Lovely Runner – K-drama Episode 13 Recap & Review

In Another Life 

Episode 13 of Lovely Runner picks up where we left off, with Im Sol staying behind after realising her future has changed. In a flashback, we see that she saw Sun-jae dying while trying to save her again! This is why Im Sol pretended she had gone back to the future and got off the train. She wanted to save Sun-jae from his ever-dying fate! Seriously, how many times will he die in this show?

Returning a few days prior to their journey, the duo celebrates Im Sol’s birthday at an arcade. As anticipated, they have a blast, exchanging playful banter and making plans for the future. As the day draws to a close, Sun-jae presents Im Sol with a necklace and a birthday cake. Despite the apparent joy, Im Sol’s underlying fear is palpable. She is once again attempting to defy fate, starting with her brother by revealing the winning lottery numbers. 

Presently, Im Sol tries to make sense of the memories that keep flashing in her mind. She figures out that Young-soo will attack her on May 6th at 5 am and she stands by and waits. Sun-jae realises she lied about travelling to the future after Bok-soon asks why he is not with Im Sol. He rushes out trying to find her but Tae-sung informs him that Im Sol never left In-hyuk’s home town. Apparently, Im Sol called Tae-sung’s dad and asked for help. 

Im Sol, as well as the detectives, join forces and try to lure Young-soo. Unfortunately, Sun-jae calls the local police, and Young-soo spots them checking on Im Sol. He starts to retreat but runs into Sun-jae, who is heading towards Im Sol. Sadly, Sun-jae has the miscalculated idea of pursuing Young-soo on his own.

Young-soo takes him to the cliff in the forest and stabs him. By the time Im Sol gets there, Young-soo is trying to stab her man again. The police quickly take Young-soo into custody, but Sun-jae trips and falls into the ocean. On his trip down, he says he doesn’t regret dying for Im Sol. He even smiles when he sees her and the police arrive. He knew she was safe, but at what cost?

Following the death of Sun-jae, Im Sol returns to her time (the future.) She tries to forget the heavy loss she suffered and focus on work. Her work is not easy; she has to babysit celebrities every day. The only silver lining is that Hyun-joo is part of the company, too.

This time, an actor named Do-hyun is the bane of her existence. He wants to be in the romantic film her studio is working on but doesn’t want to shoot kissing scenes. Im Sol’s boss asks her to talk to Do-hyun, but he is rude. He also tries to drive off while drunk, and she is forced to use minimal force to bring him to his senses. 

The altercation is reported to the police, and Im Sol’s boss forces her to apologise and write an official apology letter. With no option, Im Sol writes the letter. At the police station, she runs into Tae-sung. Our handsome second lead is now a police officer. He turned out alright!

He offers to take her drinking, and Im Sol swears she won’t get drunk but ends up drinking too much. Tae-sung carries her home, and on the way it starts to snow. Im Sol starts crying as she remembers Sun-jae and talks about how much she misses him. 

The next day, Im Sol’s boss has a change of heart and agrees to fire Do-hyun. She also apologises to Im Sol for making her write the apology letter. She offers Im Sol a chance to present the movie project she is working on. Im Sol is happy and excited she is finally getting a chance to work on her real passion. The boss notices a red envelope in the documents and assumes Im Sol wrote her a touching letter. She promises to read it later that night. It is not until later, when celebrating with Hyun-joo, that Im Sol remembers that she wrote the letter while drunk the previous night. In the letter, Im Sol heavily criticised her boss and talked about resigning. 

To save herself, Im Sol tracks down her boss at an award show and steals the letter back. As she quickly makes her escape, she bumps into a man on the stairs and he quickly saves her from falling. The man turns out to be none other than the dashing Sun-jae. Damn! He looks good in a tuxedo, but how is he alive?

Well, it turns out on the day he died on the cliff. Im Sol noticed his watch had stopped. She figured if she pressed it, she could use it to go back in time and change their fate. This time, she made it that they never met. She watched Sun-jae from afar and cried her pain away. It was the only way to save him. 

The Episode Review

What an emotional roller coaster this episode was! Lovely Runner has mastered the art of making us happy and then crushing our spirits in one sweeping fall. Our lover boy died again! This time, Im Sol used his watch to change fate. Since he died, it is possible he got the power to time travel, too.

Either way, we are grateful he made it to 2023, even though he never got to meet Im Sol. Sadly, this means he also never sang our favourite song, Sudden Shower. If this is the only way for Im Sol to save Sun-jae for good, we will take it.

On the other hand, our second love team is flourishing in this timeline. Hyun-joo and Im Geum have a happy marriage and two kids. We are glad that it worked out for them; at least they get a happy ending. It is also nice to see Tae-sung follow in his father’s footsteps and become a cop. He is a good friend to Im Sol, and we hope he will find his happiness, too. 

With Sun-jae making a return to Im Sol’s life, we can’t wait to see what happens next. This time, let’s hope Young-soo won’t be making a return. This man has put us through enough!