Daily dramas generally bring in stable ratings and have their loyal audiences, but they’re not usually shows that center around — or get buzz for — their hot young casts. However, KBS’s upcoming daily Fine Windy Day [바람 불어 좋은날] is attracting notice for its youthful cast more than its veterans, such as Kim So-eun, who is taking one of the lead roles. Rising star Seo Hyo-rim plays another of the leads.
Kim’s character takes the drama’s central story, as a 19-year-old young woman who refuses to give up her dream of becoming a top illustrator. Because she grew up poor (and is still struggling), she’s extremely frugal, and maintains an optimistic outlook on things. However, her hot temper flares when witnessing injustice.
Kim So-eun said, “I’ve played a lot of lively characters so far, but this time she’s also realistic and tough. You’ll see another side to Kim So-eun, and you can look forward to the love triangle with the two men. It’s tough physically, but I’m very happy filming every day.”
Her character sells merchandise out of a streetside stall, and one day happens upon the ill-fortune to encounter an irascible man who is the design leader for a large company. Naturally, this unfolds into a love triangle between them and her hometown oppa, a “Daddy Long Legs” type who looks after her.
Jin Yi-han will play the design team leader, who has graduated from a top university and has a successful career, but has a painful past experience with love and is currently raising a young son on his own. Lee Sung-min is Jin Yi-han’s first love, the only daughter to a chaebol of a food company, who moved to the States for an arranged marriage. Six years later, she returns to Korea as a divorcee to reconnect with her first love. However, by now he’s linked with Kim So-eun.
Seo Hyo-rim’s role is of a materialistic young woman with a princess complex who models for an internet shopping mall. Kang Ji-sub plays the only son of a businessman.
Jin Yi-han is an actor I’ve had on my radar for a while, who started out in musicals and made the jump to television (along with his buddy Kang Ji-hwan). He hasn’t really had his big break yet, and this may be his opportunity to leap from supporting to leading roles. He wasn’t so memorable as a sorta-villain in Who Are You (I blame the writing), but was better in the 2007 mania drama Conspiracy in the Court, although mainstream audiences may know him best from the drama Golden Age of My Life.
Seo Hyo-rim has had supporting roles in shows like Insoon Is Pretty, The World They Live In and Job Well Done. Known for her bubbly, bright charm, she has become a frequent face in CFs, and is also coming due (in my opinion) for her breakthrough role.
Lee Sung-min is a young CF model who became widely recognized through the family sitcom Tae-hee, Hye-gyo, Ji-hyun, which she followed with weekend drama Creating Destiny. And 29-year-old Kang Ji-sub’s previous roles include Women in the Sun and last year’s SBS’s series Two Wives.
Also cast are Lee Hyun-jin (Boy Meets Boy, Assorted Gems) Jung Da-young (Unstoppable Wedding), and drama veterans Na Young-hee, Kim Mi-sook and Na Mun-hee. Fine Windy Day will replace Everybody Cha Cha Cha in early February.
T/N: I don’t watch daily dramas, probably for the same reason that they’re popular — they tend to be the domain of the Korean ajumma, with their large casts and long-running plots, usually centered around extended families. But as Choi Jin-shil once said, the best advice to take as a young actor is to do daily dramas — the sheer amount of constant work you encounter in a daily is great acting training, in contrast to doing, say, one film every two years. I’ll check a few episodes out and see if the story catches my interest.
Cr: Star News, Asia Economy, DongA + Dramabeans