Watch: Seo Hyun Jin And Ra Mi Ran Define What It Means To Be A Real Teacher In "Black Dog"

Dec 13, 2019

tvN’s upcoming drama “Black Dog” released a highlight video ahead of its premiere next week.

“Black Dog” stars Seo Hyun Jin as Go Ha Neul, a short-term teacher who struggles to keep her dreams alive in the harsh reality of the classroom. Unlike other dramas, “Black Dog” focuses on the hardships of teachers as they battle a flawed educational system and try to help their students through the university admissions process.

The highlight video begins with a reference to Go Ha Neul’s traumatic past. When she was in high school, she went on a trip that injured several students and killed one of her teachers. His family was unable to get compensation because he had only been a short-term teacher, meaning he was not a “real” teacher.

Go Ha Neul becomes a teacher with the goal of finding out what a “real” teacher means. She is hired on a short-term basis at a school, but soon encounters prejudice against “short-term” teachers, being told again and again that she isn’t a “real” teacher. Her inexperience is thrown in her face repeatedly, with other teachers scolding her for not knowing how things are done.

Ra Mi Ran plays Park Sung Soon, the department head of the admissions department, who isn’t afraid to speak her mind to other teachers. She has a different definition of what “real” teacher means, saying that teachers who give up on their students don’t deserve to be called teachers. Ha Joon plays one of Go Ha Neul’s fellow teachers, Do Yeon Woo, who seems to have given up on fixing the educational system and coldly tells Go Ha Neul that the school is a different place from when she was a student.

Go Ha Neul also fights against a flawed educational system, asking, “If we take out all the difficult parts of the lesson, and leave the details to hakwon (private tutors and cram schools), is that really what’s best for the students?” Later, she is told to keep her head down and focus on getting hired full-time and she replies, “Is becoming a teacher just a game?”

However, by the end of the highlight reel, the admissions department slowly starts to come together as a team, fired by Go Ha Neul’s passion and Park Sung Soon’s strong sense of justice.

Check out the clip below!