Im Si-wan and Jo Yu-ri, who joined the second season of the global hit Netflix series ‘Squid Game’ as ‘new faces, said they are “still dazed” at the pouring global attention. From the time they heard the news that they were confirmed to join season 2 until now, they smiled, saying, “It‘s a great honor”.

In season 2, they played the roles of Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), a coin (cryptocurrency) YouTuber who runs away from debt collectors and subscribers after causing huge losses for himself and his subscribers through bad investments, and Myung-gi’s ex-girlfriend Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), who invested in Myung-gi and also lost a huge amount of money. The global fans‘ interest in the future of this ‘tragic couple’ who reunited in the ‘Game of Death’ is soaring.

○“The ‘Squid Game’ audition that lasted for 3 months”

Jo Yu-ri, who joined ‘Squid Game’ after going through 4 auditions in 3 months, looked back and “she even shed tears of joy” when she heard the news that she had been accepted.

“I first applied for a video audition, and after I passed, I auditioned once with the assistant director and twice with director Hwang Dong-hyeok. There were so many applicants for the video audition that I waited 2 months between passing the first round and the second round. I was so, so happy when I first heard the news that I had been accepted. He told me to only tell my family that he was appearing, so I immediately called my mom and younger sibling to tell them the news.”

He said that he was going through the “most difficult time in my life” at the time, but he also drew attention by saying, “I think I passed the audition because I gathered all the energy from the universe.”

“I was auditioning a lot at the time, but I didn’t get any results. I thought I worked hard, but I kept failing, so it became a huge burden. On top of that, my father passed away at the time, so it was a really difficult time. In the midst of that, the ‘Squid Game’ that I received was like a great gift.”

The rave reviews he’s received since the announcement of his acting have made him even happier. He laughed, saying that the compliments and support from the members of the girl group IZ*ONE, who debuted through the audition program ‘Produce 48’ and promoted with him, were a great source of strength for him.

“The members still send me messages to this day. Jang Won-young (Ive) said, “Congratulations, unnie!” when she passed the audition and was happy for me. Kim Min-joo and Choi Ye-na especially contact me often. Ye-na says, “Since you filmed ’Squid Game,‘ you should buy me food!” and always buys me delicious food when we meet. “
○”I didn’t have any aversion to acting as a pregnant woman“

She played the role of a pregnant woman, which is not easy for an idol, and she said she had no aversion to playing a pregnant mother character. However, she said she felt pressured to properly portray a pregnant mother, which was something she had never done before.

”I acted while wearing a belly model because it was set as if I was about to give birth. However, Junhee thought that he was in a difficult situation and couldn‘t eat enough, so he lost weight down to 41kg.“

Meanwhile, when asked about the rumors regarding her appearance fee, Jo Yuri actively explained, saying, ”Thank you for asking. I really wanted to say this.“ Previously, a story spread through several online communities that a new actress appearing in ‘Squid Game’ had received a guaranteed 4.2 billion won, and Jo Yuri was named as that actress.

”I laughed out loud when I saw that article. I thought it was really absurd, but more people than I thought believed the article to be true. I can’t tell you the exact appearance fee, but I‘ve never touched or even thought about 4.2 billion won.“


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com