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This dual transformation is highlighted by The Dream Life of Mr. KimJTBC's new drama due on Netflix on October 25. Behind this sweetly ironic title lies an intimate, sensitive fresco starring Ryu Seung-ryong and Myung Se-bin. Adapted from a webtoon, the story explores the slow awakening of a middle-aged Korean couple, long trapped in fixed social roles.
A breathless executive, a wife undergoing a metamorphosis
Kim Nak-soo (Ryu Seung-ryong) is a model employee: head of the sales team in a large company, he has never missed a promotion in 25 years. He has a house in Seoul, a brilliant son enrolled in a prestigious university, and a devoted wife who has put her life on hold to support her family. But this perfect picture is gradually cracking.
The weight of responsibility, the wear and tear of daily life, the discreet humiliations at work... The ambitious man sees his shoulders bend, his certainties wither. What he thought was success becomes a straitjacket. It is in this loss of bearings that he rediscovers another meaning to his life: that of self-acceptance, beyond titles and social status.
A woman from the shadows who steps into the light
Opposite him is Park Ha-jin (Myung Se-bin), his wife, is undergoing her own inner revolution. For 25 years, she has been the discreet guardian of the household, attentive, resilient, anchored in a vision of the family where she steps aside so that others can shine. But as the years go by, her outlook changes. She senses the exhaustion in her husband's hunched back, sees a new distance in her son's eyes. And she decides to act.
For the first time, Park Ha-jin allowed herself to dream of a future of her own. The recently unveiled images show her in full transition: hands clasped, eyes determined, she is slowly leaving the comfort of her everyday life to enter the world of work.
Through these two intersecting trajectories, The Dream Life of Mr. Kim sketches a fair and touching portrait of adult life in Korea. Without dramatic flourishes or spectacular twists, the series chooses to show the quiet heroism of those who reinvent themselves. A work of emotional promise, to be discovered from October 25 on jTBC.
