Channel A‘s ‘The Witch’ has started off smoothly with overwhelming immersion from the first episode.

Channel A’s Saturday-Sunday drama ‘The Witch’, which first aired on the 15th, interestingly portrayed Dong-jin‘s (Park Jin-young) data mining, while delicately unraveling the process through which he decides to use it to break the law of death that follows Mi-jeong (Noh Jeong-ui). The viewership ratings on that day recorded 2.6% in the metropolitan area, and a peak of 3.3%, recording the highest viewership ratings for a Channel A drama’s first episode ever, signaling a pleasant start. (Provided by Nielsen Korea, based on pay TV households)

In particular, the special appearances of Joo Ji-hoon, Yoon Park, Kim Hye-ok, and Hyun Bong-sik, who shined in the first episode, added to the pleasant fun. Above all, director Kim Tae-gyun‘s sensual directing, which filled the beauty of blank space with overwhelming immersion, and Park Jin-young and Noh Jeong-ui’s solid acting, which expressed the characters‘ emotions in detail, further strengthened the atmosphere of the mystery romance. As the fresh profession of data miner uniquely unfolded the love story and announced a strong start, expectations for future developments are also rising.

Dong-jin’s data mining skills, which infer information through data obtained by observing the other person, opened the door and captured attention in the broadcast that day. Dong-jin analyzed the behavioral patterns of customers at the casino and found the ‘pain point’, that is, people who lost a lot of money and reached the limit where they would never visit the casino again. The hotel provided free meals and accommodation vouchers to those customers in order to increase the sustainability of the casino.

Even while giving a statement at the police station after being hit by a car bomb, his outstanding ability was on full display. Based on various data such as the clothes that were stained, dog hair on the clothes, and the same habits, the tracksuit guy (Joo Ji-hoon) and the suit guy (Yoon Park) who fought and exercised their right to remain silent all the way to the police station were found to be brothers who lived in the same house. It was a scene that immediately impressed not only the detective (Hyun Bong-sik), who was unfamiliar with the term data miner, but also the viewers, with what he did.

The meeting between Dong-jin and Mi-jung that followed drew attention to the painful narrative of the two. Dong-jin saw Mi-jung, whom he had not heard from for a long time, on the subway on his way home. Mi-jung, who was receiving a confession from a man, glared at him with a face that said she was sick. That Mi-jung was the same as the one Dong-jin remembered from high school. Even then, Mi-jung was always alone, looked lonely, and was somehow sharp when dealing with people. Dong-jin was always concerned about her being alone.

The reason Mi-jung was always alone was because of groundless rumors surrounding her. Strange things often happened at school back then. Someone was stung by a wasp, someone was hit by a car, and someone was even struck by lightning and died. The common denominator in all these mysterious incidents was that Mi-jung was at the scene of the accident. Because of this, her school friends called Mi-jung a “witch”, saying, “If you get involved with her, bad things happen as if you’re cursed.” Dong-jin was the only one who thought it was a “hasty generalization error.”

An accident happened again on the day of the field trip in the second semester. Mi-jung trembled in fear as she watched a male student being carried away bleeding. The male student with an injured leg looked at Mi-jung with resentful eyes, saying, “Be careful with him.” After that, Mi-jung spent more time alone, and Dong-jin was concerned about her. So, he set up an awning for Mijung, who always ate lunch alone in the blazing sun in a remote corner. A happy smile spread across Dongjin’s face as he watched her eat her lunch in the shade.

In March, when the year changed and the third grade began, a male student in the same class died from electrocution. As expected, Mijung was by his side. As the accidents continued, the students once again started saying, “Don’t go near Park Mijung. You might die,” and eventually Mijung was branded a “witch.” Seeing Mijung so completely alone, Dongjin thought that he had to talk to her this time. However, Mijung, who was full of wounds, left school forever, and Dongjin had to keep it in his heart without ever saying, “Hello, I’m Lee Dongjin.”

When he met Mijung again on the subway as time passed, she was still accompanied by a terrible curse. The subway confession man collapsed after Mi-jung left. Dong-jin felt sorry for Mi-jung, who left school and wanted to live well, but still lived in loneliness and with the guilt of hurting someone. And he decided to break the law of death with his own ability and save Mi-jung from the curse. Dong-jin‘s ending, where he asked with tearful eyes, “Do you think there’s a ‘witch’?”, left a deep impression and raised curiosity about the next episode. The second episode of Channel A‘s Saturday-Sunday drama, ’Witch‘, will air today (the 16th) at 9:10 p.m. (UTC).

Photo=’Witch‘ video capture

Reporter Lee Seul-bi, Donga.com misty82@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.