K-dramas can offer comfort after a hard day’s work. Don’t know what to watch? Here are some healing K-dramas that feel like a warm hug!
As the ups and downs of life make us tired and weary, sometimes all we want at the end of the day is to curl up on our beds and turn on a K-drama. Who says shows can’t help us heal?Most of the K-dramas in this list focus on friend groups and falling in love, but also on pursuing dreams, failing, mustering up the courage to start again, and even choosing to rest.
But with so many choices out there, we rounded up seven healing K-dramas to help you decide what to binge next. We included old ones as far as 2020 that you might have forgotten!
1. In Your Radiant Season (2026)
In Your Radiant Season is about Song Haran (Lee Sungkyung) and Sunwoo Chan (Chae Jonghyeop) healing from their pasts. Haran used to be bubbly, but after an explosion in a lab kills her boyfriend, she turns cold to protect herself, stuck in winter. Sunwoo Chan, on the other hand, was sunshine incarnate, despite his past trauma, and strikes up a friendship with Haran, wanting to teach her how to enjoy life again.
Unbeknownst to Haran, Sunwoo Chan was entangled in her past, and the secret unfolds as their relationship progresses into something more.
As the events take place, you learn how the presence of Sunwoo Chan in Haran’s life saved her, and vice versa, and can’t help but root for their healing and their spring.
Where to watch: Disney+
2. Our Unwritten Seoul (2025)
Our Unwritten Seoul is about two twin sisters, Yoo Miji and Yoo Mirae (both played by Park Boyoung), who swap lives. The twins had opposite lifestyles: Miji was stuck in her hometown after an injury that caused her to quit sports; Mirae is working in a public corporation in Seoul, seemingly living the perfect life, but was in reality experiencing workplace bullying.
It gives perspective into the facade one tries to hide behind, versus the reality they are in, and lets the audience empathize with their choices.
Where to watch: Netflix
3. Daily Dose of Sunshine (2023)
Daily Dose of Sunshine focuses on Jung Daeun (also played by Park Boyoung), a nurse working in a psych ward, encountering different patients. As she learns each of their stories, she tries to be a daily dose of sunshine to them.
But what was remarkable in this K-drama was the exploration of Daeun’s own mental health. After the death of a patient she deeply cared for, she suffered depression herself, and had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. It reminds us that even nurses are human; Daeun’s journey from helping others, to accepting help, and to healing.
Where to watch: Netflix
4. Twenty Five Twenty One (2022)
Twenty Five Twenty One is about Na Heedo (Kim Taeri) and Baek Yijin’s (Nam Joohyuk) relationship as present Heedo’s daughter looks through her journal. The main couple met during the IMF Crisis— as both of them are affected by it in different ways: Heedo’s fencing team in her old school was dissolved, and she had to find a way to continue to pursue her dreams; Yijin’s father’s business collapses, forcing him to work to help pay off their debts. In his hopeless days, he finds comfort in Heedo’s perseverance in the fencing team, and the two develop a supportive bond with each other.
Despite the sad ending of the relationship, the characters’ friendships still provide that nostalgia and comfort – of shining moments of youth, of young love, and of pursuing dreams.
Where to watch: Netflix
5. Our Beloved Summer (2021)
Our Beloved Summer is about ex-lovers Choi Ung (Choi Woo-shik) and Kook Yeonsoo (Kim Da-mi) having to reconnect to film a sequel to the documentary they filmed together during high school. They were also forced to rethink their relationship and status in life, and in the end, rekindle their relationship.
Their differing circumstances caused the couple to hide behind their walls or distance themselves, but the drama depicts little acts of love – putting down one’s pride, choosing to stay by each other’s side, and saying what you truly feel.
Where to watch: Netflix
6. Navillera (2021)
Navillera is about 70-year-old man Shim Deokchul (Park Inhwan) wanting to achieve his dream of learning ballet. He goes to a ballet studio, meets Lee Chaerok (Song Kang), and enlists him to be his teacher.
The journey of watching Deokchul finally do his life-long dream is heartwarming, and so is watching Chaerok opening his heart anew to this old man’s warmth. The unlikely friendship of the two main characters will surely give you inspiration to go on with your own dreams as well.
Where to watch: Netflix
7. Hospital Playlist (2020)
Hospital Playlist is about five friends who are all doctors: Lee Ik jun (Jo Jungsuk), Ahn Jeongwon (Yoo Yeonseok), Kim Junwan (Jung Kyungho), Yang Seokhyeong (Kim Daemyung), and Chae Songhwa (Jeon Mido)— as they journey through their careers in their respective departments in Yulje Medical Centre. It chronicles their stresses on the job, their platonic and romantic relationships, and even their band!
The show just radiates warmth as the five friends navigate life and grow together. It makes you feel like you want to be part of their friend group!
Where to watch: Netflix
So, which of these K-dramas will you be watching (or re-watching)?
Sources: Disney+ YouTube Channel, Netflix K-Content YouTube Channel
