‘Park Ha-kyung’s travel story’ is dense even if not chewy.

Lee Na-young conveys healing through a small travel story. Wave’s new series ‘Park Ha-kyung’s Travels’. Director Lee Jong-pil said that he worked with Lee Na-young in mind from the beginning.

On the 25th, domestic OTT platform Wave held the '2023 Wave Content Lineup Briefing' at the Conrad Seoul Hotel. Contents such as the entertainment show 'Blood Game 2', the original drama 'Park Ha-kyung's Travels', and the original movies 'Deadman' and 'Brave Citizen' were introduced.

'Park Ha-kyung's Travels', which will be released on May 24th, is directed by Lee Jong-pil and Na-young Lee plays the main character, Park Ha-kyung. 'Park Ha-kyung's Travels' is a cheerful travel story depicting the unexpected moments and miraculous encounters of Korean language teacher Park Ha-kyung, who goes on a one-day trip on Saturday when she wants to disappear.

Director Lee Jong-pil, who attended the briefing session that day, said that he had cast Lee Na-young in mind from the beginning. He said, "I really wanted to try it with Lee Na-young. I previously took the 'Samjin Group English TOEIC Class', and there was a movie called 'Complete Conquest of English.' I watched it and thought that Na-young Lee's acting was good in that movie. Although I didn't see it as an audience member, but as a director, I thought I would do it someday. "I thought it would be great. What if Lee Na-young was the main character? I approached it like this from the beginning. When I contacted her through my company to ask her to appear, she gladly contacted me and said she would like to do it quickly," he explained.

Director Lee said, "If I had to classify it, 'Park Ha-kyung's Travels' is a healing film. Actually, I'm unfamiliar with healing films. From the viewer's perspective, 'It's not really healing, so why is the actor making a face that looks like it's healing?' “That’s right. But Lee Na-young’s acting is natural and not forced,” he said, praising Lee Na-young’s acting. Also, "In the tea drinking scene, the line was nothing special, like 'It's delicious.' However, when going to an emotional breakdown, it goes slowly and then suddenly changes, showing a lot of acting that is different from natural acting. I sing, dance, and even cry. It was everyday, but natural. 'Who is Park Ha-kyung?' “I was curious before filming started, but while filming, I thought, ‘Lee Na-young is Park Ha-kyung.’”

Director Lee singled out what was special about ‘Park Ha-kyung’s Travels’, which consists of eight episodes. Director Lee said, "'Park Ha-kyung's Travels' is short. It's about 25 minutes. Instead of 'in the next episode', it ends at 25 minutes. I wanted 'Park Ha-kyung's Travels' to be like an album. It contains 8 songs and has unity, but they are all different. "You can listen to track 1 and then track 3. It is not a 'serial' but an 'independent series'. It is not loose and dense. You will be able to enjoy it without any pressure," he said.

'Park Ha-kyung's Travels' boasts a spectacular lineup of special appearances, including Koo Kyo-hwan, Gil Hye-yeon, Park Se-wan, Park In-hwan, Seo Hyun-woo, Sunwoo Jung-ah, Shin Hyun-ji, Shim Eun-kyung, Jo Hyeon-cheol, and Han Yeri. Director Lee said, "If Lee Na-young was absent-minded, the story couldn't be established, so someone had to appear in each episode. Most of the people I thought would be good to work with, I gave them scripts through my company and asked them to appear." He continued, "I contacted Yeri Han and Kyo-hwan Koo directly. Yeri Han appeared in my graduation project, so I am acquainted with them, so I thought I would like to work with them someday. Yeri Han said she would do it without even reading the script, so I asked her to read the script and talk to me. When I did, she said, 'It's difficult.' “It was a special appearance and I had to do something. I wondered if it was okay to do ‘World Star’ like this. He worked hard on set,” he said, making everyone laugh.

Director Lee said, "Living seems like a tragedy. At such times, traveling seems to be a 'clear catharsis.' I felt that I became clearer while doing 'Park Ha-kyung's Travel Story.' I thought, 'That's why people go on trips and spend money to see people.' I forced myself to do it. "I didn't make it while dragging it along. If you look at it, you end up somewhere, you meet someone, and the drama unfolds. I hope you feel a clear catharsis."

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr