To actor Lee Joon-hyuk, ‘Seo Dong-jae’ is more than just a ‘life character’. It‘s not just because he’s a character with a track record, starting out as a ‘beloved supporting actor’ in the ‘Secret Forest’ series and rising to the top title role in the spin-off drama TVING ‘Good or Bad Dong-jae’. It‘s because he’s an unprecedentedly original character who‘s lovable but not too swayed by either good or evil, while completely breaking the cliché.

After the end of ‘Good or Bad Dong-jae’, which tells the story of Seo Dong-jae, a prosecutor at the Cheongju District Prosecutors’ Office who struggles to escape the stigma of being a sponsored prosecutor, Lee Joon-hyuk‘s words and expressions were, as expected, dripping with affection for Seo Dong-jae. Above all, he smiled with satisfaction, saying, “I’m glad that this project, which I started with a lot of pressure, is getting a good response.”

○ “Seo Dong-jae spin-off, I was initially against it.”

In fact, he confessed that he did not want to produce “Good or Bad Dong-jae.” He said that he even threatened his agency’s CEO, who actively encouraged him to appear, saying, “I don’t want to do it.” This was because not only was the “burden of the absence” of Cho Seung-woo and Bae Doo-na, the main characters of “Secret Forest,” great, but he also thought, “Seo Dong-jae is a suitable person for a supporting role.”

“I wondered who would like a drama with Seo Dong-jae as the main character. But my agency kept showing me comments from fans who loved it so much. I changed my mind after seeing that. It’s an actor’s job to do what the public wants. Even Cho Seung-woo hyung told me, ‘Just do it~’.”

In this drama, he is in opposition to ‘absolute villain’ Park Sung-woong, who plays the role of a vicious construction company CEO. He faced off against Park Sung-woong, who is famous for his incredible charisma, and laughed, saying, “’I was able to stand up to him because I got beaten up by senior Ma Dong-seok in ‘The Outlaws 3’.”

“Senior Sung-woong has incredible charisma with his body, voice, and even attitude. The real Lee Joon-hyuk would probably never be able to fight senior Sung-woong. Haha! Someone like Seo Dong-jae would probably curse at someone like that to his face and throw money at him. When would I ever do that to a senior like you?”
○“I’m definitely not a star”

Although his popularity has skyrocketed since ‘The Outlaws 3’ and ‘Good or Bad Dong-jae’ last year, one of his frequent catchphrases is still “I‘m not a star”. “I have absolutely no intention of putting myself down or trying to package myself. Even by cold standards, I’m not a star”,“ he emphasized.

“I think stars have a different sense of responsibility. To be honest, I think I‘ve carried less of that burden relatively so far. I didn’t carry as much weight as (Ma) Dong-seok in ‘The Outlaws 4’. Of course, the number of fans who like me has increased, and I think that‘s a value that can’t be put into words. But I always think that kind of reaction can‘t last forever.”

Next January, the SBS drama ‘My Perfect Secretary’, starring Han Ji-man, will be released. It is receiving attention as the first romance drama in six years since tvN’s ‘To You Who Forgot Poetry’ in 2018.

“(Since I mainly do genre works) When I look back on my filmography so far, there aren‘t any normal people. Haha! So ‘The Perfect Secretary’ is another work that breaks the cliché in my filmography. There are no dead bodies and no one is hurt. Haha! It’s also a work that refreshes itself.”


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com