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Actor Park Ji-hwan, through the film ‘The Man Who Lives with the King’, once again scored a direct hit on the ‘box-office bullseye’.

As the film ‘The Man Who Lives with the King’ (directed by Jang Hang-jun) surpassed 10 million admissions amid fervent audience support, setting a new milestone in the history of Korean historical films, attention is focusing on Park Ji-hwan, whose special appearance as the Yeongwol magistrate injected vigor into the narrative.

The box-office momentum of ‘The Man Who Lives with the King’ is truly explosive. Set in Cheongnyeongpo in 1457, this work tells the story of a village head who volunteers for exile to revive the village, and of a young former king who is deposed from the throne and sent into exile. It drew 10 million viewers at a pace far outstripping the first historical drama to hit 10 million, ‘The King and the Clown’, as well as the solidly crafted ‘Masquerade’. At the center of this astonishing pace lies the presence of Park Ji-hwan, which leaves no gaps in the work.

Park Ji-hwan played the role of the ‘Yeongwol magistrate’ who leads Yeongwol from the front. While receiving reports from Eom Heung-do, the village head of Gwangcheon-gol (played by Yoo Hae-jin), on the every move of the exiled Lee Hong-wi (played by Park Ji-hoon), he moved fluidly between the sternness of authority and human anguish, breathing three-dimensional life into the character.

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In particular, Park Ji-hwan’s distinctive verbal sensibility, manifested in his interplay with Yoo Hae-jin, served as a decisive catalyst that refreshed an atmosphere that could easily have grown heavy. With even the briefest entrance, he freely modulated the narrative tension and drew viewers into the screen. Going beyond the stage of creating momentary immersion to steering the flow of the narrative, his performance proved why even the label ‘master actor’ feels insufficient for an artist in such a singular realm.

In Chungmuro, sayings such as “At the end of a hit lies Park Ji-hwan” and “Park Ji-hwan magic” now circulate almost as an official maxim. What he showcased in ‘The Man Who Lives with the King’ reaffirmed the value of the name ‘Park Ji-hwan’, which guarantees not only mass appeal but also artistic completeness. Many assess that his acting philosophy, which bears the weight of a work while never losing his trademark wit and warmth, was the powerful force that moved the hearts of 10 million viewers.

This ten-million legend goes beyond a record and suggests the infinite expansion of actor Park Ji-hwan’s spectrum. While leaving a unique imprint on each work, he never becomes confined by formula, sending expectations for his next project to their peak. Now that the trust called ‘Park Ji-hwan’ has become a genre in itself, attention turns to how his future variations will broaden the horizons of Korean cinema.