Following the ‘sub male lead’, now the ‘main male lead’ is making the main viewership target, women, shiver. The story of ‘Queen of Tears’ (directed by Jang Young-woo and Kim Hee-won, written by Park Ji-eun) that makes the title of ‘vN‘s highest-rated drama of all time’ seem meaningless.

‘Queen of Tears’, which ended in April of last year, is an all-time hit that recorded its own highest viewership rating of 24.9% (16 episodes, based on Nielsen Korea’s nationwide paid platform). It is the tvN drama with the highest viewership rating of all time. However, just one year after its end, it is in a position to become ‘Voldemort’ (meaning ‘Do Not Say His Name’). It‘s because of the lead actors Kim Soo-hyun and Park Sung-hoon.

First, Park Sung-hoon posted and then deleted an AV (Adult Video) cover parodying the Netflix original ‘Squid Game’ on his Instagram story on December 30th of last year. The cover explicitly showed numerous women having full nudity and sexual intercourse. As Park Sung-hoon, who stars in ‘Squid Game 2’, already has millions of followers, the screen capture of Park Sung-hoon’s story quickly spread online.


Regarding this, his agency BH Entertainment stated, “The photo was a post that someone sent to Park Sung-hoon via DM (direct message), and Park Sung-hoon accidentally clicked on it and it ended up on his SNS account. The actor himself was extremely embarrassed and immediately deleted it. He explained, “I am reflecting on my mistake,” but this only created more controversy.

Park Sung-hoon eventually opened his mouth during an interview to promote ‘Squid Game 2’. Park Sung-hoon apologized, saying, “I am very upset that something like this happened when the work and character were receiving so much attention and love. First of all, I feel very sorry for our entire team.”

Despite this apology, some said that the additional explanation regarding Instagram was insufficient. In the end, Park Sung-hoon ended up dropping out of the new tvN drama ‘The Tyrant’s Chef’ (written by HapJak, directed by Jang Tae-yoo), which was set to be his next project.

Although the circumstances are different, public opinion about Kim Soo-hyun is not good either. Stories surrounding Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae-ron, who were once his teammates at Gold Medalist, sadly passed away in February, are emerging. What‘s shocking is that a family member claimed on the YouTube channel ‘Garosero Research Institute’ (abbreviated as ‘Ga Se-yeon’) that Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae-ron were lovers for 6 years, and that Kim Soo-hyun and his agency Gold Medalist were responsible for Kim Sae-ron’s death.

However, Kim Soo-hyun‘s agency Gold Medalist completely refuted ‘Ga Se-yeon’’s claims. They also threatened legal action.


On the night of the 10th, Gold Medalist released an official statement saying, ”The claims made by ‘Ga Se-yeon’ regarding Kim Soo-hyun on her YouTube broadcast today are clearly false. ‘Ga Se-yeon’ claimed that our company and Kim Soo-hyun colluded with YouTuber Lee Jin-ho to harass the late Kim Sae-ron, and made many malicious claims against our company and Kim Soo-hyun, including claims that the late Kim Sae-ron dated Kim Soo-hyun since she was 15, claims that the agency handled the late Kim Sae-ron‘s drunk driving accident unfairly, and claims that our company’s manager was close with YouTuber Lee Jin-ho. However, these are all false facts that we cannot overlook,“ and stated, ”Our company plans to consider the strongest possible legal action against ‘Ga Se-yeon’ for spreading false facts.“

Meanwhile, ”Our company is heartbroken by the news of the death of the late actress Kim Sae-ron, who was once with our company, and we mourn the deceased. However, the spreading of false information by ‘Ga Se-yeon’ is a repeat of the so-called ‘cyber wrecker’ behavior that the deceased had so much difficulty with while alive, and it is damaging not only the company but also the deceased‘s reputation for its own benefit. Therefore, the company will respond sternly to this,“ he emphasized.

Although Gold Medalist announced legal action, ‘Ga Se-yeon’ did not care and went ahead with additional revelations. They also released photos that could raise suspicions about the relationship between Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae-ron.


Now it is a real catastrophe. And the CJ ENM and ‘Queen of Tears’ officials who are watching this situation are in a position where they can really cry. Not only has the ‘all-highest box office hit’ put a red light on for additional profits such as IP, but they can no longer put forward the work that was their pride and signature. Since the actor’s image is soon the consumption point of the work, it is questionable whether the characters played by two male actors who are ignored by the main target audience, women, will be consumed more.

In the end, ‘Queen of Tears’ only had one year of glory left. They say dramas follow their titles. ‘Queen of Tears’ is really tear-jerking.

Hong Se-young, Donga.com reporter, projecthong@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.