6 K-Dramas With The Weirdest Romance Storylines Of All Time

From cat-turned-boy to siblings-to-lovers.

When it comes to romance, K-Dramas are known for their feel-good factor the most. Viewers are more than willing to overlook aspects like unrealistic world-building or cliched tropes as long as the show can give them butterflies. However, there are some romance K-Dramas that made even the most avid watchers pause, solely because of how “weird” or unconventional their plots were.

1. Cat-turned-boy falls for his owner

Meow, The Secret Boy, is a rom-com series released in 2020 and is also known by the name, Welcome. The show tells the story of a young and talented graphic designer who one day adopts a friendly street cat. This cat turns out to have the extraordinary power to transform into a human man, who then falls in love with his new owner.

The series shows the cat protagonist’s growing struggles to hide his human identity from his owner while trying to stay as close to her as possible. This feline-human relationship only gets more complicated as love becomes a factor.

2. The not-sibling sibling tragic romance

Autumn in My Heart is a 2000 romance K-Drama about two protagonists who lived as siblings due to a switch at birth.

Toddler Yoon Joon Suh mistakenly dropped the nametags of his sister and another baby at the hospital, and a nurse put the tags back incorrectly. Yoon Eun Suh grows up in the wealthy Yoon family, while Choi Shin Ae is raised in a struggling household. When Eun Soh gets hit by a truck and requires a blood transfusion, it is revealed that she is not the Yoons’ biological daughter. The misunderstanding clears up, and both Shin Ae and Eun Suh return to their biological parents.

Many years later, when Eun Suh and Joon Suh reunite, a romance is sparked between the two. But the Yoon family opposes this relationship. Amidst a series of hardships, Eun Suh is diagnosed with leukemia. The two lovers finally get to be together, only for the few days that Eun Suh has left. She dies in Joon Suh’s arms while he carries him around on the beach, where they had spent happy times as teenagers. After Eun Suh’s death, Joon Suh too dies in a tragic road accident at the same place where she had been hit by the truck years ago.

3. AI-love

My Holo Love is based on a strange love triangle between a man, a woman, and an AI program.

A reclusive young woman with face blindness finds solace in an AI program, “Holo.” The developer of Holo lent the program his face, but his personality couldn’t be any more different. As the woman falls in love with Holo, the creator also starts to fall in love with the woman. As the plot progresses, this complicated dynamic results in a heartwarming love story.

4. Ghost trying to lose its virginity

Oh My Ghost, a 2015 romance K-Drama, gave an entirely new angle to supernatural romance.

A shy young woman, Na Bong Sun, struggles at her job as an assistant chef when she suddenly gets possessed by a ghost. This ghost is a young woman who died a virgin, and her goal is to lose her virginity through her host so that she can move on to the afterlife. Bong Sun works together with the ghost so that she can go to the afterlife, and in the process, Bong Sun overcomes her self-esteem issues.

5. Love that stings

The 2014 drama Blade Man is a supernatural show starring Lee Dong Wook as Joon Hong Bin, who loses the love of his life and develops a cold personality, which manifests as physical blades growing on his body.

The angrier Hong Bin gets, the more blades grow from his body. But after meeting a sweet and kind-hearted woman, he learns to heal from his pain. As the metaphorical blades of his emotions soften, his physical blades get softer too.

6. Kidnapped idol falls for the kidnapper

In I Picked Up a Celebrity on the Street, viewers get a taste of what could be labeled as Stockholm syndrome, but on a much lighter note.

Lee Yeon Seo mistakes the idol Kang Joon Hyeok for her boss, who severely mistreats her and strikes him from behind in a fit of drunken rage. When she comes to her senses, she mistakes Joon Hyeok as dead, and to hide his body, she takes him to her apartment with the help of two clueless police officers. But when she realizes Joon Hyeok is alive, she keeps him captive, fearing he will hand her to the authorities. The two agree upon a three-month period, after which Joon Hyeok will be set free, and Yeon Seo will flee the country. In the meantime, they develop a comical dynamic of mistrust and reconciliation, which slowly turns into something deeper.

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