Things that become popular along with popularity of ‘Lovely Runner’

A scene from a drama \

"Even if you're in another time, I'll go see you beyond everything."

My bias died suddenly. What if you are given the chance to go back in time and save him? What if you went back in time and found out that your favorite was living next door to me and was even secretly in love with you?

The tvN drama “Lovely Runner” is a romance fantasy drama in which Im Sol (played by Kim Hye Yoon), an ordinary geek, travels back in time to save her favorite idol singer Ryu Sun-jae (Byeon Woo-seok) after he commits suicide.

The TV series has recently gained a lot of popularity, despite its common setting of romance between a top star and his fan. Although the ratings are only in the 4 percent range, the popularity of the series has led to a syndrome of listening to songs that were featured in it and watching previous works of the leading actor and actress. Here, we looked at the ones that came up with "Lovely Runner.”

There are no top stars in the series. Byeon Woo-seok, who plays Sun-jae who has emerged as the new “icon of first love,” made his debut as a model in 2015. He is a nine-year-old actor who started acting in "Dear My Friends" in 2016, but he was not well-known until appearing in the series. With its success, the ratings for his solo appearance on “Running Man” rose to 4 percent in three months. In June, he is scheduled to go on a fan meeting tour in Asia, starting with Taipei, Taiwan, followed by Bangkok, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

Kim Hye-yoon, the female lead, is also an actress who played Kang Ye-seo in the popular TV series "SKY Castle" in 2018, showing an impressive performance. As "Lovely Runner” became popular not only in Korea but also in Southeast Asia, “Extraordinary You,” another series she appeared in 2019, is also on the top of the local OTT platforms.

The second factor behind the series’ popularity is “MZ Retro.” The time Sol travels back is between 2008 and 2009.Although it is a long time ago, It is not as far back as the 1980s and 1990s as depicted in the “Reply” series, a representative "retro-drama.” "Lovely Runner” evokes the memories of viewers in their 20s and 30s by featuring songs and places that the generation born in the late 1980s and early 1990s enjoyed listening to and frequently visited in their school days.

The main characters listen to songs by plugging in earphones to the MP3 and secretly looking at each other's daily lives in “Cyworld.” Younha's "Umbrella" plays in the background on a rainy day and “Loveholic” by Loveholic plays as Sun Jae sprinted for Sol, who could not get off the bus. Canmoa, a cafe that served all-you-can-eat bread and fresh cream, which were popular at the time, and Junko, a bar that was popular among college students, also appear.

The popularity of the series has also boosted sales of the original web novel. It is based on "Tomorrow's Best” by Kim Bbang serialized on Kakao Page from 2019 to 2021. The original novel was also produced as an e-book, paperback book, and webtoon. Kakao Entertainment said on May 1 that the number of views of the original web novel has increased four times and sales 8.2 times since the series aired. The webtoon also saw a 3.6-fold increase in views and 5.5-fold increase in sales after it aired.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.