JTBC is preparing a highly anticipated drama with « Everyone Is Fighting Their Own Worthlessness« a new work by the screenwriter Park Hae-young, already acclaimed for My Mister and My Liberation Notes. True to her introspective writing style, this time she tackles the feeling of uselessness, comparison and stagnation that many feel when faced with the success of others.
The series features a first-rate cast, including Koo Kyo-hwan, Go Youn-jung, Oh Jung-se, Kang Mal-geum and Park Hae-joon. Together, they play damaged characters, trapped in their professional and emotional lives, but still able to reach out to each other.
Dented characters in search of value
Koo Kyo-hwan here holds its first lead role in a television series. He plays Hwang Dong-man, an aspiring director who has yet to make his debut, unlike the other members of the influential circle nicknamed The Eight. Always in the background, almost like an uninvited guest, Dong-man masks his constant anxiety with a stream of words and a bravado attitude, all the while carrying a deep sense of failure.
Facing him, Go Youn-jung reveals a darker side with Byun Eun-ah, a producer at a film company, known for her ruthless script reviews which earned her the nickname of «the axe». Seemingly controlled and rational, she is in reality haunted by trauma, to the point of bleeding from the nose when her emotions boil over. Her encounter with Dong-man becomes an unexpected mirror: he, perceived as “backward” by society, possesses an inner strength that helps her to rebuild herself, while she gradually transforms her sense of worthlessness into a new value.
Oh Jung-se plays Park Kyung-se, a successful film director whose relationship with Dong-man oscillates between admiration and resentment. After the commercial failure of his last film, Kyung-se finds himself consumed by insecurity and envy, and particularly troubled by Dong-man, whom he considers insignificant. Kang Mal-geum plays Go Hye-jin, CEO of a production company and Kyung-se's wife, a central, pragmatic figure capable of both great tolerance and sharp authority. Last but not least, Park Hae-joon plays Hwang Jin-man, Dong-man's older brother, a broken former poet who now survives on odd jobs, having given up all ambition.
The production team sums up the essence of the drama: «The series focuses on people stopped in their tracks by their feelings of worthlessness, who learn to welcome the flaws in others and, for the first time, breathe.» She also clarifies, «Without denying universal emotions like envy or jealousy, but by looking them in the face, we want to offer both painfully realistic resonance and warm comfort.»
A mix of incisive dialogue, silent glances and raw humanity, Everyone Is Fighting Their Own Worthlessness promises to be a new, deeply introspective drama in the tradition of Park Hae-young's most outstanding works.
The drama will be broadcast in the first half of 2026 on JTBC (April 2026).
