# Stranger (비밀의 숲) (TV series)
**Stranger** (비밀의 숲; also known in English as *Secret Forest* or *Forest of Secrets*) is a South Korean legal thriller television series broadcast on the cable network tvN from June 10 to July 30, 2017, in 16 episodes[1](https://tvn.cjenm.com/ko/stranger/) • [2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more). It follows prosecutor Hwang Si-mok, who lost the ability to feel emotions after brain surgery as a teenager, and police lieutenant Han Yeo-jin as they investigate a murder that exposes corruption inside the prosecution service and the political world around it[3](https://www.netflix.com/title/80187302). A second season of 16 episodes aired from August 15 to October 4, 2020[4](https://annyeongkpop.com/stranger/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Korean title | 비밀의 숲 (*Bimilui Soop*, literally "Secret Forest"); previously known as *Forest of Secrets*[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more) • [5](https://seore.org/w/%EB%B9%84%EB%B0%80%EC%9D%98%20%EC%88%B2?from=%EB%B9%84%EB%B0%80%EC%9D%98%EC%88%B2) |
| Network and run | tvN, June 10 to July 30, 2017, 16 episodes[1](https://tvn.cjenm.com/ko/stranger/) • [2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more) |
| Leads | Cho Seung-woo as prosecutor Hwang Si-mok; Bae Doona as detective Han Yeo-jin[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more) • [3](https://www.netflix.com/title/80187302) |
| Writer and directors | Written by first-time screenwriter Lee Soo-yeon; Netflix lists Lee Su-yeon, Park Hyeon-seok, and An Gil-ho as creators[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more) • [3](https://www.netflix.com/title/80187302) |
| Global release | Netflix secured exclusive global rights for release to 190 nations while the series aired in Korea in 2017[6](https://dez1irdmysogu.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/03/Invest-KOREA-Magazine_March.pdf) |
| Domestic ratings | Peak viewership rating of 6.6 percent, which did not make it a ratings hit in Korea[7](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002375661) |
| Recognition | Selected in the New York Times international TV drama TOP 10 for 2017[7](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002375661) |
| Season 2 | 16 episodes, broadcast August 15 to October 4, 2020[4](https://annyeongkpop.com/stranger/) |
## Premise and characters
Season 1 begins with the death of a businessman who had bribed prosecutors[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more). Hwang Si-mok, a prosecutor in his thirties assigned to the Western District Prosecutors' Office, had surgery as a teenager for an abnormally developed brain, and the procedure left him without the ability to feel emotions[3](https://www.netflix.com/title/80187302) • [1](https://tvn.cjenm.com/ko/stranger/). The official tvN description frames the show as a pursuit of hidden truth inside institutions, in which the emotionally numb prosecutor works with the righteous and warm detective Han Yeo-jin of the Yongsan police station to dig into a murder tied to a prosecutor's corrupt sponsorship and what lies behind it[1](https://tvn.cjenm.com/ko/stranger/).
**A prosecutor without desire.** The writer has said she derived the character of Hwang from the phrase "We cannot rule those who want nothing"[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more). The Korea Times quotes the culture critic Ha Jae-geun's explanation of the design: officials higher up can buy elites who want money with money and lure those who want power with power, but there is no way to lure a person with no desires, and a person with no emotions fears nothing and is free from threats, making Hwang an ideal prosecutor[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more). Ha called Hwang "a fantasy that was borne out of a time of distrust"[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more).
The season concentrates on a single major case rather than the smaller dramatic incidents common in previous crime thrillers, and it contains no romantic subplot at all[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more). Each of the 16 episodes unravels a new layer tied to the original case, with suspects among chaebol (Korean family-owned business conglomerates, often tied to government corruption) families, prosecutors, and police[8](https://www.jaehakim.com/2020/09/stranger-season-1/). In the final episode it is revealed that Chief Prosecutor Lee Chang-jun, played by Yoo Jae-myung, designed the "forest of secrets" himself, disgracing himself deliberately to prove the corrupt deeds he had witnessed and heard about, and he leaves a bag of documents to Hwang before jumping to his death[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more).
## Production and global distribution
Netflix supported the production with funding of 200,000 dollars per episode, a total of 3.6 billion won, and took on an unknown writer's original work as her first full-length drama[7](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002375661). While the series aired domestically in 2017, Netflix secured exclusive global rights for release to 190 nations[6](https://dez1irdmysogu.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/03/Invest-KOREA-Magazine_March.pdf). [Studio Dragon](https://www.edgepedia.org/studio-dragon)'s corporate history lists the June 2017 simultaneous release through Netflix as a milestone[9](https://studiodragon.irplus.co.kr/common/sustainabilitydownload/250619_Studio_Dragon_Corporation_Sustainability_Report_Korean.pdf).
## Reception
Domestic viewership stayed modest, with a peak rating of 6.6 percent, partly because the storyline was not easy for new viewers to follow[7](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002375661) • [2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more). Critics nevertheless placed it in a league of its own: the Korea Times reported that critics and fans called it the consummate genre drama[2](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more), and its selection in the New York Times international TV drama TOP 10 of 2017 brought recognition abroad[7](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002375661). An academic analysis in the journal *Daejung Seosa Yeongu* (Mass Narrative Research) describes it as a crime fiction that combines criticism and entertainment, wrapping a social drama exposing contemporary Korean corruption in the outer shell of a mystery, and reads the sealed-off prosecution service depicted in the series as a metaphor for a corrupted Korean society[7](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002375661).
## Season 2
Season 2, titled *Stranger 2* (Secret Forest 2), arrived three years after the first and consists of 16 episodes broadcast from August 15 to October 4, 2020[4](https://annyeongkpop.com/stranger/) • [10](https://www.koreanquarterly.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Vol24_Fall_2020_drama1.pdf). It begins about two years after the first season, with Hwang Si-mok dispatched to a remote prosecutorial district under a relocation policy meant to prevent prosecutors from getting too close to cases[10](https://www.koreanquarterly.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Vol24_Fall_2020_drama1.pdf). Where season 1 examined the relationship between big business, prosecutors, and other centers of power, season 2 shifts to the struggle over investigative authority between prosecutors and police, with the two institutions on opposing sides[11](https://koreacoreinfo.com/korean-drama-stranger-explained/) • [3](https://www.netflix.com/title/80187302). Reviewers noted that its plot had strong ties to actual, recent events in South Korea, with familiar news events disguised within the story[10](https://www.koreanquarterly.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Vol24_Fall_2020_drama1.pdf). The two seasons differ in rhythm as well: the developing murder investigation drives most of season 1's movement, while in season 2 negotiation and investigation repeatedly interrupt each other, and the central question becomes what happens when case work becomes institutional leverage[12](https://annyeongkpop.com/stranger-2/).
A spin-off centered on the prosecutor Seo Dong-jae was later developed, though no third season had been officially announced as of the sources' publication[13](https://www.a-ha.io/questions/4c5803653b102693b44f7494c9b39425).
## Writer's note on the title
The writer's intended original title was 《Stranger: 스트레인저》 rather than the literal "Secret Forest" now attached to the Korean title[5](https://seore.org/w/%EB%B9%84%EB%B0%80%EC%9D%98%20%EC%88%B2?from=%EB%B9%84%EB%B0%80%EC%9D%98%EC%88%B2).
## References
1. [비밀의 숲 | tvN, CJ ENM](https://tvn.cjenm.com/ko/stranger/)
2. [Park Jin-hai, "'Stranger' ends leaving viewers wanting more", The Korea Times, August 9, 2017](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/entertainment/shows-dramas/20170809/stranger-ends-leaving-viewers-wanting-more)
3. [Stranger, Netflix official site](https://www.netflix.com/title/80187302)
4. ["Stranger (Secret Forest) Explained: The Definitive K-Drama Deep Dive", annyeongkpop.com](https://annyeongkpop.com/stranger/)
5. [비밀의 숲, seore.org wiki](https://seore.org/w/%EB%B9%84%EB%B0%80%EC%9D%98%20%EC%88%B2?from=%EB%B9%84%EB%B0%80%EC%9D%98%EC%88%B2)
6. [Kim Samuel, "To Higher Heights", KOREA (August 2020), Korean Culture and Information Service](https://dez1irdmysogu.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/03/Invest-KOREA-Magazine_March.pdf)
7. [Lee Jeong-ok, "부패사회를 해복하는 도덕이성과 정의구현이라는 환상: TV드라마 <비밀의 숲>을 중심으로", 대중서사연구 제24권 3호 (2018)](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002375661)
8. [Jae-Ha Kim, ""Stranger" (비밀의 숲): Season 1", September 21, 2020](https://www.jaehakim.com/2020/09/stranger-season-1/)
9. [Studio Dragon Corporation Sustainability Report (Korean)](https://studiodragon.irplus.co.kr/common/sustainabilitydownload/250619_Studio_Dragon_Corporation_Sustainability_Report_Korean.pdf)
10. [Korean Quarterly, Vol. 24, Fall 2020, Drama Review section](https://www.koreanquarterly.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Vol24_Fall_2020_drama1.pdf)
11. [SoYoun Lim, "Stranger K-Drama Explained: Prosecution, Power, and Seo Dong-jae", koreacoreinfo.com](https://koreacoreinfo.com/korean-drama-stranger-explained/)
12. ["Stranger 2 (2020): Story, Institutional Conflict and Viewing Guide", annyeongkpop.com](https://annyeongkpop.com/stranger-2/)
13. [비밀의 숲을 재미있게 봤어요 시즌 3 계획은 없나요?, 아하 (a-ha.io)](https://www.a-ha.io/questions/4c5803653b102693b44f7494c9b39425)
---
*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 › Thriller, crime, and mystery series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license