Plus Nine Boys
| Plus Nine Boys | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Genre | Romance, Comedy |
| Written by | Park Yoo-mi |
| Directed by | Yoo Hak-chan |
| Starring | Kim Young-kwang Yook Sungjae Oh Jung-se Choi Ro-woon |
| Country of origin | South Korea |
| Original language | Korean |
| No. of episodes | 14 |
| Original release | |
| Network | tvN |
| Release | August 29 – October 11, 2014 |
Plus Nine Boys (Korean: 아홉수 소년; RR: Ahobsu Sonyeon; lit. "Boys Whose Ages End in Nine") is a 2014 South Korean television series starring Kim Young-kwang, Yook Sungjae, Oh Jung-se and Choi Ro-woon. It aired on tvN from August 29 to October 11, 2014 on Fridays and Saturdays at 20:50 for 14 episodes.
The romantic comedy series is about four males who each confront different challenges in love and work at the cusp of a new decade in their lives.[1]
Plot
There is a common Korean belief that anything plus nine (gu in Korean) is always "cursed" and brings about more hardship than usual, including the ninth year of every decade in one's life.
Gu Kwang-soo is 39 years old. He was once the brilliant PD (production director) of the nation's top live music program. But his fall from grace occurs when members of an indie band he'd cast drop their pants onstage and flash the entire country during a live broadcast (based on a real-life incident on MBC in 2005[2][3][4]). Kwang-soo loses his position and gets shunted to another program, a low-rated trivia quiz show. He is desperate to get married, but his workaholic ways leave him little time to date. Kwang-soo often thinks about "the one who got away," his ex-girlfriend Joo Da-in who left him heartbroken when she suddenly broke up with him one day after publicly rejecting his marriage proposal. When they meet again, Da-in is a single mother whose life revolves around her young daughter Eun-seo, and they've just moved in to the apartment one floor above Kwang-soo's. Kwang-soo lives with his superstitious older sister Bok-ja and her three sons, Kang Jin-gu, Kang Min-gu, and Kang Dong-gu.
Kang Jin-gu is 29 years old. He is a tour planner for a large vacation travel agency, and he's self-assured, good at his job, and popular with women. But he starts having to reevaluate his whole future when he falls into a one-sided love for the first time in his life. Jin-gu almost confesses his romantic feelings for his friend and co-worker Ma Se-young, who's from a small town, is outspoken and rough around the edges but very loyal. But apart from his fear of being rejected, Jin-gu learns that his stoic best friend Park Jae-bum also likes Se-young.
Kang Min-gu is 19 years old. He is a hot-tempered high school senior and judo athlete. Min-gu dreams of going to his dream college on a judo scholarship, which means giving his all to win a gold medal in his competitive matches. But an upset stomach during a semi-finals match causes him to lose and poop in his pants, and after that embarrassing episode, his judo ranking drops. Min-gu keeps running into a cute but mysterious girl named Han Soo-ah all over town, and he decides that they're fated to be together. Soo-ah is used to having the entire district's high school boys swooning over her, but Min-gu's sincerity eventually wins her over. But Min-gu doesn't know that Soo-ah's hiding some secrets: her real first name is the country bumpkin-sounding Bong-sook, she's two years older than he is and attends a cram school, and that she was once a legendary cussing, tough, party girl in high school.
Kang Dong-gu is 9 years old. He is a child actor who became famous doing food commercials because of his healthy appetite. Dong-gu suddenly feels threatened when during a movie audition, he loses the role to a new rival child actor named Do Min-joon. He soon finds himself in a career slump, with the other stage parents whispering that since he's growing less cute as he gets older, it's become more obvious that he is not good at acting at all. The precocious Dong-gu has also been secretly dating 8-year-old child actress Jang Baek-ji for the past two years, but Baek-ji dumps him for Min-joon.
Cast
- Kim Young-kwang as Kang Jin-gu
- Yook Sungjae as Kang Min-gu[5]
- Oh Jung-se as Gu Kwang-soo
- Choi Ro-woon as Kang Dong-gu
- Kyung Soo-jin as Ma Se-young
- Yoo Da-in as Joo Da-in
- Park Cho-rong as Han Soo-ah/Bong-sook[6]
- Kim Hyun-joon as Park Jae-bum
- Kim Mi-kyung as Gu Bok-ja
- Lee Chae-mi as Jang Baek-ji
- Kim Seung-mo as Do Min-joon
- Kim Kang-hyun as Young-hoon
- Park Min-ha (Nine Muses) as Lee Go-eun
- Lee Jin-ho as Han Gu
- Kim Won-hae as Department head Jo
- --- as Im Bu-seon
- --- as Vice chief Kim
- Park Min-ha as Eun-seo
- Oh Hee-joon as Nam Chang-hee
- --- as Wang Ki-chan
- Park Hyuk-kwon as Fortuneteller
- Kim Ki-wook as Gag man
- Park Na-rae as Gag woman
- Lee Gook-joo as Kang Min-kyung
- Lee Se-young as Sun-ah
- Kim Min-young as Soo-ah's friend
- Kim Ye-won as Music program host & radio DJ (cameo, ep 1)
- Kim Jong-min as Himself (cameo, ep 2)
- Jun Hyun-moo as Himself (cameo, ep 5)
- Subin as Girl at the night club (cameo, ep 5)
- Park Eun-ji as Herself (cameo, ep 7)
- John Park as Dance audition judge (cameo, ep 8)
- Standing Egg as Themselves (cameo, ep 8)
Ratings
| Episode # | Broadcast date | Title | Nationwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 29, 2014 | The plus-nine effect | 1.08% |
| 2 | August 30, 2014 | Suddenly one day | 0.85% |
| 3 | September 5, 2014 | It's been a while | 0.92% |
| 4 | September 6, 2014 | When love finds you | |
| 5 | September 12, 2014 | Bad boy | 0.82% |
| 6 | September 13, 2014 | We love aliens | |
| 7 | September 19, 2014 | September 19 | 0.91% |
| 8 | September 20, 2014 | Things that make men change | 0.80% |
| 9 | September 26, 2014 | The girls' stories | 1.04% |
| 10 | September 27, 2014 | Celebrating you | 1.03% |
| 11 | October 3, 2014 | A secret I want to tell | 1.22% |
| 12 | October 4, 2014 | Lean on me | 1.43% |
| 13 | October 10, 2014 | Because I love you | 0.76% |
| 14 | October 11, 2014 | Boys become men | 0.69% |
| Average | |||
Source: AGB Nielsen Korea (cable standard ratings)
References
- ^ Jones, Julie (June 18, 2014). "Nine Boy Promises Four Romances". KDramaStars. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "Punk Rockers' Privates in Affront to Korea's 'Bourgeois'". The Chosun Ilbo. July 31, 2005. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "Naked Bodies Shown for Five Seconds on Live TV". The Dong-a Ilbo. August 1, 2005. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Bang, Annie I. (August 1, 2005). "Two dancers booked for stripping on TV". The Korea Herald. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Go, Soo-jin (August 25, 2014). "BTOB's Yook Sung Jae Shares Members' Response to Upcoming Drama". enewsWorld. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
- ^ Ko, Hong-ju (August 25, 2014). "A Pink's Park Cho Rong Thanks Jung Eun Ji for Acting Advice". enewsWorld. Retrieved September 1, 2014.