(From left) Koo Kyo-hwan and Go Youn-jung pose at the press conference for JTBC’s new Sat-Sun drama ‘Everyone Is Fighting Their Own Worthlessness’ held at Stanford Hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the 17th. Provided by JTBC

A different kind of healing drama that can cradle the worthlessness felt each day has been heralded.

The press conference for JTBC’s new Sat-Sun drama ‘Everyone Is Fighting Their Own Worthlessness’ (hereafter ‘Mojamussa’) was held on the 17th at Stanford Hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul. In attendance were Koo Kyo-hwan, Go Youn-jung, Oh Jung-se, Kang Mal-geum, Park Hae-joon, Han Sun-hwa, and PD Cha Young-hoon.

Airing at 10:40 p.m. on the 18th, ‘Mojamussa’ takes ‘anxiety’a universal emotion of modern peopleas its keyword and previews a drama that will switch on the ‘green light of life’ for those who have halted at the red signal of worthlessness.

PD Cha Young-hoon takes questions during the press conference for JTBC’s new Sat-Sun drama ‘Everyone Is Fighting Their Own Worthlessness’ at Stanford Hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the 17th. Provided by JTBC

Expectations are especially high for the meeting of writer Park Hae-young, who penned ‘Another Oh Hae-young’, ‘My Mister’, and ‘My Liberation Notes’, and PD Cha Young-hoon, who directed ‘When the Camellia Blooms’.

Cha said, “The protagonist is someone who has lived for 20 years with envy and jealousy. Hwang Dong-man (Koo Kyo-hwan), who has failed to debut as a film director for 20 years, is the protagonist, and he becomes engulfed by his own worthlessness,” adding, “It is not a neat, wish-fulfillment story where he debuts in style and makes a ten-million-admissions film. Today’s disappointment, failure, shame, and self-reproach exist for all of us, so this work sends a small measure of solace that says do not hold on to what upset and exhausted you today.”

On working with writer Park Hae-young, he laughed, “I have to match her unconditionally. I wanted to do extremely well,” and continued, “I wanted to express it beyond what I felt when reading it. When actors deliver lines, particles or nuances can change to fit their own breath or feeling, but we tried to preserve the stage directions exactly, down to every letter and every action. In doing so, I realized, ‘So this was what it meant.’ We worked very hard to express it with real fidelity.”

(From left) Oh Jung-se, Kang Mal-geum, Go Youn-jung, Koo Kyo-hwan, Han Sun-hwa, and Park Hae-joon pose at the press conference for JTBC’s new Sat-Sun drama ‘Everyone Is Fighting Their Own Worthlessness’ at Stanford Hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the 17th. Provided by JTBC

On top of this, a trusted cast including Koo Kyo-hwan, Go Youn-jung, Oh Jung-se, Kang Mal-geum, and Park Hae-joon lends strength.

Taking on his first lead role in a TV drama, Koo Kyo-hwan said, “It is my first time showing the narrative of a character across a 12-hour running time with the intimacy of a vlog. I still feel as if we are filming,” adding, “When I first read the script, I thought a chance to play such a character was coming to me. All I could think was that I wanted to do it. Hwang Dong-man has an attitude toward film similar to mine, but otherwise he is very different. He is more fun than I am, and someone I want to embrace even more.”

Regarding the star-studded production team, Go Youn-jung candidly said, “When I received the casting call, it felt strange. I thought, ‘They would actually cast me,’” and added, “At the start of filming I felt pressure, but it disappeared while working with Koo Kyo-hwan. I naturally came to rely on him. There really are many lines, and he came prepared in diverse ways, so I tried to respond in new ways as well.”

Finally, speaking about the fierce weekend-drama competition, Cha said candidly, “Like a line in our work, it feels as if my heart is on a grill,” yet added, “There are various works such as ‘21st-Century Daegunbuin’ and ‘Shin-i-rang Law Office’, but ours has a different tone. We cheer on works with the tone viewers want, but we hope ours will be that work.”