Choi Woo-shik on his ‘sexy’ co-stars Son Suk-ku, Lee Hee-jun

(From left) Choi Woo-shik, Son Suk-ku, Lee Hee-jun in a press conference for “A Killer Paradox.”

The moment Choi Woo-shik met his “A Killer Paradox” co-stars Son Suk-ku and Lee Hee-jun for the first time, he immediately thought of them as “really sexy,” an observation that the two Korean actors found funny.

The close friendship between Choi, Son, and Lee is a stark contrast to the darkness of their new Korean series, which tells the story of college student Lee Tang (Choi) who accidentally kills someone in self-defense. This paved the way for more violence along the way.

Despite the dark plot, the three actors had nothing but respect and support for one another — almost to the point of them comfortably switching from Korean to English during a roundtable interview for the series.

“They were really sexy from the beginning. There was so much testosterone,” said Choi in English when asked about his first impression of his co-stars. Lee, on the other hand, jokingly chimed in with a “You can smell it too” in the background.

“They’re very sexy, I could smell it even from here. My first impression was these guys had a lot of natural sexiness,” the 33-year-old actor continued, saying he didn’t feel he was the youngest among them.

Mutual admiration

Son may be 40, while Lee is 44, but Choi said there wasn’t some sort of a “generational gap” while working with them.

“Even though younger generations have to be polite — which I was — around them because it’s very strict in South Korea. But as you can see, we’re always making jokes,” Choi said.

“Lee made it possible for us to be more comfortable on set. Whenever we get together, we always have fun. Acting with these two hyungs (or older brothers) made it more memorable for me,” he further added.

Son, on the other hand, said he took note of Lee’s “little tricks” behind the scenes as the latter was “very effective and very intuitive” in pulling off his character. He also noted that Choi had a sense of humor that was hard to beat.

“There are little tricks that Hee-jun does on set in terms of acting that I wanted to steal from,” he said. “There are a lot of things that I learned from Hee-jun and Woo-shik. I loved the sense of comedy that Woo-shik has. I think he’s the funniest guy and I loved working with these two.”

Choi Woo-shik during the press conference for “A Killer Paradox.” Image: Courtesy of Netflix Korea

Meanwhile, Lee had nothing but love and respect for his co-stars. “We respect each other and we love each other’s acting. These guys are so sexy,” he said, which made Choi and Son laugh.

“I love these guys from shooting until now. It was an honor working with them,” he said while holding back his laughter as well.

But before working together in “A Killer Paradox,” the three actors always admired each other in their respective works.

“You know the feeling of just watching something and having this particular feeling, I had so many cases of that with him. I wouldn’t remember [what I watched] but I would remember him,” Son said of Lee in Korean. “Meanwhile, when I met Choi, I felt like we were a chip off the same block. We were just so similar. This is why it wasn’t hard for us to be close friends early on.”

On the other hand, Lee couldn’t help but note of Choi and Son as some sort of heartthrobs who are “humble and modest” while working together on set.

“In the case of Woo-shik, he has an attitude of always wanting to be taught. I always had an image of him as a deer running around the woods. As for Suk-ku, the moment I met him, I could see why he’s such a huge star. He’s such a heartthrob,” he added.

(From left) Lee Hee-jun, Choi Woo-shik, and Son Suk-ku in a press conference for “A Killer Paradox.”

A ‘fun time’

Taking on the role of an accidental serial murderer was “challenging” for Choi to pull off, despite not undergoing tiring hours of being in the makeup chair compared to Son and Lee. But it was the company of his co-stars that made filming a “fun time.”

“It was mentally challenging at the beginning. But it was really fun and director Lee Chang-hee was there to help me a lot,” he said. “It was a very fun set, There was a lot of blood and I had to run a lot, but at the end of the time, we were just happy to be on set. It was a great time.”

(From left) Choi Woo-shik, Son Suk-ku, Lee Hee-jun, and director Lee Chang-hee entertain questions from reporters in a press conference for “A Killer Paradox.”

Even though the series takes on a dark turn, Choi still believes that it would open people’s minds when it comes to understanding what goes through a killer’s mind — and it’s merely not because of the need to take someone’s life.

“I guess there’s one big message that I want to mention to viewers — who are we to judge? Certain characters play that [judgmental aspect] on why they would kill someone in the show, but it’s fun to watch with that question in mind throughout the episodes,” he said.