Once Called a “0% Actor,” Park Jinyoung Took Double-Digit Ratings and a Sold-Out Concert in One Weekend

Featured photo: Park Jinyoung as Sato Hideo on the set of “100 Days of Deception.” Still from BH Entertainment’s official YouTube video, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped.

This spring Park Jinyoung was called a “0% actor.” On Sunday, November 8, he answered with numbers. Episode 10 of tvN’s “100 Days of Deception,” in which he plays the male lead, scored 10.7% (Nielsen Korea, nationwide pay-TV households), the show’s first double-digit episode, and that same weekend his first solo concert sold out down to the extra seats. Two weeks ago I ended a post arguing that the label was fake with “the only question left is double digits.” One weekend closed that question.

Honestly, after confirming the 10.7%, I couldn’t scroll away from the screen for a long while. For a fan who remembers the 0.8% of spring, this weekend was the scene where all that time of holding on paid off at once.

Where to watch: Netflix (U.S., JustWatch, checked November 10, 2026; in Korea on TVING and Netflix, Geumgang Ilbo, November 9). New episodes every Saturday and Sunday at 9:10 p.m. Korea time, 7:10 a.m. the same day on the U.S. East Coast.

The curve that stalled at 9.8% broke through to 10.7%

“100 Days of Deception” is a spy romance set in 1932 Gyeongseong (Seoul under Japanese colonial rule), entangling Lee Ga-kyung (Kim You-jung), a former pickpocket turned spy, and Sato Hideo (Park Jinyoung), an interpreter for the Japanese Government-General whose Korean name is Kim Tae-woong. It opened at 5.3%, climbed to 9.8% with Episode 8 on November 1, caught its breath at 7.4% with Episode 9 on November 7, then jumped to 10.7% with Episode 10 on November 8. That’s 3.3 percentage points in one day, and a series high 0.9 points above the previous record (Geumgang Ilbo, Xports News, November 9).

The “10%” in my earlier post was Episode 4’s per-minute peak. This time the episode average is in double digits. Not a number touched for one moment, but a full episode’s average above 10%. Put it next to the 0.8% of Episode 8 of spring’s “Still Shining,” and the same actor’s two numbers are more than thirteen times apart.

Where to watch “Still Shining”: Netflix (U.S., JustWatch, checked November 10, 2026).

Also read: Kim You-jung Cracked Japan Despite the 'Anti-Japan Drama' Label

The line that ended the 10.7% night: “You’re a spy, aren’t you?”

Kim Tae-woong was at the heart of Episode 10. He stood before a cake carrying the resistance group’s bomb, and Lee Ga-kyung fell while pushing the cake away. As the bomb went off, Kim Tae-woong wrapped her in his arms. Then he noticed that Yoo So-ran (Kim Hyun-joo) was wearing only one earring and set out to find the truth himself (Geumgang Ilbo, November 9).

In the final scene, Kim Tae-woong approaches Lee Ga-kyung as she arrives at work and asks, “What should I call you, Miss Geum Seo-hee?” Then, a moment later: “You’re a spy, aren’t you?” (same article). At Style opened its story that day with, “The moment Park Jinyoung caught on to Kim You-jung’s identity, the ratings shot up too” (At Style, November 9). The night a man who hides his Korean origins and lives as a Japanese man first saw through someone else’s lie became the drama’s highest-rated night.

The same weekend, Jangchung Arena filled to the extra seats

The weekend the drama broke into double digits, Park Jinyoung was also onstage. His first solo tour, “2026-27 PARK JINYOUNG 1st CONCERT TOUR [CODE#],” played Seoul’s Jangchung Arena on November 7 and 8, and even the extra seats added later sold out (At Style, November 9).

He sang over a live band, then went through intense choreography and even breaking, and premiered the unreleased song “Summer Night.” At the Sunday show, DAY6’s Wonpil came up to sing “Seventeen” with him, and GOT7’s “A,” “Just Right” and “Hard Carry” were tied together in a medley (Ilgan Sports, November 9). The tour name “CODE#” carries his wish to show many sides of himself, songs, dance and different faces, the way entering a code produces different results (same article).

At the end of the show he admitted that preparing for a month and a half to two months had weighed on him, but that his fans’ support got him onstage, and promised to keep going quietly with his music, his acting and his work with his bandmates (same article). The man who sang GOT7 songs at Jangchung Arena on Sunday was asking, “You’re a spy, aren’t you?” on living-room screens at 9:10 that same night.

Six episodes left, and six Asian cities

“100 Days of Deception” runs 16 episodes; Episode 11 airs November 14 and Episode 12 on November 15. What face Kim Tae-woong shows to the exposed Lee Ga-kyung will be the first scene of Episode 11. The “CODE#” tour continues to Osaka, Manila, Tokyo, Taipei, Bangkok and Macau (Ilgan Sports, November 9).

The actor who held on through 0.8% in spring filled both stages in a single autumn weekend. Next Saturday night, I’ll be waiting for the answer to that question.