How Justin H. Min on ‘The Devil’s Plan’ struck a chord with viewers

But The Devil’s Plan creator Jeong Jong-yeon wanted Min for the second season, rightly recognizing that Min would make for a great contestant. A handsome gyopo (교포)—or member of the Korean diaspora—raised in sunny Southern California who attended an Ivy League college and went on to become a Hollywood actor, Min would bring a different perspective to a cast otherwise populated by Koreans who were mostly born, raised, and educated in South Korea. 

“Because of the language factor, I was still very wary about the whole thing, but these are kind of like once-in-a-lifetime opportunities,” Min says, noting that serious actors in the United States don’t often get to appear on reality TV. “Here was this show that I actually loved and it's in Korea, where, as an actor, you're actually supposed to do these kinds of things, and they want you. And, as you saw, it was a tough experience.”

Maybe it’s apparent from its subtitle, but The Devil’s Game: Death Room seemed to be a more brutal experience for participants than the death room-less first season of the Netflix show. While season one had its share of cutthroat competition, its unique structure also saw the contestants playing together in collaborative games to add money to the prize pot. “I actually kept waiting, especially on the first day, for that match, that game, where we would all work together,” Min says. “I thought, ‘I'm waiting for my chance to bond with the contestants and to build friendships and connections.’” 

Unfortunately, that moment never came. In the second season, the collaborative “Prize Match” games were cut, and the growth of the prize pot was directly tied to the elimination of players. (Yes, like Squid Game.) Furthermore, the bottom half of players, as determined by the number of “pieces” accumulated, would be sent to “prison,” where they had to compete in a “deathmatch” for their survival. The new setup created a class division of sorts that was largely determined by the first game of the season, and mostly stayed in place through the series’ end, as the “living area” players gained more pieces and the “prison” players got more tired and hungrier, with little opportunity to change their fates. 

As the only foreign contestant, Min was arguably impacted by the class division of season two more than anyone else. In games for which time is of the essence, contestants often chose to align themselves with people they could communicate with the most quickly and efficiently. Some of the contestants knew each other before the show and had worked together on projects before, while others shared an alma mater. After the first few rounds, Min mostly gave up on trying to form alliances with his fellow contestants.

Despite these factors working against him, Min made it about halfway through the show, getting eliminated on day four. “I was shocked,” he says, with a good-natured laugh. While he struggled in the main matches, in which alliances were often key, he thrived in the more individually driven Death Room matches. His elimination notably came during a main match in episode eight. The previous night, he had played a Death Room game for hours, fighting for his survival. “It's such a different experience when you're inside of it and you're truly running on adrenaline,” Min says. “I've never understood what it means to be mentally fatigued. I've run half-marathons, I know what it is to feel physically fatigued. But (not) when your brain is at capacity and you just can't think anymore (until now).” 

The mental load made it harder to speak Korean, as well. “People have given me a little flack about my Korean—and absolutely, my Korean is not anywhere near fluent—but my Korean is actually a lot better than showcased on the show,” Min says. “But in that specific environment, I could not even form coherent sentences because my brain was already so preoccupied on trying to figure out the rules of the games themselves and the dynamics of these alliances.” 

Still, Min is grateful for the experience and has no hard feelings about his relative isolation during the game. “For me, Devil’s Plan was my first real opportunity here in Korea,” Min said in his exit interview, alternating between English and Korean to express himself. “It’s the first time that I’ve really gotten to work with Korean people on a Korean show.” He added,“I’m also a Korean, but I was born in the U.S. and grew up there. Sometimes, I feel so different from people who live in Korea and were born in Korea. But, after being on this show, I realize we have so many similarities. And ultimately, we’re all Korean.”

“I think it's this idea of not quite feeling like you belong in certain spaces. And anyone in the Asian diaspora also understands that sort of disconnection that we often feel of being in our motherlands and still feeling slightly (neither) here nor there.”

Min’s experience and feelings were relatable to many others in the Asian diaspora. The actor says he has received thousands of messages from fans since the show was released. “I think there's a certain level of relatability and connection to me that they had, which I'm so thankful for,” he says. “I think it's this idea of not quite feeling like you belong in certain spaces. And anyone in the Asian diaspora also understands that sort of disconnection that we often feel of being in our motherlands and still feeling slightly (neither) here nor there.”

Min’s experience struck a chord with Korean viewers too. One of the most popular Korean-language comments on a YouTube video featuring some of the cast reacting to the first four episodes of the show reads, “But it was really hard to see Justin struggling alone.” Min, who had recently returned from South Korea, where he did some additional press for The Devil’s Plan, says he was recognized more frequently on this visit compared to previous ones. “It felt dramatically different from the last time I was in Korea.”

The experience has also allowed Min to reflect on other aspects of his identity. “A lot of my core identity has been wrapped around my intelligence and my ability to articulate myself,” says Min, who studied government and English at Cornell University. “Growing up, I was always told I was a studious, smart student. And, to be in an environment amongst actual geniuses, you feel like that core part of yourself is no longer there. It was a real, ‘Oh, who am I without these pillars of what I thought my identity is?’ And ‘What is my worth when I don't have these things?’” he explains, pausing for a moment, and then laughing. “So that required a lot of therapy after!”

Min’s most meaningful Devil’s Plan memory was also one of the season’s most moving scenes for viewers. In episode eight, when it becomes clear Min will soon be eliminated, fellow contestant Kang Ji-young begins to tear up, overwhelmed with guilt that she can’t do more to help Min. “I feel bad,” Kang, a freelance news announcer and journalist, tells Min on the show in English, as he tries to comfort her. The two move to a corridor off of the main game arena, and Min starts crying too. “I’m so glad we got to play together, honestly,” he tells her.

"And despite that brokenness in our world and in these broken systems that we live in, there is still room for kindness and there's still room for compassion and there's still room for empathy.”

“It was this moment of humanity and empathy and kindness, amidst this kind of broken game, and it became such a microcosm of life, you know?” he says, touching on how the constructed reality of the game echoed the real world in that moment. “We live in a brutal world. We live in a world where sometimes greed and sometimes taking advantage of people and manipulating people is the only means for you to get ahead and for you to succeed. And despite that brokenness in our world and in these broken systems that we live in, there is still room for kindness and there's still room for compassion and there's still room for empathy.”

Min recently appeared on Kang’s YouTube channel to discuss their shared experience on The Devil’s Plan. To JoySauce, he says: “I think that that moment will always stick with me, because it was one of the first times where I really felt seen (on the show).”