Abstract
This chapter argues that K-dramas are populated with school bullies, autocratic politicians, and tyrannical CEOs who malign the innocent and drive them to ruin. Their power, wealth, or criminal connections render them legally untouchable. Seeking retributive justice, the protagonists devise intricate plans that typically accord with Confucian virtue ethics. To avoid giving into vicious anger, the protagonists learn to achieve satisfaction within the bounds of virtue. In this way, the Confucian ethics of vengeance corresponds to a Western tradition represented by Aristotle and Aquinas. However, not all K-dramas explore vengeance in the same way. Some, such as Lawless Lawyer and The Glory, feature protagonists who adhere to the basic principles of Confucian ethics but are chiefly motivated by the pursuit of retribution. In others, such as Law School, the motive is moral outrage rather than personal anger. The most interesting category depicts an ironic vengeance in which characters have rich and complex moral motives. In Itaewon Class, for instance, the protagonist exacts vengeance by running his own business in a way opposed to that of his antagonists, finding vengeance in demonstrating the defectiveness of his antagonist's model.