Recently, amidst a somewhat chaotic atmosphere inside and outside the broadcasting industry, actor Ji Sung, who receives the firm trust of viewers, garnered massive attention by appearing in a JTBC drama for the first time since his debut. It is true that there were concerns from the public and the industry about whether normal drama scheduling would be possible for JTBC due to various negative rumors, including whispers of bankruptcy. Fortunately, however, the new drama Apartment dispelled the various concerns before its broadcast and aired smoothly without any problems. Rather, as if mocking these crisis rumors, it left a strong first impression on the home screen by putting forward fresh subject matter. The unpredictable development taking place in the background of an everyday space was more than enough to capture the viewers' attention all at once.
The biggest reason why the drama Apartment received the greatest anticipation even before its broadcast is undeniably the presence of the 'trustworthy actor' Ji Sung. Despite consistently taking on multiple projects every single year without a break, Ji Sung is a self-proclaimed, undisputed box-office guarantee who has driven high viewership ratings and buzz for every work he appears in. In this project, he plays a multi-dimensional character named 'Park Hae-gang,' a gangster who has been on a winning streak by handling matters in a seemingly very clean and gentlemanly manner. However, Park Hae-gang, who was walking on a solid path, loses everything overnight due to the painful betrayal of a police officer he trusted, and falls into a desperate crisis where he must immediately come up with an astronomical sum of 10 billion won in cash, exploding the tension of the play.
In the midst of a desperate situation where his breath is being choked, the person who hands Park Hae-gang an unimaginably bizarre proposal is 'Lizard,' played by Kim Won-hae. On the surface, he is an ordinary apartment management office director, but behind that, he is a person who understands more deeply than anyone else what secret structure the apartment's maintenance fees are operated and collected through. Lizard offers a devilish whisper to Park Hae-gang, informing him that if he rises to the position of the representative of the apartment residents' council and swallows a huge sum of money under the pretext of 'long-term repair reserve funds,' all his problems will be solved at once. This long-term repair reserve fund, included in the maintenance fee of just over 30,000 won printed on the monthly bill, precisely exploits the blind spot that the majority of residents either do not properly recognize its existence or do not care about it at all, making it a so-called 'blind fund.'
If divided into single-household units, it might feel like a mere pittance of just a few tens of thousands of won, but when this amount is gathered and accumulated over several years in a large apartment complex where thousands of households reside, its scale transforms into a massive capital that defies imagination. In particular, the setting that an astronomical scale of long-term repair reserve funds amounting to a whopping 17.8 billion won is accumulated intact in the apartment complex that serves as the background of the drama gives viewers a massive realistic shock. To Park Hae-gang, who was struggling in the swamp of a 10 billion won debt, this lump sum of 17.8 billion won must have appeared as a perfect oasis and lifeline to save his life. Eventually, harboring the inflated hope and shallow ambition of secretly embezzling this massive amount of money to clear his debt, he decides to plunge into the apartment residents' representative election board in earnest.
However, in order to pass the strict scrutiny of the residents and win the conservative apartment representative election, it was essential, above all, to form a 'normal and harmonious family' shape that is outwardly flawless. To this end, Park Hae-gang plans a comical fraud to hastily create a fake virtual family mediated by money. In this process, Kang Ha-ri (played by Ha Yoon-kyung), a struggling youth who harbors the decent dream of becoming a lawyer but whose reality is wandering from one arduous part-time job to another, appears. She, who usually worked a 'wife substitute' part-time job, accepts Park Hae-gang's irresistible offer to give her a massive sum of 100 million won in exchange for performing the role of a perfect wife during the election period, and eventually even holds a fake wedding and begins a dangerous cohabitation.
Their fake family-making operation mobilizes even Park Hae-gang's loyal gangster subordinates, flowing into an even more bizarre and comical aspect. 'Kyung-nam' played by Jung Soon-won, 'Je-gil' played by Hwang Hee, and 'Keun-doong-i' played by Kim Kyu-won exude an odd clumsiness unlike their fierce impressions, acting as the number one contributors helping Park Hae-gang's election campaign. Even to form a more perfect family shape, they secretly bring in the biological son of his subordinate Kyung-nam as Park Hae-gang's fake son, completing an amazing family fraud ring for a so-called 'perfect crime.' The discordance of these people, who lived rough lives in the underworld, putting on fake smiles and campaigning to win the votes of good apartment residents is one of the biggest comedic points this drama delivers.
Of course, Park Hae-gang's path toward becoming the residents' representative is by no means smooth. This is because within the closed yet organic ecosystem of an apartment, there are intense characters, each possessing their own formidable desires and personalities. In particular, construction company CEO 'Lee Choong-won,' played by Park Byung-eun, raises the tension of the play as a figure who resides in the apartment penthouse and seeks to exercise subtle power over the residents. Added to this is 'Jang Sook-jin,' played by Moon So-ri, who is the epitome of a busybody interfering in all the big and small matters within the apartment complex and the one holding the initiative of public opinion, acting as the biggest variable in Park Hae-gang's election campaign. The drama entertainingly depicts the fierce and ridiculous representative election battle between the fake family aiming for 10 billion won and the existing apartment power factions.
We cannot leave out the dazzling performance of actress Ha Yoon-kyung, who has once again proven her true worth through this work. Having shown an extraordinary acting transformation since her previous work Undercover Miss Hong, she shows a flawless integration into her character in Apartment as well, as if wearing a custom-tailored suit named Kang Ha-ri. She excellently digested a multi-dimensional character who seems to have surrendered to money due to the walls of reality but inwardly possesses a bold charm and an unbreakable fighting spirit, using her signature slyness and delicate emotional lines. The excellent synergy created by a good script, an attractive character, and Ha Yoon-kyung's solid acting skills, as she constantly tries to break through her limits, seems to firmly establish her as an irreplaceable actress who gives even deeper trust to the public.
Although the subject matter of 'maintenance fee embezzlement' dealt with in the drama Apartment is packaged somewhat comically, in fact, it sharply points out a very sensitive and painful reality in South Korean society. The news that maintenance fees in apartment complexes, where the majority of citizens reside, have been loosely managed by rule of thumb for decades or have become a hotbed of corruption is by no means an unfamiliar story. Even at the government level, constant efforts have been made to eradicate these chronic evils by continuously revising related laws and strictly overhauling management regulations. In particular, right after this drama aired, an incident even occurred where the Korea Housing Managers Association held a protest expressing strong regret for excessively distorting the role of the apartment management office director, showing that the theme this drama deals with is a microcosm of a very close and sensitive reality to our lives.
The long-term repair reserve fund appearing in the play is not simply idle funds piling up in a bank account, but money like a lifeline that must be used in the future to prevent the aging of the apartment and maintain its value. Also, it is an important asset that a tenant must receive in full from the landlord when moving out. The massive deposit accumulated in units of tens of billions is a core fund that commercial banks risk their lives competing to attract because the scale of interest alone generated by it is enormous. Although it started from the cheeky and ingenious imagination of entirely embezzling such realistic and heavy money, the drama mixes this with a consistently cheerful and somewhat comical tone throughout, drawing mixed reviews and various evaluations from viewers. As proven by the viewership ratings that rose in the second episode compared to the first, it has certainly caught the public's attention, and above all, according to the official synopsis, the protagonist Park Hae-gang will eventually unite with the residents to boldly break down the massive hidden corruption within the apartment, unlike his impure intentions at the beginning, further raising expectations for the future story.
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