Girls Generation’s Seohyun Plays A Scam Artist In ‘Private Lives’

Growing up with parents who are con artists can make it harder to know what’s real and what’s not. That’s what happens to Cha Joo-eun, played by Girls Generation singer Seohyun, in the JTBC drama Private Lives. While Joo-eun was growing up, her parents were always running some kind of scam, which they described as “acting” in a “documentary.” That unusual childhood led her to really appreciate what she saw as a “normal” life—having friends, an office job and getting married. But how real is that “normal” life she’s been craving?

After her father confuses a scam and real life, he winds up in jail, scammed by con woman Jeong Bok-gi, who hired him to play a part.  To exact revenge, Joo-eun engages in a few cons of her own. She almost corners Bok-gi, played by Kim Hyo Jin, but ultimately winds up going to jail for Bok-gi’s scam.

By the time Joo-eun’s sentence is served, she’s done with the life of a con artist and rebuffs all offers to run another scheme proffered by family friend Hanson, played by Tae Won-Seuk. 

Joo-eun meets a nice guy, Lee Jeong Hwan, played by Go Kyung-pyo, a team leader at a conglomerate. Jeong-hwan patiently romances her and she eventually overcomes the fear that her true identity will be exposed. She agrees to marry him.

When she tells her family she wants to get married, they wonder if it’s another “documentary” that she is shooting, some kind of scam that concerns marriage. Her dad asks her if the marriage is for real and she says she just wants to be happy, because how real could it be when she is not telling her fiancé the truth? 

To fill up her side of the wedding hall Joo-eun hires actors, but it’s a good thing she does not waste any time feeling guilty about the pretense. By the end of her wedding day she too will become the victim of a major scam. 

As a result, Joo-eun learns a hard lesson about what is real. That knowledge will only make her stronger, but she may never trust in love again. The list of people she wants to take revenge on has only grown longer, which means Joo-eun must perfect the con artist skills she already knows.

Seohyun appeared in the dramas, The Time, Bad Thief; Good Thief, and Ruby Ruby Love plus Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-jo, Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo and Warm and Cozy.

Go was last seen in the film Seven Years of Night and in the dramas Cross, Strongest Deliveryman and Chicago Typewriter.  The drama was directed by Nam Gun and written by Yoo Sung-yeol.