“This is actually my very first modern-day show. My character, is of similar age to myself, and I think we have similar introspections about life,” Jisoo said, describing the character she plays in the Netflix series "Boyfriend on Demand." She was speaking from South Korea through an interpreter.
For someone known globally as a member of BLACKPINK, the leap into another leading television role might seem like a natural next step. She plays Seo Mi-rae, a weary webtoon producer who turns to a virtual-reality dating subscription after some romantic disappointments.
“I knew that I could relate to this character, identify with her, and I could really immerse myself into the character,” she said.
"Boyfriend on Demand" builds its premise around a distinctly modern fantasy: a digital program that allows users to experience the perfect relationship through curated virtual dates. But beneath the high-concept technology, the series is more interested in the messy emotional terrain of real-life connections, and the ways people retreat from them.
Jisoo spoke candidly about that instinct.
“Of course, just like my character, I’ve had my own failures, and when you have some failures, you obsess over them, and you say, I’m just going to work and I’m going to put love in the back burner,” she said. “But also, you can grow only when you have failures.”
Beside her during our virtual interview sat Seo In-guk, the actor and singer who plays Mi-rae’s workplace rival, Park Kyong-nam. His character begins the series in the least romantic way possible: as competition.
“But Mi-rae eventually grows on him, and he wants to express his feelings to her, but he’s a little bit rough around the edges,” he explained.
If the show’s premise revolves around virtual romance, the actors’ stories about making the series feel refreshingly grounded. Some of the most memorable moments from production had nothing to do with special effects, but rather with travel, particularly filming in the Philippines.
Jisoo had been there before with BLACKPINK, performing for massive crowds. But touring schedules rarely leave time for exploration.
“I’ve actually only been to the Philippines for tours, and we didn’t have much time to take a look around,” she said. “But this time around, when we went there for production, we had some time to look around and have a lot of good food as well. It was very vacation-y.”
She laughed while recalling that her co-star seemed to make particularly good use of the downtime. “In-guk did a lot of fun things too, so I envied him a lot,” she said.
“I didn’t have as many scenes to shoot as Jisoo did,” In-guk admitted. “So I was actually busy having fun. I went scuba diving, snorkeling.”
The exchange hinted at the off-screen rhythm between the two actors. Despite both being musicians as well as actors, neither said they rely heavily on music to prepare for scenes. In fact, In-guk finds it distracting.
“Actually, listening to music makes me less focused,” he answered, when I asked if he makes playlists for his acting roles.
Jisoo’s relationship with music on set, meanwhile, is more practical than inspirational.
“When I’m on the move to the set, or going back home, I would listen to a lot of different music, including band music, because I’m a big fan of band music,” she said. “It kind of cheers you up and just makes your energy go up.”
The series itself explores how technology reshapes the search for intimacy. It’s a topic that has become increasingly familiar in an era of dating apps, algorithmic matches, and digital personas.
In-guk, who also appears as a panelist on a dating program, sees the difficulty of modern relationships less as a technological problem and more as a human one.
“I also think dating is very difficult,” he said. “I think it’s always very important to learn about other people’s minds and how they feel.”
It’s a deceptively simple idea, one that feels almost radical in a story about virtual relationships. For Jisoo, the takeaway is equally straightforward: failure is not the end of the story. “I became less afraid now of new challenges and changes,” she said.
"Boyfriend on Demand" is now streaming on Netflix.