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Queen of Tears (눈물의 여왕): Plot, Characters and Cast

Queen of Tears (눈물의 여왕, Nunmul-ui Yeowang) is a romantic comedy with plenty of melodrama that tvN aired in 2024. It has 16 episodes, written by Park Ji-eun and directed by Jang Young-woo and Kim Hee-won. It became the highest-rated series in tvN history, with 24.85% for its finale. Here are the plot, the characters, the cast and their playful Saju.

Cast: Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Ji-won, Park Sung-hoon, Kwak Dong-yeon, Lee Joo-bin
tvN: 2024 · 16 episodes

Official video

La reina de las lágrimas | Tráiler Oficial | Netflix

Official video by Netflix Latinoamérica on YouTube. It only loads if you press play.

Plot (no spoilers)

Baek Hyun-woo is the son of a farming family who rose to become legal director of Queens Group, the conglomerate owned by the family of his wife, Hong Hae-in. She is a proud heiress who runs Queens department store and hides her loneliness behind a flawless attitude. They've been married for three years, barely speak, and Hyun-woo is quietly preparing for a divorce.

Before he can ask her for one, everything changes: Hae-in learns she has a serious illness and doesn't have much time left. At the same time, Queens Group becomes the target of a hostile takeover led by a man from Hae-in's past. Also moving on that board is Yoon Eun-sung, a polished investor who has secretly loved her since childhood.

There are cracks inside the family too. Hong Soo-cheol, Hae-in's younger brother and heir only on paper, carries his insecurities, while his wife, Cheon Da-hye, seems sweet but keeps secrets of her own. With the family empire wobbling and the clock ticking, Hyun-woo and Hae-in have to decide what they still mean to each other. The series keeps swinging between laughter and tears, just as its title promises.

Characters and their Saju

己

Baek Hyun-woo 백현우

Kim Soo-hyun · Yin Earth · The Garden

Hyun-woo is a farmer's son who went far: he is the legal director of Queens Group. But his marriage to the family's heiress has become a source of sadness and distance. At first, the only way out he can see is divorce, which he prepares in secret.

If Hyun-woo had a Saju card, it would be Yin Earth · The Garden: he comes from the countryside and carries the soil in his character. He is patient and knows how to tend what grows, though he sometimes forgets his own garden needs sun too.

辛

Hong Hae-in 홍해인

Kim Ji-won · Yin Metal · The Jewel

Hae-in is the proud heiress of a chaebol and runs Queens department store. On the outside she seems cold and out of reach; on the inside, she carries a loneliness nobody sees. At the start of the story, her marriage is a distant formality and her pride won't let her ask for help.

If Hae-in had a Saju card, it would be Yin Metal · The Jewel: brilliant, precious and protected behind glass. A jewel like that looks hard, but it holds a delicate light that only shows when someone comes close with patience.

壬

Yoon Eun-sung 윤은성

Park Sung-hoon · Yang Water · The Ocean

Eun-sung is a polished investor with elegant manners. He has secretly loved Hae-in since childhood, a feeling he guards carefully while she lives out her marriage to someone else. He's a character who always seems to know more than he says and to weigh every word.

If Eun-sung had a Saju card, it would be Yang Water · The Ocean: a calm surface, deep currents. What you see is stillness; what moves underneath is another story. In Saju, water like this needs firm shores so it doesn't overflow.

乙

Hong Soo-cheol 홍수철

Kwak Dong-yeon · Yin Wood · The Climbing Vine

Soo-cheol is Hae-in's younger brother and, at least on paper, the heir to the family group. Insecure and eager to be taken seriously, he lives in the shadow of a far more commanding sister. His title weighs more than his confidence in himself.

If Soo-cheol had a Saju card, it would be Yin Wood · The Climbing Vine: he looks for something to lean on so he can grow, and sometimes clings to the wrong wall. But a vine is tougher than it looks once it finally finds its own sun.

癸

Cheon Da-hye 천다혜

Lee Joo-bin · Yin Water · The Rain

Da-hye is Soo-cheol's wife and, at first glance, the sweetest person in the Hong family. Her manner is kind and her smile constant, but not everything she shows is what it seems. She keeps secrets of her own that make her one of the most intriguing characters in the story.

If Da-hye had a Saju card, it would be Yin Water · The Rain: soft to the touch, silent as it falls and able to reach where nobody is looking. Rain seems harmless, but it knows every hidden path in the ground.

And what would your Saju be? Find out free with your birth date.

Why so many people fell for it

Queen of Tears has a bit of everything: a marriage-in-crisis comedy, chaebol intrigue, a romance that comes back to life and scenes that make you cry. The chemistry between Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won did the rest. It premiered on Netflix in Latin America in March 2024, and in Brazil as "Rainha das Lágrimas". It was reported as the most-watched Korean drama on Netflix by viewing hours: 682.6 million.

Facts

Written by Park Ji-eun; directed by Jang Young-woo and Kim Hee-won.
It has 16 episodes, and its finale hit 24.85%, an all-time record for tvN.
A Turkish remake has been announced.

Ending (spoilers)

Show the ending

Spoiler: Hae-in recovers and the couple rebuild their marriage. A time jump shows them living a long life together, until an elderly Hyun-woo visits Hae-in's grave and the two meet again beyond death. An ending that lives up to the title.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Queen of Tears about?

A marriage in crisis, that of Baek Hyun-woo and heiress Hong Hae-in, has to rethink everything when she receives serious news and the family company faces a hostile takeover attempt.

Who stars in Queen of Tears?

Kim Soo-hyun plays Baek Hyun-woo and Kim Ji-won plays Hong Hae-in. Park Sung-hoon, Kwak Dong-yeon and Lee Joo-bin round out the main cast as Eun-sung, Soo-cheol and Da-hye.

How many episodes does Queen of Tears have?

It has 16 episodes. tvN aired it in 2024 and it became the highest-rated series in the channel's history, with 24.85% for the final episode.