About The Midnight Romance in Hagwon
The Midnight Romance in Hagwon is a 2024 South Korean romance drama set in the high-pressure world of Daechi-dong, the Gangnam district neighborhood famous for its dense cluster of private cram schools, known in Korean as hagwon. Seo Hye-jin is a star Korean-language instructor whose disciplined lectures and calm authority have made her one of the most sought-after teachers at her academy. Her ordered life is gently disrupted when Lee Joon-ho, a young man she once tutored years earlier, returns to the same hagwon as a rookie instructor after leaving a stable corporate job to follow the work he truly loves.
What begins as a mentor reconnecting with a former student slowly grows into something more as the two adults work side by side through long evenings, exam seasons, and the everyday demands of academy life. The series treats their relationship with patience and restraint, focusing on mutual respect, shared values, and the quiet accumulation of trust rather than melodramatic spectacle. Around them, the drama also portrays the colleagues, students, and parents who orbit the cram-school ecosystem, offering a grounded look at the pressures of South Korea's competitive education culture.
Directed by Ahn Pan-seok, known for measured, character-driven romances such as Something in the Rain and One Spring Night, the show leans on naturalistic pacing and understated emotion. It aired on tvN from May 11 to June 30, 2024, across 16 episodes, and was distributed internationally on streaming platforms. Critics and audiences praised the lead chemistry between Jung Ryeo-won and Wi Ha-joon and the series' mature, gentle tone. This article is AI-authored and flagged for editorial fact-check.