Misaeng (2014)

The word misaeng refers in baduk (Go) to a stone not yet fully alive — a state not yet confirmed. Jang Geu-rae (Im Si-wan), who gave up his dream of becoming a professional baduk player and sets foot in a company for the first time, is exactly that kind of existence. He seems to have nothing and know nothing, but he doesn’t vanish — the process of persevering through is all that Misaeng is. This drama is one of the most realistic Korean dramas ever made about how people grow inside a workplace. There is no dazzling setup, no dramatic reversal — yet once you start watching, you can’t look away. My rating is ★4.5.

What it’s about — An Intern Who Left the Baduk Board

Based on Yoon Tae-ho’s web manhwa of the same name, directed by Kim Won-seok, this drama aired on tvN in twenty episodes from October to December 2014. Geu-rae has devoted himself to baduk from childhood. Unable to become a professional player, with no academic credentials, he joins the general trading company One International as an intern. The manager assigned to him, Oh Sang-shik (Lee Sung-min), initially treats him as dead weight — but as Geu-rae gradually draws on the concentration and patience he developed through baduk, the relationship shifts. Fellow interns An Young-yi (Kang So-ra), Jang Baek-ki (Kang Ha-neul), and Han Seok-yool (Byun Yo-han) each collide with corporate life in their own way, and their multiple perspectives combine to render the landscape of the office world in three dimensions.

Direction — Realistic Restraint and Lee Sung-min’s Oh Sang-shik

Director Kim Won-seok’s direction is restrained. Even in emotionally charged scenes, emotion is delivered without excess, and comic situations aren’t let slide past lightly either. He captures the interior lives of characters through the camera within a space that maintains the cold density of an office, and the craft is refined. The scenes shot in fluorescent-lit office corridors and cramped conference rooms are the most intensely memorable in this drama, precisely because of their reality.

Lee Sung-min’s Oh Sang-shik is the drama’s greatest asset. Stubborn and rough, but able to see people, and trying to hold to his own version of what’s right within the organisation — a character whose warmth is inside a hard exterior. Im Si-wan’s Geu-rae appears initially to have no presence, but his process of gradually finding his own language is convincing. The intern characters played by Kang So-ra, Kang Ha-neul, and Byun Yo-han each adapt to corporate life in their own way — their portrayals are authentic.

What the work says — The Solidarity of Those Who Endure

What Misaeng is ultimately about is survival. What must a person with no academic background, no network, do to prove their existence within an organisation? Geu-rae endures not because he has special abilities but because he knows how to concentrate. The premise that what he learned from baduk also applies in the workplace can sound like a formula — but the drama shows that through specific scenes with real persuasion. The unreasonableness of the intern system, gender discrimination, the politics of internal hierarchy — all are portrayed honestly. The comfort the drama offers working people is not easy answers but a sense of solidarity that others are wrestling with the same concerns.

Ratings & reception

TMDB score is 8.6. IMDb is 8.5. During its run on tvN the ratings weren’t high, but through web-based viewership and overseas response, it generated greater buzz after the fact. Fans of the source manhwa rated the quality of the adaptation highly, and it spread by word of mouth with strong resonance among working viewers. It is also the drama that brought the actor Lee Sung-min to widespread public attention.

Verdict

Misaeng is a work that redefined the workplace drama genre. It showed that a story about people living within a company, with no dazzling premise and no provocative twists, can be captured this delicately. The ★4.5 reflects some dissatisfaction with the way certain narratives are compressed as the drama rushes toward its conclusion in the back half. But the fact that it is one of the most honest depictions of working people’s reality in Korean drama remains unshaken.

Recommended for

• Working people looking for a drama they can genuinely relate to
• Fans of Lee Sung-min or Im Si-wan, or those curious about their work
• Viewers who are drawn more to realistic stories than to glamour