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Actor Lee Jae-wook on 'Alchemy of Souls,' meeting fans, NewJeans

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Jaehwa Bernardo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="South Korean actor Lee Jae-wook during his fan meet at the New Frontier Theater on March 11, 2023. ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/03/15/lee.jpg"/><figcaption>South Korean actor Lee Jae-wook during his fan meet at the New Frontier Theater on March 11, 2023. <em>ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — South Korean actor Lee Jae-wook used to imagine himself traveling to different places to meet his fans. But since the start of the year, the star of the hit fantasy-period drama &quot;Alchemy of Souls&quot; has been turning that dream into a reality.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m a relatively new actor in the scene right now and this scenario right now is something that I only imagined for myself,&quot; Lee said at a press conference for his recent fan meet in the Philippines, with TV host Sam Oh serving as his interpreter.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m so thankful to the fans who made this a reality,&quot; he said.</p><p>Lee added that the Philippines &quot;is a country where I&#x27;m receiving a lot of love from so I&#x27;m very, very grateful for that.&quot;</p><p>The event, organized by local events producer Wilbros Live, is part of Lee&#x27;s first Asia fan meeting tour, which kicked off in Seoul last January and made stops in Japan, China, Thailand and Indonesia.</p><p>The 24-year-old actor attributed his rise to prominence to his latest project, &quot;Alchemy of Souls,&quot; which wrapped up its second season earlier this year.</p><p>&quot;I think the reason why I&#x27;m here is because of the role of Jang-uk in &#x27;Alchemy of Souls.&#x27; It&#x27;s really what enabled me to even tour in Asia,&quot; Lee said.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s a character that has become very close to my heart so that&#x27;s the role that&#x27;s most memorable for me,&quot; he added.</p><p>The two-part series, which can be streamed on Netflix, follows an elite warrior whose soul is accidentally transferred into the body of a blind girl. She later becomes a servant of a noble family, which includes Lee&#x27;s character Jang-uk.</p><p>Asked about what he missed the most about playing Jang-uk, Lee said, &quot;It&#x27;s the warmth [and passion] of the set.&quot;</p><p>&quot;My castmates and the people I worked with on the show really became like family, because we were together for about a year,&quot; he said.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Lee during his fan meet at the New Frontier Theater on March 11, 2023. Photo: Instagram/@jxxvvxxk" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/03/15/fan-meet.png"/><figcaption>Lee during his fan meet at the New Frontier Theater on March 11, 2023. <em>Photo: Instagram/@jxxvvxxk</em></figcaption></figure></div><div><strong>Getting into acting</strong></div><p>Prior to entering the entertainment industry, Lee had taken on other jobs that he easily lost interest in. A desire for new experiences, he said, prompted him to venture into acting.</p><p>&quot;I love working but I would get very tired of a job quickly and easily. So at some point I asked myself, &#x27;What job can I possibly do?&#x27;&quot; Lee recounted.</p><p>&quot;Then I thought of working as an actor because I&#x27;d get to play different roles all the time so it&#x27;s like I&#x27;m doing different things all the time,&quot; he added.</p><p>Lee then studied the craft and debuted in 2018 with a supporting role in the popular sci-fi romance drama &quot;Memories of the Alhambra.&quot;</p><p>He steadily gained popularity through his succeeding roles in the romance series &quot;Search: WWW&quot; and &quot;Extraordinary You,&quot; and bagged his first lead role in the 2020 drama &quot;Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol.&quot;</p><p>For his future projects, Lee wants to portray &quot;stronger and more complex&quot; characters, the actor shared.</p><div><strong>Favorite artists</strong></div><p>Lee also enjoys listening to music, with three K-pop artists on rotation in his playlists lately.</p><p>&quot;In South Korea, there&#x27;s a big boom because of the [girl] group NewJeans so I&#x27;m listening to them a lot,&quot; he said when asked about his travel playlist for his Asia tour.</p><p>He named girl group Blackpink and his &quot;Alchemy of Souls&quot; co-star Hwang Min-hyun as his other favorite acts.</p><p>Lee is also a lover of vacation spots. But because his recent stay in the country was short, the actor looks forward to coming back to experience the famed beaches.</p><p>&quot;[I&#x27;d like to visit] Boracay. Even in Korea, in those programs where they feature beautiful places around the world, Boracay is always included in those programs. I&#x27;d love to go there and I look forward to visiting,&quot; he said.</p><p>For more news and features on K-pop, K-drama, and K-stars, visit the <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/kcontents">Hallyu Corner</a> microsite.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2498367" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Korean actor Lee Jae-wook says the Philippines 'is a country where I'm receiving a lot of love from.'

Actor Lee Jae-wook on 'Alchemy of Souls,' meeting fans, NewJeans

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Actor Lee Jae-wook on 'Alchemy of Souls,' meeting fans, NewJeans

Jaehwa Bernardo,

ABS-CBN News

Published March 15, 2023 06:22 AM PHT

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Updated March 15, 2023 06:23 AM PHT

Read More:

Korean celebrities

Lee Jae-wook

K-drama

Alchemy of Souls

Extraordinary You

fan meet

Wilbros Live

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