Jung Hae-in Plays a Boxing Coach Chasing Lost Love in New Netflix Series

Netflix is leaning into rom-com territory again with a new series built around amnesia, a boxing gym, and a boyfriend who may not be telling the truth. "Love, Take Two" (Ireon Yeotgateun Sarang) premieres August 7 on Netflix, the streamer confirmed.

The series follows Go Eun-sae, a prosecutor who wakes up with no memory of her past life, and Jang Tae-ha, a boxing coach who insists he is her boyfriend and moves in with her. What starts as an odd pairing turns into a sweet-and-salty romance built on a connection the two can't seem to shake. Go is played by Ha Young, with Jung Hae-in as Tae-ha and Heo Sung-tae rounding out the main cast as a menacing crime boss.

Jung's Tae-ha is designed to keep viewers guessing. In new stills released ahead of the premiere, he appears in two very different modes. In one, he flashes a bright, easy smile in casual clothes inside his boxing gym. In another, he is in a sharp black suit with neatly styled hair, staring off with a much heavier look in his eyes. That gap between the warm coach and the man with a secret is the hook.

Jung described Tae-ha as a straight-down-the-line devoted romantic. "He does everything he can to protect the person he loves, no matter the situation," the actor said. "He also has this charming, clumsy side that catches you off guard." Jung said he tried to keep the shifts natural as Tae-ha moves between his life as a hungry boxer and his role as a syndicate executive. "After he meets Go Eun-sae again, he's fighting to protect her and struggling with himself at the same time. I paid a lot of attention to those small details."

Ha's character comes with her own double life. Before the amnesia, she was Go Ji-won, an elite prosecutor who chased every case that could push her career forward. While tracking a violent crime organization, she gets pulled into an accident that changes everything. She wakes up injured in an unfamiliar countryside hospital with no memory of who she is.

"Go Ji-won ran after what she wanted without thinking twice," Ha said. "Losing her memory strips all of that away and brings her back to who she really is. Watching her grow through Tae-ha's love and the people around her felt tender to me. She's the kind of character you can't stay mad at, even when she does something a little awful."

The show's antagonist adds the edge. Heo plays Baek Sang-gil, the boss of the organization Tae-ha once served. Baek has scrubbed his identity clean and lives with no visible link to his past. When he learns that the prosecutor he thought he had erased is still alive, he sets out to track her down.

"Baek Sang-gil raises the tension of the show just by walking into a scene," Heo said. He said he spent a lot of time thinking about the gap between the polished version of Baek in public and the man underneath. "I wanted to keep him composed on the surface and push the cruelty out in a dry, cold way rather than a loud one."

Director Kim Jang-han said the casting fell into place quickly. "Tae-ha had to be strong and sweet and sometimes a little dorky all at once, and Jung Hae-in fit the character perfectly," he said. "He handled the romance and the heavy action scenes with real range." He praised Ha for finding the warmth in a role that could have played as unlikable, and credited Heo with turning Baek into something more layered than a standard villain. "Baek needed an actor who could show more than one face, and Heo Sung-tae brought so much expression and so many ideas to it."

With a top-of-the-line rom-com lead, a rising young actress and one of Korea's most reliable screen villains, "Love, Take Two" is shaping up as one of Netflix's more closely watched Korean releases of the summer. It arrives August 7.