‘The Lighting Store’ writer Kang Full expressed his trust in director Kim Hee-won, who is taking on his first directorial challenge.

On the afternoon of the 24th, writer Kang Full of the Disney+ series ‘The Lighting Store’ met with Donga.com for an interview and talked about the work at a cafe in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

When asked why he chose actor Kim Hee-won as director, writer Kang Full said, “I first met director Kim Hee-won on ‘Moving’. He was a frequent visitor to the set. The first filming location for ‘Moving’ was the morning assembly scene. There, (Kim Hee-won) spoke with the extras playing the students. When I saw that, I thought he was good.”

He continued, “I didn‘t make an unfounded suggestion to direct there. I also knew that he was interested in directing. I had to see if he had the talent, and I found out that he had in mind to direct a horror film. ‘The Lighting Store’ required the actors to act better than any other drama, and the stories of the people in it were important. That’s when Director Kim Hee-won came to mind. Director Kim Hee-won didn‘t readily accept either. After I gave him the script, we worked on the story. We talked really closely, and after he said he would do it, we talked a lot. In the end, I feel good because I think my thoughts were not wrong,” he said, expressing his satisfaction.

Writer Kang Full said of Director Kim Hee-won’s strengths, “I got along well with Director Kim Hee-won emotionally. We got along so well that I didn‘t have to explain it to him. It was so fun to work with and sometimes I got tired, but he tried not to miss a single detail. He was so detailed that it was almost tenacious.”



‘The Lighting Store’, based on a webtoon, even had scenes that weren’t in the webtoon made into a drama. Here, writer Kang Full said, “The story of actors Lee Jung-eun and Joo Ji-hoon was not in the original work. It‘s not that I didn’t think about it at all, but I thought that if I did it that way, I wouldn‘t be able to meet the deadline. After finishing the original work, I felt sorry for the two of them. You might wonder why the president is sitting there, but I was worried if I could fill that gap. Lee Jung-eun can’t speak, so it was difficult to express that part in a cartoon. I was able to do everything by expressing it in a drama. I have no regrets because everything was revealed in the drama ‘The Lighting Store,’” drawing attention.

When asked about the beginning of ‘The Lighting Store,’ writer Kang Full said, “I started writing ‘The Lighting Store’ itself after hearing a story from a doctor in the intensive care unit. My father was a pastor, so he went there to pray a lot. I followed and heard from the side, ‘The patient’s will is important.‘” He answered.

He continued, “I also thought about how ghosts come into being. If you look at the ending, it’s also the birth of ghosts. I thought ghosts were people, and at first, I thought of Ji-young‘s path. She’s a woman waiting for someone, and I started writing a story about pushing away her lover.”

In response to a question about the interpretation of the story of Ji-young (played by Kim Seol-hyun) and Hyun-min (played by Uhm Tae-goo), which was talked about by many viewers in ‘Lighting Store,’ he said, “There were comments since the cartoon, and there were a lot of stories about that. Why is that? But I think there are various interpretations. It could be a love that‘s tilted. Hyun-min is the one who suffered the biggest accident, so you could think that there are other rules. The driving force behind the ending of this story is Ji-young’s curiosity itself. I think it won‘t work the moment the writer gives an answer to this. I have my own standards, but when I talk like that, it makes me sad that the work is summarized in one word. I didn’t even tell the actors. I wanted everyone to see it differently. I think everyone thinks differently, so from my perspective, that‘s good. I’m not going to talk about it until the end,” he said, drawing the line.

Meanwhile, ‘The Lighting Store’, which was first released on the 4th, depicts a story that unfolds when customers with suspicious secrets visit the ‘The Lighting Store’, the only place that lights up the end of a dark alley. Four episodes were released on the 4th, and two episodes were released every week for the next two weeks, presenting all eight episodes.

It is the fifth work in writer Kang Full‘s ‘Mystery Psychological Chill’ series, and is based on the webtoon of the same name ‘The Lighting Store’, which has surpassed 150 million cumulative views.

Reporter Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com yyynnn@donga.com