Cha Hak-yeon Breaks Out with a Bold Visual: "Prepared with Excitement... No Worries" (The Absolute Value of Romance) [Interview 2]

*This content was translated by AI.

• Interview with actor Cha Hak-yeon, who plays the role of Ga Woo-soo in Coupang Play's series "The Absolute Value of Romance"

Actor Cha Hak-yeon shared his thoughts on undergoing a dramatic physical transformation.

On the morning of the 11th, an interview with actor Cha Hak-yeon regarding Coupang Play's series "The Absolute Value of Romance" (script by Lee Min-ju, directed by Lee Tae-gon and Kim Jun-hyeong) was held at a cafe in Palpan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

"The Absolute Value of Romance" is a high school comedy series in which high school student Yeo Ui-ju (played by Kim Hyang-gi), who writes romance novels featuring handsome male teachers, encounters unexpected moments with them in reality and becomes the protagonist of a tumultuous school life. Cha Hak-yeon plays Ga Woo-soo, a mathematics teacher described as a Mensa member with an IQ of 156 and a math genius.

On this day, Cha Hak-yeon said about Ga Woo-soo's unique reaction upon reading Yeo Ui-ju's web novel, "I laughed a lot. I think the scene where Ga Woo-soo realizes he is the sub-male lead makes him even more charming, so I like that scene."

In the drama, the character Sion, portrayed by Cha Hak-yeon within the web novel, drew attention with a striking physical transformation, including long bangs reminiscent of the 1990s and a red leather coat.

Regarding this, Cha Hak-yeon said, "I didn't expect it to go that far at first," but added, "The story-within-a-story is written more like a scene from a romance than purely for comedy. Actually, at first, the costumes were just ordinary and pretty clothes, but then the director said he wanted them to be more glamorous from then on. He wanted Ga Woo-soo and Sion to contrast."

He continued, "From that point on, I got excited, and the costume designer got excited too. We rented various costumes and even brought in pieces from a collection. We brought in costumes that we truly thought looked great," eliciting laughter.

"The Absolute Value of Romance" faced some concerns from certain quarters before its release due to its premise as a high school romance featuring teachers and students. Regarding this, Cha Hak-yeon stated, "Actually, I had no such worries. I was told that students would only look up to their teachers, and the actors were aware of that aspect and approached the work without concerns, acting freely."

He further emphasized, "In fact, when acting, we did not portray such (romantic) emotions. There will be no such emotional arc from beginning to end."

Did filming bring back memories of his own school days? Cha Hak-yeon said, "There was no cold teacher like Ga Woo-soo. I remember my high school third-year physical education teacher the most. I caught friends who ran away from night study with that teacher, and we even ate jjajangmyeon. When I contacted that teacher while working on this project, he told me, 'You caused a lot of trouble.' I remembered myself as a model student, but I wasn't. The teacher hasn't seen 'The Absolute Value of Romance'."

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.