Heo Nam-joon: "My Father Used to Put Me to Work on the Farm; These Days He Tells Me Not to Come Since I’m Busy"

Heo Nam-joon, the male lead of SBS’s Friday-Saturday drama A Wonderful New World, appeared on tvN variety program You Quiz on the Block on June 24 and opened up about the part-time jobs he once took on, including demanding work at construction sites. The drama had concluded its run on June 20, and Heo used the broadcast to look back on the years before his current visibility as an actor.

Heo recalled working across a wide range of jobs, from a beer pub to the shoe department of a department store and apartment redevelopment sites. “I helped put up a building in Sindang-dong, and I worked at an apartment redevelopment site in Gwacheon,” he said. He explained that, at the time, his daily routine meant waking up at 4 a.m. and heading to a labor office before the day’s work began.

Even though he believed he had trained hard physically, the reality of construction labor was harsher than expected. “I thought I had worked out pretty diligently in my own way, but after my first day, when I woke up the next morning, my body felt like it was falling apart,” Heo said. “Still, I pretended I was fine and worked hard. Normally people rested on weekends, but I did not rest and kept going for three straight months.”

Heo said the pay arrangement motivated him to keep saving. “They said that, instead of paying me a fixed amount every day, they would calculate my daily wage at 130,000 won and pay it weekly,” he explained. “Since I earned 910,000 won a week, I saved it as soon as I received it.” He described that period as one in which he pushed himself intensely through physical work.

By contrast, Heo admitted that service-industry work did not come easily to him. Speaking about his time selling shoes at a department store, he said, “I was not good at it. I am so sorry to the owner. When a customer said, ‘This item looks good,’ I was supposed to go to the stockroom and bring it out, but I did not understand the system to the point where my self-esteem dropped and I wondered, ‘Am I stupid?’”

He said the difficulty continued even after more than a month on the job. “Even after working for over a month, when I went into the stockroom, I still could not figure out how the system operated,” he recalled. “Other people found things quickly and well, but it took me all day. There were even times when the customer left while I was still trying.” Heo confessed that service work was not a natural fit for him.

Heo also revealed that, thanks to his father, who farms in Hoengseong, Gangwon Province, he learned how to operate agricultural machinery. “I also do a certain amount of farm work because I have no choice,” he said. “When my father left things in the field, I would take the sun directly while driving the combine.”

He then described how his parents’ attitude has changed as his schedule has become busier. “My father used to make me work, saying, ‘What are you so busy with?’ But these days he says, ‘Do not come. You are busy, so why come all the way here?’” Heo said, sharing the shift in how his family now responds to his work.