Actress Lee Se-Young Looks Back on ‘What Comes After Love’

An opportunity to study Japanese literature is what brings Korean student Choi Hong to Japan. Hong, played by Lee Se-young in the Korean drama What comes after love, has barely arrived in Japan when she meets and falls for an aspiring Japanese writer, Jungo Aoki, played by Kentaro Sakaguchi. Despite initially seeming perfect for each other, they eventually break up and Hong returns to Korea. Then the plot jumps forward a few years. An older and much less romantic Hong works at a Korean publishing house and is willing to make a more pragmatic marriage choice. However, she is called in to translate for a visiting Japanese author, who happens to be Jungo.

Lee’s performance in this drama is all the more impressive considering that most of her lyrics are in Japanese.

“I had never spoken Japanese before and was first introduced to it through the drama script,” Lee said. “Learning a new language is fun, so I wanted to get started, even though it was a challenge. There was a lot of kanji and difficult vocabulary, and it became a bit more difficult during filming because I had to act while listening carefully to my co-stars. I’m grateful that everyone said my Japanese sounded fluent, although I feel like I’m only fluent in the drama dialogues.”

Hong and Jungo meet again because her publishing company has translated his novel for sale in Korea. So what comes after the love they had? She can barely bear to be in the same room with him. He clearly never forgot her. Who can they be to each other? Enemies? Friends? Lovers again?

Before taking on the role, Lee read the novel on which the drama is based, written by Kong Ji-Young and Hitonari Tsuji. She was curious to see how the story would translate on screen. Although she wanted to play Hong, a character whose personality seemed very different from her own, she also liked the way the novel explored the idea that a love might not work in one time and place, but it might in another. Fate offers Hong and Jungo another chance.

“Hong is very different from me these days,” Lee said. “So it was interesting and fun to portray her. I’m not someone who stays in conflict for long, so I was afraid that I would behave differently than Hong should be. However, during the filming I came to understand her better. I think it’s possible that love can come later, and if it does, I think I would see it as something truly fateful. I think timing is very important for love to happen, as well as the environment I am in and the situation the other person is in, because these factors can create obstacles in a relationship.

One strain on their early relationship was how lonely Hong felt in Japan and how much she missed her family back home. Lee sees himself moving to another country for love, but only under certain conditions.

“I don’t think it will be an obstacle,” she said. “But if I had to give up my job, that would be a problem. I think I would go to Korea when I am not working and return to Korea when I am working.”

What comes after love was filmed in Korea and Japan, but filming the love story in Japan didn’t allow much time for sightseeing.

“We shot mainly in Kyoto and even though I didn’t get a chance to explore much, I still had a great three days there,” says Lee, who previously appeared in the dramas. The red sleeveThe Crowned Clown, the story of Park’s marriage contract And Kairos. Her next drama appearance will happen Motel California.

The drama’s bilingual cast also included Hong Jong-hyun and Anna Nakamura. Directed by Moon Hyun-sung, What comes after love can be seen on Viki.com.