[Photos &] Seo In-guk on why he really chose three consecutive office dramas: “Not even a bit like me”

Actor Seo In-guk proved his seasoned depth from his 15th year since debut by fully bringing to life the workaholic Gang Si-woo in tvN “Work Tomorrow!”, which recently wrapped, a character that stands in stark contrast to his true self. From Netflix “Monthly Boyfriend” to tvN “A Company Man Who Sees Destiny,” he chose three consecutive office dramas. As he emphasized the sensual appeal of a man devoted to his work, he also laid bare the behind-the-scenes story of the decisive ad-lib that capped the drama’s finale.

A Thorough Rejection of the Self… The Birth of the Perfectionist “Samno Man”

On the 29th, in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Seo In-guk said unequivocally that Gang Si-woo, the character he plays, is a perfect opposite to his real self. He said, “There’s not a single corner that looks like me. I don’t think I could ever live like Kang Si-woo,” while also stressing that the process of exploring a character with an entirely different worldview carries its own intense appeal.

Gang Si-woo places appliances throughout the home and fills his daily life up to right before bedtime entirely with work—an extreme workaholic. Seo In-guk recalled, “I had a lot of questions about what drives someone to live such a dry life. It was hard to fully understand, but the way he’s so relentless was incredible.”

Based on a webtoon of the same name, “Work Tomorrow!” is an office romance in which Cha Ji-yoon (played by Park Ji-hyun), a seven-year workplace veteran who has fallen into boredom, gets entangled with her principled boss, Gang Si-woo, and they gradually fill each other’s voids. Gang Si-woo, the team leader at Saeum Electronics, is a cold-blooded man known as a so-called “Samno Man” (No smile, No people, No sorry), who excludes emotions, other people, and apologies.

The biggest hurdle in building the character was strict control of his facial expressions. He said, “When I’m naturally expressionless, I can look somewhat irritable, so to create a colder, more rigid atmosphere, I minimized any movement in my facial muscles,” adding, “I even calculated precisely my upright posture, my forward-head posture correction, and the width of my steps.”

The Story of a Third Straight Office Drama, and the “One Line” That Changed the Game

After teaming up with BLACKPINK Jisoo in Netflix “Monthly Boyfriend” and then moving on to his next project “A Company Man Who Sees Destiny,” Seo In-guk has kept his focus on office dramas.

On this, he drew a line, saying, “It wasn’t so much a carefully calculated intention as the result of being pulled in by the text itself.” Still, he added, “There’s a specific kind of sexiness that comes from a person who’s highly absorbed in his work. In addition, the tense atmosphere that comes with romance in the workplace is a unique weapon only office romances have,” analyzing that.

He also clearly pointed out the difference between his previous work “Park Kyung-nam” and this role Gang Si-woo.” “If webtoon PD Park Kyung-nam was professional, then Kang Si-woo is a slave to a routine that’s close to compulsion,” he said. “But on the other side, there’s maturity that makes him wait for the other person to the end, and an altruistic kind of decisiveness.”

About the ending scene that drove the show’s buzz, he shared the temperature inside the filming site, which had been intense. He said, “In the bitter cold weather, to capture that brief moment just before sunset, I needed about two hours of extreme immersion.” With an ad-lib that wasn’t originally in the script, he then raised the finished quality of the drama.

Instead of a bland ending where the ring is exchanged and everyone just walks away, he threw in an intuitive confession: “I love you.” “I wanted to hammer in that emotional wedge. The director’s immediate response and Park Ji-hyun’s flexible handling as my co-star completed the scene perfectly,” he said, offering deep praise for his partner’s open-ended acting range.

The Ease Forged by 15 Years of Experience, and a Heavy-Lidded Gaze Toward His 40s

It has been 15 years since he first stepped in front of the public after winning the “Superstar K” in 2009. The experience he built after going through every kind of ups and downs gave Seo In-guk a calm ease that won’t be shaken.

He said, “These days, at the scene, I often hear people say, ‘There’s nothing you can’t do.’ In the past, if my emotions and the script were the only thing I was stuck in, then now I’ve developed the kind of viewpoint that lets me watch the overall flow of the site—and even control the variables.”

At the base of his all-direction activities that go beyond genres, such as joining the panel cast for Netflix variety show “Solo but Like to Date 2,” sits a sense of obligation toward the public. “My current self exists because fans consume my acting and my music and willingly make time for me. The only repayment is to keep proving it without stopping,” his voice carried a firmly grounded sincerity.

What Seo In-guk aims for as he nears the age of forties is a natural fit that follows the flow of things. He said, “I’ve met works that match the trajectory, like “Reply 1997” in my 20s and “One Hundred Million Stars Falling from the Sky” in my 30s,” and then added, “Going forward, I also want to dismantle and reassemble the countless stories of human life that exist in the world in my own way,” revealing an endless thirst for acting.