Happiness (South Korean TV series)

Did You Know?

• A spin-off webtoon of the same title was serialized on Naver Webtoon from November 12, 2021, to May 27, 2022.
• Han Hyo-joo won the Popular Star Award at the 2022 Blue Dragon Series Awards.
• Park Hyung-sik's role in Happiness was his first acting project after his discharge from military service on January 4, 2021.

Synopsis

In the near future, the failed treatment drug Next causes a worldwide pandemic called the Lytta Virus, or mad person disease. Infected individuals experience bouts of insanity and bloodlust before regressing into a zombie-like state. South Korean military and police attempt to contain the spread through investigation and quarantine, while civil rights groups protest, believing the infected can still interact normally. Yoon Sae-bom, a Special Operations Unit member, is scratched by an infected trainee and meets Han Tae-seok at a research facility housing patients under observation. Symptoms begin with unquenchable thirst, followed by white pupils and a craving for human blood. The disease spreads through scratches and bites, but Sae-bom appears immune. Some infected temporarily return to their former selves. Sae-bom makes a deal with Han Tae-seok to secure an apartment in a new building, but must be married to do so. She asks her high school friend Jung Yi-hyun, a former baseball player turned police detective, to enter a contract marriage. The building is stratified, with public rentals on the lower floors and owned apartments above. Class discrimination emerges as upper-floor resident Oh Yeon-ok struggles as the apartment representative. Sae-bom forms a close bond with her neighbor's young daughter.

Cast

Han Hyo-joo plays Yoon Sae-bom, a member of a Special Operation Unit police squad formerly known as KP-SWAT, who faces a crisis after moving into her new apartment. Park Hyung-sik portrays Jung Yi-hyun, a detective with romantic feelings for Sae-bom; they graduated from the same high school, and he works to protect her and others. Jo Woo-jin plays Han Tae-seok, a lieutenant colonel in the health service command who holds a key to the infectious disease outbreak. People around Jung Yi-hyun include Seo Hyun-chul as his father, Jung Jae-eun as his mother, and Lee Jun-hyeok as his supervisor Kim Jung-guk.

International broadcast

ABS-CBN brought the South Korean series Happiness to Philippine TV with a Filipino dub, airing weeknights at 22:15 (PST) on Kapamilya Channel and other blocktime outlets starting April 21, 2025. The timeslot shifted to 22:05 (PST) on May 27, with streaming also on iWantTFC. A year later, the network scheduled a rerun on Kapamilya Gold’s afternoon block at 16:45 (PST) beginning July 28, 2026.