Hwasa Reveals the Unlikely Story Behind Her First Musical Lead Role

On the September 9 episode of SBS's variety program Miwoo Saekki (also known as My Ugly Duckling), Hwasa sat down with her close friend, model Han Hye-jin, for a meal at one of Hwasa's favorite restaurants in Seoul. What started as a food segment turned into one of the episode's more memorable moments, as Hwasa traced a straight line from her childhood appetite to her earliest career break.

The story began with Hwasa reflecting on growing up as one of three sisters. With limited food at home, she learned early that resources were competitive. By the time she reached school, she had developed a strategy: greet the cafeteria staff loudly and enthusiastically, and they would pile her tray higher. "I always bowed big," she said. "If I greeted them properly, they'd give me an extra sausage."

What she did not anticipate was where that habit would lead. One of the cafeteria workers had grown fond of Hwasa and mentioned her to a contact outside the school, saying there was a student with a clear, bright voice worth paying attention to. That contact turned out to be a musical director. Hwasa was invited to audition for Kongjwi Patjwi, a well-known Korean folk tale staged as a musical, and was cast as Patjwi, one of the two lead roles.

"It was a big production," Hwasa said, "and the other kids auditioning had real experience and credentials. I was just there because I had been polite at the lunch counter. Because I wanted to eat more."

Han Hye-jin, who had been listening in visible disbelief, landed on the obvious through-line: "So every time you eat something, your life changes direction?" The question was a nod to Hwasa's 2019 appearance eating gopchang (grilled beef intestines) on television, a clip that circulated so widely it was credited with triggering a nationwide shortage of the dish. Hwasa acknowledged the pattern with some bemusement, saying she had looked back at that moment herself and found it genuinely strange.

The food conversation between the two had started earlier in the day, when Hwasa and Han Hye-jin visited Namdaemun Market to shop for bath products. While browsing a pajama store there, the two were stopped by a price tag: a single set of British-imported pajamas was listed at 240,000 won (roughly $175 USD). Han Hye-jin reacted with enough surprise that she immediately apologized for the outburst. Hwasa was equally taken aback, noting she had never considered spending that much on sleepwear.

The store owner explained that the shop specializes in imported goods, primarily from Japan but also from the UK, and that the fabric quality accounts for the price difference. The exchange was brief, but it gave the episode one of its lighter comic moments before the two settled in for the meal that produced the more substantive conversation.

For viewers who follow Hwasa's career, the cafeteria story fits a persona she has cultivated openly: someone for whom food is genuinely central, not just a broadcast-friendly affectation. The detail that her very first professional credit traces back to wanting an extra serving at school lunch is the kind of origin story that is almost too tidy to believe, yet specific enough in its detail to feel entirely plausible.