20 Times Ryu Jun Yeol Stole Our Hearts All Over Again On "Lucky Romance"

Ever since “Reply 1988” ended, we have been anticipating Ryu Jun Yeol’s return to K-dramas, and he is finally back!

(Warning: this article contains spoilers for “Reply 1988” and “Lucky Romance.”)

As the character Kim Jung Hwan in “Reply 1988,” he stole all of our hearts as we watched him fall for his childhood friend. However, he had a reserved, almost cold, personality that made his romantic interests more challenging. In the end he traded his love for the bond of friendship, and gave us the worst case of second lead syndrome we have had in a long time!

Despite the fact he didn’t get the girl, Ryu Jun Yeol has stolen our hearts and even the chance that he has another try at finding romance is enough to fill us with excitement! He actually has a major opportunity to woo the girl!

Are we a little too giddy about this?

Maybe, but just the thought is enough to put a silly grin on our faces.

“Lucky Romance” is a romantic comedy that has been perfectly showcasing Ryu Jun Yeol’s talents as an actor. He plays the character of Je Soo Ho, who is a genius savant and CEO of a game production company. He tends to be brusque and professionally minded, with little experience in dating, besides one bad relationship when he was in college. Ever since that unsightly romance, he is guarded and completely focused on work. When he is suddenly pursued by Shim Bo Nui (Hwang Jung Eum), a cute and superstitious person, everything he has formed in his mind comes crashing down.

Enough with the intro; here are 20 moments where Je Soo Ho, Ryu Jun Yeol’s character, made us fall head over heels in love all over again!

Because he is a genius who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, he likely relies more on his mind. Considering this fact, it is no wonder he almost has a fit in public when he revived this insult, which was supposed to be thoughtful advice!

Proving the previous point, he was quickly overpowered by a rabbit! Okay, a person in a bunny suit, but still.

It has to be ridiculously hard to fight someone while wearing a gigantic animal costume, but Shim Bo Nui still managed to overpower him.

He proves himself to be quite the gentleman when he finds Shim Bo Nui drunk and wandering around. He decides to keep a watchful eye on her as she makes her way back home. Considering how all of his previous encounters with her have ended up, this is unquestionable chivalry!

He already realized that the lady who dumped a bucket of filthy mop water on him and the woman he found wandering around were both Shim Bo Nui. However, it is almost too much to fathom that she was also the rabbit that walloped him and the designer of a game he wants to produce!

Despite this enlightening revelation, he proves himself to be a determined businessman when he approaches her about her video game IF.

He continues to show undaunted determination to get her game, and even shows up at her house to pursue it. Seeing her unfinished appearance, he is only surprised for a moment before he begins to talk business.

His determination is admirable, while his lack of social skills is adorable!

If only she knew how he found out where she lives, and what else happened the night he brought her home!

Shim Bo Nui is overly superstitious, so she decides to place a talisman in the CEO’s office when she ultimately started working at Zeze. Little did she know, a particular CEO is a workaholic who even has a bed in his office!

It is apparent by his reaction that Je Soo Ho does not usually have an employee ask for a relationship clause to be put in her employment contract. Ultimately he refuses, like any logical person would, but his big heart gets the best of him when he thinks Shim Bo Nui has some type of illness.

Of course, we couldn’t be happier about this development, even if his specific schedule and guidelines seem a bit extreme!

He reaches out for someone else for the first time, as he begins to realize he can not always do everything on his own.

Poor Je Soo Ho can never win a fight, as he is quickly overpowered again. Granted, it is by Shim Bo Nui’s childhood friend Gary Choi (Lee Soo Hyuk), who is a professional tennis player, so it is expected this time.

Let us not forget that he was trying to be thoughtful and give her medicine for indigestion, when he thought she was being harassed. She finally begins to realize that he does care for her despite his tsundere personality, and romance might be about to appear…

Yes, he is trying to hide from an employee at his company!

No one likes being used, especially Je Soo Ho, and he finally stands up for himself in this heart-wrenching moment. He is determined to know why Shim Bo Nui wants to sleep with him, but ends up leaving without the real answer. Nevertheless, he begins to wonder why it bothers him so much that she tried to use him.

We understand that he is concerned about her now that he knows she is trying to sleep with someone born in the year of the tiger, but this disguise is comically obvious!

While this does not help him capture Shim Bo Nui’s heart, we might have fallen for him and his sexy brain in this sequence.

Obviously any type of online dating/hooking up can be dangerous and should be approached with caution. Shim Bo Nui is lucky to have her knight in shining armor when she runs into an abnormal amount of predators while she is attempting to find a tiger. He remains vigilant and fends off all of these villainous men.

Not just once…

Not even twice…

He protects her a total of three times!

Someone made sure that she had a safe place to stay for the night again.

During this series he has gotten much closer to Shim Bo Nui, and learned a lot more about her than he realized. This is apparent when he knows that something is wrong before her childhood friend does. When he and her friend show up at the hospital her little sister is staying in, they quickly realize something has gone awry.

While Shim Bo Nui’s game was being developed, there was need for a girl to help with the motion development, making her the most obvious choice; but our CEO would not stand for it, and does it himself instead.

Jealousy does not get much better than this!

This genius has finally found a puzzle he will have trouble solving; even if that is his own feelings. His smile obviously melted our hearts, but his mood swings are way too much for us to handle!

It is more charming than it is awkward; if that is even possible!

Probably one of the things that has made us fall for Je Soo Ho the hardest is that he is slowly becoming a more compassionate and understanding person. He is always realistic and refuses to believe in superstitions, but he is beginning to respect Shi Bo Nui’s beliefs. He eventually takes her to the hospital to see her sister, who she has not really seen for years because she thinks she is an unlucky influence.

He reminds her that he is her lucky tiger, and that as long as she believes that, her little sister will not be harmed by her presence. This sly thief steals anything we had left of our hearts when he promises to bring her whenever she wants to see her sister in the future.

Catch the latest episode of this adorable drama on Viki!

Let us know which moment made you fall for Ryu Jun Yeol!

t0ky0nights is a K-Pop enthusiast, whose interests include many forms of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean entertainment. She can be found dancing or writing articles, and lyrics, most of the time. You can find her on Instagram here.