#jichangwook

Ji Chang-Wook

Wi Ha Joon is one of the rising stars in the Korean entertainment industry. He has been gaining attention for his versatile roles in various dramas and movies, such as 18 Again, Romance is a Bonus Book, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, and Midnight. Recently, he took on the challenge of playing a ruthless gang boss in the new action crime series The Worst of Evil. The Worst of Evil is a Disney+ original drama that follows the story of Park Joon Mo (played by Ji Chang Wook), a detective who goes undercover to infiltrate a drug cartel led by Jung Ki Chul (played by Wi Ha Joon). However, he faces a dilemma when he discovers that his wife, Yoo Eui Jung (played by Im Se Mi), an elite narcotics officer, was Ki Chul’s first love.

(Photo : Disney+) The drama premiered on September 27, 2021, and has been receiving positive reviews from viewers and critics alike. The intense plot, the thrilling action scenes, and the stellar performances of the cast have made The Worst of Evil one of the most anticipated shows of the year. However, behind the scenes, the actors had to endure a lot of hardships and challenges to bring their characters to life. In a recent interview with YouTube channel JinHo Bae, Wi Ha Joon and his co-stars shared some stories about their filming experience and their thoughts on the drama. https://youtu.be/eG3jxYXCZgE

Wi Ha Joon Suffered Minor Injuries During Action Scenes

One of the questions that the host asked Wi Ha Joon was whether he had any injuries or accidents while filming The Worst of Evil. The actor admitted that he had some minor injuries, which he said were his own fault. "So I have to be more cautious in the future if I were to have more action scenes." He explained that he had some scratches, bruises, and bumps on his body, which he was thankful that they were not serious. He also expressed his apology to the production team, who were worried about his condition.   “I was very sorry to the staff because they were very concerned about me.” Wi Ha Joon’s character, Jung Ki Chul, is a cold-blooded and ambitious criminal who rose from being a low-level thug to the head of the biggest drug cartel in Korea. He is not afraid to use violence and intimidation to achieve his goals, and he often clashes with Park Joon Mo, who is trying to bring him down. The actor said that he had to prepare a lot for his role, especially for the action scenes. He revealed that he had to learn martial arts and practice with stuntmen before shooting. He also praised Ji Chang Wook for being a great partner in their fight scenes. “He (Ji Chang Wook) is very good at action scenes. He knows how to adjust his strength and timing. He also takes care of me a lot.”

Ji Chang Wook Shared His Secret Behind His 'Action Eyes’

(Photo : Jinho Bae YouTube) Another actor who impressed viewers with his action skills was Ji Chang Wook, who played Park Joon Mo, a detective who has been working hard for 10 years to get promoted. He is determined to catch Jung Ki Chul and expose his drug operation, even if it means risking his life and his marriage. Ji Chang Wook is no stranger to action dramas, as he has starred in several hit shows like Healer, The K2, and Suspicious Partner. He is known for his charismatic and powerful presence on screen, especially when he is fighting against villains. The host noticed that Ji Chang Wook has a signature stare that he gives before beating up someone. He asked him what was the secret behind his ‘action eyes’. The actor explained that it was not something that he forced, but rather something that came naturally from his emotions. "I try to think about the reasons why I have to beat this individual at the moment, and it’s the emotions because I wanted to beat someone like that." He added that his character was always on the edge of his emotions, as he had to deal with a lot of pressure and danger. He said that he tried to portray his character’s inner conflict and desperation through his eyes. “He (Park Joon Mo) is always on the verge of his emotions. He has a lot of things that he wants to do, but he can’t do them. He has a lot of things that he wants to say, but he can’t say them. He has a lot of things that he wants to protect, but he can’t protect them.”

Im Se Mi Talked About Her Chemistry with Wi Ha Joon and Ji Chang Wook

(Photo : Disney+) Im Se Mi played Yoo Eui Jung, Park Joon Mo’s wife and an elite narcotics officer. She is a smart and capable woman who loves her husband dearly. However, she also has a past that she wants to forget, which is her relationship with Jung Ki Chul. Im Se Mi said that she was drawn to her character’s complexity and growth. She said that she wanted to show how Yoo Eui Jung overcomes her trauma and finds her true self. “She (Yoo Eui Jung) has a lot of scars and pain that she has been hiding. She has been living a life that is not hers. I wanted to portray how she heals and changes through the drama.” Im Se Mi also talked about her chemistry with Wi Ha Joon and Ji Chang Wook, who played her love interests in the drama. She said that she had different vibes with each of them, which helped her express her character’s emotions. “With Wi Ha Joon, I felt a lot of tension and nervousness. He has a very strong aura and charisma. He also has a very deep voice, which made me feel intimidated. With Ji Chang Wook, I felt a lot of warmth and comfort. He has a very gentle and caring personality. He also has a very bright smile, which made me feel happy.” She said that both actors were very professional and supportive, and that they had a lot of fun on set. She also thanked them for being good partners and friends. “They (Wi Ha Joon and Ji Chang Wook) are both very good actors and very good people. They always helped me and gave me advice. They also made me laugh a lot. I’m very grateful to them.”

The Worst of Evil is Available on Disney+ and Hulu

The more often I watch the K2, the better I understand why Kim Je-ha fell for An-na rather than Choi Yoo-jin.

Just going by on-screen chemistry Kim Je-ha and Choi Yoo-jin were incredibly exciting to watch. Their dance around each other, this truce and trust they establish to achieve their common goals was pure brilliance from the writer. Seeing these two walk a tight rope between never letting down their guards, never completely trusting each other but having to trust each other just enough, while she kept falling for him, giving him more and more power over her... loved it. Both actors did an incredible job at bringing an intensity to each of their encounters, that could be felt through the screen.

An-na could only pale by comparison. I was disappointed by how the character was written the first time I watched it. I wanted her to be strong like Choi Yoo-jin, I wanted her to be more interesting, more equal to Kim Je-ha. I wasn't convinced that his love for her was more than a saviour complex. That he thought of her as more than a damsel in distress. My feminist heart feels frustrated at female characters that seem to exist solely for the purpose of having to be rescued.

When Kim Je-ha is first introduced to cloud nine and tells Choi Yoo-jin the story about Raniya, she asks if he loved her. He answers that looking back it is not certain, if the feeling was love or just some worthless sympathy. This conversation is picked up again much later, when he saves An-na from being killed by Choi Yoo-jin, who asks if it is needless sympathy this time around, too. It may be, he answers.

Haunted by Raniya's memory

As exciting the power struggle with Choi Yoo-jin is for the viewer, we should not forget what Raniya's death has meant for him and why he is so set on revenge.

He is haunted by the circumstances of her death, by his mistake of introducing her to people that should not have been trusted, by him underestimating the kind of people she would come into contact with. For years he's worked in an environment where everyone has an agenda, where people constantly lie, manipulate and back stab to achieve their goals for money and power. He comes from a place where he himself has been used as a tool in achieving these goals, where he has been betrayed whenever it was convenient and framed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, where he has lost loved ones because they heard things they were not supposed to know.

Choi Yoo-jin is one of these people. After preventing her from killing An-na, he tells her plainly, that he thinks she is just like Park Kwan-soo. He has not forgotten, that she tried to kill him, when he witnessed her husband in bed with a prostitute and that she tried to kill the elderly couple, because the might have overheard something. We get a similar scene, after he almost dies and Choi Yoo-jin does everything to save him, thinking, he stole the memory card for her sake. Are you not my friend? she asks when he reveals that he has no intention of handing over the proof.

He tells her, how much he despises people like her, who would do anything to maintain their status in life. He is disgusted by her disregard for other people, pointing out that everyone just wants to live and be happy, yet, if they pose the slightest threat to her, it is so easy for her to sacrifice people's lives. It seems clear, that the only reason he is working with her is to achieve his goals, that the target of his revenge, could have just as easily been her, if her and Raniya's paths had crossed.

He would have never ended up with Choi Yoo-jin. Their on-screen chemistry was amazing, but thinking they could have entered a romantic relationship with each other would have been completely out of character for Kim Je-ha.

Was An-na more than a damsel in distress?

Yes and no. She is a character who needs protecting, who is completely at the mercy of the people in power (mostly Choi Yoo-jin) and who has neither resources nor connections to help her break free. However, I believe that Kim Je-ha was drawn to An-na not just because he needed someone to protect.

Firstly, because like him, she is a play ball in other people's power struggles. For a long time she lived as a shut-in because of her dad's and Choi Yoo-jin's manipulative games. And she keeps being handed from person to person to be used as an "insurance" (e.g. by her uncle). Kim Je-ha relates to her story, because he knows what it means to be used, what it means to not have control over your own life.

Secondly, he's drawn to her because she is different to almost everyone else he comes into contact with. She is not corrupt, has no hidden agenda. She is pure and innocent where everyone else is tainted by what they have done and how far they're willing to go to achieve their goals. All she wants is to have control over her own life, to be able to make her own decisions.

Maybe he even envies her innocence. Wishing he could undo some of the things he's had to do as a soldier and mercenary, wishing that he himself could wash the blood off his hands and be freed from everything that burdens him...

They also both blame themselves for a loved ones death. During one of their evenings on the roof An-na asks him about his past. He admits that he was on the run, when they met in Barcelona, that he was framed for the murder of someone he loved, someone he failed to protect. She guesses that this is the source of his nightmares and holds him, comforts him.

It's probably the first time he's been comforted like this after Raniya's death, the first time he's trusted someone like this to feel safe enough to cry on their shoulder. It's a perfect mirror to a similar scene on the roof a few episodes before, where An-na opens up about her mum's death and her guilt over it. At that time, he was the one comforting her.

The scene also stands in contrast to Choi Yoo-jin's reaction to his story. What An-na sees is a man who's holding a lot of pain locked up inside, similar to her own and all she wants is to comfort him. Choi Yoo-jin sees his pain as a tool, an opportunity to use him for her purposes. It's not in her interest for him to feel better and to get over Raniya's death. She needs him to be angry, to keep holding a grudge, to keep wanting revenge.

An-na is in all aspects the complete opposite to Choi Yoo-jin. One could argue that her innocence, her lack of agency for at least part of the story, as well as how straight forward her character is, without secrets or surprises, is not interesting, almost boring to watch. Specifically, since Choi Yoo-jin is an antagonist, that has so many layers to her character, with a complex backstory and plot line that makes us constantly question if we can trust her and if she is a good or a bad person. But just because it is more interesting to watch, does not mean, that it is what Je-ha wants and needs in his life.

From what we know of his story, most of the intrigues and power struggles he gets involved in, are not chosen of his own volition. He usually gets caught up in them through coincidences or while trying to solve a different problem. He states several times, that he is tired of "these people and their games", which is not surprising, since he is a wanted man for crimes he didn't commit and has been living on the run and at the mercy of people in power for quite some time. I think he yearns for a less complicated life, where he doesn't have to watch his back all the time.

Coming of Age story

Both women undergo quite a transformation during the series. In An-na's case it might not seem obvious but looking at how she's afraid of any social interaction in the beginning, with zero opportunity to do anything and confidence levels as low as they can get, it is remarkable to see her start to take her life into her own hands (ignoring the fact she would probably need some therapy).

I loved how Kim Je-ha let her make her own decisions, too. He had his doubts about her uncle, but never tried to prevent her from seeing him, but rather stayed close in case something did happen. He gives her advice but doesn't take away her agency. He is completely different from everyone else in her life who keeps telling her what to do, trying to take control over her life.

It is a coming of age story that sees her grow up and build a life of her own, which is totally legit in it's own right, and just appears more boring when compared to the much more complex and to a certain extend mysterious character of Choi Yoo-jin. By the end of the series An-na has become a confident young women who makes her own choices and doesn't wait even for Je-ha to tell her what to do (the scene where she sends the email without waiting for him, is hilarious). And I can totally see them together living their lives just the way they want.

Is Choi Yoo-jin still my favourite?

Was Choi Yoo-jin's story still much more interesting? Yes, totally. I loved her and Kim Je-ha's scenes, I loved her character, I loved her development and her backstory. She is a fantastic (and one of my favourite) antagonists and was played incredibly well by Song Yoon-ah.

While Choi Yoo-jin starts out as a corrupt politicians wife, who yields a lot of power and is a master manipulator, she mellows the more she falls for Kim Je-ha. From wanting to pursue her goals at all costs, in the second half of the series she repeatedly tells him to stay safe, come back alive or to just abort the mission if things get too dangerous.

She's someone who's been betrayed by many people in her life, her actions stem from bitterness. She controls her husband, to prove that it wasn't a mistake having married him, but we can also see that she used to worship him and the pain and hurt he has caused her. There is a scene towards the end where her husband starts to be passionate and fight her and she admits that if he had acted like that much earlier, they could have saved their marriage. She yearns for respect, for an equal opposite her. Her husband doesn't give her that, he just let's her play with him to protect An-na.

Kim Je-ha is the first person who feels like an equal, who challenges her but also keeps her in check. He is the first person in a long time, who she can't control, who keeps defying her. There is this scene where he tells her that there's never been a master who hasn't betrayed their subordinate. But that they can be friends, because friends don't betray each other.

She does of course try to control him, and fails. Which makes her fall for him even more. In a world where everyone manipulates and back stabs each other, where you can't trust anyone's word, he is the only one who's straightforward and open about his goals. I love the scene where he admits that he's deleted that email (if it ever existed, but that's another matter) and says to her, that he believes that she is someone who keeps her promises. We can see how surprised she is, how unused to someone giving her the benefit of the doubt, believing that she can be a person of integrity.

Learning about her backstory, how her love match with her husband that defied her fathers wishes turned sour, how she's trying to control everything to hide the one thing she could not control... Choi Yoo-jin is quite a tragic figure. She becomes relatable throughout the series.

If he didn't love her, did he hate her?

Even though he says towards the end that he cannot be friends with her after all, they undoubtedly establish a strong bond between them. I loved how even after he admitted that he did not steal the proof for her, that he only cares about An-na's safety. Even then, she believes him, when he says he will take down Park Kwan-soo. She has no idea what he is planning, but she knows that he is a person of integrity and trusts him blind.

They say goodbye in Ep15 thinking they wont meet again, and he expresses how he wishes her to be happy, to leave cloud 9 behind, because there will always be people who want it's power and thus take her life. It's a beautiful scene, because she accepts that she can't have him. There are no desperate moves to try and stop him, or bind him to her. She recognises that he cannot be tamed and as this is what attracted her to him, she doesn't even think about breaking him. To me it shows that on some level her love for him was real and not just about possession and control.

As for Kim Je-ha, he does leave her to her fate initially, but when he finally gets the memory card back, he changes his original plan, to make sure, that not only, as originally planned An-na is safe and Park Kwon-soo will end up killed, but to also make sure, that Choi Yoo-jin can escape the bomb threat from her brother. Even right until the end, when she has been shot, he wants to save her, begging her to come with them to safety.

Je-ha never loved her. But she did touch his heart. He pitied her but believed that if she chose to, she could turn her life around. After everything they went through together, he wished her to live a happier life than she had until then.