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| How to Become a Building Owner in Korea / Photo: tvN screenshot |
[Sports Today reporter Jung Ye-won] ‘How to Become a Building Owner in Korea’ captivated viewers with unpredictable twists and a film-like intensity.
The premiere of tvN’s new weekend drama ‘How to Become a Building Owner in Korea’ (hereafter ‘Building Owner’), which aired on the 14th, opens with Koo Soo-jong (Ha Jung-woo) — a landlord who has borrowed against everything (‘yeongkkeul’) — teetering on the brink of losing his building before being pulled into what appears to be a staged kidnapping. Nielsen Korea reported that episode 1 averaged a 4.1% nationwide household rating and peaked at 5.1%. In the Seoul metropolitan area it averaged 4.4% and peaked at 5.4%, ranking first in its timeslot among cable and general programming channels.
Koo Soo-jong bought the modest, three-story Seyun Building, but ownership hasn’t brought security. He juggles side gigs handing out flyers and delivering food to cover loan interest, frets over monthly repayments and even buys his wife’s birthday present secondhand. He clings to a single hope: he must hold on until redevelopment — no matter what — and he endures day by day.
That fragile stability is upended when Koo receives an unsettling call from a shadowy finance firm called Real Capital. They tell him he must surrender the building if he doesn’t repay. When he tries to reason with the company’s representative, Yona (Shim Eun-kyung), and finds no empathy, he name-checks his brother-in-law, Kim Gyun (Kim Nam-gil), a detective with the major crimes unit. Discovering that Real Capital has even compiled a list of his creditors convinces him something darker is at play.
Preoccupied by the building dispute, Koo misses a couples counseling session with his wife, Kim Sun (Im Soo-jung), and even taps into their daughter’s study-abroad fund, straining the marriage further. Refusing to collapse, he scrambles to raise cash by any means and turns to his brother-in-law for help.
That night, while investigating Real Capital, Kim Gyun dies in a car crash. At the scene Koo spots a mortician (Lee Shin-gi) standing beside Yona. Convinced Real Capital may be connected to Kim’s death, Koo flees in terror. At the funeral he learns Kim had applied for his severance pay to lend money to Koo, a revelation that leaves him consumed by guilt.
The episode ends on a shocking note. Returning to Seyun Building intent on calling the police, Koo hears suspicious thumping in an empty underground freezer. When he opens the door, he finds his friend Min Hwal-seong (Kim Jun-han) — who had been asking about the freezer — and Min’s wife Jeon I-kyung (Jung Soo-jung), bound and apparently abducted. The scene closes on Koo’s stunned face, leaving viewers eager to learn what really happened and building anticipation for episode 2.
Meanwhile, ‘How to Become a Building Owner in Korea’ airs its second episode on the 15th at 9:10 PM.
[Sports Today reporter Jung Ye-won ent@stoo.com]
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