# Suspicious Partner

Suspicious Partner (Korean: 수상한 파트너; RR: Susanghan Pateuneo) is a 2017 South Korean television series starring Ji Chang-wook and Nam Ji-hyun, with Choi Tae-joon and Kwon Nara. It aired on Seoul Broadcasting System from May 10 to July 13, 2017, at 22:00 (KST) on Wednesdays and Thursdays for 20 episodes.
While the show, during some weeks, managed to outperform its competitor in some categories, such as the 20-49 year old demographic, as well as streaming, popularity and brand reputation charts, it enjoyed modest viewership, while its competitor topped the ratings in its time slot.

## Synopsis

The series is about Noh Ji-wook (Ji Chang-wook), a prosecutor, and Eun Bong-hee (Nam Ji-hyun), a prosecutor trainee. When a murderer strikes, Bong-hee suddenly finds herself as a suspect, and Noh Ji-wook then changes jobs to become a private attorney due to circumstances. The two work together on the case, finding out how deeply connected they are by their past.

## Cast
### Main

* Ji Chang-wook as Noh Ji-wook
** Oh Han-gyeol and Son Sang-yeon as young Ji-wook
    A prosecutor in the Sunho District Prosecutors' Office who ends up switching professions to a private attorney in the aftermath of defending Eun Bong-hee. He was scarred by an event in his childhood involving his parents. He then went through a traumatic betrayal involving his former best friend and his ex girlfriend. Bong-hee falls for him, though he does not initially return her feelings. He eventually does and tries to pursue her, however he starts to be swayed again by the fact that Bong-hee's father could have been the arsonist who set the fire in which his parents died.
* Nam Ji-hyun as Eun Bong-hee
** Choi Myung-bin as young Bong-hee
    A prosecutor trainee at Ji-wook's office, later lawyer who was a Taekwondo athlete in her youth. One day, she becomes a murder suspect as her ex-boyfriend's dead body was found in her house in which she had no alibi, causing District Attorney Jang Moo-young to keep coming after her and blame her for his son's death. She eventually falls for Ji-wook after he defended her. He eventually pursues her as he realizes his feelings for her.
* Choi Tae-joon as Ji Eun-hyuk
** Kwon Bin and Moon Woo-jin as young Eun-hyuk
    A lawyer, once best friends with Ji-wook, who is now despised by him because he had an affair with Yoo-jung.
* Kwon Nara as Cha Yoo-jung
** Ryu Han-bi as young Yoo-jung
    A prosecutor, Noh Ji-wook's ex-girlfriend.

### Supporting
#### People around Noh Ji-wook

* Lee Deok-hwa as Byun Young-hee
    Ji-wook's adoptive father. The representative of a big law firm who later joins Ji-wook's newly opened firm.
* Nam Gi-ae as Hong Bok-ja
    Ji-wook's adoptive mom. She is a good friend of Ji-wook's real mom and owns a pizza shop. She is also the archenemy of Bong-hee's mother.
* Jo Seung-yeon as Noh Young-suk
    Ji-wook's late father who was also a prosecutor.
* Jang Hyuk-jin as Bang Eun-ho
    Ji-wook's prosecutor-turned-lawyer's paralegal. He considers himself to be the 'mother' of the group.

#### People around Eun Bong-hee

* Yoon Bok-in as Park Young-soon
    Bong-hee's mother who loves her daughter. She works at a massage parlor where she befriends Ji-wook's mom and later ends up working for Ji-wook's mom. The two are frequently indulge in semi-friendly banter.
* Lee Do-yeop as Eun Man-su
    Bong-hee's father who died while trying to save Ji-wook. He was earlier accused of murdering Ji-wook's parents until it was discovered that he was innocent.
* Hwang Chan-sung as Jang Hee-joon
    Bong-hee's cheating ex-boyfriend. He died in Bong-hee's house which pointed her as the prime suspect.

#### People at the Training Center

* Kim Ye-won as Na Ji-hae
    Bong-hee's classmate. She later becomes a prosecutor.
* Heo Joon-seok as Woo Hee-kyu
* Shim Eun-woo as Hong Cha-eun

### Extended

* Dong Ha as Jung Hyun-soo
    A victim who was accused of murder which has similar vibe to Bong-hee's case, but has a mysterious identity that lies in him. He was in fact a serial killer who had earlier, out of revenge, murdered five of the six gang-rapists (including the victim of a murder he was accused of and first appeared in the show for) of his high school crush Park So-young, who committed suicide after this incident. He was also the real culprit who murdered Jang Hee-joon; in fact, his real target was Bong-hee, who unknowingly witnessed him killing two of the rapists but ended up killing Hee-joon, who was at the wrong place at the wrong time when he tried to make amends with Bong-hee for cheating her. Hyun-soo was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders he committed.
* Kim Hong-fa as Jang Moo-young
    Jang Hee-joon's father and the District Attorney of Sunho District. He believes in upholding the might of the prosecution even if it meant defaming common people, as shown when he falsely incriminated Bong-hee's father as the arsonist who caused the fire that killed Ji-wook's parents and also himself, releasing the gang-rapists of Park So-young after dismissing their rape charges on the bribery of the parents and forcing Ji-wook to indict and convict Bong-hee (who was actually innocent) for murdering his son. Upon discovering Hyun-soo's guilt of his son's murder, he tried to kill him unsuccessfully and this led to his downfall as he was dismissed from his post and arrested for attempted murder (and possibly his pre-existing corruption prior to his arrest).
* Jin Ju-hyung as Go Chan-ho
    A forensic investigator who went missing after being falsely incriminated for murder. He was actually one of the gang-rapists who raped Park So-young and was shown to be plagued with remorse (possibly) for the crime. He disappeared before he could meet up with Ji-wook to reveal something related to Hyun-soo, and was confirmed to be murdered by Hyun-soo when his body was discovered nearing the finale of the series. Four of his five accomplices - Lee Jae-ho, Yang Jin-woo, Kim Min-goo and Sung Jae-hyun - were earlier murdered by Hyun-soo while the final accomplice Min Young-hoon eventually surrendered and went to jail for the crime around the same time Hyun-soo was indicted the second time and finally sentenced.
* Park Gyu-young as Park So-young
    A girl from Jung Hyun-soo's past who committed suicide after a tragedy which traumatized her.
* Park Ji-a as Park Seong-eun
* Kim Kyung-jin as The guy who disturbed Bong-hee while drinking (Ep. 1)
* Jung Yeon
* Choi Hong-il as Vice-chief of Prosecutor (Ep. 1–4)
* Kim Ki-nam as Prosecutor who works with Jung Moo-young (Ep. 8)
* Seo Jin-wook as Forensic expert who testified in court (Ep. 4)
* Jo Won-hee as Judge
* Choi Ji-hoo
* Lee Da-jin

### Special appearances

* Jang Won-young as Ji Ha-cheol, pervert (Ep. 1–2, 21)
* Hong Seok-cheon as Monk (Ep. 3)
* Park Sung-geun as Flasher (Ep. 4)
* Jo Jung-sik as News Anchor
* Lee Si-a as Lee Na-eun, stalking victim (Ep. 6)
* Ji Il-joo as Jeon Sung-ho, stalker (Ep. 6)
* Seo Dong-won as So Jung-ha (Ep. 21–22)
* Jo Ah-ra as So Jung-ha's girlfriend (Ep. 22)
* Kim Ye-jun as Kim Jae-hong (Ep. 32–33)

## Production

The early working titles for the drama were Beware This Woman and Suspicious Romance. The first script reading took place April 4, 2017 at SBS Ilsan Production Center in Tanhyun, South Korea.
Both lead actors Ji Chang-wook and Nam Ji-hyun starred in Warrior Baek Dong-soo in 2011.

## Original soundtrack
### Chart performance

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Sales | Remarks |
| Title | Year | KOR Gaon | Sales | Remarks |
| "How About You" (Cheeze) | 2017 | 48 | KOR: 48,205+ | Part 4 |
| "Breathing All Day" (Bumkey) | 2017 | 93 | KOR: 17,997+ | Part 6 |
| "—" denotes that the song did not chart in that region. |||||

## Ratings

| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Title | Average audience share | Average audience share | Average audience share | Average audience share |
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Title | Nielsen Korea | Nielsen Korea | TNmS | TNmS |
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Title | Nationwide | Seoul | Nationwide | Seoul |
| 1 | May 10, 2017 | Hope for the Future | 6.3% (17th) | 6.5% (14th) | 6.1% (19th) | 7.4% (14th) |
| 2 | May 10, 2017 | Hope for the Future | 6.8% (13th) | 6.9% (12th) | 6.8% (15th) | 8.2% (8th) |
| 3 | May 11, 2017 | Take It | 6.1% (NR) | 5.8% (NR) | 6.3% (NR) | 7.0% (NR) |
| 4 | May 11, 2017 | Take It | 7.2% (18th) | 7.7% (14th) | 7.0% (NR) | 7.9% (18th) |
| 5 | May 17, 2017 | Restraining Order | 6.6% (NR) | 6.8% (NR) | 6.9% (NR) | 8.5% (12th) |
| 6 | May 17, 2017 | Restraining Order | 8.0% (13th) | 8.5% (9th) | 7.4% (18th) | 8.2% (15th) |
| 7 | May 18, 2017 | Reunion and Reunion | 6.8% (19th) | 6.9% (18th) | 6.0% (NR) | 6.6% (20th) |
| 8 | May 18, 2017 | Reunion and Reunion | 7.4% (14th) | 7.8% (12th) | 6.0% (NR) | 6.4% (NR) |
| 9 | May 24, 2017 | Humanity Becomes Hostage | 6.8% (20th) | 7.2% (18th) | 6.5% (NR) | 6.9% (NR) |
| 10 | May 24, 2017 | Humanity Becomes Hostage | 8.3% (11th) | 8.7% (10th) | 7.4% (17th) | 8.2% (14th) |
| 11 | May 25, 2017 | The Beginning That Hasn't Begun | 7.1% (17th) | 7.9% (13th) | 6.1% (NR) | 6.8% (NR) |
| 12 | May 25, 2017 | The Beginning That Hasn't Begun | 7.8% (14th) | 8.5% (11th) | 6.5% (NR) | 6.6% (20th) |
| 13 | May 31, 2017 | Alibi | 7.5% (16th) | 8.2% (13th) | 6.9% (18th) | 7.7% (15th) |
| 14 | May 31, 2017 | Alibi | 9.3% (8th) | 10.0% (8th) | 7.9% (15th) | 9.0% (10th) |
| 15 | June 1, 2017 | Untruthful Truth Game | 8.4% (13th) | 8.6% (11th) | 7.2% (17th) | 8.3% (14th) |
| 16 | June 1, 2017 | Untruthful Truth Game | 9.3% (11th) | 9.6% (8th) | 7.8% (16th) | 8.9% (12th) |
| 17 | June 7, 2017 | Eun Bong-hee's Prime | 8.4% (13th) | 9.1% (10th) | 7.3% (17th) | 7.5% (13th) |
| 18 | June 7, 2017 | Eun Bong-hee's Prime | 9.8% (8th) | 10.2% (7th) | 7.7% (NR) | 8.1% (NR) |
| 19 | June 8, 2017 | Truth vs. Secret | 8.0% (12th) | 8.5% (10th) | 7.3% (17th) | 7.3% (16th) |
| 20 | June 8, 2017 | Truth vs. Secret | 9.6% (9th) | 10.2% (8th) | 8.3% (11th) | 8.4% (10th) |
| 21 | June 14, 2017 | In This Limited World | 7.7% (14th) | 8.3% (9th) | 7.0% (NR) | 8.2% (13th) |
| 22 | June 14, 2017 | In This Limited World | 9.1% (7th) | 9.8% (6th) | 7.8% (16th) | 8.7% (9th) |
| 23 | June 15, 2017 | 48 Hours Later | 7.8% (14th) | 8.2% (10th) | 6.9% (19th) | 7.6% (13th) |
| 24 | June 15, 2017 | 48 Hours Later | 9.4% (7th) | 9.8% (6th) | 7.6% (16th) | 8.1% (10th) |
| 25 | June 21, 2017 | Attributable Reasons | 9.0% (9th) | 10.3% (8th) | 6.6% (20th) | 6.7% (16th) |
| 26 | June 21, 2017 | Attributable Reasons | 10.5% (7th) | 11.7% (5th) | 7.8% (15th) | 8.5% (9th) |
| 27 | June 22, 2017 | The Memory of That Day | 8.4% (11th) | 8.8% (10th) | 7.5% (16th) | 7.9% (13th) |
| 28 | June 22, 2017 | The Memory of That Day | 9.7% (8th) | 10.4% (8th) | 8.0% (15th) | 8.1% (12th) |
| 29 | June 28, 2017 | Postponement | 6.7% (17th) | 7.2% (13th) | 6.1% (NR) | 7.9% (13th) |
| 30 | June 28, 2017 | Postponement | 8.6% (9th) | 9.5% (7th) | 6.7% (17th) | 8.0% (10th) |
| 31 | June 29, 2017 | The Discovery of a Memory | 7.7% (14th) | 8.4% (9th) | 6.3% (NR) | 7.3% (14th) |
| 32 | June 29, 2017 | The Discovery of a Memory | 8.6% (10th) | 9.1% (8th) | 6.8% (17th) | 7.8% (11th) |
| 33 | July 5, 2017 | Testing the Waters | 7.2% (17th) | 7.8% (13th) | 6.9% (NR) | 7.5% (16th) |
| 34 | July 5, 2017 | Testing the Waters | 9.2% (7th) | 9.8% (7th) | 7.2% (20th) | 7.4% (17th) |
| 35 | July 6, 2017 | Return | 8.0% (17th) | 8.5% (9th) | 7.3% (19th) | 8.8% (13th) |
| 36 | July 6, 2017 | Return | 9.2% (9th) | 9.9% (7th) | 7.9% (17th) | 9.4% (10th) |
| 37 | July 12, 2017 | In Court | 7.2% (16th) | 7.4% (15th) | 6.9% (20th) | 7.7% (19th) |
| 38 | July 12, 2017 | In Court | 9.2% (8th) | 9.4% (7th) | 8.0% (17th) | 8.7% (13th) |
| 39 | July 13, 2017 | Return to the Daily Life | 8.5% (12th) | 9.0% (9th) | 8.6% (15th) | 9.5% (10th) |
| 40 | July 13, 2017 | Return to the Daily Life | 9.5% (8th) | 10.2% (6th) | 8.7% (14th) | 8.9% (13th) |
| Average | Average | Average | 7.2% | 7.9% | 8.2% | 8.7% |
| In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. NR denotes that the drama did not rank in the top 20 daily programs on that date. |||||||

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
| 2017 | Korea Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress (Drama) | Nam Ji-hyun | Nominated |
| 2017 | 25th SBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Wednesday–Thursday Drama | Ji Chang-wook | Nominated |
| 2017 | 25th SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Wednesday–Thursday Drama | Choi Tae-joon | Nominated |
| 2017 | 25th SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Wednesday–Thursday Drama | Nam Ji-hyun | Won |
| 2017 | 25th SBS Drama Awards | Best New Actress | Kwon Nara | Nominated |
| 2017 | 25th SBS Drama Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Kim Ye-won | Nominated |
| 2017 | 25th SBS Drama Awards | Best Couple Award | Ji Chang-wook and Nam Ji-hyun | Nominated |