Why Is Oh Jung-se Stealing the Show From Gang Dong-won?

"I like you — I like you because you're pretty."

The honeyed voice of a ballad prince is painting social media pink. Choi Seong-gon (played by Oh Jung-se), a character in the film "Wild Things," has sparked a phenomenon that extends well beyond the screen, driven by his ballad "I Like You." The song's music video, released June 2, had racked up 1.94 million views as of Thursday, while clips of Seong-gon's stage performances and looping sing-alongs have also gone viral. "I Like You" even cracked the real-world music chart — Melon's Hot 100 — rallying a dedicated fandom that calls itself "Gondyu." For a character whose running gag is finishing perpetually second, it is quite the moment in the sun.

Characters with an unmistakable presence are winning over audiences in cinemas and on streaming alike. Figures who once lurked in the shadow of the lead are now extending their lives beyond the work itself, powered by distinctive personalities and committed performances. Today's viewers no longer follow only the protagonist's arc — characters armed with sharp concepts, meme-worthy moments and narrative depth are becoming the true center of how content is consumed.

The fervor surrounding Choi Seong-gon reflects a shift in how audiences consume characters and content.

"Wild Things," which opened June 3, is a comedy about a three-member mixed-gender dance group called Triangle that once dominated the pop scene before an unexpected scandal broke them up overnight. Twenty years later, the group seizes a reckless shot at a comeback. In the film, Choi Seong-gon is Triangle's rival — a perennial runner-up ballad singer who is central to the story yet functions more as a prominent supporting presence alongside the main trio.

Once the film opened, however, public attention swung swiftly toward Seong-gon. His journey from a long-haired, blouse-wearing ballad prince with a wistful gaze and a velvety voice to a catcher desperately chasing his dream delivers laughs and genuine emotion in equal measure. Some critics have gone so far as to say Seong-gon carries the entire film. Audience reactions — "the whole world is falling for Gon" and "hope he finishes second again in 2026" — have themselves become part of the fun.

Oh Jung-se's all-in performance — long hair, physical comedy and all — played a major role in the character's popularity. The marketing and distribution team also deserves credit: sensing the unusual buzz early, it quickly focused its promotional firepower on Seong-gon-related content.

In a recent interview, Oh reflected on the response with characteristic modesty. "I find my own birthday parties the most stressful thing — reactions like this can make me shrink," he said. "But I think this kind of popularity may not last long. I'll enjoy it gratefully for as long as it does."

Netflix's "Chamgyoyuk," riding a wave of cathartic satisfaction that audiences have dubbed "Kim Mu-yeol's brand of justice," is also reaping the rewards of its vividly realized supporting cast. Released June 5, the series is based on a webtoon of the same name and follows the Education Rights Protection Agency — a unit created to defend teachers and restore order in schools torn apart by students, parents and administrators. As of Thursday, it ranked second globally on Netflix according to FlixPatrol, drawing viewers worldwide.

Each episode pits the agency against a different school and a different villain, and it is those villains who have captured viewers' attention. They range from a relentlessly aggressive parent who harasses teachers at every turn, to a middle schooler who invokes juvenile protection laws as a shield while breaking them freely, to a high schooler at the center of a drug distribution ring on campus. The performances feel ripped from real life, and that authenticity has provoked genuine outrage — and left a lasting impression.

By far the most talked-about is Park Ji-yeon, who plays Woojin's mom, an overbearing parent who smothers her son and bombards his teacher with malicious complaints. Park constructs the character with precision — from hair-trigger expressions to an icy, creeping menace — embodying the archetype of the real-world helicopter parent who sees only her own child. Particularly striking is a late-episode breakdown scene in which the character loses all composure under protagonist Na Hwa-jin's (Kim Mu-yeol) intervention, generating tension that rivals a thriller.

Lee Bong-jun, who plays Jo Gyu-cheol — the series' ultimate villain and the very reason the Education Rights Protection Agency was founded — has made an equally powerful impression. His character, a paroled convict who re-enrolls at Jinwon High School and threads through the story from beginning to end, adds weight to the entire series. Jo Gyu-cheol's intelligence is what makes him so unsettling: he enters wearing the mask of a deeply remorseful inmate, then slowly peels it back to reveal a calculating, cold-blooded nature that lends persuasive force to the series' central message about restoring teachers' rights and what genuine education really means.

The growing spotlight on supporting characters reflects a broader change in how audiences engage with content, analysts say. As scenes get clipped and remixed into short-form videos that spread rapidly, characters who can command attention in just a few seconds have gained outsized influence. With a single scene or a single line capable of becoming its own standalone piece of content, fandoms built around specific characters — rather than entire works — are emerging. Choi Seong-gon, armed with his bittersweet charm and an addictive song, is the clearest example: he has evolved from a supporting role into a character intellectual property in his own right.

"These days, a lot of viewers encounter a specific scene through an algorithm first, then get drawn into the full work because of a character they liked," said an official at a streaming service. "A single scene often gets consumed longer than the whole narrative, and now there's a real sense that a character itself can be its own piece of content."