Jung Gun Joo Describes His Approach To Playing A Scholar Hiding Emotional Wounds In "The Secret Romantic Guesthouse"

Jung Gun Joo has detailed his approach to portraying Jung Yoo Ha in “The Secret Romantic Guesthouse”!

Based on the hit web novel of the same name, SBS’s “The Secret Romantic Guesthouse” is a mystery romance about an unconventional boarding house and three students who stay there as lodgers. Shin Ye Eun will star as Yoon Dan Oh, the owner of boarding house Yihwawon, while Ryeoun, Kang Hoon, and Jung Gun Joo will play three “flower scholars” who rent rooms—and are each hiding their own secrets.

Jung Gun Joo will star as Jung Yoo Ha, a sweet, sensitive, and clever scholar who comes from a noble family. However, growing up with cold parents leaves Jung Yoo Ha with deep emotional wounds and forces him to study even harder in order to be acknowledged.

In this role, Jung Gun Joo will showcase his soft tone and kind nature as he transforms into “Joseon’s sweetheart.” The actor commented, “Since this is my first historical drama, I had a lot of worries, but my anticipation was even greater because this is a genre I’ve always wanted to try. Instead of a specific resolution, I thought that practicing was my only way to survive.”

Elaborating on this practice, Jung Gun Joo shared, “I referred to a lot of other historical dramas. In order to act as Jung Yoo Ha, I practiced speaking in a relaxed and leisurely manner to everyone in my everyday life. Since Jung Yoo Ha’s voice tones are mostly ones I don’t have and they didn’t stick very easily, I made a habit of using them on a regular basis.”

In Jung Gun Joo’s previous drama “Extraordinary You,” the actor played another kindhearted character named Lee Do Hwa. He chose being laidback as the key difference between Lee Do Hwa and Jung Yoo Ha, explaining, “Having a reliability that people want to lean on is Jung Yoo Ha’s charm.”

Regarding his own similarities to Jung Yoo Ha, Jung Gun Joo picked “the fact that we both studied hard to get into college.” He added, “What’s different about me and Jung Yoo Ha is the environment we grew up in. That’s why I tried to relate whenever I acted out this aspect.”

Touching on the chemistry between him and his three main co-stars, Jung Gun Joo shared, “As Kang Hoon and I have been close for awhile, I felt reassured, and since Ye Eun is someone who works so hard, I thought that she’d definitely be able to digest the important role of Yoon Dan Oh. I saw Ryeoun for the first time at our first reading, but his tone was so charming and I felt that he was perfect for the role of Kang San. I’ve gotten a lot closer to all three of them so it was very enjoyable all throughout filming.”

Jung Gun Joo also shared an anecdote from filming, saying with a laugh, “Whenever Kang Hoon would come, a bunch of airplanes would suddenly fly by and we’d hear a bunch of animal sounds, so there’d be audio issues.”

“The Secret Romantic Guesthouse” premieres on March 20 at 10 p.m. KST and will be available on Viki!

Catch a teaser for the drama below!

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Also, watch Jung Gun Joo in “Extraordinary You” with subtitles here:

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