The radio guest appearance was once again with Lee Seok-hyun.
Taeha and Lee Seok-hyun appeared on the second-highest rated radio show, Na Seong-ryeol’s Super.
Unexpectedly, the segment where they read stories received a great response.
Taeha and Lee Seok-hyun pulled off some incredible impromptu acting.
The stories were also quite funny.
First, Na Seong-ryeol read a story.
“Hello. I am a man in his thirties named Kim Seong-jae working in Seoul. My friend is usually overflowing with confidence in his looks and often says he resembles Lee Seok-hyun. That day was no different.”
Lee Seok-hyun took on the role of the storyteller’s friend.
“Hey. Seong-jae. Don’t I honestly look exactly like Lee Seok-hyun?”
And Taeha took on the role of the storyteller.
“Ah. Don’t make me laugh. How do you look like Lee Seok-hyun?”
“No. Really, look closely. Don’t I have that vibe?”
“No vibe. You’re gross. You even tanned so heavily that you’re not Lee Seok-hyun, you’re completely Lee Seok-tan.”
At Taeha’s performance of those close-friend vibes, the radio host Na Seong-ryeol burst into laughter.
However, Taeha and Lee Seok-hyun continued their acting without being deterred.
“Ah. This won’t do. How about that woman?”
“What woman?”
“That woman over there. Let’s ask her. If I look like Lee Seok-hyun or not.”
“Seriously? Won’t you be embarrassed?”
“Why would I be embarrassed? I really look like him. Excuse me. I’m sorry.”
Taeha and Lee Seok-hyun were the only guests on today’s radio show.
Taeha looked toward Na Seong-ryeol to see who should play the role of the woman.
Then, Na Seong-ryeol signaled toward Taeha.
The meaning was simple.
He wanted Taeha to take on the role of the woman as well.
Taeha cleared his voice and immediately immersed himself in the female role.
Thus began his one-man, two-role performance.
“Yes?”
“This isn’t a pick-up line. If it’s not too much trouble, could you answer just one thing?”
“…What is it?”
“Do I happen to look like anyone?”
“Yes?”
“I’m asking if I look like any celebrity. For example, Lee Seok-hyun or something.”
Na Seong-ryeol read the story again.
“The friend’s sudden question. I was surprised, and the woman who was asked the question also seemed startled. A long silence followed, and just as I was about to stop my friend, the woman opened her mouth.”
Then it was Taeha’s turn again for the female role.
“Yes. You do look like him. Not Lee Seok-hyun, but Lee Seok-tan.”
And then, laughter erupted.
Na Seong-ryeol concluded the first story reading with a final comment.
“As it turned out, the woman who received the friend’s rude question had been listening to our conversation. Having heard the name Lee Seok-tan even from a stranger, the friend’s face turned red, and after that, he never brought up looking like Lee Seok-hyun again. A story of true education for a friend. Is this much good enough?”
Honestly, it wasn’t a legendary-tier funny story.
However, the fact that Taeha perfectly executed two roles and Lee Seok-hyun played the role of the friend who resembled Lee Seok-hyun created small points of laughter.
And perhaps because of that, the voice recording of Taeha and Lee Seok-hyun reading the story gained a small response in the Film community.
Maybe because radio itself is no longer a medium with as much ripple effect as before, it didn’t cause a massive sensation.
However, this alone could be seen as achieving the promotional goals for that they wanted to gain through the radio guest appearance.
Finally, the promotional schedule Taeha handled before the movie’s release was a Nutube guest appearance.
He was the sole guest on a Nutube talk show called .
Comedian-turned-host An Ji-yeon was a host famous for making everyone laugh comfortably with her unique wit, rather than tearing others down.
She was particularly good at leading guests who were unfamiliar with talk shows, demonstrating great chemistry in situations like role-playing skits.
Of course, that story didn’t apply to Taeha.
It was true that it was his first talk show, but it was because he seized the atmosphere of the Staff Room with his unique audacity.
“Hello! I’m Rookie actor Kang Tae-ha! Please take good care of me on the talk show today!”
***
Arriving at the talk show Filming set in advance and checking the script, An Ji-yeon felt a sense of perplexity.
The flow of the script had a nuance that strangely targeted the older woman-younger man dynamic.
For An Ji-yeon, who felt almost no romantic attraction toward a Yeonhanam, it was a difficult script to swallow.
Eventually, An Ji-yeon couldn’t hold it in and spoke to the PD.
“Can I really pull this off?”
“Why, Unnie?”
“The script seems to need those heart-fluttering points of an older woman and younger man, but I don’t really feel like a younger man is a man.”
“Oh, come on. Why are you being like this? It’s just about giving the feeling anyway.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“Then just take out the parts that are too much and just emphasize the fact that Taeha has a Yeonhanam vibe. Just keep that much alive.”
“Ah, just that much? Okay.”
So An Ji-yeon checked the parts of the script she felt she could pull off.
The direction was mostly to throw questions at Taeha in a dry manner.
“Since he’s a guest with no talk show experience, just throwing dry questions will still result in an average performance.”
The Producer of was originally famous for picking good questions.
For that reason, they could create enough Volume just by conducting it plainly.
Of course, in the midst of that, An Ji-yeon’s unique wit, which popped out once or twice, added strength to the talk show.
An Ji-yeon also intended to lead this talk show with that kind of feeling.
It was while she was thinking this that Taeha arrived.
“Hello! I’m Rookie actor Kang Tae-ha! Please take good care of me on the talk show today!”
Taeha, who arrived at the scene, greeted loudly like this, and naturally, An Ji-yeon’s gaze turned toward Taeha.
At the same time, An Ji-yeon couldn’t help but be flustered.
This was because Taeha’s real-life appearance was even more incredible than she had imagined.
An Ji-yeon was someone who had hosted talk shows with visual members of famous Idol groups as well as top-tier actors in the Republic of Korea.
Yet, for her to be so surprised by a real-life appearance.
Even Taeha’s skin was better than expected.
“Wow, Senior. You’re such a beauty. I often thought you were the prettiest among comedians, but seeing you in person is even more surprising.”
“Ah, is that so? It’s not quite that much…”
An Ji-yeon answered Taeha’s words, her cheeks flushing without her even realizing it.
Actually, the reason An Ji-yeon was showing this kind of reaction.
Once again, it was the influence of Immersion Ability.
Taeha, appearing on a talk show for the first time, had decided to act out the image of a veteran actor with a lot of experience in variety shows to relieve his tension.
Thanks to that, Taeha could treat An Ji-yeon without any nervousness.
Conversely, An Ji-yeon felt as if her face was burning up.
Because of that, the current situation was even more embarrassing for An Ji-yeon.
It was because she couldn’t understand why both of her cheeks were burning.
So An Ji-yeon’s thoughts couldn’t help but reach one conclusion.
“Am I feeling attracted to a Yeonhanam for the first time now?”
However, An Ji-yeon had no time to manage her emotions.
The Filming time for was immediately approaching.
Finally, the Filming began.
The opening started with Taeha’s introduction, and An Ji-yeon could feel herself falling more and more for Taeha.
***
And the time came to ask the questions with the Yeonhanam keyword prepared by the Producer.
An Ji-yeon asked Taeha.
“I looked up some of your interviews, Taeha, but I noticed you’ve never revealed your ideal type?”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true. No one has ever asked me. Is no one curious? Are you not curious, Nuna?”
Taeha’s question cut right in.
An Ji-yeon quickly covered her mouth with the cue sheet, feeling a wide smile spread across her face involuntarily.
And she responded.
“I’m curious. So what is your ideal type? Older? Younger?”
At An Ji-yeon’s question, Taeha opened his mouth honestly.
“Ah. Me, older.”
For Taeha, who was living his second life, it was a natural answer.
At Taeha’s age, declaring that a younger woman was his ideal type was no different from having a thief’s heart.
In reality, it was also true that he didn’t feel a romantic pull.
However, An Ji-yeon felt an unknown shyness at Taeha’s answer and continued the questions.
“Ah. Then what kind of personality do you like in a woman? A style with a lot of aegyo? Or a sophisticated style?”
Taeha thought for a moment before answering the question.
“Leaning too much to one side is a bit… wouldn’t it be better to have someone where both sides are balanced, like you, Nuna?”
“…Like me? Really?”
“Yes. Like you, Nuna.”
“Ah, then one last question. Are tall women okay too?”
Taeha spoke without hesitation at the final question.
“Ah. Of course they’re okay. I like tall women. Around 167 to 168cm?”
“168? That’s my height?”
“Yes?”
An Ji-yeon’s eyes met Taeha’s.
At the same time, a scream burst from An Ji-yeon’s mouth.
“Kyaaa! What! Why are you doing this to me!”
Only then did Taeha realize that the direction of the questions had strangely pointed toward An Ji-yeon.
“Ah.”
And he burst into laughter, feeling a belated embarrassment at the fact that he had engaged in unintended flirting.
Thus appeared Taeha’s refreshing laughter, which contained a boyish charm.
That laughter once again stole the hearts of the Nunas on set.
In the meantime, An Ji-yeon barely managed to regain her composure and asked the next question.
“Good. I’ve heard all about your ideal type, Taeha.”
“Yes. So suddenly? Isn’t that too much of a host tone?”
“Ah. The atmosphere on set is so hot that I think I need to calm down a bit. Then, I will ask the next question calmly. Many people are curious about how you became an actor and even decided to write a drama. Is it possible to talk about that?”
“Ah. There wasn’t some grand motivation that would surprise others, it was just like this. Doesn’t a child always want to make their parents smile? It was just like that for me too. My parents’ only hobby was watching TV, and one day I had this thought. What would it be like if I appeared on that TV my parents love? What would it be like if I made that myself?”
“Ah.”
“With that thought, I became an actor and decided to become a Writer. Although my parents are no longer alive, I believe they are watching over me from somewhere.”
A calm story.
And this was a story that held not a single bit of falsehood, whether as Ho-jun or as Taeha.
Ho-jun had decided to become a drama Writer for this reason, and it was the same for Taeha.
A big factor in deciding to become an actor was wanting to show his parents, who died in an accident when he was fourteen, that he was living well.
And now, it was also the reason why he, having completely become Taeha, was dreaming both the dreams of an actor and a Writer.
Because he wanted to respect the dream of Taeha, the original owner of this body.
Because he thought that Taeha would be watching this from somewhere.
In fact, whenever he had time, Taeha worked hard to find out what had happened to the original Taeha, how he had entered this body, and where the original Taeha’s soul had gone.
But in the end, he had only found out one thing.
The reason why the original owner of this body had died.
It was Death from Overwork.
It was recorded in the diary that Taeha had pushed himself very hard ahead of the Filming of .
Of course, questions remained.
He couldn’t help but be suspicious of whether the situation was enough for Taeha, who was still young and healthy, to die from overwork.
However, this was all Taeha could speculate and find out.
There was nothing more he could discover.
Even regarding why he had entered this body and where the original Taeha’s soul had gone, even that much speculation was impossible.
So, Taeha could only reach this conclusion.
That there are many speculations surrounding the birth and death of humans, but one can never be certain of the reason until the end.
Therefore, he should just accept the fact that he had become Kang Taeha and be faithful to his life.
In that way, Taeha even adopted the dream the original body had into his own.
And at this moment, traces of such deep thoughts could be seen in Taeha’s discussion.
For that reason, as someone listening to that answer, Taeha’s sincerity couldn’t help but resonate deeply.
The proof was the subtle silence flowing through the Staff Room.
Reading that atmosphere, Taeha added with a bright smile.
“Was I too unnecessarily serious?”
At the same time, the atmosphere broke, and admiration filled the eyes of the Producer and An Ji-yeon.
It was because of his mature appearance, which made it impossible to think of him as a twenty-five-year-old.
***
A few days later.
The video of featuring Taeha was released, and SNS and various communities were turned upside down.