General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Way Back Love (내가 죽기 일주일 전)

Way Back Love (내가 죽기 일주일 전, A Week Before I Die) is a 2025 South Korean fantasy romance streaming series in which a 24-year-old woman who has lost the will to live is told by her first love, returned as a grim reaper, that she has one week left to live. It is a TVING original adapted from Seo Eun-chae's 2018 novel of the same name, and it stars Kim Min-ha as Jung Hee-wan and Gong Myoung as Kim Ram-woo.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	TVING original series, 6 episodes, fantasy romance, about 47 minutes per episode¹^•³
Premiere	April 3, 2025 on TVING (CJ ENM's English page lists April 2, 2025)²^•¹
Source	Novel A Week Before I Die (내가 죽기 일주일 전) by Seo Eun-chae, published by Golden Bough in 2018⁴^•⁵
Leads	Kim Min-ha as Jung Hee-wan; Gong Myoung as Kim Ram-woo¹
Creative team	Creator Noh Deok; director Choi Ha-na; writers Song Hyeon-ju and Jang In-jung; produced by CJ ENM with Studio Mondo⁶
Recognition	2nd in TIME's 2025 list of the best K-dramas; Kim Min-ha won Best New Actress at the 2025 Blue Dragon Series Awards⁷^•⁸
Audience ratings	IMDb 8.1/10 from 961 users; Rakuten Viki 9.4⁹^•¹⁰

Spoilers

Premise

The story begins with an April Fools' prank. In their second year of high school, classmates pair up to swap names to trick a student teacher, and the mischievous Hee-wan keeps using the name Ram-woo, so the two end up being called by each other's names at school. They become inseparable friends, and each hides a growing first love behind the mask of friendship.¹^•²

Ram-woo dies suddenly, and Hee-wan, blaming herself, withdraws into guilt and isolation, living like a recluse with no will to carry on.²¹ Then Ram-woo appears at her door, unchanged from his school days, and announces that he has become a grim reaper invisible to everyone else. His message is precise: "You will die in a week. You will die 176 hours, 12 minutes and 35 seconds from now."²

The two spend Hee-wan's final week together, filling out a bucket list so that she has something memorable to take with her. The series alternates between bright, comedic high school flashbacks and the darker present, and through supporting characters, including Ram-woo's best friend Hong-suk, Ram-woo's mother, and Hee-wan's university friend Yeong-hyun, it shows how differently people carry grief.¹¹ The drama opens in a comic register and shifts toward more realistic emotions, examining the guilt, resentment, and emptiness that follow losing a loved one.²

Production and cast

The series was developed by creator Noh Deok, directed by Choi Ha-na, and written by Song Hyeon-ju and Jang In-jung, with CJ ENM planning the project and producing it with Studio Mondo for TVING.⁶ Song Hyeon-ju is an alumna of CJ ENM's O'PEN writer development program, which the company cites among the program's recent successes.¹²

Casting. Kim Min-ha, known internationally for Pachinko, plays Hee-wan, moving between the playful high schooler and the listless 24-year-old. Gong Myoung, whose credits include Extreme Job, returned to television drama after four years to play Ram-woo. The supporting cast includes Jeon Chae-eun as Hee-wan's younger sister Jung Hee-joo, along with Jung Gun-joo, Oh Woo-ri, Ko Chang-seok as Hee-wan's father, and Seo Young-hee as Ram-woo's mother.⁵^•²^•¹³^•¹⁴

The project was the first OTT series produced by CJ ENM's Film Business Division. Half of its episodes premiered in the "On Screen" section of the 2024 Busan International Film Festival before the television release.¹⁵

Release and reception

TVING released the six episodes in April 2025, with the final two episodes dated April 17.¹⁶ The series streams internationally with subtitles on platforms including Rakuten Viki and Viu.¹⁰^•¹⁷

Critical response. TIME placed the series second in its 2025 list of the ten best K-dramas, describing the story's core as the protagonist's gradual change from deep depression and panic into someone who believes healing is possible; the South China Morning Post also named it among its K-dramas of the year.⁷ The Review Geek gave the season 8.5/10, calling it "a beautifully written ode to grief" and singling out episode 4 as one of the strongest chapters; the same review noted that the short run of six episodes still carried substantial emotional weight.¹¹ The SCMP's review awarded 4/5 stars and praised the two leads' performances.¹⁸ Audience ratings were similarly strong: 8.1/10 on IMDb from 961 users and 9.4 on Rakuten Viki.⁹^•¹⁰

At the 2025 Blue Dragon Series Awards, which honor streaming content, Kim Min-ha won the Best New Actress award for her performance.⁸

Music

The soundtrack drew specific praise, with Kim Tae Rae's "If You" described as the series' anthem.¹¹ Two of the drama's original scores were produced through a collaboration between CJ ENM's O'PEN MUSIC program and the Jeju Music Creation Center, which paired six Jeju musicians with the CJ ENM OST score team; the music directors credited on the series include Kim Jung-ha and Choi In-young.¹⁹^•²⁰

References

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 › Fantasy, supernatural, and science fiction series › Premiered 2023 to 2027

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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