🎬 Proxy CSAT (2026) – Preview

“One test. One lie. One life on the line.”

South Korea’s TVING is preparing to launch one of its boldest youth crime thrillers yet. From Bak So-yeon, the visionary director behind Pyramid Game, comes Proxy CSAT (2026) — a high-stakes drama that pulls back the curtain on the dark side of academic obsession, class divide, and the price of survival in an unforgiving system.

📚 Plot Summary

Set in the pressure-cooker environment of an elite Gangnam private high school, the story follows Jung Woo-jin, a brilliant student from a low-income background who has fought his way to the top through sheer grit and intellect. His scholarship is his lifeline — a ticket out of poverty and into possibility.

But when a mysterious blackmailer uncovers a devastating secret, Woo-jin is forced into an impossible deal: sit the CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) on behalf of another student. What begins as one act of academic fraud spirals into a dangerous game of manipulation and deceit, threatening not only Woo-jin’s future but his very identity and freedom.

As the noose tightens, Woo-jin must navigate classmates with hidden agendas, an institution built on inequality, and a puppet master whose motives run deeper than simple corruption.

🎭 Themes & Tension

• Academic Pressure: In South Korea, the CSAT is not just a test — it’s life or death for students’ futures. Proxy CSAT weaponizes that reality into a thriller.

• Class Divide: Woo-jin’s struggle is not just against his blackmailer, but against a system designed to reward privilege while punishing poverty.

• Moral Compromise: Every choice Woo-jin makes pushes him further into a grey zone — and the question becomes not whether he can win, but whether he can survive with his humanity intact.

🎥 Style & Direction

Bak So-yeon, known for the razor-sharp social commentary and suspenseful storytelling of Pyramid Game, brings the same intensity here. Expect:

• Tight, claustrophobic classroom and exam hall sequences that make every second feel like a ticking bomb.

• Cinematic tension that transforms mundane test-taking into a deadly battle of wills.

• Psychological depth, revealing how far young people will go when cornered by both society and circumstance.

⭐ Why It Stands Out

• From the director of Pyramid Game, ensuring a mix of social critique and nail-biting suspense.

• A bold new angle on the K-drama youth thriller genre, replacing bullying and popularity contests with the terrifying pressure of the CSAT.

• A story that resonates far beyond Korea, touching on universal themes of ambition, desperation, and the cost of survival in a rigged system.

🔑 Final Verdict

Proxy CSAT (2026) is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious youth thrillers in years — a show that dares to ask what happens when the very system designed to measure merit becomes a weapon of corruption. With its gripping premise, high-stakes storytelling, and social commentary, it has all the makings of TVING’s next breakout hit.

Anticipation Level: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
Dark, tense, and unrelenting — Proxy CSAT transforms the test of a lifetime into a fight for survival.

📅 Coming 2026 | Only on TVING