"I interpreted Gil-ho as liking Jae-hee" — Ji Chang-wook breaks down the original love arc with BIBI on Gangnam B-Side

On November 27, 2024, Maeil Business Newspaper published an exclusive interview with Ji Chang-wook, whose latest Disney+ noir action-thriller series, Gangnam B-side, aired its finale episodes. The 37-year-old South Korean actor revealed the love arc between his character, Gil-ho, and Jae-hee (played by BIBI) in the Disney+ series.

He shared that the original script included parts of Gil-ho and Jae-hee's love lines. However, he felt that removing them would be better for the drama's overall theme. He said:

"I interpreted Gil-ho as liking Jae-hee. However, he said, "I acted with the hope that Gil-ho did not know his feelings. In the draft, Jae-hee and Gil-ho's warriors and love lines were a little thicker. During a script meeting with the director, I gave an opinion, 'Why don't we take out Gil-ho and Jae-hee's love lines?'"

Ji Chang-wook went on to say that he intended to obliquely allude to Gil-ho and Jae-hee's romance throughout the drama while concealing the more complex lines and sequences to avoid drawing attention away from the story. He stated:

"There are good things when the two's love lines become thicker, but I thought it could be harmful to the overall storyline. I thought it would be better for the relationship between the two to be buried vaguely, so I took it easy. As much as possible. I wanted him to not know that he was in love with her."

---

Ji Chang-wook shares about watching BIBI's realistic portrayal of complicated Jae-hee

In Gangnam B-Side, Jae-hee aka Jenny is a s*x worker, played by the South Korean soloist and rapper, BIBI. Jae-hee is one of the lead protagonists of the Disney+ limited series and the main catalyst setting the entire story in motion. She is young and has a traumatic past and eventually gets sucked into the underbelly of Gangnam which is infested by drugs and prostitution.

However, Jae-hee tries to expose the sinister operation and save other female escorts from the dire situation and eventually sacrifices her life in the quest.

Meanwhile, Ji Chang-wook told Maeil Business Newspaper how he tried to empathize with Jae-hee's character while reading the script and developed a sense of pity toward her.

"I actually think I had an inkling about the character 'Kim Jae-hee' itself. I thought about why the friend had acted with those choices in a crooked state, and there was a pity for increasingly going to the brink," he said.

Ji Chang-wook elaborated on how Kim Hyung-seo aka BIBI, first enacted the character of Jae-hee during their rehearsals. The Welcome To Samdal-ri actor recalled a particular scene from the drama where Jae-hee was hiding underneath a staircase and was shivering. He said:

"From the moment I read the script, Jae-hee was dead. In particular, I liked the moments when an actor named Kim Hyung-seo expressed a character in her own color. There is a scene where Jae-hee is hiding under the stairs and shaking by herself, and I was very sick watching it."

The scene, which was from Gangnam B-Side episode 1, showed Jae-hee rushing to the nightclub's restroom while intoxicated and throwing up to get rid of all the narcotics in her body. She ran to the rear of the nightclub and sat at the end of a stairway, trembling from the side effects and attempting to regain consciousness.

---

Gangnam B-Side stars Ji Chang-wook (The Worst of Evil), Jo Woo-jin (Happiness), BIBI, and Ha Yoon-kyung (Extraordinary Attorney Woo) and is available on Disney+.