'Nothing Uncovered' reinterprets legendary web novel, marks return of Kim Ha-neul

KBS is eyeing a ratings turnaround with its new crime mystery drama series "Nothing Uncovered," with veteran actor Kim Ha-neul returning to the broadcaster for the reinterpretation of the legendary web novel.

"Nothing Uncovered" is a 16-part drama series based on a popular web novel of the same name, which was serialized on Naver Webnovel in 2021. The original web novel won the grand prize in the web novel category during the web portal's annual “The Greatest Webtoon Contest 2020."

The drama series narrates the story of Seo Jung-won (played by Kim Ha-neul), a renowned journalist who becomes mired in a series of ominous events after unexpectedly coming across a murder site. She is then summoned by police, to be investigated by Kim Tae-heon (played by Yeon Woo-jin), a detective who was her former lover.

The drama series is Kim's first KBS role in 8 years. Kim is a veteran actor known for hit dramas such as "A Gentleman's Dignity" and "On Air," but has appeared on other channels in recent years.

When asked about how she felt about returning to KBS at a time when it was struggling in the weekday drama slot, Kim said she felt pressure from the public's anticipation as she returns to the prime-time slot.

"I felt a certain sense of pressure. I saw many related articles pouring out," said Kim, during a press conference held in Guro-gu, Seoul, Monday.

"My previous work, 'On The Way to the Airport' was produced by KBS, and it received a positive response. I hope to carry on that momentum and receive love for this project as well," she said.

The actor said that, instead of strictly adhering to the original script and the web novel, they tried to portray their own versions of characters on-screen.

"If there is a part where the director wants me to refer to the original work, I'm definitely someone who tends to (follow the request). However, in our case, there wasn't really any specific request for that, and personally, I felt that it would be much better for me to enrich the portrayals via my own creativity and imagination, rather than exactly sticking to the character as portrayed in the original (script and web novel)," said Yeon.

"The script had lots of words, and was dry, and I figured that there were lots of parts where I could, as an actor, make the scenes more colorful," he added.

The first episode of "Nothing Uncovered" was broadcast Monday, and will be broadcast at 10:10 p.m. every Monday and Tuesday.