Woo Hyun is a Korean man, and Haruka is a Japanese woman. They live different lives, but they both carry emotional scars from their first love. While looking for answers and hope, their fateful encounter will change their lives. It started with one message… Haruka, a stage actress in Seoul, has been in a slump ever since she broke up with her first love. She cannot forget him and keeps sending messages that go unread on LINE. Despite her emotional hurt, Haruka wants to believe in love. In Tokyo, Woo Hyun, an aspiring movie director, keeps on doing interviews concerning “love”. After being deeply hurt by his girlfriend, who thought about getting married, he no longer believes in love. Haruka and Woo Hyun have both grown timid of love. The two of them, who live apart in Tokyo and Seoul, have a chance encounter because of a LINE message delivered to Woo Hyun’s smartphone from Haruka. They exchange messages without knowing each other’s faces and are drawn to each other before they realise it
Hanaoka Nao's mother, Yuriko, works as a confectioner at Kogetsuan, a traditional Japanese sweets shop. Nao meets Takatsuki Tsubaki, the owner's six-year-old son, and they become childhood sweethearts. Tragedy strikes when Tsubaki's father is murdered. Nao's mother is arrested based on Tsubaki's testimony, and Nao is left homeless after her mother's death. With Nao as the daughter of a murder suspect and Tsubaki as the victim's son, they part ways with bitterness. Over 15 years later, Nao and Tsubaki cross paths again during a Japanese confectionery competition. Tsubaki, unaware of Nao's true identity, is captivated by her creations and impulsively proposes marriage. Nao, determined to prove her mother's innocence, conceals her past and agrees to marry Tsubaki, gaining entry to Kogetsuan. Little do they know the challenges awaiting them. Despite life's adversities, Nao and Tsubaki's bond deepens as they're drawn together. The truth behind the events of 15 years ago remains a mystery.
Fang Jia Hua is the successor of a business. His dream is to open a chocolate store and be an expert in chocolate. He ends up leaving his business and his family to fulfill his dream. Hong Xi En is someone who spent her days slogging and taking up part time work. One day, she ends up working for him and above all, she has to dress herself as a man for the job.
Chae Yong Ju is a former member of the special forces in the military. She's physically and mentally strong and has her own unique cheerfulness. She is also good at hiding her true emotions. Now working as a salesperson for a liquor company for the past six years, she has been dubbed the sales king. Despite her dedication, her branch is on the verge of closing. To avoid the closure, she carries out a mission to sell a new beer made by brewmaster & CEO of the brewery company Yun Min Ju. Min Ju is a sensitive man good at sensing other people's emotions. He lives in a peaceful, quiet rural area to focus on making beer. When Yong Ju appears in front of him, however, his life is about to change.
A refreshing work depicting a love that transcends borders between a Korean woman and a Japanese man. ~~ Adapted from the joint novel "Sarang Hue Oneun Gotdeul" by Gong Ji Young and Tsuji Hitonari Choi Hong is a Korean student studying in Japan. She meets Aoki Jungo, and they fall in love with each other. But, they break up due to different thoughts about love and practical problems. Five years later, Hong and Jungo meet in Korea.
33-year old Han Je In is a mystery novelist who is notorious for habitual false reporting to the police in town. Her only friend is police officer Rok Hwan, who has had a crush on her since childhood. One day, Je In hears a scream of help from an apartment upstairs and reports that a serial killer lives above her but no one believes her. Convinced that Jason, the handsome man living upstairs, is a serial killer, she asks Rok Hwan to help follow him around with her. But as she learns more about Jason in her pursuit to uncover the truth, she begins to fall for him. Seeing her in this state, Rok Hwan feels a tinge of jealousy.
Left alone on a trip to Hong Kong, Tomoko, a sales woman from Japan finds herself the victim of a purse-snatching. The police arrest the man she points out, but it turns out to be the wrong person: a young Korean man named Ji Hoon. Despite his anger and humiliation, he takes her out to dinner since she has lost all her money, and in return, she agrees to model for his amateur film. What follows is a magical and romantic two days. Upon returning to their respective countries, Tomoko must return to her nine-to-five job and Ji Hoon must resume studying to join the family business rather than pursuing his dream of becoming a film director. But soon the two begin to email each other and rekindle their relationship despite the distance and obstacles between them. Marking the very first time in television history that a drama has been co-produced between Japan and South Korea, the story shows us that love has no borders.
Love comes in all flavors. Secret Ingredient is the story of a Korean man who gives up his entire luxurious life in Seoul in search of his childhood girlfriend, someone he’s never forgotten all these years, in the hopes that she would fall in love with him, not for who they were back then or who they are now, but for what they can aspire to be: happy, fulfilled and blissfully in love with one another.
