7 Choi Hyun-wook K-dramas to watch, from ‘Weak Hero Class 1’ to ‘Notes from the Last Row’

In Weak Hero Class 1, the action youth K-drama that explores the devastating consequences of school violence, Choi Hyun-wook stars as Ahn Su-ho, a confident and easygoing high school student who employs his elite MMA fighting skills to protect his friends Yeon Si-eun (Park Ji-hoon) and Oh Beom-seok (Hong Kyung) from bullies and thugs. His loyalty is one of his defining traits, drawing him closer to the seemingly aloof Si-eun and more guarded Beom-seok, but it also blindsides him to the fractures that form within their group.

Ahn Su-ho quickly emerged as a fan-favourite character, with Choi Hyun-wook lending a mix of swagger and warmth to the role. His performance brought much-needed levity without undercutting the drama’s more sombre mood. More than just the strongest fighter in the group, Su-ho was the emotional anchor of their friendship, making his eventual fate all the more heartbreaking.

See more: 8 K-drama stars who went from second leads to main leads

As the sweet and cheerful Moon Ji-woong, Choi Hyun-wook held his own alongside established K-drama stars Nam Joo-hyuk and Kim Tae-ri in tvN’s coming-of-age romance Twenty Five Twenty One. While the story largely revolves around the relationship between Baek Yi-jin (Nam Joo-hyuk) and Na Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri), Ji-woong, a popular student with a passion for fashion, is introduced as part of their tight-knit group of friends. He is also the love interest of Go Yu-rim (Bona), Na Hee-do’s fencing rival and frenemy.

The role marked a leap from Racket Boys’ ensemble cast to second male lead, giving Choi Hyun-wook greater screen time, wider recognition and a nomination for Best New Actor – Television at the 58th Baeksang Arts Awards in 2022. His easy charisma and comic timing carried over from his earlier role, while his evolving relationship with Yu-rim offered a first glimpse of his potential as a romantic leading man.

In the slice-of-life sports K-drama, available to stream on Netflix, Choi Hyun-wook stars as Na Woo-chan, a member of a school badminton team from the small rural village of Haenam. Alongside teammates Bang Yoon-dam (Son Sang-yeon), Lee Yong-tae (Kim Kang-hoon) and transfer student Yoon Hae-kang (Tang Joon-sang), Woo-chan works toward the team’s goal of competing at the national level while navigating friendship, family and the growing pains of adolescence.

Choi Hyun-wook’s scene-stealing turn in Racket Boys (and two-episode appearance in Taxi Driver) not only put him on the radar of K-drama fans but also earned him the Best New Actor award at the 2021 SBS Drama Awards. It was an early breakthrough that paved the way for more prominent roles in popular youth dramas.

While most of the roles Choi Hyun-wook played prior to D.P. were in coming-of-age K-dramas that leaned on his boyish charm, his turn in this Netflix original—a stark examination of abuse and hazing within South Korea’s military—marked a dark pivot that surprised fans and further established his range as an actor. In season two of the series, Choi Hyun-wook gave a riveting and layered performance as Shin A-hwi, a Private First Class who becomes embroiled in an investigation after witnessing the death of fellow soldier Na Jung-seok (Im Sung-jae).

Abrasive and known for bullying other soldiers, A-hwi is initially uncooperative. But as D.P. agents An Jun-ho (Jung Hae-in) and Lim Ji-seob (Son Suk-ku) dig deeper, they discover that it was A-hwi who was the victim of relentless abuse from Jung-seok. Suffering from severe trauma, A-hwi turns violent and perpetuates the cycle of abuse. Playing tormentor and tormented, Choi Hyun-wook brings to life a character who is both frightening and tragic—a balancing act that few actors his age could pull off with such conviction.

Choi Hyun-wook takes on the romantic lead role in tvN’s rom-com K-drama My Dearest Nemesis, which tells a love story 16 years in the making. Based on the webcomic He’s a Black Dragon by Hye Jin-yang, the story introduces Baek Su-jeong (Moon Ga-young) and Ban Joo-yeon (Choi Hyun-wook) as teenagers who meet through an online game, where they go by the usernames Strawberry and Black Dragon, respectively. Their first meet-cute is light on “cute” as their expectations of each other fail to match reality, leaving both thoroughly mortified.

Sixteen years later, their paths cross again at work when Su-jeong, now a team leader in the strategic planning department at Yongseong Department Store, finds herself working under Joo-yeon, the company’s chaebol heir and newly appointed head of the division. Unaware that the person standing in front of them is their old online guild mate, the two quickly fall into an antagonistic boss-employee dynamic, setting the stage for an unexpected enemies-to-lovers romance. For Choi Hyun-wook, it was another step in his evolution from supporting youth-drama roles to top-billed romantic star.

Choi Hyun-wook’s most recent K-drama was the Netflix suspense thriller Notes from the Last Row. Adapted from the Spanish play El chico de la última fila by playwright Juan Mayorga, the six-episode series follows Lee Kang (Choi Hyun-wook), an engineering student whose talent for writing captures the attention of Heo Mun-oh (Choi Min-sik), a literature professor and failed novelist. Lee Kang’s stories draw from the lives of the people around him, blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality as Mun-oh becomes increasingly consumed by his student’s work.

Marking another departure from his usual roles, Choi Hyun-wook traded the boyish charm and romantic appeal of his earlier K-dramas for a darker, more psychologically complex character. As Lee Kang, he is manipulative and calculating, not above using his talent to exploit Mun-oh’s insecurities to satisfy a deep-seated grudge. The up-and-coming actor made an impression alongside acting legend Choi Min-sik, proving that he can carry weight in any register.

From his early breakout in Racket Boys and Twenty Five Twenty One to headlining roles in Twinkling Watermelon and My Dearest Nemesis, Choi Hyun-wook’s K-drama filmography shows an actor unafraid to move between genres. With Weak Hero Class 1, D.P. season two and Notes from the Last Row adding darker roles to the mix, these seven series offer a snapshot of how far his career has come, and why Choi Hyun-wook remains a rising star worth watching.

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