ENA has released behind-the-scenes photos of Between Steps stars Kim So-hyun and Choo Young-woo, taken during filming of the romance drama's first two episodes. The new cuts show the two leads between takes as their on-screen romance builds momentum.
The newly released unaired and behind-the-scenes cuts from Episodes 1 and 2 show both leads fully locked into their roles. Choo Young-woo plays Park Min-jae, a doctoral student who lost one leg to illness and gave up his dream of becoming a swimmer, now pursuing a new life through robotics. His take is the textbook "nerd guy," with a sweet-and-salty charm that swings between born-single awkwardness and engineering-department heartthrob — a duality that's been driving viewer immersion.
Kim So-hyun, meanwhile, plays Im Yoo-jin, a soon-to-graduate clothing department student thrown into confusion about her career path. Her portrayal of an "unfinished youth" caught between immaturity and maturity, reason and emotion, has drawn praise for making Yoo-jin's incompleteness feel convincing rather than fragile.
The photos arrive as the drama builds momentum. The first two episodes traced Park Min-jae and Im Yoo-jin's fated first meeting and their repeated, seemingly destined run-ins — the careless-but-tender doctoral student and the outspoken undergrad finding their rhythms interrupted by each other. The production has leaned into the contrast between them: his guardedness against her directness, his quiet precision against her emotional honesty.
Between Steps carries added weight as the final work of the late director Ahn Pan-seok, the revered filmmaker behind Something in the Rain, One Spring Night, and The Midnight Romance in Hagwon. Known for his warm, restrained direction and trust in his actors, Ahn's signature is all over the new drama's quiet, observational romance — the lingering close-ups, the unhurried conversations, the belief that the smallest gestures carry the most meaning. For viewers who followed his career, every episode is a reminder of what the industry lost. The series is written by Min Hyo-jung, planned by KT Studio Genie, and produced by Studio Goti.
The pairing itself has been a talking point since casting. Kim So-hyun, a veteran since childhood, brings her seasoned precision to Yoo-jin, while Choo Young-woo — fresh off his breakout run — has been winning viewers over as the guarded Min-jae. Both were born in 1999, and the same-age dynamic has translated into an easy, lived-in rapport that the behind-the-scenes photos only reinforce.
The first two episodes gave viewers plenty to latch onto. Park Min-jae and Im Yoo-jin sparked from their very first meeting, then kept crossing paths as if destined to run into each other — and at the end of Episode 2, the slow-burn tension snapped when Yoo-jin suddenly pulled Min-jae in for a kiss.
Between Steps Episode 3 airs October 12 at 10 p.m. KST on ENA, and will also be available on KT Genie TV and Disney+. International viewers can catch the series on Disney+ in select regions.
Source: ENA
