"I thought about it until this morning, and I liked that Noinji is kind. Supporting someone and getting angry for them is also part of it. I think the reason I started this profession is that I couldn't ignore someone's story. I also liked that I decided to come out of the tunnel I entered later."
Seo Hyun-jin, who plays the character 'Noinji' in the Netflix series drama 'Trunk' (directed by Kim Kyu-tae, written by Park Eun-young), said, "The angles, colors, and atmosphere were all to my taste."
Meeting him recently at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, he expressed, "I liked that emotions were not expressed too directly, and the atmosphere was conveyed through direction," sharing his thoughts on portraying a hollow and dry inner self quietly yet intensely.
"I acted with the thought of 'I should do a little less' rather than 'I should show more,'" he reflected, adding, "I found the script with a lot of whitespace attractive."
"It was similar in direction to my favorite movie 'Closer.' The pain is expressed through wide shots. I liked that it expressed loneliness in a non-direct way. I remember being amazed by the set, thinking, 'What a strange interior; it feels like a disease that didn't exist before might arise.'
In 'Trunk', Noinji (played by Seo Hyun-jin) is a woman whose job is marriage. As an employee of a temporary marriage matching company NM, she is hired by members who want a different kind of marriage and works as a 'temporary wife.' The clients she meets include LGBTQ individuals who want to hide their sexual identity and terminally ill patients with little time left to live.
"It felt like she was hiding her vulnerable side under a hard shell, always carrying that shell. I tried to express 100 emotions with a minimum of 10, aiming for minimal expression."
Seo Hyun-jin delicately expressed her unique sensitivity, the true meaning of courage experienced through meeting the garden, and the deep purity of mutual longing.
"As I have done until now, I don't bring out characters that are not within me. There are times when I expand, change, and vary, but all characters, including Noinji, exist within me. Of course, Inji's job is not a smooth one. Her life has not been easy either. I prepared for this work by contrasting the disparity between Inji's social life and inner life."
‘Trunk’ tells the story of Noinji and Han Jung-won (Gong Yoo), who are bound by a one-year contract marriage, filling their deficiencies and healing their wounds while saving each other. Due to its provocative subject matter, opinions were sharply divided right after its release.
When asked about this, Seo Hyun-jin said, "I chose the script because I liked the character Inji, so I didn't have any resistance." She added, "From the beginning of filming, I thought that those who like it would really like it, and those who don't would feel uncomfortable," revealing that she faced the script differently from her values.
"Everyone has a social face and an inner self, and I thought Inji's job was her social face, while her inner self comes out when she enters Do-ha's house. I acted with that thought. Since the tone is dark, I didn't think it was a drama to watch lightly as a conclusion to the day. I hope those who want to relax on the weekend and think, 'I'm bored, should I immerse myself today?' will watch it."
This was Seo Hyun-jin's first collaboration with Gong Yoo, who plays the role of 'Han Jung-won,' a man who becomes extremely lonely after marriage. The acting ensemble they create is the 'signature' of this work and a point that draws viewers in like a black hole. Although they are cold for different reasons, they do not lose the tension of 'man and woman.' Just being captured in one angle exudes a strange tension and affection. Seo Hyun-jin revealed, "Seeing him exist as Han Jung-won on set helped me immerse myself more."
"I was envious and amazed at how he could exist as Jung-won without doing anything. Even after acting for so long, he is still open. I think being open to everyone is a great strength. He also has humor. I don't have much humor, so I tried to follow along even if my pants ripped. (laughs) I saw a lot of new sides of my senior. A face that looks very lonely, a very masculine face. I liked it."
When the topic of 'chest bone acting,' which praised Gong Yoo for being beautiful and even sexy, came up, Seo Hyun-jin smiled and said, "I didn't do any special dieting." She added, "Taking care of my dog made it twice as hard. I lost about 4-5 kg compared to now." She expressed relief, saying, "I was glad to hear that it suited the character."
Noinji helps Han Jung-won, who was trapped in a shell, come out into the world. The scene where Jung-won tells Noinji, "I want to sleep with you," is also Seo Hyun-jin's favorite scene.
"When he said, 'I want to sleep with you,' I replied, 'I'll remember that.' I like Inji's response. When such a confession is made, it's neither a yes nor a no, it's a save. I think it accurately represents Inji. A moment of pause. I like that line because it feels like that kind of person."
Seo Hyun-jin has rarely held media interviews outside of her work or acting activities. This interview is also her first in about eight years since the 2016 tvN drama 'Another Oh Hae-young.' "I thought I could show it through my work, and interviews felt like adding unnecessary details," she explained, "I was cautious about giving a correct answer."
"In this work, I empathized with Inji, who has been guarding her boyfriend's house for five years. It was a loneliness that only Inji could feel. I also tend to stay indoors and have difficulty adapting to change. So, there were times when I thought, 'Is my life too stagnant? Is it like an island?' Inji says while kayaking, 'This place feels like my own island,' and I really resonated with that."
