On May 7, 2024, Kim Soo-hyun won the Most Popular Actor for Queen of Tears at the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards and was also nominated for the Best TV Actor award. Even after the conclusion of Netflix and tvN's Queen of Tears, fans still connected with the actor's adored character, Baek Hyun-woo, particularly in light of his spontaneous inebriated moment that went viral online.
The hosts of the Baeksang Arts Awards 2024 asked the South Korean star to recreate the "aegyo" (cute in Korean) sequence from his popular tvN drama. Much to the fans' delight, Kim Soo-hyun not only politely accepted the challenge, but also gave a detailed portrayal of the scene.
Kim Soo-hyun charms everyone with his acting prowess at the 2024 Baeksang Arts Awards
The South-Korean actor captured the attention of the audience once more with his flawless recreation of the inebriated scene from Queen of Tears.
For the unversed, Kim Soo-hyun emulated his co-star Kim Ji-won's aegyo (sweet) scene from her television series Fight for My Way in their hit drama Queen of Tears. It was his way of giving an ode to the actress' phenomenal performance in the drama which also starred Gyeonseong Creature actor, Park Seo-joon.
Kim Soo-hyun genuinely improvised (ad-lib) that specific moment from Queen of Tears. The director and crew were taken aback when he initially delivered it on the spot when they were filming in 2023 as it wasn't in the script. The filmmaker chose to preserve the sequence on account of Kim Soo-hyun's remarkable comic timing and its significance as a tribute to Kim Ji-won.
For the uninitiated, Kim Soo-hyun played Baek Hyun-woo, who is married to chaebol heiress Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won). In the scene, Hyun-woo bemoaned his college friend about his problems with the Chaebol Hong family and his unhappy marriage to Hong Hae-in. While drinking with him, Hyun-woo expressed how he would want to get divorced from Hae-in and started crying comically.
Then he reenacted Kim Ji-won's famous dialogue from Fight for My Way, where she said "I am born cute," while profusely crying in front of his friend. Later, once the episodes started rolling out on March 9, 2024, the funny drunken-crying scene became one of the most popular moments from the fan-favorite drama.
Furthermore, the South Korean actor received praise for his incredible voice for his song Way Home in the tvN and Netflix drama Queen of Tears.
In episode 16, the song was played in the last scene, which featured an elderly Baek Hyun-woo strolling through a German cemetery to place flowers on the gravestone of his late wife Hong Hae-in, who passed away at the age of 81.
CNA Lifestyle reported Queen of Tears' last episode had a 24.850% rating on tvN, surpassing Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bin starring drama Crash Landing on You, which had a 21.683% rating for its final episode in February 2020. This made Queen of Tears the highest-rated series on tvN.
Additionally, it also earned the second-highest viewership and third-highest audience rating in the history of Korean cable television. Queen of Tears is available on Netflix for global streaming.