'You Quiz' interpreter Park Ji-won mentioned her parents' reaction when she quit being a lawyer.

On the afternoon of the 28th, tvN's 'You Quiz on the Block' featured Cha Min-a, who works as a nurse in a Saudi hospital, webtoon artist Eom Yu-jin, Park Ji-won, who left the high-salary lawyer career to pursue a new dream, and Kim Jun-young and Sa Gong-hye-ran, a couple who welcomed quintuplets through natural conception.

Park Ji-won became known as the protagonist who passed the bar exam at the youngest age of 20, ranking 5th among 500 passers. She never missed being first in her class and enrolled in Seoul National University’s Business Administration program, passing the bar exam and becoming a lawyer at a leading law firm, earning a salary in the hundreds of millions. However, after eight years, she unexpectedly submitted her resignation and set out to find her true dream.

Park Ji-won said, "When I was young, my parents had a clear vision for the life they wanted for me. They thought, 'It would be good if my daughter had this type of job.' They were convinced that having a job with the syllable 'sa' in it would make their daughter happy. Both my father, a university professor, and my mother, a middle school teacher, were in the education sector and emphasized the importance of jobs with the syllable 'sa.' When I was younger, they wanted me to be a doctor. But since I wasn't good at math, they told me to switch to the humanities."

She continued, "At school, doing well in studies was important, and I was trapped in the idea that 'every student's goal is to go to Seoul National University.' To ensure my success, my parents set up the house accordingly. There was no TV, and I think they removed it when I was in middle school. Back then, I was so focused on studying that it was rumored I didn’t know who Yoo Jae-suk was. Although I didn't completely not know him, I had cut off exposure to the world to that extent. I repeated the cycle of school and home, thinking 'people exist to eat and study.' I realized it was necessary to go to Seoul National University. I always focused on studying, raising my grades, and being first. I was mostly first during my school years."

Prior to the bar exam, she suffered from severe atopic dermatitis and binge eating disorder, saying, "I endured the bar exam life while going through that. Looking back now, I think I experienced depression. I had no time to take care of myself, and the anxiety and pressure of 'What if I fail the exam?' were tremendous. I endured a year of hardship, yet no one knew whether I would pass or fail the exam. Even in that situation, I kept my sanity and filled my study hours; it was a time of hardships before I passed."

Furthermore, Park Ji-won said, "Every day I cried, studying at my grandmother's house as if I were entering a temple just before the first exam. I lived in an APT. over 10 stories high, and every day I looked down, thinking, '(If I jump) what would happen?' I wasn’t in my right mind due to mental illness and obsession. I cried while staring outside, which worried my grandmother immensely, fearing I might die or jump. It was so painful, but I couldn’t give up, thinking, 'Wouldn't this pain end if I died?' I thought about death a lot. Looking back now, it was obsession and silly. I jumped into the bar exam without knowing how to cope with those feelings and had no method to manage my stress."

She studied intensively and passed the bar exam in 1 year and 4 months, ranking 5th among the 500 passers. After entering the country's largest law firm to become a lawyer, she felt disillusioned and resigned after eight years to enroll in Ewha Womans University Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation. She is currently working hard as an interpreter.

Cho Sae-ho asked, "What was your parents' reaction when you quit the law firm?" Park Ji-won replied, "Of course they weren't pleased, as they thought being a lawyer was more socially recognized. They asked, 'Why would you do that?'" She added, "They weren't supportive of marriage and having children either. I think they believed that getting married and raising kids would interfere with my ambition to become Chief Justice. They didn’t want anything that might hinder my path to becoming Chief Justice."

Having married a lawyer and becoming a mother of two, Park Ji-won said, "My parents said not to have a second child after the first, and not to have a third after the second. Each time they said that, I really wanted a baby and thought about living my life joyfully and showing that to them."

[Photo] 'You Quiz' broadcast screen capture

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