Lee Jun-hyuk's 'Even First-Prize Lottery Winners Go to Work' Opens at 3.9% After 1.3 Billion Won Jackpot — K-Office Worker's Revolt

Jackpot in a Grueling Reality Gives Rise to a Well-Made Office Drama

The TVING original series 'Even First-Prize Lottery Winners Go to Work', starring actor 'Lee Jun-hyuk', has arrived on television and got off to a strong start with ratings in the 3% range.

According to ratings tracker Nielsen Korea on the 15th, Episode 1 of 'Even First-Prize Lottery Winners Go to Work', which aired on tvN on the 14th, posted '3.9%' nationwide among households. The result appears to reflect the powerful connection viewers felt with a premise that taps into the fantasies of ordinary office workers.

The episode's defining moment was undoubtedly when protagonist Gong Eun-tae, played by 'Lee Jun-hyuk', won the first prize in the lottery — a staggering '1.3 billion won'. Although he had earned the title of team leader at an unusually young age, his reality was far from easy. The series vividly captured the struggles of a typical Korean office worker, weighed down by excessive workloads amid the subtle disrespect of team member Yang Jun-ho, played by 'Seo Hyun-woo', a senior colleague who joined the company before him, and pressure from upper management's internal politics.

A twist arrived by chance as he endured his suffocating routine. The lottery ticket he impulsively bought at a convenience store while trying to exchange some change altered the course of his life. The scene in which Gong Eun-tae, checking the results without expecting much, discovers a message telling him he has won first prize and can barely contain his shock brought the drama's immersion to a peak.

Based on the popular 'web novel' of the same name, the series signals the arrival of a well-made office drama built on a solid narrative and three-dimensional characters. 'Even First-Prize Lottery Winners Go to Work' will release two episodes at a time in advance every Thursday at 6 p.m. on 'TVING', before coming to viewers as a 'tvN' Monday-Tuesday drama.