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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Seo Kang-joon, Jin Ki-joo, Kim Shin-rok
Latest Nielsen rating: 6.6 per cent
Last seen in the Disney+ sci-fi thriller Grid in 2022, Seo Kang-joon is finally back on screens, having recently completed his compulsory military service in South Korea.
He has changed from army fatigues to a school uniform in Undercover High School, a straightforward and self-explanatory but pleasing formulaic action comedy.


Seo plays National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent Jung Hae-sung, who we first see entering from on high as he swoops in on the illegal sale of a prized Buddha statue, and grins and postures heroically between skirmishes with foes on both sides of the trade.
A fist fight evolves into a daring car chase, during which he hops from a motorbike onto a moving car and smashes his way in through a sunroof with his helmet. Although he manages to get his man and retrieve the statue, his gutsy antics result in the priceless artefact losing an arm in a crash.
The higher-ups at the NIS want Hae-sung gone, but they reluctantly offer him a chance to redeem himself by taking on an important yet rather demeaning mission – go undercover in a high school and track down gold bars worth 800 billion won (US$560 million) supposedly stashed there.
Naturally, Byeongmun High School is no ordinary institution. This venerated school welcomes only the elite and is run by a student council comprising the best of the best and the richest of the rich.

The school and the loot date back to the Japanese colonial era (1910 to 1945) in Korea, and running the show is principal Seo Myeong-joo (Kim Shin-rok, Hellbound), who curries favour with the social elite while running the school with an iron fist.
After being given a cover story and brushing up on contemporary teenage slang, Hae-sung is thrust back into school and immediately reminded of his own youth: he was bullied in school because he was an orphan – his father, also a dashing NIS agent, having suffered an untimely death.
There is plenty of bullying going on at Byeongmun, much of it directed at Hae-sung’s desk mate Lee Dong-min (Shin Joon-hang). Hae-sung would love nothing more than to put the bullies in their place, but he is on strict orders to keep a low profile.
Not only can he not teach them a lesson, but when the bullies set their sights on him, he has to grin and bear it. But how long can that possibly last?

Seo’s co-star is Jin Ki-joo (My Perfect Stranger), who plays Hae-sung’s well-meaning homeroom teacher, Oh Soo-a.
The pair first meet outside school before his assignment, when Hae-sung is drinking at Soo-a’s mother’s restaurant. Some violent teenagers cause a scene, and Soo-a and her mother are very grateful when Hae-sung sets them straight.
Soo-a is aghast when she meets Hae-sung again at Byeongmun and sees – incorrectly – that he is also a teen.
This is the first in a series of classic misunderstandings between the pair, and Soo-a becomes increasingly exasperated with him, in large part because of her confusion at being attracted to someone she believes to be a teenager.

The only person at Byeongmun who knows who Hae-sung really is his classmate An Yoo-jung (Park Se-hyun), who happens to be the daughter of Hae-sung’s father-figure team leader, An Seok-ho (Jeon Bae-su).
After taking some time to find his bearings at the school, Hae-sung sets out on his mission to track down the gold. This involves lots of late-night snooping around the grounds, particularly around an old building that is seemingly not in use, even though its electricity meter is still running.
Hae-sung ends up getting a little help from Dong-min, who clues him in on some ghost stories about the building’s basement, which used to be a ballet studio. In addition to school, action and romcom high jinks, the show manages to slip in some fun horror moments here.
There’s no denying that Undercover High School is a very straightforward affair. It leans into stereotypes and jumps between them rather than build on any of them. Then again, it’s also comfortable and confident in its approach, and never seeks to reinvent the wheel.

The simply drawn but attractive leads afford Seo and Jin plenty of room to show their charm. Despite the surfeit of formula, they manage to generate some on-screen chemistry.
Hopefully, Undercover High School can keep up its breezy pace and style as the plot thickens in the coming weeks.
Undercover High School is streaming on Viu.


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Seo Kang-joon as National Intelligence Service agent Jung Hae-sung, who is posted undercover in a high school, in a still from action comedy K-drama Undercover High School.

Jin Ki-joo as teacher Oh Soo-a (left) and Seo Kang-joon as agent Jung Hae-sung in a still from Undercover High School.

Kim Shin-rok as principal Seo Myeong-joo in a still from Undercover High School.

Jin Ki-joo as teacher Oh Soo-a and Seo Kang -joon as NIS agent Jung Hae-sung posing as a teenager in a still from Undercover High School.

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Seo Kang-joon plays an agent who poses as a student to track down missing gold bars, while Jin Ki-joo plays his teacher in this fun comedy


Seo Kang-joon plays an agent who poses as a student to track down missing gold bars, while Jin Ki-joo plays his teacher in this fun comedy.


K-drama Undercover High School sees Seo Kang-joon, Jin Ki-joo in unassuming action comedy

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Seo Kang-joon plays an agent who poses as a student to track down missing gold bars, while Jin Ki-joo plays his teacher in this fun comedy

Seo Kang-joon plays an agent who poses as a student to track down missing gold bars, while Jin Ki-joo plays his teacher in this fun comedy