Buried Hearts ~ You Can’t Have Success and Be Happy
“Buried Hearts” is a 2025 Korean drama series with 16 episodes, categorized as Romance, Revenge, Thriller, Suspense, Crime, and Mystery; and streaming on Disney+/Hulu.
SUMMARY: Wait! The woman I love, and was going to marry is not the woman I thought she was? How foolish of me to believe I could have both success and happiness.
♦ The Ultimate Betrayal and Revenge
In “Buried Hearts”, Seo Dong-Joo is a trusted right-hand man of Cha Gang-Cheon. He is so trusted that he even knows the combination of his boss’ fridge where he keeps his alcoholic drinks. Only two people know the combination: him and his boss. That irks Huh Il-Do, who is Cha Gang-Cheon’s son-in-law. Why isn’t he the most trusted? He’s family!
Somehow Huh Il-Do landed in the hot seat and must appear for a committee of assemblymen for grilled questioning about his nefarious dealings. The dirty financial transactions were supposed to be covered up but information got leaked. But not to worry. Seo Dong-Joo will handle it and Huh Il-Do make sure he walks off scott-free. As if his skin is made of Teflon, the charges will slide right off. HOW? He’ll bribe the assemblyman spearheading the committee. Easy peasy.
Seo Dong-Joo obtained dirty money from Yeom Jang-Sun. He’s “The Man in the Shadows”, the one nobody ever sees. He wields money and power and controls everyone from assemblymen to chaebols to The Blue House – all from behind the scenes. Seo Dong-Joo took the money Yeom Jang-Sun gave him, visited the assemblyman’s home, and offered the “precious gift”. He secretly recorded him accepting the bribe and then told him to close the investigation. The assemblyman could either end the investigation of Huh Il-Do OR face serious legal consequences for corruption, i.e. taking bribes. Of course, the assemblyman caved.
Huh Il-Do was set free, and returned home, and … Seo Dong-Joo was already in his home too! He and his wife live with his father-in-law, Cha Gang-Cheon. Since he’s the father-in-law’s right-hand man he was there to update him on the successful conclusion of the investigation. Huh Il-Do did not get to tell his father-in-law because Seo Dong-Joo was called in before him.
No worries. Huh Il-Do knows a secret about Seo Dong-Joo that is sure to anger Cha Gang-Cheon. Once that secret is revealed, there’s no way the father-in-law will want to keep him around.
It’s even uglier because Yeom Jang-Sun knows what the secret is and he also plans to use it against Seo Dong-Joo. It’s such a secret that even Seo Dong-Joo doesn’t know what the secret is or that he even has a secret! (O.o)
When Seo Dong-Joo is not busy being an errand boy and a lapdog for Cha Gang-Cheon and Yeom Jang-Sun, he’s spending time with Yeo Eun-Nam, the woman he loves. He planned to propose marriage. But on the day he was going to ask her to marry him, she disappeared. Yeo Eun-Nam reappeared later but … let’s just his proposal plan got canned. He didn’t have a Plan B, but … once he realized that his girlfriend had deceived him and that he had ruthless enemies like Yeom Jang-Sun and Huh Il-Do who wanted to eliminate him, he came up with a plan to survive. However, does life ever go according to our plan?
Main Characters:
- Seo Dong-Joo (played by Park Hyung-Sik, “Juror 8”, “Doctor Slump”, “Strong Girl Bong-Soon”, “Our Blooming Youth”, “Happiness”, “Hwarang”, “Nine: 9 Times Time Travel”)
- Yeom Jang-Sun (played by Heo Jun-Ho, “Dr. Cheon and The Lost Talisman”, “Escape from Mogadishu”, “Bloodhounds”, “Missing: The Other Side 1 and 2”, “Kingdom and Kingdom: Ashin of the North”, “Designated Survivor: 60 Days”, “The Emperor: Owner of the Mask”)
- Huh Il-Do (played by Lee Hae-Young, “Unmasked”, “The Glory 1 and 2”)
- Cha Gang-Cheon (played by Woo Hyeon, “The Three Musketeers”, “Cruel Palace: War of Flowers”)
- Yeo Eun-Nam (played by Hong Hwa-Yeon)
Viewership and Rating:
- IMDb: 7.9 out of 10 stars
- My Drama List: 8.3 out of 10 stars
- NME: 3 out of 5 stars
My personal rating is the same as IMDb.
“Buried Hearts” is a 2025 K-drama I was excited to see. But I immediately got disgusted with his girlfriend and it went downhill from there. Don’t laugh at me. I know it’s just fiction but certain things leave a bad taste in your mouth. Selfish girlfriends or boyfriends? ME NO LIKE! But if I rated it just for the cast, it would be 10 out of 10 stars.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
Disney+ K-drama ‘Buried Hearts’: cast, plot, trailer and more |NME
“Buried Hearts” And “Undercover High School” Score Their Highest Friday Ratings Yet | Soompi
Buried Hearts: 3 Reasons Why You Should Watch Park Hyung-Sik Helmed K-Drama | IMDb
TRAILER/TEASER:
LoveBreak_Official. “Buried Hearts.” YouTube, 21 Feb. 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMozxfuKJUg.
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