Directed by Lee Chul-Ha and written by Park Sung-Hyun, “Unlock My Boss” is based on a webcomic by the same name, created by Kim Hyeong-Min. “Unlock My Boss” is a refreshing series with a unique storyline about a Boss’ soul getting stuck inside a phone. The drama, with its storyline, also draws attention to the impending future while playing with satire to underline the effects of AI on society.
“Unlock My Boss” also draws a rather distinctive parallel to the current situation of unemployment in the nation of South Korea, where the only way to secure a job is through connections and nepotism. As situations worsen due to the advent of AI, which threatens to take over millions of jobs, the drama has a humorous tone to it to sweeten the reality check. AI has already begun to threaten the livelihoods of many, as the writers are the first ones to lose their jobs due to ChatGPT and similar AI inventions. The artists are the next ones in line, as AI is threatening to take over the art industry as well. The drama in its plot does shed some light on the course of AI, as it also introduces self-driven cars to the plot. It is a recommended watch and is highly entertaining due to its unique storyline.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Unlock My Boss’ Plotline: What Is The Series About?
The series begins with South Korea as a nation barely able to meet the employment requirements of an ever-growing populace of job seekers among its citizens. Park In-Seong, one of the many job seekers, has finally found an opportunity to land an interview at a well-known IT firm, The Silver Lining. There has been a rapid decline in jobs due to AI technology taking over most of them. Close to 30, In-Seong bombs through the only interview for a real job he has gotten due to his lack of experience and meager resume. He contemplates moving back home and also withdrawing his security deposit, as he thinks he has no future in Seoul. He visits his parents back home, and after a little fight with his father, In-Seong decides to head out to the forest behind their home. As he treks through the terrain, he gets bitten by a snake, as the place has been said to be infested by them. In his moment of panic, he stumbles on a talking phone, which decides to alert him of itself right at that moment. He is carted off to the hospital after he faints.
At first, when the phone introduces itself as the soul of Kim Sun-Joo, the president of Silver Lining, In-Seong refuses to believe it; however, he finally does believe it after Sun-Joo decides to deposit 100 million won in In-Seong’s account and also promises to deliver a billion more if he decides to help Sun-Joo out in order to understand the mystery behind his attempted murder. Sun-Joo makes In-Seong President, as he, In-Seong, and his secretary, Jung Se-Yeon, decide to take matters into their own hands and track the missing body of Kim Sun-Joo.
Did Ma-Pi Lose His Life?
Ma-Pi, or Jang Ju-Seong, was a paranoid moneylender who had terrorized Jung Se-Yeon into paying up her debt to him. He had even gone further by showing up unannounced at her workplace to remind her to pay up. He was good at fighting, which he revealed in “Unlock My Boss” Episode 4. His paranoid tendencies to always be able to track anybody who tries to flee led him to save Se-Yeon and In-Seong’s lives when they were cornered and terrorized by goons led by Nam Sang-Won, Team Manager of the Sales Department. Ma-Pi proceeded to knock all of the goons unconscious while he carried the injured body of Sang-Won and to then take him to his gym, where In-Seong and Se-Yeon could question him. In the gym, as In-Seong and Se-Yeon were too weak-hearted, according to Ma-Pi, he proceeded to interrogate Sang-Won by himself. Sang-Won had tried to sow discord among the team by pitting Sun-Joo against In-Seong and Se-Yeon. This had ended with In-Seong recruiting Ma-Pi as his bodyguard. Ma-Pi agrees to his offer because he wants money. Later on, however, money is not the only thing that makes him go out of his way to help the team out. He gets attached to In-Seong and also bonds with Se-Yeon and Sun-Joo’s little daughter, Min-Ah. He finds his and Min-Ah’s circumstances similar and cannot bear the sad look on the kid’s face.
In “Unlock My Boss” Episode 10, after the unfair dismissal of In-Seong as President had been carried out by the Bumyoung Group, Ma-Pi had left them on his own accord to look for Sun-Joo’s body. He had tracked down every single small hospital with the scant information he had previously gotten while on the stakeout with In-Seong and Se-Yeon. In his time at the supermarket, he even bought a snack for Min-Ah, who had come to love him despite his cold exterior. He finally got the location of Sun-Joo’s body, who was still alive but on life support, by chance as he quickly acted to get him out of that hospital and toward his gym. He immediately tried to reach In-Seong and Se-Yeon. However, they were both busy with the reinstating of In-Seong as president due to public demand as well as the demand of the staff. He informed Ji-Hye, Min-Ah’s caretaker, and quickly made his way to the gym; however, the information had been leaked, and he realized after he reached the gym that the doctor he had questioned to get answers from had escaped. He quickly texted In-Seong about the leak while he got ready for one last face off against a number of goons, hired by No Wi-Je, the chauffeur and secretary of Vice Chairman Oh Young-Geun of the Bumyoung Group. Ma-Pi got defeated as he was overpowered by sheer numbers while they carted Sun-Joo’s body back to Bumyoung Group’s safekeeping. He got killed by Wi-Je and was already dead by the time In-Seong and Se-Yoon reached him. They held a small funeral in his honor as In-Seong got to know his real name, Jung Ju-Seong, for the first time after his death.
Did Kim Sun-Joo’s Soul Really Get Attached To His Phone?
In the first episode, the series introduced Kim Sun-Joo as the president of Silver Linings, an IT company that was making huge strides in the IT sector. On his day out with his daughter Min-Ah, he had promised to be on time as they had decided to camp; however, much to his and Min-Ah’s disappointment, he never made it to the campsite. He is shown driving behind a truck and having problems with his signal. As he gradually lost the GPS and the signal, the scene changed to In-Seong and his father’s argument. Later, a phone abandoned in the forest behind In-Seong’s house lit up, and the software started claiming that it was the soul of Sun-Joo. In-Seong had stumbled upon it later and charged it up to do its bidding for a terrifyingly large sum of money.
In “Unlock My Boss” Episode 8, they find Sun-Joo’s body in a hospital, as Sun-Joo advised them to send him there with Wi-Je to keep track of his every move to find out more about the disappearance of Nam Sang-Won as well as the murder of Director Kwak Sam-Soo. However, when they arrived at their destination, they were a few minutes too late, as Wi-Je had gone a step further and seen through their plan by planting the phone on another ambulance while waiting to relocate after they had left the premises. Till “Unlock My Boss” Episode 12, they were still under the impression that Sun-Joo’s soul had been attached to the phone as they came across the perpetrator, who turned out to be Acting Chairman Oh Mi-Ran of the Bumyoung Group who had been behind Sun-Joo’s comatose state.
‘Unlock My Boss’ Ending Explained: Are Park In-Seong and Jung Se-Yeon Successfully Recovering Kim Sun-Joo’s Body?
In “Unlock My Boss” Episode 11, after Ma-Pi’s death, In-Seong swore to catch the Bumyoung Group in the act and was helped by Detective Choi, whom he had earlier thought to be on the Bumyoung Group’s side. They planned to bust the entire group while they had a trade-off. In-Seong and his team decided to hand over BARO 4.0, a software that Sun Joo had developed to power self-driven cars, to Oh Mi-Ran and Wi-Je, who were to hand over the unconscious body of Sun-Joo to them. However, the group wasn’t very keen on sticking to the plan, as Wi-Je started shooting as a warning. In a split second, Se-Yeon decided to crash the truck back into the warehouse, where the software had been developed, and saved In-Seong, then drove off with Sun-Joo. However, the warehouse caught fire, and Sun-Joo’s voice on the phone started becoming distorted.
They had planned to launch it soon so as to stabilize Mi-Ran’s position as the chairman; however, Sun-Joo had discovered a defect in the software, and the AI had begun making decisions and had also decided to run a red light when there had been nobody there during the test run. This led to Sun-Joo making the decision to postpone the launch and instead work on it. Mi-Ran’s position was threatened, which is why she had been quick to intercept Sun-Joo on his way to his daughter. To make her plan work, she recruited Director Kwak and Butler Shim Seung-Bo to work as double agents.
In fact, to secure her position, Mi-Ran had also taken care of her younger brother before dealing with her father. The death of her father meant that her uncle was the only contestant. Therefore, to win, she had Wi-Je and his goons chase Sun-Joo, who had fallen and hit his head while on the run from them in the forest. Before falling down, however, he had installed BARO 4.0 on his phone, and that had led the phone to have a mind of its own. Before this incident, Sun-Joo had been updating the software with his intelligence every single day to make it more and more human. Thus, the software he had installed on the phone turned out to take after his voice and intonations as well as his personality. Sun-Joo on the phone had been updated with information a week before the real Sun-Joo’s disappearance. Thus, had to start from scratch to find out about the perpetrators.
At the end of “Unlock My Boss” Episode 12, In-Seong is able to help Detective Choi arrest Mi-Ran by making her admit to her actions with the help of AI. After she was arrested, BARO 4.0 uninstalled itself so as not to hurt Sun-Joo’s daughter Min-Ah further, as Sun-Joo’s body had been recovered and she was on the respirator. “Unlock My Boss” ends with In-Seong and Se-Yeon getting together as In-Seong pursues his acting career, while Sun-Joo’s eyes move of their own volition to remind the viewers that he is alive and might just wake up soon. Although the ending is an open-ended one that leaves the viewers wondering if Sun-Joo would wake up or not, there is a chance of a second season dedicated to Mi-Ran’s bail from jail and her possible return for vengeance. While Sun-Joo takes his position back as president, he could also figure out what had happened and be amazed by his creation, BARO 4.0, which had simply installed itself again. However, this is simply a hypothesis, and I don’t think there will be a “Unlock My Boss” season 2, but it would be nice if there was.
“Unlock My Boss” is a 2022 Drama Thriller series directed by Cheol-ha Lee.
