Lee Jae-wook’s Netflix series “Dead-End Job” has stormed the global chart, landing at No. 3 among TV shows worldwide one day after its release. According to Ilgan Sports, which cited streaming tracker FlixPatrol, the series took the No. 3 spot on Netflix’s global TV show ranking, including English-language titles, in the tally dated October 31.
The debut was broad as well as high. “Dead-End Job” entered the top 10 in 71 countries, including South Korea, France, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, and Vietnam, Ilgan Sports reported. All eight episodes of the series were released on Netflix on October 30, meaning the chart position arrived within a day of the full season dropping.
Known in Korean as “꿀알바,” the series is built around a suspicious staffing agency that only introduces so-called sweet gigs, part-time jobs paying from 50 times the minimum hourly wage. Lee Jae-wook plays Hyuk-jun, a young man buried in debt who signs up with the agency and is sent into one nightmare workplace after another, in what the show pitches as a livelihood horror story about making a living.
Go Min-si co-stars as Yeon-joo, an accident investigator digging into the strange incidents tied to the agency, while Kim Min-ha plays Hyuk-jun’s younger sister Ji-yoon and Lee Hee-joon plays Mr. S, the charismatic head of the agency. Choi Hyun-wook and Yoon Kyung-ho appear in supporting roles. The series is directed by Kim Da-min, who previously wrote the screenplay for “A Killer Paradox,” and was developed under Han Jun-hee, the creative force behind “D.P.” and “Weak Hero Class 1.”
The chart debut caps a rollout that began well before release. The first four episodes screened at the 31st Busan International Film Festival in October, and the project was first announced by Netflix Korea in April 2025 under the working title “Perfect Job.” Lee Jae-wook, who is currently serving in the military, greeted the press conference ahead of the October 30 premiere by video message, and the series arrived just in time for the Halloween season, when horror titles traditionally draw a larger streaming audience.
Whether “Dead-End Job” can climb higher than No. 3 will become clearer as viewing over its first full weekend is tallied. For now, the day-one showing puts the series among the strongest global openings for a Korean drama this year, and Netflix’s official weekly top 10 will offer the next confirmation of how far the run extends.
