Lee Min-ho entered the project as an established international superstar following Boys Over Flowers and City Hunter. Playing the brooding Kim Tan solidified his hold over the East Asian market, earning him the Top Excellence Award at the 2013 SBS Drama Awards. In recent years, Lee systematically pushed beyond standard romantic-comedy archetypes. His critically acclaimed turn as Koh Hansu in Apple TV+'s sweeping historical epic Pachinko proved his range in prestige bilingual projects, followed by his headlining role in the high-concept sci-fi romantic series When the Stars Gossip opposite Gong Hyo-jin.
Park Shin-hye handled the complex emotional weight of Cha Eun-sang with understated resilience. Long recognized as the industry's most reliable dramatic actress, Park leveraged the show's runaway success into string-of-hit series including Pinocchio, Doctors, and Memories of the Alhambra. Following her marriage to actor Choi Tae-joon in January 2022 and the birth of her son, Park returned to the screen with zero loss of box-office momentum. Her performances in JTBC's Doctor Slump and SBS's high-octane legal fantasy The Judge from Hell proved her enduring ability to anchor domestic television ratings above the 13% threshold.
Kim Woo-bin, who delivered an iconic performance as the sharp-edged, leather-jacket-clad Choi Young-do, faced the most dramatic personal and professional journey of the entire cast. Diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer in May 2017, Kim put his surging career on complete hiatus for intensive treatment. His return in late 2019 was hailed as a major industry triumph. Kim reclaimed leading-man status across major theatrical films like Alienoid, Netflix's post-apocalyptic action series Black Knight, and the widely watched action-comedy feature Officer Black Belt.
