Recently, the official SNS of tvN Drama announced that the upcoming K-drama “Lovely Runner” will be released on April 8.
“Lovely Runner” is known to revolve around female lead Im Sol (played by Kim Hye-yoon), who is an avid fan of male idol Ryu Sun-jae (played by Byun Woo-seok). However, Ryu Sun-jae later committed suicide, leaving Im Sol to be heart-broken.
One day, Im Sol stumbled across a pocket watch that transports her 15 years back into the past, during the high-school days of Ryu Sun-jae. Thus, she sets out to prevent his future suicide by changing the past.
Based on the webtoon “The Best of Tomorrow” , “Lovely Runner” receives a lot of attention. However, tvN’s latest announcement has left a sour taste to fans of the late SHINee’s Jonghyun, as the drama’s release date falls on the birthday of Jonghyun.
this is the drama that is using Jonghyun’s beautiful existence for their sick plot and releasing it on his birthday on top of itBOYCOTT, SHAWOLS https://t.co/DlSWQbtjlt
— isSHINeeback? (@isSHINeeback) March 7, 2024
According to fans, the story of “Lovely Runner” also seems to draw elements from Jonghyun’s, as the male idol also passed away after making an extreme choice, and the year and date used in the drama also resembles events in Jonghyun’s life.
Additionally, tvN previously copied a quote of Jonghyun to used in “It’s Okay Not To Be Okay” without crediting the late idol.
Jonghyun’s words, that he put all his heart & soul into, are being used without credit in the drama “It’s Okay Not To Be Okay.” Please help us trend this hashtag to demand an explanation & apology. Plagiarism is not acceptable.@CJnDrama#사이코지만_괜찮아_종현가사_표절해명해 https://t.co/kUeoanqEMV pic.twitter.com/GjvYfSEqbf
— words by jjong (@wordsbyjjong) June 30, 2020
Thus, fans are accusing tvN of trying to exploit the story of Jonghyun, and have taken to voice their frustrations on SNS platforms. They are also calling for a boycott against “Lovely Runner” altogether.
It is noted that Jonghyun’s life has been disrespectfully used by many others in the past, so fans are extremely careful regarding the matter.
Source: Krb, X