| Alt Name: | Queen of the Office Goddess of the Workplace |
| Genre: | Romance Comedy Drama |
| Director: | Jeon Chang-geun Noh Sang-hoon |
| Starring: | Kim Hye-soo Oh Ji-ho Jung Yu-mi Lee Hee-joon Jeon Hye-bin Jo Kwon |
| Composer: | Kang Dong-yoon |
| Country: | South Korea |
| Language: | Korean |
| Num Episodes: | 16 |
| Executive Producer: | Hwang Eui-kyung |
| Producer: | Ham Young-hoon Park Woo-ram |
| Editor: | Kim Young-joo |
| Location: | Korea |
| Cinematography: | Kwon Hyuk-kyun Kim Yong-soo |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes on Mondays and Tuesdays at 22:00 (KST) |
| Company: | KBS Media MI Media Queen of the Office SPC |
| Channel: | Korean Broadcasting System |
| Related: | Haken no Hinkaku |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul: | 직장의 신 |
| Hanja: | 職場의神 |
| Rr: | Jikjang-ui Sin |
| Mr: | Chikchangŭi Sin |
The Queen of Office is a 2013 South Korean television series starring Kim Hye-soo, Oh Ji-ho, Jung Yu-mi, Lee Hee-joon, Jeon Hye-bin, and Jo Kwon. It aired on KBS2 from April 1 to May 21, 2013, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 22:00 for 16 episodes.[1] Kim later won the Daesang (or "Grand Prize"), the highest honor at the 2013 KBS Drama Awards.[2]
Based on the 2007 Japanese drama, the comedy/drama series uses the modern Korean workplace culture as a backdrop and revolves around charismatic perfect employee Miss Kim, who's good at everything that even her bosses are a little afraid of her. But her life is shrouded in mystery and she always disappears after her three-month temp contract is up.[3] [4] [5]
The early working title was Come Back, Miss Kim .[6] [7]
Always wearing a neutral-colored business suit and with her hair firmly in place, Miss Kim is a non-regular worker. She holds 124 skill certifications in all sorts of fields, executes work with perfection, and speaks a bunch of languages including Russian. She traverses the jungle of office buildings and suddenly disappears after her three-month work contract ends. Her very name inspires awe in her colleagues, and even her superiors are afraid of her. Miss Kim goes to work at 9 a.m., and leaves at 6 p.m., unwilling to spend a microsecond more. She refuses to do work outside of her job description, never misses her lunch break, and the company wouldn't dare ask her to come in on weekends. Miss Kim says that if the company doesn't approve of her actions, it should hire three more regular employees since she does three people's work in a limited period of time. Her life outside work is shrouded in mystery: No one knows her first name, her age, or her background. Miss Kim's confidence about her ability, and also the frustration from her contract situation, allows her to be protective about her private life and blatantly reject after-work drinking sessions and other oppressive traditions of the macho corporate culture. She avoids all personal interactions, and instead chooses to live her life in her own way.
Jang Gyu-jik works in the upper management of Y-Jang Food Company (his name is a pun on jung gyu-jik, the Korean phrase for permanent employee). He finished his MBA in the United States, then returned to Korea. Upbeat and energetic and armed with professionalism and good work ethics, Gyu-jik is strongly devoted to his company, and puts everything on the line for his work. But he treats temps dismissively, thinking they only exist to assist regular employees with menial chores. Hot-headed and with a rather childish mentality, Gyu-jik keeps attempting to humiliate Miss Kim, but he is frequently stymied by her unexpected reactions. Gyu-jik and Miss Kim engage in numerous conflicts and confrontations, but gradually feelings of respect and love grow between them, two seemingly incompatible people.
Jung Joo-ri has failed countless job interviews because she came from a third-rate university and has a less-than-stellar resume. Thus, she gets hired at Y-Jang Food Company only as a temp. She tries her hardest at everything but keeps making mistakes, and she lapses into saturi (or regional/rural dialect) during stressful moments. Joo-ri has a crush on her boss Jang Gyu-jik.
He entered the company at the same time as his friend and colleague, Jang Gyu-jik. But as Gyu-jik moved up the ranks, Jeong-han kept getting left behind. Jeong-han is cold and serious (his name literally means "heartless" in Korean), and different from Gyu-jik in every way, from attitude, nature, to personal values.
Geum Bit-na (her name means "shines like gold") was hired at the same time as Jung Joo-ri. But unlike Joo-ri, she has all the right qualifications and a first-rate education, and gets hired as a regular employee. She also happens to be the ex-girlfriend of Jang Gyu-jik.
A very polite and upright new hire.
| Episode # | Original broadcast date | Average audience share | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TNmS Ratings[10] | AGB Nielsen[11] | ||||||
| width=100 | Nationwide | width=100 | Seoul National Capital Area | width=100 | Nationwide | width=100 | Seoul National Capital Area |
| 1 | 1 April 2013 | 9.4% | 9.8% | 8.2% | 8.9% | ||
| 2 | 2 April 2013 | 9.3% | 9.9% | 8.6% | 9.0% | ||
| 3 | 8 April 2013 | 10.6% | 11.8% | 12.3% | 12.1% | ||
| 4 | 9 April 2013 | 12.2% | 13.5% | 12.1% | 12.1% | ||
| 5 | 15 April 2013 | 12.0% | 12.6% | 13.4% | 12.5% | ||
| 6 | 16 April 2013 | 13.3% | 13.4% | 14.2% | 14.6% | ||
| 7 | 22 April 2013 | 13.6% | 14.9% | 14.0% | 14.1% | ||
| 8 | 23 April 2013 | 13.2% | 14.6% | 14.6% | 13.9% | ||
| 9 | 29 April 2013 | 12.6% | 13.5% | 13.5% | 13.2% | ||
| 10 | 30 April 2013 | 13.3% | 14.3% | 14.5% | 14.8% | ||
| 11 | 6 May 2013 | 12.2% | 12.8% | 13.6% | 13.8% | ||
| 12 | 7 May 2013 | 12.8% | 13.4% | 14.0% | 13.9% | ||
| 13 | 13 May 2013 | 11.6% | 11.9% | 13.1% | 13.8% | ||
| 14 | 14 May 2013 | 11.8% | 13.0% | 12.8% | 13.2% | ||
| 15 | 20 May 2013 | 11.8% | 12.8% | 14.4% | 16.2% | ||
| 16 | 21 May 2013 | 12.8% | 13.6% | 14.2% | 14.9% | ||
| Average | 12.0% | 12.9% | 13.0% | 13.2% | |||
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Grand Prize (Daesang) | Kim Hye-soo | ||
| Best Drama | Queen of the Office | |||
| Best Production Director | Jeon Chang-geun | |||
| Excellence Award, Actor | ||||
| Top Excellence Award, Actress | ||||
| 21st Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards | Grand Prize (Daesang) | |||
| Excellence Award, Actor in Drama | ||||
| Grand Prize (Daesang) | ||||
| Top Excellence Award, Actor | ||||
| Top Excellence Award, Actress | ||||
| Excellence Award, Actor in a Miniseries | ||||
| Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries | ||||
| Best Supporting Actor | ||||
| Best Couple Award | ||||
| 2014 | 7th WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival | Platinum Remi Award for Comedy TV Series | Queen of the Office | |