'Rookie Employee Chairman Kang' tops 12% with two episodes left and a twist ending

JTBC's Saturday-Sunday drama 'Rookie Employee Chairman Kang' is continuing its late-run surge, lifting both viewership ratings and public buzz as it approaches its finale. With its unusual premise, fast-paced plotting and the actors' tightly focused performances working together, the series has been drawing viewers deeper into the story as it moves through its second half.

With only two episodes left before the end, 'Rookie Employee Chairman Kang' has opened the door to its final revenge story by revealing a shocking reversal: Chairman Kang Yong-ho, played by Son Hyun-joo, is alive after having been believed dead. Attention is now centered on how the changed fates of the characters after the accident, and the power struggle inside the chaebol family, will be resolved.

As the 12-episode run is set to conclude on the 5th, viewers are also watching to see whether the drama can break its own highest ratings record through the final episode.

'Rookie Employee Chairman Kang' began with a 3.7 percent premiere rating and has since pushed past the 12 percent range, showing a steady upward curve. The drama follows Kang Yong-ho, a major-company chairman who built a success story through his business instincts, as an accident leads him into an unexpected second life. Based on the web novel of the same name, the series combines a fantasy premise involving swapped souls with chaebol succession conflict and a revenge narrative, giving it a distinct dramatic appeal.

Although the early broadcasts started in the 3 percent range, the drama gained momentum by word of mouth as the episodes continued. After recording 3.7 percent nationwide for its first episode, it rose to 5.2 percent for episode two, 6.7 percent for episode three and 8.2 percent for episode four. It then maintained a stable trend and entered double-digit ratings.

Episode 10, which aired on the 28th of last month, recorded 11.1 percent both nationwide and in the Seoul metropolitan area. Its peak minute-by-minute rating in the metropolitan area climbed to 12.1 percent, setting a new personal best for the drama. The 2049 rating also showed strong competitiveness, ranking first among all programs broadcast that day.

Its topicality has been rising as well. In Good Data Corporation's Fundex integrated topicality rankings for TV dramas and non-dramas, the series has remained near the top for consecutive periods. Lead actor Lee Jun-young has also continued to climb in the performer topicality rankings, reinforcing his role as the center of the work.

The drama's biggest point of differentiation is its unusual setup, in which the souls of a chaebol chairman in his 70s and a young man in his 20s are exchanged. After the accident, Kang Yong-ho's soul enters the body of Hwang Jun-hyun, played by Lee Jun-young, while Hwang Jun-hyun's soul comes to reside in the body of Kang Yong-ho, who has fallen into a coma. The lives of the two characters are completely overturned.

The series is also marked by dramatic variations from the original work. Hwang Jun-hyun, who was an ordinary intern employee in the source material, has been reworked in the drama as a former soccer player. His process of entering Choiseong Group and his family relationships have also been newly adapted, adding tension to the story.

As it enters the latter part of its run, the drama has expanded beyond a simple soul-swap story into a revenge drama that traces hidden truths and the internal power struggle of a chaebol family.

Suspicion surrounding Chairman Kang Yong-ho's accident has moved through Kang Jae-kyung, played by Jeon Hye-jin, and Na Byeong-mo, played by Jung Jae-sung, before reaching Na Eun-se, played by Lee Seo-an. As the relationships among the people hidden at the center of the case are revealed, the dramatic tension has grown stronger.

In particular, the end of episode 10 disclosed that Kang Yong-ho, whom everyone had believed to be dead, was in fact alive. The twist that Kang Jae-sung, played by Jin Goo, had been protecting his father in a secret space greatly raised expectations for the final episodes.

At the center of the favorable response to the drama is the actors' immersive acting.

Lee Jun-young has taken on a difficult role that requires him to portray two entirely different figures within a single work: the young Hwang Jun-hyun and the chaebol chairman Kang Yong-ho. Rather than simply following outward changes, he has been praised for reinterpreting Kang Yong-ho's distinctive way of speaking, attitude and mode of thinking through his own acting approach.

His character study with Son Hyun-joo has been especially important, allowing him to balance the seasoned quality of the chairman with the emotions of a young man and create one of the drama's central pleasures.

Kang Jae-kyung, played by Jeon Hye-jin, is also a key figure driving the tension of the work. She shows the cold and calculating side of a chaebol heir while convincingly expressing the complex emotions of a person shaken between family and power.

With steady performances from Jin Goo, Lee Joo-myoung, Yoon Yoo-sun and others added to the mix, the drama has given dimensional shape to the internal conflicts of the chaebol family and the war over succession.

As 'Rookie Employee Chairman Kang' nears its finale, attention is focused on what ending and further reversals it will present in its final two episodes, and whether it can carry its upward momentum through to a strong finish.