Park Hyung-sik and Seo Kang-joon, who garnered attention for their ‘Weekend Drama Battle’, traded ‘General’ and ‘Mong-gun’.

On the same day and at the same time, they released leading roles and entered the box office competition, each recording ‘1 win’ in viewership ratings and buzz.

Park Hyung-sik and Seo Kang-joon previously worked together as close friends in the 2015 KBS 2TV drama ‘What‘s With This Family’, which had a viewership rating of over 40%, so attention was focused on their long-awaited battle.

Park Hyung-sik succeeded in taking the lead in viewership ratings. SBS’s Friday-Saturday drama ‘Treasure Island’, which aired from the 21st, received praise for Park Hyung-sik‘s outstanding acting transformation, rising from 6.1% in the first episode (Nielsen Korea) to 8.1% the next day, a 2%P increase in just two episodes.

Park Hyung-sik, who had mainly shown romantic acting with the title ‘Baby Soldier’ for a long time, captured the attention of viewers by transforming into a charismatic and ambitious executive of a large corporation in the drama.

Thanks to Park Hyung-sik’s passionate acting, the drama ranked first among the competing works in the same time slot. MBC‘s ‘Undercover High School’, starring Seo Kang-joon, took second place.
‘Undercover High School’ is Seo Kang-joon’s comeback drama three years after his military service. It is a comic action drama that depicts the adventures of a National Intelligence Service agent who goes undercover as a high school student to track down the whereabouts of Emperor Gojong‘s missing gold bars.

Seo Kang-joon plays the role of Jung Hae-sung, the ‘ace’ agent of the National Intelligence Service, and shows off action scenes without sparing his body as a high school student in his school uniform. The drama rose from 5.6% in the first episode to 6.6% in the second episode.

Contrary to the viewership ratings, Seo Kang-joon dominated in terms of topicality.

In a TV·OTT topicality survey compiled by Good Data Corporation, ‘Undercover High School’ ranked first in both TV and OTT categories. The drama will also be released through OTTs such as Wave and Tving.

In addition, in a survey on the popularity of cast members, Seo Kang-joon took first place, beating out Park Hyung-sik, who was in second place.



Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com

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