[Dispatch=Reporter Jung Tae-yun] In 15-year-old Yeong-seon's eyes, there is desire. She wanted to have a family, to be loved. That's why she appears greedy, and sometimes like a child who crosses the line.

When standing on the tennis court, her gaze changes. It shines so brightly that you cannot tell what she is running for or where she is heading. In the moment of receiving and returning the ball, vitality appears before deficiency.

Choi Myung-bin interpreted and acted as Yeong-seon a "pure friend." She thought that wanting to have a family and wanting to be loved are such natural emotions for a teenage girl.

Choi Myung-bin did not simply act in the film 'The Girl Pulling the Suitcase'. She understood her character's choices, shared emotions, and conveyed her thoughts to the director.

In doing so, Yeong-seon became a 15-year-old girl who cannot be explained by one emotion alone.

Dispatch recently met with Choi Myung-bin. She spoke about the new starting point she has reached as an actress who fully carries a character beyond child roles.

◆ 'The Girl Pulling the Suitcase'

'The Girl Pulling the Suitcase' is the feature film directorial debut of director Yoon Shim-kyung. She directed the short film 'The Child Who Came to Our House' as a feature. She connected tennis, a dynamic subject matter, with survival instinct to complete it as a realistic drama.

Choi Myung-bin took on the lead role of 'Yeong-seon.' Yeong-seon is abandoned by her adoptive parents and finds herself in a situation where she must return to the orphanage. In the meantime, she comes to stay at Sua's (played by Moon Seung-ah) house as a tennis training partner.

The film has no complex psychological battles or momentous events. It flows only following Yeong-seon's desire to create a family. It depicts the natural emotions of a 15-year-old girl with subtle nuances.

Yeong-seon's face could not contain only desperation. Admiration and jealousy toward Sua, expectations and wariness toward family, the desire to do well and anxiety about possibly being abandoned had to exist simultaneously.

Choi Myung-bin said, "Yeong-seon has a solidity and courage not to collapse in any situation," and added, "I thought I have that part too, so I related to it."

She continued, "Yeong-seon might appear hateful, right? So that she wouldn't appear hateful, I thought about it and expressed it as emotions that a normal 15-year-old girl could sufficiently feel."

◆ Eyes

The completed Yeong-seon was subtle. A child who reaches out toward family but doesn't know how far to extend that hand, thus gradually crossing the line. That's why desire and purity remained simultaneously in her very gaze.

For example, in the scene where Yeong-seon is alone with Sua's mother Ji-young (played by Yoo Da-in) in a car. Yeong-seon casually says, "Ma'am, can we go to our party?" But several emotions were layered in that single line.

Choi Myung-bin recalled, "I think Yeong-seon delivered that line from an emotion where she is neither fully integrated into the family nor can say that she isn't—on the verge of crossing the line. When acting, that emotion was very subtle."

"It seems like she's speaking casually, but it's a scene with multiple emotions packed in it. She wants to be loved by the family, but there's a cautious part to her too. I wanted that subtle difference in emotion to be felt."

◆ Purity

Yeong-seon is skilled enough to intentionally lose matches against Sua. To portray such a character, Choi Myung-bin learned tennis for four months. She stood on the court not only practicing the motion of hitting the ball but also thinking about what tennis means to Yeong-seon.

She revealed, "I liked the 'thwack thwack' sound when the tennis ball hits the racket. Hearing that sound, I started to understand a little why Yeong-seon doesn't let go of tennis."

For Yeong-seon, tennis is not merely a sport. For Yeong-seon, who has no family, it is the only thing that is hers and the driving force that keeps her alive.

Choi Myung-bin said, "At first, I was focused on the idea that I had to play tennis well. But as I practiced, I felt that understanding why Yeong-seon loves this was more important than technique."

Just like Yeong-seon's words in the film, for her, home was an aquarium. A world she looks into and wants to enter. But the final scene hints that the place Yeong-seon will go later is like the sea.

"In the end, Yeong-seon returns to the shelter, but in the final scene where she grabs the tennis racket, I thought she gains new hope. I think she must have told herself, 'I still have courage, I have hope to live, and I can take on new challenges.'"

◆ The Intersection of Yeong-seon and Choi Myung-bin

When talking about Yeong-seon, it naturally leads to Choi Myung-bin. The two have similarities. Rather than staying in given circumstances, they continue to move toward what they want.

For Yeong-seon, it was tennis, and for Choi Myung-bin, it is acting. Choi Myung-bin dreamed of becoming an actress from such an early age that she doesn't remember. She started as a child model and was encouraged to try acting because people said her eyes were good.

At first, the set was fun. She liked the process of creating something with people. But at some point, her attitude toward acting changed.

She explained, "I think it was from when I was doing the dramas 'Lover' and 'Twenty Five Twenty One.' Watching people think deeply about my character, I changed too. I began to think that I didn't just want to act, but I wanted to properly express the character I was given."

From then on, acting became more than just doing it well—it became something she continued to want to do. The same goes for her recent early university enrollment. Choi Myung-bin enrolled in university early because she wanted to learn acting with actors of her age.

She said, "I like learning new things. When I go to the set, I learn from senior actors, and when I go to school, I gain something from acting with friends my age, don't I? The process of learning through sharing opinions and talking is fun."

◆ Not a Child Actor, but an Actress

'The Girl Pulling the Suitcase' is a work that changes the direction of those choices once more. Until now, Choi Myung-bin has acted the childhood of protagonists in several works. She was the face that began the story as the child version of the main character.

This time was different. She had to carry an entire film with her own face. The biggest change was responsibility. She said, "Since I had to carry it from beginning to end, there was pressure. But because of that, I could think more deeply."

While working on this film, she discussed the character with the director and thought about the flow of emotion in each scene. When she had ideas, she suggested them, and many parts were reflected in her actual acting.

Now she was becoming less of an actress who expresses a given character as is, and more of one who interprets a character and finds her own answers.

"It was fun to tell the director about my vision of Yeong-seon and align it with what the director envisioned. There are clearly limits to what can be expressed by acting alone. I believe that when acting and direction go together, something much better can come out."

◆ Now, the Beginning

Choi Myung-bin does not want to define herself by one image. Right now she wants to show the fresh face of youth, and sometimes she wants to try action. She also wants to challenge characters with a neutral atmosphere different from what she has shown so far.

What matters is not staying in one image. She emphasized, "I don't find the answer clearly. I want to try various methods and challenge myself in many ways to see if there's a better approach."

Yeong-seon is pulling the suitcase and has just begun to find her own path. So where has actress Choi Myung-bin arrived? "I think I've just started. Rather than having a destination, I'm in a state of challenging and attempting many things," she revealed.

Starting as a child actress, deciding to go to university, choosing new roles—all of these were her own decisions. The time spent making these choices one by one has made her who she is now.

She said, "Acting is so fun. My next project is also a film called 'Baby from the Future.' I took on a spirited and cynical role. I'm excited because I think I'll be able to show a different side from Yeong-seon."

Finally, she sent greetings to the audience of 'The Girl Pulling the Suitcase.'

"I hope you feel as Yeong-seon felt—that in any circumstance, you do not give up and hold courage and hope in your life. Also, I hope it becomes a time when you can ask yourself: what is the driving force of my life?"

<Photos provided by Cider, OThroughCollection>