'Backstreet Rookie' Premiere: Ji Chang-wook and Kim Yoo-jung set up rom-com with a hilarious laughter riot
The first episode of 'Backstreet Rookie' is off to a great start as a convenience store owner Choi Dae-hyun (Ji Chang-wook) and young part-time employer Jung Saet-byul (Kim Yoo-jung) set up the premise for the beginning of a hilarious romantic comedy. The show begins with Dae-hyun hurrying towards an appointment, but he finds a little kitten abandoned and he rescues the kitten, and in the process, his suit is dirtied, he gets late for his appointment as well. This opening scene clearly portrays the show's lead character accurately. A naive, kind man, who seems incapable of saying no to people.
On the other hand, we have Saet-byul, a highschool student who fights her way out of any situation. Her first scene sees her fight a group of high school bullies and win the fight. She along with her friends seem like delinquents who go around asking good looking kind men to buy them cigarettes because they are minors and the man that Saet-byul and her friends approach happens to be none other than Dae-hyun.
This is right after Dae-hyun gets dumped for being too kind. So when three young girls request him to get them three packs of menthol cigarettes, initially, he swears at the kids and tells them to concentrate on studies, but the girls don't listen to him. So he ends up getting them something -- just not cigarettes -- and he tells Saet-byul that she shouldn't be smoking now. That smoking can be done when she is an adult and for now, she should do other things that are age-appropriate.
Saet-byul is impressed and gives him a peck on the lips, which obviously shocks Dae-hyun because this is the first time he has seen this girl. She even gets his mobile number to get in touch with him. However, she doesn't. Fast forward three years later and we meet Dae-hyun again and this time, he owns a convenience store, is as handsome as he always was but he is extremely overworked. So he puts up a sign to hire a part-time employee and gets an application from none other than the highschool girl that he had met three years ago. She is now 22-years-old and is desperate for a parttime job.
However, from the time that she applies for the job, Dae-hyun is suspicious of her because he only remembers the delinquent from the past. He isn't aware of how Saet-byul has changed. So when a wad of cash goes missing, he doubts Saet-byul. He tries to call her, but her number is switched off, and when he tries to reach her at her home, the address leads him to a shady apartment that is being surveilled by the police for illegal activities. So, Dae-hyun concludes that Saet-byul must have stolen it. Just when he is about to file a complaint though, he realizes that Saet-byul had reported for work again.
From here on, it is a slew of fateful events that spell misunderstanding between Saet-byul and Dae-hyun, and all of them lead to one hilarious setup. Since Saet-byul doesn't remember how she had first met, the show is only going to get a lot more hysterical with each episode.
'Backstreet Rookie' originally airs on SBS on Fridays and Saturdays at 10 pm KST.