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.
Matsumura Ryouko is a popular novelist in her 50s who has just found out that she has Alzheimer’s disease. In order to gain some fulfilment in her life, she decides to be a guest lecturer at a university. Through one of her students, she meets a South Korean exchange student, So Chan Hae. As they become closer, they fall in love.
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.
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
On a spring day Munakata Ikujou visited an old temple to view a 1000 years old sakura tree. There Ikujou discovered a 3-year-old girl and adopted her as his own daughter. 16 years later, Sakurako has grown up to become a beautiful woman. Sakurako then has a fateful meeting with Takanashi Hiroto. Their pure love begin.
When his boss, Dae Jung, goes missing in a ship accident, the company sends Woo Joo to Osaka to finish his business. On his last day in the city, Woo Joo chases someone looking exactly like Dae Jung to Taisho, an area in Osaka. He ends up losing him, but the sound of a guitar draws Woo Joo to a small bar, Pier 34. Its owner, Snow, somehow reminds him of Dae Jung, and listening to his music brings back memories. After passing out right there, Woo Joo ends up missing his flight back to Korea. He quits his job on a whim and soon meets Haruna, who is learning how to play the guitar from Snow. Woo Joo decides to stay at Pier 34 until he finds Dae Jung and so begins an unlikely vacation for him.
