The K2

Synopsis

Kim Je-ha is a former mercenary soldier for the PMC Blackstone. While in Iraq, he gets framed for the murder of his lover, a civilian. As a result, he runs away and becomes a fugitive. He returns to South Korea and by chance, gets offered to work as a bodyguard by Choi Yoo-jin, the owner of JSS Security Company and wife of the presidential candidate, Jang Se-joon. He accepts the job in exchange for resources that he needs in order to get his revenge on another presidential candidate, Park Kwan-soo, who previously ordered the killing of his lover. In the meantime, Je-ha gets assigned to guard Go An-na, the hidden daughter of Jang Se-joon, whose life is always threatened because of Yoo-jin, her stepmother. An-na, who has been reclused and lonely all her life, starts relying on Je-ha, who shows concern for her and protects her at all costs. They slowly fall in love with each other, which makes Je-ha torn between having to work with his ally, Yoo-jin in order to get his revenge and protecting his new-found love, An-na, against his own ally.

Main

Ji Chang-wook as Kim Je-ha also known as K2

Choi Seung-hoon as young Kim Je-ha

The main protagonist of the series. An employee under the JSS Security. He is a skilled soldier but becomes a fugitive and changes to be cold and cynical. He gets noticed by Yoo-jin, who hires him to guard her husband's secret illegitimate daughter, Go An-na.

Song Yoon-ah as Choi Yoo-jin

The wife of the presidential candidate and eldest daughter of a chaebol family. She is ambitious, yet merciless and corrupted, and has her sights set on becoming the First Lady. She starts developing feelings for Je-ha later in the series.

Im Yoon-ah as Go An-na

Lee Yoo-joo as young Go An-na

An illegitimate daughter of a presidential candidate and a former famous star. Growing up surrounded by public interest, An-na suffers from social phobia and experiences panic when exposed to flashing lights. She returns to Korea from Spain by chance, and becomes a pawn in her father's race to become the president.

Jo Sung-ha as Jang Se-joon

A presidential candidate and An-na's father. He cares for An-na, but is unable to show it in order to protect her from his corrupted wife, Choi Yoo-jin.

Production

The drama is written by scriptwriter Jang Hyuk-rin who wrote Yong-pal (2015) and directed by Kwak Jung-hwan of Neighborhood Hero (2016). Being depicted with a bodyguard action theme, the drama utilized various fighting techniques including systema, taekwondo, aikido, and jujutsu for its action scenes. It became the first Korean television drama to introduce the Bullet Time effect. The first script reading was held in August 2016 at the CJ E&M Center in Seoul, South Korea. Filming began in September; some scenes of the drama were filmed in Spain.

The male lead Ji Chang-wook, due to his casting, became the highest-paid actor for a tvN drama. He had special training and will be performing the action stunts in the drama by himself, without a body double. At the press conference, director Kwak expressed "On top of Ji's splendid action, the drama will tell the story of insatiable desire and political fights between people holding secrets of their own."

Reception

The drama received favorable reviews, topping cable channel viewership ratings throughout its 8-week broadcast. It was praised by viewers for good performances.

Ratings

In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

Note: This drama airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS & MBC & EBS).

International broadcast

The drama streams internationally on DramaFever with English subtitles. Its broadcasting rights were sold to Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, China, and Thailand.