My Dearest Nemesis

My Dearest Nemesis (Korean: 그놈은 흑염룡) is a 2025 South Korean television series written by Kim Soo-yeon, directed by Lee So-hyun, and starring Moon Ga-young, Choi Hyun-wook, Im Se-mi, and Kwak Si-yang. Based on the webtoon of the same name by Hye Jin-yang, it revolves around a boss and an employee who shared past relationship. It aired on tvN From February 17, to March 24, 2025, every Monday and Tuesday at 20:50 (KST). It is also available for streaming on TVING in South Korea, U-Next in Japan, Vidio in Indonesia, and Viki in selected regions.

My Dearest Nemesis
Promotional poster
Hangul	그놈은 흑염룡
Literal meaning	He's the Black Dragon
Revised Romanization	Geunomeun heugyeomnyong
McCune–Reischauer	Kŭnomŭn hŭkyŏmnyong
Genre	Romantic comedy
Based on	He's a Black Dragon by Hye Jin-yang
Written by	Kim Soo-yeon
Directed by	Lee So-hyun
Starring	Moon Ga-young Choi Hyun-wook Im Se-mi Kwak Si-yang
Music by	Kim Joon-seok[1] Jeong Se-rin[1]
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	12
Production
Running time	60 minutes[2]
Production company	Studio N
Original release
Network	tvN
Release	February 17 (2025-02-17) – March 24, 2025 (2025-03-24)

Cast

Main

• Moon Ga-young as Baek Soo-jung^[3]

The planning team leader at Yongseong Department Store.

• Choi Hyun-wook as Ban Joo-yeon^[3]
  • Moon Woo-jin as young Joo-yeon^[4]

The head of the strategic planning division of Yongseong Department Store.

• Im Se-mi as Seo Ha-jin^[5]

A bar owner of Sulo's.

• Kwak Si-yang as Kim Shin-won^[5]

The head of the design department at Yongseong Department Store.

Supporting

• Ban Hyo-jung as Jeong Hyo-sun^[4]
• Ko Chang-seok as Baek Won-seop, Baek Soo-jung's father.
• Kim Young-ah as Kwon In-kyung^[6]

Joo-yeon's secretary.

• Son Sang-yeon as Baek Soo-bin^[4]
• Kim Woo-gyeom as Yang Jun-su^[4]
• Lim Young-joo as Choi Na-na^[4]

Others

• Oh Eui-shik as TVXQ-tip^[7]

Production and release

Development

My Dearest Nemesis was developed under the working title Black Salt Dragon. The series is based on a webtoon by Hye Jin-yang.^[8] It was directed by Lee Soo-hyun, who directed Delightfully Deceitful, and the screenplay is wrote by writer Kim Soo-yeon.^[3] It was produced by Studio N and planned by Studio Dragon.^[9]

Casting

On April 2, 2024, it was reported that Moon Ga-young and Choi Hyun-wook were in talks to be casts.^[10] On July 12, tvN announced that Moon and Choi had been cast.^[11] On July 15, Im Se-mi and Kwak Si-yang reportedly confirmed their appearances.^[5]

Release

The series premiered on tvN on February 17, 2025, and airs every Monday and Tuesday at 20:50 (KST).^[12] It is also available for streaming on TVING in South Korea, U-Next in Japan, Vidio in Indonesia, and Viki in selected regions.^[13][14]

Viewership

Season		Episode number												Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	1	846	919	1079	966	1171	1258	1043	934	912	1038	993	968	1011

My Dearest Nemesis : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea.^[15]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)[15]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	February 17, 2025	3.534% (1st)	3.663% (1st)
2	February 18, 2025	3.459% (1st)	3.352% (1st)
3	February 24, 2025	4.533% (1st)	4.560% (1st)
4	February 25, 2025	4.079% (1st)	4.150% (1st)
5	March 3, 2025	4.927% (1st)	4.905% (1st)
6	March 4, 2025	5.078% (1st)	4.871% (1st)
7	March 10, 2025	4.456% (1st)	4.620% (1st)
8	March 11, 2025	4.011% (1st)	4.112% (1st)
9	March 17, 2025	3.727% (1st)	3.801% (1st)
10	March 18, 2025	4.169% (1st)	4.388% (1st)
11	March 24, 2025	4.347% (2nd)	3.940% (2nd)
12		4.132% (1st)	3.407% (1st)
Average		4.204%	4.147%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. This drama airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC, and EBS).