Ha-eun’s portrayal of Kim Jung-hyun was that of the only granddaughter from one of the most prestigious families in all of Joseon.
A beautiful girl loved by everyone in Hanseong.
She was promised to marry the heir of the wealthiest family in Joseon, Hwang Tae-seong.
Literally, her life was without hardship.
There were no thorny paths in her life—only a well-paved road ahead.
So perhaps that’s why Ha-eun had trouble understanding Kim Jung-hyun’s choice.
To walk the thorny path of the righteous army.
A choice that put the country’s freedom over her own happiness.
A choice that could potentially cost her life.
‘...A value more precious than life, huh... I still don’t understand.’
It was hard for Ha-eun to comprehend why Kim Jung-hyun would choose such a dangerous path.
After all, Ha-eun had once felt that her own life had no meaning.
‘Knowing it would be hard, she still chose it.’
Ha-eun found it difficult to empathize with Kim Jung-hyun’s choice to give up a guaranteed life of happiness.
For Ha-eun, life itself was something precious, something she wouldn’t trade for anything.
But there was one thing Ha-eun truly admired—the freedom Kim Jung-hyun sought.
The unwavering will to walk the path she had chosen, no matter the difficulty.
"Ah, Ha-eun, I’ve been waiting for you. Come in."
Ha-eun visited the writer, Hong Soo-eun, in person, hoping to understand Kim Jung-hyun better.
Ha-eun wanted to portray the person she had once admired with more sincerity.
She asked Hong Soo-eun about the gray areas she didn’t understand, trying to learn more about Kim Jung-hyun’s thoughts and values.
They spent hours talking late into the night, discussing the essence of Kim Jung-hyun’s decisions.
Eventually, Ha-eun began to see Joseon through Kim Jung-hyun’s eyes.
"I misunderstood. You misunderstood me. Could you tell me I was wrong?"
"...I’m sorry."
The choice to hold hands with the man who truly adored her,
The choice to live a happy life with an old friend—those options were gone.
What Ha-eun gained from her conversation with Hong Soo-eun was a new sense of mission.
She slowly began to feel the weight of this unfamiliar, serious new mindset. She gradually started to understand Kim Jung-hyun’s decisions.
"Then, the gunshot wound on your shoulder. And the letters from the righteous army... were all because of that?"
"I’m part of the righteous army."
"...Why?"
"Because I was weak."
Ha-eun couldn’t turn away from the new things she had learned.
The bitter smile she showed Hwang Tae-seong reflected the feelings of Kim Jung-hyun.
Kim Jung-hyun had once read Western books and learned the alphabet because of her curiosity about the unknown.
She had always wondered what the world outside the protective walls of the traditional Korean house looked like.
But the "world" Kim Jung-hyun learned about was something much more dangerous.
"I’m afraid of dying too. But if I close my eyes to just save myself, I feel like I’ll keep living as if I were blind. It wouldn’t feel like living at all."
It was a sight too precarious to ignore.
A reality that mirrored the phrase "like a lamp in the wind," a tragic image of being oppressed and exploited by the countless powers surrounding her.
"...I didn’t want to be cowardly."
In the end, Kim Jung-hyun stepped away from her own happy life and walked the path for Joseon’s freedom.
She humbly bowed to a man who had once been a slave, pleading with him to help, rather than ordering him to assist the righteous army.
"With you, I’d surely be happy. We’d go flower viewing in the spring and have lovely children."
Swish. The ring case that Hwang Tae-seong had dropped earlier was now in Kim Jung-hyun’s hand.
However, rather than opening the case, she returned it to him.
"But I’ve come too far to go back to you now. ...I’m sorry."
Hwang Tae-seong’s face darkened noticeably.
Still, he took slow steps toward her.
Just as Kim Jung-hyun’s shadow was about to completely leave Hwang Tae-seong, his hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Could you stop for a moment? At least let me get closer."
The longing from the familiar face before her was unmistakable.
Hwang Tae-seong’s desperate desire to never let go of Kim Jung-hyun was palpable.
However, Kim Jung-hyun, knowing better than anyone that they couldn’t be together, remained silent.
"Please. Don’t move any further away."
Hwang Tae-seong’s voice trembled, but Kim Jung-hyun couldn’t answer.
The guilt and remorse she felt for him weighed heavily on her.
And so, the scene of the growing distance between Kim Jung-hyun and Hwang Tae-seong came to a close.
Not long after, the lights and cameras on set began to be packed away.
The emotions Ha-eun had built up for the character of Kim Jung-hyun also began to fade.
"Good job~."
Ba Jin-hyeok, who had been staring at Ha-eun just moments ago as Hwang Tae-seong, said this as he approached.
Then, he started talking about the upcoming first episode of The Sunshine.
"I hope our drama does well. Right?"
"Ah, yes. It will definitely do well."
"Oh, confidence~."
A warm cup of coffee from Ba Jin-hyeok was handed to Ha-eun right after that.
Ha-eun nodded slightly and said, "Thank you," taking a sip, the warmth spreading through her.
After a brief chat with Ba Jin-hyeok about the first episode of The Sunshine, Ha-eun stood up and walked toward Ju Jung-yoon.
Not long after, she arrived at Ju Jung-yoon’s black van.
Thanks to the heater being turned on to full, the warmth enveloped her as soon as the door opened.
"Oh? What’s this coffee for?"
"Oh, Jin-hyeok gave it to me."
"Hmm, I bought cocoa, but what should I do?"
"...I’ll have cocoa too."
***
The Sunshine had attracted attention even before it aired due to its so-called "luxury casting."
The two leads, Baek Tae-hoon and Ha-eun, as well as the supporting actors, were mostly well-known names in the industry.
The guaranteed acting skills of the cast.
And the screenplay by a famous drama writer who had already produced several successful works.
These two factors made people eagerly anticipate the first episode of The Sunshine.
However, the roles that Baek Tae-hoon and Ha-eun had played in their previous works also started to garner attention.
Especially for Kim Jung-hyun, whose setting as a noblewoman was expected to be similar to Yeong-wol from The Moonlight That Parts the Clouds.
However, after the teaser for The Sunshine was released,
and after several stills from the drama were revealed for promotional purposes,
the misunderstandings and preconceived notions slowly began to fade.
As time went on, the first episode of The Sunshine finally aired.
The first scene that unfolded was in a remote port of Joseon.
To be precise, it was the scene where Baek Tae-hoon disembarked from a steamship.
...Hah.
With an expression as though his emotions were in conflict, Baek Tae-hoon simply walked towards the land of Joseon.
No lines were spoken.
But at some point, another set of footsteps could be heard,
and
Hah... hah...
The illusory figure of a young boy passed through Baek Tae-hoon and dashed off somewhere.
A few seconds later, the time and background started to change slowly.
"Please, please save me, miss. He’ll really die like this!!"
The focus of the drama shifted not to Baek Tae-hoon but to his childhood, portrayed by a child actor,
specifically, the young Park Joo-ho played by Kim Min-seong.
Soon after, Kim Min-seong’s desperate screams echoed.
"Miss! Please!!"
Kim Min-seong, who had just passed through Baek Tae-hoon, was now screaming outside a traditional Korean house.
In front of him were two slaves being severely beaten.
The scene where he couldn’t save his parents from the brutal beatings and fainted.
Then, the scene where, late at night, he snuck away and begged a foreign missionary to save him.
"Please, please save me, sir. If I go back to that house, I will die...!"
Kim Min-seong’s heartfelt performance made The Sunshine feel heavy and serious.
Thanks to that, opinions that it was a childish or predictable story disappeared.
Afterward, scenes filled with little to no comedy continued,
and then
The young Kim Jung-hyun, who had been watching Park Joo-ho flee from a distance, started to overlap with Ha-eun’s appearance.
Then, once again, Kim Min-seong’s figure passed by Baek Tae-hoon.
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But Baek Tae-hoon was heading in the opposite direction of Kim Min-seong.
Shortly after, in the middle of a street in Hanseong, Park Joo-ho and Kim Jung-hyun met again.
"...Have we met somewhere before?"
"Not sure."
Kim Jung-hyun, looking up at Park Joo-ho, had a look of confusion in her eyes.
Park Joo-ho, who was looking down at Kim Jung-hyun, had eyes filled with suppressed anger and sorrow.
It was a suffocating first meeting.
The truth was that it was a reunion, but it felt very different from the typical image of a reunion.
In that moment, one protagonist didn’t recognize the other,
while the other deliberately avoided acknowledging the other.
After that, the focus of the scenes shifted to Kim Jung-hyun, not Park Joo-ho.
"Miss, if the master finds out you’re reading books from foreigners, he’ll be furious!"
"Is there a difference between learning from a foreigner and from a Joseon person? People learn from people, why make such a fuss?"
In the vast tiled house, Kim Jung-hyun revealed her gentle gaze and beautiful features.
Her every action fit perfectly with the dignified image of a noblewoman.
The extreme contrast between the two protagonists captivated the viewers.
There was no awkwardness in any part of the first episode, which certainly contributed to the success of the drama.
A short while later, after the first episode had ended,
and after the preview for episode 2 had aired,
several hours later, it was revealed through internet articles that
Baek Tae-hoon and Lee Ha-eun's acting face-off from the very first episode of The Sunshine!
The slave and the noblewoman capture the late winter’s attention
‘The Sunshine’ starts with a 11.7% viewership rating, a strong debut.
Even though The Sunshine was a cable drama and not a public broadcast, it was receiving significant attention.
It was praised for being highly anticipated, not because of flashiness or noise, but purely because of the actors' performances.
As The Sunshine showed signs of something big from the very start,
Ha-eun, who had revealed her own presence through Kim Jung-hyun’s acting,
was now,
"Hello, I’m Lee Ha-eun, playing the role of Lee Ye-seo."
In a gathering of actors and staff from Veterans, Ha-eun greeted them in a calm voice.
Having already started to gain attention after The Moonlight That Parts the Clouds, all eyes were on her.
However, the characters Ha-eun played in The Sunshine and Veterans were completely different in nature.
‘Her poker face is really good though.’
‘Will she be a villain?’
‘Lee Ha-eun as a villain...’
There were some doubts about Ha-eun, who had never played a villain before.
But in the end,
those doubts were completely dispelled after just one script reading.
"Hey, mister."