Jirisan, iQiyi Original Korean drama series starring Gianna Jun and Ju Ji-hoon, and created by director Lee Eung-bok (Descendants of The Sun, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God) and writer Kim Eun-hee (Signal, Kingdom), follows its top rated premiere last weekend, with the debut of its character relationship map today. Jirisan revolves around the Jirisan National Park Haedong ranger station where star ranger Seo Yi-gang (Gianna Jun), rookie Kang Hyun-jo (Ju Ji-hoon), branch head Jo Dae-jin (Sung Dong-il), ranger Jung Gu-yeong (Oh Jung-se), administrative executive Lee Yang-sun (Ju Min-gyung), and new ranger Lee Da-won (Go Min-si) are based. At Jirisan peak, Park Il-hae (Cho Han-cheul) is the team leader at the Bidam Shelter. Together the seven ensure the safety and security of all on Jirisan, and are responsible for search and rescue operations.
In the series, Gianna Jun and Ju Ji-hoon are partner rangers and have started to develop fondness for each other. Having joined at around the same time as park rangers, Jun, Oh Jung-se and Cho Han-cheul bring a lively and jovial spirit to the team, yet they are completely serious and disregard their own safety when saving others. As the team’s most inexperienced ranger, Go Min-si looks up to Gianna Jun as a role model, in a senior-junior relationship that could develop the storyline.
At the Haedong branch station, Gianna Jun and Ju Ji-hoon are not the only pair as Oh Jung-se and Ju Min-gyung’s characters have started to realize their feelings. Ju Min-gyung may not be as physically strong as to join the rangers at the frontline of search and rescue, but she is the administrative backbone of the team. It remains to be seen if and how the feelings between Ju Min-gyung and Oh Jung-se could progress.
Korea’s ‘National Grandma’ Kim Young-ok is in the role of Lee Moon-ok, grandmother to Gianna Jun’s character. She runs a restaurant in the Haedong village near Jirisan. About 20 years ago, Lee lost her son and daughter-in-law, and raised Jun single handedly. The touching love of the grandmother-grandchild bond between Lee and Jun is not to be missed.
In addition, the Haedong branch is part of the Jeonbuk Office led by Kim Kye-hee (Joo Jin-mo); Dr Yoon Su-jin (Kim Kuk-hee) is a researcher at the Species Restoration Center; while Kim Sol (Lee Ga-sub) is a historical culture researcher. Kim Eung-soon (Jun Suk-ho) and rookie officer Park (Han Dong-ho) are police officers at Haedong police station who will also work with the park rangers on their missions, as well as to unravel Jirisan’s mysteries.
Jirisan follows Gianna Jun as the star park ranger of the Jirisan National Park, together with rookie ranger Ju Ji-hoon to unravel the secrets of the peak. The iQiyi Original K-series airs on Saturdays and Sundays at 8.00pm, exclusively and globally on the iQiyi International app or iQ.com, simulcast with Korea.
