The Spies Who Loved Me (2020) ~ Love and Marriage, Secrets and Double Lives

By cmoneyspinner - May 3, 2026

“The Spies Who Loved Me” is a 2020 Korean drama, 16 episodes, categorized as Suspense, Espionage, Action, Mystery, Spy Drama, Romance, and Comedy (Rom-Com), and streaming on Amazon Prime.

Memorable Quote: “Hey, don’t you read any comic books? All the villains are evil scientists who are trying to blow up the world!”

SUMMARY: A wedding dress designer discovers that her ex-husband and current husband are both secretly involved in international espionage. They’re spies???!!! What else doesn’t she know about the men she trusted?

♦ A Wild Bachelorette Party

In “The Spies Who Loved Me,” Kang Ah-Reum is a talented wedding dress designer whose seemingly ordinary life becomes far more complicated when one of her customers, a bride-to-be, is murdered. The woman wasn’t just a customer; she was a dear friend who had introduced her to her current husband, Derek Hyun. Though Kang Ah-Reum was close to her friend, she didn’t know all of her secrets. Her friend was a famous scientist working on a special project. But she wanted to escape and start a new life, so she tried to sell the proprietary information to the highest bidder. But for a genius, she wasn’t very smart. What she tried to do was dangerous.

The scientist tried to contact Korean intelligence and promised to provide the project secrets to them if they could ensure her safety. Kang Ah-Reum’s ex-husband, Jun Ji-Hoon, was the agent assigned to protect her. Kang Ah-Reum crossed paths with her ex-husband again. He was the last person she wanted to see. When they divorced, it was quick and clean, and she never even knew that he was a spy. When they saw each other again, he still didn’t reveal that he was on a mission. They were both invited to the friend’s bachelorette party. She was a guest. He was a pole dancer dressed like a sheriff. When she asked him, he said he was working one of his part-time gigs. Sadly, the night of the party, the scientist went missing. The next time they both saw her, the scientist had been murdered.

I Need to Know Why My Friend Was Murdered

Shortly before she died, her scientist friend had told her not to trust anyone. Especially, not the person closest to her. It was an odd, ominous warning. But when her friend was found murdered, Kang Ah-Reum remembered the warning. Strangely, her friend was famous, yet there was no news about her death. The news report she did find was completely fabricated. It said the scientist was addicted to opioids and died from a drug overdose. WHAT? No way! Kang Ah-Reum was at the party, and she knows her friend didn’t take drugs.

Kang Ah-Reum decides to try to find out who killed her friend. She doesn’t realize that Jun Ji-Hoon is also investigating the murder because … the covert investigation is his job. It’s rather uncomfortable for him, but his boss assigned him to stay close to Kang Ah-Reum. She may know something and not even realize what she knows.

Meanwhile, her current husband, Derek Hyun, appears sophisticated and dependable, yet his mysterious behavior hints at a hidden world beneath the surface.

As old feelings for her ex resurface and new dangers emerge, Kang Ah-Reum becomes entangled in a web of secrets, deception, and international espionage. Both men are very protective of her, but she doesn’t know that they are both leading a double life. They’re doing their best to make sure she never finds out. But alas … some secrets are very hard to keep from the woman you love.

The Professionals Versus The Amateur

What is interesting is that Jun Ji-Hoon and Derek Hyun are professionals who work in investigative intelligence operations for a living. Kang Ah-Reum is just an average person, a wedding dress designer, with no skills or training. But she is managing to put the pieces together about her friend’s mysterious death. Eventually, she’ll realize that she’s on a dangerous path and that two men she thought she could trust have been keeping secrets from her. “The biggest secrets are hidden by the people who love you the most.”

Main Characters:

Kang Ah-Reum (played by Yoo In-na, “New Year Blues”, “Snowdrop”, “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (aka “Goblin”)”, “Secret Garden”)
Ex-husband/Interpol – Jun Ji-Hoon (played by Eric Mun, “Another Miss Oh”)
Current husband/Spy – Derek Hyun (played by Lim Ju-hwan, “Project Wolf Hunting”, “The Game: Towards Zero”, “The Bride of Habaek”, “Shine or Go Crazy”, “Tamra, the Island”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

IMDb: 6.4 out of 10 stars
My Drama List: 7.4 out of 10 stars
Dramabeans: 8.4 out of 10 stars
iQIYI: 9.2 out of 10 stars
Amazon customers’ rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is the same as iQYI.

Viewers have described this as an underrated Korean drama. I agree. This is an original screenplay by Lee Ji-min, inspired stylistically by classic spy-romance stories such as “The Spy Who Loved Me”. It’s a hidden gem and definitely a popcorn-worthy binge watch.