TvN‘s Lovely Runner (also known as Run Away With Sun-Jae On Piggyback) concluded with its finale this week. This romantic-comedy time-slip show is by True Beauty screenwriter Lee Si Eun. Actors Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon star as Ryu Sun Jae (also romanized as Ryu Seon Jae) and Im Sol, respectively.
Ryu Seon-Jae (Byeon Woo-Seok) is a top star who has been in the spotlight since his debut. His life seems perfect, but being in the entertainment industry has completely worn him out. Meanwhile, Lim Sol (Kim Hye-Yoon) loves Ryu Seon-Jae as an adoring fan. When she was little, she had an accident. Due to that, she gave up on her dream, but listening to Ryu Seon-Jae’s song on the radio gave her comfort and she became his fan since then. One day, Lim Sol hears breaking news that Ryu Seon-Jae has ended his own life. She feels deep sadness over the tragic news. Miraculously, Lim Sol somehow travels back in time to 15 years in the past. There, she faces Ryu Seon-Jae, who is a 19 year old high school student. She struggles to prevent his tragic future.
— AsianWiki
Viewers knew Im Sol and Ryu Sun Jae were destined from the start…
the way taesung smiles right after seeing soljae together, sol’s happiness truly matters the most for him 🥹🫶🏼🫶🏼#LovelyRunner #LovelyRunnerEp16 pic.twitter.com/YhjDGCb3VU
— aya (@suzyvrse) May 28, 2024
another soljae parallel i absolutely adored🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/itFzMf4a5P
— ♪ (@damibeen) May 28, 2024
SOLJAE WEDDING! LOVELY RUNNER HAPPY ENDING! WE WON GUYS!!#LovelyRunner #LovelyRunnerEp16 pic.twitter.com/yrYZBhRZ3d
— Aya 🌷 (@soljaeluvr) May 28, 2024
Still, the K-Drama did feature a second male lead, Kim Tae Sung (Song Geon Hee), who Im Sol had a crush on in one timeline, dated in another timeline, and became close friends in another.
im sol goes back to the present right at the moment when taesung asked her to be his gf🥲 the im sol in the past who has crush on taesung said yes to his confession and sunjae just happened to witness everything NOOOO😩#LovelyRunnerEp3#LovelyRunner pic.twitter.com/DlshhGAR6x
— anna. (@kdramacokr) April 15, 2024
“should we try to date to see if it’s an illusion or not?” KIM TAESUNG ALWAYS DRIVE ME CRAZYYYY 😭😭😭🫵🏻#LovelyRunner #LovelyRunnerEp15 pic.twitter.com/XORs6nO0FN
— liy 🏃🏻♀️ (@chaedaely) May 27, 2024
While Tae Sung and Im Sol weren’t endgame, he proved to be an exceptional and lovable character. By the end, he became a detective, saved Sun Jae, and attempted to catch the villain (who ended up falling to his death and drowning while running away from him). In many ways, Tae Sung was the savior of this story.
YOUNGSOO WAS TRYING TO KILL SUNJAE BUT TAESUNG SAVED HIM 😭#LovelyRunner #LovelyRunnerEp15 pic.twitter.com/MOlKAKSYrv
— Lee Yun (@LeeYunnes) May 27, 2024
TAESUNG HAS TO BE THE BEST SECOND LEAD BECAUSE NOT ONLY HE BEHAVED WELL HE BECAME A DETECTIVE SAVE SOL SAVED SUNJAE AND IS A WELL MANNERED BOY I LOVE YOU TT❤️🥹#LovelyRunnerEp16 #LovelyRunner pic.twitter.com/C4MZJDl5x5
— butterfly (@ocyeanicbaby) May 28, 2024
sunjae run towards after he regained his memory back but the taxi driver was chasing him while taesung also chasing that taxi driver and saved sunjae from car accident. taesung truly kept his promise to catch the taxi driver #LovelyRunnerEp15 #LovelyRunner pic.twitter.com/AAPCxOqO8F
— vita (@sprinkleflakes) May 27, 2024
Yet, Tae Sung was not even part of the original story.
Lovely Runner is actually adapted from the webcomic Tomorrow’s Best. As with many adaptations, some significant changes were made that set it apart from its source material. Netizens were initially skeptical about the changes.
NOOOO. IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT FOR SUNJAE!!! I DID NOT EXPECT THIS CHANGES FROM THE NOVEL/ WEBTOON!!! 선재업고튀어 김혜윤 #LovelyRunner #LovelyRunnerEp2 pic.twitter.com/0oba06tnSb
— thealteregooo (@thealterego0) April 9, 2024
Honestly, at first, i was afraid Taesung will not become a significant rival for Seonjae as 2nd lead for Im Sol. Especially, because this character doesn’t exist in the novel/webtoon.
But, after i saw how Song Geonhee portray Taesung, from his gesture and style, i know this… pic.twitter.com/mj23xmmaik
— Hamun (@HamunKang1) April 9, 2024
However, Kim Tae Sung was a new addition who especially enhanced the K-Drama. Viewers were impressed that although he was created for the adaptation, he became such an important character. Many feel Tae Sung is the “best second lead ever.”
kim taesung, a character that didn’t even exist in the original story. somehow became the variable who put an end to the repeated ill-fated relations in each timeline.
and that is why he’s the best second lead ever 💓 pic.twitter.com/APlWPT4vpE
— anna. (@kdramacokr) May 28, 2024
from a character that doesn’t exist in the original story to everyone’s favorite second lead🤍
you’ve worked hard song geonhee thank you for being kim taesung!
정말 태성이가 건희라서 너무 행복했고 다음 작품으로 다시 만나자💓#건희가_태성이라서_행복했어 #THANKYOU_Taeseong pic.twitter.com/NmCfxNmbpq
— anna. (@kdramacokr) May 28, 2024
By the end of Lovely Runner, viewers realized many of the changes made from the webcomic to the K-Drama were for the better. Some even like the adaptation better, and Tae Sung is undoubtedly one of the factors for this.
i want to thank seunghyub and geonhee for bringing inhyuk and taesung to life, they really made the show even more fun and i loved seeing them grow as the show went on and even though taesung wasn’t a character on the webtoon, i’m so glad he was able to be in lr, i love them 🥹 pic.twitter.com/47JeBArMgy
— ً (@byeonngi) May 28, 2024
i usually get upset when they make so many changes to a drama that’s based on a webtoon but i’m loving lovely runner, i love every single change they’ve made, it’s perfect and i don’t really have any complaints 😭 they’re doing a perfect job imo
— ً (@byeonngi) April 9, 2024
I’ve read like 25 chapters of the webtoon that Lovely Runner was adapted from and holy shit I’m glad that they made so many major plot changes especially for Sol, she’s stupid & embarrassing af in the manhwa and the plot is so freaking bad, the drama is far much better tbh
— YAS 🇵🇸 (@mikajju) May 9, 2024
In addition to Tae Sung, another supporting role is garnering attention. Read more below.
“Lovely Runner” Actor Steals The Show Despite Little Screen Time
