Longing For You: A Viki Original Korean Drama Series

“Longing For You” is a Viki Original Korean drama series released in 2023. It is categorized as crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense. The storyline consists of a lot of crooked lines. An investigation to solve serial killings uncovers criminal activities that are far more nefarious and insidious.  Worse than serial murders?  Uhh … yeah!

♦ A Precious Chaebol Heir Needs a Heart

The storyline of “Longing for You” is wrapped around Cha Young-Woon, the chaebol heir of the Jinjin Group. He’s precious because he’s the only son that’s been born to the family in generations. Who can predict if or when another son will be born? It would be a great loss if he did not live because there are no other possible heirs. No heirs at all? OK. Let’s just say, he’s the only legitimate heir.

He’s the legitimate chaebol heir and according to his mother, he is destined to accomplish great things. Destined? Perhaps. It’s true he comes from a family with wealth and prestige, who ensured that he was well-educated. But he made the choice to work an honest job as a prosecutor who believes in truth and justice, and he’s a really nice guy. People might be envious because he’s a chaebol heir, but they can’t accuse him of being a lazy selfish jerk!

Alas! Wealth does not equal good health. Cha Young-Woon’s only problem is that he has a weak heart. His mother and father constantly remind him that the future of their family is in his hands. If he can get a donor to give him a strong heart, he can live a productive and profitable long life and the future of the JinJin conglomerate will be secure.

♦ How is it Right for One Mother to Kill Another Mother’s Child?

There are few emotions in this whole wide world that are stronger or more powerful than a mother’s love. The series is about a mother who would do anything to save her son. Anything! It’s natural for a loving mother to do whatever it takes to save the life of her sick child. “Whatever it takes” includes doing what is RIGHT. So if that mother kills another mother’s child to save her child, THAT’S WRONG! This is not a gray area or a black and white issue that’s up for debate. It’s a CRIME OF MURDER and the murderer must be brought to justice.

Cha Young-Woon has always had a weak heart and his mother has been hunting for the perfect heart transplant donor for years. She uses her position as a director at a highly respected hospital of Jinjin Medical Center, to search for compatible organ donors. Once she finds the perfect match, if it is necessary to kill that person and take his heart, she will do it! By her reasoning, her actions are wholly justified. Her son is the only legitimate chaebol heir, and his life has much more value than the life of the organ donor.

WARNING! If you are an ordinary or average person, i.e. no wealth, no fame, etc., and you have to go to a hospital – you or your family should be afraid if they put you in a VIP patient room in order for you to receive the best medical care. You might NOT come out alive!

♦ From Serial Murders TO Free Health Check-ups (???)

“What is crooked cannot be made straight” is a verse from the Bible, found in Ecclesiastes. It means: “What is wrong cannot be made right”.

Cha Young-Woon leads a Special Investigation Team, and works together with Prosecutor Go Young-Joo, Police Detective Oh Jin-Seong, and others, to try to find a serial killer. The first and second murders occur in the bustling city of Seoul. But the third murder takes place in the countryside, in a small hometown called Wujin where Go Young-Joo and Oh Jin-Seong grew up.  In the process of following various leads to bring the killer to justice, the crooked lines become more and more crooked. The investigation ends up exposing the dirty deeds of Cha Young-Woon’s mother.

• According to Love Justice Internation. Kidneys, the liver, the heart, the lungs, and the pancreas are the most trafficked organs. (Source)  Organ trafficking is the illicit and illegal trading of human organs, tissues, or other body products. In the real world, this is a global criminal enterprise, and tracking down the perpetrators is no easy feat.

Cha Young-Woon’s mother had set up an extremely sophisticated organ trafficking operation within the Jinjin Medical Center that nobody would suspect. It “looked” honest, legit, and even charitable. There were wealthy patients who came to Jinjin Medical Center in need of an organ transplant. Under the guise of offering free health check-ups to the poor, she was actually screening people who might become organ donors. If she found a match, somehow that poor person would end up brain-dead, and the wealthy recipient would receive their organ.

Main Characters:

• Police Detective Oh Jin-Seong (nicknamed “Ji Sang”: played by Na In-Woo)
• Prosecutor Go Young-Joo (played by Kim Ji-Eun)
• Prosecutor Cha Young-Woon (played by Kwon Yool, “The Policeman’s Lineage”; “The King: Eternal Monarch”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb Rating: 4.6 out of 10 stars (9.1K viewers)
• My Drama List: 7.6 out of 10 stars (5.5K viewers)
• Viki viewers gave “Longing for You” 8.3 out of 10 stars (3.9K viewers)

My personal rating is 9.3 out of 10 stars. It was tempting to agree with the rating given by the Viki viewing audience but I added an additional star for two reasons.

(1) This series taught me a new word: Baekjeong (the butchers of Joseon). One of the mothers used that term to describe Cha Young-Woon’s mother and it was not intended to be a compliment or praise.

(2) The scriptwriters took a very real-world problem and imagined an incredibly horrifying and frightening scenario. In the USA, many medical facilities offer free health screenings and blood tests. People also carry an Organ Donor Card to let others know that their organs can be used to save the life of someone else. The star I added to my rating is intended as a compliment to the imagination of the scriptwriters. “Longing For You” actually made me think twice about getting a free health check-up and about becoming an organ donor. The scenario was fiction but it provoked some very real thoughts.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• 3 Mysterious Points In “Longing For You” To Keep An Eye On | Soompi
• K-drama Longing for You: Na In-woo, Kim Ji-eun lead thriller overstuffed with family and love triangle elements | South China Morning Post

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

Drama World Forever. “Longing for You (2023) Official Teaser Trailer | Korean Drama.” YouTube, 4 July 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCc71Cj-PV8. ‌

https://youtu.be/TCc71Cj-PV8?si=n2BmFXH69IGkJ7jY