[Edaily Starin YUN GI BACK Reporter] “I wish it had just been an affair.”
Actress Kim Hye-soo cited this line as the most memorable line from *It’s Not About the Affair*. Although the title prominently featured “affair,” the drama actually delved into secrets far more complex and dangerous than that. At the center of it all, Kim Hye-soo brought to life Park Kyung-hee, a character in whom the desire for success, anxiety, and the instinct for survival were all intertwined.

The Coupang Play series “It’s Not About the Affair” is a black comedy that depicts the journey of Park Kyung-hee (Kim Hye-soo)—who rose from a demolition village to become an influencer with 1 million followers—as she becomes entangled in an unbearable secret that shakes the world she has built.
On the 5th, Kim Hye-soo shared her thoughts on wrapping up the series through her agency, Hodoo & You Entertainment. She described the project as a journey where, as an actress, she grappled with the questions “What more can I do?” and “How far can I let go?” adding, “I think this will be a project that showcases yet another new facet of me as an actress.”
The scene she cited as the most memorable is from Episode 7. It is a moment where the main characters gather in one space and confront each other’s secrets, desires, and fears. Director Lee Chang-hee structured approximately 40 minutes of the scene in real time, causing the characters’ emotions and movements to collide all at once.
For Kim Hye-soo as well, this scene was a moment that encapsulated the character of Park Kyung-hee. As all the characters enter the order she had painstakingly established, no one is able to fully control the situation. Kim Hye-soo reflected that what she found most intriguing about this scene was how humor, tension, and fear all operated simultaneously.
It wasn’t just the dialogue and acting that defined Park Kyung-hee. Her glamorous outfits and voluminous hairstyles served as another visual device to convey her desire to avoid falling back into the depths of despair.
In particular, Kim Hye-soo cited a burgundy slit dress and a brick-colored satin trench coat as the most memorable outfits. This choice was meant to signify that, once the plot unfolded in earnest, Park Kyung-hee’s wardrobe would shift toward blood-red hues. The complex imagery of burgundy—embodying not only desire and sensuality but also anxiety and traces of blood—was designed to align with Park Kyung-hee’s state of mind.
The charm of Park Kyung-hee, as portrayed by Kim Hye-soo, lay precisely in this contradiction. She dresses lavishly and maintains formal decorum in an attempt to emulate the lifestyle of the upper class, yet harsh words spill out the moment her emotions erupt. Outwardly, she appears to have everything under control, but she only crumbles when left alone. The wider the gap between her glamorous exterior and her anxious inner self, the more vivid the character became.
Ultimately, *“It’s Not About the Affair Right Now”* was not merely a simple affair scandal. It used the framework of a black comedy to explore how far a person willing to do anything to protect their success can change in the face of crisis, and at what moment their hidden true nature reveals itself.
At the heart of it all, Kim Hye-soo left behind yet another “new face,” just as she had said. Since its release, the series has consistently ranked No. 1 on Coupang Play’s popularity chart and also topped the cumulative viewership rankings in its first week.