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| Loved Absolute Value of Romance? Here Are 12 More K-Dramas Packed With Youth, Comedy and Messy Feelings. (Credits: Coupang) |
The sudden popularity of Absolute Value of Romance (로맨스의 절대값) honestly proves one thing: viewers will never get tired of awkward school crushes, chaotic teenagers, ridiculously attractive teachers, and female leads making their own lives harder with questionable decisions. The drama mixed comedy, youth romance, web novel fantasy, and emotional coming-of-age moments in a way that felt unserious but weirdly addictive at the same time.
One minute viewers were laughing at Yeo Eui-ju turning her handsome teachers into fictional romance characters, and the next minute everyone was emotionally invested in her actual love life spiralling out of control. Naturally, audiences are now searching for dramas with the same school-setting tension, funny romance chaos, and “this should not work but somehow it does” energy.
Shows Like Absolute Value of Romance
True Beauty
If you enjoyed the awkward humour and secret-double-life concept in Absolute Value of Romance, then True Beauty is basically compulsory viewing.
The series follows a high school girl hiding behind makeup skills while trying to survive school drama, friendship issues, and complicated crushes. Like Yeo Eui-ju, the female lead constantly overthinks everything and accidentally creates even bigger disasters for herself.
The drama also balances comedy with emotional youth struggles surprisingly well. Plus, the male leads are so unrealistically attractive that viewers may start questioning whether Korean schools are secretly casting agencies.
Extraordinary You
This one takes the “fiction affecting reality” concept and pushes it into complete madness. Extraordinary You follows a student who discovers she is actually a side character inside a comic book. Suddenly, every interaction feels scripted and every romance becomes chaotic.
Fans who loved the web-novel imagination side of Absolute Value of Romance will absolutely understand the vibe here. It has the same playful humour, school setting, emotional confusion, and female lead desperately trying to rewrite her own story before things collapse around her.
School 2017
The messy school life atmosphere in Absolute Value of Romance feels very similar to School 2017. This drama focuses on students dealing with pressure, identity, romance, and endless misunderstandings inside a competitive high school environment.
The female lead is chaotic in the best possible way, constantly stumbling into trouble while trying to survive adolescence. There is also plenty of funny classroom tension and teacher-student interactions that feel awkward enough to make viewers pause the episode for emotional recovery.
A Love So Beautiful
Fans searching for innocent first-love energy mixed with embarrassing teenage behaviour should immediately add A Love So Beautiful to the watchlist.
The drama follows a cheerful girl openly crushing on her cold but brilliant neighbour throughout their school years. Like Absolute Value of Romance, it captures that painful but funny phase where teenagers think every tiny interaction is life-changing. Spoiler: it usually is for about three days.
Dream High
If the appeal of Absolute Value of Romance came from ambitious students chasing creative dreams while navigating romance chaos, then Dream High delivers similar energy. Set in an arts school, the series mixes youth friendship, awkward romance, rivalry, and personal growth.
The characters constantly bounce between hilarious confidence and complete emotional breakdowns, which honestly feels accurate for teenagers trying to figure themselves out.
My ID is Gangnam Beauty
This drama shares the same balance of comedy and emotional insecurity that made Absolute Value of Romance work so well.
My ID is Gangnam Beauty explores beauty standards, identity struggles, and awkward university romance through a female lead who wants a fresh start but quickly realises life remains messy regardless. Fans who liked the relatable inner thoughts and social awkwardness of Yeo Eui-ju will probably connect with this one instantly.
Reply 1997
The nostalgic youth storytelling in Reply 1997 gives a similar emotional feeling despite having a slightly different tone. The drama focuses on friendship, teenage crushes, growing up, and fandom culture during the late 1990s.
Like Absolute Value of Romance, it captures how teenagers often create dramatic fantasy versions of their own lives. Sometimes those fantasies become romance. Sometimes they become public embarrassment that follows you forever.
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo
This drama has one of the most lovable youth romance dynamics in Korean drama history. The comedy feels natural, the friendships are chaotic in a realistic way, and the romance develops slowly without becoming exhausting.
Fans who enjoyed the light-hearted awkwardness and emotional sincerity of Absolute Value of Romance will probably fall for this immediately. Also, the male lead spends most of the series acting like an overexcited golden retriever pretending to be cool.
Love Alarm
For viewers interested in romance mixed with unusual concepts, Love Alarm offers similar emotional confusion. Instead of web novels creating problems, this drama uses an app that reveals romantic feelings nearby.
Naturally, absolutely everyone becomes emotionally unstable. Like Absolute Value of Romance, the story explores secret crushes, teenage insecurities, friendship complications, and how young people often struggle separating fantasy from reality.
Moment at Eighteen
This series leans slightly more emotional but still carries the same coming-of-age atmosphere that viewers loved in Absolute Value of Romance. The story follows lonely students trying to survive school pressure while learning how relationships actually work.
The romance feels soft and realistic, while the emotional growth hits harder than expected. Fans who liked the deeper youth-drama side hidden underneath the comedy will appreciate this one.
Cheer Up
School clubs, romantic chaos, misunderstandings, friendship drama, and students behaving dramatically over situations that could be solved with one honest conversation — yes, Cheer Up absolutely belongs here.
The female lead has the same lovable disaster energy as Yeo Eui-ju, and the series balances comedy with emotional youth themes very effectively. It also understands that teenagers somehow manage to turn every school event into a life-or-death emotional crisis.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
This may seem like a slightly different choice at first, but viewers who loved the quirky storytelling style and lovable female lead in Absolute Value of Romance will probably enjoy this too.
While the setting shifts away from school life, the drama still focuses heavily on personal growth, awkward interactions, heartfelt relationships, and a female lead navigating a complicated world in her own unique way. The humour feels warm rather than forced, which is surprisingly rare nowadays.
Online reactions to dramas similar to Absolute Value of Romance have been incredibly varied. Some viewers admitted they started watching for the attractive teachers and stayed for the emotional storytelling. Others joked that Korean dramas continue making school life look far more exciting than reality ever was.
Meanwhile, many fans praised the growing trend of female leads who are awkward, imaginative, and slightly chaotic instead of unrealistically perfect. Across social platforms, viewers have also been debating which drama delivers the strongest “secret crush” tension, with True Beauty, Extraordinary You, and Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo constantly appearing in discussions.
At the end of the day, what made Absolute Value of Romance stand out was not just the romance itself, but the complete chaos surrounding it. It understood teenage imagination perfectly — how one tiny interaction can suddenly become a full fantasy storyline inside someone’s head.
And honestly, that level of second-hand embarrassment mixed with emotional sincerity is exactly why viewers cannot stop watching these dramas. Which one on this list gave you the biggest emotional damage or the strongest butterflies? Fans are already arguing over the best pick, so the debate is definitely open.