Although Kim Tae-ri is playing a character who is 13 years younger than her in the new K-drama Twenty Five, Twenty One, the 31-year-old actress tells StarLifestyle that she found her character’s strength and confidence inspirational.
“Na Hee-do is someone who doesn’t give up on her dreams even though her dreams are taken away from her. She just keeps on going. I admire that,” says Kim, who starred as a tough captain in the 2021 sci-fi film Space Sweepers.
“It’s quite common that some of us have to give up on our dreams due to certain circumstances, and we become frustrated because of that. But that isn’t the case for Hee-do.
"She just looks ahead and moves forward with all her might. That confidence is in fact what I find to be the most attractive trait about her.”
The talented South Korean actress is talking to Malaysian media in an online roundtable session alongside Twenty Five, Twenty One co-star Nam Joo-hyuk.
Kim adds: "I think my character here is closer to who I am. And I hope viewers will be able to connect with Hee-do a lot more than my previous roles."
Similarly, Nam shares with StarLifestyle that he finds his character Baek Yi-jin equally commendable in how the latter just takes on whatever challenges that come his way and try his best to manage them to the best of his ability.
“He goes with the flow but makes all the efforts that are needed,” says Nam, who will turn 28 on Feb 22.
Twenty Five, Twenty One is set in the year 1998, a time when South Korea faced financial crisis, which saw the fall of many businesses and pushed the country into debt.
Caught in the centre of this shift are Hee-do, a passionate fencer, whose high school fencing team is disbanded due to lack of budget and Yi-jin, whose family’s wealthy status changes overnight and he’s forced to work a number of part-time jobs to support his study, as well as that of his younger sibling.
These two people first meet each other as an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old, and form an immediate friendship – Yi-jin admires Hee-do for her youthful recklessness, and Hee-do respects Yi-jin’s determination.
They run into each other after a brief separation and this time they decide to support one another through thick and thin.
As they overcome all the difficulties in order to achieve their respective dreams, Yi-jin and Hee-do’s relationship develops as well.
Besides these two characters, the series also showcases the love and lives of three other young people closely connected to Hee-do and Yi-jin – Ko Yu-rim (Kim Ji-yeon, aka Bona), Moon Ji-woong (Choi Hyun-wook) and Ji Seong-wan (Lee Joo-myoung).
Kim mentions why she chose this project to return to the small screen after more than three years since the historical romance Mr. Sunshine: “I know there are many popular genre movies and TV series now, but Twenty Five, Twenty One is different.
“This is a story that will make people feel happy and give them a fluttering feeling.”
Kim says she was also attracted to the year the story is set in. She explains: “The big theme of this drama is a story about first love, which plays out really nicely with the setting of the 1990s.
“This is because, nowadays, encounters and relationships have gotten faster and easier compared to 20 years ago when they were a little more innocent.
“Back then, we could only really talk to each other through limited mode of contact. There were certain hurdles when you want to reach out to someone, unlike now. I really like that.”
Since both Kim and Nam were little kids in the 1990s, they looked through magazines from that era and watched old shows to get a more genuine feel of the decade, especially appearance-wise.
Some suggestions Kim says she gave for her character was to add bangs to Hee-do’s hairstyle and have her wear cute outfits, which Kim notes also lent a hand to her portrayal of Hee-do at the age of 18.
That, as well as “using lots of good skincare to make myself look young,” discloses Kim with a laugh.
Nam – who was just four years old in 1998 – shares that he didn't think there'd be any difficult parts in playing Yi-jin. However, as the character holds several jobs and uses items from the 1990s, Nam says he realised he needed to do some research after all.
“There are many different items from back then that are featured in the series,” elaborates Nam, who is best known for his role in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo.
“I asked a lot of questions to people around me, like how to use these items and things like that.
“There are certain props that I never had a chance to use in the past. So, I learned from some other people about how I should be using it realistically for the show.
"I also had to prepare for all the, you know, jobs that Yi-jin has."
Nam also divulges on an element he was surprised to discover while making Twenty Five, Twenty One.
"The chemistry with all the co-stars on set was amazing and I personally didn't realise that during filming.
"Later when I saw the finished product, I was able to see this really great harmony and chemistry among all of us and that was something really nice to see."
He hopes the audiences will feel the same way.
Twenty Five, Twenty One is available on Netflix. New episodes are out every Saturday and Sunday.
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