5 gripping thriller K-dramas of 2025 to revisit: Park Hyung-sik's Buried Hearts to Park Eun-bin's Hyper Knife

Thriller is a genre in which Korean dramas excel. From Lee Yoo-mi's As You Stood By, So Ji-sub's Mercy For None, Shin Min-ah's Karma, to Kim Go-eun's The Price of Confession, the Korean industry dropped several thriller K-dramas back-to-back in 2025. You can even watch some of these K-dramas, such as Park Hyung-sik's Buried Hearts and Park Eun-bin's Hyper Knife, through OTTplay Premium. Let's take a look at these thrilling K-dramas before 2025 bids goodbye!

Must-watch thriller K-dramas of the year:

Buried Hearts (JioHotstar via OTTplay Premium)

For the first time in his career, Park Hyung-sik left his sweet innocent lover boy aura behind and portrayed a tough guy who secretly seeks vengeance. The story follows his character, Seo Dong-ju, who dreams of taking over the company he works for. His perfect world shatters when he is nearly killed by powerful figures. The 34-year-old actor's dark character in Buried Hearts proved his versatility. Previously, he worked in lighthearted dramas like Strong Girl Bong-soon, The Heirs, Soundtrack #1 and Doctor Slump.

Hyper Knife (JioHotstar via OTTplay Premium)

After the success of Extraordinary Attorney Woo, actress Park Eun-bin has embraced more versatile roles. In Hyper Knife, she plays a neurosurgeon who loses her medical license over a scandal because of her mentor, forcing her to get involved in illegal medical activities. She and her mentor later engage in a dangerous game of revenge, obsession and psychological warfare.

Mercy For None (Netflix)

So Ji-sub and Lee Jun-hyuk's extremely violent action entertainer follows a man's revenge for his younger brother's murder. Both brothers work as underworld leaders of two rival gangs. Driven by rage and grief over his younger brother's murder, he embarks on a relentless quest for revenge against the culprits, navigating complex rivalries between the major Juwoon and Bongsan criminal groups.

Karma (Netflix)

Shin Min-ah's limited K-drama follows six people who are not known to each other, but their lives get entangled by a tragic past event. The K-drama explores desperation, guilt and revenge as past sins catch up with them. The six people include a man drowning in debt, a traumatised doctor and criminals, as their fates collide in a non-linear narrative, revealing how their selfish choices lead to inescapable consequences, proving that what goes around comes around.

The Price of Confession (Netflix)

Kim Go-eun and Jeon Do-yeon collaborated on The Price of Confession, ten years after their first drama, Memories of the Sword in 2015. The Price of Confession follows two women who have been jailed over their individual heinous crimes. Jeon Do-yeon's character, a simple art teacher who gets framed for her husband's death, meets Kim Go-eun's character in jail as her fellow inmate. Together, the duo get involved in a twisted plot.