The Deal (거래)
The Deal (거래) is a 2023 South Korean crime thriller streaming series in which two young men drunkenly kidnap their wealthy high school friend and demand a ransom, only for the improvised crime to spiral out of their control. It was produced as a Wavve original, ran for eight episodes from October 6 to October 27, 2023, and was directed by Lee Jung-gon from a screenplay by Hong Jong-seong, adapted from the webtoon of the same name by Woonam 20.1 • 2
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / format | 거래 (Georae), English title The Deal; 8 episodes of about 40 minutes each, released Fridays on Wavve, October 6–27, 20231 • 3 |
| Source material | Webtoon of the same title by Woonam 20, serialized on Naver Webtoon as a 50-part Friday webtoon4 |
| Director / writer | Lee Jung-gon (born 1989, Seoul; Korean Academy of Film Arts), his first OTT series; screenplay by Hong Jong-seong2 |
| Main cast | Yoo Seung-ho as Lee Joon-sung, Kim Dong-hwi as Song Jae-hyo, Yoo Su-bin as Park Min-woo, Lee Joo-young as Cha Su-an5 |
| Premise | Two friends kidnap their rich classmate after a drinking night and demand a 1 billion won ransom from his mother2 |
| Production | Playlist and Like M Company; producers Yoon Hyun-ki and Cho In-yo; Wavve Studios planning2 • 6 |
| Festival premiere | World premiere at the 28th Busan International Film Festival, On Screen section, October 2023; three of the eight episodes screened2 • 6 |
Spoilers
Premise and characters
The story begins when Lee Joon-sung (Yoo Seung-ho), a former promising soccer player whose life has unraveled, and Song Jae-hyo (Kim Dong-hwi), a medical student facing expulsion for cheating, reunite with their high school classmate Park Min-woo (Yoo Su-bin), who comes from a wealthy family, for a night of drinking to celebrate Joon-sung's discharge from military service.2 • 1 The next morning, Jae-hyo telephones Min-woo's mother with the words, "I have your son. Prepare one billion won," and the two friends find themselves committed to a kidnapping neither had planned.2
Joon-sung's motive is debt: money owed to loan sharks before his military enlistment has ballooned and left his future bleak.2 The scheme turns on the hostage himself. When Min-woo realizes who his kidnappers are, the pair face a situation they cannot walk away from, and Min-woo, recalling a lesson from his father, makes a proposal the kidnappers cannot refuse.7 Watching from next door is Cha Su-an (Lee Joo-young), a police exam candidate who grows suspicious and begins to investigate.2
The Seoul Drama Awards entry catalog lists the series under the genres drama, crime, and black comedy, and frames its hook as a "perfect crime which leaves everyone happy" that the amateur kidnappers believe they can pull off without a trace.7
Production and background
Adaptation. The series adapts the webtoon 거래 by the writer Woonam 20, which ran as a Friday series on Naver Webtoon for a total of 50 episodes.4 Woonam 20 is credited as creator of the original work, with Hong Jong-seong writing the screenplay.3
Director. Lee Jung-gon was born in Seoul in 1989 and studied directing at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. His short films included A Third Party (2014) and The Distance between Us (2016), and with his first feature, Not Out (2021), he took home three prizes in the Jeonju International Film Festival's Korean Competition section, among them the CGV Art House Award. The Deal was his first OTT series as director.2
Funding and festival. The production was selected for the OTT-specialized content production support program of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, receiving support of up to 3 billion won, and it was invited to the On Screen section for OTT content at the 2023 Busan International Film Festival.4 It premiered there as a world premiere on October 5, 2023, with three of its eight episodes screened, ahead of its Wavve release the next day.2 • 6 The production companies were Playlist and Like M Company, with cinematography by Kim Bo-ram, production design by Jeong Yi-jin, editing by Kim Woo-il, and music by Lee Jun-oh (Juno Lee).2 • 8
Release and reception
Wavve released the series weekly, two episodes each Friday, from October 6 to October 27, 2023.1 • 6 A Korean review noted that the drama unfolds largely in the confined space of Jae-hyo's semi-basement rented room with a small cast, so that viewers' attention rests on the actors' expressions and movements, and that the show was praised for strong early immersion despite a rapid, at times rough, pace.9 The same review described the leads' portrayal of broke twenty-somethings and their clumsy criminal scheme with the word "jjijilhada," roughly "pathetic," as the most fitting description.9
The series aired in a 2023 streaming market crowded with webtoon-based crime titles; it appeared in industry listings of Wavve's 2023 original lineup as a webtoon-based crime drama starring Yoo Seung-ho, Kim Dong-hwi, and Yoo Su-bin.10 It is distinct from the similarly themed 2023 Korean series Bargain, which aired on Paramount+ and drew international press attention that year.11
References
- The Deal (Korean Drama), AsianWiki
- The Deal, 28th Busan International Film Festival archive (2023, On Screen)
- The Deal, Apple TV
- 웨이브 드라마 거래 공개시간, 시청 주소, 원작, 출연진, 제작사 (tastetravel, 2023)
- The Deal (TV Mini Series 2023) Full cast & crew, IMDb
- The Deal (TV series), Yoda Wiki
- The Deal, Seoul International Drama Awards entry (2024)
- The Deal (2023), Letterboxd
- [[리액션] 응원할 수도 비난할 수도 없는 청춘, 웨이브 오리지널 '거래', The Economy Korea (2023)](https://kr.economy.ac/news/2023/10/20231012349)
- Trend Issue Report: 콘텐츠에 주목하면 뜨는 OTT가 보인다, Nasmedia (2023)
- Bargain review, The Guardian (2023)
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Korean contemporary drama › Thriller, crime, and mystery series › Crime and mystery thrillers
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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