Key takeaways
- Choo Young Woo stars in Between Steps as Park Min Jae, a former competitive swimmer turned roboticist who lost his right leg to illness and dreams of restoring it through technology.
- Director Ahn Pan Seok's final drama pairs the protagonist with Im Yoo Jin (Kim So Hyun), a graduate student from the Department of Clothing and Textiles seeking her own path after losing her way.
- Young Woo emphasizes portraying Park Min Jae's duality—a strong person burdened by hidden fears and the challenge of conveying pain while moving forward silently, as the character does.
“Between Steps” arrives as an intimate portrait of second chances, following two characters whose trajectories collided at their lowest points. The romance drama, helmed by the late director Ahn Pan Seok, premieres October 5 at 10 p.m. KST. Its centerpiece is Park Min Jae (Choo Young Woo), a former competitive swimmer whose illness claimed his right leg, and Im Yoo Jin (Kim So Hyun), a graduate student transferring from the Department of Clothing and Textiles to search for a new path after losing her own way.
Rather than frame these losses as dramatic inciting incidents, the narrative examines what comes after—the patient, often invisible work of reconstructing a life. Two people, each carrying fractures, find in each other the catalyst to move beyond survival toward genuine forward motion.
The Legacy of Director Ahn Pan Seok
Director Ahn Pan Seok built his career on intimate character studies that prioritize emotional truth over plot machinery. His previous dramas—”Something in the Rain,” “One Spring Night,” and “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon”—share a sensibility: they trust audiences to find meaning in small moments, in the spaces between words, in the weight of choices made quietly. “Between Steps” represents his final directorial work, a coda to a body of work consistently interested in how people navigate vulnerability, longing, and the possibility of connection.
For a director whose signature lay in restraint and interiority, a story about two people rebuilding after loss feels thematically coherent. The drama does not sensationalize their circumstances but rather observes how they inhabit the ordinary world while carrying extraordinary burdens.
Park Min Jae: The Swimmer Turned Researcher
From Pool to Laboratory
Promotional stills newly released capture Park Min Jae first in a hospital, face tight with apprehension as he waits for test results—a visual shorthand for the losses that define him. He lost not only his leg but his entire identity as a swimmer, a competitive athlete whose body was his instrument. In response, he has redirected himself toward robotics, pursuing both a Ph.D. and a private obsession: developing technology that might one day restore his leg.
The images show him absorbed in research, methodical and dedicated, moving at his own pace but never faltering in commitment. His laboratory has become his refuge, a space where intellect replaces physicality, where problems admit solutions, where he maintains absolute control.
Intellect as Armor
At the Ph.D. level, Park Min Jae presents as a man of exceptional intellect and striking appearance. Yet these qualities are surfaces. What defines him is the emotional architecture he has constructed: he keeps distance from romance, tends toward overthinking, and harbors a profound fear of being hurt. After his illness, after his loss, he has carried his emotions largely in isolation. His research is not merely a career but a strategy of self-protection, a way to stay busy enough that grief cannot find purchase.
Im Yoo Jin and Shared Fracture
Im Yoo Jin’s background in clothing and textiles suggests a practical, creative mind, distinct from Park Min Jae’s scientific focus. Her transfer and implicit reorientation signal her own recent pivot, her own moment of realignment. When the two become entangled—the word is deliberate, carrying the sense of connection neither expected nor sought—the drama records how two people who have each built walls begin, slowly, to let the other inside.
The meeting marks a turning point neither character anticipated. Park Min Jae faces his first challenge to the careful equilibrium he has constructed, forced to confront not just his past but his capacity for connection. In Im Yoo Jin, he encounters someone navigating her own loss, someone who understands the disorientation of having to rebuild.
Choo Young Woo’s Interpretation
Finding Simplicity in Complexity
Choo Young Woo was drawn to “Between Steps” by what he identified as the script’s essential clarity. “When I first read the script, I thought it was a very simple story. Rather than centering around a special incident, I liked the process of two people who had each lost their way at some point for their own reasons meeting each other and gaining the strength to move forward,” he reflected. The clarity of that vision—two people, mutual loss, mutual recovery—held immediate appeal.
The addition of director Ahn Pan Seok and actress Kim So Hyun removed any hesitation. “With Director Ahn Pan Seok and actress Kim So Hyun on board, there was no reason not to accept the role, and I felt that I would be able to learn a lot.” For an actor at this stage of his career, the opportunity to work with a master filmmaker in his final project and alongside an accomplished scene partner represented a singular learning experience.
Portraying Quiet Strength and Hidden Depths
When discussing his character, Young Woo articulates the duality at its heart: “Min Jae is a strong person, but he also has a lot of worries and fears. After losing one leg to illness and giving up on his dream, he has been dealing with a lot of emotions on his own.” The portrayal demands precise calibration of emotional exposure and restraint.
He continues: “I thought a lot about how and to what extent Min Jae should control his emotions when his wounds resurface in everyday life. Although Min Jae lives in the present, silently following his own path without expressing his pain, I pondered how to fully convey to viewers the way he confronts his complex inner emotions.” This reflection reveals an actor hyper-conscious of the central challenge: how to communicate internal turbulence through a character whose instinct is to contain, to hide, to move forward without revealing the weight he carries.
The performance must be felt, not announced—a subtle art requiring restraint and precision in equal measure.
Premiering October 5
“Between Steps” arrives October 5 at 10 p.m. KST. The drama marks the final directorial project from Ahn Pan Seok, a filmmaker whose career has consistently prioritized the interior lives of characters navigating vulnerability and longing. In this drama, two people learning to move forward after loss discover in each other the possibility of moving beyond survival toward genuine healing and unexpected love.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Between Steps about?
Between Steps is a romance drama following Park Min Jae (Choo Young Woo), a former swimmer who lost his right leg to illness and now pursues robotics, and Im Yoo Jin (Kim So Hyun), a graduate student seeking a new path, as they meet and find strength to move forward together.
Who directed Between Steps?
The drama was directed by the late Ahn Pan Seok, known for his previous works "Something in the Rain," "One Spring Night," and "The Midnight Romance in Hagwon." This is his final directorial project.
When does Between Steps premiere?
Between Steps premieres on October 5 at 10 p.m. KST.
