Kim Jae-young “Joo Woo-jae=Noble Person? NO… I throw tantrums, but we rely on each other ‘ [DA:Interview③]

Model-turned-actor Kim Jae-young expressed gratitude to model and broadcaster Joo Woo-jae, his close friend, but he was disgusted by people calling him ‘noble person’.

In an interview for the end of the SBS drama ‘Judge from Hell’, held at a cafe in Hakdong-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 5th, Kim Jae-young confessed that he still gets anxious when he has no projects. He said, “When I‘m having a hard time, I tend to whine and throw tantrums at my friends around me”, and “Even though things are better than before, I still end up whining”.

Kim Jae-young said, “Even when I was a model, things would suddenly come up. When I’m working, I feel good, but I worry about the results, and when I don‘t have work, I worry, thinking, ’When will I be able to work?‘ It was the same when I was acting. Since actors also have to be chosen by someone, when there’s a long hiatus, I think, ‘Is this the right thing for me to do? ’ and I worry a lot as a person,“ he said.

After wrapping up the 2020 weekend drama ‘Love is Beautiful, Life is Wonderful’, he took a break for nearly a year and suffered from deep worries and depression. Kim Jae-young said, ”I had a lot of depressing thoughts just staying at home. I think I felt relatively inadequate when I saw people who were doing well. At that time, Joo Woo-jae visited my house a lot,“ and revealed, ”I thought that since I‘m the main character, I should feel satisfied with what I do.“

He said that he hasn’t completely overcome it. Joo Woo-jae said, ”I still worry. If my self-esteem drops, I can‘t do anything. Since I’m not a working person, I think I have anxiety that I don‘t know when or how things will turn out and that I might be forgotten. In fact, I still waver a lot, but people around me often say things like, “Why are you worrying about what’s next?” and “It‘ll be okay.” I don’t think I can overcome it on my own,“ he admitted. About his daily life, he said, ”I just work out and stay home. I don‘t go out much. One day I’m depressed, and the next day I‘m reading a book and feeling happy. Isn’t that how everyone is?“

However, when asked, ”Isn‘t Joo Woo-jae the person who pulls me out of my depression?“ he shook his head and answered, ”We rely on each other a lot.“ It’s a mutually complementary relationship.

Kim Jae-young mentioned not only Joo Woo-jae, but also his close friends, model-turned-actor Byun Woo-seok and Lee Cheol-woo, and said, ”I‘m glad that everyone is doing well. (Byun) Woo-seok also called me after watching the first episode of ‘Carrying Sun-jae and Running’ and said, ‘You looked so cool.’ I was so happy that it did well,”and”When I was young, I used to envy and be jealous of model-turned-actors when they did well, but I don’t feel that way anymore,”.

Regarding the reactions of his close friends who watched ‘The Judge from Hell’, he said, “They said the drama was fun and seemed like it would do well, but when they saw the ratings, they all said it did really well and were really happy.” Meanwhile, ‘The Judge from Hell’ is a fantasy drama about Kang Bit-na, a demon who enters the body of a judge, meeting the humane, passionate detective Han Da-on in a hellish reality, and being reborn as a true judge by punishing criminals. Kim Jae-young plays Han Da-on, a detective from the Violent Crimes Unit 2 of Nobong Police Station and the sole survivor of the serial killer J case.

The final episode of ‘Judge from Hell’, which aired on the 2nd, depicted an open ending to the romance between Kang Bit-na and Han Da-on along with the thrilling soda that punishes human trash who deserve to die and sends them to hell. ‘Judge from Hell’, which started with a viewership rating of 6.8% for the first episode, ended on a high note with a final viewership rating of 11.9% (provided by Nielsen Korea).

Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com
Photo courtesy of JIB Company