SEOUL, October 26, 2023 – Kakao Entertainment’s webtoon “The Ideal Relationship” hits screens across 180 countries via iQIYI as a new Thai TV drama titled My Dear Gangster Oppa. The drama’s first episode aired on October 26^th in Thailand in an 8 p.m. timeslot, with new episodes slated for release every Thursday. The series will have a total of nine episodes, including eight regular episodes and one special episode.

The Ideal Relationship webtoon was originally a web novel written by KEN, who also penned hit web novels such as The Marriage of Convenience and The Villainess Flips the Script. The story follows Sanghwa, a young man with a traumatic past, who meets the charming character Leegeum incidentally in an online game. Through their relationship, Sanghwa grows and changes. The webtoon adaptation, which boasts solid storytelling, fast-paced progress, and beautiful artwork, currently has over 10 million views on Kakao Webtoon.

Even before the launch of the TV adaptation, Thai audiences were already showing great interest in the webtoon. Leveraging this, directors for the TV drama casted famous Thai stars Meen Nichakoon and Ping Krittanun to portray Kang Leegeum and Lee Sanghwa, respectively. The casting news made headlines and trended on Twitter Thailand. The webtoon, which has been localized into Thai and is available on Kakao Webtoon Thailand, is expected to gain even more popularity with the release of the drama adaptation.

“The dramatization of The Ideal Relationship is a testament to the global interest in Kakao Entertainment’s original stories,” said a representative from Kakao Entertainment. “Following the success of previous adaptations like Moving, we hope that My Dear Gangster Oppa will have great synergy with the original webtoon, which is also available globally on platforms like Kakao Webtoon Thailand. We believe this will be another great example of how we’re creating outstanding entertainment content across multiple platforms for our global readers.”

For more Thai stories, please click here.