Volleyball icon Kim Yeon-koung is back in the coach’s chair — and she may have already found her next star player.
According to a Ten Asia report, the season 2 premiere of MBC’s “Rookie Director Kim Yeon-koung 2” airs tonight at 9:10 PM, kicking off the volleyball legend’s challenge as a veteran coach building a Wonder Dogs squad.
The premiere pulls back the curtain on the tryout floor, where a hungry mix of candidates fights for a spot: players cut from pro teams, semi-pro leaguers chasing their first pro shot, and retirees dreaming of a comeback. Six season 1 Wonder Dogs — Goo Hye-in, InKusi, Baek Chae-rim, Han Song-hee, Yoon Young-in and Lee Jin — are back to re-audition for their own places, setting up a tense showdown between the returning squad and the newcomers trying to take their spots. All eyes are also on who fills the leadership gap left by season 1 captain Pyo Seung-ju.
Midway through the evaluations, Kim reportedly locks onto one prospect and can’t hide her approval: “이 선수 괜찮겠다” (“This one looks good”), she says, breaking into a big smile.
The shake-up was unavoidable. Several season 1 players earned pro contracts off the back of the Wonder Dogs’ underdog run, leaving gaps Kim now has to fill from scratch. “It won’t be easy, but we have to build it,” she says in the premiere.
Tonight’s episode reveals which tryout hopefuls survive the first cut — and who gets to call themselves a Wonder Dog.
