“Lovely Runner:” the healing drama that is even better than the original webtoon

After the resounding success of “Marry My Husband,” tvN continues to prove its right direction in exploiting fantasy rom-coms with the debut of the drama “Lovely Runner.” The drama has been on air for 2 weeks now with a 3.3% rating, which is not too bad for a drama on a cable channel. In addition, its media and social network discussion rate is extremely strong, second only to “Queen of Tears.” On the global platform Viki, the drama also ranked #1 globally, dominating in 130 out of 190 countries. This shows the extremely strong influence of “Lovely Runner,” which is also proportional to its quality.

The story is filled with young and romantic atmosphere

“Lovely Runner” tells the story of Im Sol (Kim Hye Yoon), a dreamy and beautiful 19-year-old girl who suddenly faces the biggest crisis of her life. She had a serious accident, causing her to lose the ability to walk. While lying on her hospital bed, she decided to commit suicide. A random phone call pulled her from the dark abyss of life. That phone call came from Sun Jae (Byeon Woo Seok), a rookie idol. He is taking on the challenge of a program, which is to call a random person to interact and give them gifts. Gifts like shoes or bicycles from the show’s MC really made Im Sol desperate. Right on the radio show, Im Sol expressed her desire to end everything, until Seon Jae advised her to continue living.

15 years later, in the early days of 2023, Im Sol has gotten used to the wheelchair and has strong love for idol Seon Jae, who that year saved her life. While her belief in life was extremely strong, especially after a chance meeting with her idol, Im Sol was completely devastated when she heard the news that Seon Jae committed suicide. A miracle happened when Seon Jae’s watch that Im Sol had auctioned gave her the chance return to 15 years ago, when she was still a schoolgirl and Seon Jae was not yet an idol.

Throughout the first 4 episodes, school scenes dominate. The audience is immersed in the bright atmosphere of Im Sol. The soul of a 34-year-old woman in the body of a 19-year-old girl accidentally turned Im Sol from a somewhat timid girl into a bold, joyful, even “crazy” girl. The moments when Im Sol tried to approach Seon Jae because she thought she was dreaming, or even dead, or the gentle flutter when the two had accidental touches, made viewers want to be loved too.

The script is surprising and reasonably creative compared to the original

“Lovely Runner”’s story has been seen in previous Korean dramas. However, the drama script is embedded with impressive twists, creating an extremely unpredictable feeling for the audience, which has made it successfully renew an old theme.

In particular, despite being adapted from a webtoon, “Lovely Runner” has many creative details compared to the original. Regarding the setup of the male main character, in the original, Seon Jae started out as an idol trainee and was eliminated from the debut lineup, but in the drama, he started out as an excellent swimmer. Because of injury, he switched to being an idol. The creativity makes Im Sol’s “rescuing her own idol” story even more unique, especially due to the fact that the audience must continue to speculate and be curious about the reason Seon Jae became an idol. Is it because of Im Sol? Even the reason Seon Jae died in the drama is different from the original when there are many hints that Seon Jae did not commit suicide (like the webtoon) but was most likely killed. In addition, in the webtoon, Im Sol tries to approach and then makes Seon Jae like her. In the movie, Seon Jae liked her even before she knew of his existence. These details are reasonable and do not destroy the original storyline, making “Lovely Runner” much more interesting.

The main couple’s explosive chemistry

The most important thing that makes “Lovely Runner” as famous as it is now is the acting of the main couple. Kim Hye Yoon is already very familiar with rom-coms, so pulling off this role is not difficult for her at all. In just the first 4 episodes, the audience gets to see so many different emotional aspects of Im Sol.

Byeon Woo Seok, starring in a drama for the first time, also took the audience from one surprise to another. In particular, the audience could not believe that Byeon Woo Seok was over 30 years old as he perfectly played the role of a male student.

The perfect chemistry of the main couple is the highlight of this drama. In this regard, Byun Woo-seok shared, “My chemistry with Hye-yoon is so good that I don’t know how to explain it in words”. With only a few moments and a kiss scene in the first 4 episodes, the drama already makes viewers immerse themselves in the lovely romance of the main characters. In addition, the height difference between the male lead (190cm) and the female lead (160cm) also helps boost the two’s romantic chemistry.

After “Twenty-five Twenty-one”, Korean drama fans can once again enjoy a true coming-of-age drama with a refreshing vibe and a heart-fluttering ‘first love’ story with “Lovely Runner”.

Source: k14