Kim Hye-soo, Cho Yeo-jeong, and Kim Ji-hoon’s dark thriller continues to captivate audiences as a simple affair spirals into chaos

JAKARTA, August 13, 2026 — What began as a story about an affair has quickly turned into something far more dangerous.

The Affair Was Just the Beginning, starring Kim Hye-soo, Cho Yeo-jeong, and Kim Ji-hoon, is continuing its remarkable run after recording a 169% increase in viewership following its debut week at the top of Coupang Play’s popularity rankings.

According to internal data released by Coupang Play, the series has also achieved the highest cumulative viewership among all series ever released on the platform in South Korea.

The drama is making an equally strong impact in Indonesia. Since its premiere, The Affair Was Just the Beginning has remained at the top of Viu’s most-watched drama rankings, quickly becoming a favorite among Indonesian viewers.

When One Secret Opens the Door to Another

At the center of the story is Park Kyung-hee, a glamorous influencer whose seemingly perfect life hides a growing sense of anxiety, and Kang Soo-jung, her close friend who is dealing with problems of her own.

Their lives take a dramatic turn when their children become involved in an incident.

What follows is a desperate attempt to protect their families—an attempt that gradually pulls them deeper into lies, threats, and increasingly questionable decisions.

The series refuses to remain a straightforward relationship drama. What initially appears to be a story about marriage and infidelity gradually transforms into a volatile mix of mystery, thriller, and dark comedy.

Every solution creates another problem. Every lie requires another lie to cover it up.

And the more the characters try to regain control, the further they seem to fall into chaos.

How Far Would You Go to Protect Your Family?

Beyond its twists and suspense, The Affair Was Just the Beginning explores a much more complicated question: How far would you go to protect your child?

Kyung-hee and Soo-jung are forced to confront the increasingly blurred line between love and wrongdoing.

Their desire to protect their families pushes them into situations where morality becomes increasingly difficult to define. As their carefully constructed lies begin to unravel, they must also worry about legal consequences, their families, their social status, and the carefully controlled images they have presented to the world.

The result is a story where nobody is entirely innocent—and nobody can easily walk away.

Kim Hye-soo Leads a Compelling Trio

The performances have also become a major talking point in Korean media.

Kim Hye-soo brings intensity to Park Kyung-hee, portraying a woman who appears confident, glamorous, and completely in control while quietly panicking as her carefully organized life begins to collapse.

Cho Yeo-jeong matches her with a performance that gives their friendship an intriguing emotional complexity. What begins as a close relationship gradually develops into a secret alliance built on fear, trust, and mutual dependence.

Meanwhile, Kim Ji-hoon portrays Lim Jae-hong, a husband who initially appears to live in his wife’s shadow before becoming increasingly involved in the family’s desperate efforts to cover up their mistakes.

As the story progresses, the motivations of each character become harder to read. Fear, self-interest, guilt, and love constantly compete with one another.

A Story Ten Years in the Making

One of the most fascinating details about the series is that its story was not created overnight.

Director Lee Chang-hee has revealed that the project had been in development for approximately ten years. In fact, the character of Park Kyung-hee was envisioned with Kim Hye-soo in mind from the early stages of development.

Lee Chang-hee has also described the series as different from his previous work, particularly because of its unusual combination of suspense and dark humor.

Rather than portraying extraordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, the drama focuses on seemingly ordinary individuals who make increasingly bad decisions—and then have to live with the consequences.

That balance between tension and absurdity gives the series its distinctive personality.

The Affair Is No Longer the Biggest Problem

The success of The Affair Was Just the Beginning suggests that viewers are staying for much more than the initial scandal.

The affair may have been the spark, but the real story is what happens afterward.

One secret leads to another. A cover-up creates another crisis. Friendships are tested. Families begin to fracture. And characters who once seemed to have complete control over their lives are forced into increasingly desperate choices.

With Park Kyung-hee’s counterattack beginning to take shape and more secrets threatening to surface, the biggest question is no longer simply who had the affair.

The real question is:

Who will lose control first?

As the drama continues to unfold, The Affair Was Just the Beginning proves that sometimes the most dangerous part of a secret isn’t keeping it hidden—it’s what people are willing to do once they realize the truth might come out.

Watch The Affair Was Just the Beginning with Indonesian subtitles exclusively on Viu.