Because of his breakthrough role in the 2018 hit Something in the Rain (Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food), the 31-year-old star noted that his subsequent roles, including Ha Won, seem to be connected. Jung got a lot of attention in the past for playing romantic roles in mellow, slow-paced dramas that resonated with viewers.

‘Second-lead syndrome’

Following cameos in top-rated dramas such as Reply 1988 in 2015, and Goblin in 2016, Jung gained popularity for his role in While You Were Sleeping. Alongside Bae Suzy as journalist Nam Hong-joo and Lee Jong-suk as prosecutor Jung Jae-chan, Jung’s character Han Woo-tak was the second lead that the nation fell in love with.

A competent police officer who looks dashing in his uniform, Woo-tak is colour blind (a no-no for policemen) – and is secretly attracted to Hong-joo, too. However, he doesn’t act on his feelings, as Hong-joo and Jae-chan are in love.

Jung’s portrayal of a selfless second lead made him the most searched item on Korean portal site Naver, as viewers wanted to know more about the good-looking Woo-tak.

‘Taboo’ roles as noona lover and single father

Jung’s first lead drama role in Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food was with the “queen of melodrama” Son Ye-jin. Here, he plays a twenty-something video game animator, Seo Joon-hee, who falls in love with Yoon Jin-ah, a cafe manager in her thirties, played by Son. The drama revolves around their “noona relationship” amid judgement from people around them, as it is generally considered shameful for older women to date younger men in Korea.

Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food became one of the most popular dramas in 2018 for its realistic story and portrayal of issues that are rarely talked about in South Korea. Jung and Son’s on-screen chemistry attracted many fans to the show.

In 2019, Jung starred opposite Han Ji-min in the drama One Spring Night, in which he played Yoo Ji-ho, a pharmacist who is a single dad. Ji-ho meets Lee Jung-in, portrayed by Han Ji-min, a librarian who is in a long-time relationship.

Like Pretty Noona, Jung’s role as a single parent tackles a taboo in Korean culture, as parents don’t want their daughters to marry a man with a child.

‘Romance actor’ in debut film role

In the same year, Jung played another social outcast in the 2019 film Tune in for Love. The retro melodrama is set during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and Jung portrays the ex-juvenile convict Hyun-woo, who falls in love with Mi-soo, played by Kim Go-eun.

Mi-soo is afraid of him because of his past, but as time goes by, a romance between the two develops alongside the technological advancement of the times, and the film’s setting makes viewers nostalgic for the nineties.

Tune in for Love surpassed the one million movie-goers mark and has become the first Korean melodrama film to reach that milestone in a year.

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