Again My Life

Lore & Background

The series follows Kim Hee-woo, a young prosecutor who is killed while trying to take down a powerful politician, Cho Tae-sub. He is given a chance to start a new life for justice. The main cast includes Lee Joon-gi as Kim Hee-woo, Lee Geung-young as Cho Tae-sub, Kim Ji-eun as Kim Hee-ah, and Jung Sang-hoon as Lee Min-soo. Supporting characters include prosecutors, allies, and enemies such as the corrupt prosecutor Kim Seok-hoon and the Grim Reaper who helps resurrect Hee-woo. Production faced several COVID-19-related disruptions. On December 25, 2021, a supporting actor tested positive, halting filming for a day. On February 27, 2022, Kim Ji-eun was diagnosed with COVID-19 (asymptomatic).

Reader's Guide

Again My Life is significant as a 2022 South Korean television adaptation of a popular web novel and webtoon, blending fantasy, crime, and legal drama. Its time-slip premise—where the protagonist relives his life to correct past injustices—resonates with audiences seeking narratives of redemption and justice. The series features a large ensemble cast and explores themes of corruption, loyalty, and second chances. Its production was notably affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with multiple cast members testing positive, yet the series completed its scheduled run. The show's availability on streaming platforms like Viu expanded its reach beyond South Korea.

Did You Know?

• The series is based on a web novel and webtoon on KakaoPage.
• Lee Joon-gi and Kim Ji-eun previously worked together on the 2020 drama 'Flower of Evil'.

Premise & Narrative Architecture

Again My Life centers on Kim Hee-woo, a young prosecutor whose life is cut short while he pursues the prosecution of a powerful political figure. Rather than meeting an end, he is granted a singular second chance: a return to a point fifteen years earlier in his own past, where he can methodically dismantle the antagonist's empire before it calcifies beyond reach. The figure he targets, Cho Tae-sub, operates as both a corrupt politician and the head of a personal crime cartel, making the central conflict a collision of legal ambition against organized criminal power. The story's DNA traces back to a web novel of the same title on the KakaoPage platform, which also received a webtoon adaptation, giving the screen version a pre-existing fanbase and a serialized narrative structure. Within the plot, Hee-woo's quest is threaded through a dense web of prosecutors' office politics, personal relationships forged in law school, and a criminal apparatus that includes hired assassins, corrupt bankers laundering illicit funds, and a political machine that reaches all the way to the attorney general's office.

Ensemble Cast & Character Interplay

The series assembles a large, interlocking cast around four principal performers. Lee Joon-gi embodies the determined prosecutor Kim Hee-woo, while Lee Geung-young delivers the antagonist Cho Tae-sub, a politician who simultaneously commands a crime syndicate. Kim Ji-eun portrays Kim Hee-ah, the intelligent and compassionate youngest daughter of Cheonha Group chairman Kim Gun-young, whose friendship with Hee-woo gradually deepens into romance. Jung Sang-hoon plays Lee Min-soo, Hee-woo's law school senior and close friend, a character whose academic journey was notably unconventional—moving from medicine to the arts, then to music, before settling on law. The supporting ensemble extends across three distinct orbits: the prosecutors' office, where figures range from the corrupt Seok-hoon (destined for the attorney general's seat) to the demoted but principled chief prosecutor Jeon Seok-gyu; Hee-woo's personal circle, including his reporter friend Han-mi, his late parents, and the wrongfully accused student Park Sang-man; and Tae-sub's shadow network, featuring his secretary Han Ji-hyun—who is revealed to be a Grim Reaper responsible for Hee-woo's resurrection—alongside the amnesiac assassin Dr. K and the banker Park Dae-ho who manages the cartel's corruption funds.

Production Disruptions & Casting Shifts

The road to broadcasting Again My Life was marked by several significant interruptions. In early November 2021, actor Lee Kyu-han announced his departure from the project citing personal reasons; five days later, Jung Sang-hoon was confirmed as his replacement in the role of Lee Min-soo. The subsequent filming period encountered three separate COVID-19 incidents that disrupted the schedule. On December 25, 2021, a supporting cast member tested positive, triggering an immediate halt to all shooting and a rapid testing protocol for every cast and crew member; with no further cases surfacing, work resumed the very next day. In late February 2022, Kim Ji-eun was diagnosed with the virus in an asymptomatic case and remained in self-quarantine until March 6. The most consequential disruption came on April 18, 2022, when lead actor Lee Joon-gi contracted the illness, forcing a full suspension of filming until his recovery was confirmed on April 25. Despite these repeated setbacks, the production delivered its complete run on SBS TV from April 8 to May 28, 2022, occupying the Friday-and-Saturday 22:00 KST slot.

Source Material, Production & Distribution

Again My Life is adapted from a web novel of the identical title that was serialized on the KakaoPage digital reading platform and subsequently rendered as a webtoon, placing it squarely within the pipeline of Korean online fiction that feeds into mainstream television. The screen adaptation was produced by Samhwa Networks and Kross Pictures, with the latter maintaining a bilingual production website in both Korean and English, signaling an awareness of international audiences. Domestically, the series secured a prominent weekend prime-time position on SBS TV, airing every Friday and Saturday at 22:00 KST across its April 8 to May 28, 2022 run. For viewers outside South Korea, the show was made available through the Viu streaming service in select regions, broadening its geographic footprint. The production also invested in a multi-part original soundtrack, releasing at least eight distinct track sets over the course of the series, reinforcing the show's commitment to a layered audiovisual identity beyond the dialogue and action on screen.