Pale Moon (TV series)

Pale Moon (Korean: 종이달) is a 2023 South Korean television series starring Kim Seo-hyung, Yoo Sun, Seo Young-hee, Lee Si-woo, Gong Jung-hwan, Lee Chun-hee, and Yoon Hee-seok. It is based on a novel of the same name by Mitsuyo Kakuta, which was previously made into a movie and TV series in Japan. The series is an original drama of Genie TV, and is available for streaming on its platform, and on TVING.^[1][4] It also aired on ENA from April 10 to May 9, 2023, every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST).^[7]

Pale Moon
Promotional poster
Hangul	종이달
Literal meaning	Paper Moon
Revised Romanization	Jong-idal
McCune–Reischauer	Chongidal
Genre	Suspense thriller[1] Crime[2]
Created by	Park Min-seol[3]
Based on	Kami no Tsuki by Mitsuyo Kakuta
Written by	Noh Yoon-su[4]
Directed by	Yoo Jong-seon[4] Jung Won-hee[4]
Starring	Kim Seo-hyung Yoo Sun Seo Young-hee Lee Si-woo Gong Jung-hwan [ko] Lee Chun-hee Yoon Hee-seok
Music by	Kim Nam-yoon[3] Heo Jun-hyeok[3]
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	10
Production
Executive producers	Park Min-seol Lee Hyung-hoon (CP) Hong Geun-hae (CP)
Producers	Han Ah-reum Ryu Jung-min
Editor	Lee Dong-hyun[3]
Running time	70 minutes[5]
Production companies	Lotte Cultureworks[6] Big Ocean ENM[6]
Original release
Network	ENA
Release	April 10 (2023-04-10) – May 9, 2023 (2023-05-09)
Related
Pale Moon (film)

The first episode of Pale Moon was screened at the Rendez-vous (non-competition section) of the 2023 Cannes International Series Festival on April 19, 2023.^[8][9]

Synopsis

The series follows the story of Yoo I-hwa (Kim Seo-hyung), a bored housewife with an indifferent and ambitious husband, who lives a comfortable but somewhat empty life. She then gets a job as a contract employee at a savings bank and gradually regains her confidence. However, her normal daily life becomes irreversibly twisted when she begins to embezzle the VIP customers' money.^[1][10][11]

Cast

Main

• Kim Seo-hyung as Yoo I-hwa: a woman in search of true happiness^[10][12]
• Yoo Sun as Ryu Ga-eul: I-hwa's friend who is the general manager of a beauty company^[13]
• Seo Young-hee as Kang Seon-young: I-hwa's friend who is a full-time housewife^[13]
• Lee Si-woo as Yoon Min-jae: a film major student^[14]
• Gong Jung-hwan as Choi Gi-hyeon: I-hwa's husband^[13]
• Lee Chun-hee as Seong Si-hun: Ga-eul's ex-husband who is a dermatologist^[13]
• Yoon Hee-seok as Je-guk: Seon-young's husband and Gi-hyeon's colleague^[13]

Supporting

• Yoo Ui-tae as Geum Seok-jin: Ga-eul's colleague^[15]
• Byun Seo-yoon as Lim Ga-deun: Min-jae's close college classmate^[16]
• Kim Jae-in as Jin Young-seo: an employee at a savings bank^[17]
• Yoo Chae-hee as Seong Tae-mi: Ga-eul and Si-hun's daughter^[18]
• Yoon Bo-ra as Lee Ru-ri: I-hwa's colleague who is a bank teller^[19]
• Yoon A-jung as So Mi-kyung: the head of a cosmetics brand^[20]
• Lee Ga-ryeong as Goo Se-ju: a famous social media influencer and YouTuber^[21]
• Lee Chae-eun as Na Min-su^[22]
• Nam Woo-joo as Ru-ri's boyfriend^[23]
• Lee Ga-eun as Yoon-so: a top star actress^[24]
• Jang Hang-seon as Park Byung-sik^[25]
• Byun Jung-hee as Oh Sook-ja^[26]

Special appearance

• Kim Young-hoon as Tae-min: I-hwa's VIP customer^[27]

Viewership

Season		Episode number
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	1	N/A	N/A	205	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	233	272	338

Pale Moon : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea.^[28]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)
		Nationwide[28]	Seoul[29]
1	April 10, 2023	0.975% (10th)	1.057% (9th)
2	April 11, 2023	0.9% (17th)	1.263% (5th)
3	April 17, 2023	1.056% (6th)	1.187% (5th)
4	April 18, 2023	1.0% (14th)	1.150% (4th)
5	April 24, 2023	0.9% (14th)	N/A
6	April 25, 2023	0.9% (18th)
7	May 1, 2023	1.242% (6th)	1.657% (5th)
8	May 2, 2023	1.306% (5th)	1.386% (6th)
9	May 8, 2023	1.405% (5th)	1.695% (4th)
10	May 9, 2023	1.504% (4th)	1.617% (5th)
Average		1.119%	1.377%[a]
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. N/A denotes ratings that were not published. This series aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).

Notes

1. This average rating is calculated based on the published ratings. The exact average rating is unknown due to multiple unpublished ratings.