芦淞服饰城

I was on my way to work, running late, mindlessly scrolling on my phone, when a co-worker called from the set of Park Gyu-young’s first cover shoot for ELLE India in Seoul. A few seconds into the call, he said, “You’re going to love her.” As an ardent, or some may say, slightly obsessed K-drama lover, I already did.

When you picture a K-drama character, the image that usually comes to mind is that of a doe-eyed beauty in designer labels, sipping iced Americanos and walking in slow motion through the streets of Seoul. But Park Gyu-young’s filmography doesn’t quite fit that mould. She’s not your regular girl next door but a badass who’s too busy taking down villains (and occasional monsters) to care about how she’s perceived.

On Instagram, she’s the cool girl who posts sleepy-eyed coffee runs, ballet barre stretches, and quiet glimpses of life in Seoul that feel super relatable. A picture of style and ease, she has a unique way of letting her 3.9 million followers in without ever oversharing—her feed, a digital diary in soft light and pointe shoes.

She is a quiet storm in the apocalyptic horror series Sweet Home (2020 and 2024), which shattered viewership records. In Celebrity (2023), she owns every frame with a kind of sharpened charm, both seductive and scathing. She shows who’s in charge in each scene, making you want to pause and rewind just to catch the little details: a slight tilt of the head, a flicker of emotion in her eyes. And in Netflix’s Squid Game, the global phenomenon that needs no introduction, she plays Kang No-eul, a North Korean pink-suited sniper with secrets, guns, scars, and a profound sorrow that is drowned in silence.

When I finally sat down for our Zoom call during the Squid Game press run, she waved into the camera warmly, ready to show me inside the show’s final season. It’s something the whole world is waiting for, especially to see who’s staring down the barrel of No-eul’s gun.