Dear X (2025) [/]
Aug 12 2026
Dear X is a South Korean modern-day dark drama running 12 hour-long episodes.
The story follows the rise of Baek Ah-jin (Kim You-jung -- Clean with Passion for Now, 2018; Backstreet Rookie, 2020; My Demon, 2023) from unpopular high school teen to the number one actress in Korea. But her dark secret is that she's a psychopath without the ability to care about anyone else (other than how useful they are to her) and willing to arrange or let people die. Covering for her are her step-brother Yoon Jun-seo (Kim Young-dae) -- who does everything he can to protect her while hoping she can become a better person -- and high-school friend Kim Jae-oh (Kim Do-hoon) -- who is a bit more streetwise and willing to break the law to help her.
The plot sort of goes: someone gets in her way, she eventually deals with them. High school beauty Shim Sung-hee (Kim Yi-kyung) bullies Ah-jin seeing her as a rival and eventually Ah-jin arranges a whisper campaign against Sung-hee and also reveals Sung-hee's secret notebook and gets her kicked out of school. Similarly as a beginning actress her older more famous lead girl Im Re-na (Lee Yul-eum) also bullies Ah-jin so Ah-jin arranges for a couple of Re-na's dark secrets to be revealed leading her to her downfall as a popular actress.
And of course there's dear old father who only shows up to beat her and steal money from her and is considering selling her to some sort of pornography operation. Ah-jin thinks up of a way too complicated plan to have a "hero" kill her father trying to protect her. A plan which fails and she has to do the deed (though with the way the storytelling is done they could have easily added an addendum showing she wasn't the real killer because she blacked out for a bit) and is saved by her step-brother.
Later on she seduces top actor Heo In-gang (Hwang In-youp) for a year. Well not seduce sex but makes him fall in love with her such that he is about to propose but now that she's done with him she coldly breaks up with him and he commits suicide. (There's also the part where In-gang's grandmother dies from an accident while Ah-jin is there and everybody thinks she did it ecept for Kim Jae-oh and it turns out she didn't do it.) Heo In-gang and his grandmother's deaths kind of turns step-brother against Ah-jin so he decides to do an exposé to tear her down at the end.
But we know that Yoon Jun-seo has his own mental issues so that when she's at her low point and he's driving her away the murder-suicide thing is not out of the blue. Luckily Ah-jin survives and is able to stagger off down the road where it says she was never seen again.
Unlike an American psychopath Ah-jin only kills one person. Mom dies because of dad and a kid Ah-jin didn't call 911 (or 112 in Korea). Dad she takes a bat to his head. Heo In-gang gets all depressed and commits suicide. Ah-jin does ruin a couple of women who were picking on her but she didn't start it. Her dad deserved what was coming to him. In-gang she didn't tell him to die just to move on and his grandmother unbalanced herself and fell down the stairs.
All in all Ah-jin is not evil which does keep the series watchable. Kim You-jung is both beautiful and great at showing how Ah-jin is so outwardly emotionless. And at least she didn't die or go to prison in the end.
It is a good series though dark and not romantic.
The story follows the rise of Baek Ah-jin (Kim You-jung -- Clean with Passion for Now, 2018; Backstreet Rookie, 2020; My Demon, 2023) from unpopular high school teen to the number one actress in Korea. But her dark secret is that she's a psychopath without the ability to care about anyone else (other than how useful they are to her) and willing to arrange or let people die. Covering for her are her step-brother Yoon Jun-seo (Kim Young-dae) -- who does everything he can to protect her while hoping she can become a better person -- and high-school friend Kim Jae-oh (Kim Do-hoon) -- who is a bit more streetwise and willing to break the law to help her.
The plot sort of goes: someone gets in her way, she eventually deals with them. High school beauty Shim Sung-hee (Kim Yi-kyung) bullies Ah-jin seeing her as a rival and eventually Ah-jin arranges a whisper campaign against Sung-hee and also reveals Sung-hee's secret notebook and gets her kicked out of school. Similarly as a beginning actress her older more famous lead girl Im Re-na (Lee Yul-eum) also bullies Ah-jin so Ah-jin arranges for a couple of Re-na's dark secrets to be revealed leading her to her downfall as a popular actress.
And of course there's dear old father who only shows up to beat her and steal money from her and is considering selling her to some sort of pornography operation. Ah-jin thinks up of a way too complicated plan to have a "hero" kill her father trying to protect her. A plan which fails and she has to do the deed (though with the way the storytelling is done they could have easily added an addendum showing she wasn't the real killer because she blacked out for a bit) and is saved by her step-brother.
Later on she seduces top actor Heo In-gang (Hwang In-youp) for a year. Well not seduce sex but makes him fall in love with her such that he is about to propose but now that she's done with him she coldly breaks up with him and he commits suicide. (There's also the part where In-gang's grandmother dies from an accident while Ah-jin is there and everybody thinks she did it ecept for Kim Jae-oh and it turns out she didn't do it.) Heo In-gang and his grandmother's deaths kind of turns step-brother against Ah-jin so he decides to do an exposé to tear her down at the end.
But we know that Yoon Jun-seo has his own mental issues so that when she's at her low point and he's driving her away the murder-suicide thing is not out of the blue. Luckily Ah-jin survives and is able to stagger off down the road where it says she was never seen again.
Unlike an American psychopath Ah-jin only kills one person. Mom dies because of dad and a kid Ah-jin didn't call 911 (or 112 in Korea). Dad she takes a bat to his head. Heo In-gang gets all depressed and commits suicide. Ah-jin does ruin a couple of women who were picking on her but she didn't start it. Her dad deserved what was coming to him. In-gang she didn't tell him to die just to move on and his grandmother unbalanced herself and fell down the stairs.
All in all Ah-jin is not evil which does keep the series watchable. Kim You-jung is both beautiful and great at showing how Ah-jin is so outwardly emotionless. And at least she didn't die or go to prison in the end.
It is a good series though dark and not romantic.