Love in Disguise Introduces Its Chaebol Family and Detective Cast

“Love in Disguise” has unveiled new character stills revealing its supporting cast across two contrasting worlds. The romance thriller centers on Yoon Yi Jun (Yim Si Wan), an arrogant chaebol heir who becomes a murder suspect, and Kang Jae Hee (Seol In Ah), a former special forces officer who poses as his personal secretary to investigate him from within. The newly released imagery introduces the cold, calculating members of the chaebol family alongside Kang Jae Hee’s warmhearted and down-to-earth detective team.

The Chaebol World and Its Patriarch

Yoon Tae Sik (Choi Jin Ho) commands the chaebol family as its patriarch and Taegang Group chairman. Characterized as a brilliant and calculating businessman, Tae Sik has engineered the corporation into one of Korea’s leading industrial enterprises through sharp judgment and ruthless competitiveness. His management style extends from the boardroom into family life: he perpetually assesses which of his children possesses the character and capability to inherit control of the conglomerate. This succession race, conducted within the family sphere, creates constant internal tension, positioning family relationships as secondary to questions of corporate power transfer and economic survival. Tae Sik’s calculating approach establishes the emotional temperature for the entire chaebol world: a space where affection and duty are perpetually negotiated against self-interest and strategic advantage.

The Sisters and Family Dynamics

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The Eldest Daughter as Peacemaker

Yoon Mi Jin (Hong Eun Hee), the family’s eldest daughter, operates in conscious opposition to her father’s calculating approach. Graceful and warmhearted, she functions as an internal mediator, intervening in family conflicts to maintain household harmony and cohesion. Her peacemaking role suggests that compassion and emotional intelligence retain value within the chaebol structure, even as competitive and financial motivations dominate family decision-making. Whether her mediating instincts will survive the pressure of a murder investigation targeting her youngest brother—and the potential revelations it may expose—remains an open narrative question.

The Ambitious Second Daughter

Yoon Na Jung (Park Ah In) embodies a character shaped by structural disadvantage within traditional chaebol inheritance logic. Operating as the second daughter in a system that typically privileges eldest sons and daughters, she has fought fiercely to establish her claim within a family where her position remains inherently precarious. Described as ambitious and sharply wary of her younger brother Yoon Yi Jun, she carries the defensive competitiveness required to compete against better-positioned siblings. Her wariness suggests deep-rooted conflict with Yoon Yi Jun, tension that may surface once the murder investigation begins exerting pressure on family relationships and forcing hidden conflicts into the open.

The Detective Unit and Its Officers

Opposing the chaebol world’s calculated coldness stands Kang Jae Hee’s detective team, united not by hierarchical dominance but by professional dedication and genuine loyalty to one another.

The Leader and His Sacrifice

Park Bong Yi (Kim In Kwon) leads the Special Investigation Team under a personal philosophy he explicitly describes as preferring to live a long and uneventful life. His approach favors caution and trouble avoidance, yet when his team faces danger, or when Kang Jae Hee proposes an audacious undercover operation targeting the chaebol heir, his commitment overrides his preference for tranquility. Park Bong Yi not only authorizes the dangerous assignment but personally involves himself in the investigation, sacrificing the quiet existence he has long cultivated. This transition from observer to active participant illustrates how professional duty can override personal preference and safety considerations.

The Physical Operator

Detective Jung Wan Goo (Kim Ki Bang) functions as the unit’s action specialist, operating through instinct and physicality rather than analytical reasoning. Characterized as hotheaded, he favors direct confrontation and pursuit over measured deliberation and planning. Beneath this explosive exterior lies consistent dependability: he positions himself as the first line of defense whenever Kang Jae Hee faces danger or difficulty. His assignment to infiltrate Taegang Group disguised as a cleaning employee creates pointed irony, forcing the hotheaded, kinetic detective to embody the invisibility and discretion that janitorial work requires, placing his natural temperament in direct opposition to his necessary cover.

The Intellectual Officer

Kim Seok Jin (Nam Hae Jun) represents the analytical component of the detective hierarchy, marked by credentials as a top graduate of the Korean National Police University. Cool-headed and deeply responsible, he earns professional trust and deference from his colleagues. The narrative introduces an asymmetrical emotional dimension to his relationship with Kang Jae Hee: she harbors unspoken romantic feelings toward him that extend beyond professional respect. This hidden affection promises to introduce romantic tension and potential conflict into their investigative partnership, particularly once the murder case reaches its resolution and emotional and professional elements collide.

Infiltration as Narrative Engine

The drama’s central mechanism relies on Kang Jae Hee’s embedded position within the chaebol household. Posed as Yoon Yi Jun’s personal secretary, she operates in continuous deception, gathering evidence about murder allegations against him while maintaining her cover intact. This proximity to the chaebol heir creates conditions for romantic development between investigator and suspect, layering emotional entanglement onto a professional investigation built on fundamental dishonesty. The tension between uncovering truth and developing genuine feeling forms the narrative’s emotional core, asking whether investigation and attraction can coexist once her identity is revealed.

The Drama’s Genre and Stakes

The casting reveals a drama constructed on contrasts: wealthy, hierarchical, and calculating chaebol members against principled, accessible, and resourceful detectives. Kang Jae Hee’s infiltration of the chaebol world positions her at the intersection of both spheres, creating narrative friction that will likely drive both the central mystery and romantic tension. The romance thriller framework suggests that the murder investigation will intertwine with personal attraction and family secrets, elements that deepen in complexity as her undercover operation extends and her cover integrity becomes increasingly compromised.

Premiere Details

“Love in Disguise” will air its first episode on October 19 at 8:50 p.m. KST, introducing viewers to the collision between murder investigation, family intrigue, and romantic tension within the chaebol world.

Source: Soompi