25 K-Dramas About Falling In Love With The Boss

K-dramas have grown increasingly popular over the last few decades, especially among romance fans, and it is no secret why. The medium has every possible kind of story to offer, all with well-written characters, interesting dynamics, and very rewarding progression. That said, if there's one romance K-drama subgenre that's more popular than them all and checks all these boxes, it's office romances.

Office romances inherently bring with them complex power dynamics, which make for a far more interesting romantic story, especially so when said tryst is between a boss and their employee. Perhaps it is the somewhat forbidden nature of such romances that makes them all the more delectable, which is why K-dramas have time and time again relied on the trope and with great success nearly every time.

Filing For Love

Released in 2026

Given the popularity of office romance K-dramas, it's a mystery that it has taken this long for a series to bring HR into the picture, but it's finally happened with Viki's new office romance, Filing for Love. Revolving around the audit department of a major corporation, Filing for Love sees said department's ace, Noh Ki-jun, demoted to a team in charge of public morals and investigating office affairs when the infamous Joo In-ah becomes the new head of the department.

However, despite her ruthless demeanor in the office, Ki-jun eventually discovers multiple secret sides to his new boss, with work invariably bringing the two closer. And with the very talented Shin Hye-sun alongside Gong Myung playing the main leads, Filing for Love is an immediate must-watch.

Romance Is A Bonus Book

Released In 2019

Romance is a Bonus Book is an interesting boss and employee drama because the premise is different than so many others that exist. Most K-dramas with the boss-employee relationship feature the two meeting through their jobs and sparks flying. This isn’t a boss and employee who meet for the first time on the job and complicate their work life with a romance. Instead, the characters have a history that actually far predates them working together.

Cha Eun-ho (Lee Jong-suk) is the chief editor and author who has been a long-time friend of Kang Dan-i (Lee Na-young), a woman who finds herself down on her luck after her husband cheats on her. He’s hidden his real feelings for her, but when she gets a temporary job at his publishing company, his feelings, and their working relationship become much more complicated. It’s a sweet story about the unexpected in life. Romance novelists would call it a second-chance romance as the two connect in a new way.

Radio Romance

Released In 2018

Radio Romance centers, as the audience might expect, on working at a radio station. In this case, the focus is on a woman (Kim So-hyun) who has found herself working as a writing assistant on programs for a long time because she doesn’t appear to have the necessary skills to progress. She decides to hire a top actor (Yoon Doo-joon) who has the reputation for having a "perfect life" to make sure her radio program won’t be canceled.

The trouble is, her scripts aren’t always the best, and the actor genuinely cannot work without a script. Working on a live radio show means that he has to figure out how to expect the unexpected. The two find themselves having a hard time working together, but might end up as more than just boss and employee in the K-drama. Part of the fun of the show is seeing how the two are able to adapt and bond over their work as it brings them closer together.

Crazy Love

Released In 2022

Crazy Love features a wealthy CEO (Kim Jae-wook) who thinks someone is about to murder him and his secretary (Krystal Jung) who finds out she might not have long to live. Though the CEO is brilliant, he’s also seen as narcissistic by his employees and competition, and his secretary seems to be the only one who can put up with him, even agreeing to pretend to be his girlfriend as part of one of his schemes.

The relationship between the two main characters is only one small aspect of the sprawling K-drama. There are revenge schemes, corporate espionage, enemies-to-lovers, and so many other tropes crammed into one series that it’s more like a soap opera than the typical K-drama. It might not seem like that many tropes could work, but they do. It's that sprawling nature of the show that makes it so fun. The love story is just the icing on the cake.

Suspicious Partner

Released In 2017

This office romance K-drama has a little more action than the usual one does. It’s also a legal drama, and one in which one of the main pairing finds themselves accused of murder. It features a prosecuting attorney changing their legal profession just as a big murder case crosses their path - and a bit of romance.

A prosecutor (Ji Chang-wook) and a trainee (Nam Ji-hyun) work together on the murder case, but they also find that their own lives are more connected than they thought by past circumstances. Just as the two of them begin to admit their feelings for one another though, one of them is accused of murder. That makes for a rare conflict in a usual story of an office romance, and it keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat.

The mystery and the love story equally drive the series, which makes it unique among K-dramas in which an employee falls for their boss as well.

Forecasting Love And Weather

Released In 2022

Park Min-young has made a career out of appearing in romance K-dramas as successful businesswomen, and in this instance, she’s the boss of the boss-employee relationship. She’s promoted at work just as a new employee, played by Song Kang, enters her team, transferring from another office. They have a surprising connection though — their exes married one another after cheating on them.

They find themselves drawn to one another, even as they have opposing viewpoints at work on a regular basis. Their growing relationship is augmented by weather metaphors since they work for the Korean Meteorological Association. Their connection is also put at risk when their previous relationships become the subject of workplace gossip, and they struggle to keep their new relationship a secret. While there is a lot of drama surrounding them, their unfolding relationship is one of the sweetest parts of the show.

Their relationship also provides the centerpiece of the ensemble. As they fall for one another, they also nurture friendships with the rest of their team. When their relationship is accidentally exposed, the entire team supports them - just as they decide to break up - throwing another wrench into their dynamic. What they go through as they struggle to balance their personal lives with their work makes the show incredibly entertaining.

Coffee Prince

Released In 2007

A slightly common TV trope that viewers will see in K-dramas is gender-swapping. This can be seen in the show Coffee Prince, one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss, where a cheerful and male-presenting woman named Go Eun-Chan (Yoon Eun-Hye) is mistaken as a boy and hired by Choi Han Gyu (Gong Yoo), the grandson of a coffee magnate who has never had to work for anything in his life thanks to inheriting his position within a family business.

Eun-Chan figures out that she has to keep her gender a secret if she wants to keep her job. Coffee Prince was a hit in South Korea and found further success in other Asian countries like Thailand and the Philippines, where local production studios remade their own version of the show.

Business Proposal

Released In 2022

The K-drama Business Proposal is centered on a protagonist who pretends to be someone they’re not, and while that trope is fairly common in K-dramas, it is also one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss because of how the show handles the trope. A single woman named Shin Ha-Ri (Kim Se-Jeong) takes her friend’s place on a blind date, not knowing that her friend was set up with her boss Kang Tae-Moo (Ahn Hyo-Seop).

Since her boss doesn't know who she is, she decides to keep up the ruse, only to find out that he wants to marry to get his relatives off his back about dating. That is actually where the conflict begins as she continues to hide who she is and the fact that she works at his company.

Business Proposal is actually based on a webtoon, which was a point of concern for many TV critics as they thought that the source material was weak and full of clichés. The series proved a lot of those critics wrong though as it used rom-com tropes to its advantage. The show is considered one of the best K-dramas of 2022, thanks to its charismatic leads, straightforward plot, and lighthearted romance.

Don’t Dare To Dream

Released In 2016

In one of the best K-dramas about an employee falling in love with the boss, a temporary weather forecaster at a TV station named Pyo Na-Ri (Gong Hyo-Jin) has a long-time crush on her superior and colleague, Lee Hwa-Shin (Jo Jung-Suk). However, Hwa-Shin has always been arrogant and harsh to Na-Ri. That dynamic isn't always a favorite for K-drama audiences, but the chemistry of the actors helps to sell the change in the relationship.

Hwa-Shin’s feelings towards Na-Ri start to change once a charming man named Go Jung-Won (Go Kyung-Pyo) shows interest in the lovable weather forecaster. And of course, as most K-dramas featuring romance do, the main love triangle isn't the only romantic entanglement in the series. Don’t Dare to Dream was received well for its conversation on ethics in journalism, its effective comedy, and its romantic scenes. The series was also nominated for several awards in South Korea in 2016.

Oh My Ghost

Released In 2015

Oh My Ghost is one of the most recognized supernatural dramas and one of the best K-dramas about falling in love with the boss. It focuses on three main characters, and the main love story is between a young woman and her boss, who's a famous chef. There's a catch. Na Bong-Sun (Park Bo-Young) is shy and timid and has a huge crush on her boss, but she finds herself constantly getting into trouble at work. She can also see spirits thanks to her grandmother's connection to them.

One day, she's possessed by a young, lustful female spirit who believes the only way to go to the afterlife is by losing her virginity. Being the puppet of the ghost, Bong-Sun now becomes a firecracker and confident woman. It's the confidence provided to her by the spirit that finally allows her to catch her boss' eye - and further complicates her life. The dichotomy between the lead and the ghost makes for some hilarious encounters and a perfect reason for her to become the center of attention.