Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
INTERVIEW Hong Ye-ji reflects on her growth through 'Missing Crown Prince'
Actor Hong Ye-ji plays the role of Myung-yoon in MBN's period romance series "Missing Crown Prince." Courtesy of MBN
By Lee Gyu-lee
Newcomer discusses complex character, on-screen romance with Suho
Newcomer Hong Ye-ji has been taking the K-drama scene by storm since landing the lead role in her first series “Love Song for Illusion” earlier this year.
Actor Hong Ye-ji / Courtesy of Big Whale Entertainment
Shortly after, she took on another role in the drama "Missing Crown Prince," portraying the lead character as a soon-to-be crown princess.
The historical rom-com series follows Crown Prince Yi Gun (played by Suho), who is mistakenly kidnapped by Choi Myung-yoon (played by Hong), the daughter of the royal court doctor Choi Sang-rok (played by Kim Joo-heon). Upon discovering that her father abducted Yi Gun to perform a ritual to alter her unfortunate fate, she decides to kidnap him herself to rectify her father’s actions, unaware that he is actually the prince.
After returning to the palace, Yi witnesses an affair between Sang-rok and the queen (played by Myung Se-bin), which forces him to flee. Myung-yoon assists him throughout their journey, navigating politics, deceit, and dangers within the royal court. Amidst these challenges, the two unexpectedly fall in love.
The 20-part series, which wrapped up Sunday with its highest viewership rating of 5.1 percent, was led by famous director Kim Jin-man, who previously worked on smash-hit series like “Kill Me, Heal Me” (2015).
Hong revealed that she first hesitated to take on the same genre series as her previous debut piece, but changed her mind after reading the script.
“Since I already did a historical drama, I said I’m not going to do another one as my next project because I felt I couldn’t fully show my talents further (with the same genre). But, after reading the script, the first appearance of Myung-yoon was so intense, and I felt if I don’t play this character, I would regret it so much,” she told The Korea Times, during an interview at the company in Jung District, Seoul, Wednesday.
“What was really impressive about Myung-yoon was that you can clearly see how she changes in character from the first to the last episode. I thought if I could portray that development well, I too could grow from playing the role, which became very appealing to me.”
A scene from the series "Missing Crown Prince" / Courtesy of MBN
Myung-yoon is a versatile individual with a heart of gold, skilled in martial arts, horseback riding, and medicine. Despite not having an amicable relationship with her father, she always respected him — until she began to uncover his hidden secrets. As she delves deeper into his dark past, her life takes a dramatic turn.
Hong said she tried to delicately portray the character’s transformation as she discovers further secrets about her father.
“For the first part, I tried to portray Myung-yoon as just a rowdy character. But as the story develops, she experiences many incidents. So I aimed to show how she matured. At first, she seems to obey her father, but after discovering all the secrets, she begins to argue against everything he says. So I put a lot of effort into making her confidently and clearly express herself in this way,” she said.
“The first major crisis comes (when she learns of) his affair with the Queen, and the second is when she expresses her resentment and hears what she felt was excuses from her father. Then, the third was her mother's death … When she finally hears the truth about her mother for the first time and learns that her father killed her, it’s a massive shock. So I divided the crisis into three stages.”
The series "Missing Crown Prince" wrapped on Sunday with its highest viewership rating. Courtesy of MBN
Hong shared satisfaction working with her co-star, singer-actor Suho, thanking him for making a comfortable environment on the set.
“Suho and I have quite an age gap, but he treated me very comfortably … So when we started filming we’ve already become really close so we were very comfortable with each other throughout the production,” she said, explaining the characters’ relationship that is caught between court politics made it difficult for her to create Yi and Myung-yoon’s romance.
“(In terms of the characters’ romance,) Yi's father is bedridden, and I am the daughter responsible for his condition. This made it challenging to focus on the romantic aspect. In previous scenes, I portrayed emotions like crying, shouting, and anger, which made transitioning to developing a romance with Yi confusing as an actor. Suho, the director, and I collaborated closely, sharing ideas and making adjustments to make the romance more believable and convincing on screen."
The actor said she experienced personal growth portraying the straightforward character.
“I really envied Myung-yoon's personality because I’m the type who would only spit out one thing out of ten things I have in mind. So I admire her ability to articulate her thoughts clearly, and I felt a sense of catharsis while acting,” she said.
“I’ve always written a journal but especially while working on this series, I started writing in it almost every day about what kind of emotions troubled me in which ways. I made a lot of effort to look closely at my feelings … (This series) has been an incredibly valuable experience for me as an actor, allowing me to feel things I’ve never felt during acting. I also felt that I could show 100 percent of Myung-yoon's character in this environment. This project awakened many memorable emotions for me, and it's a work that I will remember fondly as I continue with my career.”