A Glimpse into ‘What Comes After Love’: Sakaguchi Kentaro and Lee Se-young’s Upcoming K-Drama

What Comes After Love is an upcoming K-drama to air on Coupang Play on September 27. An adaptation of the iconic Korean-Japanese novel Things That Come After Love by Gong Ji-yeong and Hitonari Tsuji, it’s written and directed by Jung Hae-sim and Moon Hyun-sung.

In its title, What Comes After Love suggests nostalgia, strong sentimentality, emotional crises, heartbreak, and a failed romance, yet also suggests second chances, new beginnings, hope, and happiness, which we can glean from its teaser trailer.

Japanese actor Sakaguchi Kentaro and Korean actress Lee Se-young play Jungo and Hong, with fate playing an essential role in this romance melodrama. Hong—who was once studying in Japan—chances upon Jungo for the second time, but this time in Korea five years after they parted ways.

In the preview clip, Jungo spots Hong after ages in Korea; her glimpse ships him back to the memories of the day that he saw her in Japan and they fell in love. His voiceover says until this point in time, he never believed in fate or miracles for the reason “they always seemed to me just different words for coincidences,” but now that she’s standing in front of him after all, it’s “like a miracle,” the scene closes as he and Hong exchange glances.

The unexpected reunion between the two ex-lovers and wistful recollections are central to the draw of What Comes After Love. The narration conveys clearly that Jungo’s sentiment is reminiscent of what characterizes his and Hong’s past—possibly it must have been an uphill journey for them. The thoughts of how things were, in tandem with the hope of how things can be—that they can [again] fall back in love and be with each other—make for an engaging narrative.

Sakaguchi, famed for his dramas like Tokyo Tarareba Musume (2017), and Signal (2018), and films such as The 100th Love with You (2017) and Color Me True (2018), while Lee, credited for her roles in The Crowned Clown (2019), The Red Sleeve (2021), The Law Cafe (2022), and The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract (2023), make for an attractive on-screen pair, reintroducing their distinct charm and acting genius to What Comes After Love.

Seemingly a mellow, sensitive, and poignant one; its blissful days are outrun by the harsh realities of the world as Jungo and Hong find themselves amid its strong grip—cultural differences mostly, I think—that threaten to tear them apart. That and the weight of societal pressures, familial obligations, and emotional conflicts catalyze a breakup, knowing they might never cross paths again.

Personally, I’m a fan of serendipitous encounters in a story, so that’s a bonus for me in What Comes After Love. Fate, that elusive and enigmatic energy, often weaves intricate aspects of love and loss, intertwining the lives of individuals in ways that may defy the boundaries of time and space, as we see here in this story of Jungo and Hong who met in the serene landscapes of Japan, only to be torn apart by the cruel whims of circumstances, but thanks to fate, “a miracle” in Jungo’s words, that they meet once more in the hustle and bustle of Korea.