tvN's "Love in Disguise" premieres Monday

Based on web novel "Why Don't You Know I'm a Woman?"

Im Si-wan and Sul In-ah team up for their first romantic comedy

Im Si-wan and Sul In-ah in tvN's "Love in Disguise" [tvN]
Im Si-wan and Sul In-ah in tvN's "Love in Disguise" [tvN]

"Like a peacock spreading its wings, I wanted the character to dress more and more extravagantly the lonelier he felt. I thought that would make his emptiness all the more visible."

Im Si-wan has become the "guilty man." Setting aside the weary, struggling youth he portrayed in "The Attorney" (2013), "Misaeng: Incomplete Life" (2014) and "Hell Is Other People" (2019), he returns as the heir to the country's top conglomerate — and a prime suspect in a murder case. The wardrobe alone signals the transformation.

At an online press conference for tvN's Monday-Tuesday drama series "Love in Disguise" held Wednesday, Im said the number of costumes for this single project exceeded the total from every other production he had done combined. "It was overwhelming," he said, adding with a laugh that playing a chaebol heir meant he also filmed in "the most comfortable environment of my career."

"Love in Disguise" is a romantic comedy about an arrogant third-generation chaebol heir who becomes a murder suspect and the special-forces-trained detective who goes undercover as his personal secretary — disguised as a man — to crack the case. The series is adapted from the web novel "Why Don't You Know I'm a Woman?" and is directed by Park Dan-hee, known for "Weak Hero Class 1" and "Your Taste," with a script by Moon Su-jeong. Im plays Yoon Yi-jun, the third-generation heir of Taegang Group, while Sul In-ah plays Kang Jae-hee, a detective with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's mobile unit who dons male disguise to infiltrate Yoon's inner circle as his secretary.

Im described Yoon Yi-jun as a "prickly cat" — a fastidious, high-strung character. "When I looked into what made him that way, I found someone born into a fate of doing what he must rather than what he wants," he said. He added that the character "might come across a little differently from the chaebol image we're used to," and that he tried to build the role with multiple layers. The lavish wardrobe was one of those layers. "I decided to use the costumes as a device to reveal the character's inner emptiness," Im said.

Sul appeared at the press conference with the same short hair her character Kang Jae-hee wears in the show. The cross-dressing heroine is a staple of Korean romantic comedies, carried through by Yoon Eun-hye in "Coffee Prince," Park Min-young in "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" and Kim You-jung in "Moonlight Drawn by Clouds." Sul said cutting her hair for the role felt strange at first, but also like a signal that she was ready to become Kang Jae-hee. "It was actually a good opportunity to see a side of myself I'd never seen before," she said.

Im Si-wan and Sul In-ah in tvN's "Love in Disguise" [tvN]
Im Si-wan and Sul In-ah in tvN's "Love in Disguise" [tvN]

The transformation was not without its difficulties. "At first, looking in the mirror sometimes brought on a kind of sadness," Sul admitted. But she said that focusing on the mantra "I am Kang Jae-hee" eventually deepened her immersion. "Later on it felt comfortable and right," she said. The work went beyond appearance: she said she practiced extensively, from her speech patterns to the way she walked. Im, who watched from the sidelines, said, "She'd only cut her hair, but it already felt like Kang Jae-hee was walking toward me."

The character Kang Jae-hee holds a combined ninth-degree black belt across judo, hapkido and taekwondo. Sul said she let go of any desire to look impressive and instead focused on appearing naturally skilled, like someone who had trained for years. Director Park shared that she had initially changed certain moves with the stunt coordinator after deciding they would be too difficult — only for Sul to try them herself and change them back. "It was the first time I'd seen an actor who was better at action than the action team," Park said.

The dynamic between the two leads shifts between male-bonding bromance and full-blown romance. Im recalled "The Merciless" (2017), saying, "Sunbae Sul Kyung-gu played someone who was passionately in love with me in that film, and I imagine he threw himself into it just as hard. It was a fresh and fun challenge."

A second romantic thread runs through Kim Jeong-hyeon and Yeon Woo. Kim plays Kim Si-hyeon, Yoon Yi-jun's closest friend of 16 years and a lawyer for Taegang Group's legal team, while Yeon Woo plays Yi Hye-jeong, secretary to Chairman Yoon Tae-sik. Kim said his first impression of Yeon Woo was of someone cool and reserved, but that she turned out to laugh easily and joke around a lot. Yeon Woo said she found Kim mature from the moment they met and leaned on him throughout filming. Kim described the show as "a drama you can watch as easily as reaching for a piece of chocolate on a tiring day."

No press conference would be complete without a ratings pledge. The cast agreed that if viewership tops 7 percent, director Park will pose alone for a body-profile photo shoot — and if it clears 20 percent, the actors will join her. When broadcaster Park Kyung-rim, who hosted the event, floated the idea, Im chimed in that the director was "already in training, as far as I know."

Director Park urged viewers to watch how the four characters "clash, fall in love and tend to each other's wounds within the story," noting that each carries a unique charm and a secret of their own. Im said the project had convinced him that the process of making a show could itself be joyful, thanks to the young, passionate director and crew who came together as one. "That's what makes it all the more meaningful and precious," he said.


shee@heraldcorp.com