Good Manager to Pied Piper: K-Dramas to watch if you’re intrigued by case files & corruption

“Numbers” wrapped up tidily recently, having joined the rare number of K-dramas spotlighting the accounting profession. Here are some of the closest and best shows that’ll fill that void featuring case files aplenty, hot-headed do-gooders, and some pretty wacky ones too! Check out these four dramas that’ll fill the void after “Numbers”!

1. Good Manager

This was the show that first showed the public that Namgoong Min has so much more to him than playing villains. Kim Sung Ryong (Namgoong Min) is a whiz at numbers, who uses his considerable talent to manage money for a gang. When a chance accident places him as the chief of the accounting department within the TQ conglomerate, the usually outrageous and morally iffy Sung Ryong decides to uproot the corruption within the company. What follows is a series of increasingly amusing events, as Sung Ryong takes on everyone from petty managers to TQ’s golden boy Seo Yool (Lee Junho).

2. Life

This drama is by the same writer as “Stranger” and features much of the same cast of very talented actors like Yoo Jae Myung. It’s a powerhouse of acting, directing, and writing that highlights complex ethical debates in the medical profession, not regarding the treatment of patients, per se, but how hospitals view patients: as people in need of help or as profit-making machines. This drama is beloved for a very good reason, especially for Lee Dong Wook’s portrayal of Jin Woo, who is torn between his duty to his patients, his job, and his desire to fight for truth in a corporate world that seems bent on crushing all meaning from the truth.

3. Pied Piper

When speaking of incredibly well-written dramas, you can’t omit “Pied Piper” from the list. This drama is so underrated but so good! Joo Sung Chan (Shin Ha Kyun) used to be a renowned corporate negotiator who cared only about the bottom line: money. That is until he loses his fiancée in an act of terror that claimed numerous other lives. It’s an act of terror that he blames himself for because he was on the phone with the killer and couldn’t stop them.

4. Special Labor Inspector Mr. Jo

This show and its main character are all about fighting corruption. Jo Jin Gab (Kim Dong Wook) used to be a member of the national team judo until he made the mistake of protesting a rigged name and found himself kicked out of the sport. He later becomes a gym teacher but makes the mistake of standing up against the bullying and violence committed by the school chairman’s son, so he gets kicked out of another profession.

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