According to the Hollywood Reporter, the K-drama thriller, Bargain, is moving from the South Korean online streaming site, Tving, to Paramount+, and will be re-launched sometime next year. Bargain is now the second Korean series to be taken in by Paramount+ as part of a new, elaborate partnership between the streaming platform and Seoul-based entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM, a deal which was announced back in December of 2021.
The show Bargain revolves around the story of hopeless romantic Noh Hyung Soo, played by Jin Seon-kyu (Europe Outside Your Tent, Through the Darkness), who meets with the mysterious Park Joo Young, played by Jeon Jong-seo (Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon), for a passionate motel tryst, only to find that he has been lured into a trap by Joo Young, who is actually the leader of a black market trafficking ring for human organs. However, when a devastating earthquake destroys the trafficker’s headquarters, Hyung Soo is forced to outfox, outrun, and outlast not only the dilapidated building he currently finds himself entrapped within, but also the violent gang of criminals hell-bent on killing him in order to keep their serpentine organization from reaching the public eye.
The series is an adaptation of South Korean filmmaker Lee Chung-hyun’s (The Call, Born to Spy) 2015 award-winning short film of the same name and is directed by Jeon Woo-sung (Your House Helper, Strongest Deliveryman), who also worked on the original short as part of the production team. Woo-sung’s iteration of Bargain is a six-part series which incorporates many of the narrative themes and components of Chung-hyun’s original short, but also a few drastically different key elements, including the massive earthquake which drives much of the show’s tension and conflict.
According to Catherine Park, Senior Vice-President and Head of Streaming at Paramount’s Asia office, the studio is convinced that audiences will love Bargain just as much as their first K-drama series, Yonder. Bargain is currently streaming on Tving and will be released on Paramount+ to all countries outside of South Korea sometime in 2023.