Yoo Yeon Seok and Park Jinyoung Discover Surprising Connections Ahead of 'Shining' Premiere

Actors Yoo Yeon Seok and Park Jinyoung have delighted fans by uncovering a series of remarkable coincidences connecting their lives, from attending the same prestigious high school to both portraying younger versions of veteran actor Yoo Ji-tae. The entertaining revelations came during a recent episode of Yoo Yeon Seok's YouTube show "Weekend Series," filmed to promote the upcoming JTBC drama "Shining."

Park Jinyoung and actress Kim Minju appeared as guests on the show ahead of "Shining's" premiere on March 6. What began as a standard promotional conversation quickly evolved into a fascinating exploration of the two actors' intertwined paths.

Same School, Same Hometown

The first discovery came when Yoo Yeon Seok revealed he had done his homework on Park Jinyoung's background. "You are my Gyeonggi High School junior," he noted, prompting a respectful greeting from the younger actor. Yoo recalled transferring to the elite Seoul school from Jinju, a city in Gyeongsangnam Province, during his first year of high school.

Park Jinyoung's eyes widened as he shared that he, too, had transferred to Gyeonggi High in his first year, also coming from the same southern province. "I came up from Jinhae," he explained, revealing that both actors had made the same journey from Gyeongsang Province to Seoul's most competitive academic environment.

Conquering the Seoul Dialect

The shared experience of being provincial transfers in Seoul's elite school system led to an amusing exchange about overcoming their regional accents. When asked how he shed his dialect, Park Jinyoung revealed an unconventional method. "There was a teacher who taught us Seoul Korean," he recalled. "We would read books aloud to a metronome beat, maintaining the same tone throughout. After doing that for about three to four years, the accent was gone."

His successful transformation prompted Yoo Yeon Seok to marvel at how completely Park Jinyoung had adapted. "Now you could practically be mistaken for a native Seoulite," Yoo observed, to which Park replied with a touch of pride, "I would say that is a fair assessment at this point."

The Yoo Ji-tae Connection

The most striking coincidence emerged when Yoo Yeon Seok asked whether Park Jinyoung had ever played the younger version of actor Yoo Ji-tae. Park confirmed that he had done exactly that in the 2020 drama "When My Love Blooms." This revelation carried special significance because Yoo Yeon Seok himself had portrayed Yoo Ji-tae's younger self in the iconic 2003 film "Oldboy," directed by Park Chan-wook.

"No wonder I felt this inner sense of closeness toward you," Yoo Yeon Seok remarked warmly, connecting the dots between their parallel career paths. Park Jinyoung responded enthusiastically, saying he would love to exchange phone numbers with his senior, cementing what appears to be the beginning of a genuine friendship.

Shining Premiere Approaches

The pair's natural chemistry has generated significant anticipation for "Shining," which tells the story of young people who share their own private worlds and gradually become beacons of light and direction in each other's lives. The drama premieres on JTBC on March 6 as a new Friday series, with Park Jinyoung taking on the role of Tae-seo.

In yet another playful coincidence, Yoo Yeon Seok noted that he too had once played a character named Park Tae-seo in the 2013 drama "Gu Family Book." "We really do have a lot of connecting threads," Park Jinyoung laughed, summarizing the extraordinary afternoon of discoveries that has captivated entertainment fans across Korea.