Han Ji-hyun and Lee Sang-yi in a promo photo for “Spice Up Our Love.” Image: Courtesy of TVING
While it’s common for a second lead to be a scene-stealer in K-dramas, having a story solely dedicated to them is rare. This explains why Lee Sang-yi and Han Ji-hyun consider “Spice Up Our Love” as a chance to show their potential as stars with no holds barred.
A typical K-drama often lasts for 16 episodes. The main leads take charge of its storyline, with the secondary characters often serving as comic relief, best friends, or trusty confidantes. Yet they somehow manage to steal the show, often leading to fans clamoring for a spin-off.
Such a case was seen in Lee and Han who portrayed wealthy businessman Bok Gu-hyeon and R-rated web novelist Nam Ja-yeon in “No Gain No Love.” The unlikely romance between their characters and chemistry took off, leading to the creation of its spin-off “Spice Up Our Love.”
In the two-episode “Spice Up Our Love,” Lee stars as the wealthy CEO named Kang Ha-joon who gets caught up in a steamy romance with Seo Yeon-seo (Han). The story takes place in the world of Nam’s R-rated web novels, setting the tone for its sexier plot and storyline.
“The central theme is love. Ja-yeon in ‘No Gain No Love’ is a reality, and ‘Spice Up Our Love’ is like a dream, so it’s a story that happens when Ja-yeon does something she never imagined doing and doesn’t worry about it,” Han told INQUIRER.net in an email interview.
“In ‘No Gain No Love,’ she avoids Gyu-hyun because she’s scared of her murderer father negatively impacting him. But since Ja-yeon ends up being in the novel, she becomes more free and enjoys it as though she became a different person,” she continued.
Lee, on the other hand, admitted that while it’s not easy to portray Ha-jun through the lens of Ja-yeon, he focused on turning him into a “cool and interesting character with a contradiction somewhere.”
“Since Ha-jun is a perfect man who is great at everything in the novel, you would think he would be really great at language, and he would have excellent spelling and sentence skills,” he said. “Instead of calling her by, ‘Seo Yeon-seo,’ he would say “Seo… Yeon-seo!” You could say it was cool, greasy, and funny. I tried to incorporate a lot of these concerns into my acting.”
Since “Spice Up Our Love” tells love through Ja-yeon’s imagination, Han said knowing the difference between Ja-yeon and Yeon-seo is what she considered the most in her portrayal.
“Yeon-seo and Ja-yeon are completely opposite in character. Yeon-seo is a sexy and charming character who proudly says what she has to say, and expresses her emotions without hiding them. She has a very different appearance from Ja-yeon as well, and I think she wanted to spend her life in a novel different from reality,” she said.
No pressure
Giving justice to a spin-off is a lot of pressure. But Lee said he didn’t feel pressured doing “Spice Up Our Love.” For him, it was a fun experience and an opportunity he needed “to feel responsibility for.”
“To have my story at the center is a very grateful gift and something I need to feel responsibility for. I did my best for my work and have no regrets,” he said. “I am very grateful to Han Ji-hyun. I hope that someone reading this will tell Han Ji-hyun that she did a great job if they meet her in the future.”
Han also noted that doing a drama within a drama “hasn’t been done in South Korea,” which made the experience all the more unforgettable for her. “When I first read the script for ‘No Gain No Love,’ the story was fresh and unique, and the heroine was different from the main characters of dramas that have been released thus far.”
“As I was filming, I heard that the spin-off of the sub-couple would be released, so I thought it would be so much fun,” she continued. “When can I do something that hasn’t been done in Korea through a drama within a drama? I was able to start by saying that I could take on a new challenge.”
The key to doing justice to “Spice Up Our Love” was the portrayal of the lead stars, as if they exist in Ja-yeon’s mind. But for Lee, he wanted his character to focus on why he chose to love Yeon-seo as she is.
“Whenever Yeon-seo, whom I (as Kang Ha-jun) love, talked about denying the world and denying the existence, my heart broke and I became sad. But I tried to believe what she said because I love her, and I thought that was love,” he said. “Like the lines, I think faith is the most important thing because I can exist and our love can exist because of her presence.”
Steaminess aside, Han said the experience of entering into a world that her “No Gain No Love” character sees as comfort was one of the reasons why the spin-off was “memorable” for her.
“It is a story where I try to run away from the ridiculous world that doesn’t make sense. It also includes a warm and sweet story where Ja-yeon’s wounds are comforted,” Han said while sharing she saw her leading man as someone she relied on throughout filming. “More than anything fun, the most memorable moment was the scene where I was speaking on the rooftop of the hospital at the end.”
“I had more to film but this was the last scene I filmed with Lee Sang-yi. While filming this scene, it felt like someone I had relied on was leaving me. Thinking that it is within a novel and a drama, I felt so sad and a sense of loss. Lee Sang-yi spoke his lines in a touching way, which hurt a lot but was also a great source of comfort. It was a memorable moment while filming,” she added.