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On May 16, 2024, South Korean media outlet OSEN reported that Lovely Runner is reported to be in talks to open a pop-up store. The store would have goodies and merchandise from the show starring Byeon Woo-seok (Strong Girl Nam-soon) and Kim Hye-yoon (Sky Castle).
The pop-up store would give the show lovers a unique opportunity to meet their two favorite stars who portrayed the lead characters, Ryu Sun-jae and Im Sol, in the ongoing tvN drama.
The pop-up store would play various scenes from Lovely Runner to create an immersive and captivating experience for fans. It is reportedly scheduled for May 25, 2024, to May 29, 2024, and will be held at the Hyundai Seoul B2F Iconic Pop-up Zone.
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Meanwhile, the script book pre-orders are scheduled to start this upcoming week.
Additionally, on May 10, News1 reported that due to the show's surge in global popularity, South Korean broadcaster tvN is planning to organize an offline fan meet event as well.
Byeon Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon ride high on the crest of Lovely Runner's global success
The tvN drama was first aired on April 8, 2024, and airs two new episodes every Monday and Tuesday. On May 20 and 21, episodes 13 and 14 are scheduled to premiere on tvN, and will be available for streaming on TVING in South Korea, Vidio in Indonesia, U-Next in Japan, and Viki and Viu in selected regions.
Despite not being available on major OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney Plus, the ongoing Korean drama amassed worldwide success. Moreover, the nostalgia that permeates society is the show's main draw, even for fans in their 30s and 40s. The drama is similar to the 2000s-set classic cult drama Reply 1988 starring Hyeri, Park Bo-gum, Ryu Jun-yeol, Go Kyung-pyo, and Lee Dong-hwi.
The Korea Times reported that a popular culture writer Bok Gil pointed out Lovely Runner's ode to historical scenarios, making it a nostalgic watch for the generation that went to school in the 2000s. The drama takes place in 2008, in contrast to Kim Bbang's original webtoon Tomorrow's Best—on which the drama is based.
The tvN drama even gave a nod to Park Tae-hwan becoming, the first South Korean swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal (Beijing Olympics) in 2008 by including Sun-jae's background as a former swimmer. Furthermore, Olympic gold medalist Park Tae-hwan also made a special appearance in one of the episodes of Lovely Runner.
The South Korean media outlet further reported that the show was delayed for three years since several actors turned down the part of Ryu Sun-jae, assuming the drama to be a plain high school romance.
After an arduous casting and auditioning journey, the production crew came across Byeon Woo-seok and finalized him as the male lead.
Lovely Runner, starring Byeon Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon, is a romantic comedy laced with emotional catharsis where the main leads try to overcome odds. Im Sol (Kim Hye-yoon) travels back in time to save Ryu Sun-jae (Byeon Woo-seok) from his tragic and untimely death.
