MANILA -- “How to Be Thirty” is the latest Korean content that’s exclusively streaming on iQiyi International.

Starring Jung In-sun, the romantic series follows the work and love lives of women who have just entered their 30s.

Its central arc is about 30-year-old webtoon author Seo Ji Won (Jung) who meets her publisher Lee Seung Yoo (Kang Min-hyuk), who is also her first love from middle school.

“There are many realistic and empathetic parts. This drama focuses on the worries of people in their 30s. The reunion with first love is very dramatic, but the stories of work, love, life and friendship are all realistic, and there are many parts that relate to me. So I think while I was acting, the actual expression and tone of Jung In-sun came out a lot,” she said.

When asked how she prepared for her role, Jung said she sought help from a webtoon writer so she may be able to play her character realistically.

“Actually, I'm not good at drawing, but I started to do art alone at home after I accepted this role. I think I felt good by buying DIY products for my hobby,” she said. “He taught me how to use the equipment to draw webtoons and showed me how to work on set. Thanks to him, I was able to get closer to Seo Ji-won.”

Jung said it also helped that she read the original work from which “How to Be Thirty” was based.

“Our drama has been adapted differently from the original work. It is very meaningful to be able to talk about 30 at the time of turning 30, and on the other hand, it attracted me like fate.”

Jung said she was also fortunate because her co-star Kang was very supportive, admitting she was initially worried getting into her character because she’s never done a romantic drama with someone her age before.

“The chemistry between Ji-won and Seung-yoo in the drama was all thanks to actor Kang Min-hyuk. Actor Kang Min-hyuk was a person who always cared for others from the first day to the last day of filming and showed his condition,” she said.

“Later I found my worries were uncalled-for. We became very close and reliant on each other while filming. Sometimes we made NGs while filming serious scenes and we burst into laughter because we read each other's thoughts just by looking at each other's expressions.”

And while she’s already starred in many dramas in the past, Jung said “How to Be Thirty” is different because she was able to “put my own feelings on the character Seo Ji-won” in doing this show.

“She had the worries of ‘how should I live’ and ‘what do I want,’ and there are many parts of Seo Ji-won's story where she experiences while facing incidents of a different dimension than before. I was just like her, so I was able to focus naturally.”

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