Actor Jung Eun-Chae expressed her feelings about leading another box-office success with Honour following her previous work.
On the morning of the 13th at a cafe in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, a wrap-up interview was held with lead actor Jung Eun-Chae for the ENA Monday-Tuesday drama Honour. Honour is an intense mystery pursuit about three female lawyers who confront a past that has returned as a massive scandal with a full-frontal breakthrough.
Honour, which ended on the 10th, recorded 3.1% from the first episode, ranking first for premiere ratings among ENA dramas. It continued an upward trend and closed with its personal best of 4.7% in the final episode (Nielsen Korea, nationwide paid households), bringing the series to a successful close. In response, Jung Eun-Chae said, "The work ended just a few days ago. The shooting period was just over six months, and the broadcast started before it finished. While filming I watched the first broadcast and things were happening simultaneously, so it was very hectic, but now that the broadcast has ended, I finally have time to look back on how people watched it."
Regarding reactions around her, Jung Eun-Chae said, "Because our drama always ended with conclusions that make you wonder what happens next, we received many messages every time the broadcast ended asking, 'What happens?' It stormed through almost until the final episode. So I kept getting many questions filled with that curiosity." She added, "Fortunately, we had a good start from the beginning. Since the first broadcast aired while we were shooting, you could feel the reaction on set when the drama first opened. We couldn't help but be influenced, but thankfully it started off pleasantly and ratings gradually rose until the end, and the reactions around me were good, so I feel very grateful."
On rising expectations for season 2 because of the open ending, she said, "There aren't any specific talks about season 2 yet. The ending is an open ending. Because the conclusion isn't clear and instead provokes curiosity in viewers about how the stories will unfold, I think season 2 has been brought up, and I'm very grateful that positive responses to the drama seem to extend to talk of season 2."
She continued, "Open endings always have pros and cons. That's a completely natural reaction, and I think it's a good response because it shows that people feel different things at different points, and since the ending was written with that in mind, I think it was actually well expressed." She added, "Personally, I think this drama doesn't end with 'it started like this and ended like this.' It asks questions like, 'So how will they live on? Even so, they must live well, right?' I think the drama asks those questions, and I felt the ending was exquisitely expressed."
Although the result was good, Jung Eun-Chae said she agonized for a long time before choosing Honour. She said, "When I was first offered the script and until I chose it, this was probably the work I agonized over the longest. Beyond simple entertainment, it was heavy and I felt the burden of having to approach it responsibly, so I agonized a lot. There was a sense of responsibility for each character's role in the overall story, and responsibility for the overall drama's direction and the given message. So I ran away, but the more I ran, the closer I felt, and I thought, 'This is the fate I must do,' so I chose it."
On what led her to decide to appear, she explained, "After meeting with the director, the writer and the production team and talking, I felt they were people whose color fit the drama very well. It didn't feel forced, and their sensibilities and logic seemed to match the drama's character. I believed that if it was them, they would make this drama with steadfast determination, so I decided to appear."
In the work, Jung Eun-Chae played Kang Shin-jae, the head of the firm L&J (Listen & Join), a law firm specializing in representing victims of sex crimes. Kang Shin-jae is the heir to the country's largest law firm, Haeil, but refused to follow her mother and founded L&J to represent the weak. Jung Eun-Chae said, "Kang Shin-jae is the head of L&J and a leader-like character who runs things with friends she's known for 20 years. So rather than being highly emotional or appealing to sentiment, she had to be rational and meticulous. I felt a strong sense of responsibility to stay centered, and because of the nature of being a lawyer, I also had an ethic about the clients' lives after the cases. The responsibility for the direction the character must carry coexisted until the end," describing her efforts to portray the character.
Meanwhile, about co-stars Lee Na-young (playing Yoon Ra-young) and Lee Chung-ah (playing Hwang Hyun-jin), who played close friends for 20 years, she said, "At first, Lee Na-young unni was cast first. I knew that, and Chung-ah unni joined last. I was very curious about the character Yoon Ra-young that Lee Na-young would portray. I'm shy and don't express myself well, so I didn't speak deeply to (Lee Na-young) unni, but I had been a longtime fan. She was an actress I admired, so I think that contributed greatly to my decision to choose this work. I wondered if such an opportunity would happen if not for Honour." She added, "I thought both actresses would be very introverted, so I wasn't too worried, and when I actually met them, I felt even more comfortable in that regard. Without forcing anything or trying hard to show off, we kept respecting and liking each other in our hearts until the drama ended. So now that the project is over, I feel that the sense of camaraderie and the affection and support for each other has deepened."
Jung Eun-Chae previously depicted the heyday of women's gukgeuk in the tvN drama Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born. When asked whether appearing in successive female-centered works, including Honour, was intentional, she said, "Honestly, when choosing a work I didn't choose or approach it with that aspect as the main consideration. The biggest concern was the overall narrative backbone or charm of the drama and how fresh the character I would play would be for me and whether it could show viewers a new side."
When asked whether she felt that her batting average was good after consecutive hits such as Pachinko, Your Honour and Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born, Jung Eun-Chae joked, "When I get that question I think, 'My batting average is good.'" She said, "I'm so grateful that a work being loved is the happiest and most thankful thing for an actor involved in it. Beyond my personal satisfaction, when you see the production team, staff and actors working for a long time, struggling and fiercely working on set, you can't help but think it must succeed. When the result is good, nothing makes me happier."
Asked whether she felt pressure as the lead because of the box-office results or whether she didn't care, she immediately replied with a laugh, "I really do care. It's really important." She said, "There is no result without process and no process without result, so everyone thinks with one mind for a long time to achieve a good result when making this work. Some things are not within our purview and you have to let them go as the will of heaven, but I'm grateful viewers felt the parts we chose well and that the work was made well."
Meanwhile, Jung Eun-Chae has been openly dating designer Kim Chung-jae since 2024. Even after going public, she has achieved three consecutive hits, showing a trajectory of having both work and love. Asked about Kim Chung-jae, she said, "He always enjoys watching the works I'm in and seemed to record live broadcasts even more than I did. He's always a big support. We like to exchange objective opinions about the work, so I asked him a lot about those parts and heard many honest impressions." She added, "Overall he enjoyed the drama very much, and like many others, he was curious about where the drama's ending would head. But he never told me. He didn't spoil it for anyone."
Having finished Honour, Jung Eun-Chae is now in the midst of filming her next project, the SBS drama Flex x Cop season 2. Joining as team leader Joo Hye-ra of the violent crimes unit 1, she said, "First of all, the look is much freer. There's more action and she's a character who bumps into colleagues on set. She's rougher and, to me, cooler—a new kind of woman. The first shoot was almost a week after Honour ended, so switching to completely different acting was a bit troubling. The atmosphere on set is also opposite. It feels rawer, so I'm curious how this will be expressed differently this time, and I'm enjoying the shoot."
On the message she wanted to convey through Honour, Jung Eun-Chae said, "Our law firm's name is Listen & Join. It means to listen and join together, and I think that's the overall message of the drama. In dealing with many difficult scenes and victims, I acted with the belief that it was most important to keep that aspect together without letting go. Rather than speaking rashly or easily, the drama carefully expresses the meaning of reaching out from one step back and walking together, and I feel it was cautiously well expressed."
She added, "How Honour will remain as a work will differ depending on where viewers feel it, but I felt Honour was like a mature work in the sense of waiting. In life, good and evil coexist, and the fact that outcomes are often unsatisfying feels more realistic. I hope the drama remains one that gives hope in that the three characters, who are frequently close to failure and more familiar with failure, get up again and live for tomorrow."
[Photo] Project Lake
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