Sooyoung, along with her co-stars Kim Minjung, Oh Jiho, and Kim Seungwoo from her upcoming drama, “The 3rd Hospital”, were featured in the September issue of “Singles” Magazine. The cast took part in a photoshoot as well as a fun interview that showed their playful and comfortable relationship with each other. The first episode of “The 3rd Hospital” will air on September 5th at 11PM KST on tvN.

I heard Girls’ Generation’s Yuri and Sooyoung held a birthday party for Kim Minjung. I assume you would have been jealous that she has a fixed member, while the job of actors is a lonely one, always having to move alone.

Kim Minjung: That’s right. Because Girls’ Generation members are close, they visited the set often. It was interesting, and I was jealous thinking about how they could give each other strength.

There are a lot of members who have doubled as actresses, do they give you acting advice, too?

Oh Jiho: Sooyoung is the best at acting.

Now that I think about it, I’ve seen Sooyoung at a theater. If it’s to the point where you go to watch musicals alone, I thought that you were fairly serious about acting. But I learned that your sister is a musical actress?

Kim Seungwoo: Her sister will be making an appearance in the drama, too. She was good at acting. I heard she was in a musical recently, but I didn’t get to see it.

Sooyoung: After the work called ‘King Sejong’ is over, she will be starting ‘Looking For Kim Jongwook’, so come watch that. It’s something that my sister has really been wanting to do for a while.

Kim Seungwoo: Wow. ‘Looking For Kim Jongwook’? Isn’t that a gateway-like musical for stars? Your sister is popular.

Honestly, based on just looks, it would be right for Oh Jiho to do Western medicine, and for Kim Seungwoo to do oriental medicine. (laugh)

Kim Seungwoo: We should have done that. Haha. Because he has a more Western look. He’s Agrippa. It’s hard not being greasy while being this good-looking. It’s Jiho’s strength.

Oh Jiho: I worked under a company in 1998. Someone said I looked greasy as soon as they saw my profile picture.

Kim Seungwoo: It was ’98. I was a star then, paying 700 million won in taxes. (laugh)

Oh Jiho: You do that now, too.

Kim Seungwoo: I’m saying I’ve been doing this for that long. [Translator's note: implying the taxes part was a joke]

Sooyoung: Kim Seungwoo oppa’s comedy concept is ‘acting conceited’. (laugh)

Kim Seungwoo: It’s not acting conceited, but being a distinguished person. (laugh)

All the main characters are doctors and only Sooyoung is a musician. Did you not have any sense of alienation? The situation was like being the only ordinary person while everyone was in their superhero costume in the ‘Avengers’.

Sooyoung: I was a little jealous of them wearing a doctor’s gown. I normally wanted to take on the role of a doctor, but I’m the youngest on the set, and I come on as a weak character. Also, being amongst people wearing doctor’s gowns makes me feel protected, so it’s nice.

Kim Minjung: Sooyoung actually stands out the most.

You’re a member that girls like the most out of Girls’ Generation. I thought you had a more laid-back image, but I heard you’re feminine and do a lot of aegyo, too? How did you adjust?

Sooyoung: I had a little trouble at the beginning. I’m shy and am the type where it takes a long time to get close. But my role in the drama is very bright and talking informally to people I meet for the first time. I think the insides are similar though.

Kim Seungwoo: You look like you’d be like that though?

Sooyoung: Oh, really? I will take that as you saying that I act well. (laugh)

Kim Seungwoo: I’m friends with Sooyoung on KakaoTalk, and she’s no joke at acting conceited. When I wrote, ‘You’re so pretty,’ on KakaoStory, she said, ‘Hmph. You’re just noticing? I’ve been pretty’. (laugh)

Oh Jiho: She should be like that. The generation where celebrities play innocent saying, ‘I’m not~’ has passed.

Sooyoung has a lot of overseas activities. Did you film the drama amidst all of that?

Sooyoung: There weren’t that many overseas schedules. The company was considerate in letting me focus on the drama aside from group activities. It’s a pre-production. The script was out early, and because there was time to spare, I was able to focus comfortably. When I saw my other members receiving pages of scripts like a live broadcast system [Translator's note: receiving parts of the script close to the actual air date, rather than receiving the entire script at once like Sooyoung did] I thought, ‘I don’t think I could do it like that’. The members who were able to do it under those conditions are really great.

Kim Seungwoo: Don’t be surprised while watching our drama, [surprised at] Sooyoung acting so well.

Is she better than Yoona? She [Yoona] is the member who has become most situated as an actress.

Oh Jiho: From what I’ve seen, [Sooyoung] is better.

Kim Seungwoo: Everyone has their own style when it comes to singing or acting, so it’s not fair comparing them, but Sooyoung was really surprising. When I met Lee Sooman privately, I complimented her, saying she was really good, and he said, ‘Sooyoung always acted the best.’

You’re a good senior. Complimenting a co-worker in front of their boss is loyalty.

Kim Seungwoo: I don’t have a business relationship with Lee Sooman and am friends with him personally. I really wanted to meet him to talk about things like this because she’s so commendable. Because judging whether her acting is good or bad is up to the viewers, I’ll set that aside, but her posture on set was really good. She wasn’t like other idols these days. She was just trying to focus, but what does a kid know. (laugh) How cute would that be.

Oh Jiho: She told me that she’s trying to focus, so not to laugh.

Sooyoung: Oppas and unnies can laugh and immediately focus when filming starts, but I can’t because I’m a beginner. But they keep teasing me before filming. They kept making me laugh, so I was sad I couldn’t focus well that day.

(more…)