The first episode of the drama series "DREAM STAGE" (TBS, Fridays at 10 PM), starring actor Tomoya Nakamura , aired on January 16th. Korean actor Ha Yeon-soo , who gained popularity for his role as "Hyang-chan" in the NHK Asadora drama "The Tiger and Her Wings " airing in the first half of 2024, appears in the role of Nam Ha-yoon, the president of the entertainment agency "Nam Entertainment." Viewers took notice, commenting, "I thought I'd seen Hyang-chan somewhere before," and "His Japanese is great."
◇The following contains spoilers
"DREAM STAGE" is a K-POP version of a sports drama about a producer, Azuma Jun (played by Nakamura), who was expelled from the industry for causing trouble, and seven dropout trainees from a small Korean entertainment agency who form a boy band called "NAZE" and work together to achieve their dreams.
Hayun takes a gamble and invests a large amount of money in forming a new boy band, but the best members are poached away by major agencies. In order to debut "NAZE," formed by the seven "leftovers," he asks his ex-girlfriend, Azuma, to produce the group.
When reuniting with Azuma, Hayun said in fluent Japanese, "Cheers to reuniting with the genius producer! Don't look so sulky, smile! You're happy to meet your lover, aren't you?" When Azuma pointed out, "You're my ex-lover!", she cutely pouted.
In front of Azuma, Hayun excitedly promoted the project, saying, "The big project that I've devoted my life to has finally begun. We're creating a new K-pop group! K-pop's popularity is global, so there's no way we can miss out on that. We'll gather some good-looking guys and make a ton of money with a world tour. You can't start dreaming unless you have a dream. Let's head to the DREAM STAGE, the stage of our dreams!"
On social media, comments such as "It's Hyangchan from ' The Tiger and Her Wings'!", "I'm sure I've seen the guy who plays the CEO in DreamStage somewhere before...and it turns out it's Hyangchan from ' The Tiger and Her Wings'", "I thought Ha Yeon-soo Japanese was good in ' The Tiger and Her Wings' but it's amazing how much better she's gotten. Her pronunciation is perfect," "Ha Yeon-soo, who plays Nam Ha-yoon, has such great Japanese intonation", "Hyangchan is so fluent in Japanese", and "Hyangchan is so cute. Her Japanese is so good" were all the attention.
