It might be hard to imagine now, but just a few months ago, HoYeon Jung was little known to those outside of the modeling world. (Before making the transition to acting, Jung had racked up appearances on the runway for the likes of Miu Miu, Chanel, and Marc Jacobs.) One Netflix juggernaut and nearly 24 million Instagram followers later, Jung is now one of this year’s breakout acting stars. This is all thanks to her heart-wrenching performance as North Korean defector Sae-byeok in Squid Game, who enters a deadly competition in the hopes of winning enough money to rescue her parents from across the border.

Despite her packed schedule, however, it seems Jung’s moments of downtime in her hometown of Seoul remain happily low-key. Kicking things off with a visit to her “stylist, best friend, and mommy” Aeri Yun—and her adorable young son, Phillip, whom Jung helps with Halloween decorations—she’s more than happy tucking into a hearty home-cooked lunch of curry rice before taking their dog for a leisurely afternoon stroll in the city’s leafy Namsan Park. “Of course, I always hoped Squid Game would do well,” Jung shares with Yun. “But no one could have predicted it would be this big. In just one month, everything changed.”

To decompress, Jung heads to the Hyundai Card Music Library, an archive of 10,000 historic vinyl records and music memorabilia in the trendy neighborhood of Itaewon. While she begins by perusing the aisles of old magazines, including leafing through a vintage copy of Rolling Stone covered by David Bowie—“Everyone’s favorite,” she adds—it’s when tuning in to the records of the iconic ’70s Korean rock band Sanulrim that she’s truly able to unwind. “When I was acting for the first time in Squid Game, I listened to a lot of music,” says Jung. “To be honest, I think music is such an important part of life, not just for acting. Whether good or bad things happen, music allows you to separate yourself from reality a bit.”

Jung’s off-duty activities may be charmingly understated, but her newly minted status as Korea’s biggest international TV star still catches up to her in a visit to a coffee shop, as the barista slips her a dalgona—the infamous sugar candy that serves as the central part of one of Squid Game’s grisliest challenges. On a nearby rooftop at sunset above Seoul’s sprawling metropolis, Jung unsuccessfully attempts to break the shape from the candy, albeit without the horrifying consequences for making the same mistake in Squid Game. “Had I been a contestant in Squid Game, I would have died doing the dalgona,” says Jung, laughing. Finally, to round off the night? Catching up for a dinner of steak and red wine with her costars Lee Yoo-Mi and Kim Joo-Ryung. For Jung, it doesn’t get much better than that.