Jang Yi-soo again? ‘The Roundup: Punishment’ couldn’t have done it without Park Ji-hwan [Kim Na-yeon’s line of sight]

The series of movies has characters that audiences love. No matter what anyone says, the ‘The Roundup: Punishment’ series revolves around ‘Maseokdo’, played by actor Ma Dong-seok, but it is the responsibility of Park Ji-hwan, who played the role of ‘Jang Soo’, who started the series, to further enhance the ‘flavor’ of the movie. Just his appearance raises the eyebrows of the audience, making it impossible to imagine the ‘The Roundup’ series without ‘Jang Soo’.

‘The Roundup 4’ is about the monster detective Ma Seok-do (played by Ma Dong-seok) who returns to face the villain Baek Chang-gi (played by Kim Moo-yeol), a former special forces mercenary who runs a large-scale online illegal gambling organization, and the IT industry genius CEO Jang Dong-cheol (played by Lee Dong-hwi). (played by Park Ji-hwan), a film depicting a crime eradication operation carried out together with the Kwangsoo Unit and the Cyber ​​Team.

Park Ji-hwan, who joined the ranks of Chungmuro’s representative ‘scene stealers’ by leaving a strong impression as Jang Yi-soo, the leader of the Lee Su-hwan in ‘The Roundup’ (2017), later reappeared as Maseokdo’s unofficial assistant in ‘The Roundup 2’ (2022) and became even more popular. It gave off a more upgraded presence and brought laughter.

He came back in ‘The Roundup 4’. Jang Yi-soo, who grew from the original scene stealer of the series to the main character who leads the play and is Maseok-do’s unofficial assistant, is literally the hidden card of this movie.

In order to catch a criminal organization based in the Philippines that has taken over the illegal online gambling market in Korea through kidnapping, confinement, assault, and murder, Ma Seok-do visits Jang Yi-soo, who is well versed in the physiology of illegal online gambling, and asks for help. Of course, Jang Yi-soo is not pleased and says, “You’re being rude again,” but as always, he has no choice but to cry and comply with Maseok-do’s demands.

The ‘The Roundup’ series is a work that has set an unprecedented record of cumulative audience number of ’30 million’. This popularity is due to the unique and powerful action and humor that resonated with the audience, and in terms of humor, Jang Yi-soo boasts a proportion that is comparable to that of the main character, Maseok-do.

The laughter batting average is also high. Even the moment Jang Yi-soo, who has transformed into a long-haired man, appears holding a Gucci bag, it brings laughter to the movie theater, so his presence in itself serves as a hidden card in ‘The Roundup 4’. Jang Yi-soo’s character utilization is excellent not only in the chemistry with Maseok-do but also in the flow of major events.

Jang Yi-soo’s appearance in both ‘The Roundup 2’ and ‘The Roundup 4’ seems to have acted as a ‘act of God.’ Park Ji-hwan said his role is to fill a ‘gap’ in his films, and he plays his role perfectly. He said, “Of course I am grateful and happy to appear in the ‘The Roundup’ series, but there was also pressure and difficult points.” He also added, “How can I make this movie witty and enjoyable while (my role) is neither too meaningful nor too meaningless?” “I was worried about whether to let it flow,” he said.

Ma Dong-seok said, “Jang Soo’s humor is the identity of the ‘The Roundup’ series.” From scene stealer to identity, audience expectations are rising to see what kind of performance Jang Yi-soo will perform in the future ‘The Roundup’ series.