Netflix thriller 'Deulchwi' drops the 28th — Ryu Jun-yeol, Seol Kyung-gu, Lee Gyu-hyung lead

Deulchwi lands on Netflix the 28th — a 10-episode mystery pursuit thriller rooted in a Korean folk tale about a rat that swallows a human fingernail clipping and transforms into a person.

The series adapts the webtoon 손톱 먹은 들쥐 (The Mole That Ate a Fingernail), which draws from that same folk legend. Ryu Jun-yeol plays Moon-jae, a novelist whose name, face, and entire life are stolen by the enigmatic entity known as Deulchwi. Seol Kyung-gu is No-ja, a loan shark hunting down lost money. Lee Gyu-hyung rounds out the leads as detective Sun-yong, who chases Deulchwi's true identity. He dropped roughly 10 kg to nail the character's rough, sharp look.

Director Kim Hong-sun has built a genre résumé that spans Voice and Son: The Guest through Netflix's Money Heist: Korea and Tangeum. Writer Lee Jae-gon previously scripted Special Affairs Team TEN and Netflix's Model Family. That's a genre pedigree that earns some pre-release hype.

Kim described the show as "a desperate pursuit thriller of a person whose entire life was stolen in an instant," adding that he "made efforts to reveal the psychology of people who are being chased while simultaneously chasing."

Ryu said he focused on "controlling the strength and weakness of emotions in situations that occur moment by moment" to build the character's credibility. Working alongside Seol Kyung-gu was "a great honor" — he watches him "capture emotions that cannot be expressed in words on screen."

Lee Gyu-hyung pinned Sun-yong's drive on two things: the detective's own unanswered questions about why he's tangled up in the case, and a stubborn refusal to let it go unsolved.

Deulchwi hits Netflix on the 28th.