About My Liberation Notes
My Liberation Notes, known in Korean as Naui Haebangilji, is a 2022 South Korean drama that aired on the cable network JTBC and streamed internationally on Netflix. Written by Park Hae-young and directed by Kim Seok-yoon, the sixteen-episode series follows the three adult Yeom siblings, who live with their parents in the fictional rural village of Sanpo on the far outskirts of the Seoul metropolitan area. Each day they endure a long, draining commute into the city, and each evening they return to a quiet life that leaves them feeling stuck, unseen, and numb. The show takes its title from a notebook in which the youngest sister records her longing to be liberated from this stifling routine.
The story centers on Yeom Mi-jeong, the reserved youngest sibling who rarely speaks her feelings; Yeom Chang-hee, the restless middle brother who chafes against his father and dreams of escaping Sanpo; and Yeom Gi-jeong, the eldest sister who is exhausted by her commute and openly hungry for love and excitement. Into their world drifts Mr. Gu, a guarded, hard-drinking outsider who arrives in Sanpo to work for the family's small kitchenware business and keeps his past hidden. As Mi-jeong asks him simply to worship her, an unconventional bond forms that becomes the emotional core of the series.
Rather than relying on dramatic plot turns, My Liberation Notes is a contemplative character study about the quiet weariness of ordinary life and the small, hard-won steps people take toward feeling free. It is widely praised for its understated writing, its naturalistic performances, and the way it captures the texture of long commutes, awkward silences, and the ache of unspoken yearning. Often discussed alongside the same writer's My Mister, the drama earned critical acclaim and a devoted following for treating everyday emotional survival with rare tenderness and honesty.