My”The Nice Guy” is a 2025 Korean drama series with 14 episodes, and is categorized as Action, Romance, Family, and Korean Noir, and streaming on Disney+/Hulu.
- Memorable Quote: “You don’t survive this world by being nice. You survive by being necessary.”
SUMMARY: A really nice guy is unfortunately a gangster. It’s expected of him. But he would really like to quit, be with the woman he loves, and live happily ever after. Is that such an impossible dream?
♦ Gangsters Can’t Just Quit
In “The Nice Guy”, Park Seok-cheol is the eldest grandson of a three-generation gangster family. Of course, they made him learn how to survive on the mean streets. But he longs to leave the path in life that others laid for him and chart his own course. He even attends a class to learn how to express himself through poetry. That’s his real inner spirit: a gentle, calm soul who wants a peaceful life. His real self is buried deep inside, and he wants so badly to be set free.
In high school, there was a girl Park Seok-cheol liked a lot. The feeling was mutual. She confessed her feelings for him first. Her name was Kang Mi-young. She gave him a book as a gift: “The Sun Also Rises”. It is a classic novel written by the Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway. Park Seok-cheol cherished the book but not as much as he cherished Kang Mi-young. But she broke his heart because one day she left school suddenly. She didn’t just change schools; she left the city. No warning. No reason given. Not even a goodbye.
♦ My Sun Has Risen Again
Park Seok-cheol never knew why. He never in his dreams had hoped to ever see her again. But one day, unexpectedly, she walked back into his life. When he saw Kang Mi-young again, he thought of something that Ernest Hemingway once said:
- “The sun also rises, and as long as the sun rises, there is hope.”
Kang Mi-young had walked back into his life, and Park Seok-cheol thought to himself: ‘My sun has risen again.’
Perhaps the sun has risen again. Perhaps not.
Kang Mi-young suffered through frightening incidents that traumatized her. Now she is taking care of her ailing mother by working various jobs (cleaner, waitress). Plus, she has her own YouTube channel. She’s an aspiring musician, singer, and songwriter. Music and song are her passions, and she would love to pursue a career. But her trauma prevents her from performing in front of people. Meeting Park Seok-cheol again, though, will make her life better. At least, that’s what she hopes.
Park Seok-cheol also hopes he can quit the life he lives, being a gangster and having to wrestle with rival gangs, and he can go off into the sunset. Living a life with Kang Mi-young, together, they can experience many beautiful sunrises. One can hope.
Main Characters:
- Park Seok-cheol (played by Lee Dong-wook, “Harbin”, “The Divorce Insurance”, “Bad and Crazy”, “Tale of the Nine Tailed “, “Tale of the Nine Tailed: 1938 “, “A Shop For Killers“, “The Fugitive of Joseon“, “Hotel King”, “Strangers From Hell”, “Harbin”, “The Recipe”, “LIFE”, “The Fugitive of Joseon”)
- Kang Mi-young (played by Lee Sung-kyung, “Sh**ting Stars”, “Dr. Romantic 2 and 3”)
Viewership and Rating:
- IMDb: 6.7 out of 10 stars
- My Drama List: 7 out of 10 stars
- Dramabeans: 8.8 out of 10 stars
- Ratingraph: 9.5 out of 10 stars
My personal rating is 8.5 out of 10 stars.
“The Nice Guy” is an emotionally rich drama with a noir edge and outstanding performances by the lead couple.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
The New K-Drama on Disney+ Sets a New IMDb Record with a 9+ Rating for Every Episode | fandomwire
Korean Drama Review – The Nice Guy – Lee Dong Wook | kdramalove
Lee Dong-wook Fans ~ Nine (9) Korean Dramas
Best K-Dramas with Noir Movie Feels | My Drama List
TRAILER/TEASER:
_Official, LoveBreak. “The Nice Guy.” YouTube, Video, 18 July 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=cAarKu7Zvpw.
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