The Deal: Need Money? Kidnap a Rich Friend.

The Deal (also titled “The Perfect Deal”) is a 2023 Korean drama series with 8 episodes, currently streaming on Viki. This K-drama is based on the webcomic “Georae”. Three high school friends meet up with each other after four years to socialize. One friend comes from a wealthy family. The two other friends desperately need money. To solve their money problems, they decide on a “pretend kidnapping” by contacting their rich friend’s mother and demanding a ransom. They were supposed to be friends. Is this how friends treat each other?

♦ That’s what friends are for

“The Deal” immediately introduces the 3 main characters in Episode 1: Lee Joon-Sung, Song Jae-Hyo, and Park Min-Woo all went to high school together.

• Lee Joon-Sung could have been famous had he played his cards right. But that was his problem. Not cards. Gambling. He lost money gambling, can’t pay it back, and now the gangsters are after him. If he doesn’t have money that’s not a problem. They’ll just harvest his organs.
• Song Jae-Hyo is a medical student. Or … he was a medical student. He got expelled because he was caught running a cheating ring. The way to solve this problem is to pay off the school officials. But he has no money. On the plus, unlike Lee Joon-Sung, the school officials are not threatened to remove his organs. However, by expelling him from school, they’ve pretty much ruined his life.
• Park Min-Woo is a rich kid with a doting mother who worries about her only son. His father passed away. He thinks Lee Joon-Sung, and Song Jae-Hyo, are his true friends. Until he wakes up from a drunken stupor and finds himself tied up with a bag over his head.

Song Jae-Hyo is the one who, in an act of desperation, came up with the kidnapping plan. Lee Joon-Sung agrees to go along with the plan as long as Park Min-Woo can not identify them and he doesn’t get hurt (or killed). Things get messy when Park Min-Woo realizes that his own “friends” have kidnapped him. But he tells them he will join in, get them more money than they were asking for, and they could split the money three ways amongst themselves. After all, what are friends for?

The question is:

• Is Park Min-Woo really telling them the truth? Or …
• Is Park Min-Woo applying his mother’s advice by not letting his so-called “friends” take advantage of him?

♦ Life Lessons

Several life lessons can be gleaned from this short 8-episode series:

• Moms usually give their kids advice to protect themselves.

No matter how much you love your child you can not be with them 24/7. But you can teach them how to take care of themselves. In the case of the rich kid, his mother told him to never be a PUSHOVER. Never let people take advantage of him because he’s rich. Moms can give that advice. But in order to apply it, the kid will have to develop survival skills on his own.

• Crime is never the answer!

There are lots of people who need money! But they don’t resort to crime to solve their financial problems. You may think it’s a quick fix. But it’s more like a snowball effect. One thing leads to another. First it was going to be kidnapping for ransom. But then the person who was kidnapped saw the faces of the kidnappers. Uh oh! The original plan needs to be modified. Now they might have to kill him? As if, kidnapping is not bad enough. Now you’re thinking of murder? The snowball just keeps rolling downhill, getting bigger and bigger.

• It’s always that one neighbor.

Cha Soo-An is “that one neighbor”. Police often catch criminals because of one observant neighbor who is willing to stick their neck out. They’re not being nosy neighbors. It’s just that “something looks suspicious”, or “it’s their duty to keep the neighborhood safe” or “if they were in that situation they would want someone to help them” or ____. Whatever it is, they have their reasons for stepping up. Usually, it’s that one neighbor who helps expose the criminals.

♦ The best-laid plans

A neighbor who happened to be hoping to get a job in law enforcement saw something suspicious. Cha Soo-An noticed – that 3 guys went into an apartment but the police said there were only 2 men. She reasons: (a) the police are wrong or (b) something must happened to the 3^rd person. Something like …uuuhh?? … death and dismemberment. Hey! If you’re going to let your imagination run wild might as well think of the grim possibilities. The neighbor tries to tell the police but they say they need more than “speculation” to make a move.

However, that one neighbor is not willing to just … let it go! It’s not her imagination and it’s not a baseless speculation. Something is definitely WRONG! When she thinks she has an opportunity, she sneaks inside the apartment to investigate. She’s looking for the 3^rd man. One of the tenants returned while she was inside so she hid. That’s when she hears everything! It wasn’t her imagination or speculation. She now knows what’s really going on because she hears them talking. OK! There are 3 men, but first things first. She needs to escape! Because if she gets caught in their apartment …

While all of this is going on, the kidnapped victim’s mother, who is totally ignorant of the plan, is doing everything she can to get her son back safely because … that’s what moms are for.

Main Characters:

• Lee Joon-Sung (played by Yoo Seung-Ho)
• Song Jae-Hyo (played by Kim Dong-Hwi)
• Park Min-Woo (played by Yoo Su-Bin, “Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds”)
• Cha Soo-An (played by Lee Joo-Young, “Itaewon Class”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb Rating: 7.6 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 7.6 out of 10 stars
• Viki viewing audience rating 9.7 out of 10 stars.

My personal rating aligns with the Viki audience. “The Deal” is categorized as Thriller/Suspense, Crime and Mystery. The viewer gets hooked right from the very first episode. There is no way not to watch all the way to The End because you have to know whether they will still be friends when this is all over. While others were not so generous with their ratings, as a loyal fan of Yoo Seung-Ho, it was my pleasure to give this series a high rating. He played his part well.

Yoo Seung-Ho has been acting since he was a child. He starred in his film when he was just 6 years old and people started calling him the “nation’s little brother”. In my opinion, he truly shines in historical period dramas. But he never disappoints no matter what role he plays.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• Busan 2023: K-drama The Deal – spontaneous kidnap thriller is high on atmosphere, but low on logic | South China Morning Post
• Top 10 Dramas Starring Yoo Seung Ho | Shally Entertainment YouTube Channel

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

Drama World Forever. “The Perfect Deal (2023) Official Trailer | Korean Drama.” YouTube, 11 Sept. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKzBVMUSMio.‌