Kim Hye Yoon Dishes On Character Preparation, Byun Woo Seok's Idol Styling In “Lovely Runner,” and More

Mar 27, 2024

Kim Hye Yoon has provided a glimpse into her upcoming tvN drama with Byun Woo Seok, “Lovely Runner”!

Based on a popular web novel and penned by “True Beauty” writer Lee Si Eun, “Lovely Runner” is a new time-slip romance drama that asks the question: “What would you do if you had the opportunity to save your ultimate bias?” Kim Hye Yoon stars as Im Sol, a passionate fan devastated by the death of her favorite star Ryu Sun Jae (Byun Woo Seok), who goes back in time to save him.

Kim Hye Yoon remarked, “From the moment I read the script, I found it to be very interesting and immediately wanted to portray the character of Im Sol.”

In the drama, Kim Hye Yoon will showcase a dynamic range of her character’s facets, transitioning from a passionate 34-year-old fan to a determined 19-year-old student trying to change her bias’s tragic fate. Explaining her approach, she revealed, “I focused on portraying her by keeping in mind that she’s a teenager on the outside but in her thirties on the inside.”

She elaborated, “To show the difference in her character before and after the time slip, I made efforts to differentiate Im Sol’s tone and speech patterns.” She added, “I didn’t have any experience of doing fan activities, so playing Im Sol allowed me to have many new indirect experiences.”

When asked about her own student days compared to Im Sol’s, Kim Hye Yoon humorously responded, “The situations faced by the 19-year-old Im Sol and Kim Hye Yoon are too different. While 19-year-old Im Sol struggles to save her bias Ryu Sun Jae, the real 19-year-old Kim Hye Yoon was struggling with college entrance exams.”

On working alongside Byun Woo Seok, Kim Hye Yoon heightened anticipation for his transformation in the drama by sharing, “Seeing 19-year-old Sun Jae in his school uniform was heart-fluttering, but my heart fluttered the most when he was styled as the top star Ryu Sun Jae.” She elaborated, “I thought it truly brought to life how Sol’s bias would’ve looked.”

When asked about her favorite lines from Episodes 1 and 2, Kim Hye Yoon chose Ryu Sun Jae’s line, “Let’s live today. The weather is too nice,” explaining, “Those words gave me a lot of strength and comfort in real life too.” As for the most memorable scene, she selected the moment “Im Sol meets Sun Jae, whom she thought had died,” adding, “Visualizing that scenario as real was truly heartbreaking.”

Finally, Kim Hye Yoon built anticipation by mentioning, “I practiced and worked hard for the scenes involving a wheelchair,” and then expressed, “You’ll witness a new and multifaceted side of Kim Hye Yoon that you’ve yet to see before.”