5 K-drama pairings that broke fandoms with brutal endings and deserve another series: Moon Lovers to Youth of May

Some K-drama pairings leave a permanent mark on the fandom. Years on, the 'what ifs' refuse to fade, and the endings keep festering like wounds later.

From doomed royal love in Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo to the devastating romance of Youth of May, these are the couples that had everything going for them, electric chemistry, emotional depth, and stories fans fully believed in, only to be pulled apart by fate, timing, or tragedy.

And that’s exactly why they still haunt viewers. The discussions continue, sometimes petitions too, in the hope, that somewhere, the pairings at least get closure. (It happened for Lee Dong-wook and Yoo In-na, it should happen for others, right...right?)

Here are 5 K-drama pairings that broke fandoms with brutal endings and still deserve another series, for closure, for healing, or just for the love stories we were never quite ready to let go of.

1) Start-Up

Start-Up will always lead the list. How can it not?

Starring Bae Suzy, Nam Joo-hyuk and Kim Seon-ho, the drama centres on Seo Dal-mi (Suzy), a young woman with an ambitious dream of becoming a tech entrepreneur despite a difficult, emotionally bruised childhood.

As a child, Dal-mi finds comfort in handwritten letters from someone she believes is her first love. Nam Do-san. In reality, those letters were written by Han Ji-pyeong (Kim Seon-ho), a sharp, lonely venture capitalist who helped protect her from afar.

Years later, Dal-mi reunites with Nam Do-san (Nam Joo-hyuk), who was initially recruited and guided by Han Ji-pyeong to maintain the illusion. As the story wears on, Dal-mi falls in love with Nam Do-san, while Han Ji-pyeong slowly becomes the emotional backbone of the story from the sidelines.

The result: A case of classic second-lead syndrome, as Han Ji-pyeong was emotional origin of Dal-mi’s hope and healing. He had loved, sacrificed, and restrained his affection, and his moral compass made him feel like the story's emotional truth, even if it wasn't his romantic conclusion.

So, there's always hope that Seon-ho and Bae Suzy will redeem this love story in another K-Drama. After all, we did see glimpses of strong chemistry.

2) Youth of May

When a K-Drama hurts...it hurts. It digs the knife in, deeper. Whew.

Starring Lee Do-hyun and Go Min-si, Youth of May gave viewers one of the most emotionally devastating K-drama romances in recent years. Set against the backdrop of the Gwangju Uprising in May 1980, the series follows Hwang Hee-tae, a brilliant but restless medical student, and Kim Myung-hee, a hardworking nurse trying to build a stable future for herself.

Their relationship begins through a mistaken-identity blind date setup, but quickly grows into a romance filled with warmth, teasing banter, and a sense of comfort. Lee Do-hyun and Go Min-si played off each other so well that even the quieter scenes became seared in fans memories, which is why the ending hurt as much as it did.

As the political violence in Gwangju escalates, the couple’s dreams are torn apart, culminating in Myung-hee’s tragic death and Hee-tae carrying that grief for the rest of his life. The heartbreak was brutal, needless to say.

To this day, many fans still want Lee Do-hyun and Go Min-si reunited in another drama , preferably one where history, trauma, and devastating endings don’t get in the way for once.

3) Twenty Five Twenty One

One of the you-just-had-to-be-there moments. This, is the K-drama that collectively destroyed viewers’ emotional stability in 2022. Till the end, fans were absolutely sure that the two leads...could make it. It gave everyone such severe trust issues that they were nervous about following romcom Business Proposal, which was airing simultaneo usly.

Set during the late-1990s IMF financial crisis, the series follows Na Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri), a fiercely optimistic fencing prodigy chasing impossible dreams, and Baek Yi-jin (Nam Joo-hyuk), a former chaebol heir whose family loses everything overnight, forcing him to rebuild his life from scratch.

Perhaps one of the most searing qualities of Twenty-Five Twenty-One was the chemistry between Kim Tae-ri and Nam Joo-hyuk. The gentle shyness, friendship and romance, were such a joy to watch. You were seeing two people slowly become each other's safe space. Every conversation, and small moment of encouragement carried an intimacy that made viewers completely believe these two people were growing up together. That’s why the ending hit like emotional betrayal.

As adulthood closes in, Yi-jin’s demanding career as a journalist and the emotional exhaustion that comes with it slowly create distance between them. There’s no cheating scandal, no dramatic villain, no last-minute twist, just the devastatingly ordinary reality that sometimes love alone isn’t enough to keep two people together. And maybe that’s what made it hurt more. After all, a 900-year-old goblin and his bride made it work, why shouldn't they?

Kim Tae-ri and Nam Joo-hyuk created a relationship that made the audience emotionally invest far beyond the script itself. Even after the heartbreak, fans couldn’t let go of the feeling that Hee-do and Yi-jin should have found their way back to each other somehow. Years later, many viewers still want the actors reunited in another drama — ideally one where their story ends with healing instead of heartbreak.

4) Snowdrop

Snowdrop may have divided audiences during its run, but one thing viewers could agree on was the chemistry between Jung Hae-in and Jisoo.

Set in 1987 South Korea amid intense political unrest, the drama follows Eun Yeong-ro (Jisoo), a bright and sheltered university student who discovers an injured stranger, Im Su-ho (Jung Hae-in), hiding in her dormitory. Believing he is an innocent man in danger, she secretly protects him , only to learn that he is entangled in a far more dangerous political situation than she ever imagined.

And so, the sweet almost old-fashioned romance slowly transforms into a devastating story of loyalty, sacrifice, and impossible choices. The story does veer into rather complicated territory of stockholm syndrome later. Nevertheless, the two actors created the kind of emotional tension that made viewers desperately want more time with them. It would be a bit of a redemption to see them again in a different, happier story, where their chemistry is just allowed to flow.

5) Moon Lovers

Head to the Goryeo Dynasty with IU and Lee Joon-gi in this heartbreaking historical fantasy. IU stars as Go Ha-jin, a modern woman whisked back in time after a solar eclipse, waking up as Hae Soo, a noblewoman caught in the royal court of King Taejo. Surrounded by scheming princes and deadly political games, she finds herself drawn to the dark, enigmatic Wang So (Lee Joon-gi), the future King Gwangjong. But in the palace, love is never safe, every choice could cost her heart, her allies, and even her life. Lee Joon-gi and IU had powerful chemistry, a bond so intense, and yet, they didn't get the happy ending that fans wanted to see. As a result, years on, fans still demand for closure, or at least to see them in a different show.