MBC drama ‘The Phone Call You‘re Dialing Now’, starring Yoo Yeon-seok and Chae Soo-bin, is in its final spurt to end on a high note.

The drama, which began to gain momentum in the latter half of the broadcast, is determined to lead the drama to box office success by retrieving all the ‘teaser’ that it has given up so far, such as Yoo Yeon-seok’s true identity, in the two episodes remaining until the finale on the 4th.

The drama, which tells the story of a show window couple in a political marriage who receive a threatening phone call, first aired on November 22nd of last year and recorded an average viewership rating of 6% (Nielsen Korea), becoming a word-of-mouth sensation in the middle and latter half of the broadcast.

Although the viewership ratings were not high compared to its rival drama in the same time slot, SBS‘s “The Fiery Priest 2,” it maintained the top spot in topicality surveys for terrestrial broadcasters and various OTT dramas throughout December.

Also, it was released through OTT and ranked in the Netflix Top 10 in 78 countries around the world and 2nd overall on Netflix globally (based on non-English categories). In addition, Yoo Yeon-seok, who plays the role of Baek Sa-eon, the spokesperson for the Blue House, has surpassed all other popular stars, including the leads in competing dramas, to take the top spot in topicality, enjoying the hottest popularity since his debut.

The secret to the drama’s popularity comes from the solid story that has continued from the original web novel of the same name and the chemistry between the two leads.

While dramatizing the web novel, they only changed some of the settings to lower the sensationalism, and kept the original narrative and lines intact.

Thanks to this, “Hee-joo is not a supplement, but a completely new language. Don‘t talk nonsense about my wife,” “Tell me how I can hate you. How I can not love you,” “I want to protect you too once,” etc. are addictive lines that stimulate viewers’ interest while being cringey.

Viewers are responding, saying that “it seems childish, but it has a bewitching charm that makes you keep watching.” The synchronization between the male and female leads that seem to have jumped straight out of the original also played a part.

The author of the original web novel, Geon-eo Mul-nyeo, praised the character, saying, “The synchronization rate with the original character is 200%,” and “Now, when I read the original, I can hear Yoo Yeon-seok’s voice. Baek Sa-eon in the drama, which is more refined than the original, feels sexier.”


Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com