Yoo Yeon Seok On Understanding His Character In "The Interest Of Love," Getting Encouragement From "Narco-Saints" Co-Star Hwang Jung Min, And More

Following the conclusion of “The Interest of Love,” Yoo Yeon Seok has looked back on the drama and talked about his character!

JTBC’s “The Interest of Love” is a realistic romance drama about four people with different interests who meet while working at the Yeongpo branch of KCU Bank. As they become entangled in one another’s lives, they eventually come to understand the true meaning of love. Earlier this month on February 9, “The Interest of Love” aired its finale to steady viewership ratings.

To discuss the drama, Yoo Yeon Seok recently sat for an interview with Sports Chosun where he elaborated on his character, aspects that left viewers confused, and more.

Yoo Yeon Seok starred as Ha Sang Soo, a man who firmly believes that a stable and uneventful life is the key to happiness, while Moon Ga Young played his love interest and co-worker Ahn Soo Young. As many viewers were torn on the reason why Ha Sang Soo was so drawn to Ahn Soo Young, Yoo Yeon Seok explained, “I think this was in the lines, but he kept thinking of her and wanting to care for her.”

He elaborated that their drama begins with the setup of Ha Sang Soo being in love with Ahn Soo Young, as opposed to developing that interest for specific reasons. Yoo Yeon Seok added, “While he was definitely drawn to Soo Young’s outward appearance, Soo Young helped Sang Soo and carefully looked after him when he was on probation. Also, I think he liked the way Soo Young treated customers.”

The actor also revealed that he wholeheartedly understood his character’s complicated emotions and related to his upbringing. Although Sang Soo comes from a wealthy family, his greatest dream is to live normally.

Yoo Yeon Seok explained that while his own father is a professor, he grew up in the countryside before moving to the city in high school. He shared, “After seeing the environments of those around me, I felt more of a barrier than I thought I would. Although others did not view me like that, I could understand the emotions Sang Soo felt when he was younger. It’s true that he didn’t only endure hardships like Soo Young. However, that is Sang Soo’s charm. He’s not someone who overcame some hardship like Cinderella, nor is he someone who’s extremely carefree. Sang Soo is someone who tries to be normal. I think that aspect is slightly similar to me. People think I am special because of my career, but I live normally too.”

Touching on specific scenes, Yoo Yeon Seok personally explained the situation in Episode 15 where Ha Sang Soo began smoking after finally finding Ahn Soo Young. With some viewers expressing confusion about Ha Sang Woo smoking right after reuniting with someone he loves, Yoo Yeon Seok expressed the situation as a metaphor.

He shared, “The smoking in itself is something that he wants to quit but cannot, similar to Soo Young. To be honest, in the middle, Sang Soo quits smoking, and that’s when he tries to put aside his feelings for Soo Young to focus on Mi Kyung [Geum Sae Rok]. In order to let go of Soo Young, he quit smoking too. However, that’s not easy. He would keep touching the cigarette without smoking it and even telling others that he quit. I think him smoking again is an expression of after their meeting in Tongyeong. It’ll be good if you understand it as a metaphorical expression.”

Amidst the love he got from viewers, Yoo Yeon Seok also revealed that he got a message from his “Narco-Saints” co-star Hwang Jung Min for his work in “The Interest of Love.” “Hwang Jung Min texted me,” Yoo Yeon Seok shared. “He said that he doesn’t typically watch dramas, but that he was watching [‘The Interest of Love’] really enjoyably. It gave me so much strength. He does a lot of noir [projects], but he said it looked good to see me do romance. He encouraged me saying he was watching well, so I felt great.”

Regarding his own thoughts on workplace dating and love, Yoo Yeon Seok remarked, “Workplace dating is not something you can do because you want to, and not something you can avoid just because you don’t want to do it. Since you keep seeing each other, I think you develop affection within that. Even though you think of the logistics and have rational thoughts like ‘we can’t be doing this here,’ love is not something you do with your mind. That’s why love is hard. I believe workplace romances are the same.”

In a separate interview with OSEN, Yoo Yeon Seok dished on working with Moon Ga Young and Geum Sae Rok, who played his character’s two love interests. The actor commented, “Since Moon Ga Young has been acting since she was young, she has a lot of experience. She is good at focusing on the scene in an instant and skilled at expressing emotion. There weren’t a lot of discussions about what we should do or feel for a scene. When the director picked out points for us to focus on throughout preparations and rehearsals, we naturally continued. She’s an actress with concentration. She meticulously expressed her emotions well.”

On Geum Sae Rok, he commented, “To my knowledge, it’s her first time officially doing the romance genre, and doing romance acting as a lead actor. In day-to-day life, she teated me like Sang Soo and did her best to continue the drama’s chemistry. When we got to the second half and were filming the scene where we broke up, I could see her trying to focus and have a hard time.”

Yoo Yeon Seok has recently been confirmed to star as a serial killer in the upcoming thriller drama “Unlucky Day” (literal title) alongside Lee Sung Min and Lee Jung Eun. The drama is set to premiere later this year.

Start watching Yoo Yeon Seok in “Reply 1994” with subtitles here!

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