Park Eun-bin's 'Spooky in Romance' Opens Soft With 3% Rating on tvN

"Spooky in Romance," the new tvN weekend drama starring Park Eun-bin, is off to a slow start. The show's first episode drew a 3.0% average nationwide rating.

The drama premiered on tvN on the 18th as its Saturday-Sunday title. The opening episode followed the first meeting between Cheon Yeo-ri, played by Park Eun-bin, and Ma Gang-wook, played by Yang Se-jong, as a chance encounter turns into something closer to fate.

Among the regular mini-series that aired the same night, "Spooky in Romance" landed at the bottom. SBS's "Agent Kim Reactivated" pulled 23.1%, roughly eight times higher. JTBC's "The Apartment Job" logged 5.4%, and KBS's "The Husband" came in at 5.0%. Disney+'s "A Shop for Killers" (Killerdeurui Shoppingmol), rebroadcast on MBC, recorded 1.1%.

In the story, Cheon Yeo-ri can see ghosts. Anyone she touches gains the same ability. Following a shaman's advice, she grants ghosts' requests in order to keep herself alive. While searching for a body buried on a wooded hillside, out of sight of others, she runs into prosecutor Ma Gang-wook, who is there to investigate a case. Suspicious of each other, the two end up in a physical scuffle before finally clearing up the misunderstanding. The encounter leaves a strong impression on both of them.

Cheon Yeo-ri tries to move on and forget Ma Gang-wook. He turns up again anyway. After tracking down a group of criminals at a ghost's request, she is about to report them to police when the criminals ram her car and drive off. Ma Gang-wook, watching from nearby, jumps into her car without warning.

Recognizing each other, the pair bicker the entire time but keep chasing the fleeing car together. With some otherworldly navigation help from a ghost, they manage to catch the criminals. Cheon Yeo-ri tells Ma Gang-wook to deal with the victim's body in the trunk, then slips away before anyone else can identify her.

Ma Gang-wook, suspicious of a tipster who located the body faster than police, uses CCTV footage to identify her as Cheon Yeo-ri, the CEO of Reina Hotel. He heads straight to the hotel to confirm, only to run into the obvious problem of trying to meet a company's chief executive with no appointment.

Just then, Cheon Yeo-ri walks down to the hotel lobby, unaware of the situation, and locks eyes with him. She ducks into the CEO's office to escape, ending up in a standoff with only a door between them. Ma Gang-wook throws the door open, startling her enough that she loses her balance. The episode closes on his hand reaching out to catch her.