Artificial City

Artificial City^[1] (Korean: 공작도시) is a South Korean television series directed by Jeon Chang-geun and starring Soo Ae, Kim Mi-sook, Kim Kang-woo and Lee Hak-joo.^[2] This psychological series is about a society whose characters have different desires and psychology, which pushes them to conceal their dark sides.^[3][4] It premiered on JTBC on December 8, 2021 and aired every Wednesday and Thursday at 22:30 (KST).^[5]

Artificial City
Promotional poster
Also known as	Sabotage City
Hangul	공작도시
Hanja	孔雀都市
Lit.	Peacock City
RR	Gongjakdosi
MR	Kongjaktosi
Genre	Psychological Mystery
Created by	JTBC
Written by	Son Se-dong
Directed by	Jeon Chang-geun
Starring	Soo Ae Kim Kang-woo Kim Mi-sook Lee Hak-joo
Music by	Gaemi (Music Manager)
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	20
Production
Executive producers	A Su-beom Jo Seong-hoon
Producers	Hwang Ki-yong Park Ha-ok Han Min-jung Jeon Ji-ho Gam Ja-beom
Running time	70 minutes
Production companies	Hi-Story D&C JTBC Studios
Original release
Network	JTBC
Release	December 8, 2021 (2021-12-08) – February 10, 2022 (2022-02-10)

Synopsis

A psychological mystery thriller that tells the story of things which lose their meaning when greed and power comes into play. A big conglomerate, Sungjin Group, which has clout over political and financial circles in South Korea, owns an art museum called "Space Jin". Yoon Jae-hee (Soo Ae), second daughter-in-law of the family, is in charge of the art museum. She hates poverty so she ditched her long-time lover and married Jung Joon-hyuk (Kim Kang-woo), an illegitimate son of Sungjin Group. She even fights her in-laws in order to make her husband the country's president, with the help of the future public prosecutor general. The husband poses as if he has no such ambition, but inside he waits for the day when he can have the control.

Cast and characters

Main

• Soo Ae as Yoon Jae-hee^[6]

The second daughter-in-law of Sungjin Group, in-charge of 'Space Jin' art museum.

• Kim Kang-woo as Jung Joon-hyuk^[7]

Husband of Yoon Jae-hee, illegitimate son of Sungjin Group and JBC's popular anchorman.

• Kim Mi-sook as Seo Han-sook

Jung Joon-hyuk's step-mother and Chairman of the Sungjin Cultural Foundation.

• Lee Yi-dam as Kim Yi-seol^[8]

Docent of 'Space Jin'.

• Lee Hak-joo as Han Dong-min^[9]

JBC news reporter.

Supporting

People around Sungjin Group

• Song Young-chang as Jung Pil-sung, calligrapher, Seo Han-sook's husband and Jun-hyeok's father.
• Kim Young-jae as Jung Joon-il, Vice Chairman of Sungjin Electronics and Seo Han-sook's son.^[10]
• Kim Ji-hyun as Lee Joo-yeon, Jung Joon-il's wife and representative of 'Space Jin'.^[11]
• Lee Seo-an, as Jung Eun-jung, the youngest daughter of the Sungjin Group and an aspiring playwright.^[12]
• Kim Joo-ryoung as Go Seon-mi, Seo Han-sook's secretary.^[13]
• Jung Hee-tae as Yang Won-rok, Phil's younger brother and President of Myeongseong Construction, a demolition service company.^[14]
• Seo Woo-jin as Jung Hyun-woo, son of Jae-hee and Joon-hyuk.

People from outside

• Lee Choong-joo as Park Jeong-ho, a prosecutor at the Central District Prosecutor's Office.^[15]
• Jeong Hae-kyun as Jo Kang-hyun, Minister of Justice.
• Baek Ji-won as Kwon Min-sun, Jo Kang-hyun's wife.
• Seo Jae-hee as Oh Ye-rin, Jo Kang-hyun's girlfriend.^[16]
• Nam Gi-ae as Min Ji-young, Seo Young-ho's wife and Min Seong-sik's younger sister.
• Park Ji-il as Min Seong-sik, Min Ji-young's older brother.
• Nam Moon-cheol as Choi Hee-joong, Editor-in-Chief of 'Daily News'.
• Yeom Dong-heon as Kwak Ki-hwan, Former Police Commissioner, re-elected member of the National Police Agency.
• Yoo Jin-seok as Former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Others

• Nam Myeong-ryeol as Yoon Jong-pil, Jae-hee's father and a former judge.
• Lee Kyu-Hyun as Park Yong-seop, a waiter.^[17]
• Park Myung-shin as Kim Myung-wan, a restaurant manager, she lives in the same neighborhood as Kim Yi-seol and takes care of her.^[18]
• Hwang Seon-hee as Noh Young-joo, entertainment worker.

Special appearance

• Kim Hyun-soo as Do Eun-young^[19]

Production

In December 2020, Studio Santa Claus Entertainment, Soo Ae's agency, announced that she was offered a role in Artificial City. This would be her first drama since the 2016 series Sweet Stranger and Me.^[20] On 6 January 2021, King Entertainment announced that Kim Kang-woo was offered the leading role for the series. His last appearance was in Woman of 9.9 Billion in 2019.^[21] This is the second common project for Kim Kang-woo and Soo Ae, who had previously worked together in the 2018 film High Society and attends to 2007 Busan's International Film Festival.

Principal photography was wrapped up on 29 March 2021.^[22]

The first script reading photos were revealed on November 3, 2021.^[23]

Original soundtrack

Untitled
Soundtrack album by Various
Released	2022
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	Dreamus Most content

Part 1

Released on January 6, 2022 (2022-01-06)^[24]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Let Me Be There"	Lee Jun-hwa	Lee Jun-hwa	Elaine	4:30
2.	"Let Me Be There" (Inst.)				4:30

Part 2

Released on January 20, 2022 (2022-01-20)^[25]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"The Real Life"	Kyungsoo Han, Dohyeong Lee (Lohi)	Kyungsoo Han, Dohyeong Lee (Lohi)	YELO (yellow)	4:01
2.	"The Real Life" (Inst.)				4:01

Part 3

Released on February 8, 2022 (2022-02-08)^[26]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Alone"	Kim Beom-ju, Kim Si-hyuk	Kim Beom-joo, Kim Si-hyuk	Hajin	3:42
2.	"Alone" (Inst.)				3:42

Viewership

Artificial City : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)

Season		Episode number																				Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
	1	701	N/A	747	612	771	671	700	N/A	752	N/A	752	N/A	789	861	720	798	684	905	839	916	N/A

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea^[27]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)[27][28]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	December 8, 2021	3.576% (5th)	4.279% (2nd)
2	December 9, 2021	2.628% (12th)	2.920% (7th)
3	December 15, 2021	3.895% (3rd)	4.310% (2nd)
4	December 16, 2021	3.119% (12th)	3.977% (N/A)
5	December 22, 2021	4.072% (3rd)	4.697% (2nd)
6	December 23, 2021	3.166% (11th)	4.183% (4th)
7	December 29, 2021	3.561% (7th)	3.797% (4th)
8	December 30, 2021	2.977% (15th)	3.854% (6th)
9	January 5, 2022	3.414% (11th)	3.843% (5th)
10	January 6, 2022	3.221% (12th)	3.773% (9th)
11	January 12, 2022	3.929% (5th)	4.345% (2nd)
12	January 13, 2022	3.438% (12th)	3.732% (7th)
13	January 19, 2022	3.867% (8th)	4.790% (2nd)
14	January 20, 2022	4.217% (3rd)	4.582% (3rd)
15	January 26, 2022	3.784% (4th)	4.268% (2nd)
16	January 27, 2022	3.907% (6th)	4.280% (5th)
17	February 2, 2022	3.105% (10th)	3.473% (5th)
18	February 3, 2022	4.526% (3rd)	5.051% (2nd)
19	February 9, 2022	4.104% (4th)	4.642% (1st)
20	February 10, 2022	4.695% (3rd)	5.486% (3rd)
Average		3.660%	4.214%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. This drama airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).