Ha Suk-jin, Gong Myung join tvN’s Drinking Solo

by girlfriday

Okay, now I feel better about Drinking Solo, because I was worried it would be Park Ha-sun (Temptation) drinking with a bunch of idols, which just didn’t interest me that much. But now Ha Suk-jin (D-Day) has signed on to star opposite her, and Park has committed to the show as well, so things are looking up. And Entertainer’s Gong Myung will also join the cast as the hero’s little brother.

The spinoff of the Let’s Eat franchise is set in the Noryangjin neighborhood of Seoul, famous for its tutoring academies and gosiwons, packed with students studying for the civil service exam. Ha Suk-jin and Park Ha-sun will both play lecturers — he’s the star teacher and she’s struggling just to survive in the cutthroat environment.

Ha Suk-jin’s star teacher is described as insufferably arrogant but not hateful, and he enjoys drinking alone for his own personal “healing time.” He’ll have a loveline with Park Ha-sun, who plays a hardworking, powerless newbie teacher who has a spine and can stand up for herself. It seems like good casting, and I can see Ha Suk-jin really playing up the arrogant star teacher role, and then being a funny drunk. I’m not really sure how taking on this series will affect his other drama 1% of Anything, but there might be just enough time to shoot that drama and then go straight to this one? Yikes, that sounds rushed.

Hwang Woo Seul-hye (Great Wife) co-stars as a sexy English teacher who often buys Park Ha-sun a drink and commiserates with her, and SHINee’s Key will be a student studying for the civil service exam who’s actually from a wealthy family, but lives in a gosiwon to immerse himself in the lifestyle.

And Gong Myung, who’s currently playing the cute guitarist with foot-in-mouth syndrome on Entertainer, will be Ha Suk-jin’s little bro. He’s a college graduate with no prospects who lives with his brother and is forced to study for the level 9 civil service exam by his mother. He’s a hapless, immature type, which seems kinda perfect for him.

The drama will be a humorous, relatable series about the difficulties youths face in joining the workforce. And coming from the PD of Let’s Eat 2 and the writer of Rude Miss Young-ae, I think it’ll manage to be both realistic and funny.

Drinking Solo will air after Bring It On, Ghost on Mondays and Tuesdays in September.

Via Sports Chosun, Xports News, IS Plus

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