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Kim So-hyun doesn't plan to hide his feelings for long in « Between Steps ». In the drama's new teaser, her character even goes so far as to present a ring to Choo Young-woo to make a particularly direct confession to her. But the new images released alongside the teaser show why Park Min-jae might find it much harder to let anyone get close to him: after losing his right leg and giving up his dream of becoming a swimmer, he turned to robotics, hoping one day to regain what he had lost.
Set to be released on October 5, «Between Steps» is a romance by the late director Ahn Pan-seok, known for «Something in the Rain,» «One Spring Night,» and «The Midnight Romance in Hagwon.».
The drama will follow two young adults who have each lost their way. Park Min-jae (Choo Young-woo) He used to be a swimmer, but an illness forced him to give up his dream after he lost his right leg. Im Yoo-jin (Kim So-hyun) is a student who is also looking for a new direction after finding herself at a dead end.
Their meeting could help them move forward. But Min-jae will have to be willing to let someone into the extremely solitary life he has built for himself.
Kim So-hyun clearly confesses her feelings to him
The second teaser released wastes no time in showing that Yoo-jin knows how she feels. Sitting across from Min-jae, she slides a box containing a ring toward him and announces, «I’m officially confessing my feelings to you. I really like you.» ” Her candor stands in stark contrast to Min-jae’s attitude.
Another scene shows him struggling with pain in his leg, while a voice asks, «Are you pretending not to have seen it, or did you really not see it?» It seems, then, that their relationship won’t progress without difficulties. Yoo-jin is shown in tears in a car, but even Min-jae’s sometimes hurtful reactions are clearly not enough to change her feelings.
She finally reassures him: «No matter how petty or mean you act, it doesn’t stop me from continuing to love you. » The new scenes focusing on Choo Young-woo help us better understand the barriers Min-jae has built around himself.
After giving up swimming, Choo Young-woo is focusing on a new goal
Before he became ill, Min-jae dreamed of becoming a swimmer. The loss of his right leg forced him to give up that ambition and envision a completely different life. He then turned to robotics.
Now a doctoral student in engineering, he devotes virtually every moment of his day to his studies and research. He moves forward at his own pace, with patience and determination, holding on to a hope that is deeply personal to him: to one day regain his lost leg thanks to his research.
The new footage also shows him at the hospital, anxiously awaiting test results, and then completely absorbed in his work. Brilliant and exceptionally dedicated, Min-jae leaves almost no room for love, however. He thinks deeply, is deeply afraid of being hurt, and prefers to keep others at a distance.
Choo Young-woo, however, describes his character as a strong person, despite all the worries he carries inside. «Min-jae is a strong person, but he also has a lot of worries and fears. After losing a leg to the disease and giving up on his dream, he had to deal with a lot of emotions on his own.»
The actor explains that he gave particular thought to the way Min-jae holds back his emotions when his wounds resurface in his daily life. Rather than openly expressing his pain, the character silently carries on. It is precisely into this highly controlled existence that Yoo-jin will burst in.
Choo Young-woo explains that he was drawn to the simplicity of this story, which, in his view, does not revolve around a spectacular event, but rather around two people who have lost their way for different reasons and who, upon meeting, find the strength to start moving forward again.
Between Yoo-jin’s particularly confident declaration and Min-jae’s attempts to defend himself, «Between Steps» seems to want to build its romance around a gradual growing closeness rather than mere love at first sight.
«Between Steps» will premiere on October 5 at 10 p.m. KST on ENA and on Disney+ (to be confirmed internationally).
