Hello Monster (band)

''Hello Monster'' () is a South Korean television series starring Seo In-guk, Jang Na-ra, Choi Won-young, and Park Bo-gum. It aired on KBS2 from June 22 to August 11, 2015 every Monday and Tuesday at 21:55 for 16 episodes. Park's performance was widely praised by audience and critics and won him the Best Supporting Actor Award and Popularity Award at the 29th KBS Drama Awards.

Synopsis

Genius profiler Lee Hyun, returns home to Korea after something from a case he has been sent triggers a memory he thought he had lost forever. Unbeknownst to him, one of his team members, Detective Cha Ji-an, has been investigating him for some time. She is aware that his father was murdered and his brother disappeared under mysterious circumstances involving a criminal named Lee Joon Young whom they both want found and incarcerated. Each seeks to unravel the other, unaware that they've been drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse by a master player and that both truth and evil are closer and far more twisted than they think.

Cast

Main

*Seo In-guk as Lee Hyun / David Lee
**Hong Hyun-taekHong Hyun-taek and Hong Eun-taek are biological brothers. as young Lee Hyun
:Lee Hyun was a "strange child" who caught the attention of his father, a police inspector, who later confined him in a small room to prevent him from breeding criminal thoughts. An intelligent child, he later studies abroad and becomes a reputed professor. Strangely, he loses his childhood memories, and a series of events lead him to return to South Korea. There he tries to solve numerous murder cases that seem to be linked to one another in order to find his long-lost little brother, whom he presumed to be the serial killer.

*Jang Na-ra as Cha Ji-an
** Park Ji-so as young Cha Ji-an
:Cha Ji-an's father mysteriously disappeared together with Lee Joon-young, a convicted prisoner who was said to have escaped from confinement. She becomes a police inspector and meets Lee Hyun, the boy she has been stalking since her childhood. Their similar circumstances lead them together as they work to solve criminal cases.

*Choi Won-young as Lee Joon-ho / Lee Joon-young
** Doh Kyung-soo as teen Lee Joon-young
:Born as a result of rape, Joon-young was neglected as a child. He soon bred murderous thoughts and became a murderer who eventually escaped from prison. 20 years later, he returned with the identity of Lee Joon-ho. His main personality trait throughout the series was depicted as someone who doesn't understand complexities of human emotions while being well versed in their thoughts. For-example, from his perspective, his returning of Cha Ji-an's father's remains was a good deed despite having killed and framed the guy himself. Knowing how her father ended up 20 years ago made her angry at him but he was sad to see Cha Ji-an being angry and couldn't figure out the reason despite it being very obvious to others.
:He doesn't think he ever did anything bad since there was always a justifiable reason for himself.
:In his own words, Lee Hyun was the kid he wanted to be while Lee Min was the kid who came to resemble him.

*Park Bo-gum as Jung Sun-ho / Lee Min
**Hong Eun-taek as young Lee Min
:Lee Min shared a close relationship with Lee Hyun as a child and often confided his darkest secrets to him. He feels neglected later on as he was under the misconception that he had been abandoned by his brother after their father was murdered. He later appears nearly 20 years later using the name Jung Sun-ho.

Supporting

*Lee Chun-hee as Kang Eun-hyuk
:The leader of the special investigator team and the son of the police commissioner
*Min Sung-wook as Son Myung-woo
: Special investigator member and senior of Cha Ji-an. He is cynical and is annoyed by Lee Hyun's attitude
* Kim Jae-young as Min Seung-joo
: The youngest member of the team. He is a bright young man who is cheerful
* Son Seung-won as Choi Eun-bok
: Special investigator team member. He is a slightly quiet person. Unbeknownst to the team, he is one of the kids that Lee Joon-young saved from his hellish childhood life
*Im Ji-eun as Hyun Ji-soo
:Planning director of the investigation team and Lee Hyun's adoptive mother
*Nam Kyung-eup as Kang Seok-joo
:Police commissioner and father of Kang Eun-hyuk
*Lee Bom as Joon-ho's mother
:She was raped and gave birth to Lee Joon-ho

Production

The first script reading took place in the end of April 2015 at KBS Annex in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea.

Reception

Critical response

Park Bo-gum's performance received widespread critical and audience acclaim and won him the Best Supporting Actor Award and Popularity Award at the 29th KBS Drama Awards. In 2025, in a career retrospective for Park, ''Gulf News'' stated that Park's performance in the series was "his best role yet in a stellar career... proving his ability to shape-shift into what the role demanded—even if the show wasn't always a hit, Bo-gum always was."

Viewership

In this table, represent the lowest ratings and represent the highest ratings.

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Awards and nominations

International broadcast

References

External links

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* {{IMDb title, 4803738, Hello Monster

Korean Broadcasting System television dramas
2015 South Korean television series debuts
Korean-language television shows
Detective television series
Television series by CJ E&M
2015 South Korean television series endings
South Korean thriller television series
South Korean crime television series