didn’t just have an idea but one that could help people and bring comfort to many. As a business owner, it’s quite unsettling to be after your selfish interests, every of your products or idea should be the one that will benefit and meet the need of your customers. It is also noteworthy to stay and endure every challenge until your efforts come to fruition just like Ji-ah. Believe in yourself and your dreams
4. CLEAN WITH PASSION
When you watch this movie, you might get bothered about how the male lead’s mysophobia seemed annoying, like how is it possible for a guy to want to be that clean?? A young, bright, and cheerful lady Gil O-sol who forfeits her athletic career due to her mother’s death meets the very tidy CEO Jang Sang-girl who had a traumatic childhood. Jang Sang-gyeol detests uncleanliness and finds it hard to mingle with other people, he then decided to create a cleaning company dedicated to ensuring that everywhere they go is always kept clean. Bumping into Gil O-sol, a woman who cares nothing about neatness but was always after how to take care of her family and raise money to help her little brother.
Some things could be learned from Jang Sang-gyeol who despite his traumatic childhood and mysophobia founded his own business and hired an ex-convict, an aspiring actor, a fool in love, and an untidy Gil O-sol. However, the CEO was not overbearing and took good care of his employees and went out of his way to stand in for them in different situations. If you want your business to be successful, take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your clients. Jang Sang-gyeol even had to travel out to take of himself and didn’t hide his illness from his team, and he wasn’t ashamed to restart his business again after his fallout with his grandfather. Don’t give up and stay motivated. Your business will thrive if you persevere
5. HOMETOWN CHA CHA CHA
This Korean drama series is about a straightforward and pretty dentist who had a great job and steady income but couldn’t deal with the head doctor of her workplace dishonesty and extortion. Shi Min-a plays the role of Yoo Hye Jin who after losing her job finds her way to Gongjin village where she meets Kim Seon-ho( Hong Du-sik), a man who does everything to help out the villagers. Du-sik was a well-respected man in the village always praised for being hardworking and caring. The both of them meet, help each other and learn from each other. This K-drama is full of romance but it also points out facts that as a person or a business owner you should be honest and be ready to learn. You don’t just expect that the first idea for your business will be successful, rather than giving up have a healthy and positive mindset.
6. COFFEE PRINCE
The Korean drama “Coffee Prince” might be old but also has a business theme that can help your mindset about business. The handsome Korean actor Gong Yoo ( Choi Han-Kyul) plays the role of the grandson of a coffee business owner whose coffee shop was already running down. Han-kyul had to storm for ideas to grow his business and decided to hire handsome men as staff to attract customers. He meets Go Eun-chan, a young lady who he made a deal with to help him ward off his grandma’s nagging and in exchange, she works for him. While the drama is comical, it teaches us how hard it is to maintain and grow a business. It also enlightens us on how hard it is to work hard to earn a living, you have to make several decisions and think outside of the box but you could always make it if you are determined.
7. OH MY GHOST
Park Bo Yung ( Na Bong Sun) plays the role of a painfully shy girl who does everything to please her boss. She gets possessed by a ghost and suddenly becomes bold enough to flirt with her boss. Jo Jung suk (Kang Sun-woo) is an arrogant chef with a past. He struggled hard to become a star chef and became overbearing but cared about his employees. Even though he fell in love with Bong sun, he took his time teaching her the basics of cooking allowing her to be confident enough to cook and make up her menu. One important lesson to learn about business in this movie is that as a business owner, you should learn to give your employees a chance too. Your business should not always be about you only but leadership entails sacrificing your time to learn and teach your team. Your team is the people who will help your business stay afloat when you stumble.
8. STRONGEST DELIVERY MAN
If you have a business or you are an aspiring CEO, then you should watch this K-drama. Choi Kang-Soo ( Go Kyung-pyo) is a food delivery man who is good at his job but for some reason he’s always quitting and on the move to the next job, he then meets Chae Soo-bin ( Lee Dan-ah), another delivery woman with dreams. He meets other friends and decided to build a business that will help neighborhood restaurants. We can learn from love, sincerity, and family. As a business owner, you would always have competitors, it’s not only you that has a great idea but guys should be able to plan and be strategic. You should also show honesty in all you do in your business.
9. HOTEL DE LUNA
The fantasy-themed drama, Hotel de Luna is about a woman who committed a mortal sin and in return is punished for it by being the manager of a ! that consoles ghosts. Worldwide female K-pop singer, IU (Jang man-wol) plays a strict boss that loves the high life and excessive spending. She indulges in the best cars, clothes, and jewelry and has a lot of debt but she meets Ku chan-seong, a Harvard graduate who helps her monitor her accounts and cut her excessive spending. In the business world, every business owner is liable for debts but having a great accountant or being accountable with your savings helps. You can’t just spend all the profit you earn, you should save some for rainy days!
10. WELCOME TO WAIKIKI
The last one on our list is the extremely comical k-drama: Welcome to Waikiki. This is a movie about friendship and perseverance. Three close friends decide to open a guesthouse and still have side hustles but ended up having a lot of debt. They tried different methods to get money but the amazing thing is that even though they had so little they were able to accommodate other people. As a business owner, your business might not yield results but having great friends will cheer you up!
So business owners, you really should consider watching this k-drama series, it’ll help open your eyes to the world of business even though the settings might be different. You probably have watched other k-dramas related to business and have helped change your own business. Feel free to name them in the comments section!.
