10 Overlooked Manhwa Netflix Needs to Turn Into K-Dramas Next

More often than not, the secret behind these viral hits is manhwa. Streaming giants like Netflix have completely mastered the webtoon-to-K-drama pipeline, turning manhwa like Bloodhounds and What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? into massive hit adaptations. But even with this growing trend, studios are still overlooking some of the best-written manhwa.

10 The Nuna at Our Office

Forget about those sweet, idealized rom-coms. The Nuna at Our Office is loved for this authentic romance, largely because it is based on the author’s real-life experiences.

The Nuna at Our Office follows Manager Son as he transfers to a new division and promptly develops feelings for his coworker, Manager Ahn, a genius and fiercely independent divorced single mom. What begins as a quiet workplace crush soon spirals into a complicated relationship, burdened by heavy societal pressures.

The manhwa showcases the harsh reality of dating in a world where people constantly judge, capturing the same vibe seen in the hits like My Mister or Something in the Rain. A live-action version would offer the audience a mature slice-of-life drama with a realistically painful portrayal of adult relationships.

9 My Boss's Special Request

My Boss's Special Request is basically what would happen if Business Proposal were to swap its gender roles and combine with the fake marriage shenanigans of No Gain No Love. The plot centers around Soohyeon, who is miserable working as a secretary to the unjustly cruel female CEO known as "Satan."

Just as he is about to leave his job for good, she makes him an offer he cannot refuse: marry her for a year in exchange for enough wealth to change his life forever.

Netflix is already dominating the rom-com genre, and viewers love the classic contract-marriage trope. This manhwa turns that traditional trope on its head, giving viewers a laugh-out-loud role reversal that gradually builds into a healthy relationship.

8 Designated Bully

Forget the traditional underdog tale. Designated Bully gives viewers an overpowered protagonist from the very beginning who fights the worst bullies imaginable. The story revolves around Daegun Kwon, a high school dropout, who receives an unexpected offer from a mysterious educational organization. His task? Infiltrate the school as a normal student and utterly destroy the bullying gangs from within.

Viewers of the popular K-drama Taxi Driver or Viral Hit fans understand just how satisfying it is to see a skilled fighter finish off some strong, arrogant villains. This manhwa takes this same energy of vigilantism and drops it right into a high school environment. Seeing Daegun effortlessly take down cocky bullies with WWE moves is just pure entertainment.

7 Your Eternal Lies

Your Eternal Lies carries the same nail-biting suspense as the hit K-drama, Flower of Evil. It follows a story that unfolds entirely on a ship, where the protagonist, Rosen Walker, a convicted murderer turned notorious escape artist, is being transported to a maximum-security island.

Her warden for the trip is Ian Connor, a strictly disciplined war hero. This quickly turns the whole journey into an intense game of cat and mouse. Rosen uses every single trick in the book to plan her escape, while Ian constantly tries to stay one step ahead of her by seeing right through her complex web of lies.

This is far from a standard, light-hearted romance. Instead, it delivers two very flawed characters trying to outplay each other at every turn. A live-action version would definitely thrive in that environment.

6 Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story

Standing apart from standard reincarnation tropes, Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story delivers that same well-written meta-narrative rebellion seen in Extraordinary You. The story follows Edith, a girl who suddenly wakes up inside a romance novel as the doomed villainess.

She assumes she can simply act kind and survive her arranged marriage to Killian, the male lead's notoriously cold brother. But there is a brutal catch: the novel’s narrative actively forces the world to see her as evil, brainwashing the other characters to twist all of her good deeds into malicious schemes.

Edith isn't just dealing with toxic in-laws here; she is literally fighting the author of her own universe. Viewers absolutely love an underdog who refuses to surrender when the entire universe is stacked against them, making this an excellent pick for a live-action adaptation.

5 Parallel City

Parallel City features a similar alternate reality concept to The King: Eternal Monarch, but swaps the romance for gritty urban survival. Following Min, whose life turns upside down when his missing friend suddenly reappears. But something feels odd about him, almost as if he is a completely different person.

He soon discovers that his whole world has been overrun by doppelgängers from a parallel dimension who are hunting down their lookalikes to steal their lives. The harsh truth of this new reality is: when two doubles cross paths, only one survives.

Instead of the typical K-drama fights, the narrative relies on well-choreographed parkour chases through the cramped streets of the city, maintaining an ever-present sense of paranoia. Seeing a teenager survive solely on his acrobatic parkour to evade attackers who look just like the people he once knew is just the perfect setup for a live-action thriller.

4 Maybe Meant to Be

Maybe Meant to Be follows Jia Han, a thirty-two-year-old freelancer who is fed up with her parents constantly pestering her to marry. Luckily for her, she meets her childhood friend, Mincheol, who is going through the same family pressure.

Spotting an opportunity to escape this situation, the two agree to marry each other on a contract basis to get their families off their backs. Maybe Meant to Be perfectly captures the development of their relationship from just living and spending time together. The contract marriage plot resembles Because This Is My First Life, but with much more comedic chaos.

Netflix viewers have always loved these contract marriage plotlines, especially when the fake-married couple accidentally falls in love. It's a funny and realistic portrayal of adulthood that would instantly win over viewers as a live-action series.

3 Operation True Love

Fans of Love Alarm are going to love Operation True Love for its similar love triangle story. The story follows Su-ae Shim, who finds herself in a frustrating one-sided relationship until she discovers Jellypop: a magical flip phone that tells her she has absolutely zero “love points” and is slated for eradication.

To change her fate, Su-ae finds herself caught up in a swoon-worthy love triangle between two vastly different boys: the moody Eunhyeok and the gorgeous Dohwa. Considering how well Netflix is at producing unique teen dramas, a live-action adaptation of this story would absolutely be a guaranteed huge success.

2 Teenage Mercenary

Teenage Mercenary completely nails that John Wick energy with its raw hand-to-hand combat. Yu Ijin, a former child mercenary who thought he had left his old life behind, returns to the business after his sister becomes the target of vicious high school bullies.

Ijin quickly realizes that dealing with the corrupt hierarchy of his new high school is going to require his ruthless, elite military skills. Teenage Mercenary has already been greenlit for an anime adaptation in June 2025.

For K-drama fans, think of Teenage Mercenary as the perfect mix of Weak Hero and the fast-paced, ex-military spy action of The K2. Netflix has already perfected this genre of Korean thrillers, and this manhwa is practically begging for that exact live-action treatment.

1 Eleceed

Eleceed follows Jiwoo, a sweet, cat-loving teenager secretly harboring lightning-fast reflexes. But his ordinary life ends when he rescues a chubby orange street cat, who actually turns out to be Kayden: a legendary, arrogant superhuman on the run. Forced to team up, Kayden ends up mentoring Jiwoo so they can both survive a secret society of superpowered fighters.

A live-action Netflix adaptation of this story would be a massive blockbuster, but making it happen really depends on how well the Solo Leveling live-action series does. If that series performs well, the streaming giant will absolutely double down on the genre and greenlight more of these high-budget, VFX-heavy webtoon adaptations.