MBC‘s ‘The Phone Call You’re Dialing Now’ foreshadows a tense alliance between Yoo Yeon-seok and Chae Soo-bin‘s families.

MBC’s new Friday-Saturday drama ‘The Phone Call You‘re Dialing Now’ (planned by Kwon Sung-chang/ directed by Park Sang-woo, Wi Deuk-gyu/ written by Kim Ji-woon/ produced by Bon Factory, Baram Pictures), scheduled to premiere on the 22nd (Friday) at 9:50 PM, is a secret romance thriller about a show window couple in their third year of an arranged marriage that starts with a threatening phone call.

As the first broadcast date approaches, interest in the drama is heating up, and on the 11th (today), still cuts of Yoo Yeon-seok (as Baek Sa-eon), Chae Soo-bin (as Hong Hee-joo), as well as Han Jae-yi (as Hong In-ah), Yoo Seong-joo (as Baek Eui-yong), Chu Sang-mi (as Shim Gyu-jin), Choi Kwang-il (as Hong Kyung-il), and Oh Hyun-kyung (as Kim Yeon-hee) were released.

Yoo Yeon-seok and Chae Soo-bin will return to the small screen as the show window couple ‘Baek Sa-eon’ and ‘Hong Hee-joo’. The two may look like they’re made for each other, but in reality, they‘re a couple in a political marriage, and they have a strict business relationship where they don’t even say a word to each other at home. This is because they‘re a close alliance between Baek Ui-yong (played by Yoo Sung-joo), who’s aiming for the next presidency, and Hong Il-kyung (played by Choi Kwang-il), the owner of the top media company in Korea.



Han Jae-yi will play the role of Hong In-ah, the stepsister of Hong Hee-joo (played by Chae Soo-bin) and the real fiancée of Baek Sa-eon (played by Yoo Yeon-seok). In-ah was supposed to be Sa-eon‘s wife, but she suddenly disappears the day before the wedding, and Hee-joo becomes her substitute. Curiosity is piqued as to why In-ah disappeared. In-ah, who suddenly appears in front of her family like a time bomb, is expected to add new tension to the drama. Expectations are high for Han Jae-yi’s performance as she transforms her acting.

Yoo Sung-joo plays the role of ‘Baek Ui-yong’, a strong presidential candidate and Sa-eon‘s father. Unlike himself, Ui-yong feels a complex toward his son because Sa-eon resembles his father, Baek Jang-ho (played by Jung Dong-hwan), a big-time politician. With a strong ambition for the presidency, he uses Sa-eon, who is the most trustworthy and likable, to seize the opportunity to win the presidential election by any means necessary, creating tense tension in the drama.

Sa-eon’s mother, ‘Shim Gyu-jin’, is played by Chu Sang-mi. Gyu-jin, who comes from a prestigious family of educators and has the qualifications of a criminal psychologist and negotiation expert, struggles to make her husband Ui-yong the president. Although she has fancy titles such as the daughter-in-law of a prominent political family, the mother of the presidential office spokesperson, and a capable criminal psychologist, she exudes a dark and unfortunate aura somewhere. Attention is focused on what kind of story Gyu-jin has and the unexpected tectonic shift that Chu Sang-mi will bring about.

Choi Kwang-il and Oh Hyun-kyung play the roles of Hong Il-kyung, the chairman of the media company Cheongun Ilbo, and his second wife, Kim Yeon-hee. Hee-joo‘s adoptive father, Il-kyung, monopolized scoops by receiving news articles or scandals about government officials during the lifetime of Assemblyman Baek Jang-ho, and grew the family business. Now, he mainly prevents accidents that Ui-yong causes and calls himself the kingmaker of his in-laws’ family. Yeon-hee, who thinks that turning her fate around through remarriage was the best thing she has ever done in her life, has become an expert at manipulating and gaslighting her daughter as she pleases. It makes one wonder what moves this couple will make as they traded their children as hostages in order to form a strategic partnership with the Baek family.

Yoo Yeon-seok, Chae Soo-bin, Han Jae-yi, Yoo Seong-ju, Chu Sang-mi, Choi Kwang-il, and Oh Hyun-kyung will hold their own in the drama as they portray the tangled narrative of the two families with a strong collusion relationship. Attention is being paid to the outcome of ‘The Phone Call You Dialed’, which will be completed with various characters that change along with the incident.

‘The Phone Call You Dialed’, based on the popular Kakao Page web novel of the same name, is the result of writer Kim Ji-woon, who has demonstrated solid writing skills in ‘Melancholia’ and ‘Doctor John’, and director Park Sang-woo, who has demonstrated sensational directing skills in ‘The Marriage Ban, Joseon Marriage Ban’, etc.

‘The Phone Call You Dialed’, MBC‘s most anticipated drama of 2024, will be aired for the first time on Friday, the 22nd at 9:50 PM.

Reporter Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com yyynnn@donga.com