Saving and Breaking Each Other for 30 Years... "It Was Still Affection" [Limelight]

Park Jihyun on 30 Years of Friendship in "Eunjung and Sangyeon"
"Only in Front of Eunjung's Mother Did I Become a Teenager Again"
Revealing the Letter Written to Chun Sanghak During Filming

Netflix 'Eunjung and Sangyeon' Still Cut

In the Netflix series "Eunjung and Sangyeon," Ryu Eunjung (Kim Goeun) and Chun Sangyeon (Park Jihyun) are both friends and rivals. They save each other, but also bring each other down. Even when they are smiling, a strong undercurrent flows between them. When repressed emotions erupt, they grow distant, only to meet again as if by fate, repeating this cycle for nearly 30 years. As a result, love, jealousy, admiration, and wounds are all tangled together. Actress Park Jihyun is convinced that affection lies at the root of all these emotions. "Even anger comes from affection," she says.

Words Left Unspoken

Chun Sangyeon is not honest with herself. When she learns that the man she loves, Kim Sanghak (Kim Geonwoo), is Ryu Eunjung's boyfriend, she hides her feelings. Even after stealing Eunjung's film project and succeeding, she feels no remorse. When long-standing emotions erupt, every word exchanged cuts like a knife.

Park Jihyun explains this as a defensive reaction born from feelings of inadequacy. "She couldn't bring herself to admit to Eunjung that she was jealous. Instead, her words come out sharp, but I thought those are things you can only say to someone you care about. If it were someone you could let go of, you wouldn't even bother to say such things."

Netflix 'Eunjung and Sangyeon' Still Cut

There is a reason why Chun Sangyeon cannot be honest. "She feels responsible for her brother's death, believing that he died because she showed his diary to their mother. Because of this childhood trauma, she fears honesty. She is gripped by the thought that if she is found out, something terrible will happen."

Chun Sangyeon's life could be described as a story of Adverse Childhood Experiences and resilience. Deprived of affection in her youth, she became trapped in emptiness. She tries to fill this void with money or work, but it is like pouring water into a bottomless jar.

In contrast, Ryu Eunjung has a mother who listens to anything she has to say, and friends who help her overcome hardships together. Chun Sangyeon has no one like that. Her brother took his own life, and her family was torn apart.

The only person she can truly lean on is Ryu Eunjung's mother (Jang Hyejin). Even after stealing Eunjung's film project, she is honest only in front of her. She pleads for warmth, asking, "Could you hug me just once?"

Netflix 'Eunjung and Sangyeon' Still Cut

"No matter how old she gets, the only time she returns to being a teenager is when she's in front of Eunjung's mother. Especially when eating sujebi, she feels she can fully reclaim her pure self from the past. There is longing in that. Eunjung continues to receive the love from her mother (Seo Jeongyeon) that Sangyeon never did. I thought she was expressing the feeling, 'I wish I had a mother like that, too.'"

Why We Need Friends

Park Jihyun had to portray Chun Sangyeon from her twenties to her forties. It was a performance that required her to change both outwardly and psychologically through ever-shifting circumstances. The most difficult emotion to express was that of a woman in her forties, succumbing to terminal cancer. After stealing Eunjung's project and growing distant, she asks Eunjung to be her companion in euthanasia. It may seem shameless, but Park Jihyun says there is a reason for it.

"It may seem violent. But isn't that the childlike side of Sangyeon that Eunjung sees? Some say it looks like self-pity, but she actually despises the sympathy of others. She always tries to overcome herself out of sheer willpower. I think it's less about survival and more about a desire to prove herself. She lets that guard down only in front of Eunjung."

Netflix 'Eunjung and Sangyeon' Still Cut

She says that what Chun Sangyeon seeks from Ryu Eunjung is comfort and love. They are both saviors and perpetrators to each other, which may make them all the more precious. For a child who feels misunderstood by their family, or a teenager growing up with wounds, perhaps the most necessary presence is a friend who can truly understand them. Just as Ryu Eunjung reaches out to Chun Sangyeon.

This is why Park Jihyun hopes this story will reach more people. "Audiences tell me that when they see Sangyeon, they feel both a sense of identification-'That's me'-and a sense of rejection-'That's who I don't want to be.' I really wanted to protect Sangyeon, just like Eunjung does."

"In the Next Life, I Will Be Your World"

When asked if she could say goodbye to Chun Sangyeon, Park Jihyun said she would like to do so with a letter she wrote to Chun Sanghak during filming. The guilt over her brother's suicide dominates Chun Sangyeon's life. The letter Park Jihyun shared will be a small gift to those who love this drama.

Netflix 'Eunjung and Sangyeon' Still Cut

"To Chun Sanghak, who was always like a lake. You know, you were once like the sea-so blue that it turned white, with crashing white waves. Suddenly, you became cloudy and still, like a lake, and I resented you so much for it. I wonder if my cold gaze, watching you, froze that lake even more. I should have tried to stir the wind so you could keep flowing. I should have tried to break the ice. Or at least knocked on it. If I had, would you have come alive again? Or maybe I should have asked you why you changed so soon. If I had, maybe you wouldn't have frozen over. You could have given me a hint. You could have opened my door just once. Now that I know you wanted to come into my room, I realize I was waiting for you all along. But it's too late. Why didn't you just live as you pleased? Why didn't you live freely? My gentle, fragile brother. If we are given the chance to meet as siblings again in the next life, I will walk with you. In that life, I will be your world. If all the gods in existence hold me accountable for my sins, I will accept the punishment. Then maybe I can meet you a little sooner. Let's try to live well together then. I miss you. See you soon. I hope you remain peacefully eternal where you are. From Sangyeon."