Staggering daily wage turns into nightmare in 'Dead-End Job'

Just as debt-ridden young man Byeon Hyeok-jun (Lee Jae-wook) is about to give up on life, he comes across a suspicious recruitment ad. The agency behind it, Spider Staffing, offers him a nightshift at a convenience store paying 50 times the usual hourly rate — a staggering 4 million won ($2,800) for a single day. A notebook on the counter lists a series of eerie operating rules, while strange beings show up throughout the night. After barely making it out alive, Hyeok-jun is offered another job by the agency's owner (Lee Hee-jun), this time paying 100 times the usual hourly rate.

Released Oct. 30, Netflix's “Dead-End Job” is a horror anthology series following Hyeok-jun as he takes on nightmarish jobs at a convenience store, movie theater, construction site and amusement park, among other workplaces. Drawing on conventions of urban legends, including so-called “Napolitan horror stories” in which people must follow inexplicable rules to survive, the series gives each workplace its own bizarre regulations and supernatural visitors.

“This project began with the question: What could be scarier than making a living?” director Kim Da-min said in an interview at a cafe in Seoul's Jongno District on Nov. 5. Despite its unconventional genre, she said, the series explores an experience familiar to anyone who has to work to make ends meet.

Even after repeatedly coming close to death, Hyeok-jun cannot resist the lure of these lucrative gigs. His reason is simple: survival. A line delivered by his younger sister Ji-yoon (Kim Min-ha) — “Are you afraid of ghosts? It's being broke that's scary” — succinctly captures the series' underlying vision of true horror.

The episodes also weave in the absurdities and hardships of real-world labor. Kim described the second episode, featuring a clown, as “a metaphor for occupations where workers cannot speak out because of professional ethics, or situations in which they find themselves at the bottom of a chain of power — the 'C' in an A-B-C hierarchy.” The bizarre workplace rules, which conceal the true nature of the dangers involved, echo the reality of workers who are often forced to put up with unreasonable instructions.

“This isn't a story about any one particular profession. It captures moments that anyone can experience at work,” said Han Jun-hee, the series' executive producer.

The production's visual approach further heightens the tension by making familiar workplaces feel unsettlingly alien. Each setting was assigned an exaggerated dominant color — blue for the convenience store and red for the movie theater, for example.

“We wanted the moment someone stepped into a part-time workplace to feel like entering another world,” Kim said.

The production went to considerable lengths to bring its more ambitious sequences to life. The milk-delivery episode, in which space and time become distorted, was filmed on a functioning spinning ride set. For the theme park episode, the team constructed a clock tower, haunted house and bumper cars across a site spanning more than 3,300 square meters.

The series also boasts an impressive lineup of special appearances, including Choi Hyun-wook, Yoon Kyung-ho, Ko Chang-seok and Cho Hyun-chul. Particularly notable was Lee Sung-hyung, a professional mime who plays a clown in the second episode, commanding the screen entirely through facial expressions and physical gestures, without uttering a single line.

“Because we wanted the character to be something strange and unfamiliar, we looked for someone who actually works as a clown and got in touch with him,” Kim said. “He was understandably concerned because this was his first time acting for the screen, but he immersed himself in the role so completely that Yoon Kyung-ho praised him highly on set.”

“Dead-End Job” drew favorable reviews, ranking fourth on Netflix's global Top 10 list of non-English TV shows just three days after its release.

“It feels surreal. We thought the series might have a high barrier to entry, so this is almost miraculous,” said Han Jun-hee, the series' executive producer. He added that he hoped its success would encourage more creators to experiment with unconventional genres.

The filmmakers also encouraged viewers to watch the series more than once. Kim said she spent several days compiling a list of Easter eggs — hidden details and messages planted throughout the episodes.

“There's something we've twisted or subverted in every episode,” she said. “Following those details will make the viewing experience even more enjoyable.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.