Krishna Kishen, New Delhi

Secondary characters in a story are more than often used to cast suspicion or create mystery or an unexpected twist usually surrounding one of the main characters. But rather just sometimes, especially in the K-Drama world, we come across secondary characters whose sole purpose may only be to present a stark contrast to the main leads. Besides at times we also encounter secondary characters that steal our hearts and by the end of the show, we find ourselves rooting more for their story than for the main characters. We adore them so much as we wish to have a whole separate drama with their story! The secondary characters might add a comic flavour to the story or might be so saccharine that one cannot stop feeling connected. Let’s count down some of the secondary characters who became our favourites from the moment we saw them!

9. Sisyphus: The Myth

Sisyphus is a 2021 K-Drama starring Park Shin-hye as Gang So-hae and Cho Seung-woo as Han Tae-sul. The main leads were of course great but some of the secondary characters warmed up our hearts! Kim Jong-tae as So-hae’s father, Heo Jun-seok as Tae-sul’s elder brother, Lee Yeon-soo as So-hae’s mother, Chae Jong-hyeop as Sun (So-hae’s friend) and Tae Won-seok as Tae-sul’s bodyguard were my favourite characters in the show. The number of sacrifices So-hae’s parents went through to keep her safe always gets me teared-eye, while their affinity is awe-inspiring. Tae-sul’s elder brother was no less, he worked hard to support his younger brother wholeheartedly. The flashback scenes between the two brothers forever fill me with wonder. On the other hand, Tae-sul’s bodyguard and Sun were one of the best-supporting characters in the show. Sun even cancels his ticket to go to his family to protect So-hae. Bong Seon sacrifices himself to Han Tae-sul.

8. Descendants of the Sun

Descendants of the Sun is considered to be one of the shows to spread the Hallyu culture in the world. It came out in 2016 and stars Song Joong-ki as Captain Yoo Si-jin, Song Hye-kyo as Dr Kang Mo-yeon, Jin Goo as Sergeant Seo Dae-young and Kim Ji-won as First Lieutenant Yoon Myung-ju. The show is beloved by many and is one of the most popular rom-coms with thriller. What I always loved about this show was the Doctor’s team that went to Uruk with Mo-yeon, making them the funniest part of the show! They added so much hue and entertainment and yet managed to touch the audience’s heart.

7. Hotel Del Luna

Hotel Del Luna is one of the famous fantasy dramas. It was released in 2019 and starred IU as Jang Man-wol and Yeo Jin-goo as Gu Chan-sung. The ghost team of IU in Hotel Del Luna, Sanchez (Chan-sung’s friend) and Yeon-woo (Man-wol’s friend in ancient times) are some of the characters that were beyond measure in this show! Their personalities, their habit of taking care of the main leads and just having a good heart (pun intended!) are what easily made them my favourites. I can undoubtedly say that I did not like the endings given to either of these characters. They, in my eyes, deserved better!

6. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo came out in 2016-17 and unquestionably became a crowd favourite. It starred Lee Sung-kyung as Kim Bok-joo, Nam Joo-hyuk as Jung Joon-hyung, Lee Jae-yoon as Jung Jae-yi and Kyung Soo-jin as Song Shi-ho. The coaches of Bok-joo’s weightlifting team and her friends were loved by everyone watching the show. The trio not only did crazy things together but also were supportive irrespective of learning the same sport. I know we all collectively lost our hearts to the adorable love story of both the coach and how they were stuck by the team no matter what.

5. Healer

Healer was released in 2014-15 and is one of my favourite Ji Chang-wook dramas. It starred Ji Chang-wook as Healer, Park Min-young as Chae Young-shin and Yoo Ji-tae as Kim Mun-ho. The heart stealers of this show were Kim Mi-kyung as Hacker Ahjumma, Oh Kwang-rok as Healer’s teacher, the whole gangster/jail friends of Young-shin’s adoptive father, Chae Young-shin’s birth mother and her adoptive father. I feel like main leads having normal and loving parents were so rare in old K-Dramas that I love dramas with parents having good relationships with their children. We all know that Hacker Ahjumma and Young-shin’s jail friends were the most fun and caring people in the whole series.

4. Melting Me Softly

Melting Me Softly is a 2019 drama starring Ji Chang-wook as Ma Dong-chan, Won Jin-A as Go Mi-ran and Yoon Se-ah as Na Ha-yeong. Needless to mention how we all ADORE Go Mi-ran younger brother Go Nam-tae. His character represents the most beautiful sibling relationship that I have ever seen on screen. He is so pure and good-natured that we all loved him since episode 1.

3. Lawless Lawyer

Lawless Lawyer is a legal thriller which came out in 2018 starring Lee Joon-gi as Bong Sang-pil, Seo Yea-ji as Ha Jae-yi, Lee Hae-young as Judge Cha Moon-sook and Choi Min-soo as Ahn Oh-joo. This drama is one of my favourites of Lee Joon-gi and his impeccable acting. What also made me delighted about this show was Bong Sang-pil’s lawless lawyer firm employees. All of them were loan sharks once and are loyal to the bone to Sang-pil. The amount of havoc and chaos they cause in the drama is just too hilarious to miss!!

2. Backstreet Rookie

Backstreet Rookie released in 2020, starring Ji Chang-wook as Choi Dae-hyun and Kim Yoo-jung as Jung Saet-byul. Not only the handsome-sweet second male lead was loved by many, but people also loved Saet-byul’s and Dae-hyun’s friendship as they contributed to half of the comedy scenes in the show alone! The drama had me on the floor laughing as loudly as possible in every episode.

1. Vincenzo

Vincenzo is a 2021 drama starring Song Joong-ki as Vincenzo, Jeon Yeo-been as Hong Cha-young, Ok Taec-yeon as Jang Jun-woo and Kim Yeo-jin as Choi Myung-hee. This is by far the most chaotic and fun show I have watched in a while! Effortlessly some of my favourites were Kwak Dong-yeon as Jang Han-seo (I mean, come on you cannot not like this amazing human being, especially with all that character development), Vincenzo’s neighbours (they were hands down the most fabulous and supportive people). Hong Cha-young’s father and the paralegal that worked in his office were chef’s kisses and Luca (Vincenzo’s friend from Italy one of the most loyal characters ever!).

What are some of your favourite secondary comfort characters? Let us know in the comment section below!