Warning: This article contains major spoilers.
It's been a month since Lovely Runner ended, but the impact it had on us and the rest of the world still lingers—and we know that it's not going to end anytime soon. It's the kind of Korean drama that makes you feel all sorts of emotions. From the happy to the angsty and even comedic feels, Lovely Runner will give it all to you.
But more than that, Lovely Runner made us realize the kind of love that we deserve. Personally, watching it made me declare: I want a love like Sunjae and Sol's—the kind of love that transcends time and space, the kind that overflows with so much warmth and sincerity, a love that is selfless and unwavering.
Lovely Runner exceeded expectations. And now it has become a global sensation. It has become the drama of the season, and for most people (myself included) it has become our *life drama*. Despite not having the highest television ratings, the drama topped OTT rankings from Viu to Viki and TVING.
Most of its lead cast, namely Byeon Woo Seok, Kim Hye Yoon, and Song Geon Hee, have reached top spots in actor rankings. It goes without saying that Lovely Runner really became the cream of the crop among K-dramas.
And since we still can't move on, we think we should take a trip down Lovely Runner's story timeline. With this, we believe we can convince you to give this lovely drama a chance—because if you don't, then you're surely missing out on something spectacular.
Lovely Runner: SolJae's High School Era
The story heavily revolves around Im Sol (Kim Hye Yoon) and Ryu Sunjae's (Byeon Woo Seok) lives. At first, the series may seem like your typical idol drama, but it progresses to be something more.
The story opens with Sol battling with her life as a physically disabled person. She is someone who cannot use her legs due to an incident. Sunjae, who was a rookie idol at the time, enters her life and tells her the words, "Thank you for being alive."
In the year 2023, we see Sol as a devoted Sunjae fangirl. She owes her life to Sunjae, who has given her so much inspiration and motivation to move forward in life. However, her world crashes once again as Sunjae dies.
Magically, Sol is given a chance to travel back to 2008, back to her high school days. At the time, Sunjae's school was directly beside Sol's school. So the first thing she did was look for Sunjae, who was a swimming athlete in 2008. It's worth noting that Sunjae was someone who had the potential to become a national athlete for the Olympics back then.
So when Sol met pre-idol Sunjae in 2008, she unknowingly began to change the future for her and Sunjae. All of that happened in one episode, and it was mind-blowing. Just by the pilot episode, we already knew that Kim Hye Yoon's performance as Im Sol would go down in history. It has touched viewers' hearts in all ways possible.
Sol and Sunjae's high school era will progress more in later episodes, with Sol trying to keep Sunjae safe and away from being an idol actor. She believes that Sunjae would live a long and happy life if he made different decisions than the Sunjae she knew from 2023. Since she's a fan, Sol uses every bit of her knowledge about 2023 Sunjae to try and convince Sunjae from 2008 to enter a different career path.
But as she tries to get closer to Sunjae, it will be revealed that Sunjae's first love was actually Sol. So in a series of push-and-pulls and charming moments between Sol and Sunjae, they will find themselves falling deeper in love with each other.
Over on social media, the Lovely Runner fandom (named Subeom) crowned Sunjae as the "King of Loserism" as he showed the viewers all sorts of whipped and so-called loser manners because of his infatuation with Sol. He's the kind of guy who could never get over Sol, and it becomes evident even across different timelines.
Lovely Runner: SolJae's College Era
After some time, Sol realizes that Sunjae will get hurt and it's because of saving her from the greatest villain in the story: the taxi driver Kim Young Soo. He appears to be the only threat to the couple as he tries to kidnap Sol and harm Sunjae in every timeline they are in.
So, Sol decided to avoid Sunjae during their freshman year in college. She tries to run away from him. But Sunjae's love for Sol was so strong, that he even wasted an overseas ticket for his shoulder rehabilitation program just to be with Sol. (Yup, Sunjae was about to get treated so that he could continue being a swimmer!)
Sunjae had to do what he had to—he confronted Sol and admitted his feelings for her, asking her not to run away from him anymore. Everything is all smooth and fun until Sunjae dies again. Now, Sol makes a daring move that will bring out the total angst of the drama.
Lovely Runner: SolJae's Adult Era
There are two versions of Sol and Sunjae's adult era. There's the one where Sol finally acknowledges how she sees Sunjae, as more than the idol that inspired her to keep going in life. She finally accepts her fate which is to love Sunjae.
The other one is where Sol carries memories of Sunjae alone, missing him and yearning for him for years.
By Episode 13, Sol makes the selfless choice of erasing herself from Sunjae's memory in the new timeline. She does everything in reverse. She never introduces herself to Sunjae. She never becomes friends with him. Sol never existed in Sunjae's life. TBH, it was the most heartbreaking thing we've ever seen.
But fate moves in mysterious ways, and Sol can't defy her destiny. In every single timeline, she was meant to meet Sunjae and be with him as his lover. Sunjae—who has no memories of Sol—fatefully meets Sol again in the new adult timeline. We just want to note that even in the new timeline, Sunjae became the "loser" that he always has been for Sol.
Why Lovely Runner Deserves All The Accolades For Life
We're not gonna spill all the beans here. We're still leaving the adventure of finding out what really happens between Sol and Sunjae for you to watch. However, allow us to tell you all the good things about Lovely Runner, and trust us, we can't name anything bad about it, FR.
As Subeoms, we've witnessed fans come up with several theories about how Lovely Runner's writer Lee Si Eun would wrap up the drama. Since it's a time-slip drama, anything is possible, but writer Lee kept it simple and sincere.
Everything was anchored on the idea that "the heart never forgets." Perhaps other shows have tried to pull that *unwavering and endless love*, but in Lovely Runner, it's a whole different case. It tugged on everyone's emotions by circling around the notion of having an inevitable fate and just letting go of all the worries we have for the future. It reminded us that one way or another, the best ending will come to you. So more than its ending, Lovely Runner gave viewers something more memorable.
It gave us hope and happiness. During the near-two months it aired, Lovely Runner made Mondays better. It gave us a reason to happily long for a new week to begin. It opened minds and hearts to the never-ending possibilities in our lives.
Just like Im Sol and Ryu Sun Jae, who never gave up on making the best decisions they could think of for themselves and for their loved ones. Just like them, we are now diligently running towards better and happier versions of ourselves.
Lovely Runner was the K-drama that we never knew we needed in this life. And time and time again, we will keep coming back to it, whatever season we may be in our lives.