Twisted Thriller Kdramas Like The Manipulated: Since I have not seen the movie Fabricated City, which 조각도시 is inspired by, I went in with no clue about the plot or the feelings that I was supposed to experience. But upon the commencement of the first episode, the impact was comparable to that of a freight train. One moment, I am getting comfy, thinking, “Let’s see the plot,” and the next, I am totally captivated by Ji Chang-wook’s portrayal of Park Tae-joon, a man whose life is being dismantled with such cold and precise cinematography that even I feel as if I am trapped with him.
And when Doh Kyung-soo, aka D.O.’s Yohan, came into the picture, he brought such an unsettling calmness with him that I had the realisation: this drama is serious. What’s more, I’m guilty of being an absolute sucker for those kinds of twisted, revenge-heavy thrillers, where the demarcation between victim and monster is so faint that it keeps on disappearing, and my brain instantaneously searched for more.
If you are like me, one who enjoys and consumes dark K-dramas filled with conspiracies, mind games, and flawed heroes fighting against systems that are meant to crush them, then believe me, you are in the right place. Korean thrillers have a unique way of pulling us down into the darkness and making us enjoy the descent.
So, here is the list, if you are in the mood for more Kdramas like The Manipulated, which shares that same gritty pulse, high-stakes tension, and heart-pounding storytelling, but, nonetheless, each one is unforgettable in its own way.
Thriller Kdramas Like The Manipulated
Big Mouth
Just like Disney+’s The Manipulated did, Big Mouth sends a regular guy into the lion’s den of a corrupted world. Lee Jong-suk plays Park Chang-ho, an unsuccessful lawyer framed as a genius criminal mastermind and dragged into a ruthless system where the powerful rewrite the truth. Prison becomes a battleground for survival: alliances are forged under pressure, and a once-ordinary man becomes a danger capable of tearing down the system that sought to erase him. The fragility of “truth” while being manipulated by technology, influence, and money is the theme of both series.
If you loved following Tae-joon’s transformation, Big Mouth delivers the very same addictive satisfaction in watching a broken man rebuild himself. Lee Jong-suk’s character arc, from timid to terrifying, is incredibly rewarding, and the drama keeps you guessing until the final episode. The writing is sharp, the visuals are gritty, and one senses constant danger-mirroring tension similar to that of K-drama The Manipulated. It’s among the most stylish and clever of prison-conspiracy thrillers there are.
One Ordinary Day
One Ordinary Day shares the very same DNA as The Manipulated: an innocent man whose life collapses overnight. Kim Soo-hyun plays Kim Hyeon-su, a college student wrongfully accused of murder, thrown into a corrupted legal system that bends facts, manipulates evidence, and treats him as expendable. Much like Tae-joon, he has to go through psychological breakdowns, prison cruelty, and betrayal from the very system that is to protect him. Both dramas reveal how justice can be weaponised and how survival forces characters to evolve in very unsettling ways.
Kim Soo-hyun’s raw, heartbreaking performance alone makes the drama unmissable. It is emotionally realistic in terms of its grounding-the early episodes remind one a lot of The Manipulated, wherein every scene feels stifling. The pacing is taut, the corruption in the legal system painfully realistic, and the series does not baulk at showing the psychological toll which false accusations take. If what you’re looking for is a deeply human yet brutally honest thriller, this one hits hard.
Defendant
Defendant tells a story of a highly respected prosecutor who is put in jail and accused of murder, most significantly of his wife and daughter, but he cannot remember at all. Similar to the manipulation in The Manipulated, this storyline is built on fabricated evidence, rich people distorting the truth, and one person trying to retrieve his life that has been stolen from him. The villain, played impeccably by Uhm Ki-joon, rivals D.O.’s chilling presence, which comes across as calculating, merciless, and always one step ahead.
Pure adrenaline is what this drama is. The tension between the good guy and the bad in this cat-and-mouse game is electric. What really makes this kdrama similar to The Manipulated is how the danger keeps escalating, the truth becomes a puzzle of lies, and how the protagonist goes from broken to unstoppable. The writing is tight, emotional, and full of twists that never feel forced. It’s a classic for a reason.
The Devil Judge
It is not a framed-hero story, but The Devil Judge has so much in common with The Manipulated: systemic corruption, manipulation of evidence, manipulation through the media, and psychological manipulation. The drama depicts court trials broadcast like reality shows set in the middle of dystopian Korea, while the truth is moulded by those in power. Narrative fabrication, manipulation of facts, and the weaponisation of public perception are all committed by high-ranking the same kind of world that crushed Tae-joon.
If you were intrigued by the ice control and technological manipulations of Yohan, this drama takes it to the extreme. Sleek, provocative, visually stunning, and powered by Ji Sung’s magnetic performance, the moral ambiguity keeps you hooked-no one is ever who they seem, and justice is a performance. If you love thrillers that would change your perception of morality and power, then this is something you shouldn’t miss watching!
Black Out
Black Out tells the story of a man, Ko Jeong-u, whose teenage years, played by Byun Yo-han, were ruined by a terrible case that involved the killing of two girls, no bodies at the scene, and he being blamed while blackout drunk. After serving a long prison term, he tries to piece together a quiet life but is back in a village where another gruesome find seems to indicate that the original crime was never solved and that something much darker lurks beneath.
This series is reminiscent of The Manipulated in that it revolves around imperfect memory and questionable proof in a neighbourhood where what seems to be is, in reality, a very dangerous truth. The distrustful atmosphere, the peeling off of layers of participation in the investigation, and the weak hold that the protagonist has on his own past are, just like in the case of Tae-joon, reflections of the struggle to differentiate reality from manufactured lies.
I really liked this drama due to its combination of slowly developing mystery with emotional impact. Byun Yo-han supports the narrative with an exhausted, ghostly performance that keeps every moment of doubt significant. The village location increases the sense of isolation, as one feels that everybody might be guilty; at the same time, the tension rises with small disclosures that soon add up to a very alarming image of people’s ways of protecting or betraying one another. If you found Kdramas such as The Manipulated fascinating regarding psychological unravelling and moral ambiguity, then what Black Out has to offer in that respect is similar but with a darker, more rural mystery twist.
