Lee Min-ho and Ahn Hyo-seop on why they would choose Blackpink’s Jisoo as their ally when fighting monsters

Popular South Korean stars Ahn Hyo-seop and Lee Min-ho brought their smiles, charm and wit as they greeted reporters in Singapore on Tuesday (Jul 29) as part of promotions for their upcoming movie Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy.

Singapore marks the movie's first and only international promotional stop outside of South Korea.

The two were joined by director Kim Byung-woo as they fielded questions at Marina Bay Sands.

In Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy, Ahn Hyo-seop plays Kim Dok-ja, an ordinary office worker who finds himself battling monsters when his favourite novel comes to life.

During the press conference, the 30-year-old, who has seen a rise in his global stardom following roles in 2022's Business Proposal and the smash hit movie KPop Demon Hunters, was asked if he had difficulties playing a "plain-looking character".

Clad in a sleek, all-black ensemble, Ahn was the antithesis of "plain-looking" and cooly replied: "I don't think I'm an outstanding person. 

"Since the story revolves around being ordinary, I asked myself 'What is ordinary?' and 'Who am I?', and I came to the conclusion that my existence itself is ordinary. If I think of myself as outstanding and special, then I won't even be able to start this project. So I worked on balancing out and blurring the boundary between what's ordinary and extraordinary."

Co-starring in the movie is Hallyu icon Lee Min-ho, who plays the brooding Yu Jung-hyeok – the original hero of Dok-ja's favourite novel. 

The 38-year-old echoed Ahn's sentiments of not feeling like an outstanding person.

"In the original web novel, Yu Jung-hyeok was described as having an outstanding and beautiful face that can win over anyone. That was the most difficult part of acting," revealed Lee.

"I consider myself an ordinary person because I believe people should be defined by their internal selves and not their external selves. And I believe I'm internally an ordinary person. Knowing that made it so hard to portray such an outstanding and extraordinary person [like Yu Jung-hyeok]."

With Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy being an adaptation of a megahit franchise that has seen over 2.5 billion views worldwide across its web novel and web comic adaptations, questions have been raised about whether the movie will be a faithful adaptation of its source material.

Director Kim Byung-woo, who won numerous accolades for his 2013 movie The Terror Live, said that there were "inevitable changes" because of the different mediums.

"What I focused on the most was 'How can the story be entertaining and how can audiences find it exciting?' As such, I tried not to get too restrained by the original story," said Kim.

"That being said, whatever you imagined from the web novel, we did portray and bring it to the world of the movie. I just want you to sit down, relax and have fun."

In a moment that brought laughter to attendees of the press conference, all three men admitted that if the events of Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy became reality, they would pick Lee Ji-hye, a character played by Blackpink member Jisoo in the movie, to be their ally.

And it's not exactly for her skill set.

"Instead of her weapon, I'll listen to her songs," quipped Lee Min-ho. "Her music will be the biggest power to me."

Following the press conference, the trio visited special fan screenings of Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy at selected Golden Village outlets.

CNA Lifestyle attended one of the fan screenings at Suntec City, which had fans of various nationalities gathering to meet Ahn and Lee.

The session even saw two lucky fans winning the opportunity to take selfies with the two stars, something that drew large screams from the audience.

Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy will be released for general audiences in Singapore on Jul 31. It follows the story of Kim Dok-ja (played by Ahn Hyo-seop), an ordinary office worker and the only reader of a little-known web novel.

Disappointed with the novel’s ending, Dok-ja sends an angry message to its author, only to have the novel's apocalyptic world suddenly become reality. When the novel’s original hero, Yu Jung-hyeok (played by Lee Min-ho), appears before him, Dok-ja must use his unique knowledge of the story to survive and bring forth a new ending.

Also starring in the movie are singer-actress Nana and actress Chae Soo-bin.