Lovely Runner star Byeon Woo-seok has Running Man cast fanboying but his popularity also leaves fans upset

His ongoing drama has made him a hot topic these days.

South Korean actor Byeon Woo-seok, who is currently trending for his role as heartthrob singer-actor Ryu Sun-jae in Lovely Runner, appeared on the variety series Running Man yesterday (May 12), and even regular cast members of the show were fanboying.

"My wife really, really likes you," Haha told the 32-year-old about his singer wife Kim Go-eun, who goes by the stage name Byul.

Haha, 44, initiated a mutual Instagram following with Woo-seok on the spot, with Ji Suk-jin, 58, following suit. The two comedians also took a selfie with him.

Yoo Jae-suk, 51, teased Haha for giving special treatment to Woo-seok, referring to the latter's last appearance on Running Man in 2022: "Since when have you taken care of Woo-seok?"

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According to Nielsen Korea, the nationwide viewership ratings for this Running Man episode rose to four per cent from last week's 3.2 per cent. It's been reportedly three months since the show reached such ratings.

Model-turned-actor Woo-seok made his acting debut in the 2016 drama Dear My Friends.

He continued to take on supporting roles before landing bigger ones in Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency (2019) and Record of Youth (2020).

He rose in popularity after playing the main character Poong Woon-ho in the 2022 movie 20th Century Girl, and more recently starred as a villain in Strong Girl Nam-soon (2023).

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Why aren't fans happy?

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Woo-seok opened his community on the social media platform Weverse on May 9 and media reports stated that he gained over 100,000 members just within two hours.

Many fans subscribed to his Weverse DM, a feature that allows them to see exclusive content from him and send him personal messages. Posts from the artist and subscribers' replies are presented in the form of text messages, and a one-month subscription costs around S$4.

Weverse, which is owned by Hybe, is now under fire as angry fans said they experienced the app crashing each time Woo-seok posts, rendering them unable to read his posts and respond.

Korean fans took to online forums and other social media platforms like X to express their frustration.

"My feed has become a gathering place for fans who paid money to subscribe to Woo-seok's DMs. One hundred per cent of them are unable to access his messages because the servers are down. We're checking his messages for free on X instead," said one fan.

"Is it just Woo-seok's DM that has this issue?" lamented another.

Another suggested that his agency switch to another similar platform: "To Varo Entertainment, because Weverse is too small for Woo-seok, how about moving to Bubble?"

Bubble is used by artistes such as Exo, Stray Kids and Aespa.

Woo-seok will be holding a fanmeet Asia tour shortly starting in Taipei and continuing on to Bangkok, Seoul and Hong Kong.

Running Man is available on Viu.

Strong Girl Nam-soon, 20th Century Girl and Record of Youth are available on Netflix while Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency can be seen there as well as on Viu and Disney+.

Lovely Runner is also streaming on Viu, with new episodes out every Monday and Tuesday.

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syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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