Reborn Rookie has many classic K-drama elements: body swaps, chaebol in-fighting, corporate intrigue, and a hunger for cathartic revenge. The Viki drama is based on a web novel from San Kyung, who also wrote Reborn Rich, which was turned into a hit drama about a chaebol employee who is murdered and wakes up in the body of the chaebol heir. Unlike Reborn Rich, Reborn Rookie is a comedy, finding a fair amount of fun in the story of a CEO who accidentally swaps bodies with a young soccer player, and uses the opportunity to get revenge on his selfish children.
At the start of Reborn Rookie, soccer player Hwang Jun-hyeon (Melo Movie’s Lee Jun-young) has just had his longtime wish granted. He has earned a spot on the roster for soccer club FC Choiseong, and will be a professional soccer player. It is the goal he has been working towards for most of his life. For Jun-hyeon, the hard-won opportunity doesn’t only mean glory and money; it means that he’ll bring joy to his grandmother, who lives with dementia and only remembers her grandson when he is in his soccer uniform.
Meanwhile, Choiseong Group CEO Kang Yong-ho (The Good Detective’s Son Hyun-joo) is frustrated. The 72-year-old is looking to retire, but can’t decide which of his greedy, elder children—Kang Jae-gyeong (Jeon Hye-jin) or Kang Jae-seong (Jin Goo)—he should leave as CEO to his beloved company. When Jae-gyeong and Jae-seong take his fancy sports car for a ride and hit Jun-hyeon, leaving the young man unable to play soccer, he vows to leave it to neither potential heir. However, before Yong-ho can make the announcement, he falls down the Choiseong Group stairs, and bonks heads with a grieving and furious Jun-hyeon. They switch bodies, and Yong-ho wakes up in the body of twenty-something Jun-hyeon.
With Jun-hyeon trapped in a coma inside of Yong-ho’s older body, Yong-ho goes about seeking revenge on his good-for-nothing children, and ensuring the future of the Choiseong Group. He gets a litt
