Park Hae Jin Does Not See Yoo Jung As A Sociopath

When the manga "Cheese In The Trap" was first published in 2010, readers voiced their concerns about the character Yoo Jung, now played in the drama version by Park Hae Jin.

Initially Yoo Jung came across as a handsome, popular student. He seemed perfect. But there was a mysterious side to him that was soon revealed to be very flawed. While he was often kind and supportive, he could also be cold and dismissive. He was kind to his girlfriend Hong Seol, played by Kim Go Eun, but proved to be vicious when provoked.

He had no compunctions about beating someone to a pulp. He's also unreasonably jealous and more than a little controlling of Hong Seol.

"Creepy," "evil" and "sociopathic" were some of the words that manga readers used to describe the character.

But Park Hae Jin does not see the character of Yoo Jung as being evil or a sociopath. He takes a kinder, more sympathetic approach to the character.

"Instead of trying to stay true to the original, I've set my goal to not stray too far from it," he said in an interview with the Yonhap News agency.

Park does not see Yoo Jung as evil but rather impulsive and childish.

"Yoo Jung is an innocent kid," said Park. "If something is taken away from him, he wants it back. If he's given something, he wants to return it. In a way, he's like a child. He's very true to his instincts. He just displays them in a different way than most others do."

Although most of the drama was filmed in advance, Park said that he re-filmed a few scenes to add dimensions to his character.

"To emphasize Yoo Jung's sweet side, I needed to make him more brutal in other scenes," he said. "I realized he wasn't as fierce as I would have liked in the first few scenes. So I went back and re-filmed them."

Did you read the manga? Are you watching the drama? What do you think? Will Hong Seol be able to help curb his "evil" impulses.