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Kim Jung-hyun, played by Ha-eun, is the only granddaughter of one of the most prestigious families in the eight provinces of Joseon.

A lovely girl adored by everyone in Hanyang.

A young lady promised in marriage to Hwang Tae-sung, the heir of the wealthiest Hwang family in Joseon.

A life that was literally the envy of all.

A life that was paved with nothing but smooth roads, without a single thorn in sight.

Perhaps that’s why.

“The value more precious than life… I still don’t quite understand it.”

At first, she couldn’t comprehend Kim Jung-hyun’s choice to take the thorny path of a righteous army.

To choose the dangerous path of national freedom over personal happiness, a path that could easily lead to death.

Perhaps it was only natural.

After all, Ha-eun once had no life of her own.

“Even though I knew it would be hard.”

It was difficult for her to empathize with Kim Jung-hyun’s choice to abandon a guaranteed happy life of her own will.

For Ha-eun, life was something too precious to be exchanged for anything.

But that freedom.

That unwavering determination to walk only the path she chose for herself—she genuinely admired it.

“Ah… Hello, writer-nim.”

“Ah, Ha-eun. I’ve been waiting for you. Come on in.”

She even went to meet Hong Soo-eun, the writer of <The Sunshine>, to understand Kim Jung-hyun better.

She wanted to portray the person Ha-eun once admired with more authenticity.

And so, Ha-eun asked Hong Soo-eun again and again about the gray areas she couldn’t understand.

She talked late into the night to grasp Kim Jung-hyun’s thoughts and values.

And finally, after being able to see the turbulent Joseon through Kim Jung-hyun’s eyes.

“Can’t you just tell me I misunderstood? That I mistook someone else for you?”

“…I’m sorry.”

The option to hold the hand of a man who truly loved her was gone.

The option to live a happy life with an old friend had disappeared.

What Ha-eun gained from her conversation with Hong Soo-eun was a new sense of purpose.

A strange, heavy feeling she had never experienced before, which gradually allowed her to understand Kim Jung-hyun’s choices.

“Then, the gunshot wound on your shoulder, the letters from the righteous army… all of it…”

“It’s because I’m a righteous soldier.”

“…Why on earth?”

“Because I’m weak.”

She couldn’t turn away from what she had newly learned.

The bitter smile and the words she shared with Hwang Tae-sung spoke for Kim Jung-hyun’s heart.

The reason Kim Jung-hyun had read Western books and learned the alphabet was out of curiosity for the unknown.

She had wondered what the world outside the tiled-roof house that protected her so dearly was like.

But the ‘world’ Kim Jung-hyun had newly discovered was…

“I’m also afraid of death. But if I close my eyes and choose to live only for myself, I feel like I’ll continue to live as if I’m blind. As if I’m not really alive.”

A world too precarious to ignore.

A world that seemed to embody the phrase “a candle in the wind,” oppressed and exploited by countless foreign powers.

“…I didn’t want to be a coward.”

In the end, Kim Jung-hyun took a step not toward her own happiness but toward the freedom of Joseon.

She bowed her head to a man who was once a slave, not to order him to help the righteous army but to desperately plead for his assistance.

“Walking with you would surely bring happiness. We could go flower-viewing in spring and have lovely children.”

Swish. The ring case Hwang Tae-sung had dropped earlier was now in Kim Jung-hyun’s hand.

But instead of opening it, she eventually returned it to Hwang Tae-sung.

“But I’ve come too far to return to you… I’m sorry.”

Hwang Tae-sung’s face visibly darkened.

Yet, his footsteps slowly moved forward.

Just as Kim Jung-hyun’s shadow was about to completely leave Hwang Tae-sung, thud.

Hwang Tae-sung’s hand reached out and finally grasped Kim Jung-hyun’s wrist.

“Can’t you stop, even for a moment? At least let me catch up.”

The desperation directed at Kim Jung-hyun was palpable from the familiar face before her.

Hwang Tae-sung’s sorrow, his determination to never let go of Kim Jung-hyun no matter what, was also felt.

But in the end, Kim Jung-hyun herself knew better than anyone that they could not be together.

“Please. Don’t go any further away from here.”

She couldn’t respond to the trembling voice of her old friend.

Guilt and remorse toward Hwang Tae-sung weighed heavily on Kim Jung-hyun’s lips.

And so, with Hwang Tae-sung’s pleading gaze trying desperately to hold onto Kim Jung-hyun, cut.

The filming of the scene where the relationship between Kim Jung-hyun and Hwang Tae-sung gradually reaches its final turning point came to an end.

Not long after, the lights and cameras on set began to be packed up.

The emotions Kim Jung-hyun had calmly built up also began to fade.

“Good job~.”

Bae Jin-hyuk, who had been anxiously watching Ha-eun until just before, approached her with those words.

What followed was a discussion about the upcoming first episode of <The Sunshine>.

“I hope our drama does well. Right?”

“Ah, yes. It will do well. Definitely.”

“Oh, confidence~.”

Soon after, a steaming cup of coffee was handed to Ha-eun by Bae Jin-hyuk.

She bowed her head slightly, said “Thank you,” and took a sip, feeling the warmth spread.

After chatting briefly with Bae Jin-hyuk about <The Sunshine>‘s first episode, she got up and headed toward Joo Jung-yoon when the coordinator called for Bae Jin-hyuk.

Soon, she arrived at Joo Jung-yoon’s black van.

Thanks to the heater being turned up to the max, a warm wave of air greeted her as soon as she opened the car door.

“Huh? What’s with the coffee?”

“Ah, Jin-hyuk gave it to me.”

“Hmm, I bought cocoa. What should we do?”

“…I’ll have the cocoa too.”

***

<The Sunshine> was a drama that had drawn attention even before its broadcast due to its so-called “star-studded cast.”

Not only the two leads, Baek Tae-hoon and Ha-eun, but most of the supporting actors were also well-known.

The guaranteed acting skills of the cast.

And the script by a famous drama writer who had already produced several hits.

These two factors made people look forward to the first episode of <The Sunshine>.

However, due to the roles Baek Tae-hoon and Ha-eun had played in their previous works, there was also some curiosity.

– Is Ha-eun going to dance with a sword again?

– Baek Tae-hoon’s wrist is going to get sliced again, lol.

– Ha-eun’s going to slice through Japanese soldiers with a sword, and Baek Tae-hoon’s going to be shocked beside her.

ㄴ No spoilers, please;;

ㄴ Oh, you’ve already watched the whole drama.

Gradually, preconceptions about the new characters Park Joo-ho and Kim Jung-hyun began to form.

Especially for Kim Jung-hyun, who was set as a nobleman’s daughter, she was expected to have a personality similar to Yeong-wol from <The Moon Embracing the Sun>.

However, after the teaser for <The Sunshine> was released.

And after several still cuts were revealed for the drama’s promotion.

– The atmosphere is intense.

– What’s with Ha-eun’s hanbok fit?

– Is that Ha-eun falling from the roof?

– Why is the male lead pointing a gun at the female lead? LOL.

The misunderstandings and preconceptions that had been building up gradually lost their power.

News spread that the roles played by the two lead actors in <The Sunshine> had a different vibe from their previous works.

And so, time passed.

Finally, the first episode of <The Sunshine> began to air.

The first scene that unfolded was a remote port in Joseon.

To be precise, it was Baek Tae-hoon, who had just disembarked from a steamship.

“…Huu.”

With an expression that seemed to cross multiple emotions, Baek Tae-hoon simply walked toward the land of Joseon.

No lines were spoken.

But then, from somewhere, the sound of another set of footsteps began to be heard.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

The shadow of a young boy passed through Baek Tae-hoon and dashed off somewhere.

Not long after, the time period and background began to slowly change.

“P-please, save me, miss. I’ll really die if this continues!!”

Soon, the focus of the drama shifted from Baek Tae-hoon to the child actor playing his younger self.

That is, Kim Min-sung, who played the young Park Joo-ho.

Kim Min-sung’s desperate screams followed.

“Miss! Please!!”

The young Kim Min-sung, who had just passed through Baek Tae-hoon, was now wailing in front of a tiled-roof house.

In front of him were two slaves being brutally beaten.

– The child actor’s acting is insane.

– So, he’s the young Baek Tae-hoon?

– Kids these days are on another level with their acting.

For quite a while afterward, scenes depicting how bleak Park Joo-ho’s childhood had been continued to unfold.

The scene where he ultimately failed to save his parents from the brutal beating and fainted.

The scene where he secretly fled in the middle of the night and begged a foreign missionary to save him.

“Please, please save me, sir. If I go back to that house, I’ll die…!”

Kim Min-sung’s passionate performance added a serious weight to <The Sunshine>.

Thanks to this, opinions calling it childish or clichéd disappeared.

Afterward, scenes far from the word “comic” continued one after another.

-Thud.

-Thud.

The image of Kim Min-sung heading to a distant port to escape Joseon, the land that had taken his parents’ home, overlapped with Baek Tae-hoon’s image.

The young Kim Jung-hyun, who had watched the young Park Joo-ho struggle to escape from afar, also began to overlap with Ha-eun’s image.

Soon, Kim Min-sung passed by Baek Tae-hoon once again.

However, Baek Tae-hoon’s footsteps were heading in the opposite direction of Kim Min-sung.

Not long after, the reunion between Park Joo-ho and Kim Jung-hyun took place in the middle of a street in Hanyang.

“…Have we met before?”

“I wonder.”

Kim Jung-hyun’s gaze, looking up at Park Joo-ho, was filled with curiosity.

Park Joo-ho’s gaze, looking down at Kim Jung-hyun, was filled with suppressed anger and regret.

A suffocating first meeting.

Though it was technically a reunion, it was a far cry from the usual image associated with the word.

And so, one of the two protagonists didn’t recognize the other.

The other didn’t bother to pretend to know her.

-Thud.

Without continuing the conversation, they walked past each other toward their respective destinations.

What followed were scenes focusing not on Park Joo-ho but on Kim Jung-hyun.

“Oh my, miss. If the master finds out you’re reading Western books, he’ll be furious!”

“Is there a difference between Western learning and Joseon learning? When a person seeks knowledge, why make a fuss?”

In the vast tiled-roof house, Kim Jung-hyun’s gentle gaze and radiant beauty were fully displayed.

A graceful figure that perfectly fit the three letters of “miss.”

In this way, the starkly contrasting images of the two protagonists captivated the audience.

The fact that no awkwardness was felt in any part of the first episode also played a role.

After the final scene of the first episode ended.

To be precise, after the preview for the second episode aired, about an hour or two later.

<Baek Tae-hoon and Ha-eun's acting clash in the first episode of 'The Sunshine'!>

<The slave and the noble lady who captured the late winter's attention>

<'The Sunshine' starts with an overwhelming 11.7% viewership rating>

It was revealed through various internet articles that despite being a cable drama, it had garnered significant attention.

Even without being flashy or noisy, it received praise for being highly anticipated solely based on its acting.

And so, as <The Sunshine> began to show unusual signs from the start.

Ha-eun, who had clearly displayed Kim Jung-hyun’s presence through a style of acting quite different from Baek Tae-hoon’s, was now.

“Hello. I’m Ha-eun, playing the role of Lee Ye-seo.”

Greeting with a calm voice at a gathering of the cast and staff of <Veterans>.

Having started to gain attention again after <The Moon Embracing the Sun>, all eyes were on her.

However, since Kim Jung-hyun from <The Sunshine> and Lee Ye-seo from <Veterans> were completely different in personality.

‘Poker face is definitely good.’

‘Is she going to be a villain?’

‘Ha-eun as a villain role…’

Skeptical glances doubting Ha-eun, who had no experience playing villains, could be felt here and there.

However, in the end.

These skeptical glances were all negated after just one script reading.

“You know, mister.”

-Thud.

“Don’t make it too hard for me.”

-Thud, thud.

“Honestly, deleting CCTV footage is annoying. Let’s keep it clean.”

-Thud, thud, thud, thud…

-…Whoosh!!

“…Ah, damn it. I ruined my clothes. What are you going to do about this?”

An emotionless gaze devoid of humanity.

Yet, it felt so natural, it gave chills.