Meet the ‘Between Steps’ K-Drama Cast and Their Characters (with photos)

The ‘Between Steps’ cast is led by Choo Young Woo and Kim So Hyun, who star in a romance by the late director Ahn Pan Seok, who helmed ‘Something in the Rain,’ ‘One Spring Night,’ and ‘The Midnight Romance in Hagwon’. The ENA drama premieres on October 5 at 10 p.m., and it streams on Disney+ in select regions. The series runs for twelve episodes.

The story unfolds inside a university robotics lab, so the supporting players matter as much as the leads. Recent stills introduced the full research team and the faculty of Seohan University, while a separate set of images revealed the family of the female lead. Here is a closer look at the main faces in the ‘Between Steps’ cast.

Choo Young-Woo

Choo Young Woo plays Park Min Jae, a doctoral student and former swimmer who lost one of his legs to illness and discovered robotics. The actor explained that his character lost the leg to osteosarcoma and had to give up the dream of becoming a swimmer. Min Jae begins studying robotics in the hope of finding a new future.

Choo is known for his work in ‘Head Over Heels’. The same report describes Min Jae as reserved and afraid of getting hurt, someone who has kept romance at a distance. That emotional guardedness appears to be the foundation of the character.

Choo has spoken about the early days of production. At the first script reading he said he felt butterflies while sitting across from his co-star. He also credited the director for putting weight on what the actors saw, heard and felt on set rather than asking them to invent something for a scene.

Kim So-Hyun

Kim So Hyun takes the role of Im Yoo Jin, a new member of Min Jae’s research lab who studied clothing and textiles but found her path to graduate school blocked. Kim is known for ‘Good Boy’ and ‘Love Alarm’. Her character is the one who enters Min Jae’s carefully ordered world.

Character stills show Yoo Jin as a fashion student choosing an outfit in a room filled with fabric. Another image hints at a crisis before graduation, after she is suddenly branded a troublemaker in her department. Her bold personality is meant to challenge everything Min Jae knows.

Kim said it was her first time meeting Choo at the script reading, yet their back and forth worked well enough to suggest many fun scenes. The main poster describes the pair as clumsy at love and promises a romance that is spicy, bitter and sweet.

Kim Min Seok

Kim Min Seok plays Im Yoo Sung, the older brother of Yoo Jin, only one year her senior, who works as a mechanic at his parents’ auto shop. He is the comic anchor of the family scenes. His presence gives the lead character a grounded life outside the lab.

Stills show a carefree and immature young man who regularly gets into hair pulling fights with his sister. Beneath that surface he is a dependable brother who cares deeply about his family. The sibling dynamic should give the romance plot some welcome contrast.

The parents complete the household. Park Hyuk Kwon plays the kind and hardworking father, Im Yong Seok, who runs Jeil Car Center, while Seo Jeong Yeon plays the tenacious mother, Seo Mi Young, who handles the shop’s books. Though the family does not have much, their children are their greatest pride.

Lee Chang-Hoon

Lee Chang Hoon plays Ahn Jae Hong, a boisterous professor of mechanical engineering and robotics who oversees the lab where the leads work. He is the authority figure of the research team. The lab setting depends on his presence.

Two more professors fill out the faculty. Jang In Sub plays Lee Ji Hoon, the youngest tenured professor in the Department of Mathematics and a mathematical genius. Ryu Kyung In plays Kang Mi Ran of the Department of Clothing, a professor who is tough on those beneath her and deferential toward those above her.

Together the professors round out a campus atmosphere that the drama presents as down to earth. The story is set at Seohan University’s robotics research lab. That shared space is where the leads’ paths intertwine.

Kim Min

Kim Min plays Choi Han Gyul, the lab member described as the eternally youngest of the group. He is one of several graduate students who share Min Jae’s daily routine. Their scenes are meant to fill out the world around the central couple.

Lee Gyu Sung plays the brainy Uhm Tae Ho, Lee Suk Hyeong plays the easygoing Bae Chan Soo, and Im Jin Hyo plays Kim Se Jin, the lab’s newest member and a colleague of Yoo Jin. The four are expected to bring plenty of laughs and showcase their chemistry as labmates. This ensemble gives the series its lighter texture.

Choo Young Woo has pointed to the set itself as a reason the group works. He said the set was always filled with consideration and respect, and that the lab members showed strong teamwork. If you have already picked a favorite among the lab mates in ‘Between Steps’, tell us in the comments which character you think will steal the most scenes from the two leads.