SOUTH KOREA – SEOUL
Disney+ has release another of its original kdrama series and this time it is set in an office setting, which majority of us would be able to relate to.
If you are like most office workers, you go to work every day from Monday to Friday and leave your office after a long day. A lot of working people would relate to how much we all want to get off work on time and live for the weekend.
R.A.C.E is a workplace drama that will capture the struggles of many working people who are trying to survive day to day. If you look at how the title is stylized, you can see the dots between the letters. The director of this series, Director Lee Dongyoon and his team decided to use the four commonly used terms in the PR and Marketing field that includes Research, Action, Communication, and Evaluation. This series is also about a diverse group of working professionals who are building their unique career paths. Each one of them has their own story and is in their own race. In other words, the story is not about people who are racing against each other towards the same goal, but it is about people who are running their own race at their own pace.
Park Yoonjo was hired into the PR team of a big conglomerate through a special hiring program called “Spec-Out,” but she is more committed to her work than anyone. As much as she loves her work, she also wants to be recognized for what she does.
Lee Yeonhee felt that the script of this series captured the struggles and realistic work experiences that viewers could relate to. As this is her first office drama, she actually asked a lot of her friends about their work experiences to prepare for this role so that she could represent the office workers of her generation.
This series is also Hong Jonghyun‘s first office drama where viewers would be able to see him donned in classic suits.
Ryu Jaemin is a childhood friend of Yoonjo’s. Another close friend of theirs is Heo Eun. This trio of friends have been so close since they were kids that they would share anything and everything with each other. But when it comes to work, they have very different views. While Yoonjo, who doesn’t have fancy qualifications, she has a lot of passion for her work, Jaemin has a job in a big conglomerate where he is recognized as the star employee, but he doesn’t have as much passion for what he does.
Jaemin cares about his personal time as much as he cares about his job. He only invests just enough of his effort to get the job done, but even then, he is praised for what does within the company. Work life balance is important to Jaemin. He doesn’t have any close friends at work, but once he steps out of the office and hangs out with his friends, viewers get to see a very different side of him.
This is not Moon Sori‘s first time starring in an office drama. In her previous work, she was part of the HR team and so she finds the PR field very intriguing.
Goo Yijung is a PR expert. She is a specialist in the field who has worked both in Korea and the U.S and she is a friend of the new CEO of Seyong, where Jaemin and Yoonjo works. The CEO, who is a college friend of Yijung, persuades her to take on the role of the CCO of Seyong. Seyong is a big conglomerate, so naturally it has old habits that it needs to break away from. Yijung tries to change the culture of the organization at Seyong.
Yijung initially thinks that she will get paid to be in a comfortable position, humoring her friend once in a while. But soon she realizes that things need to be changed at Seyong, inspired by the energy and passion of the young employees. She then decides to take it upon herself to drive that change.
Seo Donghoon is the CEO of a PR agency called Earth Communication. He is someone who has goals about creating a workplace where the employees are happy.
Jung Yunho wanted to portray his character as someone with a flexible mindset rather than someone who has a lot of authority. He had a lot of conversations with Director Lee on how to shape
his character.
As this is Yunho‘s first time playing as a CEO, he put in a lot of effort to prepare for his role. A lot of people around Yunho are mostly working-level office workers in the office and hence he prepared for his role by asking his friends about their experiences at work. What Yunho found quite interesting as he was preparing for the series was the realization that he got to interact with so many people after he started acting, after spending so many years as a singer on stage. He felt so many different emotions whilst working with different people on set, and thinks that it was a great education for him. Yunho thinks that part of him must have been closely connected to Donghoon.
