On May 30th, Byeon Woo-seok sat down for an interview with Wikitree at a café located on Nonhyeon-ro in Gangnam, Seoul, sharing various stories related to the recently concluded tvN drama “Lovely Runner“.
Byeon Woo-seok had previously shared his first love story in an interview with Wikitree for Netflix’s film “20th Century Girl” in 2022. At that time, he mentioned, “My first love was someone I was close to in middle school, but I never expressed my feelings. As an adult, I once ran into her on the street by chance.”
“Lovely Runner” follows Ryu Seon-jae (Byeon Woo-seok), a famous idol who passed away under suspicious circumstances, purportedly by suicide, and Im Sol (Kim Hye-yoon), a fervent fan thrown into a serious crisis by his death. The latter is inadvertently given the chance to go back to the past to save Seon-jae and herself.
In the drama, Byeon Woo-seok portrays Ryu Seon-jae at different ages: a passionate 19-year-old student, a fresh 20-year-old university student, and a top star at 34. He captured the different faces of youth and received much love for his performance. Notably, Ryu Seon-jae falls in love at first sight with Im Sol’s smile.
When asked if the role brought back memories of his first love, Byeon Woo-seok said, “My first love was actually a one-sided love, so in a way, it might be similar to Seon-jae’s high school feelings.”
He added, “I don’t keep in touch with her (my first love) now, and she probably doesn’t know I liked her. Or maybe she does. If she knows, it would be embarrassing.”
Byeon Woo-seok shared, “I’ve had unrequited love and have liked someone before, so I understood Seon-jae’s emotions. But I’ve never said anything like ‘I’ll die instead of you’. I think most people haven’t. I did think about that aspect a lot.”
Meanwhile, Byeon Woo-seok’s drama “Lovely Runner” concluded on May 28th. Throughout its run, the drama received high interest for its OSTs, ending, original webtoon, reruns and filming locations.
