BTOB's Yook Sung-jae Recalls Director Calling Him a Nobody at Audition

"I was so angry that my face and even my ears turned bright red," Yook Sung-jae said.

The singer and actor, a member of the K-POP boy group BTOB, was looking back on an audition from early in his acting career. He shared the story on the SBS show "The Great Hang-jun" in an episode that aired on Nov. 5. Actress Park Min-young also appeared on the episode.

Asked about an audition that stuck with him, Yook brought up "Who Are You: School 2015," a drama that aired in 2015. He said he was busy promoting with BTOB at the time.

"It was a project a lot of new actors wanted," he said. "But I went in without even knowing what it was."

He did not have much acting experience back then. He said he was nervous as he read the script he had been handed on the spot.

Then the director said something that stung him hard. Yook said that when he introduced himself as a member of BTOB, the director replied, "BTOB? What's that? Never heard of you. What good does doing something like that do?"

Yook held back at first. However, as similar comments kept coming, he finally pushed back.

"I said, 'Director, I don't think you should talk that way to someone who's working this hard,'" he said. "Then I just walked out."

After leaving the room, he thought about giving up acting altogether.

"I thought, 'I can't make it in this business,'" he said. "I made up my mind to just work hard as an idol."

But the director called him back. The role Yook had tried out for was Gong Tae-kwang, a student with an anger control disorder. Yook said the director had been trying to make him angry on purpose.

He went through one more audition after that and was cast in the role. The comments that nearly pushed him out of acting turned out to be part of the test.