Byeon Woo-seok, Kim Hye-yoon to star in fantasy romance series

Actors Byeon Woo-suk, left, and Kim Hye-yoon/ Courtesy of tvN

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Actors Byeon Woo-seok will be starring in tvN's new drama “Loverly Runner” with Kim Hye-yoon, the cable network announced on Wednesday.

The upcoming drama tells the tale of a romance between a top celebrity, who dies in a tragic accident, and his female fan, who time travels to the past to change his fate. It combines an emotional love story with a sci-fi time element in the plot.

Byeon will portray Ryu Sun-jae, Korea's top celebrity who dies in a tragic accident, while Kim plays starstruck female lead Lim Sol, who travels through time to when Sun-jae was 19 years old and struggles to prevent his accident.

The show is the latest Korean series to be adapted from a web novel. In this case “The Best of Tomorrow,” written by Kim Bbang and published by Kakao Page, is the underlying source material for Lee Si-eun's screen adaptation. Lee is best known for writing the script of tvN drama “True Beauty” (2020).

Byeon, who debuted as a model, began his acting career after landing a minor role in the JTBC drama “Dear My Friends” in 2016. Since then, he has starred in various TV series and films including “Search: WWW” (2019) “Record of Youth” (2020), “20th Century Girl” (2022) and “Soulmate” (2023).

Kim became famous after her breakthrough role as an ambitious, determined girl in the 2018 hit series “Sky Castle.” Since then, she has taken on various roles across TV and films, including a quick-witted high school student in the romantic comedy series “Extraordinary You” (2019) and a Joseon-era woman who experiences an unconventional divorce in “Secret Royal Inspector & Joy” (2021).

Kim was named Best New Actress at the 2022 Blue Dragon Awards, the country's top film honors, and the Rising Star Asia award at the New York Asian Film Festival's Star Asia Awards for her performance as the lead in the Korean thriller film “The Girl on a Bulldozer.” She was named Forbes' 30 under 30 Asia last year.

“Please look forward to the on-screen chemistry between stars Byeon and Kim, who both have solid acting careers and unrivaled charm and talent. We are confident that the time-slip fantasy romance will enthrall the audience,” the production team said in a statement.

“Loverly Runner” is set to air in the latter half of 2023.