# The Innocent Man (South Korean TV series)

The Innocent Man (Korean: 세상 어디에도 없는 착한 남자; RR: Sesang Eodiedo Eomneun Chakan Namja; lit. The Nice Guy Never Seen Anywhere in the World) is a 2012 South Korean television series starring Song Joong-ki, Moon Chae-won, and Park Si-yeon. It is known on Netflix as Nice Guy.
It is a dark melodrama involving betrayal and romance. It aired on KBS2 for 20 episodes from September 12 to November 15, 2012.

## Synopsis

Smart and promising medical student Kang Ma-ru (Song Joong-ki) is deeply in love with his slightly older neighbor Han Jae-hee (Park Si-yeon), a television reporter. But when her situation takes a turn for the worse and Jae-hee becomes desperate to escape poverty, she meets a man who changes everything—a rich CEO who introduces her to a life of comfort. So she turns her back on Ma-ru, choosing money over love.
The brutal betrayal leaves Ma-ru fractured—not just angry, but a completely changed man. A few years later, Ma-ru is now 30 years old and works as a bartender and gigolo, no longer a "nice guy." He then meets Seo Eun-gi (Moon Chae-won), a young chaebol heiress who's being groomed to take over her father's conglomerate. Eun-gi is cold and calculating, business-savvy, and raised by her father to never show emotion to anyone.
Ma-ru decides to take revenge on his ex Jae-hee and bring her down from her position after his sister, Kang Cho-co (Lee Yu-bi) is rushed to the hospital because of Jae-hee. Ma-ru, though initially had no plans as such, uses Eun-gi to take revenge on Jae-hee Just when Ma-ru is beginning to love Eun-gi, she finds out the real reason why he approached her and they break up. But a car accident causes Eun-gi to lose her memory, and she enters Ma-ru's life again.

## Cast
### Main

* Song Joong-ki as Kang Ma-ru
** Kang Chan-hee as young Ma-ru
    A smart but poor medical student who has to look after his little sister without any parents. He was in love Jae-hee but she left him for a rich CEO as she always dreamt of being rich, but she always loved Ma-ru and still harbours feelings for him. Six years after Jae-hee left he became arrogant and a playboy who works as a bartender. He approached Eun-gi as part of his revenge plan against Jae-hee but he started to care for her and eventually fell in love.
* Moon Chae-won as Seo Eun-gi
    A rich and arrogant girl but also has a kind-hearted side who does everything to protect her mother's memories who has a troubled relationship with her father and step-mother as she blames them for her mother leaving and her death. She falls for Ma-ru without knowing the real reason he approached her and she suffers a memory loss after landing in a car accident. After her memory loss, she is a much nicer person who searches for clues in order to get her memory returned.
* Park Si-yeon as Han Jae-hee
** Park So-young as young Jae-hee
    Although she is stone-hearted and loves Ma-ru, she loved money more than Ma-Ru and she left Ma-ru and became the mistress of a CEO and had his son. She and Eun-gi don’t get along and she also doesn't care for her and tries to hurt her in many ways. She plans to take over Taesan Company after killing her husband.

### Supporting

* Lee Kwang-soo as Park Jae-gil
    Ma-ru's best friend and Choco's lover.
* Lee Yu-bi as Kang Choco
** Han Seo-jin as young Kang Choco
    Ma-ru's younger sister and Jae-gil's lover.
* Lee Sang-yeob as Park Joon-ha
    Eun-gi's secretary and helper who loved and respected her.
* Kim Tae-hoon as Ahn Min-young
    The secretary of the CEO who likes Jae-hee.
* Yang Ik-june as Han Jae-sik
    Jae-hee's older brother who was abusive towards her.
* Kim Yeong-cheol as CEO Seo Jung-gyu
    Eun-gi and Eun-seok's father, who found Jae-hee and took her as his mistress. Although good hearted, he sides with Jae-hee rather than his daughter as Eun-gi is stubborn and acts childish at times. He dies later in the season and gives his property and estate to Eun-gi but before she could be in charge, she lands in a car accident and suffers a memory loss.
* Jin Kyung as Hyun Jung-hwa
    Eun-gi's assistant. After the car accident which caused Eun-gi’s memory loss, she took her away and cared for her for a year where nobody could find her.
* Oh Yong as Jo Young-bae
* Jo Hwi-joon as Seo Eun-seok
    Jae-hee and Jung-gyu's son, Eun-gi's 4 year old half-brother. He loves his step-sister despite her rudeness and hatred toward him but after her memory loss, she is unable to remember her hatred for him and instead grows closer to him.
* Kim Ye-won as Kim Yoo-ra
* Oh Hee-joon as Han Jae-shik
* Jo Sung-ha as Dr. Seok Min-hyuk (cameo, ep 1, 12, 20)
* Danny Ahn as Kim Jung-hoon (cameo, ep 2 & 15)

## Production

The series is written by Lee Kyung-hee, who previously wrote Will It Snow for Christmas?, Thank You, A Love to Kill, I'm Sorry, I Love You, and Sang Doo! Let's Go to School.
Kim Jin-won was the director of Drama Special episodes Just an Ordinary Love Story, Crossing the Young-do Bridge, Guardian Angel Kim Yeong-goo, Snail Gosiwon, and The Last Flashman.
The series features real-life friends and former Running Man co-stars Song Joong-ki and Lee Kwang-soo for the first time since Song left the variety show.

## Ratings

Beginning episode 5, the series ranked number one in its timeslot for eight consecutive weeks until its finale.
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Average audience share | Average audience share | Average audience share | Average audience share |
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | AGB Nielsen | AGB Nielsen | TNmS | TNmS |
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Nationwide | Seoul | Nationwide | Seoul |
| 1 | September 12, 2012 | 10.5% | 11.5% | 10.7% | 10.9% |
| 2 | September 13, 2012 | 9.9% | 11.3% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 3 | September 19, 2012 | 13.8% | 14.5% | 13.9% | 14.6% |
| 4 | September 20, 2012 | 13.3% | 14.2% | 13.8% | 15.4% |
| 5 | September 26, 2012 | 14.0% | 15.7% | 14.5% | 14.8% |
| 6 | September 27, 2012 | 16.0% | 18.1% | 16.0% | 17.8% |
| 7 | October 3, 2012 | 17.3% | 18.6% | 17.9% | 18.6% |
| 8 | October 4, 2012 | 15.1% | 16.6% | 15.0% | 14.4% |
| 9 | October 10, 2012 | 15.3% | 17.3% | 15.8% | 17.3% |
| 10 | October 11, 2012 | 14.9% | 15.7% | 16.2% | 17.3% |
| 11 | October 17, 2012 | 14.3% | 15.3% | 15.0% | 16.5% |
| 12 | October 18, 2012 | 15.1% | 15.7% | 16.4% | 17.0% |
| 13 | October 24, 2012 | 17.1% | 18.8% | 18.2% | 18.7% |
| 14 | October 25, 2012 | 16.7% | 18.4% | 18.5% | 19.6% |
| 15 | October 31, 2012 | 18.3% | 20.6% | 17.1% | 17.6% |
| 16 | November 1, 2012 | 17.1% | 18.8% | 18.8% | 19.8% |
| 17 | November 7, 2012 | 16.2% | 16.4% | 18.2% | 19.6% |
| 18 | November 8, 2012 | 18.2% | 19.7% | 16.8% | 18.1% |
| 19 | November 14, 2012 | 17.9% | 19.3% | 18.5% | 19.9% |
| 20 | November 15, 2012 | 18.0% | 19.4% | 18.6% | 20.2% |
| Average | Average | 15.3% | 16.8% | 16.1% | 17.0% |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
| 2012 | 20th Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor | Song Joong-ki | Won |
| 2012 | 1st K-Drama Star Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor | Song Joong-ki | Won |
| 2012 | 1st K-Drama Star Awards | Excellence Award, Actress | Moon Chae-won | Nominated |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Best Couple Award | Song Joong-ki and Moon Chae-won | Won |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Netizens' Award | Song Joong-ki | Won |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Netizens' Award | Moon Chae-won | Won |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Best New Actress | Lee Yu-bi | Nominated |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Lee Kwang-soo | Nominated |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Lee Sang-yeob | Nominated |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Jin Kyung | Nominated |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Mid-length Drama | Song Joong-ki | Nominated |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Mid-length Drama | Moon Chae-won | Nominated |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Mid-length Drama | Park Si-yeon | Nominated |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor | Song Joong-ki | Won |
| 2012 | KBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actress | Moon Chae-won | Won |
| 2013 | 49th Baeksang Arts Awards | Best New Actress (TV) | Lee Yu-bi | Nominated |
| 2013 | 7th Mnet 20's Choice Awards | 20's Booming Star - Female | Lee Yu-bi | Nominated |
| 2013 | 8th Seoul International Drama Awards | Outstanding Korean Drama OST | "Love Is Like a Snowflake" - Junsu | Nominated |
| 2013 | 8th Seoul International Drama Awards | Outstanding Korean Drama OST | "Really" - Song Joong-ki | Nominated |
| 2013 | 8th Seoul International Drama Awards | Outstanding Korean Actor | Song Joong-ki | Nominated |
| 2013 | 8th Seoul International Drama Awards | Outstanding Korean Actress | Moon Chae-won | Nominated |
| 2013 | 8th Seoul International Drama Awards | Outstanding Korean Drama | The Innocent Man | Nominated |