The late Choi Jin-sil's children still hurting

The late Choi Jin-sil’s mother, center, and her two children Jun-hee, left, and Hwan-hee are seen in a promotional image for MBC’s “Human Documentary Love.” / Courtesy of MBC

By Kwon Ji-youn

Hwan-hee was just 8 when his mother, actress Choi Jin-sil, committed suicide in 2008, and only 10 when his uncle, actor Choi Jin-young, followed suit in 2010. And when his father, former baseball player Cho Sung-min, died in 2013, he was just 13.

Now, Hwan-hee is 15, a dependable older brother and all the world to his grandmother

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but it is evident time has done little to lessen his suffering.

MBC’s “Human Documentary Love,” narrated by actress Kim You-jung, closed its 10th season by revisiting Hwan-hee, his younger sister Jun-hee and their grandmother Jeong Ok-suk to give viewers a peek into their lives as Choi’s two children grow.

And while puberty has certainly brought about some changes, it was obvious Hwan-hee and Jun-hee have become aware of too much in too little time. Their adolescence was marked with untimely maturity.

The episode that aired Monday was a sequel to one that aired in 2011. While the first dealt with Jeong’s unconditional love for her grandchildren, the second focused more on her concerns as the two grow older.

“Jun-hee has become more talkative, but Hwan-hee has become mute,” Jeong said.

And though they tried to hide it, it was clear the family’s wounds have not yet fully healed.

Jun-hee once dreamed of becoming an idol singer, but she said the hateful comments that wallpapered Internet sites and her locker at school brought her back to her senses. They were enough to make her want to study abroad.

“One day, someone left a hate note in my locker about how I don’t have a mom,” she recalled. “I’m still young, so the comments on the Internet may not be as bad, so I can’t imagine how much worse they will get when I grow older.”

While they do not live together

with Hwan-hee off at an international school on Jeju Island and Jun-hee staying with her aunt

the three spend a good chunk of their time worrying about each other. Hwan-hee frets his sister is too preoccupied with her appearance and he worries about his grandmother’s deteriorating health. Jun-hee worries her brother is retreating into a shell that is keeping her at a distance, and Jeong worries Hwan-hee will not give up hope of one day working in the entertainment industry.

“Grandma makes me study even during vacations,” Hwan-hee said. “She wants me to become a lawyer or doctor, but I want to become an entertainer, like my mother and uncle.”

The pair spoke almost impassively about their parents’ deaths.

“I don’t have a mother to cook me dinner or to welcome me home from school,” Jun-hee said. “So I want to get married and start a family as soon as possible.”

Over five weeks, MBC’s “Human Documentary Love,” which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, told the stories of four families who have weathered all kinds of storms. The 10th season also visited Korean-born Russian short-tracker Viktor Ahn and his wife Woo Na-ri, and the family of the late legendary rock star Shin Hae-chul.