Despite his industry-perfect looks, South Korean singer and actor Park Jae-chan had achieved only limited success with his K-pop group DKZ, whose albums sold barely 1,000 copies in the first week of their respective releases.
เล่นเกมยูฟ่าเบทดีที่สุดAuditioning for “Semantic Error” was a last shot at fame. It was also a professionally risky one. Not only was the TV series part of a genre — Boys’ Love, or BL for short — that was lesser-known in South Korea, it depicted something rarely seen on the country’s screens: same-sex romance.
“To be honest, I had my concerns,” Jaechan, who goes by his given name, told CNN in a phone interview. He added that his label’s management had also been worried, but eventually supported him.
Originating in 1960s Japan, where it was known as “yaoi,” BL typically depicts two men in a homoerotic relationship. “Semantic Error,” which was based on a popular web novel of the same name, tells the story of two male college students who fall in love. Unlike LGBTQ literature, the stories are largely written by and read by heterosexual women.
After auditioning, Jaechan was asked to play the character Chu Sang-woo, one of the show’s lead roles. And the risk paid off: “Semantic Error” became a hit upon its release in 2022. For two months, it was the most-watched show on Korean streaming platform Watcha. Encouraged by its run, the platform released a movie version in theaters around Seoul, where it sold around 60,000 tickets.
Jaechan went on to win several awards for his performance. He also appeared in more than a dozen magazines, including the Korean editions of Elle, Cosmopolitan and Dazed. After the show’s debut, his new album sold more than 100,000 copies in its first week.
