When it comes to the world of entertainment, especially in Korea, there are a lot of dramas to watch. Romantic Korean dramas are the most popular, and there are hundreds of them on the online platform. If you’re looking for a new kdrama to watch, but don’t know where to start, look no further than this list of noir Korean dramas!
Korean drama noir is a genre that is hard to define. These dramas are dark and mysterious, often involving crime or violence while exploring the psychology of their characters. The best noir Korean dramas are often meticulously plotted and intense.
Here are the Top 30+ recommendations for dark, dramatic, and mind-bending mystery thriller dramas that you should definitely not miss.
1. Gap-Dong (2014) gap dong
This drama is truly based on the real-life Hwaseong serial murders, which took place in the Taean neighborhood of Hwaseong in South Korea between 1986 and 1991. Ten women were raped and murdered during this period.
Moo-father Yeom was a suspect in the “Gap Dong” serial murder case about 20 years ago. The oppressive investigation by the detectives led to Moo-father Yeom’s suicide. Now a detective, Moo-Yeom, is looking for Gap Dong, the murderer. The protagonist of this fictional version is a cop who is dedicated to bringing a brutal serial killer to justice after the time limit for his crimes has expired.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Yoon Sang Hyun, Kim Ming Jung, Sung Dong Il, Kim JI Won, and Lee Joon.
Total no. of episodes: 20
2. Bad Guys (2014)
The Police Chief chooses a suspended police detective to lead a team of convicted criminals in combating the rising number of violent crimes. The team, which will work together on cases and look for more criminals, consists of a contract killer, a serial murderer with remarkable intelligence, a mob boss, and a female police inspector.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Park Hae Jin, Jo Dong Hyuk, Kang Ye Won, Kim Sang Joong, and Ma Dong Seok.
Total no. of episodes: 11
3. Liar Game (2014)
Liar Game is a psychological survival game show where contestants lie to each other to win the $10 billion grand prize. Da Jung, a college student, tempted by the opportunity to pay off her debts, finds herself competing unintentionally. She can win the game and learn its secrets with the help of Ha Woo Jin, a brilliant former criminal and psychology professor.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Shin Sung Rok, Lee Sang Yoon, and Kim So Eun
Total no. of episodes: 12
4. Kingdom (2019)
The drama, which takes place in Korea during the Joseon era, follows Crown Prince Lee Chang as he investigates his father’s disappearance. He encounters and fights a mysterious undead plague that has begun to spread throughout the nation, jeopardizing the safety of the entire nation.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Ryu Seung Ryong, Joo Ji Hoon, Bae Doo Na, and Kim Sung Gyu
Total no. of episodes: 6
5. Two Weeks (2013)
Jang Tae San, a small-time mobster who has become a fugitive, must avoid the government and powerful individuals who want him dead after being falsely accused of murder. Since he is the only matching donor, his only hope is to survive the next two weeks before his daughter receives a life-saving bone marrow transplant.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Ryu Soo Young, Lee Joon Gi, Park Ha Sun, Kim So Yeon, and Jo Min Ki
Total no. of episodes: 16
6. White Christmas (2011)
Each of the eight students receives the same surreally mysterious letter predicting someone’s death. They all choose to stay at their tip-top tuition-based school for the occasional break to tackle the secret encompassing the letter. While alone in a remote mountainous environment, they will encounter circumstances that make them question who they really are.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Sung Joon, Lee Soo Hyuk, Kim Woo Bin, Baek Sung Hyun, Esom, Kim Young Kwang, Hong Jong Hyun, and Kwak Jung Wook
Total no. of episodes: 8
7. Bridal Mask (2012)
The story is based on a popular Korean comic book and takes place in Seoul in the 1930s during the Japanese colonial era. An aspirant Korean police officer working for Japanese colonists is the focus of the story. He meets The Bridal Mask, a folk hero similar to Zorro, by chance, which forever alters both his own destiny and the destiny of the nation.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Joo Won, Jin Se Yeon, Park Ki Woong, Han Chae Ah, and Shin Hyun Joon
Total no. of episodes: 28
8. Night Teacher (2016)
Strange things start to happen when a new teacher starts at Yosan Private High School. The most desperate wishes of the students are suddenly granted but at a high price. Who is this instructor, and what abilities does he possess? Before it’s too late, class president Ye Rim must solve the mystery and save her classmates.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Uhm Ki Joon, Kim So Hyun, and Lee Min Hyuk
Total no. of episodes: 12
9. God’s Gift: 14 Days (2014)
The miraculous opportunity is provided to the sad mother to travel back in time to 14 days before her daughter’s kidnapping and subsequent murder. She teams up with a former police officer who has become a private investigator. He wants to prove that his mentally ill brother is innocent in order to stop the horrible crime from happening again.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Jung Gyu Woon, Lee Bo Young, Jo Seung Woo, Kim Tae Woo, and Kim Yoo Bin
Total no. of episodes: 16
10. Duel (2017)
When the daughter of the chief of a crime squad is taken from him, he gets involved in a shocking case about human cloning and eventually meets clones that might be able to help him get his daughter back.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Kim Jung Eun, Yang Se Jong, Seo Eun Soo and Jung Jae Young
Total no. of episodes: 16
11. Mother (2018)
An elementary school temporary teacher who discovers that one of her students is suffering horrific abuse at home decides in the heat of the moment to abduct the child and raise her as her own child in order to save the girl.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Lee Hye Young, Go Sung Hee, Lee Bo Young, and Heo Yool
Total no. of episodes: 16
12. Children of Nobody / Red Moon Blue Sun (2019)
A child counselor’s seemingly perfect life is disrupted by an unfortunate accident. Her life slowly falls apart as she tries to figure out what happened; with the help of a child, she can only see guiding her, and cryptic poems serve as clues.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Nam Gyu Ri, Cha Hak Yeon Kim Sun Ah andLee Yi Kyung
Total no. of episodes: 32
13. Six Flying Dragons (2015)
A historical fiction that depicts the rise and fall of fictional and real-life characters. The main characters in the story are Yi Bang Won, the third king of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty and the father of King Sejong the Great, and others who were close to him.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Shin Se Kyung, Byun Yo Han, Yoon Gyun Sang, and Chun Ho Jin Yoo Ah In and Kim Myung Min
Total no. of episodes: 50
14. Save Me (2017)
Sang Mi and her family, who are new residents of Muji-gun, a sleepy suburb, fall prey to a false religion. Sang Mi is the only person who has not been seduced by the cult’s doctrine, so she must protect her family and expose the evil organization. Her only friends are four young men who try to help her from the outside.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Woo Do Hwan, Jo Sung Ha Seo Ye Ji and Ok Taec Yeon,
Total no. of episodes: 16
15. Solomon’s Perjury (2016)
Students at an elite high school decide to hold their own school trial after a classmate passes away because they are fed up with the media’s pursuit and the lack of answers. Because they are all determined to discover the truth and defend it, each student assumes a distinct role in the trial and begins to uncover unpleasant details about the case.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Jang Dong Yoon, Seo Ji Hoon, Seo Yong Joo, Jo Jae Hyun and Kim Hyun Soo
Total no. of episodes: 12
16. The Guest (2018)
A young boy from a Catholic religious family, a young psychic from a shaman family, and the daughter of a police officer meet as children after their families are killed by a powerful demon. Twenty years later, they team up to try to stop the demon forever when it starts killing again.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Kim Jae Wook, Jung Eun Chae, and Kim Dong Wook
Total no. of episodes: 16
17. Signal (2016)
Using a mysterious walkie-talkie, a 2000s detective and a 2015 cold case profiler can communicate across time. They can cooperate in the investigation of cold cases and prevent horrific crimes.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Jo Jin Woong, Lee Je Hoon and Kim Hye Soo
Total no. of episodes: 16
18. Taxi Driver (2021)
The webtoon Kim Do-Ki, played by Lee Je Hoon, joins Rainbow Taxi Company in Taxi Driver. Despite the friendly and upbeat sound of the name, this is actually a taxi service that helps people get their revenge. According to reports, the crimes shown in the show are based on incidents that actually occurred in Korea.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Lee Je-hoon, Esom, Kim Eui-sung and Pyo Ye-jin
Total no. of episodes: 16
19.Beyond Evil (2021)
Beyond Evil won three awards at the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards: Shin Ha-Kyun won for best drama, best screenplay, and best actor. In the Korean crime drama, Shin Ha-Kyun and Yeo Jin Goo break the law to find a serial killer. The way they wonder if they have become monsters. The Korean name for the drama is괴물 which translation is monster.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Yeo Jin-goo, Cha Chung-hwa and Cha Chung-Hwa
Total no. of episodes: 16
20. Nobody Knows (2020)
This drama tells the story of a detective who is still scarred after 19 years of her childhood friend was killed. Stigmata serial killings have been used to describe the methods used by the serial killer, and when the case reopens after 19 years, the detective vows to find the killer no matter what.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Ryu Deok Hwan, Kim Seo Hyung and Park Hoon
Total no. of episodes: 16
21. Extracurricular (2020)
The story in “Extracurricular” is about four high school students who begin committing crimes for money and the unexpected dangers they face as a result. Ji Soo is a brilliant student who does the unthinkable and becomes a criminal. However, shortly after learning of his actions, his classmates accept responsibility for them.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Kim Dong Hee, Park Joo Hyun, and Jung Da Bin
Total no. of episodes: 10
22. The Game: Towards Zero (2020)
The Game: Toward Zero tell us the story of a man with prophetic abilities. When he looks into someone’s eyes, he can see exactly when they died—except for the female investigator with whom he falls in love. In addition, he works with that detective on an investigation into the disappearance of a girl that may have something to do with the notorious Midnight Killer.
To explain why he is unable to witness her death, he formulates the hypothesis that perhaps he is to blame.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Ok Taecyeon, Lee Yeon Hee, and Lim Ju Hwan
Total no. of episodes: 32
23. Class of Lies (2019)
The main character in Class of Lies is a lawyer who handles a murder case at an elite high school and has a high success rate. In order to win the case, he temporarily works as a teacher at the aforementioned school while being assigned to defend the accused. He then attempts to uncover the truth and reveal the students’ secrets by breaking into the school.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Yoon Kyun Sang, Keum Sae Rok and Choi Yu Hwa
Total no. of episodes: 16
24. Doctor Prisoner (2019)
The drama Doctor Prisoner is about a skilled doctor at a university hospital who is wrongfully accused of medical malpractice and is forced to resign. In addition, he begins working as a doctor in a prison medical facility to establish personal connections with each and every high-profile inmate in order to exact retribution on the hospital that kicked him out.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Namkoong Min, Kim Byung-Chul, Kwon Nara, and Choi Won-young
Total no. of episodes: 32
25. Psychopath Diary (2019)
The protagonist of Psychopath Diary is a man who accidentally loses his memories while escaping a murder scene he witnesses. He accidentally picks up the psychopath serial killer’s diary, which details the murder in great detail. He is also falsely accused of being a serial killer due to his possession of the diary.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Yoon Si-Yoon, Jung In-Sun, and Park Sung-Hoon
Total no. of episodes: 16
26. He is Psychometric (2019)
The drama He is Psychometric is about a man who possesses a unique psychometric ability that enables him to simply touch people’s skin and read their memories. To unravel the mystery of a fire that altered both of their lives, he teams up with a woman who is keeping dark secrets.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Jin Young and Shin Ye Eun
Total no. of episodes: 16
27. Vagabond (2019)
In the movie Vagabond Starring, a stuntman is shown as having an ambition of becoming a well-known actor. Be that as it may, when his nephew’s airplane to Morocco crashes, everything is different now. In contrast, he collaborates with a NIS agent who is currently conducting covert operations at the Korean embassy in Morocco and discovers a widespread corruption issue.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Lee Seung Gi and Bae Suzy
Total no. of episodes: 16
28. Less than Evil (2018)
Less than Evil, also commonly known as Bad Detective, is inspired by the BCC TV series Luther. It tells the story of a talented but solitary investigator who focuses solely on solving cases. He meets a woman who is a psychopath, but he doesn’t have enough evidence to arrest her. A detective is in a mental struggle with a clever, maniacal killer.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Shin Ha Kyun and Lee Seol
Total no. of episodes: 32
29. Sketch (2018)
The story is about two detectives working together to find the person who killed someone in a mysterious incident. The female detective possesses a unique ability that enables her to sketch instantly what she sees three days into the future.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Rain, Lee Sun Bin, and Lee Dong
Total no. of episodes: 16
30. Life on Mars (2018)
Life on Mars is a South Korean drama that is based on the same-named UK television show. It centers on a man who is in charge of a team of investigators investigating a serial murder case when an accident sends them back to 1988. He works as a detective at a police station in the year 1988. He also tries to solve the case of the serial killers to get back to the present.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Jung Kyoung Ho, Park Sung Woong, and Ko Ah Sung
Total no. of episodes: 16
31. Voice (2017)
The plot of Voice centers on a well-known detective whose wife was killed by a serial killer and a professional voice profiler whose father was also killed. They band together in an effort to catch the serial killer who killed their family member. Additionally, season 2 and season 3 of this drama were produced in 2018 and 2019, respectively, due to their popularity.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star cast: Jang Hyuk and Lee Ha Na
Total no. of episodes: 16
32. God’s Quiz (2010)
The Korean drama God’s Quiz, also known as Quiz from God, is about a highly skilled forensic medical examiner and detective. The examiner heads a medical crime investigation team to look into strange things that happen in hospitals and strange deaths.
There are five seasons and 62 episodes of God’s Quiz. In 2011, God’s Quiz 2 was aired, God’s Quiz 3 was shown in 2012, God’s Quiz 4 was shown in 2014, and God’s Quiz: In 2019 reboot.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Stars cast: Ryu Deok Hwan and Yoon Joo Hee
Total no. of episodes: 16
33. Tunnel (2017)
The story of a detective who spends 30 years in the future trapped in a tunnel while frantically searching for a serial killer is told in Tunnel. He teams up with a detective and a professor of criminal psychology during that time to find the killer, who is still committing the murders that started 30 years ago.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Stars cast: Choi Jin Hyuk, Yoon Hyun Min, and Lee Yoo
Total no. of episodes: 16
34. Watcher (2019)
Watcher is about three people who were affected by a traumatic event 15 years ago that permanently altered their lives. In an effort to solve past mysteries, they establish a detective, lawyer, and police officer-led team for an internal investigation.
Watch this Noir Korean drama if you enjoy the dark, mysterious, suspenseful drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Stars cast: Han Suk Kyu, Kim Hyun Joo and Seo Kang Joon
Total no. of episodes: 16
Also Read: 15 Kdrama Recommendation For August 2022 That You Should Check Out
