Top 10 best short K-dramas to binge-watch on the run or over the weekend

Best short K-dramas to watch over the weekend or on the way. These K-dramas may be short, but they have all the entertaining elements that make them a must-watch!

Updated on Apr 08, 2024  |  10:46 AM IST |  1M
My Name, D.P.; Image Source: Netflix
My Name, D.P.; Image Source: Netflix

Korean Dramas have been the supreme force in the takeover of the Hallyu wave. Providing a break from the mundane, K-dramas have their charm which makes them irresistible when it comes to entertainment. You can choose any of these top ten best short K-dramas to watch. Korean titles cover a varied series of genres from romance, thriller, and revenge to suspense, drama, comedy, and many more. 

In the always-on-the-run life that we live today, we hardly get time to take a break and it is hard to stay connected with all the dramas. We look for short things to render us respite. These are some best short K-dramas to binge-watch over the weekend or on the run, perfect for a K-drama rookie, they will make you laugh, swoon, and even cry a little. Save this list now and begin your binge-watch ride now.

Top 10 short K-dramas to binge-watch on the weekend or on the run

10. Doona!

The Bae Suzy and Yang Se Jong drama depicts the story of a former K-pop idol who has now given up on her career. Doona! the drama gives an insight into the lives of K-pop idols and soloists, the struggles they face, and the hard decisions they have to make along the way. One day in the dorm, Lee Doona, played by Bae Suzy, lives shifts to Yang Se Jong’s Lee Won Jun, who is caring and warm. He provides a place of rest and affection for the tattered Doona. Soon, they fall in love with each other, and Lee Doona gives her career a second chance. 

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  • Directed By: Lee Jeong Hyo
  • Cast: Bae Suzy, Yang Se Jong, Lee Yu Bi, Park Se Wan, Shin Ha Young, Kim Do Wan
  • Episodes: 9


9. One Sunny Day

So Ji Sub plays a broken-hearted man in this short K-drama, Kim Ji Ho, who, due to some work, ends up coming to Jeju Island, where he keeps on running into Kim Ji Ho, played by Kim Ji Won, an attractive woman who is very clearly into him. However, cautious Kim Ji Ho won't give in so easily. Unfortunately, they both get robbed and stay at the same hotel, where they help each other. They soon find comfort in each other's arms and fall in love.

  • Directed By: Kwon Hyuk Chan
  • Cast: So Ji Sub, Kim Ji Won, Lee Jong Hyuk, Lim Ju Eun, Lee Jong Hyun, Mimi, Baek Seung Hee, Ha Jae Sook, Kim Mi Kyung
  • Episodes: 10

8. Hellbound

Hellbound is a fantasy series set in 2022-27, when it was released it was a year in the future. Suddenly, some supernatural beings appear and start condemning people to hell and set the date and time for the said condemnation when humungous monsters arrive and incinerate the individuals in front of everyone as a spectacle meant to scare everyone off. Amidst this chaos, two groups rise to power: New Truth Society and Arrowheads.

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  • Directed By: Yeon Sang Ho
  • Cast: Yoo Ah In, Kim Hyun Joo, Park Jeong Min,Won Jin Ah, Yang Ik June
  • Episodes: 6

7. The Hymn of Death

The Hymn of Death is a sad romantic drama starring Lee Jong Suk and Shin Hye Sun. The short Korean drama follows the first soprano of the Joseon era, Yun Sim Deok, played by Shin Hye-sun, living at that time in Japan-occupied Korea, and the genius playwright Kim Woo Jin, played by Lee Jong-suk. The two had a tragic love story, and the story follows them as they try to live through the tiring times and save their love. 

  • Directed By: Park Soo Jin
  • Cast: Lee Jong Suk, Shin Hye Sun, Kim Myeong Su, Park Sun Im, Kim Won Hae, Hwang Young Hee, Go Bo Gyeol 
  • Episodes: 3


6. The School Nurse Files 

The School Nurse Files, starring Jung Yumi and Nam Joo Hyuk, is a light-hearted romantic comedy with superheroes and fantastical elements to add excitement. Ahn Eun Young is a school nurse with a special power: she can see people’s feelings and desires. She can also see spirits that look like jellies, which sometimes can take dangerous forms and harm people. With the help of  Hong In Pyo, who also has a special energy field that makes him immune from these jellies and can charge her, a Chinese language teacher at the same school, she fights against these monsters and protects the kids.

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  • Directed By: Lee Kyoung Mi
  • Cast: Jung Yumi, Nam Joo Hyuk, Lee Joo Young, Kim Mi Soo, Go Youn Jung, Teo Yoo
  • Episodes: 6

5. You Drive Me Crazy

You Drive Me Crazy becomes your chosen short K-drama to watch with its simple yet hooking story. Kim Rae WAn and Han Eun Sung have been best friends for eight years, but on one eventful night, they sleep with each other. Now, with these newfound feelings, they get stuck on how to go about their friendship and lives. The incident even brings out feelings from the past, which they had kept bottled up to save the friendship, but maybe it is time to give love a chance.

  • Directed By: Hyun Sol Ipi
  • Cast: Kim Seon Ho, Lee Yoo Young, Kim Sung Joo, Kwon Do Woon
  • Episodes: 4


4. D.P.

D.P. is a short K-drama on Netflix, a perfect watch for the weekend if you love some hard-hitting realities of the world served on a start-studded platter. Depicting the truth about South Korean armed forces, the story follows Private Ahn Jun Ho and Corporal Han Ho Yeol, who are tasked with finding deserters who abandon their service. Probing over issues like bullying, hazing, corruption, and discrimination, the show becomes a hard-hitting must-watch.

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  • Directed By: Han Jun Hee
  • Cast: Jung Hae In, Koo Kyo Hwan, Kim Sung Kyun, Son Suk Ku
  • Episodes: 6 (each season)

3. Black Knight

Kim Woo Bin’s Black Knight is a dystopian short K-drama on Netflix set in 2071, where the earth has been left inhabitable by serious air pollution, and a group of delivery drivers called Black Knights deliver oxygen to people. With VFX, which was compared with Westworld and a story where the whole existence of humans is in question, the drama becomes a good choice.

  • Directed By: Cho Ui Seok
  • Cast: Kim Woo Bin, Song Seung Heon, Kang Yoo Seok, Esom
  • Episodes: 6


2. Bloodhounds

Bloodhounds is a short K-drama that studies and shows the money-lending business, which is way bigger and more dangerous than it looks. Kim Gun Woo, played by Woo Do Hwan, is a professional boxer who gets into this unending circle and becomes a bodyguard and a bloodhound for a loan shark to pay his mother’s loan. Along with Hong Woo Jin, another boxer, he decides to close this chapter once and for all. 

  • Directed By: Kim Joo Hwan
  • Cast: Woo Do Hwan, Lee Sang Yi, Park Sung Woong, Huh Joon Ho
  • Episodes: 8

1. My Name

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My Name is a must-watch revenge short Korean drama on Netflix. Yoon Ji Woo saw the murder of her father and is not ready to let this go without extracting revenge from the killers. She trains under a drug gang leader, Choi Mu Jin, and then later infiltrates the police force to find out the truth behind his father’s death. There, she meets another detective, Jeon Pil Do, who becomes her support throughout, and they soon grow close. 

  • Directed By: Kim Jin Min
  • Cast: Han So Hee, Park Hee Soon, Ahn Bo Hyun, Kim Sang Ho, Lee Hak Joo
  • Episodes: 8


These short K-dramas have garnered love locally and around the world. Romance, action, comedy, fantasy, crime, revenge, and so much more await you just a tap away. Choose a drama from these best short K-dramas and start binge-watching now.

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ALSO READ: Top 15 most-watched K-dramas on Netflix: The Glory, Squid Game, Twenty-Five Twenty-One, and more

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About The Author

Tanya, on this side of the screen, probably with a Bangtan Bomb and my K-pop playlist on the play.

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Credits: Netflix
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