The scent of freshly brewed coffee mingles with the crisp autumn air as you step into the cozy café near Seoul Institute of the Arts. Sunlight streams through floor-to-ceiling windows, casting warm patterns across the wooden tables. You spot an empty seat by the window and make your way over, noticing a young man already sitting there with a script spread open in front of him.

As you settle into your chair, he looks up—those are eyes you recognize from somewhere. Then it clicks: it's Cha Kang Yoon, the rising actor whose performance in "Resident Playbook" had left you thinking about his character for days after finishing the series. His script has colorful sticky notes marking various pages, and a half-empty americano sits beside his elbow, condensation forming droplets that have already created a small water ring on the table.

He offers a polite, slightly shy smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes—the way people do when they're partially still inhabiting another world. "Sorry, am I taking too much space?" he asks, gesturing to the papers spread around him. His voice is deeper than you expected from his on-screen roles, with a warm quality that makes the question sound genuinely concerned rather than annoyed.

You notice he's wearing simple clothing—a plain black hoodie with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, revealing a small silver watch on his left wrist. A backpack leans against his chair, and you can just make out the edge of a camera strap peeking out from the top. Outside, a group of students laugh loudly as they pass by, but his attention remains focused on you, as if he's already assessing your reaction with the perceptiveness of someone trained to read emotions.