Kim So-hyun and Hwang Min-hyun seek truth amid Useless Lies
by solstices
Kim So-hyun, Hwang Min-hyun
Is honesty the best policy? Or does the adage “ignorance is bliss” hold true after all? This dilemma will take center stage in tvN’s upcoming mystery-romance Useless Lies, which will tell the tale of someone who can’t believe in others and someone whom no one believes.
Kim So-hyun (Love Alarm 2) stars as the human lie detector Mok Sol-hee, who was born with the ability to distinguish between candor and deceit. To her, however, her gift is a curse. Unable to avoid realizing when someone is lying to her, Sol-hee has grown jaded and cynical. All her ability has done is reveal the worst of people — that is, until it unexpectedly confirms a man’s innocence.
That man is Kim Do-ha, played by Hwang Min-hyun (Alchemy of Souls). Although he’s the most renowned composer and producer in the country, his true identity remains a mystery — and for good reason. Ever since Do-ha came under suspicion of murder, he’s had to contend with skepticism and scorn from countless others. Unable to prove whether his words are truth or lie (heh), Do-ha eventually retreated into hiding, resigning himself to letting others believe what they want.
All that changes when he meets his next-door neighbor Sol-hee. For the first time, someone believes in him, and it’s enough to instill hope in the lonely Do-ha and draw him out of his isolation. As he gradually opens up to Sol-hee, he’ll begin to develop feelings for her — the sole person to see past his tarnished reputation to the side of him that he’s kept concealed thus far.
Thankfully, Do-ha doesn’t only have one person on his side. There’s also Jo Deuk-chan — played by Yoon Ji-on (Tomorrow) — who’s the CEO of the entertainment company that Do-ha’s signed to. With his brilliant leadership and exceptional business acumen, he’d extended a lifeline to the reclusive Do-ha, leading him down the path of becoming a composer. Not only does Deuk-chan treasure Do-ha like a real brother, but he’s also the one and only person who knows Do-ha’s secret.
Another character in Do-ha’s vicinity is the singer Sha-on, played by Lee Shi-woo (The Fabulous). Not much has been disclosed about her character yet, but perhaps her presence speaks for itself. With her mesmerizing aura, there’s no better place for Sha-on than the celebrity stage. Presumably, she’ll be working together with Do-ha and singing his songs. Will she turn out to be friend or foe? Only time will tell.
Adding some romantic tension to the mix is Seo Ji-hoon (Revenge of Others), playing the kind-hearted and compassionate detective Lee Kang-min. Having fallen for Sol-hee at first sight, he’d been preparing a heartfelt proposal — only to be diagnosed with stomach cancer. Three years later, Kang-min has finally achieved complete remission, and he’s ready to rekindle his romance with Sol-hee. Except there’s now another man by Sol-hee’s side, and this unexpected presence stirs up mixed feelings for Kang-min.
A detective who’s also a rival in love? That certainly doesn’t bode well for Do-ha. It does, however, bode well for me — because I’m more than excited to see this cast in action! I mean, I’d watch Seo Ji-hoon in just about anything, but I’m also a longtime NU’EST fan with a penchant for mystery dramas, so this is right up my alley. Bring on the sleuthing and the singing! (You can’t cast Minhyun and then not have him sing, right?)
Directed by Nam Sung-woo (Love in Contract) with scripts written by Seo Jung-eun (Let Me Be Your Knight), Useless Lies is slated for a July premiere.
Yoon Ji-on, Seo Ji-hoon, Lee Shi-woo
Via JoyNews24
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Tags: Kim So-hyun, Lee Si-woo, Minhyun, My Lovely Liar, Seo Ji-hoon, Yoon Ji-on
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1 Blue (@mayhemf)
May 5, 2023 at 2:44 PM
This sounds interesting! On paper.
Hwang Min-hyun Is sure pretty, but I found him a bit bland in the few episodes I saw of AoS. (May be be improved in later episodes).
And it’s always nice to see Kim So-hyun. So hope we get a good romance.
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Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain
May 5, 2023 at 2:59 PM
She's going to act rings around him, but maybe that will be OK if his character is supposed to be repressed and undemonstrative - or maybe he will be able to cut loose and show some of the personality he wasn't able to on the Alchemy set. The rest of the cast sounds great. Lee Shi-woo was hilarious as the dim-witted starlet in Sh**ting Stars.
I can smell a serial killer subplot a mile away, though.
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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 5, 2023 at 5:04 PM
Well it sounds like a melo, and you know, serial killers are staples of both those and rom coms so, :P
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Diana Hansen
May 6, 2023 at 12:34 PM
lol!
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Blue (@mayhemf)
May 5, 2023 at 6:03 PM
Oh wow. I barely recognized from the pic that she was the one in sh stars!
What use is a detective without a serial killer 😉
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firefly
May 5, 2023 at 8:58 PM
I have a feeling the manager who knows his secret might be the serial killer in this sub-plot. His character description is oddly ominous. Either him or the ex-boyfriend of our female lead.
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nerdy
May 7, 2023 at 3:40 PM
> May be be improved in later episodes
He did not.
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Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain
May 7, 2023 at 3:49 PM
😆
That's a bit harsh. By the end of Part 2 he had added a second facial expression to his repertoire: 'stoically yearning' and 'stoically determined.' They were different, I tell you!
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2 Lord Cobol (Kdramas, like water, flow downhill)
May 5, 2023 at 4:51 PM
Nothing "useless" about Kim So-hyun. Or any show she's in that doesn't involve masks and a water shortage.
Story doesn't sound bad, but I'd tune in anyway.
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3 Kafiyah Bello
May 5, 2023 at 5:00 PM
Love Kim So Hyun, she is really talented. Don't know much about Hwang Min Hyun, but I am very sad Seo Ji Hoon isn't the lead.
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4 💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 5, 2023 at 5:00 PM
*sigh*
I really wish Kim So Hyun would return with a drama that a. has a script deserving of and matching her acting ability and b. with a Male Lead that can match her also.
Both this and her other potential MDL upcoming listing have complete rookie ML actors (and also her last drama) and it is a CRIME.
She will act circles around him. He has been in effectively 3 shows, and she has been acting for 16 years. Why do you keep doing this to my girl, dramaland!?
Why oh why! Release the SML from SML-dom and give the role to Seo Ji Hoon, he would be better at least. Or you know, if you want to capitalise on AoS' popularity, give me my dream pairing of KSH and Lee Jae Wook. Lol.
The Premise sounds... well actually it sounds like a weirder version of Let Me Hear Your Song... I'm not sold, but I miss Kim So Hyun so I will check it out if I feel like it at the time.
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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 5, 2023 at 5:03 PM
I am now going to go away and brainstorm my dream drama for a LJW and KSH pairing, since I would trust like... two drama writers ever to do either of them justice.
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bong-soo
May 7, 2023 at 7:28 AM
@sicarius, I am just surfing through this post since I don’t plan on watching UL but your pairing of Kim So-hyun and Lee Jae-wook in an age appropriate drama caught my eye. Go for it! Both in a serious ‘historical sageuk’ would be fantastic. (Sorry for being redundant with ‘historical sageuk’ but in recent years we have been offered dramas based on a theme of a sort of sageuk (fusion).
O/T. Along the lines of potential male pairings:
1. We both look forward to the day if a Kim Min-jae/Yeo Jin-goo drama;
2. Well, after watching Jang Dong-yoon’s display of physicality (fights) in the early episodes of OASIS I would love to see in a drama the pairing JDY and Jung Hae-in (whose physicality was excellent in D.P.) presumably as allies rather than antagonists. I would never want those two to fight against each other. Someone would get hurt lol.
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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 7, 2023 at 8:04 PM
So far my first draft (cc: @fleecestorm) is turning into a Slice of Life, but I also decided that more than one draft for different genres will end up being imperative, including that serious "historical" (lol I get you dw) sageuk.
1. Forever, I will wait, if I must. lol
2. Ooooh good pair up, but for interesting reasons. I have to confess I got 20 minutes into Oasis and dropped *coughs*. Pitted against each other but then turned friends though... best of both worlds :P ; enemies to friends is just too fun.
I'm going to add Wi Ha Jun to this just born Physicality List. And maybe some others 🤔
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firefly
May 13, 2023 at 9:15 AM
Slice of Life and Healing? Disillusioned youth trying to heal? As long as they have a lot of scenes together I'm in for anything. Already playing out the chemistry in my head.
💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 15, 2023 at 12:51 PM
@fleecestorm definitely Slice of Life and Healing. And probably cohabitation hijinks.
firefly
May 13, 2023 at 9:19 AM
This might be an unpopular opinion but Kim min-jae and Kim so-hyun should have been in the whole drama. The best part about Goblin were the scenes in the past. There was already so much plot there that could have been unpacked instead.
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kiara
May 5, 2023 at 6:34 PM
I haven't warmed up to Lee Jae Wook, but I'd love to see her in a Park Yeon-seon drama with Kwak Dong-yeon.
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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 5, 2023 at 7:01 PM
Not another pairing to pine over. Why didn't I think of this earlier! 😂
I am not sure about Park Yeon Seon though. Her dramas are watchable and I've enjoyed them but I've always found her themes and endings a bit sus haha.
So I will now be drafting TWO dramas in my head.
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kiara
May 5, 2023 at 7:35 PM
I agree, but whenever I watch her works, the characters are what I remember the most. The truly talented actors always stand out and even the weaker ones are still enjoyable to watch. Additionally, I think writer Park has a great understanding of this age group.
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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 5, 2023 at 8:08 PM
Good arguments, and I agree with the points. But for a dream drama I want to like the drama the whole way through and for the ending to not just make sense but be thematically sound and whole. So it's a non negotiable factor. 😅😂😂
firefly
May 5, 2023 at 8:54 PM
Lee jae-wook and Kim so-hyun in a drama together? We might spontaneously combust every time they appear on screen. I can already imagine the level of intense chemistry. What would be the right genre for them? Enemies to lovers melodrama or cute chaebol romcom or best friends to lovers coming of age drama?
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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 5, 2023 at 9:05 PM
Well she's 23 and he's 24.
Personally, people can feel free to disagree, but I think they both have the ability to a. Command the screen exceptionally well and b. Punch above their age weight. (True of Pairing B and KDY too actually lmao). Which typically means they get cast in older roles. But I don't really want that. And I'm not sure I want a youth drama either.
But utilising these strengths, I think something where they're both around about the age they are, but thrust into events or roles that require them to mature quickly and face seemingly insurmountable challenges that they can only succeed at together would be interesting.
I don't know what the actual plot is yet. 😂😂😂
I'll come back to you when I've come up with more for both Pairings lmao.
(A KSH X KDY enemies to lovers would be fun though lmao.)
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Kurama
May 5, 2023 at 11:02 PM
I really like KSH but for me she failed to make an older character in Radio Romance. She was awkward and the couple didn't have chemistry.
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firefly
May 5, 2023 at 11:37 PM
True Kim so-hyun and Lee jae-wook have immense presence on screen and I've always found them extremely charismatic even in minor roles. Its sad that they still haven't been able to land roles opposite each other but I don't think they've played that much older than their real life. Kim so-hyun has mostly done high school dramas for her modern and her historical dramas have her mostly playing her own age or only 2-3 years older which is acceptable. Lee jae-wook similarly I can only remember him mostly doing high school roles and in Alchemy I think he was playing younger or close to his real age. Nonetheless they've always delivered their characters impressively.
Are you maybe thinking of a plot similar to Heard It Through the Grapevine or an apocalyptic save the world drama for them? Would love to read whatever you do come up with.
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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
May 5, 2023 at 11:52 PM
LJW played about 10 years older than his real age in Search:WWW which is when he really started to get noticed lol.
Ambiguous but older in MOA.
Older in Weather.
Highschool in Dodo and EY.
I'm not sure what I'm thinking of yet! Probably not Heard it through the Grapevine, and apocalyptic hadn't crossed my mind, but sageuk did.
I have to play around with the idea a bit more till characters begin to take shape.
5 LaurenSophie
May 5, 2023 at 5:42 PM
I'm not sure Hwang Min-hyun is ready for a lead role, but he's lucky to be paired with Kim So-hyun. The story sounds promising, but so much rests on the execution.
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6 firefly
May 5, 2023 at 8:50 PM
I'm just here to say how much I miss Kim so-hyun and despite not being familiar with most of the cast or the writer and director am glad she finally has a new drama. At one point it was starting to look like she might never return to acting again so I'll take whatever I'm getting at this point. Having said that I am somewhat familiar with Hwang min-hyun because of Alchemy of Souls and while I do find him quite like-able am not sure of his ability to carry a drama. Nonetheless Kim so-hyun and him will make a gorgeous couple and I'm fine with the eye candy. Don't understand the need for the serial killer in a romcom but as long as it means the leads stick together and plenty of cute moments I'm all in. Its cool to see Kim so-hyun with a super power in a fantasy drama. Don't think she's ever done this genre before and the overall premise does sound pretty fun despite the potential serial killer. Anyways I'm excited that she's finally making a comeback after 2 years and can enjoy her amazing acting for 16 hours.
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7 Kurama
May 5, 2023 at 11:09 PM
Kim So-Hyun is a good actress but sadly I don't really like her drama. I liked The Tale of Nokdu but it was more the ML's story, the couple had a great chemistry.
I'm more excited by her pairing with Chae Jong-Hyeop for Is It a Coincidence? than Hwan Min-Hyun. I liked HMH in AoS but it was more his character than his acting. His drama Live On was so boring and his acting didn't help.
Why Seo Ji-Hoon is still the second male lead? SJH and KSH would have been a good couple!
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8 jillian
May 5, 2023 at 11:14 PM
I like Kim So Hyun and Hwang Min Hyun. But he has to step up his acting game to maximize this big break he was given to act alongside an acting veteran. The story has potential but will wait and see for now.
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9 CasualDramaFan
May 6, 2023 at 3:12 AM
I am waiting for a good Kim So hyun drama for a long time. I dropped her last two dramas- River where moon rises and Love alarm. I am bit worried about this drama as well, mostly because of Min-Hyun. He is very green. I am still hopeful as great casting does not always guarantee great drama (..cough .. Family...Owner of the mask..cough)
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10 fab
May 6, 2023 at 3:23 AM
Seo Ji-hoon can do sweet like sugar second lead really wel, but he's surely a better actor for the lead! He needs a better agency. Excited for Kim So-hyun's return; jaded and cynical are written for her. ♡
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