Because This Is My First Life

Because This Is My First Life
Promotional poster
Hangul	이번 생은 처음이라
Literal meaning	This Life Is Our First
Revised Romanization	Ibeon Saeng-eun Cheoeum-ira
Genre	Romantic comedy
Written by	Yoon Nan-joong
Directed by	Park Joon-hwa
Starring	Lee Min-ki Jung So-min
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Executive producer	Lee Jung-hee
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Studio Dragon MI
Original release
Network	tvN
Release	October 9 – November 28, 2017

Because This Is My First Life (Korean: 이번 생은 처음이라) is a 2017 South Korean television series starring Lee Min-ki and Jung So-min that explores different points of view on careers, relationships, marriage, and love. The series marks Lee Min-ki's first small screen lead role since 2007. It aired from October 9 to November 28, 2017 on tvN's Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:30 (KST).

Synopsis

Socially awkward IT employee Nam Se-hee (Lee Min-ki) and broke homeless writer Yoon Ji-ho (Jung So-min) agree to a marriage of convenience by signing a contract of two years, wherein they agree to the terms and conditions of only being landlord and tenant, sharing their home based on common goals and values. Things do not go as planned when the housemates' pact of platonic cohabitation is interfered with by their personal trauma, social expectations, and familial interventions.

The series also follows the lives of the friends of Se-hee and Ji-ho and their different perspectives on love and marriage.

Cast

Main

• Lee Min-ki as Nam Se-hee, a quirky and apathetic computer designer who has bought an expensive townhouse and rents out his extra room to help with the mortgage. He spends his days at work or home with his cat and has no plans to date or marry. After a series of bad tenants, he rates Ji-ho very highly and, believing she is a male, he offers her the room.
• Jung So-min as Yoon Ji-ho, an assistant screenwriter who moves out of the home she shares with her brother when he marries his pregnant girlfriend. Currently between projects, she rents the room from Se-hee (who she thinks is female) because the rent is affordable and no deposit is required. After working hard at her career throughout her twenties, at age 30 she has never dated and has a career crisis that causes her to rethink her goals.

Supporting

• Esom as Woo Su-ji, a school friend of Ji-ho who works in a corporate office. Her dream was to be the CEO of her own business but she is trapped in a well-paying position where she must bear with frequent sexual harassment from her male colleagues.
• Park Byung-eun as Ma Sang-goo, friends with Se-hee since college and CEO of the company where Se-hee works.
• Kim Ga-eun as Yang Ho-rang, a school friend of Ji-ho who is a hostess at a restaurant/bar and dreams of becoming a wife and mother.
• Kim Min-seok as Sim Won-seok, Ho-rang's long-time boyfriend who is the CEO of a startup company which is having problems getting an investor.

People around Nam Se-hee

• Kim Eung-soo as Nam Hee-bong, Se-hee's father who is a former high school principal.
• Moon Hee-kyung as Jo Myung-ji, Se-hee's mother who is a full-time housewife.

People around Yoon Ji-ho

• Kim Byeong-ok as Yoon Jong-soo, Ji-ho's father who is a car center operator.
• Kim Sun-young as Kim Hyun-ja, Ji-ho's mother who is a full-time housewife.
• Noh Jong-hyun as Yoon Ji-suk, Ji-ho's younger brother.
• Jeon Hye-won as Lee Eun-sol, Ji-suk's pregnant wife.

Extended

• Kim Min-kyu as Yeon Bok-nam, a colleague of Ji-ho's.
• Lee Chung-ah as Go Jung-min, Se-hee's ex-girlfriend, a successful businesswoman.
• Yoon Bo-mi as Yoon Bo-mi, a data analyst who works with Se-hee.
• Hwang Seok-jeong as Writer Hwang.

Special appearances

• Yoon Doo-joon (Episode 1)
• Yoon So-hee (Episode 1)
• Kim Wook as a director

Production

The series is directed by Park Joon-hwa, and written by Yoon Nan-joong. The first script reading session of the cast took place on August 25, 2017 at Studio Dragon in Sangam-dong.

Original soundtrack

Because This Is My First Life Original soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Recorded	2017
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean
Label	CJ E&M Music

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Commercial performance

Title	Year	Peak	Sales	Remarks
		Gaon
"I Want to Love" (사랑하고 싶게 돼)	2017	—	KOR: 18,273+	Part 3
"Marriage" (결혼)		51	—	Part 4
"Can't Go" (갈 수가 없어)		23	KOR: 148,493+	Part 8
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Title	Average audience share
			Nielsen Korea		TNmS
			Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide
1	October 9, 2017	Because This Is My First Time Being Thirty (서른은 처음이라)	2.023%	2.491%	2.3%
2	October 10, 2017	Because This Is My First Kiss (키스는 제가 처음이라)	2.647%	3.738%	2.5%
3	October 16, 2017	Because This Is My First Proposal (프로포즈는 제가 처음이라)	2.292%	2.825%	3.0%
4	October 17, 2017	Because This Is My First Marriage (결혼은 제가 처음이라)	3.841%	4.702%	3.6%
5	October 23, 2017	Because This Is My First Promise (약속은 처음이라)	2.725%	3.263%	2.9%
6	October 24, 2017	Because This Is "Our" First Time ('우리'는 처음이라)	3.636%	3.889%	4.5%
7	October 30, 2017	Because This Is My First YOLO (욜로는 처음이라)	3.266%	4.179%	3.2%
8	October 31, 2017	Because This Is My First Husband (남편은 처음이라)	3.779%	4.242%	4.0%
9	November 6, 2017	Because This Is the First Time I Belong Somewhere (소속감은 처음이라)	3.652%	5.030%	3.3%
10	November 7, 2017	Because This Is My First Time Having In-laws (시월드는 처음이라)	4.197%	5.177%	5.0%
11	November 13, 2017	Because This Is My First Beach (오늘의 바다는 처음이라)	3.528%	4.082%	3.8%
12	November 14, 2017	Because This Is My First Desire (욕망은 처음이라)	3.940%	4.814%	5.0%
13	November 20, 2017	Because This Is My First Time Visiting Your Room (당신의 방은 처음이라)	3.545%	4.411%	4.1%
14	November 21, 2017	Because This Is My First Confession (고백은 처음이라)	4.236%	5.273%	4.7%
15	November 27, 2017	Because This Is My First Intermission (인터미션은 처음이라)	3.786%	4.982%	4.2%
16	November 28, 2017	Because This Is My First Life (이번 생은 처음이라)	4.931%	5.862%	5.0%
Average			3.463%	4.271%	3.8%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. This series aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2018	MBC Plus X Genie Music Awards	OST Award	"Can't Go"	Nominated