Director Yoon of ‘Nine Puzzles’ says the K-drama is divorced from reality

Director Yoon Jong Bin of Nine Puzzles shared the journey of the mystery K-drama from script to the screen.

Nine Puzzles is a mystery thriller that follows Yun Yi Na (Kim Da Mi), a criminal profiler who was the sole witness of an unsolved case from ten years ago, and violent crimes Detective Han Saem (Son Suk Ku), who was the lead investigator at the time and continues to suspect her as the culprit. They delve into the secrets of a serial murder case that begins again with a mysterious puzzle piece.

Talking about his experience directing this project, Yoon said, “Up until now, I had always directed scripts I wrote myself, but this time, I was working with a script written by another writer. Approaching the work from the audience’s perspective changed my directing style. As a result, the drama came out in a completely different style from my previous works, and I used techniques I hadn’t tried before. So, it was fun. It was also the first time I worked on a project with so many female characters. It was a new experience, and I enjoyed it.”

Director Yoon confessed that when he first read the script, he questioned whether the story could work from a realism standpoint. “I kept wondering if characters like Han Saem and Yi Na could actually exist. Having done many films in the realism genre, it was hard to accept this project as grounded in reality. So I completely departed from realism and approached it by making its setting a cartoon-like world. Once I thought, ‘If this were a cartoon…,’ I was able to accept it. We touched on everything — from the characters’ costumes to the art direction — and focused on creating a world divorced from reality. Yi Na’s outfits are cartoonish, and [someone like] Han Saem wearing a beanie to work isn’t realistic. But, the worldbuilding started from those very details.”

Regarding the possibility that such a cartoon-like world might come across as unfamiliar to viewers, he said, “I saw it as a double-edged sword. Every choice comes with pros and cons, but had I chosen realism, it might have ended up as just another predictable detective drama. I believe there was meaning in the fact that I attempted something I hadn’t done before.”

But when asked about references that influenced his storytelling, he gave an unexpected answer, he gave a surprising answer: “I don’t particularly like mystery novels. But as I was reading the script, I felt that this was closer to a detective story than a police procedural. Although the character Yi Na is a profiler, she acts more like a detective. So I tried to bring out that detective vibe by adding elements like a necktie and glasses to her costume. I also adjusted the acting tone to match that feel.”

The music also drew attention, particularly including Dvořák’s classical music gave a unique vibe. “The setting was that Yi Na used to enjoy listening to this music back in high school. We considered old pop songs or Radiohead, but we encountered a big problem with the copyright fees, so the music director recommended classical pieces instead. The music that plays in Mi Young’s car was a piece the writer specifically asked to be included, and it fit so well that we ended up using it as something like Seung Ju’s [Park Gyu Young] theme. The rest of the music was newly composed. The writer had also written in a few jazz tracks, but we had to give up on most of them due to copyright costs.”

The design of the puzzle was also a key part of the production. “At first, we considered copying famous overseas art styles, but that turned out to be realistically impossible. So we looked through the works of artists active in Korea. Among them, Yeon Yeo In’s art felt like the best fit, so we reached out to her. Her art is grotesque, as if it’s done by a child, and at the same time has eerie elements that give a feel like they were drawn by an adult. I liked that. We adjusted the details in coordination with the production team. The drawings were in color, but we decided that black and white would work better. Some elements within the drawings were based on specific descriptions the writer had already written in the script. For example, ‘a woman whispering,’ or ‘a wolf in sheep’s mask firing a gun.’ These were visualized accordingly.”

Some Korean netizens suggested that the redevelopment area depicted in the drama evoked memories of the Yongsan tragedy. “I asked the writer after reading the script, and she said she didn’t intend to evoke memories of Yongsan. The content of the incident is different, and it has been set up as something that could happen within the realistic scenario of redevelopment in Korea. I did some research and even looked into papers related to demolition contractors. I drew inspiration from real-life vicious cases to enhance the details. For example, there is a tactic called ‘rabbit hole’, where they would deliberately start fires to drive people out. Reading those papers, I realized these kinds of tactics really were used.”

When asked about a potential sequel to the K-drama, director Yoon responded, “As far as I know, there are currently no plans for Season 2. That depends on the intentions of Disney+ and Kakao Entertainment. I haven’t had any talks with the actors about Season 2 either. And since I didn’t write the script myself, there’s nothing I can say [about how the story will progress].”

Nine Puzzles is streaming on Disney+.

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