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| ▲ This photo, provided by namooactors, shows actor Kang Ki-young. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by the drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," shows Kang Ki-young. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by namooactors, shows Kang Ki-young. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by namooactors, shows Kang Ki-young in "Extraordinary Attorney Woo." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, August 19 (Yonhap) -- "Office Papa," "Sub Dad," "Unicorn Boss."
It refers to Jung Myung-seok, a 14-year senior lawyer and mentor of Woo Young-woo in the popular ENA Wednesday-Thursday drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" (hereinafter "Woo Young-woo").
He is seen taking care of Woo Young-woo, who has an autism spectrum disorder, warmly like a father, as he helps her to grow at Hanbada law firm. Allowing his junior to learn from their mistakes and by open-heartedly listening to them, he got the title of "office dad," "sub dad," and "Unicorn Boss," implying that like a unicorn, a boss like this won't exist in real life.
On Wednesday, before the end of the drama, we met Kang Ki-young, who acted Jung Myung-seok as a professional lawyer at work and a humane person personally, at a cafe in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
At the favorable reception that he portrayed the character beautifully, Kang Ki-young laughed softly, saying, "It would have been a great role no matter who acts it."
Writer Moon Ji-won, who wrote the drama, said that Jung Myung-seok is a character created by putting all the "coolness" a person in the early 40s can have.
Ar first, he is seen complaining about working with Woo Young-woo, who has autism. However when the client excluded Woo Young-woo, he withdrew himself from the case, and when Woo Young-woo, who becomes frustrated by the prejudices of the world and resigns, he waits for her to return. When lawyer Kwon Min-woo tells about Woo Young-woo's wrongdoings, he also shouts, "I don't work like that."
"Jung Myung-seok has a belief that 'even if it fails, I shouldn't be a person who doesn't give anyone a chance'," said Kang Ki-young. "When treating Woo Young-woo, he is seen giving Woo Young-woo a couple of chances even though the results were not good."
"For someone, there is a teacher or a mentor," he continued. "I played Jung Myung-seok hoping that there would be such a person (for Woo Young-woo). I think the title 'Unicorn Boss' also comes from these."
Kang Ki-young said that as much as Woo Young-woo got help from Jung Myung-seok to become a better lawyer, he also received a lot from her."
"If I was a lawyer with 14 years of experience, I think I would have lost my initial reason of being a lawyer, and because I was at a large firm, I would have probably been hit by performances and results," he said. "I think Woo Young-woo allowed Jung Myung-seok to remember the times when he wanted to be a lawyer fighting for justice."
Jung Myung-seok, a workaholic, was always buried in his work, which is why he got divorced. In the second half of the drama, he was bleeding and was diagnosed with stage 3 stomach cancer, leading him to get surgery. While some pointed out that Jung Myung-seok getting stomach cancer was out of the blue, Kang Ki-young interpreted it as an opportunity for Jung Myung-seok to reflect on himself.
"Jung Myung-seok may have succeeded as a lawyer, but as a husband or the head of the family, there were many things that he missed," said Kang Ki-young.
"I was surprised as I only got to know that Jung Myung-seok got stomach cancer in the mid-to-late filming period, but I think it showed the stress that Jung Myung-seok was buried with," he said. "Like how nobody expects to get diagnosed with such sickness, I hope people will see how Jung Myung-seok overcome these situations."
"Woo Young-woo," a courtroom drama, deals with episodes of different subjects each time, throwing various messages to the society. Kang Ki-young said that the episode of "Children's Liberation" touched his heart the most.
"After I became a father last year, it really caught my eye when I saw children screaming 'Let's play' in the courtroom," he smiled. "Children should play and be healthy. I support Children's Liberation."
Kang Ki-young, who debuted with the play "Our Bad Magnet" in 2009, played small roles in dramas and movies. Through his role as the male protagonist's friend in "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?," he got positive responses for his comic acting, and in the SBS entertainment "Village Survival, the Eight," he also showed a sense of humor and wit.
"It was very difficult at first because it was a sharp character that I had never played before, but because I focused on its relationship with other characters, I think I was able to act out 'Jung Myung-seok' the way I did," he said. "I also think I was able to broaden my spectrum as an actor."
"I was stimulated by the presence of actress Park Eun-bin, who has great basic skills, and I learnt a lot," he continued. "I felt the fun of acting once again while filming scenes where emotions were exchanged, like the scene when Woo Young-woo was looking for meat noodles for Jeong Myung-seok, who was sick."
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Haemin Kim.)
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