LayarHijau –Singer-actor Jung Ji-hoon, widely known as Rain, takes on one of the darkest roles of his career in Bloodhounds Season 2, portraying Baek-jeong, a crime boss who runs a global underground boxing league.
The latest installment of the Netflix action crime series follows two young fighters who find themselves entangled in a violent underworld. At the center of it all is a shadowy organization operating through the dark web, staging brutal matches fueled by massive gambling stakes and coercion, dragging the protagonists deeper into danger.
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Rain admitted the role pushed him to his limits, both physically and emotionally. “The project was ‘physically exhausting but also emotionally draining,’” he said, describing the intensity of the experience.
Unlike typical antagonists, Baek-jeong was deliberately written without a detailed backstory. Rain explained that director Jason Kim wanted to avoid familiar tropes. “My character doesn’t have much of a backstory. The director didn’t want him to become a cliché villain. Usually, when you play a bad guy, you act nice and then suddenly turn evil — that roller-coaster of intensity can make the performance stand out. But the director told me not to do that,” he said. “He wanted the character to start off already furious, with no change in tone, so that was challenging.”
The result is a character defined by relentless rage and instability. Rain described Baek-jeong as “a character with narcissistic and anger-management issues,” adding that the director’s main focus was the psychological impact on the protagonists. “He is like a rabid dog that’s been starved for 10 days, drooling in front of food. For this character, that food is money. The director said he wanted a character who made viewers think, whenever he appeared, ‘Is he going to kill someone again?’”
Beyond the character work, the series also stands out for its tightly choreographed action. Rain highlighted how the fight sequences were designed with a distinct rhythm. “What makes our action stand out from others is how tight it feels. There’s rhythm to it. If you watch closely, other shows just block and hit, but in ours, we’re blocking while hitting, getting hit while hitting — it’s all layered.”
To maintain that rhythm, many of the fight sequences were adjusted on set. “We improvised many of the hits because you can’t lose the beat,” he said. “Do-hwan and I fought almost like it was a real match.”
Realism was also a top priority during filming. Rather than relying on sound effects, the actors reviewed footage carefully to ensure physical contact looked convincing. “Normally, even if you just graze someone, the sound effect makes it look like a hit, but we’d review footage slowly to see if we actually made contact. If not, we’d redo the scene until it looked real,” he explained.
Preparing for the role required months of intense training. Rain spent up to six hours a day at an action school, focusing on strength training and boxing techniques. He also had to convincingly switch between southpaw and orthodox stances to portray a highly skilled fighter. “It had to be overwhelming yet fast and strong — like a boxing prodigy who could play with both southpaw and orthodox styles flawlessly. That part was really tough to master.”
Looking back, Rain believes the role consumed nearly an entire year of his life. “It wasn’t just boxing — I also had to act. Honestly, I think I dedicated my whole last year to this character,” he said, adding, “After all the hard work, watching them now feels like watching a live show.”
