The movie 'The King and the Clown' became a huge hit, and as the talk of films attracting over ten million viewers continues, the story of actor Yoo Hae-jin is back in the spotlight.

Every time I see Yoo Hae-jin, I can't help but think that you never know a person's fate.

Now, being called a top actor and owning a house worth billions, he had a very difficult time in his youth that is hard to imagine.

Even after struggling, he reportedly earned less than 200,000 won a month, which is hard to fathom.

In 2023, Yoo Hae-jin made headlines by purchasing a detached house in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, with cash and no loans.

However, if we turn back time, the story changes completely.

During his unknown days, he lived in a one-room apartment with a deposit of 1 million won and a monthly rent of 100,000 won.

When he was doing theater, money didn't come in like a regular paycheck.

After finishing one performance, he would wait two months or three months, and if he was lucky, he would earn about 500,000 won.

At that time, in the theater scene, earning around 1 million won a month was considered decent, but he couldn't even make that.

Life was really tough. He practiced at the theater until 3 AM and was expected to come back by 8 AM the next morning.

After a few months of earning 500,000 won, he was so happy that he treated himself to a drink, which sounds like a different person's story to those who only know the current Yoo Hae-jin.

Since making ends meet was difficult, he also took on part-time jobs. One of the jobs he did was assembling bidets in a factory.

He heard it paid well, so he and actor Ryu Seung-ryong rented a room for about a month and worked at the factory.

He wasn't always filled with hope about becoming an actor. When he had no work, he would wander around the mountains and spend time at the Namsan Library.

He mentioned that there were many times he wanted to give up. With no visible prospects of success as an actor and getting older, it must have been frustrating.

Moreover, when he first decided to become an actor, his parents opposed it. At that time, the atmosphere didn't recognize unique appearances as an advantage for actors like it does now.

Yoo Hae-jin himself joked, "I had a face that was worth opposing back then," but from his parents' perspective, they must have worried that their son would starve if he pursued acting.

Ultimately, Yoo Hae-jin set his age limit at thirty-five. He thought that if he still didn't see a vision as an actor by then, he could quit.

Then, in 2005, he met 'The King and the Clown,' which significantly changed the direction of his life. At that time, he made his face known to the public through that film and later became a representative actor in Chungmuro, alternating between leading and supporting roles.

Looking back, even a single word from someone along the way provided great strength.

The late Ahn Seong-ki advised that how you spend your time when you have no work is important, and Cha Seung-won encouraged him by saying he couldn't only take roles he liked.

From living in a room with a deposit of 1 million won and a monthly rent of 100,000 won, working for months to earn 500,000 won, he has now become a top actor and the owner of a house worth 4.5 billion won in Seongbuk-dong.

So, it seems you shouldn't judge a person's life by just looking at the middle.

Just because someone looks shabby at twenty or thirty doesn't mean their life will end up shabby, and not succeeding for a few years doesn't equate to a failed life.

Watching Yoo Hae-jin's past, I can't help but think of this saying.

You really don't know a person's fate until you see it through to the end.