tvN's 'My Favorite Employee' Lands in Rakuten Viki's Global Top 3 After Just One Week

tvN's Monday-Tuesday drama My Favorite Employee opened to a 4.2% nationwide rating in its first episode and has since climbed into Rakuten Viki's weekly top 3 across the Americas, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, North Africa, and India. That kind of cross-regional charting in week one is relatively rare for a mid-budget romantic drama without a headline-level cast, and it suggests the show's central premise, a longtime fan who infiltrates her idol's company, is traveling well beyond its domestic audience.

The series centers on Nam Da-reum (Kim Hye-jun), who secures a job at entertainment agency Apello with one goal: getting close to her favorite artist, Lee Chan (Cha U-min). What she doesn't anticipate is landing on the wrong side of the company's CEO, Kang Ha-gi (Kang Hoon), from day one. The opening episodes set up a friction-heavy workplace dynamic between Da-reum and Kang Ha-gi, while her reunion with Lee Chan arrives in a quieter, more charged moment: he recognizes her as a fan of 12 years through a necklace she wears and initiates a closer connection on his own terms.

As the first four episodes have unfolded, the show has been careful to develop both sides of the triangle at roughly equal pace. Kang Ha-gi moves from skepticism to grudging respect once he sees Da-reum's genuine commitment at work. Lee Chan, meanwhile, invites her to his home and opens up in ways that deepen their bond beyond the idol-fan dynamic that brought them together. Da-reum's feelings remain unresolved by design, and the show is content to let the ambiguity sit.

Beyond Viki, My Favorite Employee has entered the top 5 on Japan's U-NEXT in the Korean and Asian drama category, and GoodData Corporation's Fundex ranked it fifth in its weekly TV drama buzz chart for South Korea. The Rakuten Viki placement is particularly notable because the platform weights active viewer engagement alongside raw view counts, so a top-3 position in week one tends to reflect genuine audience investment rather than algorithmic promotion alone.

Episode 5 of My Favorite Employee airs Monday, the 17th, at 8:45 p.m. KST on tvN.