3 Morally Grey Female Characters In K-Dramas Who Are Purely Iconic

You all must have heard about grey male leads and swooned over them several times but let's talk about female grey characters. Because they are iconic!

Aisha Adnan, Staff Writer
5 min to read · Published : Jan 26, 2023 · Updated : Feb 17, 2023

3 Morally Grey Female Characters In K-Dramas Who Are Purely Iconic

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Morally grey male leads have been always popular in the K-Drama world. They are dark yet heroic, a complete swoon worthy meal. Their methods aren't always right, may have a blaring red flag wailing over their head and their cold mannerism will make you shiver. But like a dark knight on a shinning horse, they save the day. If not, they helplessly fall head over heels for this one person and wish to change.

Whilst we can name many male leads that fall in the category, such female leads are hard to find. And when they appear. It's iconic!

Female leads in K-Dramas are often angels with a bright personality and often selfless. They guide the male leads to the right path or become the reason for their change. But what happens when the roles are switched? When she is no longer the sunshine to make your days brighter. In fact, she is cold and perhaps even selfish, nonetheless, she still has humanity intact with her. They are often warriors, who wouldn't hesitate to put you down. Viewers experience their character development, hence, these characters appear are more realistic and are appreciated by the fans.

Here are 3 morally grey female characters that are purely iconic.

This article contains spoilers.

1. Ko MunYoung (Seo YeaJi) From "Its Okay To Not Be Okay"

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Seo YaeJi created an uproar with MunYoung. Fans acclaimed it to be one of her best characters and she really proved herself with it.

MunYoung was bold, dark and oh so gorgeous. Her charisma was truly unmatched and she quickly took many fans in her grasp. MunYoung was an infamous author who wriote tales for children. Unlike one could imagine, she was not someone bright nor loved children a lot. In fact, when a young fan approaches her, she left with tears in her eyes. She preferred herself to be a witch rather than a princess.

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But deep inside, she just wished to be love.

MunYoung was extremely bold about her desires. Unlike in many K-Dramas. It is MunYoung who initially tried to pursue Moon KangTae (Kim SooHyun) . She grows possessive of him, because she was afraid of loosing him. Later, we see her character soften and she begins to show more affectionate and caring behavior.

2. Oh InJu (Kim GoEun) From "Little Women"

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"Little Women" tells the story of three sisters, InJoo (Kim GoEun), InHyuk (Nam JiHyun) and InHye (Park JiHu), who were raised in poverty. The three find themselves trampled in a situation where they have to fight against the most powerful family in South Korea.

The three sisters struggle to make their way into society. Oh InJu, being the eldest, felt it to be her responsibility to make her sister's lives better and with ignorant parents, she alone was left with the burden. Oh InJu was obsessed with money and believed it to be the solution to everything.

Now, one may mark this trait as negative but that is until you get to know about her past. She witnessed a younger sibling pass away because her family was poor. This remained as trauma to her and hence, she was ready to do anything when she gained the opportunity.

Her actions were, in fact, illegal. She readily took two billion and was willing to get her hands on the 70 billion in Singapore. All the money that was embezzled. But she still joined hands with a money launderer, Choi DoIl (Wi HaJun). At the same time, when she initially got the money, she was baffled. She couldn't get herself to properly use it because she knew it was wrong. Hence, we see many shades of Oh InJu and see her contemplate between her selfishness and good morals embedded within us.

This makes her perhaps the greyest character of all.

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3. Oh SooJae (Seo HyunJin) From "Why Her?"

"Why Her?" introduces Oh SooJae (Seo HyunJin), the youngest partner in TK Law Firm. She was known to win any case on her own hand, but was also heavily criticized. When SooJae got involved a huge scandal, she was demoted to become a professor at a law school.

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We truly see a drastic character development for Oh SooJae, someone who was so focused on success, soon realized that there is so much more in life. Oh SooJae was once an outcast when she began her career as an attorney, but soon the firm would tremble by her name. She even attained a seat as the firm's CEO. As she walked across the corridors, the employees bowed to her. As she walks with her chin high and an unmatched charisma, fans couldn't help but root for her. A true girl boss.

But she did not achieve all that so easily. SooJae had to get her hands dirty. For example, when her secret ex-boyfriend and an assembly man, Ahn KangWon (Lee TaeSung) was accused of rape. SooJae took the side of the powerful and shut the victim's mouth.

Later, we see more of her as an affectionate person, especially as a mother. Even as a professor, she fights for her student who was harassed by her with a professor.

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Grey characters are going more popular in K-Dramas nowadays which make them more realistic and fans appreciate them more. Which character is your favorite?