It had been about three years since Kim Donghu declared he was pursuing boxing.
During that time, actor Kim Donghu might as well have been dead.
No matter how successful or popular the athlete Kim Donghu became,
there was still a sense of regret among those in the acting world.
"Still, he should take on some roles."
"If you’re an actor... If you truly are an actor, Donghu..."
Sure, he’s an incredible athlete, capable of winning an Olympic gold medal.
That much is understandable.
But his acting skills are also gold-medal-worthy, aren’t they?
Letting that talent sit idle for three years felt like such a waste.
"You should act, Donghu."
Acting is like playing music or competing in a match.
The better your scene partner, the better your own performance becomes.
The stronger the synergy, the more successful the project.
In that sense, acting alongside Kim Donghu was an opportunity to elevate one’s craft.
But the man himself wasn’t taking on any projects, leaving others restless.
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Then, at last...
"I have to go to this audition."
"I need to prove that I’m the right match for Donghu."
An audition invitation arrived for a film where Kim Donghu was cast as the lead.
And as mentioned earlier, Donghu was a guaranteed box-office success.
Turning down this opportunity out of pride would be foolish.
Perhaps that’s why...
"Thank you for coming such a long way!"
It took only five days for veteran actors to show up at the audition venue.
***
Honestly, I thought the audition process would be quite lengthy.
There were several challenging supporting roles to cast.
"Police officer, human trafficker... there are at least four or five major roles."
Casting all those roles via auditions would require a significant amount of time.
But my expectations were shattered when I received a text from Director Lee Sungdeok.
All roles have been filled!
"Already?"
It had taken only a week to cast every role.
Considering the time spent on auditions, the speed was unbelievable.
And to top it off...
"Why is everything moving so quickly?"
Before I knew it, we’d already moved on to the script reading.
The lineup of actors was nothing short of legendary.
Starting with Han Taegun as the police officer,
and Joo Sunghwan as the human trafficker—
it was a gathering of actors I’d worked with in previous films.
"But how can they afford all these actors?"
That thought crossed my mind as I chatted with the senior actors after the script reading.
"No matter how big my role is, can they really cover all these fees?"
A rough estimate suggested the cast fees alone would exceed 3 billion won.
The investors must’ve been exceptionally persuasive.
"Although we contributed a bit on our end..."
But not to this extent.
The scale of the project was massive enough to leave me speechless.
Everything was moving forward so smoothly, like a well-oiled machine.
But this wasn’t just about True Hero.
Since declaring my return to acting,
it felt like the floodgates had opened, with everything accelerating at a dizzying pace.
Almost as if the industry had been waiting just for me.
Time flew by in a whirlwind of activity,
and before I knew it,
"Write a letter and prepare a gift for your bride before meeting her?"
I found myself on the set of Shall We Get Married?
***
Shall We Get Married? PD Choi Eunjung was extremely nervous.
"This reminds me of when I first started this program."
Back then, the burden of holding all the reins was overwhelming.
She thought she’d gotten used to it by now,
but perhaps because this was the final season’s first shoot,
a strange tension lingered in her chest.
Bzzz.
"-Kim Donghu is currently writing his letter after checking the mission card."
"Okay, got it. What about Ryu Jaerin?"
"She’s writing hers too, but she stopped by a stationery shop first."
"Really? Guess she wants to make it look nice. Keep rolling."
"Understood."
Choi Eunjung listened to the reports coming in over her headset while meticulously reviewing the script she’d worked on all night.
"PD-nim, this time your script seems pretty loose, doesn’t it?"
"Oh, this? Yeah, I got tired of hearing people complain about how scripted it all was."
Most of the script Choi Eunjung had written only outlined the situations.
There were no predefined actions or dialogues.
In other words, most of it would rely on ad-libbing.
"Since the two of them already know each other, I figured that would be enough to create natural interactions."
"Right, they modeled for that school uniform brand together, didn’t they?"
"Yeah, they don’t do that anymore, but still... Them knowing each other brings a unique vibe."
Shall We Get Married? had previously focused on the fresh awkwardness of strangers meeting for the first time.
But this time, the couple was being portrayed as having a pre-existing relationship.
A storyline that leaned more toward a classic romance.
It was a completely different kind of storytelling.
Perhaps this was the kind of marriage dynamic people actually wanted to see.
"A pure love marriage, that’s what it is."
And on top of that...
"Jaerin comes across as incredibly innocent in this, doesn’t she?"
She was the epitome of the "innocent beauty" archetype.
It was no wonder international reactions were already heating up.
"I don’t know what you mean by a pure love marriage, but visually, this is perfection."
"Right?"
The epitome of innocent glamour, explosively popular even overseas, dazzling beauty personified—Ryu Jaerin.
The beast of the gold medal, a face crafted by the gods, and a double ten-million-viewer actor—Kim Donghu.
The scene of these two writing letters to each other was enough to stir immense romantic feelings in anyone watching.
You could almost describe it as warm and fuzzy.
Especially Ryu Jaerin’s shy smile as she wrote—it was a work of art.
"It really feels like they’re falling in love, doesn’t it?"
"Wow... this has that exact fresh charm of the early stages of romance, doesn’t it?"
It wasn’t the nervousness of a first meeting.
It was the natural freshness that comes after love has already blossomed.
"How is an idol acting at this level?"
"They’re doing this program as if they’re genuinely in love."
"Wow... is this why Ryu Jaerin is so popular?"
Everyone watching praised the performances.
Even Kim Donghu, who approached letter writing with pure seriousness,
remarked how impressive it was to see Jaerin show such an aspect of herself.
‘That doesn’t feel like acting.’
Only PD Choi Eunjung, with her sharp instincts, sensed something unusual.
But she had no intention of digging deeper.
"Why a top idol would appear on a virtual marriage program? I don’t care in the slightest."
As long as the program succeeded, nothing else mattered.
Even thinking beyond that felt like a waste of time.
Bzzz.
"-They’re meeting at the café we arranged."
"Good, let them exchange letters there, read them to each other, and maybe talk about their first impressions."
"-How about asking how things feel now that they’re ‘married’? A sense of change?"
"Yes, exactly. Let’s proceed that way."
The ingredients were perfect.
"Making this even more delicious is up to my skill alone."
With a mindset of burning her last flames,
PD Choi Eunjung resolved to present this virtual couple’s story in the most beautiful way possible.
***
To be honest, I wasn’t particularly interested.
"Well, it’s just a virtual thing, and it’s not like it’s real."
"Shall We Get Married? Final Couple! Kim Donghu and Ryu Jaerin! The arrival of the perfect couple!"
Articles like this always tended to exaggerate.
"Will they show off a magical chemistry? Tune in Saturday at 5 PM!"
Most of the time, broadcasting companies paid to have flattering articles written.
So no matter what the articles said, I didn’t pay much attention.
After all, appearing on variety shows like this was primarily for promotion.
Or to showcase a different image.
When you consider it purely as work, there’s nothing to be annoyed about.
"Honestly, it doesn’t have much to do with me. Besides, we’ve already kissed."
Saying that, Kim Sujin calmly sat down on the sofa.
I hadn’t been waiting for it at all,
but somehow it happened to be 5 PM on a Saturday.
"Well, since we’re starting filming next week anyway, I might as well check if Donghu’s acting skills are still sharp."
Muttering to herself more than usual, Kim Sujin turned on the TV, crossed her legs, and fiddled with the remote.
"Who’s the next couple on Shall We Get Married?! Kim Donghu and Ryu Jaerin?! Turns out they’ve known each other for a while...!"
The captions were embarrassingly amateurish.
"From childhood friends to school uniform models, and now a married couple—pure love marriage?!"
"Cheap captions, with terrible wording."
Whoever edited this had no sense of style.
The captions were so annoying they made her grip the remote tighter out of frustration.
But once again,
‘I’m totally fine.’
Kim Sujin’s emotions didn’t waver much.
She was truly fine.
After all, they weren’t in that kind of relationship.
‘Even though we’ve done things that could lead to that kind of relationship.’
But overseas, such things are considered casual gestures, right?
‘We’ve touched everything, mismatched underwear kept us from a live broadcast, but still.’
Kim Sujin was fine.
Truly,
Honestly,
Absolutely fine.