[Kdrama] Head Over Heels Plot Summary Ending Spoiler & Cast

“Fate’s Playground” and “The Shaman’s First Love” Head Over Heels is a spellbinding fantasy romance that blends the whimsy of youthful love with the mystique of supernatural powers. Premiering in June 2025, this tvN drama, adapted from the popular webtoon by Ahn Soo-min, quickly captured hearts with its unique premise and heartfelt storytelling. The series follows Park Seong-ah, an ordinary high school student by day and a gifted shaman, known as Fairy Cheon Ji, by night.

Seong-ah’s double life is filled with helping others navigate their futures, but her own fate takes a dramatic turn when she meets Bae Gyeon-woo, a new transfer student whose future is clouded by misfortune and an impending tragedy. The moment Seong-ah glimpses his doomed destiny, she vows to become his personal guardian, using her powers to rewrite his fate and protect him from the darkness that looms ahead.

The drama’s charm lies in its seamless blend of high school romance, supernatural intrigue, and the timeless struggle between destiny and free will. The chemistry between Cho Yi-hyun as Seong-ah and Choo Young-woo as Gyeon-woo is electric, drawing viewers into their journey of first love, sacrifice, and the courage to challenge the unknown.

Supporting characters, including the wise shaman Yeom-hwa and the mischievous spirit Kkotdoryeong, add depth and humor to the narrative, while the backdrop of school life and shamanic rituals creates a vibrant, immersive world. With its emotional depth, witty dialogue, and stunning visuals, Head Over Heels is a celebration of love’s power to transcend even the most insurmountable odds. Whether you’re a fan of fantasy, romance, or coming-of-age stories, this drama promises a magical ride that will leave you rooting for love to conquer all.

Kdrama Head Over Heels

Japanese: 巫女と彦星 (ギョヌと仙女) | Korean: 견우와 선녀 (Gyeonuwa Seonnyeo)
Revised romanization: Gyeonuwa Seonnyeo
Director: Kim Yong-wan
Writer: Yang Ji-hoon
Genre: Romance, Drama, Fantasy, Supernatural
Network: tvN
Release Date: June 23, 2025
Number of Episodes: 12
Airtime: Monday and Tuesday at 20:50 (KST)
Runtime: ~70 minutes per episode
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea
Planning/Production: CJ ENM, Studio Dragon, Dexter Studio, EO Contents Group
Cast: Cho Yi-hyun (Park Seong-ah / Fairy Cheon Ji), Choo Young-woo (Bae Gyeon-woo), Cha Kang-yoon (Pyo Ji-ho), Choo Ja-hyun (Yeom-hwa), Yoon Byung-hee (Kkotdoryeong), Kim Mi-kyung (Dong-cheon), Kim Min-joo (Gu Do-yeon)
Filming Period: –
Streaming: TVING (South Korea), Amazon Prime Video (selected regions)

Head Over Heels Cast

Park Seong-ah / Fairy Cheon Ji (Cho Yi-hyun): A high school student who leads a double life as a shaman. She is determined to protect her first love, Bae Gyeon-woo, from his doomed fate.

Selected filmography : The Matchmakers (2023): Jung Soon-deok, a resourceful and independent young widow in a historical romance.

Cho Yi-hyun Instagram: @yihyun_1208

Bae Gyeon-woo (Choo Young-woo): A new transfer student cursed with bad luck, destined to meet a tragic end.

Filmography representative work: Cheon Seung-hwi/Song Seo-in/Sung Yoon-gyeom in The Tale of Lady Ok (Baeksang Arts Award for Best New Actor).

Selected filmography :The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call (2025): Yang Jae-won, a skilled and compassionate emergency doctor.

Choo Young-woo Instagram: @choo_youngwoo

Pyo Ji-ho (Cha Kang-yoon): A fellow student and friend who adds tension and support to Seong-ah and Gyeon-woo’s story.

Selected filmography : The Art of Negotiation (2025): Choi Jin-soo, a young intern navigating the corporate world.

Cha Kang-yoon Instagram: @chakangyoon

Yeom-hwa (Choo Ja-hyun): An experienced shaman who guides Seong-ah and has chosen a darker path.

Choo Ja-hyun Instagram: @choojahyun_official

Head Over Heels Filming Locations

Donga Meister High School : 97 Chungjeong-ro, Dong-gu, Daejeon

502-3 Baegam-ri, Eumchi-eup, Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do

Cho-eun-dang Address 46-6 Bukhangang-ro 814beon-gil, Seojong-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do

Icheon Central Rodeo Street Address: Changjeon-dong, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do

Songhyeon Park-ro 11-9 Songhyeon-dong, Dong-gu, Incheon (12 minutes on foot from Dongincheon Station Exit 4)

Muare Gangga’s House 1623-13 Bukhangang-ro, Cheongpyeong-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do

Gyoyukwon-ro 3 Jungang-dong, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (13 minutes on foot from Government Complex Gwacheon Station Exit 6)

Suwon Bus Terminal 270 Gyeongsu-daero, Gwonseon-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do

Jukdoam 24 Inguhaeng-gil, Hyeonnam-myeon, Yangyang-gun, Gangwon-do

Yecheon Jinhoyang Archery Range 38 Yanggungjang-gil, Yecheon-eup, Yecheon-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do

Head Over Heels Plot Summary

Park Sung-ah is an ordinary high school girl by day, but at night, she is the highly skilled shaman Chunji Seonnyeo (Heaven and Earth Fairy), living a double life for five years. One evening, Kyun-woo and his mother visit Seonnyeo’s shrine, but Kyun-woo enters upside down, hanging from the ceiling—a sign that only a shaman like Seonnyeo can see, indicating that death is near. Kyun-woo has been plagued by accidents since childhood, and as he grows older, the bad luck only intensifies, making it impossible for him to leave the house without worry.

Kyun-woo’s mother spends all her savings visiting every famous fortune teller, but nothing changes. Kyun-woo, who thought shamans were all frauds, bluntly asks Sung-ah, “Is it good to make money by feeding off others’ pain?” and storms out of the shrine. Kyun-woo, who loathed shamanism, leaves immediately, but Seonnyeo falls in love with him at first sight—he is her perfect ideal.

The next day, Kyun-woo transfers to Sung-ah’s class. He is so unlucky that he constantly gets hurt and brings misfortune wherever he goes, leading to gossip and avoidance, so he frequently changes schools. Now, he transfers to Seonnyeo’s class. Kyun-woo is so unlucky that just by being present, he attracts all the wandering spirits haunting the school. When Sung-ah sees Kyun-woo for the first time, she thinks his arrival is fate—Chunji Seonnyeo is meant to save him.

However, Kyun-woo dislikes people approaching him and does not realize Sung-ah is a shaman because she always covers her face during rituals.

Sung-ah secretly writes talismans and slips them into Kyun-woo’s bag, sticking to him like a leech to drive away the spirits. Kyun-woo has been unlucky since birth, constantly getting hurt even in his early childhood. Eventually, his bad luck starts affecting those around him. People avoid him, saying being with him brings bad luck, so Kyun-woo moves from place to place, living as a pariah.

At his previous school, the first friend who approached him was seriously injured in a traffic accident. Kyun-woo finds it harder to bear the pain of others getting hurt because of him than his own misfortune, so he deliberately acts cold toward everyone. But Sung-ah is not discouraged by his harshness, unafraid of his bad luck, and remains unshaken by his indifference, always staying by his side.

After meeting Sung-ah, Kyun-woo spends his days peacefully for the first time in years, feeling ordinary for the first time in his life. He apologizes to Sung-ah for his past behavior, and they become friends. During a school trip, Seonnyeo sticks close to Kyun-woo, performing rituals to ward off bad luck, and Kyun-woo slowly opens his heart to her.

As Sung-ah begins to change Kyun-woo’s fate, the bad luck that once plagued him starts to accumulate around her. But when Kyun-woo unknowingly tears up the talisman Sung-ah hid for him, the suppressed bad luck explodes uncontrollably, leading to a major accident. To save Kyun-woo, Sung-ah performs a ritual in his hospital room, but the force of the bad luck overwhelms her, and she collapses. Kyun-woo’s adoptive mother (the guardian spirit) appears and defeats the evil spirits.

From then on, Sung-ah continues to take on Kyun-woo’s bad luck, collapsing from exhaustion. Eventually, Kyun-woo learns that Sung-ah is a shaman and has been protecting him all along. Sung-ah, overwhelmed by the accumulated bad luck, reaches her limit, and Kyun-woo suffers another accident, losing consciousness. In truth, Sung-ah has been acting as a dam, absorbing Kyun-woo’s bad luck with her own body.

The bad luck only temporarily subsides; it never truly disappears. When Sung-ah is momentarily distracted, the dam breaks, and a massive wave of bad luck overwhelms Kyun-woo. It is not Sung-ah’s fault, but she blames herself. Weakened, Sung-ah secretly performs rituals in Kyun-woo’s hospital room and collapses again. This time, her adoptive mother appears and defeats the spirits oppressing Kyun-woo.

Afterward, Sung-ah realizes the limits of protecting Kyun-woo in secret and wants to tell him the truth, but Kyun-woo is so repulsed by shamanism that she cannot bring herself to confess. Eventually, Kyun-woo finds out that Sung-ah is Chunji Seonnyeo and decides to avoid her and transfer schools again. Sung-ah is hurt, but when she dreams of Kyun-woo dying in a bus accident, she rushes to save him once more.

In truth, Kyun-woo avoids Sung-ah not because he dislikes her being a shaman, but because he is overwhelmed with guilt. For the first time in his life, he felt peaceful and happy by her side, only to realize it was all thanks to her sacrifice. He leaves because he does not want her to suffer because of him.

Kyun-woo confesses his true feelings to Sung-ah when she comes to save him, and Sung-ah confesses, “I protected you because I liked you—because I wanted to. Come back with me, and I’ll save you.” Kyun-woo confesses his love in return, and they become a couple. Even though Kyun-woo had always hated shamanism, he is now filled with guilt knowing that Sung-ah’s sacrifice allowed him to be at peace. But Sung-ah reaches out to him first, and they start dating.

They promise to face any hardship together from now on.

One day, while enjoying sweet, peaceful moments, an article is published revealing Chunji Seonnyeo’s true identity as Park Sung-ah. Pyo Ji-ho likes Sung-ah, so Park A-young, who likes Pyo Ji-ho, anonymously tips off a reporter about Sung-ah’s identity. Sung-ah’s parents never accepted that their daughter was different. Only after their daughter collapsed and was bedridden for a year did they take her to a shaman’s house. Seeing that the child was sick for a year while the parents remained unaffected, General Dongcheon takes in the lonely Sung-ah as her spiritual daughter.

Sung-ah’s parents abandon her to General Dongcheon and rarely visit, only returning years later to exploit her fame as a miraculous shaman. After six years, when the lies Sung-ah’s mother made up for TV are exposed, Sung-ah is quickly pushed out of the spotlight, and all blame falls on her and General Dongcheon. Sung-ah’s biological parents continue to try to use her, but General Dongcheon lies, saying Sung-ah has lost her spiritual powers. Her parents leave with only empty bank accounts.

Despite being abandoned, Sung-ah dreams of her parents dying and wants to help them. General Dongcheon blocks their path to death to save them. When her parents realize Sung-ah still has her powers, they try to take her back. Sung-ah changes her name from Park Seo-ah to Park Sung-ah and hides her identity with General Dongcheon.

But when Park A-young reveals that Sung-ah is Chunji Seonnyeo and the famous child shaman from years ago, people treat her as a fraud. After appearing on TV, Sung-ah’s parents return, shamelessly seeking money. Her mother even tells reporters that General Dongcheon stole her daughter.

Enraged, General Dongcheon punishes both the mother and the reporters. She raises Sung-ah as her own daughter. General Dongcheon’s real daughter died from a spiritual illness because her husband refused to let her receive the spirits. After losing her daughter, General Dongcheon was filled with regret and self-blame, but meeting Sung-ah felt like a second chance from the gods. She never thought of Sung-ah as a replacement, but as her own daughter from the moment they met.

Eventually, Sung-ah’s identity as a shaman is revealed at school, and she is misunderstood as a fraud. At first, she is ostracized and ridiculed, but as she helps some classmates, her relationships gradually improve. Meanwhile, Park A-young, exposed as the one who leaked the photos, angrily tears up the talismans Sung-ah posted around the school. Those talismans were meant to trap wandering spirits and bad luck, as the school grounds were notoriously unlucky.

Destroying the talismans causes all the bad luck to cling to Park A-young, and she suffers a series of accidents, including a traffic collision. Afterward, she and her sister, who was also injured, use the money the sister had saved to ask Sung-ah for a ritual to ward off bad luck. After receiving the ritual, Park A-young drops out and moves to the countryside to take the GED.

Meanwhile, Hee-joo, the friend who first approached Kyun-woo and was injured in the accident, returns. In truth, Hee-joo’s kindness was out of sudden pity, and she realized that being seen with Kyun-woo improved her reputation. She never considered Kyun-woo a real friend. After the accident, she was left with a scarred face and became a recluse. Seeing photos of Kyun-woo and Sung-ah together on SNS, she is enraged.

Hee-joo demands that Kyun-woo break up with Sung-ah and return with her to their old school. Sung-ah bluntly tells her that the accident was not Kyun-woo’s fault, but her own fate. “You didn’t get caught in Kyun-woo’s accident—Kyun-woo got caught in yours. Stop blaming him,” she says.

After Hee-joo leaves, Sung-ah and Kyun-woo become seniors. Thanks to the ring Sung-ah made for him, Kyun-woo lives peacefully, free from bad luck. Talismans work as well as you believe in them, and since Kyun-woo fully trusts Sung-ah, bad luck cannot touch him. However, the spirit Sung-ah serves appears in her dream and tells her to stop saving Kyun-woo.

Fifteen years ago, a ghost told General Dongcheon that a special child would come, and not to refuse her. The spirit is displeased that Kyun-woo, a mere lump of bad luck, is by Sung-ah’s side. The spirit threatens to cut off Sung-ah’s connection to the spirits if she does not distance herself from Kyun-woo.

But Sung-ah refuses to abandon Kyun-woo. The moment she does, the ring she made for Kyun-woo rusts, and Kyun-woo is seriously injured. Facing the bad luck meant for Kyun-woo, Sung-ah begs General Dongcheon to save him. General Dongcheon says that what is fated cannot be changed, and the only way is to sever his connection to the spirits.

Sung-ah decides to save Kyun-woo by bringing him back from the brink of death. This means she must die as well. Kyun-woo vehemently opposes this, knowing he could not bear the guilt if Sung-ah died for him. He feels it would be shameless and despicable to let her sacrifice herself.

But regardless of Kyun-woo’s objections, Sung-ah has already made up her mind…

Head Over Heels Ending Spoiler

Sung-ah secretly prepares everything, knocks Kyun-woo unconscious, and performs a ritual to sever his connection to fate, wearing a shroud. During the ritual, as she searches for Kyun-woo at the river of death, the spirit appears, sees her in the shroud, and asks, “Why are you wearing that?” and cries. The spirit declares, “If you are willing to give up your own life, how can I stop you? I admit defeat.”

In truth, General Dongcheon had a bet with the spirit. The spirit thought Sung-ah’s feelings for Kyun-woo were trivial, but General Dongcheon said Sung-ah would cross the river of death for him. The spirit accepted the bet, thinking no one would dare face death, but General Dongcheon knew Sung-ah would do anything for those she loved.

The moment the spirit gives up, Sung-ah finds Kyun-woo and brings him back to the world of the living. Thus, the bad luck and fate that plagued Kyun-woo come to an end, and he is no longer doomed to an unlucky life.

Meanwhile, Sung-ah realizes that the first person she ever wanted to help was Kyun-woo. When she was a child, just after receiving her spiritual powers, General Dongcheon told her never to interfere with others’ fates unless asked. But when she saw a boy covered in bandages, she could not help but want to help him. She wrote a small talisman and gave it to him inside a pair of grape candies. Ironically, the “lucky double grapes” were actually given to her by Kyun-woo months earlier.

When Sung-ah was abandoned by her parents and crying on the apartment stairs, Kyun-woo (without bandages) gave her the double grape candy. Months later, Sung-ah gave the candy with a talisman inside to the bandaged Kyun-woo. Thus, their fates were intertwined from childhood—destined to protect each other.

Kyun-woo tells Sung-ah, “I’ve lived my whole life without any luck, but the reason I could endure was not because I was strong or because I gave up. I just knew that even if I wasn’t born with luck, I would find it someday. The luck I found is you, Park Sung-ah.”

Kyun-woo gets accepted into his dream university in Seoul. Sung-ah, who studied hard to go to the same school, senses she will not make it. To stay close to Kyun-woo, she moves Chunji Seonnyeo’s shrine to his neighborhood six months in advance. The final year of the webtoon’s epilogue ends with Kyun-woo and Sung-ah embracing after his military service. The couple, who overcame countless hardships, are all smiles, with not a shadow of darkness in sight.

Korean Drama Head Over Heels Review

Head Over Heels is a refreshing addition to the fantasy romance genre, praised for its imaginative premise, strong performances, and emotional depth. The chemistry between Cho Yi-hyun and Choo Young-woo is a highlight, and the supporting cast adds richness to the narrative. The drama’s blend of school life and supernatural elements creates a unique atmosphere that appeals to a wide audience. While the plot is still unfolding, early episodes have been well-received, with viewers commending the show’s creativity and heartfelt storytelling.

Head Over Heels stands out as a must-watch for fans of fantasy, romance, and coming-of-age stories. Its blend of supernatural intrigue, school life, and heartfelt emotion makes it a standout drama for 2025. The series is expected to continue gaining popularity as it unfolds, thanks to its talented cast, compelling story, and global accessibility.

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