MANILA — There was a point during the shooting of the South Korean thriller series “Gyeongseong Creature” when Park Seo-jun and Han So-hee mostly filmed separate scenes, prompting the actor to “miss” his leading lady.

But the two actors’ time apart would prove to be helpful in portraying their characters’ “restrained” romance.

“I met with her (Han) for the first time and then we didn’t get to meet until later into the shoot and that was very helpful. Because I wanted to see her, I missed her,” Park said at an online press conference ahead of the show’s Dec. 22 premiere.

“When I did get to see her, I said, ‘I missed you, So-hee. We haven’t been in a scene together for so long.’ So I think those circumstances helped me out,” he recounted.

“[When] we were shooting [our] scenes together, there were emotions that sacked up and there were things that were brought by the circumstances so I think those were helpful in building our romance,” Park added.

Set in 1945 during Japan’s colonial rule of South Korea, “Gyeongseong Creature” follows wealthy pawnshop owner Jang Tae-sang (played by Park) and sleuth Yoon Chae-ok (Han), who team up to uncover the mystery behind a hospital in Gyeongseong (modern-day Seoul).

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Explaining the relationship between the two main characters, Han said, “The emotions have to be restrained because Chae-ok and Tae-sang both respectively have something to protect.”

“As Seo-jun said just now, it took us a lot of time to get back together on set so we were always missing each other… I think the circumstances helped us become more restrained in terms of expressing our feelings,” Han said.

Park, who recently starred in the American superhero film “The Marvels,” also praised Han for being a reliable co-actor. “You just have to trust your counterpart. I trusted So-hee this time around, I really relied on her a lot and she helped me out a lot,” he said.

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Han also stressed that “Gyeongseong Creature” should not be viewed as a mere love story.

“This is not just about the romance between a girl and a boy, but it’s about camaraderie, banding together to fight off the creature. So I hope the viewers don’t just focus on the romance part of the show but the entire circumstances and how they band together to struggle to survive together,” she said.

“Gyeongseong Creature” will release its first seven episodes on Netflix on Dec. 22 while the final three parts are scheduled to drop on Jan. 5, 2024.

• WATCH: Park Seo-jun, Han So-hee entangled in monster mystery in 'Gyeongseong Creature' trailer

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