| Between Steps | |
|---|---|
 Teaser poster | |
| Hangul | ์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ |
| Lit. | Love Doctor |
| RR | Yeonae baksa |
| MR | Yลnae paksa |
| Genre | |
| Written by | Min Hyo-jung |
| Directed by | Ahn Pan-seok |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Lee Nam-yeon |
| Country of origin | South Korea |
| Original language | Korean |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | ENA |
| Release | October 5, 2026 โ present |
Between Steps (Korean: ์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ) is an ongoing South Korean romance coming-of-age television series written by Min Hyo-jung, directed by Ahn Pan-seok, and starring Choo Young-woo and Kim So-hyun. The series depicts the romance of two youths blooming in a robotics laboratory. It premiered on ENA on October 5, 2026, and airs every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST). It is also available for streaming on Genie TV in South Korea, and on Disney+ and Hulu in selected regions.
Premise
Set in a robotics lab, it follows the lives of Park Min-jae, a doctoral student who lost his leg to illness after previously being a swimmer, and Lim Yu-jin, a master's student who pursued a new path after experiencing career uncertainty.
Cast and characters
Main
- Choo Young-woo as Park Min-jae
- A Ph.D. student in Robotics at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Seohan University. He is also an assistant and lab manager in Professor Ahn Jae-hong's research laboratory.[1]
- Kim So-hyun as Lim Yu-jin
- A Master's student in Robotics at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seohan University. She is also a research student in Professor Ahn Jae-hong's research laboratory.[1]
Supporting
- Park Hyuk-kwon as Lim Yong-seok
- Yu-jin's father and the owner of Jeil Car Center.[2]
- Seo Jeong-yeon as Seo Mi-young
- Yu-jin's mother, who manages accounting at her husband's car center.[2]
- Kim Min-seok as Yoo-sung
- Yu-jin's older brother by one year, who works as a mechanic at the car center to help his parents.[2]
- Shim Hye-jin as Hong Eun-joo
- Min-jae's mother.[3]
- Lee Kyu-sung as Eom Tae-ho
- The brain of robotics laboratory at Seohan University.[4]
- Lee Suk-hyeong as Bae Chan-soo
- A robotics laboratory member at Seohan University.[4]
- Kim Min as Choi Han-gyeol
- The youngest member of robotics laboratory at Seohan University.[4]
- Lim Jin-hyo as Kim Se-jin
- The newest member of robotics laboratory at Seohan University.[4]
- Lee Chang-hoon as Ahn Jae-hong
- A mechanical and robotics engineering professor at Seohan University.[4]
- Jang In-sub as Lee Ji-hoon
- The youngest professor in the Department of Mathematics at Seohan University.[4]
- Ryu Kyung-in as Kang Mi-ran
- A clothing and textiles professor at Seohan University.[4]
- Han Do-yi as Cha Seo-hyun
- A manager in a research team at a large corporation.[3]
Production
Kim So-hyun and Choo Young-woo were reportedly cast in November 2025 and confirmed to lead the series by December 2025. It is directed by Ahn Pan-seok, written by Min Hyo-jung, planned by KT Studio Genie, and produced by Studio Goti.[5][6][7] Kim Min-seok, Seo Jeong-yeon, Park Hyuk-kwon, Shim Hye-jin, Lee Kyu-sung, Jang In-sub, Lee Chang-hoon, Kim Min, Lee Suk-hyeong, and Han Do-yi were cast for various supporting roles.[3]
The series marked Min's return to television drama writing after a hiatus of approximately 20 years following her work on Rules of Love (2005). The project also reunites Min and Ahn, who previously collaborated on the MBC drama Say It with Your Eyes (2000โ2001). Production preparations began after Studio Goti reestablished contact with Min, and director Ahn subsequently praised the scripts for their logical consistency and depth. Choo and Kim was strongly recommended by the production company and directing department. Director Ahn commended Choo for his professionalism and intelligent approach on set, and praised Kim for her efforts to avoid conventional acting habits and deliver a distinct performance.[8]
Principal photography was completed for about four months after beginning production in November 2025, and wrapped up on February 28, 2026.[9]
The series reflects the artistic philosophy and working methods of the late director Ahn. Known for his realist aesthetic, Ahn maintained that television dramas should serve as a substitute for literature, approaching scripts with rigorous attention to detail and internal consistency. Rather than relying on sensationalism, his production style prioritized character-driven narratives and authentic human exploration. Collaborators have noted his clear directorial focus, minimal take counts, and strong trust in his cast and crew, elements that defined his final project.[10]
Original soundtrack
Led by music director Lee Nam-yeon in collaboration with overseas musicians, the soundtrack is designed to accompany the emotional development of the drama's central relationship, featuring tracks by artists such as The Restless Age, Margaret Glaspy, and Rachael Yamagata. SLL's music YouTube channel, Gogosing, previewed the highlight tracks for the drama's original soundtrack through its Pre-Ticket content on September 30, 2026.[11]
Release
In March 2026, Between Steps was scheduled to be broadcast on ENA's Monday and Tuesday timeslot in October 2026.[12] Later, ENA confirmed the premiere date of the series would be on October 5, at 22:00 (KST). It is also available for streaming on Genie TV in South Korea, and on Disney+ and Hulu in selected regions.[13][14]
Viewership
| Season | Episode number | Average | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |||
| 1 | 417 | 530 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)[15] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nationwide | Seoul | ||
| 1 | October 5, 2026 | 1.762% (3rd) | 1.421% (6th) |
| 2 | October 6, 2026 | 2.359% (2nd) | 2.020% (2nd) |
| 3 | October 12, 2026 | ||
| 4 | October 13, 2026 | ||
| 5 | October 19, 2026 | ||
| 6 | October 20, 2026 | ||
| 7 | October 26, 2026 | ||
| 8 | October 27, 2026 | ||
| 9 | November 2, 2026 | ||
| 10 | November 3, 2026 | ||
| 11 | November 9, 2026 | ||
| 12 | November 10, 2026 | ||
| Average | โ | โ | |
References
- ^ a b ์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ [Between Steps]. ENA (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ a b c Kim, So-yeon (September 22, 2026). ์ํ์ ๊ฐ๋ ์ ์ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ'...๋ฐํ๊ถยท์์ ์ฐยท๊น๋ฏผ์, ๊น์ํ ๊ฐ์กฑ ๋๋ค [The late Director Ahn Pan-seok's Posthumous Work Between Steps...Park Hyuk-kwon, Seo Jeong-yeon, and Kim Min-seok to Become Kim So-hyun's Family]. Star Today (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ a b c Support casting:
- Jang, Joo-yeon (November 21, 2025). [๋จ๋ ] 'ํฅํ 2์ฐํ' ๊น๋ฏผ์, ์ํ์ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ํฉ๋ฅ...์ถ์์ฐยท๊น์ํ๊ณผ ํธํก [[Exclusive] 'Two-Hit Box Office Success' Kim Min-seok Joins Ahn Pan-seok's Between Steps...Working with Choo Young-woo and Kim So-hyun]. Ilgan Sports (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- Kim, Jin-seok (November 29, 2025). [๋จ๋ ]'์ํ์ ์ฌ๋จ' ์์ ์ฐยท๋ฐํ๊ถยท์ฌํ์ง, '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ์ถ์ฐ [[Exclusive] 'Ahn Pan-seok Division' Seo Jung-yeon, Park Hyuk-kwon, and Shim Hye-jin to star in Between Steps]. My Daily (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- Go, Seung-a (February 3, 2026). [๋จ๋ ] '์์ฌ๋จ' ๊น๋ฏผ, ์ถ์์ฐ ํ๋ฐฐ ๋๋ค...์ํ์ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ํฉ๋ฅ [[Exclusive] The King's Affection Kim Min becomes Choo Young-woo's junior...Joins Ahn Pan-seok's Between Steps]. News1 (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- Hwang, Seo-hyun (September 3, 2026). ์ด์ํ, '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ'์ ๊ณต๋์ ๋ณ์ ...์ถ์์ฐ์ ์ผ๋ฏธ ์๊ณ [Lee Suk-hyeong transforms into an engineering student in Between Steps...chemistry with Choo Young-woo anticipated]. TV Daily (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- Son, Bong-seok (September 30, 2026). ํ๋์ด, '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ์ฐจ์ํ ์ญ ๋์ ...์ถ์์ฐ '์ ์น' ๋๋ค [Han Do-yi selected for the role of Cha Seo-hyun in Between Steps...Becomes Choo Young-woo's 'best friend']. Sports Kyunghyang (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kim, Min-ji (September 24, 2026). ๆ ์ํ์ ๊ฐ๋ ์ ์ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ํฐ์ ๋ถํฐ ํฐ์ก๋ค...์ฌ๋ ๋์ ๋๋ ์บ๋ฆญํฐ ์ด์ ๊น์ง ๊ธฐ๋ ๋ง๋ฐ [The Late Director Ahn Pan-seok's Posthumous Work Between Steps Explodes Right From the Teaser...High Expectations for a Parade of Human-Centric Characters]. Herald Muse (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ Lee, Seung-hun (November 1, 2025). [๋จ๋ ] ์ํ์ ๊ฐ๋ ์ ๋ฎค์ฆ๋ ๊น์ํ..'์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ์ฌ์ ์ฃผ์ธ๊ณต [[Exclusive] Director Ahn Pan-seok's new muse is Kim So-hyun..Between Steps female lead]. Star News (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ Lee, Seung-hun (November 4, 2025). [๋จ๋ ] ์ํ์ ๊ฐ๋ ์ด ์ ํํ ๋จ์๋ ์ถ์์ฐ์๋ค..'์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ์ฃผ์ธ๊ณต [[Exclusive] The man chosen by Director Ahn Pan-seok was Choo Young-woo..Between Steps lead role]. Star News (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ Kim, Mi-ji (December 1, 2025). ์ถ์์ฐยท๊น์ํ, ์ํ์ ํ ๋ก๋งจ์ค๋ก ๋ง๋๋ค...'์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ์บ์คํ ํ์ [๊ณต์] [Choo Young-woo and Kim So-hyun to Meet in Director Ahn Pan-seok's Romance...Between Steps Casting Confirmed [Official]]. Star Today (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ Nam, Sun-woo (January 22, 2026). [์ธํฐ๋ทฐ] ์ธ์ ๋ ์ค์ํ ๊ฒ์ ๊ฐ์ฐ์ฑ์ด๋ค, <์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ> ์ํ์ ๊ฐ๋ [[Interview] Consistency Is Always What Matters Most: Ahn Pan-seok, Director of <Between Steps>]. Cine21 (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ Han, Soo-jin (March 3, 2026). [๋จ๋ ] ์ถ์์ฐโฅ๊น์ํ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ์ดฌ์ ๋...2026๋ ์๋ฐฉ๊ทน์ฅ ์ค๋ ์ฐ๋๋ฏธ ์จ๋ค [[Exclusive] Choo Young-wooโฅKim So-hyun wrap up filming for Between Steps...A tsunami of heart-fluttering excitement coming to the small screen in 2026]. Ize (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ Kim, Kyung-hee (October 2, 2026). "๋๋ผ๋ง๋ ๋ฌธํ์ ๋์ ํ๋ค" ๆ ์ํ์์ด ๋ ์ฆ๋ก ์จ ๋ด๋ ค๊ฐ ์ ์ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ["Dramas Take the Place of Literature" The Late Ahn Pan-seok's Posthumous Work Between Steps Written Through the Lens]. iMBC (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' OST ํ๋ฆฌํฐ์ผ ๊ณต๊ฐ...ํด์ธ ์ํฐ์คํธ ๋ผ์ธ์ ์ผ๋ก ๋ก๋งจ์ค ๊ฐ์ฑ ์๊ณ ['Between Steps' OST Pre-Ticket Released...Overseas Artist Lineup Previews Romantic Sensibility]. JTBC (in Korean). October 1, 2026. Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ Kim, Na-yeon (March 4, 2026). [๋จ๋ ]์ถ์์ฐโฅ๊น์ํ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ', ์ถ์ ๋ค์ ๋ณธ๋ค..10์ ์ฒซ๋ฐฉ ํ์ (์ข ํฉ) [[Exclusive] Choo Young-woo โฅ Kim So-hyun's Between Steps to Air After Chuseok..October Premiere Confirmed (Comprehensive)]. OSEN (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ Lee, Ju-in (September 1, 2026). ์ถ์์ฐX๊น์ํ '์ฐ์ ๋ฐ์ฌ' ๋ํ์์ ๋ก๋งจ์ค...ๆ ์ํ์ ๊ฐ๋ ์ ์ [Choo Young-woo and Kim So-hyun's Between Steps Graduate Student Romance...The Late Director Ahn Pan-seok's Posthumous Work]. Ilgan Sports (in Korean). Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ "Next on Disney+ and Hulu: October 2026". Disney+ (Press release). September 16, 2026. Retrieved October 4, 2026.
- ^ a b Nielsen Korea ratings:
External links
- Official website
(in Korean) - Production website at KT Studio Genie (in Korean)
- Between Steps at IMDb
- Between Steps at HanCinema
