Fans of the late SHINee’s Jonghyun have expressed their frustration about the release date and storyline of K-drama “Lovely Runner”.
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.
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.
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.
