After enduring every kind of insult in her life, 'True Education' actress Park Seo-yoon sweatily clarifies, "I'm not that kind of person" [Interview ①]

*This content was translated by AI.

Actress Park Seo-yoon has become a target of abuse, yet she is letting out a happy scream.

Park Seo-yoon recently conducted an interview with StarNews at its Seoul Jongno-gu Seorin-dong headquarters following the conclusion of the Netflix original series 'True Education'.

Park Seo-yoon, who played a central role in episodes 3 and 4 of 'True Education', portrayed Han Ye-ri, a high school student influencer with 600,000 followers at the center of the Soyeon Girls' High School incident. Han Ye-ri is a vicious character who falsely accuses a male teacher of sexual harassment and attempts to murder another female teacher, yet she is also a three-dimensional character who is a victim of college entrance exam corruption committed by a teacher from another school. To portray this complex character who is both perpetrator and victim, Park Seo-yoon went through no fewer than four auditions before joining 'True Education'.

Although she broke through fierce competition, the joy of acceptance was brief as a heavy sense of responsibility weighed on her. Recalling the moment she first faced the script, Park Seo-yoon revealed, "The worry was far greater than the joy of acceptance."

She said, "There were many scenes where emotions swung to extremes. As a role that required me to demonstrate a lot of my acting capabilities as an actress, I felt the weight was truly heavy, thinking, 'Can I really do this well?' She added, "I kept reading and re-reading the script while under stress, intensely checking and researching whether there was anything more I could express."

Especially what troubled Park Seo-yoon the most was portraying Han Ye-ri's meticulous lying acting. She explained, "It was acting where something that isn't real must appear real, which was truly difficult. Since Han Ye-ri is acting (falsely) even though she isn't truly sad, I had to use mind control to think of it as 'real.' I constantly rehearsed by reminding myself, 'I was truly sexually harassed, and no one believes me.'"

Given the intense contemplation and effort she put in, the reaction that pleased Park Seo-yoon the most after the work was released was undoubtedly her family's response. She smiled, saying, "My parents were so happy that it made me feel good too and became fuel for me to work even harder. Although my parents have seen my acting before since I mainly shot independent films, it was moving to receive the praise 'your acting was good' for the first time."

She also shared her real-life siblings' cheerful reactions. Park Seo-yoon opened up, saying, "My younger sister, who is usually a 'my-way' type due to being in puberty, suddenly sent a KakaoTalk message asking cautiously, 'Can you follow me back on Instagram?' She added, "In the past, when my sister's school showed a movie I was in, her friends would ask, 'Isn't that your older sister?' but my sister would insist it wasn't. But this time, she asked to follow me back first, which made me feel proud, and I thought, 'She's following me back because I've reached this level,' which was cute and funny." She further added with a laugh, "My older brother sent me a video of me that was posted on Instagram and sent just one comment: 'World class.'"

Thanks to her perfect villain performance in the series, Park Seo-yoon has become a 'anger-inducer' among viewers, and she is currently feeling that intense heat in real life. She had previously posted a message on her personal SNS saying, "Please don't hate Ye-ri too much," and she showed a calm attitude, stating, "I am receiving complaints in real time right now. It feels like I'm receiving every kind of insult I could possibly hear in my life," but added, "I am grateful that they are saying that as a sign that 'you acted well.'"

She also revealed the so-called 'back-slapping smashing' episodes that actors who perfectly portray villains in hit dramas often experience in offline life. Park Seo-yoon, whose usual activity range is a quiet neighborhood, said, "Recently, when I go to exercise, many people recognize me." She continued, "When I go to a gym or yoga studio and someone asks, 'By any chance, True Education...?' I answer, 'Yes, that's me,' and they all say, 'You looked so bad.' Every time that happens, I clarify, 'I'm not that kind of person.'"

Not only with cheerful clarifications offline, but Park Seo-yoon is also clearly feeling her global popularity online. The indicator is undoubtedly the explosively increased number of Instagram followers. Park Seo-yoon said, "My followers have increased a lot. Before the work was released, I used Instagram to communicate with friends I knew, and I had about 500 followers, but it rose to this level in just two weeks." She conveyed a feeling of being stunned yet overwhelmed. Park Seo-yoon's current Instagram follower count has surpassed 320,000.

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*This content was translated by AI.