Actor Lee Hae-in bought a building worth over W4b — now paying W13m a month in interest, turns to TikTok

Actor Lee Hae-in, who reportedly took out a loan of about 3.2 billion won ($2.39 million) to purchase a building worth more than 4 billion won, has announced a TikTok live-streaming venture to help cover the monthly interest payments.

Lee announced Saturday on SNS that the "building owner's interest repayment project" was underway.

"My monthly loan interest alone comes to 13 million won," Lee said, adding that after scrambling to fill vacant units and even looking into part-time work, no solution had emerged. "So I'm starting a new challenge."

Lee added: "I'm going to try earning the interest money through TikTok broadcasts — I want to see for myself whether I can actually cover it."

The plan is to generate income through live broadcasts on the short-form platform and test how much of the building's loan interest that revenue can offset.

Lee had earlier revealed in February that the building was purchased with a 3.2 billion won loan, drawing widespread attention. But the reality of life as a property owner fell far short of the dream.

In August, after vacancies opened up and some tenants fell behind on monthly rent, Lee described the situation as that of a "survival-mode landlord," saying, "I thought buying a building meant I wouldn't have to work — turns out it was a mirage."

"By my calculations, I should only need to cover about 1 million won a month myself, but some tenants are behind on rent," Lee explained at the time. "So right now I'm still paying around 3 million to 4 million won out of pocket every month."

Lee also noted that even filling every vacant unit would not yield the rental income originally hoped for. "Even if all the vacancies are filled, after everything is deducted, I'd be lucky to have 1 million won left at the end of the month," Lee said.

Meanwhile, Lee debuted in the entertainment industry in 2005 as an advertising model and became more widely known through the tvN program "Jaemitneun TV Rollercoaster." More recently, Lee has been active as a content creator, primarily on YouTube and SNS.