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Happiness

해피니스
Thriller · Drama

Your next story starts here. Meet the characters, explore the details, and find your reason to press play.

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Happiness drama poster
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01 / A closer look

The story, without the spoilers.

Yoon Sae-bom is a tough police officer in a special operations unit who has just found a way to move into a brand-new apartment building. Jung Yi-hyun is her old friend, a detective who has known her since high school, and he agrees to a fake marriage so they can qualify for the flat together. It is a practical deal between two people who trust each other completely. Then a strange new disease appears. People who catch it become violently thirsty, aggressive, and dangerous, and no one knows how it spreads. When the infection reaches their building, the doors are sealed, and the residents are locked inside together. Sae-bom and Yi-hyun must keep order among neighbours who turn on each other fast: some hoard food, some spread rumours, and some decide the rules no longer apply to them. Outside, a pharmaceutical executive watches the building like an experiment. Tense, clever, and surprisingly moving, this is a thriller about how quickly ordinary people change when they are afraid, and about the two people who refuse to change.

Your next watch

A little curiosity. A new favourite.

Start with the story, meet the cast, and make room for one more episode.

02 / The watch guide

Make room for the story.

12
Episodes
Completed

Episode-by-episode summaries are not yet available. This guide keeps the story spoiler-light.

04 / A closer look

The Oxfea take.

Oxfea Score: 8.5/10 — Highly recommended

Verdict in one line: A tight twelve episodes with two superb leads and a building full of tension — only some neighbours are too cartoonish to fear.

Why you'll get hooked

  • A fake marriage gets two friends a new flat — then a virus seals their building shut.
  • Han Hyo-joo and Park Hyung-sik are a perfect team: brave, funny, and completely believable.
  • The real horror is not the disease, it is what frightened neighbours do to each other.

Story, in plain words

Yoon Sae-bom is a police tactical officer who wants a home of her own. Jung Yi-hyun is a detective and her friend since school. They enter a marriage of convenience so they can buy into a new apartment complex, and for a while it is a joke between them. Then a new infectious disease arrives in the city: the infected grow violent and desperate for water, and the authorities seal the building with everyone inside.

Inside, Sae-bom and Yi-hyun become the only people keeping order. Residents split into factions, supplies run low, and rumours spread faster than the illness. Outside, Han Tae-seok, a military pharmaceutical executive, treats the building as a case study. The show never wastes an episode: twelve instalments, one location, and a clear question — when fear takes over, who do you become? The leads carry it, and the ending earns its hope.

Happiness: at a glance

  • Original title: 해피니스
  • Genres: Thriller · Drama
  • Network / platform: tvN
  • Episodes: 12
  • First released: 5 November 2021

Explore the cast

Sources: Wikipedia, AsianWiki and the broadcaster's official page. Facts checked November 2026. Streaming availability varies by location.

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