Bazaar Korea Announces K-actor Byun Woo Seok Will Get 4 Different Covers and a 26-pictorial Spread in the July 2024 Edition

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• N we r mostly know that expectations are never meet in the next project, especially in situations like this not that it not possible of cause.

• I love Sun Jae, Byun Woo Seok did amazing and I’m pleased about this. Though I do hope Kim Hye Yoon gets hers for being equally amazing and were I BWS, I’d try to parlay this into the SML of someone huge (Kim Soo Hyun’s latest need anyone?) so the expectations wouldn’t be sky high.

  • Kim Hye Yoon will be more of an acclaimed actress in her career, she is on a different trajectory while Byeon Woo Seok will be the heart throb of the country. His next project will let us know if it was him or the director that brought out the best in his acting.

    • Would not put her drama choices anywhere close to being critical acclaim but then again she doesn’t get many offers so it’s understandable. It’ll be an achievement for her if she has more than 2-3 drama offers after this but growth can be a slow process for female actors.

    • @Qu not yet but I think that's her direction. She's not short on her acting skills. She'll get there. I'm rooting for this girl. It's sad that she's not getting the same hype as BWS so I hope she'll get good projects and more acting awards.

    • Kim Hye Yoon has everything it takes to be a star - the looks, the talent, the charm - but a little push from her agency and the industry finally starting to funnel good projects to her would go a long way.

      I don't want a repeat of Extraordinary You where she carried the whole drama (to a much greater extent than she did in Lovely Runner, especially in terms of skills) but her male leads walked away with the lion's share of attention and career boosts while her subsequent projects were B-list dramas, supporting leads and movies which, despite being critically acclaimed, no one saw. At least Byun Wooseok held up his end of their drama together much better than any of the EY boys did opposite her so I'm not grudging his success at all, just wishing she got even a fraction of the same opportunities and attention.

    • @Qu
      She has double Baeksang nomination and one win, one blue Dragon with 1 movie as lead and 3 dramas she did as lead in her career of 6 years. Most people go by without even a single one of those in their careers. It doesn't matter what you think. The whole if SK thinks that way. She is well respected and loved even if Woo Seok is nation's heart throb. She'll be fine.

    • @Gu she already said she got offers but said she doesn’t want to wear a uniform anymore, looking for more mature role. Hopefully not another melo drama which limits her range.

    • Kim Hye Yoon was the reason I started watching Lovely Runner and I am ecstatic that it's given her career a much needed boost. Feels like she is finally getting her flowers at last and people are re-discovering her! She needs to avoid another schoolgirl project though. Although she actually isn't playing a schoolgirl for two thirds of 'Lovely Runner' but the promo and poster initially made it look like it was a school fantasy romance and she understandably wants to transition away from those types of roles.

      I would love to see her in a fun female-centric film with seniors like Go Min Si's role in 'Smugglers' or female focused career drama like Be Melodramatic/ Search WWW/VIP or horror like 'Revenant'. She guested on a variety show and radio show this week and she said on the radio show she is receiving lots of scripts after the success of Lovely Runner so hoping this means we will see much higher calibre roles and projects for her than she ended up in post-EY!😁

      She will also be flying out to Bali for a photoshoot this week and ACOM have really stepped up their social media and updates for her. True her popularity hasn't soared to the same stratospheric levels as Woo Seok has but her popularity has definitely increased hugely and she is getting lots of love calls.

    • @Sunny they both sound so busy, I'm starting to worry they won't be able to attend the reward vacation 😭😭😭

• Really? That seems way over exaggerated and way too much pressure in the future.

  • He just completed 130 press interviews as well. Maybe not as hot for Asia and global since his drama was on VIU and VIKI but in Korea its explosive judging by the 700k logs trying to buy tickets to his fanmeetings. He also received over 100 to 200 scripts. Its legit seonjae fever there now.

    • Viki confirmed weeks ago (while it was still airing) that Lovely Runner has the highest viewership numbers of any 2024 drama in their catalogue

      I hope that his next project does well, or if it doesn't, that the next one after that does. I haven't seen any new actor go this viral on Korean community sites since Jang Dongyoon in The Tale of Nokdu and frankly I think he's easily more viral than that.

  • I thought the same

  • Is it exaggerated if his song just broke into the Billboard chart with zero promotion? This is organic success and he’s owning every bit of it. Without him there would be no Ryu Sungjae. He made the drama possible since everyone else rejected it.

    • It's exaggerated because it's one drama. Absolutely nothing guarantees the next ones will be.

      It's better to leave young artists room to breathe. I am not saying don't give him a cover, I am just saying that this type of hype often don't ends well for the artist and that it's unnecessary.

    • If Harper's Bazaar believe he is that big then he is. If hundreds of thousands of fans love his music then its obviously good. If the industry believes he has what it takes then he does. You seem to have something backwards and it is that the industry decides if an actor is worth the hype then they ensure that only the best scripts and directors will go to that person. The projects that BWS is getting now is going to be filtered out for only the S class writers and directors whose dramas never fail. How can he fail if the production team is made up of cast and crew who have always delivered hits? He will never take on rookie writers or low budget dramas ever again because his agency won't let him. Only the best of the best writer and director combination will be offered to him from now on.

    • @Star

      I hope you are a child because that is a child's reasoning.

      Of course he can fail. There is no guarantee whatsoever that a project will be a hit no matter how many good quality people work on it.

      Even the biggest Hollywood superstars have multiple flops because that is just life. There is nothing certain in it.

      You seem too over the top passionate though so that's all I will say. I wish him well and luck, he is going to need it, especially with fans like you who have already put him in the position of god in kdramas. Poor guy.

    • @star , not true, even with top production, writer and everything it can still be a flop, Eternal Monarch had low rating with the high expectation from goblin. But even then, BWS will be a well known name unlike before, he just need to utilize it if his acting skills remains the same level or improves.

    • @Star the last 15 years of kdramas are absolutely littered with actors who had one breakout role, were slated to be "the next big thing" but whose subsequent work fizzled or never came anywhere near the impact of their breakout roles - for every Song Joong Ki, Kim Soo Hyun and Park Bo Gum there's a Jang Geun Suk, Yoo Yeon Suk, Kim Seon Ho, Jang Dong Yoon, Yoo Seung Ho etc who never lived up to the predictions made after their breakout roles (I'm not saying they don't have careers or aren't talented, just that they aren't big names like it was thought they would be, for whatever reason - poor drama picks, scandal, typecasting etc)

      what BWS has in his favour is what @Sunny said - he saw the potential of Lovely Runner and the role of Sunjae when so many actors didn't, so hopefully he has a good eye for scripts and will use it now that he has options. People forget that 'IT' is only a moment, time will tell whether his next drama helps it or fizzles it out.

• Kim Hye Yoon will be more of an acclaimed actress in her career, she is on a different trajectory while Byeon Woo Seok will be the heart throb of the country. His next project will let us know if it was him or the director that brought out the best in his acting.

  • not related to him but there is this one actor in my country who was really good in this one drama. Turns out it really was the director who upped his game cuz this actor flopped so bad in the subsequent drama. But luckily he has improved after few years.

• I think more than anyone, he is more afraid of his fame. He is more afraid but also looking forward to his next project. Instead of being cautios and limit himself, I want him to do these kind of things.He is in the industry for 8 years.

• the hype around him is unreal right now. i agree that it increases the pressure for his next project, so i hope he chooses wisely. it's better to choose a strong script and director team than go for whatever the highest profile project that's being offered to him. he has mentioned several times now that he's just reeling from this newfound popularity and success, so i hope he has a good support system to keep him grounded. i'm super excited to see how far he will go!

• He's in a dangerous position with all eyes on him and the pressure will be immense to see if he can replicate the level of performance that he did in Lovely Runner. Hopefully, the hype will die down and he will find his level in terms of acting ability. He's the new IT guy at the moment, but it doesn't mean he always will be. Hopefully he gets proper guidance from his Sunbaes in the industry, someone influential and with good judgement takes him under their wings and helps him with his choice of future acting projects. The bubble will eventually burst, it always does. Only time will tell if he can parlay it into a Kim Soo Hyun type of career or if he will end up as an average joe actor with an average career trajectory.

• He was a very good model before so the drama hype aside I'm sure he will ace every single one of those 4 covers and 26 pictures!

  The pressure is huge for his next project but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders, lots of supportive colleagues and sunbaes in the industry and a very good agency supporting him so I think they will choose wisely. The fact that he saw the potential of Lovely Runner and Sunjae when so many other actors didn't makes me think he has a good eye and now he will have more options. A role like that usually only comes once in a lifetime for an actor so, realistically, he is not going to get the same insane level of success for his next drama/film as Lovely Runner but he does need to build on LR and show he is a talented, reliable actor and not just a tall, goodlooking face. I also think for his next role it would be wise to veer away from a romance heavy role.

  I'm so thrilled for him as you can tell he so taken aback by his massive popularity but genuinely appreciative. Very excited to see what will be coming next for him!😊

• Still so much buzz around LR while I'm lackluster to pick up the drama again after watching a few eps. LOL.

• His agency did a great job to keep him trending after the drama ended but he also got the rare privilege for an actor to be cast in a role that fits him to a tee. His chemistry of KHY was also quite special. Now there's massive pressure on him to live up to the Lovely Runner hype. I imagine his agency is gonna be so careful when choosing his next couple follow up projects because those will be the ones to decide his fate in the industry.