Tag: Korean rom-com

Their first kiss isn’t spooky at all — it’s the sweetest thing this drama has done yet. Full spoilers.

⚠️ Spoilers for Episodes 5-6.

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The shock of the episode 4 ending doesn’t last long. Episode 5 opens with Gang uk alive and then widens the entire board with a cold case three hundred years old. And at the end of episode 6, a declaration nobody sees coming.

Gang uk Was Alive

When Gang uk appears outside the emergency room, Yeo ri assumes she’s looking at his spirit and pulls him into her arms. What she hears instead is a heartbeat. He survived.

Kept overnight for tests, Gang uk is still inside his one-month window and still tormented by ghosts. Yeo ri stays with him through the night. He wakes first at dawn, caught off guard by the sight of her asleep beside him — but Yeo ri, thinking about how close he came to dying because of her, tells him flatly they can never be involved again. They part on that note.

A 300-Year-Old Love Letter, and a Power Broker in the Art World

News of Yeo ri’s abduction by Park Seung jae breaks, and the press descends on her. Facing a wall of reporters outside her hotel, she’s rescued by Kang Min hwan, who steps in and clears them out.

Meanwhile, Gang uk hears about a slush fund allegation involving Reina Hotel, and the trail leads to the Yeeon Cultural Foundation, a major power in the Korean art world. Its chairwoman, Lee Hwa yong, is preparing to unveil a love letter written three hundred years ago by Hwa gyeong dang, a gisaeng poet, to the royal Prince Gangpyeong.

Lee Hwa yong is also Prince Gangpyeong’s descendant.

The Display Case Shatters, and a Painter’s Ghost Appears

Gang uk approaches Lim Seo hyeon, a prosecutor from his cohort, for information on the slush fund. She agrees — on the condition that he accompany her to the unveiling.

At the Yeeon Museum of Art, Gang uk and Seo hyeon run straight into Yeo ri and Min hwan. Seeing a woman on Gang uk’s arm, Yeo ri assumes girlfriend. Both of them start paying more attention to each other than they’d like to admit.

Then, at the height of the ceremony, the display case holding the letter cracks and shatters. The event collapses into chaos.

What Yeo ri sees that nobody else does: a man in hanbok. It’s Do won, the painter who created Hwa gyeong dang’s portrait.

Hwa gyeong dang and Prince Gangpyeong — The Love Story Everyone Believed

Yeo ri goes to Lee Hwa yong to hear the story behind the letter.

Prince Gangpyeong took Hwa gyeong dang, a gisaeng, as a concubine. As the story goes, the two traveled to Mount Geumgang together, and she simply vanished. For three centuries it’s been passed down as a love that transcended class.

Lee Hwa yong also mentions something odd: camellias on the property blooming well out of season.

How the Slush Fund Actually Works

Seo hyeon lays out the structure for Gang uk. A prosecutor purchased a painting, but there’s no customs record of it entering the country. The buyer abroad was Chief Prosecutor Ok Gye dong, whose position made quiet importation possible.

His older sister is Ok Gye hui, director at Reina Hotel & Resort — and Yeo ri’s relative. That puts Ok Gye hui at the center of the suspected laundering scheme.

Reunited, and Yeo ri’s Proposal

In the middle of all this, an article claims Kang Min hwan and Yeo ri are dating. Gang uk notices, again. The story was planted by Yeo ri’s grandmother.

A murder happens in the mountains, and Yeo ri does what she always does — goes to the scene, and ends up in danger. Gang uk arrives in time to save her, and together they catch the killer.

Once both of them confirm what they wanted to know — that Min hwan isn’t Yeo ri’s boyfriend, that Seo hyeon isn’t Gang uk’s girlfriend — the tension eases. And Yeo ri makes an offer: let’s solve a cold case that’s been open for three hundred years.

The Rules of Engagement — “Share Information, Keep Your Distance”

Episode 6 opens with the two of them setting ground rules. They’ll work every case together, but they’ll keep physical distance while doing it.

What Yeo ri needs to resolve is Do won’s unfinished grievance. To do that, they have to find Hwa gyeong dang’s body.

Do won’s Version — A Crime Laundered Over Three Centuries

Everyone believes Hwa gyeong dang loved Prince Gangpyeong. Do won’s account is the exact opposite.

Prince Gangpyeong wanted her, and trapped Do won to get her. With Do won’s life held as collateral, Hwa gyeong dang had no choice but to become the prince’s concubine. When she later tried to escape his cruelty, she was killed in front of Do won. Prince Gangpyeong then sent an empty palanquin to Mount Geumgang and spread the story that she’d disappeared in the mountains.

The love story of the century was a murder, scrubbed clean and retold for three hundred years.

Gang uk insists that matters between a man and a woman are exactly the kind that need evidence, and Do won leads him to it: the missing half of the letter unveiled in episode 5.

What everyone took for two letters was originally one. And the recipient wasn’t Prince Gangpyeong. It was Do won.

The Foundation, Ok Gye hui, and Two Couples Circling Each Other

Lee Hwa yong pressures Ok Gye hui. She wants more high-value art brought into the country.

When Gang uk asks how Reina acquires its art, Yeo ri learns it all runs through Cheon Gallery, which Ok Gye hui operates, and orders an investigation. Gang uk, working his own angle, confirms through Seo hyeon that the entity profiting from the illegal imports is the Yeeon Cultural Foundation.

Visiting the Yeeon Museum of Art, Gang uk and Seo hyeon run into Min hwan and Yeo ri again. The four of them end up at dinner together, and Yeo ri finds herself jealous of how comfortable Gang uk and Seo hyeon are with each other.

An Accidental First Kiss

After dinner, Yeo ri and Gang uk meet separately to dig back into the 300-year-old case. Yeo ri is cold with him, still stewing from the meal.

Then a motorcycle comes at them, they move to avoid it, and they kiss by accident.

The problem is that nobody knows what happens next. Whether a kiss transfers the ability is something even Yeo ri has never tested. Gang uk says he’s fine. Yeo ri can’t stop worrying. Both of them go home worried about the other, and both of them are still carrying the feeling from that kiss.

The next day, Gang uk is completely fine.

A Heart Transplant, 12 Years Ago

Min hwan does some digging into Gang uk and turns up something: twelve years ago, Gang uk received a heart transplant.

Min hwan pushes further, instructing his contact to identify the donor as quickly as possible. Where this thread leads is still anyone’s guess.

Under the Camellia Tree

Following the trail, Yeo ri and Gang uk find a record hinting that Prince Gangpyeong buried his wife beneath the camellia tree in front of the Yeeon Museum of Art.

The out-of-season camellias Lee Hwa yong mentioned back in episode 5 connect here.

The obstacle is that there’s no way to dig under that tree. Yeo ri proposes a trade to Lee Hwa yong — the camellia for an old pine — and Lee Hwa yong agrees. If a body surfaces, the plan is to report it to the Korea Heritage Service and secure it that way.

Meanwhile, Ha ri makes contact with Cha Gi u, the lawyer who was once engaged to Yeo ri before the engagement fell apart. She wants him to testify that anyone who touches Yeo ri starts seeing ghosts.

The Grandmother Collapses, and the Engagement Question Returns

Yeo ri’s grandmother collapses. Watching Min hwan take the older woman’s hand, Yeo ri feels the weight of being someone who can’t even do that.

The grandmother is still preoccupied with succession. To bury the rumors about Yeo ri seeing ghosts, she wants an engagement arranged quickly — and she’s considering Min hwan for it.

And Then, the Announcement

Excavation under the camellia tree begins, then stops when it starts raining.

In the middle of that, Yeo ri takes a call and tells Gang uk she may have to get engaged. She’s summoned to a dinner where her grandmother, Ok Gye hui, Cheon Ha ri, and Cheon Dong jun are all waiting.

Ha ri has arranged for Cha Gi u to be there — the man ready to testify that touching Yeo ri means seeing ghosts.

But the person who walks through the door isn’t Cha Gi u. It’s Gang uk.

And Yeo ri announces it: she’s engaged to him.

An Unexpected Kiss and an Unexpected Engagement

Between the accidental kiss, the fluttering, and the small jealousies, this was a genuinely fun pair of episodes. And confirming that a kiss doesn’t transfer the ability probably came as a relief to a lot of viewers — for reasons they’re all quietly anticipating. Clearing that obstacle now means the writers can let these two kiss freely later, without the plot getting in the way.

The engagement is on the table too. Now that they’re set up as a couple, the question becomes how they’ll get through the succession fight and everyone determined to interfere.

Can a Prosecutor Really Do That?

Gang uk questions Yeo ri directly about Reina Hotel’s art transactions while investigating them. Confirming facts with someone connected to a case isn’t unusual in itself, but Yeo ri is both the company’s CEO and a party with an interest in the outcome. The deeper the investigation goes, the more likely it seems that their personal relationship and his role as a prosecutor will collide.

My guess is this art corruption thread eventually becomes the mechanism that brings Ok Gye hui down in the succession fight.

Basic Info

• English Title: Spooky in Love
• Korean Title: 오싹한 연애
• Based on: the 2011 film Spellbound, directed by Hwang In-ho
• Premiere: July 18, 2026
• Network: tvN (Saturdays & Sundays, 21:10 KST)
• Streaming: Netflix
• Episodes: 12
• Director: Lee Min-soo
• Writer: Choi Jung-mi
• Cast: Park Eun bin (Cheon Yeo ri), Yang Se jong (Ma Gang uk), Ong Seong wu (Kang Min hwan), Jo Hye joo (Cheon Ha ri), Gil Hae yeon (Lee Hwa yong), Gwon Ju seok (Do won), Oh Gyeong ju (Prince Gangpyeong), Lee Eun jae (Hwa gyeong dang)

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Catching up on the series? Start here:

Spooky in Love Review: A Rom-Com Horror Hybrid Made for Summer

Spooky in Love Episodes 1-2: A Fated Meeting at Every Crime Scene

Spooky in Love Episodes 3-4: Gang uk Sees the Ghosts, and Finally Understands Yeo ri

In the mood for more Korean romance?

Can This Love Be Translated? — Netflix’s Most Charming Romance of 2026

Want more Korean dramas to watch alongside this one?

Should You Watch The East Palace? A Korean Viewer’s Take

A Shop for Killers Season 1: What You Need to Know Before Season 2

Agent Kim Reactivated: What You Need to Know Before You Watch

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Do you think the heart transplant thread connects back to the yacht accident? Let me know in the comments.

Some links in this post may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Gang uk only learns why Yeo ri has been alone all this time by living through it himself. Full spoilers.

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⚠️ Spoilers for Episodes 3-4.

Episodes 3 and 4 flip the entire premise of this drama. The moment what was Yeo ri’s secret alone becomes something she shares with Gang uk, both their relationship and the nature of the cases change completely. Episode 3 builds something specific between them, and episode 4 is where the real conflict begins.

Marry Within Two Months — The Grandmother’s Ultimatum

Episode 3 opens with the question of who inherits the hotel. Yeo ri’s grandmother gives her a condition: marry within two months. Miss the deadline and the succession rights could go to someone else — and she adds a warning that old licensing problems might resurface too.

Rather than rushing into a wedding, Yeo ri settles on a compromise: an engagement first, with the two-month clock still running.

Kang Min hwan’s Adoption — Where His Feelings Began

Yeo ri’s grandmother appears to be considering Kang Min hwan (also written Kang Min-hwan) as the marriage candidate. But Min hwan was adopted.

Years ago, relatives were gossiping about exactly that, and Min hwan and Yeo ri happened to overhear it together. In that moment, Yeo ri covered his ears. Then she carried on as though nothing had happened.

Whatever Min hwan feels for Yeo ri probably started right there.

Park Seung jae’s Scheme

Park Seung jae (also written Park Seung-jae), indicted for murder, receives a prison visit from Cheon Ha ri. He tells her he expects to be out soon, and promises that once he is, he’ll do everything he can to make sure she inherits Reina Hotel.

Ha ri takes the bait.

“Can You Still See Them?”

After meeting Park Seung jae, Ha ri goes to Yeo ri with a question: how exactly did she find the body inside that water tank? And then the follow-up — can she still see ghosts?

Yeo ri can’t give a clean answer.

If it becomes known that she sees ghosts, the doubts won’t stop at the supernatural. They’ll extend to her competence as an executive and her mental state. What could be a gift for solving cases turns into a fatal liability in a succession fight.

Yeo ri once underwent a nureum-gut (누름굿), a shamanic ritual meant to suppress the spiritual affliction. Everyone around her assumed it worked and that she stopped seeing ghosts afterward. It never actually went away. And anyone whose hand touches hers starts seeing them too.

Drinking Alone, and the Gloves That Came Off

Meanwhile, Gang uk is pulled off the case and demoted from the criminal division to a cold case unit — a dead-end posting engineered by Park Seung jae’s father, a powerful politician.

Out drinking with his team, Gang uk spots Yeo ri drinking by herself. However much she keeps her distance, Yeo ri wants what everyone else has: to laugh and talk like a normal person. She ends up joining them, gets thoroughly drunk, and finally erupts — “What do you even know about me?” — grabbing Gang uk’s shirt and tearing it in the process. Years of loneliness and resentment coming out all at once.

Then she pulls off the gloves she never takes off. For Yeo ri, they aren’t an accessory. They’re a barrier that stops her hand from touching anyone else’s.

The Morning Yeo ri Can’t Remember

The next day, Yeo ri has no memory of any of it. She calls Gang uk to apologize and sends money for the shirt she ruined. Finding the amount excessive, Gang uk shows up at her apartment to return it in person.

Yeo ri asks how he found her place. When Gang uk explains that she gave him the address herself the night before and he punched it into his navigation, the whole evening comes rushing back — the gloves coming off, the torn shirt, and Gang uk catching her bare hand as she stepped toward traffic.

The First Ghost Gang uk Ever Sees

Wanting to check whether the contact has done anything to him, Yeo ri lets Gang uk inside.

That’s where he sees the child ghost. He has no idea that’s what it is. Yeo ri tells him it’s a kid playing hide-and-seek and tries to hurry him out, but a door slams somewhere in the apartment, and Gang uk — using the possibility of an intruder as his excuse — starts playing hide-and-seek with a ghost.

The child doesn’t stay in Yeo ri’s apartment, though. It turns up in Gang uk’s home too. He goes into full panic, and Yeo ri rushes over to him.

Two People Holding Hands

Yeo ri hands the terrified Gang uk a drink to steady him, then calmly explains that she has been seeing ghosts for a long time and what his situation actually is.

Only now does Gang uk understand why she kept turning up wherever a body was found.

Episode 4 — The Child’s Story

Yeo ri talks to the child ghost, and together they set out to find the body.

It leads them to a car accident in a remote area. The child is already dead; only the father survived. Even after the father is rescued, the child won’t leave — pointing, over and over, at the trunk.

Inside the trunk, they find the child’s younger sibling, alive.

Only then does the child disappear.

The Yacht Accident — Where the Curse Started

Once the scene is handled, Gang uk asks Yeo ri when she started seeing ghosts.

It began with a yacht accident. Yeo ri lost the friend who was with her and survived alone. Afterward, that friend — along with others no one else could see — started appearing to her. And she learned that anyone whose hand touched hers would see them too.

Word spread that being around Cheon Yeo ri meant getting haunted. She has lived alone ever since.

One Month — How Long Gang uk Has to Endure

Yeo ri tells Gang uk the ghosts will be visible to him for about a month, and then they’ll stop. She asks him not to see her again, warning that anyone who gets close to her ends up unhappy.

Gang uk takes her hand instead.

“That’s a month starting today, right?”

Rather than pulling away, he comforts her about everything she’s carried.

How Gang uk Learns to Handle Ghosts

His nights are brutal. Sleep paralysis on day one, a spirit wrongfully killed during the Joseon dynasty, a woman in white — they keep coming.

He tries to hold out for the month and barely makes it a week before going back to Yeo ri. And what he says isn’t about himself. He can’t stop thinking about the fact that she has done this for ten years while he cracked in seven days. It moves something in her.

Yeo ri teaches him what she’s learned. For sleep paralysis or spirits trying to startle him: act like you can’t see them, don’t flinch. Don’t talk to them, don’t engage at all. Scatter salt, and use the smell of garlic to drive them back.

The comedy of this stretch comes from the reversal — the ghosts who terrified Gang uk at first end up unsettled themselves when he starts flatly ignoring them.

With Yeo ri’s help, Gang uk survives the month, and the two grow considerably closer. He suggests they keep in touch somehow, even by video call. Yeo ri says that once this is over, they should never see each other again.

Cheon Ha ri and Park Seung jae’s Plot

Ha ri visits Park Seung jae again and tells him it was Yeo ri’s tip that led Gang uk to the body. She also points out that Gang uk’s weak spot is Yeo ri herself.

Park Seung jae is released when the court grants his petition for review of detention. Gang uk goes to confront him, and Park Seung jae throws Yeo ri’s name back at him as a threat.

Not long after, Yeo ri is attacked by masked men while driving at night.

At the same time, Gang uk’s mother turns up at his home. She repeats her usual warning about staying away from women born in the year of the black monkey, and physically blocks him from leaving the house. She seems to know something. But a ghost gets through to him instead, telling him Yeo ri is in danger.

Park Seung jae has abducted Yeo ri and locked her up, demanding to know whether she really sees ghosts — the information Ha ri wants. But he’s after something worse than that. He plans to inject her with drugs and frame her as part of a narcotics party involving third-generation chaebol heirs and celebrities.

Gang uk crashes in at the last moment and gets her out. Then Park Seung jae drives a car straight into him. His colleagues and the police arrive in time to get him to a hospital, but Gang uk falls into a coma.

Yeo ri breaks down, blaming herself. And in the middle of it, she sees Gang uk’s ghost. She holds him and sobs.

But wait — can you even hold a ghost?

The Real Threat Was Never the Ghosts

I keep wondering whether this kind of drama really needs a villain like Park Seung jae. He’s so predictable that he stops feeling like a person who could exist.

The legal part bothers me more. A murder suspect can absolutely seek a review of detention in Korea, and a court can order release if continued detention is no longer justified. What feels difficult to buy here is how conveniently the drama uses that release. Park Seung jae is the son of a powerful politician, new evidence has just tied him to his ex-girlfriend’s death, and almost immediately after walking free he’s able to abduct Yeo ri.

Cheon Ha ri irritates me for different reasons. However much money is on the table, would anyone actually help a man suspected of murder?

Her name gives me an unintended Korean word association, too. Cheon Ha ri (천하리) sits surprisingly close to cheonhada (천하다), a word that can mean low or vulgar. I don’t know whether the writers intended the pun, but given how Ha ri behaves, it’s hard not to hear it.

Credit Where It’s Due — The Original Film

The first ghost Gang uk ever sees is a child.

Spooky in Love is based on a film, and in that original, the first ghost the male lead sees is also a child — and he also mistakes it for a game of hide-and-seek.

That’s a real gesture of respect toward the source material.

So What Is a “Black Monkey,” Anyway?

International viewers probably have no idea what the black monkey warning means, so here’s the short version.

Korea uses a twelve-animal zodiac inherited from Chinese tradition — rat, ox, tiger, and so on, one assigned to each year. But that’s only half the system. Those twelve animals combine with ten heavenly stems tied to the five elements, and each element carries a color: blue for wood, red for fire, yellow for earth, white for metal, and black for water. Any given combination only comes around once every sixty years. Koreans call this cycle the yuksipgapja (육십갑자), the sexagenary cycle.

So “black monkey” refers to imsinnyeon (임신년, 壬申年), the year of the water monkey — water being the element associated with black. Those years land on 1932, 1992, and 2052.

Which means Gang uk’s mother warning him away from a black monkey woman is the show telling us Cheon Yeo ri was born in 1992. That makes her 33 or 34 in 2026.

For Korean viewers familiar with the sexagenary cycle, that single line gives away Yeo ri’s birth year. For anyone watching with subtitles, it reads as nothing more than a superstitious warning — when it’s actually dropping precise information about who this character is.

Basic Info

• English Title: Spooky in Love
• Korean Title: 오싹한 연애
• Based on: the 2011 film Spellbound, directed by Hwang In-ho
• Premiere: July 18, 2026
• Network: tvN (Saturdays & Sundays, 21:10 KST)
• Streaming: Netflix
• Episodes: 12
• Director: Lee Min-soo
• Writer: Choi Jung-mi
• Cast: Park Eun bin (Cheon Yeo ri), Yang Se jong (Ma Gang uk), Ong Seong wu (Kang Min hwan), Jo Hye joo (Cheon Ha ri), Kim Do wan (Park Seung jae)

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Catching up on the series? Start here:

Spooky in Love Review: A Rom-Com Horror Hybrid Made for Summer

Spooky in Love Episodes 1-2: A Fated Meeting at Every Crime Scene

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In the mood for more Korean romance?

Can This Love Be Translated? — Netflix’s Most Charming Romance of 2026

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Want more Korean dramas to watch alongside this one?

Should You Watch The East Palace? A Korean Viewer’s Take

A Shop for Killers Season 1: What You Need to Know Before Season 2

Agent Kim Reactivated: What You Need to Know Before You Watch

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Do you think Gang uk keeps seeing ghosts after the month is up? And what did Yeo ri actually hold at the end of episode 4? Let me know in the comments.

Some links in this post may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

A ghost-seeing hotel heiress and a ghost-fearing prosecutor keep meeting at crime scenes before they understand why their paths are crossing. Full spoilers.

⚠️ Spoilers for Episodes 1-2.

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Spooky in Love pulls viewers in with cases first, romance second. Two episodes in, there are already several — a body in the hills, a taxi driver’s corpse in a trunk, a murder the police never solved, and a missing woman found underwater. Cheon Yeo ri (also written Cheon Yeo-ri) and Ma Gang uk (also written Ma Gang-uk) work through them one at a time, getting more tangled up in each other along the way.

Yeo ri’s Curse — Before the Story Even Starts

Cheon Yeo ri, CEO of Reina Hotel, has been able to see ghosts since an accident years ago. The catch: anyone whose bare hand touches hers can suddenly see the ghosts around her too. Her former fiancé found that out the hard way, nearly drowning after ghost Kang Ji hwan (also written Kang Ji-hwan) cornered him, and called off the engagement on the spot.

Since then, Yeo ri has made a rule of never touching anyone. A shaman warned her that ignoring the ghosts’ requests could cost her own life, so she runs a double existence: hotel CEO by day, unofficial errand-runner for restless spirits by night.

A Body in the Hills — A Misunderstood First Meeting

A ghost’s request sends Yeo ri into the hills, where she finds a body and moves to report it, only to run into Ma Gang uk, the prosecutor already investigating the same case. Each assumes the other is the culprit, and the argument that follows looks so much like a couple’s spat that the responding officers barely take it seriously. This case doesn’t get solved on the spot — it mostly functions as the spark that throws the two leads together.

Gang uk figures out Yeo ri is a tipster, not a suspect, but by the time he thinks to ask how she knew where to look, she’s already gone.

The Case Gang uk Can’t Let Go Of

Gang uk is the kind of prosecutor who doesn’t bend under pressure from above. Right now, the case eating at him is pro golfer Park Seung jae (also written Park Seung-jae), who’s almost certainly guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend but walked free for lack of evidence.

The complication: Park Seung jae’s new fiancée is Yeo ri’s own cousin, Ha ri. Asked what she thinks of him, Yeo ri doesn’t hold back — she calls him a parasite, full stop.

A Hit-and-Run, and a Taxi Driver’s Ghost in the Trunk

That same night, ghosts pestering Yeo ri push her to chase down a pair of suspicious men by car. She steps out briefly to call it in, and the men ram her car and flee. Gang uk, walking home from dinner, witnesses the hit-and-run and climbs into the passenger seat, too drunk to drive himself but determined to help chase them down.

While the two argue over directions, a ghost sits quietly in the back seat, invisible to Gang uk. It’s the missing taxi driver, and he knows every shortcut in the city. The chase ends with Gang uk taking on one man while Yeo ri knocks the other out with a baseball bat.

Inside the trunk: the taxi driver’s body.

Somewhere in the chaos, Gang uk notices the monkey charm hanging in Yeo ri’s car and remembers his grandmother’s warning: never get involved with a woman born in the year of the black monkey.

Yeo ri’s Secret Starts to Slip

Days later, Gang uk traces the hillside tip to a pair of limited-edition sneakers on CCTV and realizes Yeo ri was his mystery witness. He tracks her down, and what starts as a chase turns into hide-and-seek through the hotel. Along the way, both of them overhear staff badmouthing Yeo ri as cold and unfeeling — a misreading of a woman who can’t afford to touch anyone, not even a child who’s fallen down in front of her.

Cornered in her office, bare-handed and desperate not to make contact, Yeo ri finally admits how she knew where the body was: a ghost told her. Gang uk laughs it off as a joke. Later, an elderly visitor overhears the same claim and asks Yeo ri, with real concern, whether a ritual performed years ago by a shaman named Baek un never actually worked. Yeo ri brushes it off as nothing.

The Park Seung jae Case Cracks Open

Freed and furious that Yeo ri called him a parasite in front of Ha ri, Park Seung jae confronts her directly. Yeo ri reveals that his murdered ex, Eun ju, had visited her hotel before she died — and that she was already pregnant at the time.

Gang uk, meanwhile, uncovers how the murder happened. Disguised and using a stolen identity, Park Seung jae booked the room next to Eun ju’s and climbed through a window to confront her. After learning she was pregnant, he shoved her, then hid her body inside the hotel’s rooftop water tank. Gang uk heads to the rooftop suspecting exactly that, and finds Yeo ri already there. Park Seung jae is arrested with the trophy from his latest tournament still in hand.

Jeju Island, One Room, One Bed

With the case behind them, Gang uk heads to Jeju for a friend’s wedding while Yeo ri travels there for work. Gang uk’s hotel, booked by a friend, turns out to belong to Kang Min hwan (also written Kang Min-hwan), CEO of a rival hotel chain and an old acquaintance of Yeo ri’s. A staff mix-up puts Gang uk and Yeo ri in the same room.

They spend the night narrowly missing each other, only to wake up in the same bed. “You’re really not my type,” Gang uk insists, flat and immediate. Yeo ri fires back just as fast. Later, when a stranger’s suitcase nearly sends Yeo ri tumbling down an escalator, it’s Gang uk who dives to catch her — though it’s Min hwan, arriving seconds later, who somehow takes the credit.

A Missing Granddaughter, and the Episode 2 Cliffhanger

Gang uk takes on a new case involving a grandmother whose granddaughter disappeared after leaving for a fashion show. Yeo ri, separately, visits a well-known designer’s exhibition and notices that his recent work feels strangely different from his earlier style.

Following the missing woman’s last known movements, Gang uk reaches a cliff and finds Yeo ri standing near the edge. She slips, pulls away from his hand out of instinct, and both fall into the water. Beneath them is the missing woman’s body. Gang uk quietly covers Yeo ri’s eyes.

Why the Case-of-the-Week Structure Works

Spooky in Love uses a familiar structure: one larger mystery runs beneath the season while smaller cases are introduced and resolved along the way. The formula is easy to recognize, but the writing keeps it moving by making every case push Yeo ri and Gang uk closer together. Both leads carry backstories unusual enough to keep that pull working. It’s a structure viewers can see coming from a mile away, and two episodes in, it hasn’t worn out its welcome yet.

The Performances Hold the Tone Together

Park Eun bin (also written Park Eun-bin) makes Yeo ri’s distance feel protective rather than cold. Even when the character refuses a child’s hand or steps away from physical contact, small shifts in her expression reveal the concern she can’t show openly. Yang Se jong (also written Yang Se-jong) gives Gang uk an understated, approachable warmth. The more time he spends on screen, the more natural the casting feels.

How It’s Landing — At Home and Abroad

Episode 1 opened at 3.0% nationwide, climbing to 5.3% by episode 2, dipping slightly to 4.4% for episode 3, then reaching a new high of 5.8% by episode 4. The drama has led its cable and general-programming timeslot across all four episodes so far.

It’s also gaining ground internationally. In Netflix’s official global Top 10 for July 20-26, it ranked fifth among non-English TV series with 4.2 million views and 17 million hours watched. FlixPatrol’s daily chart, a separate third-party tracker, placed it as high as number two globally at one point, with several Latin American countries — including Brazil, Paraguay, and Venezuela — ranking it first.

What’s Still Unanswered

Episode 2 leaves the central rule of Yeo ri’s curse ready to collide head-on with Gang uk. Kang Ji hwan’s connection to her past, the failed ritual her grandmother keeps asking about, and the accident that started all of this remain unresolved. The smaller cases may close quickly, but the story underneath them is only just getting started.

Basic Info

• English Title: Spooky in Love
• Korean Title: 오싹한 연애
• Based on: the 2011 film Spellbound, directed by Hwang In-ho
• Premiere: July 18, 2026
• Network: tvN (Saturdays & Sundays, 21:10 KST)
• Streaming: Netflix
• Episodes: 12
• Director: Lee Min-soo
• Writer: Choi Jung-mi
• Cast: Park Eun bin (Cheon Yeo ri), Yang Se jong (Ma Gang uk), Ong Seong wu (Kang Min hwan), Jo Hye joo (Cheon Ha ri), Kim Do wan (Park Seung jae)

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New to this one? Start with the spoiler-free first look:

Spooky in Love Review: A Rom-Com Horror Hybrid Made for Summer

Want more Korean dramas to watch alongside this one?

Should You Watch The East Palace? A Korean Viewer’s Take

A Shop for Killers Season 1: What You Need to Know Before Season 2

Agent Kim Reactivated: What You Need to Know Before You Watch

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Which case pulled you in more — the golfer, or the missing designer? Let me know in the comments. Episodes 3-4 recap coming soon.

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