Actress Seo Hyun-jin talked about her family, her parents’ book café, and her still-slightly awkward relationship with her father during her appearance on TEO’s YouTube talk show “Salon Drip: ‘You Think I’m Uptight? Clear Up the Misunderstanding’,” released on December 9.
With a shy laugh, Seo Hyun-jin confessed, “When I’m alone with my father, he’s a little… stiff. I’m much closer to my mother. My father jokes that he feels like he’s treated like a stranger at home.”
Seo Hyun-jin revealed that his parents currently run a book café in Gangwon Province. He helps every time he comes to visit: “Sometimes I come down and help with the dishes. When there are people, I also serve the customers.”
Local customers make no fuss about her celebrity status: “They just treat me like ‘the owner’s daughter’. There’s no fan meeting energy.”
Since she no longer had space at home, Seo Hyun-jin sent all her old drama scripts to the coffee shop: “My mother suggested keeping them there. Now there is a corner where all the scripts from my career are lined up like books. It seems like my journey is displayed on a shelf.”
Seo Hyun-jin offered a candid insight into her family dynamics: “We respect each other, but we’re still a little awkward. My father was always busy working when I was young, so we didn’t spend much time together.”
As she grows up, however, she feels the relationship changes: “At a certain point, parents start to seem like individual people with their own lives. I’ve reached an age where I too am curious about my father’s story.”
Seo Hyun-jin said he was “overly agreeable”: “I used to be a total yes-man. But then I realized that there are situations where staying silent hurts others.”
Now, especially when child actors are present, she feels protective: “When something seems unfair or dangerous, I speak up. Maybe it’s because in those moments I think like a parent.”
However, she clarified: “I don’t bother kids or scold people for things like not saying hello to me. I try not to let my bad mood rub off on others. I always remind myself, ‘Don’t let your feelings become your attitude.'”
Seo also shared memories of his close friend Jeon Hye-bin, who he met during a tvN drama.
The two once traveled together on a month-long trip: “We went to Antarctica, then South America, and ended the trip in France.”
Jeon Hye-bin decided to increase Seo Hyun-jin’s alcohol tolerance: “He said he would train me. We started with one drink, and by the last day I could handle three.” She laughed.
Seo Hyun-jin expressed gratitude for the senior actors she worked with: “Senior actresses like Ra Mi-ran and actors like Gong Yoo when they say ‘Come out,’ I go.”
Her friendships in the industry have kept her connected even after the projects ended: “Through these relationships, I continue to meet people long after the drama is over.”
Seo Hyun-jin, a self-proclaimed die-hard fan of “City Fisherman,” said, “I watch it so often that now I can guess the species of fish. The narrative is stuck in my head.”
When she joined Gong Yoo and two directors on a real fishing trip, she caught three sea bream: “All the while, the show’s narrative played in my head like a hallucination. When the hook slipped or the tackle broke, I finally understood why they call it ‘the taste of catching.'”
Ultimately, Seo Hyun-jin’s heartfelt stories, from quietly helping out in her parents’ coffee shop to navigating her still-awkward but loving relationship with her father, reveal a down-to-earth, thoughtful actress who continues to grow both on and off the screen.
Sources: Naver
