Lovely Runner – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Sun-jae’s Secret Teen Crush

Episode 2 of Lovely Runner picks up where we left off. Im Sol is crying in the rain while Sun-jae approaches and shares his umbrella with her. He asks why she is crying, and she remembers he had asked the same question when they met in the future. The more she remembers, the more she cries, and people start to notice. Some students wonder if it is a love quarrel, so Sun-jae takes her somewhere else.

It continues to rain, and they wait under a building. Im Sol feels embarrassed and keeps stealing glances at Sung Jae. On the other hand, he is wondering what is wrong with her. She explains that she is a fan of his swimming, and he reminds her of her old dog.

Apparently, the dog was named Otter, and it was a good swimmer like Sun-jae. Even Im Sol finds it hard to sell this story, and Sun-jae doesn’t believe a word out of her mouth. He gives her back the watch. The watch stirs her memory from the previous day and how she said some embarrassing stuff. She grabs his umbrella and runs away.

Upon arriving at her class, she is excited to see all her classmates and acts like she has not seen them in a long time. Her classmates question what is wrong with her. Hyun-joo is also worried about Im Sol after she stormed out of the class.

Meanwhile, Bok-soon is at home cleaning up while talking to a neighbour, Ms Kwon. Bok-soon is concerned about finding a tenant for the neighbouring house. Ms. Kwon suggest she sells the house and buy an apartment in Pangyo. She is also frustrated with Ryu Gyeon Deok for renting a movie and failing to return it. She calls him, but Gyeon-deok denies ever renting the movie. She complains to Ms Kwon, and they talk; Im Geum interrupts since he is practising for a monk role. He is an aspiring actor.

Back at school, Im Sol struggles to concentrate because she is thinking about how she has time travelled. She believes the answer is related to the watch and accidentally presses the button. She anticipates another time jump, but nothing happens. The teacher then calls her to solve a math quiz, but she lies about having stomach cramps. The teacher sends her to the infirmary, but she heads to Sun-jae’s school.

At the gym, Im Sol spots Sun-jae from a distance. However, the smell of cigarettes distracts her, leading her to investigate. She stumbles upon three boys smoking and is about to confront them when Tae-sung appears, overpowering the boys. Despite his competence, Im Sol can’t resist intervening. Unfortunately, more bullies arrive, and Tae-sung, in a moment of urgency, grabs her arm and urges her to run. They manage to evade the bullies, hiding in a safe spot.

After this, Tae-sung grabs the cigarettes to smoke, and she tries to stop him. At this point, she remembers she used to have a crush on him. Tae-sung is a bad boy with good looks and an affinity for trouble. He is also in a band, and girls are swooning over him. He finds Im Sol’s behaviour strange, noting that they met the previous morning. A teacher spots them as they argue, and Tae-sung runs away, leaving the cigarettes and lighter in Im Sol’s hands. The teacher fails to believe Im Sol’s story and gives her a punishment to kneel in front of the school.

Sun-jae sees her, but he is convinced she is a smoker. He warns her to stop the deadly habit and tells her that the CCTV camera is fake, so the teacher won’t know if she leaves. On her way out, she runs into Tae-sung again. He cautions her to stay out of his fights in the future. They start arguing until another girl, who seems interested in Tae-sung, interrupts them. Tae-sung leaves to avoid her, and sadly, the girl and her friends try to intimidate Im Sol, warning her to stay away from Tae-sung.

Later, Im Sol consults Hyun-joo for advice on how to get close to someone. Hyun-joo says the first impression is important but we all know how that went. In the end, Hyun-joo says Im Sol is hopeless but advises her to send the new love interest a friend request on social media. She questions how quickly Im Sol got over Tae-sung’s rejection. It turns out that Im Sol had written a love letter to Tae-sung the previous morning, but he turned her down. Of course, this was before the time-travel saga, so Im Sol doesn’t remember. She finds the letter at home, and Im Geum makes fun of her.

At the same time, Sun-jae is working hard to improve his swimming. He sees Im Sol’s friend request and denies it. The following morning, the two meet at the bus stop, and Im Sol feels disheartened. However, she hopes to return his umbrella and strike up a conversation. During the bus ride, Sun-jae saves her from falling. At their stop, Im Sol is pushed around as people alight and get on the bus. The umbrella slips, and she is unable to alight. Sun-jae chases the bus and asks the driver to stop. As expected, he looks like a dashing hero and the girls can’t stop swooning. Honestly, neither can we!

However, Sun-jae denies he wanted to help her. He says he only wanted to get his umbrella back. Either way, Im Sol is impressed with how he answers back and is defiant. The conversation turns to the request, and Sun-jae implies he denied it because she is a smoker. She dares him to smell her fingers to check if they smell of cigarettes. Obviously, he refuses, and she accidentally pokes his nose. In-hyuk witnesses this interaction and starts teasing Sun-jae. Like Hyun-joo, he is surprised that Im Sol is paying much attention to his friend.

He informs Sun-jae that Im Sol likes Tae-sung and has even been secretly leaving him chocolates. Sun-jae says he is unaware of this and has no idea who Tae-sung is. However, he seems angry after learning this. At the same time, Im Sol comes across a swimming competition banner and remembers something from the future. This is the competition that ended Sun-jae’s swimming career. He spoke about it on a TV interview. She makes it her mission to stop him from participating in the swimming competition.

At first, she tries to explain to him what will happen in the future, but every time she talks about the future, time freezes. She changes tactics since Sun-jae is stubborn. He wants to make a comeback as a swimmer. One of his teammates, Hyun-gu, is jealous and mocks him. We learn that Sun-jae is recovering from surgery and should be taking it easy. Im Sol is relentless in pursuing Sun-jae to change his mind. She advises him to check if his arm is okay before the competition.

On the other hand, Sun-jae’s dad and Im Sol’s mom continue arguing about the rented movie. Things are also not going great for Tae-sung, who is reported to the police for getting into another fight. His dad is a Lieutenant, and he picks Tae-sung up. Based on their interaction, it is likely they have a rocky relationship.

Meanwhile, Im Sol devises a plan to trick Sun-jae and deter him from the competition. She dresses up like an old lady, claiming to have shaman-like powers. She then accosts him on the street and begs for a donation before giving him a prophecy. She warns him to stay away from water for the next three days. According to her, Sun-jae is being pursued by a virgin water ghost. She brings up his hurt shoulder and moles on his body to try to be convincing. Sun-jae is flustered and promises not to take even a shower. He is not convinced but wants to leave quickly.

On her way back, she runs into Tae-sung and helps treat his wound while trying to talk to him. She asks him to consider being less trouble for the sake of his parents. Sadly, Tae-sung says his parents don’t care if he drops out of school. They talk for a while, and Tae-sung plays around with the money Sun-jae gave Im Sol. It accidentally gets in dirty water, and Im Sol gets angry.

She starts heading home, and Tae-sung follows her, apologising profusely. Coincidentally, they meet with Sun-jae and Im-sol is busted. Sun-jae accuses her of mocking him and walks away. She, however, insists that Sun-jae is in danger. Im Sol is surprised to learn that Sun-jae is her neighbour. That night, Sun-jae is unable to meditate as he keeps thinking about Im Sol’s words. He decides to go back to school and train. Im Sol spots him leaving his house and follows him.

At school, she finds Hyun-gu trying to steal Sun-jae’s pants to mess with him. Sun-jae is superstitious and believes he must swim in the pants he practises with the day before. Sun-jae is startled by the noise, and Hyun-gu and his friend run away when they hear him approaching. Im Sol ends up hiding in the towel rack and is spotted.

Sun-jae misunderstands and thinks she is trying to steal his pants. He accuses her of acting abnormally, and she tries to explain. However, time freezes whenever she mentions she is from the future. She opts to say she had a dream, but Sun-jae doesn’t care; he is pissed and doesn’t understand her motivations to go out of her way to protect him.

He angrily storms out and leaves her behind. Upon getting home, he gets a call from another friend asking if he is okay. The friend is concerned since Hyun-gu was at the school that night looking to steal  Sun-jae’s pants. At the same time, his dad discovers the X-rated movie Bok-soon has been asking about under Sun-jae’s bed. It starts to rain, and Sun-jae grabs an umbrella and rushes out.

Concurrently, Im Sol is walking home and nearly gets into an accident. She calms herself down and tries to cross the road again. However, she panics in the middle of the road and freezes. An oncoming car is about to crash into her, and she recalls someone saving her from her accident. It turns out the good samaritan was Sun-jae. Before the car hits her, Sun-jae pulls her, and she faints in his arms.

In the epilogue, we learn that Sun-jae has always had a crush on Im Sol since he first met her. Im Sol mistook him for the delivery guy, but he was kind to him. She didn’t know that he was the new neighbour. She had no idea how many times he was silently there for her.

In retrospect, he was surprised when she started to notice him and confessed her love for him out of the blue. He also didn’t intentionally deny her friend request. He was startled when his dad barged into his room, and he accidentally clicked the deny button. The episode ends with a scene from the future. We learn that Sun-jae carried a picture of them as teenagers. It was in his hotel room the day he died.

The Episode Review

This episode was full of perfect comedy, and we loved it. After that sad debut episode, we had a light and fun second episode. The actors continue to wow us with their prowess. Kim Hye-yoon does a great job of making us believe the storyline.

At the moment, she and Byeon Woo-seok are carrying the show. We also love seeing our favourite actors, such as Kim Won-hae, who plays Sun-jae’s dad. There is a saying that one can tell how good a show is based on the supporting cast, and Lovely Runner doesn’t disappoint.

The twist at the end was a good surprise, especially to those who are yet to read the webtoon. Sun-jae has always had feelings for Im Sol. He also saved her from the accident, which means he knew who she was that night after the concert. We can’t help but theorise why he kept his distance from her after becoming an idol. It is possible he was scared to confess his feelings, and there is always the fear of how his fans will react.

This show touches on the para-social relationship fans have with their favourite idols. The reality is their relationship might have been ill-received by the fans. Either way, we look forward to slowly uncovering the mystery of Sun-jae’s relationship with Im Sol.