The Innocent Man (South Korean TV series)

The Innocent Man 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.

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

Synopsis
Smart and promising medical student Kang Ma-ru (Song Joong-ki) is deeply in love with his slightly older neighbor Han Jae-hee (Park Si-yeon), a television reporter. But when her situation takes a turn for the worse and Jae-hee becomes desperate to escape poverty, 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.

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." He then meets Seo Eun-gi (Moon Chae-won), a young chaebol heiress who's being groomed to take over her father's conglomerate. Eun-gi is cold and calculating, business-savvy, and raised by her father to never show emotion to anyone.

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 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.

Main

 * Song Joong-ki as Kang Ma-ru
 * Kang Chan-hee as young Ma-ru
 * 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.


 * Moon Chae-won as Seo Eun-gi
 * 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.


 * Park Si-yeon as Han Jae-hee
 * Park So-young as young Jae-hee
 * 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.

Supporting

 * Lee Kwang-soo as Park Jae-gil
 * Ma-ru's best friend and Choco's lover.


 * Lee Yu-bi as Kang Choco
 * Han Seo-jin as young Kang Choco
 * Ma-ru's younger sister and Jae-gil's lover.


 * Lee Sang-yeob as Park Joon-ha
 * Eun-gi's secretary and helper who loved and respected her.


 * Kim Tae-hoon as Ahn Min-young
 * The secretary of the CEO who likes Jae-hee.


 * Yang Ik-june as Han Jae-sik
 * Jae-hee's older brother who was abusive towards her.


 * Kim Yeong-cheol as CEO Seo Jung-gyu
 * 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.


 * Jin Kyung as Hyun Jung-hwa
 * 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.


 * Kim Ye-won as Kim Yoo-ra
 * Oh Hee-joon as Han Jae-shik
 * Jo Sung-ha as Dr. Seok Min-hyuk (cameo, ep 1, 12, 20)
 * Danny Ahn as Kim Jung-hoon (cameo, ep 2 & 15)

Production
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.

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.

Part 1

 * 1) 사랑은 눈꽃처럼 (Love Is Like a Snowflake) - Junsu
 * 2) 착한 여자 (Nice Girl) - Lee Soo-young
 * 3) 좋은 사람입니다 (No One Is Better Than You) - Cho Eun
 * 4) Lonely
 * 5) Jae-hee and Ma-ru (with Empty Heart & Change)
 * 6) Bueno Hombre
 * 7) Waltz in Sorrow
 * 8) Eun-gi and Ma-ru (with Late Autumn)
 * 9) Melancholy
 * 10) Blue Moon
 * 11) Eun-gi (with Magnolia)
 * 12) Late Autumn
 * 13) Empty Heart
 * 14) Broken Heart
 * 15) Water Lily
 * 16) Magnolia

Part 2

 * 1) 정말 (Really) - Song Joong-ki
 * 2) 너만을 원했다 (I Only Wanted You) - Son Hoyoung (narration by Song Joong-ki)
 * 3) 사랑해요 (I Love You) - Yoon Bitnara
 * 4) Change
 * 5) Here to Stay
 * 6) 차칸남자 (Complicación)
 * 7) Waltz in Sorrow (Guitar)
 * 8) Beautiful Love
 * 9) Nobody Sees Me
 * 10) Despedida
 * 11) Laberinto
 * 12) Lonely Street
 * 13) Collision De Frente
 * 14) Before Winter Comes

Ratings
Beginning episode 5, the series ranked number one in its timeslot for eight consecutive weeks until its finale.