The great national holiday of Chuseok has begun. While the generous spirit and long-awaited family reunions are delightful, one cannot miss out on personal ‘healing time’ during the long holiday.
If you need a quick burst of ‘dopamine’ to wake up your brain during the boring journey home, the lethargy after preparing holiday meals, or when you just need some alone time, short dramas are the optimal content.
Recently emerging as a central trend in entertainment, short dramas offer a rapid pace and condensed storytelling that provide intense immersion and addictiveness.
Here are 5 carefully selected short dramas that you can enjoy anytime with just your smartphone during the long holiday.
‘Stormy Marriage Life’ gained some buzz among social media users as an ‘advertisement’.
This short drama featuring actor Lee Sang-yeob tells the romance of Seo Ji-an (played by Jeon Sa-ra), the only daughter of one of the world’s top 10 conglomerates, who lives hiding her identity to escape her father’s excessive love and control.
Directed by Lee Chang-woo, who has worked as a director and assistant director on dramas like ‘The King and I’, ‘Hyena’, and ‘Flowers Bloom at Night’.
Lee Sang-yeob appears as Kim Hyun-woo, the representative of the ‘W Group’s second son’, showcasing a bizarre romance filled with constant truth battles with Seo Ji-an played by Jeon Sa-ra. The ‘money bragging’ competition among the villains adds hidden fun.
‘Stormy Marriage Life’ surpassed 10 million views within 5 days of its release on the global short-form platform Drama Box, ranking first in South Korea and also achieving top rankings in the US, Europe, and Japan.
Based on the Chinese drama ‘The Secret of the Sleeping Princess’, ‘Hello, Oppas’ tells the story of Namgung Byeol, who was adopted into the Namgung family.
Namgung Byeol (played by Park Joo-won), who received abundant love from her three older brothers, faces humiliation when her biological sister Namgung Dal (played by Yoo-bin) comes to find her. After giving up everything, Namgung Byeol leaves her three brothers to become a participant in the ‘Human Sleep Project’, sleeping for 30 years and waking up in the future. The truths revealed during this time explode with tension and dopamine.
‘Hello, Oppas’, which also gained attention for featuring actor Jeon No-min as the father of the female lead Namgung Byeol, reached global ranking number one and overall weekly number two on the global short-form drama platform Drama Wave in June.
The short drama ‘The Trashy Villainess’, a joint project by STUDIO X+U and Naver, features the female lead Yoon Mi-so (played by Kang Min-ah), who was a supporting writer in the present life, getting possessed by a villainess in a trashy drama and writing a cruel ending to escape the worldview. It is based on the Naver webtoon of the same name.
In the drama, Yoon Mi-so discovers that the script she had planned, ‘Cheer Up, Dawn’, was stolen by the master of trashy dramas, Nam Heun-yeon (played by Yoon Ji-sook), and when she raises the issue, she is met with Nam’s indifference, claiming “it’s just the same title.”
After receiving a mysterious watch from another senior writer, Yoon Mi-so becomes the ‘trash of humanity’ villainess in the trashy drama. As the never-ending trashy drama unfolds until the ‘trash ending’, Yoon Mi-so’s choices continuously raise curiosity.
Actors Park Sang-myeon and Oh Hyun-kyung appear as the female lead’s parents, adding to the excitement.
‘The Trashy Villainess’, which was released on the 30th of last month, can be watched on Naver’s streaming platform Chijijik and Naver TV.
Tving’s short original ‘Shut Up, You Are the Villain of My Work’ is a suspense revenge drama where school violence victim Kang Seo-yeon (played by Park Yoo-na), who has become a famous drama writer, casts her tormentor Yoo Hye-ji (played by Park Hae-in) as the lead actress.
Directed by Jung Jong-hoon, who directed the webtoon adaptation ‘Girl’s World 2’, this is the second collaboration with writer Jung Hee-yoon following the short drama ‘Love Money Mafia’.
In the drama, the faceless star writer Kang Seo-yeon, who works under a pseudonym, reunites with Yoo Hye-ji, who had cruelly tormented her, piecing together the puzzle of revenge that travels between the past and present, exploding with dopamine.
This is Park Yoo-na’s first short drama appearance, known for her roles in ‘SKY Castle’ and ‘True Beauty’, and the concise storytelling and high immersion enhance its appeal.
Released on the 29th of last month, Tving’s short drama ‘I Am Choosing My Favorite’ is the first domestic interactive multi-ending short drama depicting a ‘5 to 1 romance’ involving one female lead and five men.
The female lead is Lim Hyun-joo, who gained fame from the dating program ‘Heart Signal 2’, and she is surrounded by male leads Kim Eun-ho, Son Min-ho, Kim Han-young, Cheon Woo-jin, and Gong Joo-han.
Depending on the viewer's choices, the story and ending with the male leads change, showcasing a fresh format that maximizes the speed and immersion unique to short forms.
In a development akin to a game, viewers can enjoy a short yet powerful viewing experience.
[Kim Mi-ji, Star Today Reporter]
