Squid Game star Jung Ho-yeon has discussed the scene that made her cry while reading the script, and if you’ve seen the series, you can probably guess which one it was.
In the show’s sixth episode, the remaining contestants are forced to play with marbles to eliminate their partner. Jung’s character Sae-byeok is paired with Ji-yeong (Number 240), played by Lee Yoo-mi.
While the other pairs start to play against each other, Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong instead use most of the time to talk about their lives, including their pasts and their plans for the future.
In the end (and in heartbreaking fashion), Ji-yeong lets Sae-byeok win, believing her partner has more to live for. She tells Sae-byeok to reunite with her mother and get her brother – as well as go to Jeju Island.
Jung told TIME that she got emotional when she got to the part where the pair opened up to each other, explaining: “The scene that made me cry was when Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok were talking to each other.
“I felt that the lines themselves were very well written by the director, and I saw this interview where he said that he envisioned this scene to be one with two people who are the most innocent out of all the contestants.”This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Jung continued: “When I read the script, I was sobbing. It was one of the big excitements for me to meet Ji-yeong in person – because at that time, I had to imagine Ji-yeong from the script, but when I met [Lee] at the table reading, I just felt that she’s the one.”
The interview by director Hwang Dong-hyuk that Jung was referring to may have been the one posted by Netflix Korea.
“[Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong are] the most innocent people, in a way,” he said at the time. “People who are on the verge of life fight and kill each other to climb up but if there were some that weren’t like that, I wanted them to be these two.