Actor Lee Gye-in breaks down in tears at late Choi Bool-am's memorial, recalls final phone call

Actor Lee Gye-in broke down in tears while paying his final respects to the late actor Choi Bool-am.

According to Insight, Lee visited the memorial altar set up for Choi at Asan Medical Center on Saturday. His face was filled with grief as he came to say goodbye to his sunbae of 40 years.

At the memorial, Lee wept before he could even speak about losing Choi. "How could I put it all into words?" he said, tears already streaming down his face.

"For 40 years, we lived in Yeouido just one block apart," Lee recalled. "We drank together more than anyone. After I moved away from Yeouido, he told me he felt empty."

Lee and Choi appeared together as father and son in numerous drama series, including "Susa Banjang" (Chief Inspector), "Yeongung Sidae" (Age of Heroes) and "Jeonwon Ilgi" (Country Diary). "He worked with me on more drama series than anyone else," Lee said, his voice breaking. "You have to say we spent our whole lives together."

Lee choked up again as he offered his farewell. "Take care, hyungnim. How could you leave me behind like this?"

He grew emotional again as he recalled his last phone call with Choi.

"He called me from the hospital and said he wanted to eat spicy fish stew," Lee said. "I prepared it and called the hospital to ask about bringing it in, but they said it wasn't allowed. After that, he stopped answering the phone — and the stew is still sitting in my refrigerator."

Choi died Thursday at around 10 p.m. at the age of 87. He had undergone surgery for a herniated disc in March last year and continued rehabilitation, but his health deteriorated sharply in recent weeks.