Ryu Sun-jae
He Was Already Saying Goodbye While Falling in Love
He knew it.
That his time was running out.
That every breath, every heartbeat,
was slowly counting down to an end.
And maybe that’s why he held on tighter,
loved deeper,
lived more desperately—
as if every day could be the last.
Ryu Sun-jae.
In tvN’s drama “Lovely Runner,”
he is a top star, adored by millions.
Under the spotlight, he shines.
But behind it,
he is a man drowning in silence.
Famous, but lonely.
Loved, but barely living.
Then came Im Sol.
A girl who should have never met him.
A fan, yes—
but also someone who traveled back in time
just to save him.
What he didn’t know was
how much love that kind of devotion held.
How far someone could go
just to stop you from disappearing.
At first, he didn’t understand.
That he could be someone’s everything.
He thought he was just a face on a screen,
a name in lights.
But she looked at him like he mattered—
not because of fame,
but because of who he was
when the cameras stopped rolling.
He wanted to run.
Not from her,
but from the pain of what he couldn’t give.
He knew his time was limited.
He didn’t want to break her
when he could barely hold himself together.
So he kept quiet.
Didn’t say “I love you.”
Didn’t say “Don’t leave.”
He simply watched her smile,
and held those moments
like fragile glass in trembling hands.
But love is not silence.
And hearts don’t forget.
Every laugh she shared
made him want to live.
Every tear she shed
reminded him how much he was already dying.
He feared the day she would look for him
and find only a memory.
Feared that she would blame herself.
Feared that he’d vanish from her time
like he never existed.
Still, he hoped.
For a miracle.
For one more day.
Not on stage,
but by her side.
In the quiet.
In the ordinary.
Ryu Sun-jae was a man walking toward death.
But because of her,
he finally wanted to live.
So he stayed.
Held on.
Fought back against fate.
Because if she could cross time to save him,
then he could at least fight to remain.
His love wasn’t loud.
But it was unshakable.
His wish wasn’t grand.
But it was everything.
Even if he couldn’t escape the end,
he believed—
if she remembered the way he looked at her,
if she remembered that they once shared a story—
then maybe that would be enough.
He remembered the first time he stood on stage.
His hands shook, his voice trembled—
yet when the spotlight hit, he felt alive.
Not because of the applause,
but because, for the first time,
he was seen.
But fame is a double-edged sword.
The higher he rose,
the lonelier it became.
The world loved the version of him they created.
No one cared for the boy
who sat in the dark after the lights went out.
He had forgotten how to be human.
Until Im Sol came.
She didn't try to fix him.
She listened.
She stayed.
And most of all,
she believed.
In his music.
In his silence.
In him.
He watched her fight time itself
to rewrite the end of his story.
She didn’t know how exhausted he was,
how often he stood at the edge of despair.
But she showed up—
again and again—
until the edges softened,
until he wanted to try again.
There was a night he almost gave up.
His body ached,
his heart was numb,
and his will flickered like a dying candle.
He sat alone,
wondering if disappearing would finally bring peace.
Then her voice came to him,
soft, trembling,
“I came back because I couldn’t lose you.”
It broke him.
And then,
it saved him.
He didn’t need eternity.
He just needed enough time
to tell her she mattered.
To leave behind a memory
that was warm enough to survive the cold of loss.
He started to write again.
Not for albums,
not for fans—
but for her.
Letters in lyrics.
Goodbyes in melodies.
A thank you in every chorus.
When she looked at him now,
he didn’t look away.
He let her see the cracks.
Let her touch the broken pieces.
Because real love,
the kind worth time-traveling for,
wasn’t flawless.
It was brave.
And he was finally brave.
If his life was to end,
then let it end not as a star,
but as a man who loved.
Who stayed.
Who chose her—
again and again—
in every timeline.
And if fate dared to erase him,
he knew
she would remember enough
to bring him back.
Because love like that
never truly ends.
