Actors Jung Ryeo-won, left, and Wi Ha-joon pose during the press conference for the tvN series "The Midnight Romance in Hagwon," in Guro District, Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of tvN

tvN's new melodrama series "The Midnight Romance in Hagwon" — a romance story between a teacher and a former student — is off to a good start, kicking off with a 5.2 percent viewership rating Saturday.

The new series follows a star Korean language lecturer, Seo Hye-jin (Jung Ryeo-won), who has been in the cutthroat private education field of the Daechi neighborhood in Gangnam for 14 years.

When she helped an underperforming student, Lee Joon-ho (Wi Ha-joon), boost his grade to get into a prestigious college, she became a legend in the field.

About 10 years later, Seo reunites with Lee when he quits his well-paying corporate job to teach at the academy he'd studied at, bringing unexpected changes to her ordinary life.

The first episode showed Seo working day and night to teach students, repeating the same pattern daily. When she sees Lee taking a qualification exam to teach at her academy, she tries to convince him not to give up his current work for the underappreciated teaching job.

The series is led by director Ahn Pan-seok, who is known for helming romance series like "Something in the Rain" (2018) and "One Spring Night" (2019).

Scenes from the first episde of the tvN series "The Midnight Romance in Hagwon," which aired on Saturday / Courtesy of tvN

Actor Jung Ryeo-won shared she felt destined to take part in the series.

"I wrote in my diary that I want to start filming in September and Director Ahn's name with it. I received this script in May and started shooting in September. I asked who the director was, and it was director Ahn. So I took the role without even reading the script. It felt like fate had aligned perfectly," she said during the press conference for the series in Guro District, Seoul, Thursday.

"On the last day of shooting, I decided it was the best work of my life. We had such a good work environment and I had so much fun on the set. When I got the script, I thought 'This could be the peak of my career,' and on the final day, I declared it as my personal best."

Jung said the series will offer a different type of melodrama, deviating from the typical structure of the genre.

"There's a certain equation to melodrama. But there's a button you should press, but instead of pressing it, (our series) goes on without doing so. You will see that there's this kind of love and melodramatic approach, making itself unique and distinguishable from other series. I feel confident in that aspect," she said.

"I think I had certain stereotypes towards melodrama and romance stories … But this series perfectly breaks away from those typical cliches or sequences. It made me realize that even in melodramatic works, you can see things differently."

Wi plays the role of a newly employed teacher who just went through a career change. The actor described his character as "confident and assertive, but at the same time, he can be cheeky and immature, like a child. He learns to grow as an adult with a deep charm through Hae-jin both love-wise and education-wise."

The actor said he felt comfortable with his co-star, Jung, from the first time they met.

"I'm introverted and quiet. So Jung may have expected me to be cheery, bright and friendly, but I'm quite the opposite. But I really enjoyed our first meeting. I was worried she might be urban, cold and distant but she was actually modest, kind and approachable," he said.

"It felt like she'd go along with any jokes I made, which made me feel comfortable around her right from the start."