Between August 3 and 9, Korean drama fans get a packed slate of premieres and returning hits across tvN, SBS, MBC, Netflix, JioHotstar and Hulu. From workplace romance My Bias, My Boss and mystery rom-com Our Sticky Love to action-driven Flex X Cop 2, A Bona Fide Killer and A Shop for Killers, viewers can choose from crime, comedy, thriller and love stories.
Korean television has a busy week ahead. Between August 3 and 9, viewers on JioHotstar, HBO Max, Netflix and Korean broadcasters will have a mix of new premieres and returning favourites to choose from. The lineup spans a workplace romance in My Bias, My Boss, an action comedy sequel in Flex X Cop, a mystery romance in Our Sticky Love, a domestic action thriller in A Bona Fide Killer, and the continuing fight against a mercenary organisation in A Shop for Killers. Here is what each K-drama is about, where to watch it, and who stars in it.
My Bias, My Boss premiered on tvN on August 3 and is also streaming on HBO Max in parts of Asia, along with Rakuten Viki and Viu internationally. The series is based on the Naver webtoon ‘My Oppa Is an Idol’ by Seong Eun and stars Kim Hye-jun as Nam Da-reum, a young woman who has followed idol turned actor Lee Chan, played by Cha Woo-min, for more than a decade. When she takes a job at the fashion company Appello, she discovers that Chan is a co-founder. Hoping to keep her fan identity a secret, she instead ends up working closely with Appello's workaholic CEO, Kang Ha-gi, played by Kang Hoon, who happens to be Chan's childhood friend. As Da-reum tries to balance her job, her long-held feelings for Chan and her growing closeness with Ha-gi, the show settles into a love triangle set against a fashion startup backdrop. New episodes air every Monday and Tuesday, and the series runs for 12 episodes in total.
The second season of Flex X Cop premieres on SBS and JioHotstar on August 7. Ahn Bo-hyun returns as Jin I-soo, a wealthy third generation chaebol heir who stumbled into police work and found he was good at it. After completing his training at the police academy, I-soo rejoins the Violent Crimes Unit, only to find that his new team leader is Joo Hye-ra, played by Jung Eun-chae, a decorated former counterterrorism officer who also happens to be the instructor who trained him at the academy. Their history adds friction to an already uneasy partnership as the season brings bigger cases and higher stakes. The show is directed by Kim Jae-hong and written by Kim Ba-da, the same team behind the first season, and it is set to run for 14 episodes.
Netflix's Our Sticky Love, directed by Kim Jang-han and written by Mo Ji-hye, also arrives on August 7. Ha Young stars as Go Eun-sae, a sharp and ambitious prosecutor who loses her memory in an accident while investigating a crime syndicate. She wakes up in a rural clinic in a small town known for its traditional taffy shops, where Jang Tae-ha, played by Jung Hae-in, tells her he is her boyfriend. Tae-ha is in fact a former youth boxing champion with ties to the criminal underworld, and his claim is more complicated than it first appears. As the two are forced to live together, the series mixes lighthearted romance with an underlying mystery involving a crime boss named Baek Sang-gil, played by Heo Sung-tae. The show runs for 12 episodes.
A Bona Fide Killer, which debuted on MBC on July 31, continues with episodes three and four airing on August 7 and 8. Gong Hyo-jin stars as Yoo Bo-na, an ordinary working mother who is secretly a professional assassin known as Kingfisher. After three years away from the job to raise her daughter, she returns to active duty while trying to keep her double life hidden from her husband, Kwon Tae-seong, played by Jung Joon-won, an investigative journalist who has spent years trying to track down Kingfisher without realising his wife is the one he is looking for. A separate thread follows detective Lee Dong-jin, played by Lee Sang-yi, who reopens the case after recognising Kingfisher's signature style in a new killing. The series is written by Kim Eun-hee and based on a Kakao Webtoon of the same name, and it airs every Friday and Saturday.
The second season of A Shop for Killers continues with episodes five and six on August 5, following its pattern of releasing two episodes every Wednesday. Lee Dong-wook returns as Jeong Jin-man, an arms dealer who runs the secret weapons marketplace Murthehelp, alongside Kim Hye-jun as his niece Jeong Ji-an. The season picks up after Jin-man's return from apparent death, as the two team up to fight back against the mercenary organisation Babylon, which is bringing in international killers to rebuild its ranks after an earlier defeat. The series is based on Kang Ji-young's novel ‘The Killer's Shopping Mall’ and is written and directed by Lee Kwon. Season two consists of eight episodes in total, with the finale expected around August 12.
| K-Drama | Release Date | Platform |
| My Bias, My Boss | August 3 | JioHotstar / HBO Max |
| Flex X Cop Season 2 | August 7 | JioHotstar |
| Our Sticky Love | August 7 | Netflix |
| A Bona Fide Killer | August 7–8 (Episodes 3 & 4) | MBC TV |
| A Shop for Killers Season 2 | August 5 (Episodes 5 & 6) | JioHotstar |