[Sportschosun Baek Ji-eun reporter] So Ji-sub has found himself in danger of being eliminated.
In the SBS Friday-Saturday drama 'Mr. Kim,' which aired on the 18th, another crisis for Mr. Kim (So Ji-sub) unfolded. Mr. Kim, who had seemed to have been taken to North Korea, broke free of his restraints and escaped. After meeting Chaeon San Unit commander Jang (Choi Beom-ho) and Ddanggangaji (Won Hyun-jun), who had been sitting outside the door, he learned that the brutal torture used to question him about the Chaeon San Unit's location and infiltration route had all been a test to confirm his loyalty. Jang promised that if Mr. Kim succeeded in the final mission, both he and his daughter Minji (Seo Su-min) would be able to live freely under new identities.
The mission assigned to Mr. Kim was to protect a high-ranking North Korean official who had requested asylum in South Korea via China until the inter-Korean high-level talks ended. Instead of accepting the mission, Mr. Kim demanded the release of Seong Han-su (Choi Dae-hoon) and Park Jin-cheol (Yoon Kyung-ho), who were being held in the Special Missions Bureau, and then waited for the defector at a pier late at night.
But the defector turned out to be Lee Eung-ryeong (Lee Jae-yong), the director of the Intelligence Bureau. Lee was the man who had taken over as bureau chief after using Mr. Kim and his colleagues as bait in a covert infiltration operation that wiped them out. Once his internal betrayal was exposed, he requested asylum in South Korea just before his arrest, carrying top-secret North Korean military intelligence, including ballistic missile information, and personally named Mr. Kim as the person he wanted to protect him.
Mr. Kim was furious to face the enemy who had caused the death of his only friend, No. 66, and had even framed him. Still, for the sake of a free life with Minji, he decided to protect Lee Eung-ryeong at a safe house with Son Na-eun's Jung Sang-ah and Park Jin-woo, who runs the laundromat.
Ju Gangchan (Joo Sang-wook) learned of this through the deputy minister for security and passed the information on to the North Korean delegation. North Korean agents raided the safe house in the middle of the night, but Mr. Kim's group noticed the intrusion and moved Lee Eung-ryeong out in advance. Believing there was a mole inside the Special Missions Bureau, Mr. Kim headed to downtown Seoul, where North Korean agents would have a harder time operating. Their new hideout was the container at Park Jin-cheol's Marine Veterans Association. Seong Han-su and Park Jin-cheol, who were gathered there, greeted them warmly.
The relief did not last long. The Special Missions Bureau surrounded the container. Ddanggangaji showed Mr. Kim a video of Minji in the bureau's protection room and said, "You need to say your final goodbye to your daughter. Your mission has failed." As the episode ended with Mr. Kim, who had sacrificed himself for South Korea only to face the threat of being sent back to North Korea, attention turned to whether the 'Dad Universe' would manage a comeback.
According to Nielsen Korea, the broadcast recorded 23.6 percent in the Seoul metropolitan area, 23.1 percent nationwide, and a peak of 26.2 percent, setting another new series high. The 2049 viewership rating, a key measure of buzz, also reached a peak of 8.59 percent and averaged 7.6 percent. Since its premiere, 'Mr. Kim' has continued its dominant run, repeatedly setting new personal bests each week and even breaking the highest mini-series rating record of 2026. It once again ranked No. 1 across all channels in its time slot and set a new high among mini-series aired this year, proving its unmatched box-office power.
Baek Ji-eun reporter silk781220@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
