The heroine of Korea's newest Netflix hit is not a trained spy. She is a pickpocket. In 100 Days of Deception (100일의 거짓말, baegirui geojinmal, literally "100 Days of Lies"), Kim You-jung plays Lee Ga-kyung, the best thief in Gyeongseong, as Seoul was called under Japanese colonial rule. She speaks Korean, Japanese and English, she is saving up to leave for America, and she can lie without batting an eye. Then a resistance group makes her an offer she cannot refuse: spend 100 days inside the Japanese Government-General of Korea, posing as a trainee interpreter, and steal its secrets.
The short answers first. The 16-episode tvN drama premiered on October 10, 2026. It airs in Korea every Saturday and Sunday at 21:10 Korea time and streams worldwide on Netflix, which lists it as a limited series. Six episodes are out as of October 30, and the finale is scheduled for November 29. On Netflix's official weekly Top 10, it was the world's No. 4 non-English show for October 12–18, with 2.8 million views, and No. 8 the week after. Below: who is who, whether any of it really happened, and the Korean details that are easy to miss from abroad.
What is 100 Days of Deception about? (no spoilers)
Netflix's own summary fits in one line: hoping for freedom, Gyeongseong's top pickpocket infiltrates the Japanese colonial government to steal secrets, and falls for her target's son. The year is 1932, thirteen years before Korea's liberation in 1945. A resistance group called Gugukdan (구국단, roughly "the save-the-nation band") needs someone on the inside, so Ga-kyung walks into the Government-General under a borrowed name, Geum Seo-hee.
Across from her is Kim Tae-woong, played by Park Jin-young. He was born Korean and was once a child pickpocket himself, but he was adopted by a powerful Japanese official and now goes by Sato Hideo. After more than ten years away, he comes back as the Government-General's new elite interpreter, fluent in English, Japanese and Korean. So the drama's central couple are two people lying about who they are, under the same roof.
- Kim You-jung as Lee Ga-kyung, alias Geum Seo-hee: Gyeongseong's best pickpocket, turned undercover agent.
- Park Jin-young as Kim Tae-woong, also called Sato Hideo: the adopted son of a top colonial official and a newly arrived interpreter.
- Kim Hyun-joo as Yoo So-ran: a sniper for Gugukdan.
- Lee Mu-saeng as Philip Yoo: a Korean American correspondent for a US news outlet in Gyeongseong.
- Jin Sun-kyu as Sato Shinichi: the Government-General's director-general of political affairs, Hideo's adoptive father and Gugukdan's top target.
Kim You-jung: from child star to Gyeongseong's best liar
Many Koreans feel they watched Kim You-jung grow up. According to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), she made her debut in a commercial in 2003, at age four, and began acting the next year. The 2012 historical drama Moon Embracing the Sun made her one of the most recognized child actors in the country, and in 2016 she took her first adult lead in Love in the Moonlight (KBS2), as a young woman disguised as a palace eunuch. Romantic comedies followed, including Clean with Passion for Now (2018), Backstreet Rookie (2020) and My Demon (SBS, 2023), and in 2025 she went dark as a sociopathic heroine in the TVING series Dear X.
Ga-kyung asked for something new again: three languages and a straight face. At the press conference in Seoul on September 29, Kim said she chose the drama because of its director, writer and cast, and that reading the script made her feel that being part of it would be a privilege in her career, the Korea Times reported. She described Ga-kyung as a woman in her early 20s, a vulnerable age, and said she was drawn to how a young person changes while living through such a time. According to iMBC, she prepared with language advisers for Japanese and English.
Is 100 Days of Deception based on a true story?
No. It is not adapted from a novel or a webtoon, and its heroes are invented. Writer Rheu Bo-ri, known for Do You Like Brahms? (2020), spent about five years shaping the story and started writing it in earnest in 2023, iMBC reported; Studio Dragon joined development in 2024. Director Yoo In-sik is the name behind Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022) and Dr. Romantic (2016). The drama is tvN's special project for the channel's 20th anniversary.
The stage, however, is real. The Government-General of Korea (조선총독부, Joseon Chongdokbu) ran the colony from 1910 to 1945. Its massive headquarters, finished in 1926, was built right in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace, hiding the old royal palace from the main road. According to the National Archives of Korea, demolition began on August 15, 1995, the 50th anniversary of liberation, and the building above ground was gone by November 1996. Today you can walk the restored palace grounds where it once stood, a good stop on any visit to Gyeongbokgung. Director Yoo said at the press conference that the pressure to get the history right was immense.
Korean insider tip: At Gyeongbokgung, walk through Gwanghwamun to the second gate, Heungnyemun: this is roughly where the colonial headquarters stood. Heungnyemun was torn down for it in 1916 and rebuilt only in 2001. To see what is left of the building, go to the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan. The building's spire lies in a park on the west side of the main hall, the side where the sun sets, half-buried about 5 meters below ground so you look down on it.
The Korean words behind the story
A few words carry a lot of weight for Korean viewers, and subtitles cannot always show it.
- 경성 (Gyeongseong): the name Seoul went by during colonial rule. When a Korean drama says "Gyeongseong," viewers instantly know they are in the occupation years, among trams and Japanese police.
- 밀정 (miljeong): a spy working undercover. Korean reports describe Ga-kyung as becoming a miljeong. The word has a heavy ring: the 2016 film about the independence movement known abroad as The Age of Shadows is simply called Miljeong in Korean.
- Two names for one man: foreigners often ask why a Korean character has a Japanese name. In 1932, Koreans still went by Korean names in official records. The colonial policy that pressed Koreans to adopt Japanese-style family names, 창씨개명 (changssi gaemyeong), took effect only in February 1940, according to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. Hideo's name comes from his adoption into a Japanese family, which is why the drama keeps both of his names in play.
- Why so much Japanese: the Government-General did its business in Japanese, so the interpreter's desk sat right where documents and secrets changed hands. That is the logic of Ga-kyung's cover, and the reason the drama switches among Korean, Japanese and English.
- 백일 (baegil), 100 days: the title is read baegil, and Koreans are used to counting to a hundred. Families celebrate a baby's 100th day, and couples mark their 100th day together. A 100-day deadline on a lie, inside a love story, is a very Korean clock.
Why a moment of silence came before the first scene
Before the first script reading, the cast and crew held a moment of silence to honor Korea's independence fighters, the Korea Times reported. Kim You-jung said it helped her focus on set and kept a sense of gratitude with her through filming, and Lee Mu-saeng said it gave everyone a complete reset. That can surprise viewers abroad, but the gesture is familiar in Korea. Many formal events open with 국민의례 (gungmin uirye), a short ceremony that includes 묵념 (mungnyeom), a silent tribute to those who died for the country. For a drama about people who risked their lives for independence, it was a natural way to begin.
How to watch 100 Days of Deception: release time, episodes and where to stream
- Air time: Saturdays and Sundays at 21:10 Korea time (KST) on tvN. For episode 7 on Saturday, October 31, that is 8:10 a.m. in New York and 5:10 a.m. in Los Angeles; from episode 8 on Sunday, November 1, after US clocks fall back, it is 7:10 a.m. and 4:10 a.m. It is also 6:10 a.m. in Mexico City, 9:10 a.m. in São Paulo, 12:10 in London and 19:10 in Jakarta (WIB). These are tvN broadcast times; Netflix has not announced an exact release hour.
- Where to watch: on Netflix around the world (in Spanish it is 100 días de engaño, in Portuguese 100 Dias de Mentiras). In Korea it airs on tvN and also streams on TVING and Netflix. Audio and subtitle options vary by country, so check the title page where you live.
- How many episodes: 16, two per weekend. Episodes 1–6 run between 64 and 73 minutes on Netflix.
- Season 2? Netflix lists it as a limited series, and as of October 30 neither tvN nor Netflix has announced a second season.
- How big: Netflix's weekly Top 10 placed it No. 4 among non-English shows worldwide for October 12–18 (2.8 million views) and No. 8 for October 19–25 (2.3 million views, 15.9 million hours). In Korea, Nielsen Korea ratings rose from 5.3% for episode 1 to a series-high 9.5% for episode 6, with a peak of 10.4%, Sports Kyunghyang reported. Citing FlixPatrol, TV Report said that on October 13 it was No. 2 on Netflix's daily TV chart in Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, and iMBC reported that it reached No. 10 in Japan the same day.
- If you liked Mr. Sunshine: Korean critics have compared the two. Mr. Sunshine (tvN, 2018) is set decades earlier, at the turn of the 20th century, but shares the mix of romance and resistance.
- Listen for: the switches between Korean and Japanese. Who speaks which language, and when, can tell you a lot about who holds the power in a scene.
Episode air dates in Korea
- Episodes 1–6: October 10–25 (aired)
- Episodes 7 and 8: Saturday, October 31, and Sunday, November 1
- Episodes 9–14: November 7–8, 14–15 and 21–22
- Episodes 15 and 16: November 28 and 29. Without schedule changes, the finale airs on Sunday, November 29.
Quick answers
How many episodes does 100 Days of Deception have?
16. Two episodes come out each weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, and the finale is scheduled for November 29, 2026.
What time does 100 Days of Deception come out on Netflix?
tvN airs each episode at 21:10 Korea time on Saturdays and Sundays, and Netflix adds it the same day. Netflix has not given an exact hour, so check the app after the Korean broadcast.
Is 100 Days of Deception a true story?
No. The characters and plot are fiction, written as an original drama by Rheu Bo-ri. The setting is real: Seoul, then called Gyeongseong, in 1932, under the Japanese Government-General of Korea.
Will there be a season 2 of 100 Days of Deception?
None has been announced. Netflix lists the show as a limited series, which usually means one complete story.
Is Park Jin-young from GOT7?
Yes. Park Jin-young is Jinyoung of the K-pop group GOT7. In this drama he plays Kim Tae-woong, known as Sato Hideo.
Getting there
Gyeongbokgung Palace 경복궁
- Subway
- Line 3, Gyeongbokgung Station, Exit 5 (about 2 min walk); or Line 5, Gwanghwamun Station, Exit 2, or Line 3, Anguk Station, Exit 1 (about 6 min)
- Hours
- 9:00–17:00 November–February (last entry 16:00); 9:00–18:00 March–May and September–October; 9:00–18:30 June–August; last entry 1 hour before closing; closed Tuesdays (open if a Tuesday is a public holiday, then closed the next non-holiday day)
- Admission
- Adults 3,000 won (foreign visitors aged 19–64); free for foreign visitors 18 and under or 65 and over, and for anyone in hanbok
Checked on November 5, 2026; confirm on the official site before you go.
