Our Unwritten Seoul
Our Unwritten Seoul is a 2025 South Korean television series starring Park Bo-young, Park Jin-young, and Ryu Kyung-soo. It aired on tvN from May 24, to June 29, 2025, every Saturday and Sunday at 21:20. It is available for streaming on Netflix.
Synopsis
Yoo Mi-ji and Yoo Mi-rae are identical twins of opposite personalities and lifestyles. Mi-ji was a promising sprinter, but she has now quit sports due to an injury and is living a free-spirited life in her hometown of Duson-ri, taking care of her grandmother without a plan for her future. Mi-rae has always been a model student and is a perfectionist working at a public corporation in Seoul. When Mi-ji finds out that her sister is struggling with workplace bullying, she suggests that they swap places for a few months.Cast
Main
- Park Bo-young as Yoo Mi-ji / Yoo Mi-rae
- * Lee Jae-in as teen Yoo Mi-ji / Yoo Mi-rae
- Yoo Mi-ji: The younger of the twins who works various jobs after choosing to stay in her hometown to care for her grandmother. She used to be a promising athlete but lost her chance to compete in the Olympics due to an injury.
- Yoo Mi-rae: The older of the twins who works at a corporate job in Seoul. She is academically gifted but lacks physical strength.
- Park Jin-young as Lee Ho-soo
- * Park Yoon-ho as teen Lee Ho-soo
- Ryu Kyung-soo as Han Se-jin
Supporting
People around Mi-ji and Mi-rae
- Jang Young-nam as Kim Ok-hee
- Cha Mi-kyung as Kang Wol-soon
- as Song Gyeong-gu
- Yoo Yoo-jin as Park Ji-yoon
People around Lee Ho-soo
- Im Chul-soo as Lee Chung-goo
- Kim Sun-young as Yeom Beon-hong
- Shin Jeong-won as Hwang Ji-soo
Korea Finance Management Corporation staff
- as Choi Tae-gwan
- as Shin Gyeong-min
- Go Ae-ri as Ahn Mi-jung
- as Hwang Yun-ho
- as Lee Hyo-kyung
- Hong Sung-won as Kim Tae-yi
- Park Ye-young as Kim Soo-yeon
Others
- Jung Eun-pyo as Jo Myeong-gap
- Kim Kyung-duk as Kong Il-nam
- Won Mi-kyung as Kim Ro-sa/Hyeon Sang-wol
- * Moon Su-a as young Hyeon Sang-wol
- * Kim Do-eun as child Hyeon Sang-wol
- Park Hwan-hee as Kim Ro-sa
- *Kim Tae-yeon as child Kim Ro-sa
Special appearances
- Kim Joo-hun as Ho-soo's father
Production
Development
Our Unwritten Seoul was initially a KBS drama, but they encountered difficulties in casting due to the declining competitiveness of their channels. KBS then approached Studio Dragon to co-produce the series and signed a MOU with CJ ENM, handing the drama over to tvN.Park Shin-woo, who directed Lovestruck in the City, was attached to direct, and Lee Kang of Youth of May was reported to write the screenplay in December 2024. The series was planned by Studio Dragon and co-produced by Monster Union, Higround, and Next Scene. Screenwriter Kang shared that she wrote the series to tell "stories of people who look fine on the outside but are already wavering and exhausted inside." She imagined how nice it would be if a person who looked exactly like her could replace her, but at the same time wondered if her twin's life would be more peaceful than hers, thus deciding to write about two twin sisters swapping lives.
Casting
On July 25, 2024, Newsen reported that Park Bo-young had received an offer for the series, with Ten Asia confirming her appearance on the same day. On September 26, BH Entertainment told Newsen that Park Jin-young was considering the drama as the next project following his discharge from the army. On October 8, News 1 reported that Ryu Kyung-soo had joined the series as one of the leads. On December 3, Park Bo-young and Jin-young were confirmed to appear.Park Bo-young received the script a year before the series went into production and decided to participate after reading the first episode and being favorably impressed by it. Although there was neither a director nor a broadcaster yet, she thought she would never have a similar opportunity again; she also wanted to play a strong character that would contrast with the sweet and cheerful ones she had played up to that point. Although Park had already played two different roles in Oh My Ghost, she found Our Unwritten Seoul more difficult because she could not imitate another actress' performance to differentiate the two characters: she therefore started from the small details that made Mi-ji and Mi-rae unique, distinguishing them in their voice, clothing, makeup and hairstyle.
Park Jin-young was drawn to the narrative centered on victims or the weak, and found it fascinating that Lee Ho-soo, who is deaf in one ear, tried to listen to others better than a healthy person could. Hong Sung-won had initially auditioned for the roles of Ho-soo and Gyeong-gu before the director offered him the part of Kim Tae-yi.
Filming
Principal photography began at the end of 2024. The series joined the promotional campaign "Seoul, My Soul" and throughout the episodes, many attractions of the metropolis appear, such as the park north of Dongjak Bridge, the rainbow fountains of Banpo Bridge, Seongsu Naknak, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Gwangtonggyo Bridge in Cheonggyecheon, Hanbit Square, the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Myeong-dong and the hanok district. The countryside scenes were filmed in Mungyeong, Gyeongbuk and Damyang, South Jeolla Province; filming also took place in Dangjin, Gwangju, Suncheon and Hapcheon.Original soundtrack
The soundtrack features artists such as Choi Yu-ree, 10cm, Hong Isaac, dori, and Elaine. It was led by music director Nam Hye-seung.'' Our Unwritten Seoul (Original Television Soundtrack)''
;TracklistSingles
Part 1Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
'''Part 6'''
Reception
Our Unwritten Seoul was well received by both critics and audiences. It was praised for its direction, solid screenplay containing words of comfort for modern people, and the actors' performances, in particular Park Bo-young's, who was appreciated for having distinguished the two sisters naturally, without unnecessary emotional excesses.The popularity of Our Unwritten Seoul was attributed to its greatly empathetic approach to youth, depicting the confusion of a generation that despises itself, but gradually grows and overcomes its self-hatred when it realizes that everyone is suffering from something, creating a ripple effect similar to that of a self-help book, and giving courage to those who were facing difficult challenges. Pop culture critic Jung Deok-hyun observed that, through the fantasy of exchanging lives with another person, the series illustrated the process of finding the true self, forgotten by living without much thought, as well as highlighting an absurd reality in which people survive by thinking they are wrong compared to others. Fellow critic and activist Baek Su-jeong appreciated that disabled people were not portrayed stereotypically as incompetent, marginalized, or geniuses suffering from "savant syndrome," but as people who live their lives and work, taking the successful lawyer Lee Chung-goo as an example.