Destined With You star Jo Bo-ah’s best K-drama roles

Actor Jo Bo-ah returns in another fantasy romance with Netflix‘s Destined With You K-drama as a civil servant named Lee Hong-jo. The Netflix K-drama is her second on-screen role for 2023.

Jo is no stranger to the fantasy genre and made a name for herself as the female lead in one of K-drama’s classic gumiho storylines. But for Netflix’s Destined With You, she takes on a different type of fantasy in the form of a curse. Her character, Hong-jo, is a low-level civil servant who gets swarmed with complaints.

She discovers a sealed wooden box containing a centuries-old book. What it is she has no real idea. But she soon meets Jang Shin-yu, played by Rowoon. He is a competent lawyer who has secretly dealt with a family curse passed down through generations.

Fans are excited to see Jo in another fantasy leading role, but some of her past K-dramas are worth watching while waiting for Destined With You episodes to air.

My Strange Hero is one of Jo Bo-ah’s long-running K-dramas

A case of love and betrayal is at the heart of My Stranger Hero as it focuses on Kang Bok-soo (Yoo Seung-ho) seeking revenge against his former high school love, played by Jo Bo-ah.

Bok-soo is the typical teen K-drama bad boy who does poorly in school but has no problem going after bullies. The storyline first takes place in 2009 when Bok-soo is attending a prestigious high school and dating the smartest girl Son Soo-jung (Jo). He is also friends with Oh Se-ho (Kwak Dong-yeon), the school chairman’s son. But Soo-jung is hiding her poor background until one day she confides in Bok-soo.

Sooner rather than later, the school finds out about her poor status, and she suspects it was Bok-soo. While going to confront him, she witnesses him and Se-ho arguing before Se-ho falls off the roof. Feeling betrayed by Bok-soo, she testifies in Se-ho’s favor and has Bok-soo expelled.

Years later, Bok-soo’s life has derailed, and decides to enact his revenge. He returns to the school to become a student. It just so happens that Soo-jung is a teacher there. While hoping to reform the school, Bok-soo gets caught up in a few odd events.

My Stranger Hero has a 32-episode run and is available on Viki.

A young surgeon finds herself in a mystical storyline in Forest

In 2020, Jo Bo-ah played the lead role alongside Park Hae-jin in Forest, a K-drama about an emergency service worker and medical resident who are drawn to each other by a forgotten past.

Forest is one of the actor’s lesser-known K-dramas, but it’s worth exploring if you want a fantasy or mystical element in a storyline. Kang San-hyeok is a devoted emergency rescue worker but is haunted by memory loss. He is unable to remember key moments from his past he longs to know about.

On the other end, fans meet Jung Young-jae (Jo), a young surgeon whose new residency has her relocate to a mysterious forest. The two characters meet when San-hyeok’s latest mission leads him there as well. Unclear to them, they are drawn to each other and the forest plays a key role in unlocking the mystery of their intertwined past.

Forest is available to stream on Viki.

Tale of the Nine-Tailed is Jo Bo-ah’s claim to fame and a cult classic fantasy K-drama

Lee Dong-wook and Jo Bo-ah starred in the fantasy romance Tale of the Nine-Taled, focused on an ancient Gumiho fox and his star-crossed fate with a present-day reporter.

It is almost impossible for any K-drama fan to not have watched or heard of Tale of the Nine-Tailed. The 2020 K-drama is considered one of the most successful in Korean television history. It’s a story of past love, sacrifice, and heartache. Lee Yeon was once a mountain god but gave it up to try and save the woman he loved.

Instead, he is a nine-tailed Gumiho fox in human form who hunts dangerous creatures for an organization in the afterlife. Unknown to him, Nam Ji-a (Jo) has been looking for him. As a child, a car accident killed her parents and she was saved by a mysterious man.

Now an adult, she is the producer of a series that hunts down supernatural occurrences. While looking at footage, she finds Lee Yeon, the man who saved her. Their fates are intertwined as a growing evil threatens humanity, all the while Lee Yeon’s brother wants his revenge.

Jo returned in her role as Ji-a for a cameo appearance in the second season of the K-drama Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938.

Tale of the Nine-Tailed is available to stream on Viki.

Jo Bo-ah starred as a military prosecutor wanting revenge in Military Prosecutor Doberman

Military Prosecutor Doberman focuses on Do Bae-man (Ahn Bo-hyun), a man who only wants wealth and power from his position, teaming up with a military rookie who wants to weed out corruption and revenge.

Bae-man joined the military as a prosecutor only to gain wealth and power. His title was only the means to an end and has no real conviction for justice. But when he finally succeeds in what he’s wanted, where does he go from there?

In the K-drama, he is soon teamed up with rookie military prosecutor Cha Woo-in (Jo Bo-ah). People believe she does not have what it takes as she got her title due to her family wealth and connections. In reality, she is the opposite of Bae-man and a skilled investigator. Growing up rich made her immune to people who abuse their power.

When Bae-man and Woo-in are teamed up together, he is inspired by Woo-in’s tenacity to seek justice. All the while, Woo-jin has her own plans for revenge. Their pursuits might lead them into trouble.

Military Prosecutor Doberman is available to stream on Viki.

You can read more K-drama content like My Lovely Liar here, and Disney+’s Moving K-drama here.