No Slow Burn Here: Jung Hae-in’s New Netflix Romance Starts With A Kiss

Jung Hae-in and Ha Young are preparing to challenge one of K-drama romance’s most familiar traditions: making viewers wait several episodes for the first kiss.

At a press conference in Seoul on August 5, director Kim Jang-han revealed that the upcoming Netflix series Our Sticky Love includes a kiss from its opening episode.

The director presented the scene as more than an attention-grabbing shortcut. He explained that each romantic moment reflects a different stage in the characters’ emotional journey, promising that viewers who follow the story will understand why the relationship moves so quickly.

The 12-episode romantic comedy premieres globally on Netflix on August 7. It follows an ambitious prosecutor who loses her memory and wakes up beside a boxing coach claiming to be her boyfriend.

Our Sticky Love drama poster / Netflix Korea

A fake boyfriend, a lost memory and an inconvenient first love

Ha Young plays Go Eun-sae, a sharp and successful prosecutor investigating a dangerous criminal organization.

After an accident erases her memories, Eun-sae wakes up in a rural town surrounded by traditional Korean taffy shops. She has no clear understanding of how she arrived there or why a suspiciously dressed boxing coach insists they are romantically involved.

That man is Jang Tae-ha, played by Jung Hae-in.

Tae-ha was once a promising young boxer before becoming connected to the criminal underworld. Now working as a small-town boxing coach, he unexpectedly encounters Eun-sae, his long-lost first love. Because she no longer remembers him, he tells her that he is her boyfriend as part of an attempt to protect her.

The lie forces the pair into an uncomfortable living arrangement. Eun-sae does not believe that the rough-looking man in front of her could possibly be her type, while Tae-ha must hide both their history and the danger surrounding her accident.

Netflix describes the series as a mixture of romantic comedy and noir suspense, combining bickering cohabitation with a criminal mystery involving Baek Sang-gil, a powerful gang boss played by Heo Sung-tae.

Why the Korean title is difficult to translate

The Korean title, Ireon Yeotgateun Sarang, contains a wordplay that does not transfer neatly into English.

“Yeot” is a traditional Korean taffy known for its sticky texture. However, a similar-sounding Korean expression can also function as a harsh or frustrated insult. The title therefore suggests both an irritatingly complicated romance and a love that is sweet, dense and almost impossible to separate.

Netflix ultimately selected Our Sticky Love as the official international title.

Director Kim Jang-han explained that the characters’ situation initially feels unbearable to Eun-sae: she has lost her identity, wakes up in an unfamiliar place and is told that a man she does not recognize is her boyfriend.

At the same time, the taffy metaphor represents a relationship that becomes increasingly difficult to pull apart. Different ingredients can also create different varieties of yeot, reflecting the drama’s attempt to combine romance, comedy, action, melodrama and thriller elements.

Kim previously directed Do You Like Brahms? and My Demon. He reunites on the project with writer Mo Ji-hye, with whom he worked on You Raise Me Up.

Jung Hae-in at the Our Sticky Love showcase / News 1

Jung Hae-in plays an awkward romantic willing to risk everything

Jung Hae-in described Jang Tae-ha as an extreme example of a devoted romantic.

Although Tae-ha is physically capable and prepared to put himself in danger for Eun-sae, he is also written as someone who has never properly dated. That contradiction gives the character much of his comedy: he behaves like a fearless protector but becomes clumsy when required to act like a normal boyfriend.

The role continues Jung Hae-in’s association with emotionally devoted romantic leads, following dramas including Something in the Rain, One Spring Night and Love Next Door. This character, however, comes with a more openly physical background because of his experience in boxing and organized crime. Jung Hae-in said he focused on Tae-ha’s personal history rather than questioning whether audiences would find it believable that someone with his appearance had never dated.

He also worked with the production team to distinguish the drama’s action sequences from his previous projects. The series is expected to show different sides of Tae-ha depending on whether he is confronting criminals, coaching boxers or attempting to maintain his fake relationship.

Ha Young takes her first leading role in a romantic comedy

For Ha Young, Our Sticky Love represents her first major romantic-comedy lead following the attention she received for The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call.

Her character effectively has two identities. Before the accident, she is a controlled and intimidating prosecutor accustomed to navigating an aggressive professional environment. After losing her memories, she gradually recovers a more impulsive, energetic and emotionally open version of herself.

Ha Young compared the central couple to an anxious girlfriend and a secure boyfriend. Eun-sae is confused and emotionally unstable because she cannot trust her memories, while Tae-ha offers consistent affection even though the relationship he describes is based on a lie. That imbalance creates the drama’s central tension. Tae-ha may provide emotional safety, but Eun-sae does not yet know whether she is falling in love naturally or being guided by a false version of her own life.

Netflix has highlighted the pairing’s argumentative chemistry, presenting their relationship as a classic opposites-attract romance complicated by secrecy and danger.

Ha Young at the Our Sticky Love showcase / News 1

The first-episode kiss changes the usual K-drama rhythm

Many Korean romantic dramas treat the first kiss as a midseason reward after several episodes of misunderstandings and emotional hesitation. Our Sticky Love is taking a different route.

Beginning with physical intimacy means the drama cannot rely entirely on the question of when the leads will become romantic. Instead, the suspense comes from whether that intimacy is emotionally genuine and what will happen when Eun-sae discovers the truth about Tae-ha’s lie.

The kiss may appear early, but trust is likely to arrive much later.

Kim said the series was edited with streaming audiences in mind, removing scenes that slowed the narrative without adding emotional value. His goal is a fast-moving romance that still preserves the comforting ingredients viewers associate with classic K-dramas.

Netflix similarly promotes the show as an accessible “comfort watch,” while noting that its crime storyline adds noir tension beneath the cheerful small-town setting.

Heo Sung-tae promises a villain worse than his ‘Squid Game’ character

Heo Sung-tae plays Baek Sang-gil, a wealthy crime boss who owns a building in Seoul’s Yeouido district.

The actor described him as the most vicious villain he has played, even comparing the role with Jang Deok-su, his violent gangster character from Squid Game.

Sang-gil becomes determined to eliminate the prosecutor who knows his weakness, placing Eun-sae in danger even while she remains unaware of her previous investigation. However, Heo Sung-tae suggested that the character will not be entirely one-dimensional. The drama will reportedly reveal a contrasting side of him, potentially giving the antagonist more complexity than his initial threat suggests.

His presence also explains why Our Sticky Love is being marketed as more than a straightforward countryside romance. The relationship may be playful, but the secret Tae-ha is protecting could have deadly consequences.

Heo Sung-tae at the Our Sticky Love showcase / News 1

Early viewers are already responding to the familiar tropes

Before release, international discussion has largely centered on three elements: Jung Hae-in’s return to romance, Ha Young’s first rom-com lead role and the intentionally trope-heavy story.

The official teaser and trailer have generated hundreds of thousands of views through Netflix’s K-content channels, with fan-made previews and translated clips also circulating in multiple languages.

Some viewers are embracing the familiar ingredients amnesia, forced cohabitation, first love and a fake relationship—as exactly the kind of emotionally comforting K-drama they want.

Others are more curious about whether the noir subplot can prevent the story from becoming predictable. The early kiss has added another source of attention because it suggests that the drama will move faster than a conventional slow-burn romance.

A broad audience consensus cannot yet be measured because the full series has not been released. The first meaningful reactions will arrive after all episodes become available on August 7.

A romance built from clichés or classics?

Ha Young said the drama contains a line distinguishing a cliché from a classic.

That distinction may become the test facing Our Sticky Love. Its premise contains several familiar devices, but familiar does not necessarily mean ineffective. Romantic comedies often succeed not because viewers have never seen the ingredients before, but because the actors make those ingredients feel emotionally convincing.

Jung Hae-in and Ha Young are promising a romance that is openly sentimental, physically affectionate and unafraid of traditional K-drama pleasures.

The first kiss may arrive immediately. The more difficult question is whether viewers will remain emotionally attached once Eun-sae begins recovering the truth.