Extracurricular

Oh Ji-soo is a top student who wants a different future than the one his circumstances seem to offer. When college costs and a bleak hometown push him past safe choices, he starts running a secret business that drags classmates and strangers into increasingly dangerous territory. As alliances form and loyalties shift, the series watches how careful plans unravel under pressure, with each character trying to keep control while consequences pile up. The story stays close to the characters' choices and moral cost, avoiding neat resolutions and keeping surprises for viewers.

Released on Netflix in 2020, Extracurricular was created by Gin Han-sai and Kim Jin-min. The show features Kim Dong-hee, Park Ju-hyun, Jung Da-bin, Nam Yoon-su, and Kim Yeo-jin, and its brisk pacing and glossy production marked a clear entry in contemporary Korean crime drama.

It didn’t claim major international awards, but the series did elevate its cast, especially Kim Dong-hee, and drew steady attention from critics and audiences in South Korea. The show's profile helped several young actors secure more prominent projects after its run.

The series prompted a lot of online discussion about youth, class pressure, and the lengths people will go to change their prospects. Certain episodes and plot developments were widely talked about on social media, and the show got attention for how it mixed school-life details with darker criminal elements. Viewers compared it to other Korean thrillers that explore moral ambiguity and social strain.

Critical and audience response leaned positive, reflected in an 8.1/10 average from 672 votes. Reviewers tended to praise the performances, especially the younger leads, and the way the show examines choices under economic strain. The tone is tense and frequently uncomfortable, emphasizing consequence over neat morality, and it often highlights how ordinary settings can mask dangerous systems. Overall, Extracurricular works as a character-driven crime drama that focuses on the fallout of risky decisions more than on procedural puzzle-solving.