Winner in love

UPDATED WITH NEWS PHOTOS!

PARK SIHOO-SSI’S DRAMATIC THANKSGIVING FESTIVAL 2017 – DRAMATIC ENCOUNTER SERIES 

施厚君的2017年戏剧化感恩节活动 – 戏剧化的相遇系列

The ultimate winner in love! Park Sihoo-ssi! Photo by Nance

Park Sihoo-ssi versus Park Sihoo-ssi! Or more accurately, Park Sihoo-ssi’s CEO Cha Seungjo of “Cheongdamdong Alice” versus Park Sihoo-ssi’s legal eagle Seo Inwoo of “Prosecutor Princess’. Who will be the winner in love was probably what was uppermost in our minds as we headed to Tokyo Dome City Hall for the final leg of his Dramatic Thanksgiving Festival yesterday afternoon.

Not easy to predict the outcome on this one! It must be a close fight especially when most of us haven’t even made up our minds as we trooped in to the event venue!

Playing to near capacity crowd

But Park Sihoo-ssi was already the big winner even before he arrived at the event venue! His fans have been streaming in from as early at 0900h in the morning even though the event would start at 1500h in the afternoon. And the crowd grew, stopping the pedestrian traffic along the wide walkway outside and would fill close to full capacity the Tokyo Dome City Hall! A long queue formed first to purchase the paraphernalia exclusively designed for the event from figurines to fans to hand held illumines and of course subscription to his record running Enishi magazine and membership to his Japan Official Fan Club (JOFC)! Then another long line formed for entry into the event hall and it took all of an hour to get the crowd in!

To Park Sihoo-ssi with love !

Dramatic moments with Park Sihoo-ssi

The afternoon event began with a video of a colourful package arriving for Park Sihoo-ssi at the Hoo Factory office. An office staff accepted this and delivered it into the hands of Park Sihoo-ssi who was in the meeting room. Like a kid, the man opened the cheerful package with glee and his smile widened at the contents. Lots of toys, confectionery, and a book. The kid in him couldn’t resist taking out each toy and playing, while this sweet tooth foodie quickly downed a piece of chocolate. Then he uncovered a book that was filled with photos and writings…sweet memories of his time as Seo Inwoo, legal eagle extraordinaire in his drama “Prosecutor Princess”!

Seo Inwoo the legal eagle in Prosecutor Princess

Then the curtain fell and a silhouette appeared of a man with a briefcase in his hand. When the curtained went up, out came…Seo Inwoo! He was dressed in a dark suit of either dark blue or black (can’t really tell from the lighting), white shirt, dark blue vest, maroon tie with small black polka dots, a white pocket square and black leather shoes. The most striking, other than the gorgeous man himself, was his large gold wrist watch with its dark red crocodile leather stripe! And accentuating his overall looks was his newly styled crowning glory. Nice style, like the time when he was Baek Siyoon in “Unsung Hero”!

He thanked fans who were in Fukuoka, Osaka and Tokyo for their warm welcome and support. Prior to coming to Tokyo, he had a couple of days of good rest and went to the Arima Onsen which was close to Osaka. Park Sihoo-ssi waved at his audience and made a huge love sign showing his love and appreciation.

Making a love sign with his thumb and fore finger. Photo by Nance

The emcee, the lovely Kim Tei, told him that when he waved at the audience photos which were taken by the audience during the free-to-shoot sessions did not turn out well due to his waving hands. He was taught the latest Korean craze of making a love sign with his thumb and forefinger, making it look like a heart. And he did immediately! 🙂

The best 3 scenes as voted by the audience for Prosecutor Princess were shown. No 3 was Ma Hyeri imitating Seo Inwoo by using a fishing rod to give something to him from her upstairs apartment. Standing at No 2 was that stolen kiss of Seo Inwoo when he tried to help Ma Hyeri make her superior Prosecutor Yoon Sejoon, whom she fancied, jealous. At No 1 was when Ma Hyeri confronted Seo Inwoo and asked him to say sorry to her.

Best scene No 2, the jealous kiss

Park Sihoo-ssi was asked which scene he liked best and he said No 2. It took around two hours to complete the shoot as it was the first kiss with the lead actress and he hardly knew her at the point of filming. They had to build up their chemistry. He was asked if he had to practice in front of the mirror prior to the shooting the scene to which he replied that he didn’t have to. The kiss turned out well due to his past experience with kisses and things flowed naturally.

I must share that our man was extremely shy and embarrassed whenever a kissing scene was shown during all his performances or was mentioned. And he looked so cute being embarrassed. We should tease him more in future! Kekeke!

The marathon kiss!

On the top 3 emotional scenes, at No 1 was when Seo Inwoo and Ma Hyeri had a heart-to-heart conversation after their confrontation and kiss.  No 2? I could not recall the context but I believe it to be one where Ma Hyeri was yearning for love and consolation from Seo Inwoo but he was relentless. It was a scene where he wore a dark blue top with a yellow shirt inside….hmm…sorry, too tired to remember! And at No 1 was when he followed closely behind her after hearing her yell and then seeing her running out onto the street. He was mistaken to be a stalker when he was trying to protect her!

A change to short hair which Park Sihoo-ssi regretted

The emcee said she heard that in “Prosecutor Princess”, Seo Inwoo had over a hundred set of clothes. Park Sihoo-ssi replied that he didn’t know if there were over a hundred but definitely there were many. After his Seo Inwoo returned from America, he had wanted to have a change in his style and cut his hair short. This was something he regretted as he didn’t like short hair.

What colour was his shirt?

Then it was the XOXO quiz with questions on how Seo Inwoo was written in Korea. Whether “Prosecutor Princess” was aired in Korea in March 2011. Whether a law existed in the US on putting ice cream in one’s pocket. What colour was the the shirt he wore in a photo shown on screen. If one cut a wild cactus in Arizona, would they put one in jail for 25 years? Whether Seo Inwoo gave her a newspaper when his gift alarm clock woke her up in the morning with its ringing. After the shooting of “Prosecutor Princess”, where did Park Sihoo-ssi bring the cast and crew to as a reward? Was it illegal to wake up a sleeping bear in Alaska? What was the colour of the sweater Seo Inwoo wore in the final scene of “Prosecutor Princess”?

Was his sweater yellow?

The winners – three – were decided by scissors, paper, stone. The first winner was so shy on stage that when she took her photo with Park Sihoo-ssi, he had to jerk her towards him. The 2nd winner played shy and took a while to warm up and when she did, she suddenly gave him a big hug and then instantly swooned at his feet! The 3rd winner had hurt her legs and Park Sihoo-ssi was very concerned when he noticed her limping when going off the stage. He took a few steps towards her thinking of helping before the crew did. I wonder what he would have done if she had needed help. Would our hero have swept her off her feet and carried her to her seat? Luckily, he didn’t have to do that! But such chivalry and a perfect gentleman!

The XOXO quiz!

Then it was free photo time! Snap, snap, snap, we all did when Park Sihoo-ssi made his stops and posed. He also could not resist taking wefie…a few just to get everything right!

He then sang the song “Kimiwo” from his “Forever” album before going backstage for a costume change.

A video came on with recollections of the Fukuoka leg of his Dramatic Thanksgiving Festival from the time of his airport arrival to the show, the high-five and then when all was done in Fukuoka, a quiet evening in a park where he was drinking from a can. Exactly what he was drinking, he had no idea until he read out the writing on its label! A low alcohol peach punch…no wonder he wasn’t quite himself, our man was probably a little drunk from the excitement of the Fukuoka even and from him being hardly able to drink alcohol! The next day saw him leaving the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka…heading for Osaka!

Care for alcoholic peach punch? Photo by Nance

Then came the next scene…a ticking clock as the background scene and fireworks with CEO Cha Seungjo in the foreground wearing a dark blue jacket with black lapels, black shirt and vest, a blue and red stripe tie and dark blue with pink polka dots pocket square, black pants and black leather shoes. Again, the striking gold and red watch on his left wrist.

The ticking clock signifying the clock rabbit and Cha Seungjo

He was asked to say something in Japanese and he said “watashiwa kimiga shitsuyo des” or “I need you” in Japanese and he did it in a sexy voice! Hahaha!

The fans’ best 3 scenes were played.  No 3 was at the Hangang River on an extremely cold day when Cha Seungjo declared his love for Han Sekyung. No 2 was the scene in a pojang macha (a food tent) where a kiss almost happened. And at No 1, it was the scene in the church when Han Sekyung confessed her deceit and Cha Seungjo’s demeanour made a 180 degree change from happy to angry and upset.  

Happy but his demeanour would change 180 degrees

He liked the No 2 scene as he felt it was a fine balance to portray the state between yearning and almost getting what one yearned for, but not getting it…not sure if I have interpreted this correctly though.  

A scene was picked to be re-enacted and it was the No 1 scene. Park Sihoo-ssi had to look at the camera and to change his expression a 180 degrees when the emcee, as Han Sekyung, confessed her deceit. He said his lines into the camera and while his expressions did change, they were more comical than was the setting. He confessed that it was easier to be expressive in a drama but very different and difficult to act in front of his fans.  

Then came the best 3 emotional scenes. The scene when Cha Seungjo introduced Han Sekyung to his father as his girlfriend and that they were about to get married was at No 1. At No 2 was when Han Sekyung asked him for his name and he hesitantly replied it was Kim Seungjo. And No 1 was when Cha Seungjo told Han Sekyung that whether she was the real Han Sekyung or the candy Han Sekyung, it didn’t matter to him. 

Declaration of love by the river

Park Sihoo-ssi said he was rather disappointed that fans have picked up general scenes as the best scenes and not those that saw the transformation of him as an actor. The emcee shared a few of the minor scenes which she found to be interesting including the comical hospital scene between Cha Seungjo and his secretary, the scene when he realised he had taken poison and when he talked in dialect. She especially liked to whip up her Cheongdamdong DVD when she was tired and needed some perk me up to watch some of these scenes.  

Little gestures of amusement

The best lines or phrases in the drama were: No 3 when Cha Seungjo confessed he liked Han Sekyung when he thought her asleep after he carried her home, drunk. No 2 was that long speech at Hangang River of Cha Seungjo confessing to Han Sekyung of his love and asking her to accept him, a crazy man. No 1 was the “Winston Churchill” speech about love at the end of the drama. There was a draw and a lady was picked to act out No 3 with Park Sihoo-ssi. He did well with her lying on the couch, with her hand placed over his heart as he recited his lines before he lost it by bursting out into laughter! Hahaha!

Then came crunch time to decide who would be the winner in love! CEO Cha Seungjo or legal eagle Seo Inwoo?

Well, there it was a three criterion selection process:

Who would the audience want to fall in love with? And onscreen, the results were displayed in animated graphics with the scored adding up as bars going upwards as votes increased…turdum! And Cha Seungjo got more votes! Winner!

Cha Seungjo loves his Winston Churchill spill

Park Sihoo-ssi was asked if he were a woman, who would he have chosen. And he replied, he might have chosen Cha Seungjo too, but he also thought Seo Inwoo good! He really didn’t know and it was not fair to ask as he was not a woman!

On who would the audience like to work under in the office. The winner was…Seo Inwoo! Park Sihoo-ssi also thought the same. He wouldn’t choose Cha Seungjo as with his unpredictable nature, he would be a most difficult boss!

And something which was asked of the audience onsite.., Who made a better dancer? Well, going by the number of dots pasted on the board, the indisputable winner was Cha Seungjo!

Doing the funky dance!

Then Park Sihoo-ssi gave us a surprise dancing a funky number which was like the dance he did in Odaiba in Japan last October. Out went his jacket and on came his dark sunglasses as he gyrated to the upbeat music…Dancing across the stage, twirling and twisting, then down the stage as he made his way, swaying with the music around the auditorium. Slowly he progressed as he had to get through the crowd and he even made his way up to the 2nd floor! Nice music, nice dance! Gorgeous man! Well done!

Funky dance by Park Sihoo-ssi

Then he was back up on stage saying “thank you” and blowing us kisses before singing his song “Don’t leave!”

Last but definitely the highlight was the high five with Park Sihoo-ssi before we ended the afternoon! More to come in the evening!

So who was the winner in love? Cha Seungjo or Seo Inwoo? I think it was a tie! We couldn’t decide but there was definitely one winner and that was Park Sihoo-ssi!  He was the big winner in love! Our love!

Hello to Cha Seungjo on 2nd level

Photo credits – Many thanks! sbs.co.kr, Twitter by @neko_jamidami, Dd, navicon.co.jp