Oh Se-young to star in romance with Sunghoon following 13.6% viewership rating for debut lead role

Actress Oh Se-young is maintaining her upward momentum, confirming her next project just six months after her first lead role achieved a 13.6% viewership rating. This time, she will tackle the romance genre alongside actor Sunghoon.

Oh will play the female lead, Lee Eun-chae, in the new MBN drama 'What a Boss Wants', which is scheduled to premiere this November. This marks her first project since her debut lead role, 'The Judge Returns', which concluded this past February.

'What a Boss Wants' is a romance drama based on the popular web novel and webtoon of the same name. It tells the story of chaebol Kwon Do-hyuk (Sunghoon), who searches for 'Her' within a single album, and indie band vocalist Lee Eun-chae (Oh Se-young), who becomes an unexpected variable in his once-perfect life.

Lee, played by Oh, leads a double life that is completely different between day and night. During the day, she is an ordinary job seeker struggling to find employment, but at night, she takes the stage as the indie band vocalist 'Su' while hiding her true identity from her family.

Lee is a character who is honest with her emotions and full of energy. She embodies the full spectrum of human emotion—finding joy when excited, expressing anger when provoked, and being proactive in both tears and love. She possesses a positive personality that finds happiness even in difficult situations, paired with an unpredictable, quirky nature.

To her family, she is an ordinary second daughter preparing for employment, but the moment she steps on stage, she becomes a completely different person. Lee's secretive double life as a free and confident vocalist takes an unexpected turn when she meets Kwon Do-hyuk.

Kwon is a chaebol figure who appears perfect in every aspect, creating a stark contrast with Lee in terms of personality and lifestyle. Oh is expected to express both the fluttering excitement and the tension between the two as she builds a relationship with Sunghoon while hiding her true identity.

For Oh, this project is an opportunity to showcase a different side from the image she presented in her first lead role.

She has steadily built her acting career through appearances in works such as 'The Judge Returns', 'Lovely Runner', 'The Third Marriage', 'Blind', and 'Thirty-Nine'. In particular, her first lead role in 'The Judge Returns' recorded a peak viewership rating of 13.6%, confirming her potential as a leading actress through the work's commercial success.

This time, her acting range is expected to expand even further as she must simultaneously portray a character with bright, lovely energy and a charismatic stage presence. As she transforms from an ordinary youth worrying about employment to a confident singer, Oh is expected to provide depth to the character through the gap between these two personas.

The production team also expressed high expectations for her casting. "Oh Se-young is an actress who can express Lee Eun-chae's bubbly energy, honest emotions, and unpredictable, lovely charm in her own unique way," the team stated. "Please look forward to Oh's transformation as she moves between the extreme charms of 'Su', who shines brightest on stage, and Lee Eun-chae, who lives grounded in reality."

Attention is focused on the romantic chemistry Oh will create with Sunghoon. In particular, how Lee, with her dual identity as a job seeker and indie band vocalist, will change the life of the perfect chaebol Kwon Do-hyuk will be the main point of interest for the series.