Park Min-young is putting work first and love last in Nine to Six — until Yook Sung-jae walks into her office. The first chemistry preview for the SBS drama pairs her Kang Yi-ji, a workaholic who has long put romance on the back burner for her career, with Han Seon-woo, the thoughtful and warm-hearted younger man who teaches her how to love as the two grow together in both their careers and their lives.
The romance plays out against the backdrop of Chronic Motors. Kang Yi-ji is logical, cool-headed and flawless at her job — more resolute than anyone when it comes to work, and completely clumsy when it comes to love. Han Seon-woo is her opposite in every way, a warm-hearted and affectionate presence radiating bright, gentle charm. The drama is based on the popular 2021 Chinese series The Rational Life.
The pairing puts Park Min-young back in the office-romance territory she has made her own, this time playing the senior half of an age-gap romance instead of the secretary or the contract wife. For Yook Sung-jae, the role is a shift in register after The Haunted Palace, trading that drama's supernatural stakes for a grounded workplace story where his warmth is the entire point of the character.
Go Soo returns to the romance genre for the first time in 15 years as Park Hyun-tae, a highly capable elite general manager. Park Hyun-tae judges employees solely on their performance, and Go Soo reinterprets the role with his own signature style and relaxed charisma — a very different kind of office power from the romance unfolding in front of him.
Joo Hyun-young plays Shin Ji-won, Kang Yi-ji's close friend and a full-time housewife of seven years, bringing the drama's realistic everyday concerns to life. The supporting cast around the office includes Kim Mi-kyung as Kang Yi-ji's mother Lee Kyung-shim, Nam Yoon-ho as Lee Yong-woon, Choi Ji-soo as Im Eun-ha, Chun Woo-jin as Jung Tae-jun and Bae Yoo-ram as Kim Dong-seok.
Two combinations are already drawing attention ahead of the premiere. The realistic mother-daughter chemistry between Park Min-young and Kim Mi-kyung is expected to ground the story at home, while Jung Hae-kyun, Jo Bok-rae and Cha Chung-hwa form a trio of "office villains" — the insufferable bosses Song Byung-je, Jung Ki-tae and Lee Jung-eun — set to make Kang Yi-ji's work life miserable.
That balance — a heroine who can run a company but not a relationship, and a hero whose softness is treated as a strength — is the engine the original The Rational Life ran on, and the preview suggests the remake intends to keep it intact while localizing the office politics around Chronic Motors.
Watch the cast's script reading session here:
Nine to Six premieres on November 25 at 9 p.m. KST on SBS, and the drama will stream worldwide on Prime Video.
Source: Naver, SBS
