The mother of child actor Jo Se-ung posted on Instagram on Sept. 7 that during last year's seaside filming for "Queen Mantis," Ko rushed over when a sudden wave nearly knocked her six-year-old into the surf, calling the star "a lifesaver."
"Se-ung got so excited the moment he saw the ocean and took off running. Just as a calm wave swelled and was about to overtake him, Ko Hyun-jung sprinted from afar and pulled him to safety―then held him tight," the mother wrote.
"Her costume was soaked, and she still threw herself into the water to save him. I was so shocked I froze. I can't thank her enough," she added.
According to the post, Ko didn’t stop there―she kept playing with Se-ung between takes and doted on him. "She was like an angel," the mother wrote, noting that for weeks afterward her son kept calling Ko "Mom Ko Hyun-jung" and gushing about how kind and pretty she was.
The mother also shared a video from set showing Ko and Jo Se-ung sitting side by side on the sand, playing together as Ko gently pats the boy’s head.
The beach sequence appears in Episode 1 of "Queen Mantis," as a flashback in which the notorious serial killer Jung Yi-shin (played by Ko Hyun-jung) recalls a happier day by the sea with her young son, Cha Su-yeol, more than 20 years earlier.
"Queen Mantis" follows a high-intensity case that erupts when a copycat killer surfaces two decades after the original "Queen Mantis" was caught―forcing a detective to form an unlikely alliance with the mother he has despised his whole life: the very killer known as the Mantis. The series cracked double-digit ratings by Episode 2, signaling a strong run ahead. It airs Fridays at 9:50 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 p.m. KST on SBS.
[Photo: Jo Se-ung’s mother’s Instagram]
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)