Dead-End Job Netflix Release Date: Oct 30, Cast & Trailer

A job that pays ten times the minimum wage, and a boss who calls the nightmare a "sweet gig." Netflix released the main trailer for "Dead-End Job" on Friday, Oct. 16, and Soompi reports the series premieres Oct. 30.

That date settles a conflict. Some streaming-tracker listings still show Oct. 9 as the launch day, but the Oct. 16 trailer report from Soompi gives Oct. 30.

The premise, per Soompi: Hyeok Jun (Lee Jae Wook) is buried in debt and answers an ad from the mysterious Spider Staffing Agency, which offers part-time work at a multiple of the going rate. The trailer's ad says pay starts at 10 times the minimum wage. Netflix's earlier synopsis, as reproduced by HanCinema, says 50 times the usual hourly wage. We could not reconcile the two figures. Each job puts him in a surreal, life-threatening situation, and he keeps returning because of the money.

The trailer adds two more characters. Yeon Ju (Go Min Si) asks him, "Aren't you curious? About what Spider Staffing Agency does?" HanCinema lists her as an accident investigator at a labor-safety agency. Ji Yun (Kim Min Ha), Hyeok Jun's pragmatic younger sister, goes to the head of the agency, played by Lee Hee Joon, to ask whether her brother worked there. His reply is in voice-over: "What do you mean, a nightmare? It was a part-time job. A sweet gig, at that."

The Korean title, "Ggoolalba" (꿀알바), points at that last phrase. "Kkul-alba" is slang for an easy, well-paid part-time job.

"Dead-End Job" is an eight-episode mystery-horror fantasy, according to HanCinema. Kim Da-min directs. HanCinema credits him as a writer on Netflix's "A Killer Paradox" and as director of the film "FAQ." Han Jun-hee, who wrote and directed "D.P." and "Coin Locker Girl," is executive producer. Kyung Min-sun and Lee Sin-ji wrote the series.

The trailer opens on Hyeok Jun alone and despondent, trapped by what Soompi calls a mountain of debt, then cuts through what Soompi describes as a montage of strange, life-threatening phenomena. It gives no episode-by-episode detail beyond the agency's recurring "gigs."

AsianWiki's synopsis fills in the family angle: Ji Yun's motto is that poverty is scarier than ghosts, and she bickers with her brother while worrying about him. It also names the agency head as "Mr. S," the character Lee Hee Joon plays.

The leads bring genre credits. HanCinema lists Lee Jae Wook's earlier work as "Dear Hongrang" and "Alchemy of Souls," and Go Min Si's as "The Frog" and "Sweet Home." "Dead-End Job" streams on Netflix starting Oct. 30.