The military comedy franchise heads to a mysterious hospital for its December 30 theatrical release, with Jeongyeon and Ryu Kyung-soo joining the returning cast.
TWICE’s Jeongyeon is trading the concert stage for a military hospital in “Shinbyung the Movie,” and the first images offer a glimpse of the nursing officer she will play. The film, which expands the popular military comedy series into theaters, has confirmed a December 30 release in South Korea, bringing familiar soldiers into a setting where their much-needed break takes an unsettling turn.
The full Korean title, “신병 더 무비: 군병원에 귀신이 산다,” translates roughly as “Shinbyung the Movie: A Ghost Lives in the Military Hospital.” Its premise gives the returning characters what initially sounds like an escape from their demanding daily routine: a stay in a military hospital, where they expect some rest. Instead, disturbing rumors draw them into an investigation of the institution’s secrets, combining the franchise’s ensemble comedy with horror and mystery.
Jeongyeon Introduces a New Face at the Military Hospital
Jeongyeon plays nursing officer Yoo Jeong-yeon, a character who shares her Korean name. Her first-look image introduces her in the hospital setting, offering a different screen presence from the performances TWICE fans know, while leaving her character’s involvement in the unfolding mystery largely under wraps.
She joins the film alongside Ryu Kyung-soo, who portrays a mysterious soldier named Yoo Jae-hoon. His introductory still shows him looking out a window alone, creating a quieter, more ominous impression than the image of the returning soldiers gathered together. The contrast establishes two sides of the film’s early publicity: the familiar group’s comic energy and the uncertainty surrounding the hospital’s new faces.
For Jeongyeon, the project marks a move into feature-film acting within an established franchise, giving audiences a new character to discover alongside a cast whose relationships have already developed across the television series.
Familiar Soldiers Find an Unfamiliar Kind of Trouble
Kim Min-ho returns as Park Min-seok, joined by Nam Tae-woo as Choi Il-gu, Lee Jung-hyun as Kang Chan-seok and Jang Sung-bum as Kim Dong-woo. Jeon Seung-hoon, Kim Hee-soo and Kim Hyun-kyu also reprise their roles as Im Da-hye, Choi Byeong-nam and Sung Yoon-mo, respectively.
The ensemble’s first-look still captures the soldiers in patient clothing, pointing in the same direction as though something has suddenly caught their attention. It is an introduction built around the group rather than a single hero, preserving the shared reactions and clashing personalities that have helped define the series.
Moving the characters into a hospital also changes the circumstances around those relationships. Their expectation of a peaceful stay becomes the starting point for a mystery, allowing the film to put familiar personalities under a different kind of pressure while retaining the exchanges and collective chaos associated with “Shinbyung.”
The Series Director Returns for the Film
Min Jin-ki, who directed the television series, returns to direct the movie and co-wrote its screenplay with Yoon Ki-young. Story Island produces the film, with KT Studio Genie handling co-production and distribution.
That continuity connects the theatrical project to its television roots, even as the hospital setting introduces a new genre combination. The film’s announced direction brings together military comedy, eerie rumors and an investigation, with Jeongyeon and Ryu joining the established ensemble as the story moves beyond the barracks.
“Shinbyung the Movie” opens in South Korean theaters on December 30.
Editor’s Note: “Shinbyung,” also known internationally as “New Recruit,” originated as an animated series by Korean creator Jang Bbi-jju before becoming a live-action drama. In a 2023 interview with Yonhap News Agency, Jang explained that many incidents in the animation and drama drew on his own military experiences. Director Min Jin-ki, whose earlier work includes the military sitcom “Blue Tower,” described “Shinbyung” as part of a distinctly Korean tradition of military storytelling. That background helps explain the franchise’s foundation in recognizable personalities and everyday service experiences, which the upcoming film carries into its hospital mystery.