What would a powerful chaebol chairman do if he suddenly woke up in a young footballer’s body and had to report to his own company as a lowly intern? JTBC’s Reborn Rookie is about to answer that question with style, suits, and probably a whole lot of chaos. Premiering May 30, 2026, this drama is giving us one of the most entertaining K-drama concepts of the year — and the new stills prove it.
Drama at a Glance
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Drama | Reborn Rookie |
| Network | JTBC |
| Lead Actors | Lee Jun Young, Son Hyun Joo |
| Son Hyun Joo’s Role | Kang Yong Ho — powerful chairman of Choi Sung Group |
| Lee Jun Young’s Role | Hwang Jun Hyun — soccer player whose body Kang inhabits |
| Genre | Fantasy / Comedy / Corporate Drama |
| Premiere Date | May 30, 2026 at 10:40 PM KST |
The Premise: A Chairman in a Footballer’s Shoes
Here’s the setup: Kang Yong Ho (Son Hyun Joo), the all-powerful chairman of the leading conglomerate Choi Sung Group, gets into an accident that triggers the most inconvenient soul swap imaginable. His soul lands inside the body of Hwang Jun Hyun (Lee Jun Young) — a young, promising soccer player who now has to abandon his entire athletic career and join Choi Sung Group as a fresh-faced intern.
Yes. The man who runs the company now has to pretend to be a rookie employee at his own company. The comedy practically writes itself.
The New Stills: An Intern Like No Other
The newly released images capture Hwang Jun Hyun’s corporate transformation in full detail. There’s something genuinely delightful about seeing him step off the soccer pitch and into immaculate three-piece suits. Perfectly matched ties, coordinated wristwatches, flawless tailoring — every outfit hint at the chairman’s deeply ingrained perfectionism leaking through the young footballer’s exterior. Even as an intern, this man cannot turn off the boss energy.
It’s a visual storytelling detail that already tells us so much about how this character is going to collide with corporate culture in the funniest and most unexpected ways.
Why Reborn Rookie Has All the Ingredients for a Hit
The body swap genre has long been a beloved staple of Korean romantic comedies, but flipping the premise to a corporate setting — where the stakes involve power, identity, and rebuilding an empire from the very bottom — adds a genuinely fresh dimension. Lee Jun Young playing a 60-something chairman’s soul trapped in a twentysomething’s body is a performance challenge that could be absolutely magnetic.
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