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Note: The article contains spoilers. Read at your own discretion.
Kim Go Eun opens up about playing Mo Eun in The Price of Confession.
The Price of Confession is a mystery thriller that follows Yoon Soo (Jeon Do Yeon), a woman accused of murdering her husband, and Mo Eun (Kim Go Eun), a mysterious woman called a witch, as they make a dangerous deal.
In the early part of the series, Mo Eun is depicted as a psychopath who brutally kills people without batting an eye. She makes a shocking proposal to Yoon Soo: she will confess that she killed Yoon Soo's husband, but in exchange, Yoon Soo must kill one other person outside the prison.
However, as the story progresses, it is revealed that Mo Eun is a character wounded by the loss of both her father and younger sister, and this pain emerges as a catalyst for her murders.
Kim Go Eun comments, "In the first draft of the script, Mo Eun was portrayed as a character who tries to appear like a psychopath, but then I wondered how Mo Eun would behave when she is alone. I thought it might be better if Mo Eun simply stays still, while others misunderstand and interpret her as they wish."
In the K-drama, Mo Eun kills Jin Young In (Choi Young Joon), the real culprit behind the case, and then takes her life. Regarding this choice of her character, Kim said, "Because of what she did, Yoon Soo ended up in trouble, and she simply wanted to set [things] back in order," adding, "It wasn't out of pity or affection for Yoon Soo; it's that Yoon Soo has a place she can return to, while she needed to take responsibility and clean up what [wrong] she had done."
Mo Eun is the family of a victim and a murderer. As the series progresses and Mo Eun's backstory is revealed, support for her character grows. Commenting on this, Kim said, "If true justice was given, things like these wouldn't happen. But they do happen, and when they do, there are repercussions. Put simply, I think that's the point this drama is trying to convey," adding, "Court's rulings can be misjudgments, but a crime is still a crime."
She continued, "People might say that such a crime deserves death, but it's not as if we're asking to forgive committing murder. A crime is a crime, and I thought Mo Eun needed to pay for it. She needed to face what she had done and bear the consequences."
The actress also put considerable effort into crafting the character's look. In fact, Mo Eun's hairstyle was Kim Go Eun's idea. "I didn't want Mo Eun's face to be hidden by her hair, so I wanted her hair to be very short," adding, "In fact, at first I even considered a buzz cut."
Her idea was also heavily implemented in the scene where Mo Eun falls into despair upon hearing of her father's and sister's deaths while in Thailand. Kim Go Eun explained, "During the Thailand shoot, the script didn't specifically describe her situation after [hearing about the] loss of her sibling and father. I suggested that we should express, in a short amount of time, human emotions breaking down like a balloon popping."
Kim also recalls being deeply moved upon receiving praise from her senior, Jeon Do Yeon, on set. "Sunbae arrived late at the Thailand set and said, 'Go Eun, I heard you discussed with the director and came up with that scene yourself. You did a great job,' which deeply touched me. Watching her up close, I realized that she speaks from the heart. She doesn't give compliments just to sound nice, so her words touched even more."
