"100 Days of Deception" nears double-digit ratings
tvN's new weekend drama 100 Days of Deception, starring Kim You-jung and Park Jin-young of GOT7, is growing fast. Its fourth episode on Sunday, October 18, 2026, averaged 9.0% nationwide according to Nielsen Korea – its best result so far and first place in its time slot across all channels.
A strong start that keeps rising
The drama premiered on Saturday, October 10, with 5.3%. That was already the highest 첫 방송 (cheot bangsong) – premiere – for any tvN Saturday–Sunday drama this year, and it made the show the most-watched cable program of the day. One weekend later it had almost doubled. For a cable channel, ratings near 10% put a drama among the biggest hits of the season.
The series airs on Saturdays and Sundays on tvN and is also on Netflix in many regions (as of October 2026).
A pickpocket turned spy
The story is set during the Japanese colonial period, which Koreans call 일제강점기 (Ilje gangjeomgi). Kim You-jung plays Ga-kyung, a gifted 소매치기 (somaechigi) – pickpocket – who goes undercover inside the Japanese Government-General of Korea. From the inside, she starts passing important information to the Korean 독립군 (dongnipgun) – independence army. Park Jin-young plays the male lead opposite her, and the show mixes espionage with romance.
The title points to a ticking clock: the heroine has to keep up her disguise, and the "deception" of the title is both her mission and a source of tension in the love story.
Watching tip for learners
Period dramas set in the 1920s–40s use a lot of formal speech, and some characters speak Japanese, so the Korean subtitles (if your platform offers them) are worth turning on. Listen for the very polite ending -습니다 (-seumnida) in official settings, and for how characters switch to casual speech when they are alone with someone they trust. That switch is often a quiet sign that a relationship has changed.
Korean from this story
| Korean | Romanization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 첫 방송 | cheot bangsong | premiere, first broadcast |
| 주말 드라마 | jumal deurama | weekend drama |
| 소매치기 | somaechigi | pickpocket |
| 스파이 | seupai | spy |
| 독립군 | dongnipgun | independence army |
| 일제강점기 | Ilje gangjeomgi | Japanese colonial period (1910–1945) |
| 거짓말 | geojinmal | lie |
Everyday line you might hear in any drama like this: 거짓말하지 마세요 (geojinmalhaji maseyo) – "Don't lie" (polite). Among friends it becomes 거짓말하지 마 (geojinmalhaji ma).
Sources: Soompi – premiere ratings, Oct. 11, Soompi – episode 4 ratings, Oct. 19, What's on Netflix – October 2026 K-dramas