# Rain or Shine (그냥 사랑하는 사이) (TV series)
**Rain or Shine** (그냥 사랑하는 사이), also known in English as **Just Between Lovers**, is a South Korean television melodrama broadcast on JTBC from December 11, 2017 to January 30, 2018, about two people who survived a shopping mall collapse as teenagers and meet ten years later while still carrying the physical and emotional damage of that day.[1](https://noseinabook.co.uk/2025/06/08/k-drama-review-just-between-lovers/) • [2](https://tv.jtbc.co.kr/rainshine) It was written by Yoo Bo-ra and directed by Kim Jin-won, and starred Lee Jun-ho, Won Jin-ah, Lee Ki-woo, Kang Han-na, and Na Moon-hee.[3](https://www.starnewskorea.com/broadcast-drama/2017/09/01/2017090112004908536) • [4](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20171207165659283)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Native title | 그냥 사랑하는 사이 (Just Between Lovers); international title Rain or Shine[1](https://noseinabook.co.uk/2025/06/08/k-drama-review-just-between-lovers/) |
| Network and run | JTBC Monday-Tuesday drama; first broadcast December 11, 2017 at 11 pm; ended January 30, 2018[5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IQ_OPjO8jE) • [2](https://tv.jtbc.co.kr/rainshine) |
| Episodes | 16, rated PG-13[6](https://www.viki.com/tv/35617c-just-between-lovers?locale=ko) |
| Production | Written by Yoo Bo-ra; directed by Kim Jin-won[3](https://www.starnewskorea.com/broadcast-drama/2017/09/01/2017090112004908536) |
| Main cast | Lee Jun-ho (Lee Kang-doo), Won Jin-ah (Ha Moon-soo), Lee Ki-woo, Kang Han-na, Na Moon-hee[4](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20171207165659283) |
| Premise | Survivors of a mall collapse meet ten years later; the disaster is loosely based on the 1995 Sampoong Department Store collapse[1](https://noseinabook.co.uk/2025/06/08/k-drama-review-just-between-lovers/) |
| Setting | Busan[4](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20171207165659283) |
## Premise and background
The story begins when a boy and a girl cross paths in a shopping mall at the moment it collapses.[7](https://www.senscritique.com/serie/rain_or_shine/28039382/critiques) In the drama, the collapse of the fictional S-Mall kills 48 people, and the plot picks up ten years later with two of the survivors: Lee Kang-doo (Lee Jun-ho), who was badly injured and still lives with physical pain and nightmares of being trapped in the rubble, working in temporary construction jobs, and Ha Moon-soo (Won Jin-ah), an architectural model maker who hides her wounds while dreaming of an ordinary life.[1](https://noseinabook.co.uk/2025/06/08/k-drama-review-just-between-lovers/) • [4](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20171207165659283) Both lost a family member in the disaster.[1](https://noseinabook.co.uk/2025/06/08/k-drama-review-just-between-lovers/)
The premise is loosely based on a real event, the 1995 collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, in which 502 people were killed and 937 injured.[1](https://noseinabook.co.uk/2025/06/08/k-drama-review-just-between-lovers/) The early episodes also touch on fighting corruption in construction, before the story settles into the relationship between the leads.[8](https://gubongee.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/kdrama-review-just-between-lovers/) JTBC described the series as an emotional melodrama about two people who miraculously survived a life-shaking accident and comfort each other's wounds, and about people who endure and quietly live their daily lives as if nothing happened; the network's stated message was that people who seem unremarkable are great.[4](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20171207165659283) • [3](https://www.starnewskorea.com/broadcast-drama/2017/09/01/2017090112004908536)
## Production and broadcast
The series was JTBC's Monday-Tuesday drama, a slot the network revived with this show after three years.[9](https://v.daum.net/v/oCF6sJLI7O) It premiered on December 11, 2017 at 11 pm and ran for 16 episodes, ending on January 30, 2018.[5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IQ_OPjO8jE) • [2](https://tv.jtbc.co.kr/rainshine) [Kang Han-na](https://www.edgepedia.org/kang-han-na) was cast as Jung Yoo-jin, a charismatic and cool architect, in what was her first leading role in a drama; she had debuted in the 2009 film *The Last Road Home* and built her career through films such as *Rollercoaster* (2013), *The Con Artists* (2013), and *The Pure Age* (2015).[3](https://www.starnewskorea.com/broadcast-drama/2017/09/01/2017090112004908536) A production press conference was held in Seoul in December 2017 with Lee Jun-ho, Won Jin-ah, Lee Ki-woo, Kang Han-na, Na Moon-hee, and director Kim Jin-won in attendance.[4](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20171207165659283)
An original soundtrack album was released under the title *Rain or Shine Original Soundtrack*, associated with 2PM's Junho.[10](https://mercari.bunjang.co.kr/products/435191013) A 12-disc premium DVD edition was later released with about 1,882 minutes of content, including the 16 main episodes, commentaries, making-of footage, a script reading, deleted scenes, and NG cuts.[11](https://www.yes24.com/Product/Goods/112641893)
## Reception
On the streaming platform Rakuten Viki, the series holds a 9.5 rating from 77,160 user ratings and is classified as an idol drama, melodrama, and drama, with subtitles in English, Korean, German, and 36 other languages.[6](https://www.viki.com/tv/35617c-just-between-lovers?locale=ko) Reviewers have praised the writing: the subtitledreams review called the dialogue full of lines worthy of quoting, and TheKMeal noted how well the show displays its leads navigating their pain and desires.[12](https://subtitledreams.com/2018/02/06/review-just-between-lovers/) • [13](https://thekmeal.com/review-just-between-lovers/) One reviewer described the male lead literally taking a job on a fishing boat to put an ocean between himself and the woman he loves when the relationship becomes too frightening, an example of the push-and-pull dynamic several critics noted.[12](https://subtitledreams.com/2018/02/06/review-just-between-lovers/) • [8](https://gubongee.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/kdrama-review-just-between-lovers/)
Critics have also placed the show against the genre's conventions. Tay Kay Chin wrote that Rain or Shine is not the typical sappy Korean melodrama.[14](https://www.taykaychin.com/2021/12/21/b-rain-or-shine/) The gubongee review found the middle stretch, which moves through a love triangle and a medical storyline, uneven in places, but judged the ending satisfying and enjoyed seeing how the opening disaster affected many different people in different ways.[8](https://gubongee.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/kdrama-review-just-between-lovers/) In a 2018 interview after the finale, Lee Jun-ho said the series had given him a foundation to focus on expressing the work itself rather than ratings.[9](https://v.daum.net/v/oCF6sJLI7O)
## Legacy and analysis
The drama has been the subject of academic analysis of how television narrates disaster. A paper in *Korean Studies* (Inha University Institute of Korean Studies) analyzed the way the series frames remembering a disaster, connecting its narrative of building a new memorial and giving each of the dead a name and a story to the possibility of extending relationality through engagement with others' lives.[15](https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE11682269)
The series has had a long afterlife with international audiences. In 2025, a Korean YouTube retrospective of the first six episodes described the drama as undergoing a winter-sensibility resurgence and reaching first place on Netflix.[16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCS2eG8N728) It was also one of several Korean works, alongside 2003's *Snowman*, 2008's *Perhaps Love*, and the 2006 film *Traces of Love*, to examine the aftermath of a shopping mall collapse, with a more deliberate and in-depth focus on the long-term emotional impact on survivors.[17](https://www.kdramalove.com/JustBetweenLovers.html)
## References
1. [K-drama review: Just Between Lovers, Nose in a Book (June 8, 2025)](https://noseinabook.co.uk/2025/06/08/k-drama-review-just-between-lovers/)
2. [그냥 사랑하는 사이, JTBC official program page](https://tv.jtbc.co.kr/rainshine)
3. [강한나 '그냥 사랑하는 사이' 캐스팅..드라마 첫 주연, Starnews (September 1, 2017)](https://www.starnewskorea.com/broadcast-drama/2017/09/01/2017090112004908536)
4. [JTBC '그냥 사랑하는 사이' 제작발표회, 아주경제 (December 7, 2017)](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20171207165659283)
5. [[메이킹] '그냥 사랑하는 사이' 대본리딩 현장, JTBC Drama (YouTube, November 26, 2017)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IQ_OPjO8jE)
6. [그냥 사랑하는 사이, Rakuten Viki](https://www.viki.com/tv/35617c-just-between-lovers?locale=ko)
7. [Avis sur Rain or Shine (2017), SensCritique](https://www.senscritique.com/serie/rain_or_shine/28039382/critiques)
8. [Kdrama Review: Just Between Lovers, Gubongee Lost in Thought (February 6, 2019)](https://gubongee.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/kdrama-review-just-between-lovers/)
9. ["그 사이" 이준호 인터뷰, 서울경제 via Daum (February 9, 2018)](https://v.daum.net/v/oCF6sJLI7O)
10. [OST 한국 드라마 그냥 사랑하는 사이 오리지널 사운드트랙, Mercari x 번개장터](https://mercari.bunjang.co.kr/products/435191013)
11. [그냥 사랑하는 사이 12-Disc Premium DVD, Yes24](https://www.yes24.com/Product/Goods/112641893)
12. [Review – Just Between Lovers / Rain or Shine, subtitledreams (February 6, 2018)](https://subtitledreams.com/2018/02/06/review-just-between-lovers/)
13. [[Review] Just Between Lovers, TheKMeal](https://thekmeal.com/review-just-between-lovers/)
14. [Rain Or Shine – Tay Kay Chin (December 21, 2021)](https://www.taykaychin.com/2021/12/21/b-rain-or-shine/)
15. [재난을 이야기하는 어떤 방법 - 드라마 <그냥 사랑하는 사이>를 중심으로, 한국학연구 제55호, DBpia](https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE11682269)
16. [그냥 사랑하는 사이 1~6화 몰아보기, Singinu.Seol (YouTube, 2025)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCS2eG8N728)
17. [Just Between Lovers - aka Rain or Shine - Korean Drama Review, kdramalove.com](https://www.kdramalove.com/JustBetweenLovers.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Korean contemporary drama › Romance and melodrama series › Romance melodrama miniseries › Tearjerker melodrama series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 20, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 19, 2026; Sep 20, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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