After GOT7 parted ways with JYP Entertainment earlier this year, most of Jinyoung’s bandmates focused on building solo careers in music while he focused on acting. His latest project is the gripping new drama from Studio Dragon and tvN called The Devil Judge.
The drama is set in a dystopian version of South Korea, where the people harbor hatred for their leaders and live in chaos. Trials are aired live on TV while the entire country watches. Jinyoung plays associate judge Kim Ga-On alongside actor Ji Sung, who plays chief judge Kang Yo Han.
According to the veteran actor, Jinyoung is very mature and responsible. At a press conference for the show, Ji Sung praised the GOT7 member effusively.
“Jinyoung-ssi thought a lot about his character, so he was able to do well. Also, he’s very lovely and pretty. He’s so loveable and very polite towards the director, me, and his other sunbaes,” he told reporters.
Jinyoung’s dedication was evident in a behind-the-scenes video uploaded by the show’s staff. In the video, Ji Sung can be seen clapping Jinyoung on the back while a staff member says, “What hurts more, your shoulder or your wound?”
Meanwhile, Ji Sung tells Jinyoung, “I’ll slap you like that. It hurt, right? I think your reaction now is really good. You understand hyung’s feelings, don’t you? We talked about this. I know I told you that we’ll just go hard once, but I think we’re going to have to do this a few times.”
To his credit, Jinyoung didn’t complain. Instead, he continued to put his best foot forward. He worked with Ji Sung to make the scene they were filming look as realistic as possible.
Former judge Moon Yoo Suk, whose writing credits include the hit legal drama Miss Hammurabi, is also the screenwriter behind The Devil Judge. He also has nothing but nice things to say about Jinyoung. “I really think he’s doing great at playing Kim Ga On, who doesn’t lose his sincerity and seriousness despite his hardships.”
There’s something Jinyoung himself hasn’t lost—his love for GOT7 fans, collectively known as Ahgases. They’ve been keeping a really close eye on this newest endeavor of his, and it turns out he may have found a clever way to thank them for their support.
In episodes three and four of The Devil Judge, audiences get to see him without a shirt, exposing his character’s back tattoo in the process. The tattoo is of a bird, which sent his fans into a tailspin. “Ahgase,” the name by which GOT7 fans are known, is a Korean word that means “baby birds” in English. Furthermore, the tattoo appears to be tinted green, which is one of GOT7’s official colors (white is the other).
Here's a clip from one of the episodes in question. You can see the tattoo at the 0:59 mark.
Jinyoung isn’t the only one who inserted a reference to GOT7 in his post-JYP Entertainment work. So did his bandmate Youngjae, who did a sitcom called So Not Worth It for Netflix and tvN. Not only did he mention the “Mark Meal,” invented by their bandmate Mark Tuan, but Youngjae also asked for birds to be incorporated into the décor of his character Sam’s room. If you watch the show, you’ll see figurines and plushies of birds all over the place.
Thanks to Jinyoung’s character’s tattoo, Ahgases can rest easy knowing that the center, sub-vocalist, and visual of GOT7 carries them all in his heart wherever he goes.