Becoming a Billionaire

South Korean TV series or program

Becoming a Billionaire

Also known as	Birth of the Rich Birth of a Rich Man
Genre	Comedy Romance
Written by	Choi Min-ki
Directed by	Lee Jin-seo
Starring	Ji Hyun-woo Lee Bo-young Lee Si-young Namkoong Min
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	20
Production
Producer	Lee Han-ho
Production locations	Seoul, South Korea
Running time	60 minutes Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 (KST)
Production company	Da.da Creative Group
Original release
Network	KBS2
Release	March 1 (2010-03-01) – May 4, 2010 (2010-05-04)

Becoming a Billionaire (Korean: 부자의 탄생; Hanja: 富者의 誕生; RR: Bujaeui Tansaeng; lit. "Birth of the Rich") is a 2010 South Korean television series starring Ji Hyun-woo, Lee Bo-young, Lee Si-young and Namkoong Min.^[1] It aired on KBS2 from March 1 to May 4, 2010, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.

Plot

Choi Seok-bong believes he is the son of a billionaire, from a one-night stand with his mother. While working as a bellboy at a luxury hotel, Seok-bong practices the qualities he thinks a billionaire's heir would have; all these efforts are for the day he meets his birth father. But one day, Seok-bong is diagnosed with breast cancer, which only has a 50 percent survival rate. Seok-bong doesn't have enough money for treatments, and finds it absolutely ridiculous that a billionaire's heir would die because he has no money. Finding his biological father may be Seok-bong's only hope. So he turns for help to Lee Shin-mi, the heiress of Ohsung Group and a notorious penny-pincher.^[2]^[3]

Cast

Main characters

Ji Hyun-woo as Choi Seok-bong
- Park Gun-woo as teenage Choi Seok-bong

A bell boy at Ohsung Hotel in first few episodes.

Lee Bo-young as Lee Shin-mi
- Kim So-hyun as young Lee Shin-mi

The heiress of Ohsung Group, and a strict and frugal person. Ohsung Hotel director in first few episodes.

Namkoong Min as Chu Woon-seok

An ambitious man whose goal is to revive his father's company, Frontier Group and is interested in Shin-mi. But coming to the end of the drama, he silently declared his love for Tae-hee when she visited him in prison.

Lee Si-young as Bu Tae-hee

A spoiled heiress of Buho Group and is interested in Woon-seok. / Bu Tae-hee's mother (ep. 11, cameo)

Supporting characters

The CEO's

Yoon Joo-sang as Lee Jung-hyun

CEO of Ohsung Group, father of Shin-mi

Kim Eung-soo as Bu Gwi-ho

CEO of Buho Group, father of Tae-hee

Park Young-ji as Chu Young-dal

CEO of Frontier Group, father of Woon-seok

Extended cast

Shin Da-eun as Han So-jung

Shin-mi's secretary

Kim Dong-gyun as Mr. Yoo

Employee of Ohsung, working as spy for Woon-seok

Jung Joo-eun as Yoon Mal-ja

Tae-hee's secretary

Kim Ki-bang as Park Kang-woo

Seok-bong's best friend

Park Min-ji as Park Kang-sook

Kang-woo's sister

Ok Ji-young as Bang Soo-jin

Weekly magazine reporter

Sung Ji-ru as Woo Byung-doo

A homeless wanderer with an interest in molybdenum, Seok-bong's irksome acquaintance, uninvited roommate, and later, business partner

Jang Yoo-joon as Woo Bung-eo

Byung-doo's son who is musically talented

Kim Mi-kyung as Kang-woo's mother
Jung Han-yong as Kang-woo's father
Min Wook as Ha Joon-tae
- Son Ho-young as young adult Ha Joon-tae

The ailing owner of the licence to the mining rights of a molybdenum mine

Park Chul-min as Kim Dal-soo

Hotel captain at Ohsung Hotel, later Lee Jung-hyun's butler

Cameos

Son Ho-young as Seok-bong's father
Lee Won-jong as Seok-bong's middle school math teacher
Choi Song-hyun as Seok-bong's mother when she met Ha Joon-tae
Jang Tae-sung as Ohsung Hotel bellman
Lee Han-wi as Teriah Park

Ratings

Episode #	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		TNmS Ratings^[4]		AGB Nielsen^[5]
		Nationwide	Seoul National Capital Area	Nationwide	Seoul National Capital Area
1	1 March 2010	12.1%	11.9%	12.2%	12.8%
2	2 March 2010	11.8%	11.6%	11.6%	12.3%
3	8 March 2010	11.4%	11.0%	12.2%	11.1%
4	9 March 2010	13.1%	12.8%	12.6%	12.2%
5	15 March 2010	16.2%	16.1%	15.0%	14.5%
6	16 March 2010	17.7%	18.0%	17.0%	17.9%
7	22 March 2010	15.5%	15.7%	14.9%	15.5%
8	23 March 2010	15.2%	14.9%	15.7%	16.2%
9	29 March 2010	15.6%	15.2%	15.6%	16.6%
10	30 March 2010	16.0%	16.2%	15.9%	16.8%
11	5 April 2010	16.2%	15.8%	15.1%	15.1%
12	6 April 2010	17.7%	17.8%	16.2%	16.6%
13	12 April 2010	16.5%	16.2%	13.5%	13.3%
14	13 April 2010	16.7%	16.9%	14.4%	14.5%
15	19 April 2010	16.6%	16.6%	14.8%	15.1%
16	20 April 2010	14.9%	14.6%	14.2%	14.2%
17	26 April 2010	14.2%	14.0%	14.3%	14.0%
18	27 April 2010	13.1%	13.0%	13.0%	12.7%
19	3 May 2010	14.2%	14.3%	13.3%	13.0%
20	4 May 2010	16.6%	17.0%	15.5%	15.3%
Average		15.1%	15.0%	14.3%	14.5%

International broadcast

Its Japanese broadcasting rights were sold to NHK (along with another KBS drama The Great Merchant) for US$3 million.^[6] It also aired on Fuji TV as part of the network's "Hallyu Alpha Summer Festival," and on cable channel KNTV beginning July 2, 2014.^[7]

It aired on Thailand on Workpoint TV from March 10, 2014, to April 4, 2014.^[8]

References

^ Oh, Jean (1 March 2010). "Post-Olympian line-up ushers in spring". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
^ Wee, Geun-woo (24 February 2010). "PREVIEW: KBS TV series The Birth of the Rich". 10Asia. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
^ Yoon, Hee-seong (5 March 2010). "REVIEW: KBS TV series The Birth of the Rich". 10Asia. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
^ "TNMS Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu". TNMS Ratings (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2013-11-28. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
^ "AGB Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu". AGB Nielsen Media Research (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
^ Cho, Bum-ja (14 April 2010). "Dramas Merchant, Rich sold to Japan for USD 3 mln". 10Asia. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
^ "Programme Detail" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. (in Japanese) kntv.co.jp
^ "เรื่องย่อ Becoming a Billionaire". luvasianseries (in Thai). 2014-03-17. Retrieved 2017-02-11.