[MyDaily = Reporter Kim Ha-young] Actress Park Ji-hyun discusses researching Lee Hyori to prepare for a film role and the advice she received from her father, a doctor who battled cancer.
The 345th episode of tvN’s variety show You Quiz on the Block, airing on the 27th, highlights people who “live life with relentless drive.” The episode features pharmacists Cha Seung-hyun and Park Geun-mi from one of the country’s largest hospital pharmacies, Ji Han-gu, a teacher who used fitness to boost students’ confidence, trendsetting actor Lee Joon, and Park Ji-hyun, an actress who even embraced an idol concept for a role.
First, the program takes viewers behind the scenes of a frenetic day at the Asan Medical Center pharmacy in Seoul. About 180 pharmacists staff the unit, filling roughly 150,000 prescriptions a day. The segment also shows the drug storage room that holds roughly 3 billion KRW (about $2.25 million) in oncology medications.
Park Geun-mi, a pediatric pharmacist with 23 years’ experience, and Cha Seung-hyun, a pharmacist who has worked four years in the oncology injection compounding unit, explain the extreme precision required in their work. The episode follows drug preparation for premature infants under 500 grams (about 1.1 lb), addresses shortages of essential neonatal medicines, outlines how the costly CAR‑T drug Kymriah is managed—valued at about 400 million KRW (roughly $300,000)—and highlights a chemo compounding robot worth in the neighborhood of 1 billion KRW (about $750,000).
The show then profiles Ji Han-gu, a Korean language teacher at Yeongnam Technical High School in Daegu who built students’ confidence through fitness. He says he is “a language teacher, not a gym teacher,” and describes starting a fitness club using bodyweight exercises in an empty classroom. The club grew into a popular program with a 5-to-1 application rate. The segment follows students who collectively lost as much as 36 kg (about 79 lb) in two months and documents their transformations.
Ji also discusses competing in a bodybuilding contest in his 40s, the three attempts it took to become a teacher, and a former student who overcame school bullying to find a new purpose—stories that deliver genuine emotional resonance.
Actor Lee Joon, recently hailed as one of South Korea’s most industrious performers, opens up about his work ethic. He shares the behind-the-scenes of a “triceps cheerleader” transformation he posted on YouTube and how he learned choreography for 40 songs in just two days. On set, he performs Choi Yena’s “Catch Catch,” takes on Ailee’s “It’s Me” challenge—praised by Yoo Jae-suk—and addresses the controversy around his “currency value” remark.
Lee also recounts working from a young age during the IMF crisis, practicing in school rehearsal rooms while avoiding cockroaches, and the long road to debuting with the group MBLAQ.
Finally, Park Ji-hyun, whose schedule is packed with back-to-back projects, discusses her return in the film Wild Thing. She talks about becoming the center of a retro coed idol group called “Triangle,” a role already attracting attention from the trailer, and about studying Lee Hyori as a model for her character.
Park recounts striking rehearsal stories—losing a one-shot take while filming with Kang Dong-won and Um Tae-goo—and will debut a solo stage, “Love is,” on the show. She shares surprising anecdotes about typically introverted co-stars who suddenly commanded the camera and demonstrates a playful “human copier” routine.
Now a 10-year veteran, Park reflects on childhood role-play that revealed her flair for acting, scoring 900 on the TOEIC during school, and how studying Spanish at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies helped steer her toward acting. She recalls more than 100 unsuccessful auditions during her early years and traces her steady rise through projects from The Youngest Son of a Chaebol Family to Hidden Face and Eun-jung and Sang-yeon.
Most poignantly, Park says she consulted her father, a physician who endured cancer treatment, to prepare for portraying a terminal patient in Eun-jung and Sang-yeon. She also shares family stories she has never revealed publicly, expresses special affection for co-star Kim Go-eun, and describes how she hopes to see herself in 10 years.
The episode airs today, the 27th, at 8:45 p.m. KST.
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