All good things come with you, JHJ!

Hyun-Jae, I happen to know you through a Korean drama, so I looked for all your TV dramas that I could get hold of. I am not a TV fan; it's all because of you. When I watch the characters you play, I often forget it's only TV. I feel that's the real you.

There are many teary scenes in "Love Letter", but I did not shed tears, except once. That's when the mother you never know asks to meet you. You who grow up in a Catholic orphanage put on with great care the sweater given to you by someone you call "Auntie" and stand waiting outside the door in the cold. Those little gestures of yours touching the sweater and looking at your watch gives me a lump in my throat. Actually to you she is a stranger you've only met once. What are you looking for? That moment wrings my heart. Sitting in front of my computer in the office, tears run uncontrollably down my face. When you discover that sleepless night that she is your mother, you squat on the street with another orphan Eun-Ha and you embrace in the cold, like two little lonely creatures, abandoned by this world.

I've been to your fan sites. I know you had a hard time growing up. But you're like Andrea. All that suffering, all that pain did not affect your inner qualities, could not change your positive attitude to life. How can you possess such an angelic face and smile? I cannot see the ravages of time on your face. Is it because you possess an equally noble heart?

And then I saw your historical drama "Seo Dong Yo". I was very surprised that someone as young as you could play so convincingly the title character from a child to a king, all his transformation through different phases of life. Only seasoned actors are capable of that. But you did it. Is it because of your unusual personal experiences?

In the drama, during the ten years after your friend died, you're saddled with guilt, but you persevere in trying to gain acceptance by members of Taehaksa in spite of repeated rejection, repudiation, being framed, and constant beatings and scoldings.

You meet the Princess again whom you haven't seen in ten years, and in a half-coma you take her to be your deceased mother. You say: "Mother, it's my fault. I'm tired. Take me with you." Such a painful, lonely confession! Is it inspired by your own suffering and loneliness? After you recover from your illness, you see the Princess and I see you smile for the first time in ten years. How can I describe how that smile touches me? So radiant as if this world never had any pain or darkness! Do you hide all your sufferings and present a brave face to those who love you?

We come to this world alone. We spend our lives searching -- for our emotions, for meaning in life, for our companions. But Heaven does not grant this blessing to everyone. That's why I feel we are all loners in this world. We try to find deliverance. In "Love Letter", your favourite book is a fairy tale. God finally lets down a rope for those who have suffered a great deal and bring them to heaven. We're all searching for that rope. When at first you feel helpless and hopeless, I don't know if you believe in the existence of this rope.

But you have brought a character to life and let me believe in the existence of this rope, that we are not actually solitary units. Heaven will tell you everything exists, if only in an imaginary world on the screen. And you, you exist in the flesh, don't you? What does it matter what methods are used? All the good things that come with you are presents from Heaven. Thank you, Jo Hyun-Jae!

(Credit: www.myblog.yahoo.com by daisy, posted on johyunjaechina.com by mcc. Original in Chinese.)