Catchy Title OST Song:
Don't Forget About Me by The Restless Age

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There are some Korean dramas I will definitely watch simply because at least one of its stars appeals to me from previous dramas they were in which I had enjoyed tremendously. Our leading lady Jung Ryeo Won in The Midnight Romance In Hagwon (2024) is one of those stars. I first saw her two decades ago with Hyun Bin in the classic drama - comedy My Lovely Sam Soon, and had also loved her in Autumn Shower, Love Story In Harvard, Which Planet Are You From?, The King Of Dramas, and in the more recent fantasy romance drama Wok Of Love. She can play both romance and comedy equally well, which is a very valuable talent to possess for playing in Korean dramas because these dramas often combine both sweetly amusing and poignant sad scenes in each episode, no matter what the official genre label is given to the dramas online. It takes a special talent to make you tear up in one scene and in the very next scene leave you laughing! (or vice versa!).

Her cutie pie co-star Wi Ha Joon has made a good impression on me in several prior dramas, including Romance Is A Bonus Book, Something In The Rain and Goodbye Mr. Black. He is always fun to watch and had nice screen chemistry with Jung Ryeo Won. They truly looked like they cared about one another on and off-screen.

I was also delighted to see the second female lead character was played by the spirited So Ju Yeon whom I had just adored in A Love So Beautiful and Seasons Of Blossom. Literally every time she had a scene I caught myself smiling or grinning with happiness. She is a doll! Her lighthearted romantic interest in the story was played by Shin Joo Hyup from Castaway Diva, Find Me In Your Memory, and the recent remake film version of Ditto.

My only criticism of this drama is that each episode is just way too long, an hour and twenty minutes on average for each episode, almost the length of a typical theater film. (Most dramas are an hour or less per episode). Better editing would have improved the pace of this cerebral, in many way understated story of educators competing with one another in hagwon schools (we in America call them cram schools). The competition to produce the best high school and college students in South Korea is often cut-throat in nature. This drama explores that issue in-depth, how it affects the school's teachers, administrators, students and their families. Other popular, excellent Korean dramas that explored education as a theme are Black Dog, The Queen's Classroom, Melancholia (my own personal favorite), and Youth Of May. This drama was directed by veteran An Pan Seok who has worked as a director since the 1990's, including directing a perennial favorite of many K-drama fans, Something In The Rain.

The Story:

Hagwons are private, for-profit academies in South Korea that provide intensive instruction in one or more subject areas. While there are also hagwons for adults for everything from cooking to floral arranging, most hagwons cater to elementary, middle, high school and even college students and can be likened to after-school “cram schools” in America.

We follow the life and career of a language teacher named Seo Hye Jin (Jung Ryeo Won) a fourteen year veteran of the prestigious hagwon school Daechi Chase Academy in the wealthy Gangnam district, Seoul. She makes an excellent salary and many of her co-workers envy her, including the low key Kim Hyun Tak (Kim Jong Tae), the older Woo Seung Hee (Kim Jung Young), newcomer teacher Nam Chung Mi (So Ju Yeon), Yoon Ji Suk (Jang In Sub), Kim Chae Yoon (Ahn Hyun Ho) and Choi Ji Eun (Jang So Yeon).

However, Hye Jin's life is her work and she has little to no time outside of work for socialization or dating. Then suddenly a former student she had taught at the beginning of her career, named Lee Joon Ho (Wi Ha Joon) appears back in her life as an adult and upsets it thoroughly! He had had a huge schoolboy crush on her as a high school student and had never forgotten her, even fourteen years later! She had helped him so much in the past that he was able to be accepted to his first choice college. Now he quits his boring corporate job and gets hired at Daechi Chase Academy as a new teacher, and even follows her around at night trying to get closer to her. At first she seems exasperated by him but slowly warms to him (of course!).

When he threatens with his personal charms to unseat Hye Jin's popularity at the school he gallantly suggests to the veteran school administrator Kim Hyo Im (Gil Hae Yeon, Doctor Stranger) that he and Hye Jin should appear in a polished commercial for the school together, and his idea does the trick. The commercial is a hit. Now even more high school students are signing up for crash courses at Daechi Chase, the nearby school Chan Young High School providing the most students, especially once encouraged to join by the be-speckled head teacher there named Pyo Sang Seob (Kim Song Il, excellent performance). Many of these students are helped personally and professionally, with great compassion, by Hye Jin and eventually Joon Ho too.

Daechi Chase's main competition is the hagwon Daechi Choiseon Academy which is run by the notorious, jealous Choi Hyung Sun (Seo Jung Yeon) whose bountiful grey hair locks give her the nickname The Witch by students. She seems obsessed with destroying her competitor Daechi Chase, and especially the older worker there Woo Seung Hee (Kim Jung Young) whom she had a dark history with. She tries to lure away teachers and students from Daechi Chase to teach at her hagwon school Daechi Choiseon but with limited success. (By the end of the show everyone was rooting for that witch to get her comeuppance ... and she certainly did, in an hilarious way! LOL!).

Hye Jin and Joon Ho eventually succumb to their feelings for one another, but will Hye Jin agree to marriage? She worries how it might affect her work as a teacher. What will prevail in her life, dedication to education, or the possibility of marital bliss? Could it be possible to combine both?

The Midnight Romance In Hagwon is a slow brew in many ways but very tasty in the long run. Check it out on Viki.com if you like educational themed stories, or if you have a particular fondness for any of its fine actors in this cast. Because of each episode's long length I would suggest that perhaps you sip a little caffeine tea or coffee while watching. It helped me! Enjoy!

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