So Ji-sub, a life character as 'Manager Kim'... ended with a highest viewership rating of 23.1%

So Ji-sub made a highly popular return to SBS after 13 years through the SBS Friday-Saturday drama ″Chief Kim.″ ″Chief Kim,″ which ended on the 25th, is a revenge action drama about an ordinary father who becomes a dangerous man to get his daughter back. So Ji-sub played the lead role of Chief Kim, drawing a passionate response from viewers. ″Chief Kim″ started with a 9.5% viewership rating (according to Nielsen Korea) for its first broadcast, surpassed 20% by the fourth episode, and recorded 23.1% in the final episode. This is the second-highest rating among all SBS Friday-Saturday dramas. According to Netflix’s official site Tudum, ″Chief Kim″ also ranked first globally in the non-English TV show category for three consecutive weeks. Regarding the drama’s popularity, So Ji-sub said, ″It feels like being caught on a hidden camera.″ He added, ″Every episode was very surprising. The response was so hot that I was amazed. It feels like today is the last day with ’Chief Kim,’ but I still feel dazed.″ He also revealed that people around him have started calling him ″Chief Kim″ more often. He also expressed his affection for the action genre. So Ji-sub explained the reason for challenging action acting again after ″The Outlaws,″ saying, ″It’s a genre I want to do more and keep doing.″ He said, ″I liked Chief Kim’s story more than the action. I was curious about how I would portray a father with a high school daughter.″ There were many difficulties on set, including intense action scenes and cold weather. So Ji-sub shared behind-the-scenes stories, saying, ″The hardest scene was when I heard Minji (Seo Soo-min) was in the freezer in episode 5 and ran there. It was really cold, and we filmed in the rain. Some scenes were reshot later.″ He added that the truck action scenes were also very tense. He also mentioned his chemistry with Seo Soo-min, who played his daughter Minji. So Ji-sub approached her with a heart-shaped candy during their first shoot and even gave her a DAY6 CD as a gift. He expressed gratitude, saying, ″Seo Soo-min really treated me like a dad, so I received a lot of help.″ He also found it impressive that during emotional scenes, whenever Seo Soo-min lost her composure, she would say, ″Wait a moment, I’ll get my emotions right,″ while holding onto his collar. ″Chief Kim″ is a work that blends family love, friendship, and action, and So Ji-sub also mentioned his chemistry with actors Choi Dae-hoon and Yoon Kyung-ho. He said, ″I wonder if it would have been this popular without those friends. When the three of us gathered, we thought a lot about how to fully fill the scene.″ It was also revealed that he gave gold as a gift to the actors and staff. He said, ″Everyone came together to complete the drama, and I was very thankful for their hard work. The gold got the best reaction.″ Regarding the fact that Chief Kim’s real name was not revealed in the drama, he explained, ″We deliberately decided to avoid exposing it as much as possible,″ and that the scene where he receives a new name and introduces himself at the end was filmed silently. About his wife Jo Eun-jung’s reaction, he said, ″Since there were many tough shoots, she said, ’You worked hard. It’s fun.’ She also said many people around us talked about it.″ On season 2, he said, ″I think we are talking positively, but I don’t know how it will turn out.″