The Innocent Man (South Korean TV series)

The Innocent Man (Korean세상 어디에도 없는 착한 남자; RRSesang Eodiedo Eomneun Chakan Namja; lit. The Nice Guy Never Seen Anywhere in the World) is a 2012 South Korean television series starring Song Joong-ki, Moon Chae-won, and Park Si-yeon. It is known on Netflix as Nice Guy.[3]

The Innocent Man
Promotional poster
Also known asNice Guy[1][2]
Hangul
세상 어디에도 없는 착한 남자
GenreMelodrama
Romance
Created byJeong Seong-hyo (KBS Drama)
Written byLee Kyung-hee
Directed byKim Jin-won
Lee Na-jeong
StarringSong Joong-ki
Moon Chae-won
Park Si-yeon
Ending theme"Love Is Like a Snowflake" by Junsu
ComposerChoi Seong-kwon
Country of originSouth Korea
Original languages
  • Korean
  • Japanese
No. of episodes20
Production
Executive producerBeak Kyung Soo
ProducerHam Young-hoon
Production locationsSeoul, South Korea
Hirosaki, Japan
CinematographyBaek Hong-jong
Lee Yoon-jeong
Camera setupMultiple-camera setup
Running time60 minutes
Production companyiHQ
Original release
NetworkKorean Broadcasting System
Release12 September (2012-09-12) –
15 November 2012 (2012-11-15)

It is a dark melodrama involving betrayal and romance.[4][5][6][7] It aired on KBS2 for 20 episodes from September 12 to November 15, 2012.

Synopsis

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Smart and promising medical student[8][9] Kang Ma-ru (Song Joong-ki) is deeply in love with his slightly older neighbor Han Jae-hee (Park Si-yeon), a television reporter.[10][11] But when her situation takes a turn for the worse and Jae-hee becomes desperate to escape poverty,[12] she meets a man who changes everything—a rich CEO who introduces her to a life of comfort. So she turns her back on Ma-ru, choosing money over love.[13]

The brutal betrayal leaves Ma-ru fractured—not just angry, but a completely changed man. A few years later, Ma-ru is now 30 years old and works as a bartender and gigolo, no longer a "nice guy."[14] He then meets Seo Eun-gi (Moon Chae-won), a young chaebol heiress who's being groomed to take over her father's conglomerate.[15][16] Eun-gi is cold and calculating, business-savvy, and raised by her father to never show emotion to anyone.[17][18]

Ma-ru decides to take revenge on his ex Jae-hee and bring her down from her position after his sister, Kang Cho-co (Lee Yu-bi) is rushed to the hospital because of Jae-hee. Ma-ru, though initially had no plans as such, uses Eun-gi to take revenge on Jae-hee[19][20] Just when Ma-ru is beginning to love Eun-gi, she finds out the real reason why he approached her and they break up. But a car accident causes Eun-gi to lose her memory, and she enters Ma-ru's life again.[21]

Cast

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Main

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A smart but poor medical student who has to look after his little sister without any parents. He was in love Jae-hee but she left him for a rich CEO as she always dreamt of being rich, but she always loved Ma-ru and still harbours feelings for him. Six years after Jae-hee left he became arrogant and a playboy who works as a bartender. He approached Eun-gi as part of his revenge plan against Jae-hee but he started to care for her and eventually fell in love.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]
A rich and arrogant girl but also has a kind-hearted side who does everything to protect her mother's memories who has a troubled relationship with her father and step-mother as she blames them for her mother leaving and her death. She falls for Ma-ru without knowing the real reason he approached her and she suffers a memory loss after landing in a car accident. After her memory loss, she is a much nicer person who searches for clues in order to get her memory returned.[30][31][32]
Although she is stone-hearted and loves Ma-ru, she loved money more than Ma-Ru and she left Ma-ru and became the mistress of a CEO and had his son. She and Eun-gi don’t get along and she also doesn't care for her and tries to hurt her in many ways. She plans to take over Taesan Company after killing her husband.[33]

Supporting

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Ma-ru's best friend and Choco's lover.[34]
  • Lee Yu-bi as Kang Choco
    • Han Seo-jin as young Kang Choco
Ma-ru's younger sister and Jae-gil's lover.[35][36][37]
Eun-gi's secretary and helper who loved and respected her.[38]
The secretary of the CEO who likes Jae-hee.
Jae-hee's older brother who was abusive towards her.
Eun-gi and Eun-seok's father, who found Jae-hee and took her as his mistress. Although good hearted, he sides with Jae-hee rather than his daughter as Eun-gi is stubborn and acts childish at times. He dies later in the season and gives his property and estate to Eun-gi but before she could be in charge, she lands in a car accident and suffers a memory loss.
Eun-gi's assistant. After the car accident which caused Eun-gi’s memory loss, she took her away and cared for her for a year where nobody could find her.
  • Oh Yong as Jo Young-bae
  • Jo Hwi-joon as Seo Eun-seok
Jae-hee and Jung-gyu's son, Eun-gi's 4 year old half-brother. He loves his step-sister despite her rudeness and hatred toward him but after her memory loss, she is unable to remember her hatred for him and instead grows closer to him.

Production

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The series is written by Lee Kyung-hee, who previously wrote Will It Snow for Christmas?, Thank You, A Love to Kill, I'm Sorry, I Love You, and Sang Doo! Let's Go to School.[41][42][43]

Kim Jin-won was the director of Drama Special episodes Just an Ordinary Love Story, Crossing the Young-do Bridge, Guardian Angel Kim Yeong-goo, Snail Gosiwon, and The Last Flashman.

The series features real-life friends and former Running Man co-stars Song Joong-ki and Lee Kwang-soo for the first time since Song left the variety show.[44][45][46][47]

Soundtrack

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Ratings

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Beginning episode 5, the series ranked number one in its timeslot for eight consecutive weeks until its finale.[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]

Ep. Original broadcast date Average audience share
AGB Nielsen[61] TNmS[62]
Nationwide Seoul Nationwide Seoul
1 September 12, 2012 10.5% 11.5% 10.7% 10.9%
2 September 13, 2012 9.9% 11.3% 11.4% 11.6%
3 September 19, 2012 13.8% 14.5% 13.9% 14.6%
4 September 20, 2012 13.3% 14.2% 13.8% 15.4%
5 September 26, 2012 14.0% 15.7% 14.5% 14.8%
6 September 27, 2012 16.0% 18.1% 16.0% 17.8%
7 October 3, 2012 17.3% 18.6% 17.9% 18.6%
8 October 4, 2012 15.1% 16.6% 15.0% 14.4%
9 October 10, 2012 15.3% 17.3% 15.8% 17.3%
10 October 11, 2012 14.9% 15.7% 16.2% 17.3%
11 October 17, 2012 14.3% 15.3% 15.0% 16.5%
12 October 18, 2012 15.1% 15.7% 16.4% 17.0%
13 October 24, 2012 17.1% 18.8% 18.2% 18.7%
14 October 25, 2012 16.7% 18.4% 18.5% 19.6%
15 October 31, 2012 18.3% 20.6% 17.1% 17.6%
16 November 1, 2012 17.1% 18.8% 18.8% 19.8%
17 November 7, 2012 16.2% 16.4% 18.2% 19.6%
18 November 8, 2012 18.2% 19.7% 16.8% 18.1%
19 November 14, 2012 17.9% 19.3% 18.5% 19.9%
20 November 15, 2012 18.0% 19.4% 18.6% 20.2%
Average 15.3% 16.8% 16.1% 17.0%

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
2012 20th Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards Top Excellence Award, Actor Song Joong-ki Won [63]
Top Excellence Award, Actor Song Joong-ki Won [64]
Excellence Award, Actress Moon Chae-won Nominated
Best Couple Award Song Joong-ki and Moon Chae-won Won [65]
Netizens' Award Song Joong-ki Won
Moon Chae-won Won
Best New Actress Lee Yu-bi Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Lee Kwang-soo Nominated
Lee Sang-yeob Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Jin Kyung Nominated
Excellence Award, Actor in a Mid-length Drama Song Joong-ki Nominated
Excellence Award, Actress in a Mid-length Drama Moon Chae-won Nominated
Park Si-yeon Nominated
Top Excellence Award, Actor Song Joong-ki Won
Top Excellence Award, Actress Moon Chae-won Won
2013 Best New Actress (TV) Lee Yu-bi Nominated [66]
20's Booming Star - Female Lee Yu-bi Nominated
8th Seoul International Drama Awards Outstanding Korean Drama OST "Love Is Like a Snowflake" - Junsu Nominated
"Really" - Song Joong-ki Nominated
Outstanding Korean Actor Song Joong-ki Nominated
Outstanding Korean Actress Moon Chae-won Nominated
Outstanding Korean Drama The Innocent Man Nominated

References

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