Time travel has been one of the significant fantasy elements for Kdramas, and it usually dates to the Joseon period of the past. Time traveling in Kdramas has been inspired by the Hollywood, Back to the Future touch, which has been an eye-catcher for the audiences of Korean dramas. Generally, the storyline of such dramas acts as a connecting link between historic, romantic, and fantasy genres which keeps the audience hooked culturally and fictionally. Now, let's journey through some of the Top 10 Korean Time Travel dramas:
1. Sisyphus: The Myth
This time-travel Korean drama was released in 2021 and revolved around a brilliant engineer, Han Tae-Sul, who was handsome and a founder of a world-class enterprise, Quantum and Time Company, and a skilled warrior from a terrifying future, Kang Seo-Hae. Tae-Sul travels gets entangled in a series of dangerous events while uncovering his brother’s death and Kang Seo Hee travels back in time to save Tae-Sul and change the future. This drama was packaged with action, sci-fi, and thrills with a touch of romance and drama, making it binge-worthy for the audience.
2. Rooftop Prince
This historical/ time-travel drama revolves around the story of a crown prince, Yi Gak of the Joseon era who gets transported to the revolutionized and modern future along with 3 bodyguards and land on the rooftop of a woman named Park Ha. Later he also meets a woman who resembled his deceased wife and walked on a journey to uncover the mystery behind the similarity. The plot was a hilarious twist to a fantasy and historical drama which became an all-time favorite for the audience.
3. The King: Eternal Monarch
This 2020 is a unique addition to the list because of its focus on parallel worlds. The story revolved around two parallel worlds, one set in the present-day Republic of Korea and the other set in the 90s Kingdom of Corea. As a child, the current King of this kingdom, King Gon had experienced a traumatic past, where he witnessed his father’s murder by his jealous uncle and Gon had escaped death due to a masked saviour, who bore an id named, Jang Tae-Eul. Later the story follows a journey of obtaining a legendary flute, seeking revenge, and a cute love story between his savior and Gon in the Republic of Korea.
4. Mr. Queen
This historical and time-travel drama revolves around an overconfident, modern-day man who suddenly gets tapped inside a Joseon-era queen’s body and also gets entangled in a palace mystery. He meets the secretive and intelligent prince, Cheoljong who was the supposed fiancée of the queen. The story reveals different layers of comedy and thrill which made it the second most-watched drama of 2020. Actors like Shin Hye Sun, and Kim Jung Hyun did a fantastic job of portraying the characters and did an absolute justice to the plot.
5. Again, My Life
This 2022 drama was an adaptation of a novel of the same name and it revolves around an upright prosecutor who gets killed while investigating a corruption mystery related to a politician named Joe Tae Seob. However, he suddenly wakes and finds himself a second chance at life and travels back in time to his 18-year-old self, and uncovers the pieces of evidence that are required to take down his enemy. This drama was a great legal and fictional mix to the time-traveling plot which made it binge-worthy for the audience.
6. Go Back Couple
This romantic comedy revolves around a couple, who married young, reach a fallout in their marriage, and are on the brink of a divorce. One day, the couple, who are parents of a child, suddenly get transported to the days when they were 18 and met each other for the first time. The story followed how they rediscovered themselves, and their relationship and relived those special moments of their lives. This drama focused on the importance of communication in a relationship and how every relationship gets a second chance if both parties are willing to forgive and communicate.
7. Chicago Typewriter
This time-travel drama revolved around 3 people who are connected and they are from different time periods, spanning almost an 80-year difference. These people were writers from the rebellious era under Japanese rule in 1930 and are reincarnated in the form of a modern-day writer who has a writing block, a ghostwriter, and a fan. The story eventually revealed the different layers of their past and beautifully depicted the age of the 1930s.
8. Hit The Top
This age-of-youth drama revolved around a 90s popular idol group member, Hyun Jae who suddenly goes missing, and a month later, he was presumed dead after his car was found in a lake. Hyun Jae is subsequently transported to 2017 where he met two other people who were childhood best friends and together, the three of them discovered themselves, Hyun Jae’s past, their dreams, and a cute love story in between the chaos.
9. Tunnel
This thriller drama revolves around a detective from 1986, Park Gwang Ho who was on a chase to catch a serial killer. During this time, both of them travel through a tunnel which surprisingly leads to the time period of 2017. The story later follows the rekindling of the serial killer’s murders and the detective teaming up with a detective and a criminal psychology professor from the future. This crime thriller drama was a mixture of thrill and fantasy and was a fresh perspective to storytelling that gained massive success.
10. Signal
This drama revolved around a criminal profiler, Park Hae Young from the present who connects with a detective from the past, via a talkie to solve an unsolved case. The case bloomed when a girl was kidnapped from her school and Park Hae Young as a child then, witnessed this crime. Later one day, he heard a weird transmission from an old walkie-talkie which connects the detectives, two from the present and one from the past, to solve this long-time unsolved cold case.
