Falhon Cyril

part 1 : Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae-ron: Eighteen Months of Accusations, a Reconstructed Timeline and the Evidence That Changed Everything

For eighteen months, the controversy surrounding Kim Soo-hyun and the late Kim Sae-ron has been discussed as though the same accusations, photographs and screenshots from March 2025 still constituted unquestionable evidence. Yet investigations have progressed, forensic findings have challenged central elements of the original narrative, and the person responsible for spreading many of the allegations is now facing criminal prosecution. What surprises me is not that people initially believed the accusations. It is how many continue repeating them without examining what has happened since. I have researched this case extensively, going back through both actors' careers rather than starting with the accusations made after Kim Sae-ron's death. I compared filming schedules, military service, public appearances, filming locations, advertising campaigns, interviews, promotional activities, agency changes and contemporary Korean reporting. I also examined the DUI-related debts, family financial difficulties, legal notices, police proceedings and the evidence released by the different parties. I published that research in previous kisskh discussions, together with the sources. My conclusions were not based on whether I found Kim Soo-hyun attractive, liked his dramas or wanted his career to survive. They came from asking whether the allegations actually fitted the documented chronology. The first important point is the relationship timeline. Gold Medalist acknowledged in March 2025 that Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Sae-ron had previously dated, placing their relationship between summer 2019 and autumn 2020, after she had become an adult. The agency denied that the relationship began in 2015, when she was 15, as alleged by Garo Sero Research Institute and representatives of her family. Kim Soo-hyun also admitted that the agency had denied their previous relationship when Kim Sae-ron posted a photograph of them together in March 2024. He explained that the decision was connected to protecting his private life and career during "Queen of Tears". People can criticize that denial as dishonest without treating it as proof that every subsequent accusation was true. The dates matter. Kim Soo-hyun served in the military from October 23, 2017, until July 1, 2019. Before that, his career was already extremely demanding, with major drama productions, advertising contracts, international promotional commitments and filming for ''Real". His return in 2019 was followed by the establishment of Gold Medalist and his leading role in "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" in 2020. Kim Sae-ron had her own acting career, contracts and professional activities. Our earlier research reconstructed their respective schedules in order to compare them against the alleged six-year relationship. A photograph, an appearance at the same event or correspondence between acquaintances cannot simply fill every gap in that timeline. Gold Medalist also identified specific problems with the photographs presented as evidence of an underage relationship. According to its March 14, 2025 statement, clothing worn in one disputed photograph was not released until June 2019, making the claimed 2016 dating impossible for that image. The agency said another photograph was taken on December 24, 2019, citing the original file's metadata. The military letter was also examined. The company described it as correspondence with a close acquaintance during military service, discussing his everyday experiences. It was not proof of a sexual relationship. I examined these materials in our previous chronology, alongside public filming and promotional dates, rather than deciding their meaning from a headline.
https://www.mt.co.kr/society/2025/03/14/2025031413371056230
https://www.soompi.com/article/1729865wpp/kim-soo-hyuns-agency-releases-official-statement-regarding-recent-allegations

Then came the police investigation. On July 29, 2026, Seoul Seongdong Police decided not to refer the Child Welfare Act allegations against Kim Soo-hyun to prosecutors because the evidence was insufficient to establish the alleged offences. Under Article 3 of South Korea's Child Welfare Act, a child is defined as a person under 18. According to the actor's lawyer, investigators examined the period covered by the allegations, including Kim Sae-ron's final year of high school and whether sexual or emotional abuse had occurred during her childhood. The decision was not a court acquittal after trial; it was the conclusion of a police investigation that did not establish grounds for prosecution. That is a significant official outcome, regardless of whether someone personally likes the actor.
https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20260729127851004
https://www.law.go.kr/lsInfoP.do?lsiSeq=279707

The October 13, 2026 Dispatch investigation made the situation considerably more serious for those who originally presented the disputed KakaoTalk screenshots. Dispatch reported that police examined several electronic devices belonging to Kim Sae-ron, including different iPhone models, and compared nearly 200 screenshots stored in her Naver Cloud account. A series of 2016 messages had been presented publicly as evidence that Kim Soo-hyun was pursuing Kim Sae-ron when she was underage. Investigators reportedly identified another celebrity, referred to as A, as the actual participant in those conversations. According to Dispatch, the original material contained A's name, which Kim Sae-ron used during the exchange, and references to people connected with A's professional work. Investigators compared the original screenshots, message content and distinctive writing habits. Dispatch further reported that a Garo Sero employee told police Kim Se-ui had instructed the employee to change the unidentified sender's label to Kim Soo-hyun. In other words, the issue is not simply whether the conversation existed. It is that a genuine conversation with somebody else was allegedly presented to the public as a conversation with Kim Soo-hyun. The employee's reported testimony and the alleged manipulation are matters for the criminal proceedings, but the forensic attribution reported by Dispatch fundamentally changes how the 2016 messages should be assessed.
https://www.dispatch.co.kr/2349117
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/20261013/kim-soo-hyun-wasnt-behind-2016-chats-with-late-kim-sae-ron-report-says-so-who-was-celebrity-a

The same reporting says that investigators found Kim Sae-ron had saved Kim Soo-hyun's number in October 2017, and recovered only three calls involving him from the examined iPhone 7 during 2017–2018, reportedly initiated by her. Dispatch also described evidence of close relationships with other men during that period, without identifying Kim Soo-hyun among them. That does not mean every interaction she ever had was recorded on those devices, but it certainly does not support the alleged uninterrupted relationship beginning in 2015. Nor does it justify inventing a secret second telephone every time the available evidence contradicts the allegation. This is where the accusation of grooming needs to be examined properly. I have experienced grooming myself, which is one reason I have taken these accusations seriously from the beginning. Grooming is not simply a relationship between two people with a large age difference, nor is it established by an adult knowing a younger person through work. It involves a process of psychological manipulation: gaining trust, exploiting vulnerability, weakening boundaries, creating emotional dependency, using promises or reassurance, and gradually establishing influence or control. The victim may come to believe that the person manipulating them is the one person they can rely on, even when that person is causing harm. There is a difference between the existence of an age gap and evidence that somebody deliberately built such a relationship for the purpose of exploitation. That process is precisely what I have looked for in the allegations against Kim Soo-hyun, and I have not found evidence establishing it. The central claim was that he groomed Kim Sae-ron while she was a minor, waited until she reached adulthood and then entered a relationship with her. But the chronology of their professional lives, the absence of substantiated evidence of an underage romantic relationship, the military correspondence, and now the reported identification of another man as the sender of the 2016 messages undermine that narrative. People keep describing a grooming process without demonstrating when it occurred, what manipulative conduct he carried out, or how the supposed long-term dependency was established. Her relationships with other men are also relevant to the picture being presented. Dispatch's account of the recovered communications describes personal relationships during the period in which Kim Soo-hyun was supposedly maintaining a secret, sustained relationship with her. Later, after their acknowledged relationship had ended, Kim Sae-ron continued living her own personal life, including relationships that became significant during her final months. This is hardly the simple, uninterrupted narrative of one man controlling her life from adolescence until her death that has repeatedly appeared in comment sections.

I have also questioned the March 2024 Instagram photograph. Kim Sae-ron posted a photograph of herself with Kim Soo-hyun and deleted it shortly afterwards, while "Queen of Tears" was receiving enormous attention. I have always found the timing and subsequent deletion strange. One hypothesis I previously raised was that she wanted to attract his attention, provoke a reaction or damage his public image after their relationship had ended. Another possibility was unresolved emotional attachment. Nobody has established her intention, and I am not claiming to know what she was thinking. But the photograph itself contained no public allegation that he had groomed, sexually abused or exploited her as a minor. Those allegations emerged through other people after her death. The age-gap discussion also needs perspective. Kim Soo-hyun is approximately twelve years older than Kim Sae-ron. Some people consider that difference unacceptable, particularly when the younger adult is in their late teens or early twenties. That is their personal judgment. But celebrity relationships with even larger age differences exist in South Korea and elsewhere. So Ji-sub and Cho Eun-jung have a reported seventeen-year age gap, as do Mina and Ryu Phillip. Such examples are not proof that every age-gap relationship is healthy. They show why the age difference, on its own, cannot be treated as proof of grooming or abuse. What matters is when the relationship developed, the actual behaviour of the people involved, and whether there is evidence of manipulation.

Another aspect I discussed previously is the environment in which actors and idols grow up. An entertainer who has spent much of his life working under agencies, filming, travelling, attending promotions and carefully managing a public image has not necessarily had the same social experience as someone of the same age living an ordinary life. Military service adds another interruption to that career and personal environment. Many celebrities live inside a professional bubble, with managers and agencies handling matters that most adults deal with directly. The controversies surrounding artists such as Cha Eun-woo have also shown how complicated the relationship between a public image, personal responsibilities and agency-managed affairs can become. I believe that context matters when judging a celebrity's emotional and social behaviour. It is not an excuse for misconduct; it is a reason not to pretend that age alone tells us everything about someone's personal development. The financial allegations deserve just as much scrutiny as the grooming claims. Kim Sae-ron's May 2022 DUI caused significant damage and resulted in compensation and contractual liabilities. Gold Medalist's March 14, 2025 statement described the initial costs as approximately ₩1.014 billion. However, the individual amounts published in the same statement were ₩390 million relating to a Keds advertising contract, ₩700 million relating to "Bloodhounds", and ₩24,361,852 relating to damaged commercial property. Those three figures add up to ₩1,114,361,852, approximately €743,000 or US$835,000 at October 2026 exchange rates. The statement therefore contains a ₩100 million discrepancy between its narrative estimate and its itemized total, which should be identified rather than silently ignored. Gold Medalist said that, following efforts to reduce the liabilities and repayments made by Kim Sae-ron, the amount remaining was approximately ₩700 million, equivalent to around €466,000 or US$524,000 using October 2026 exchange rates. These are enormous sums. They were not a casual loan of pocket money, and they were not money that Kim Soo-hyun personally handed to a former girlfriend. The creditor was Gold Medalist, a separate corporate entity. The company said it had treated the remaining amount as an uncollectible receivable in December 2023, supported by its April 2024 audit documentation, and explained that the subsequent legal notices were connected to accounting, tax and corporate obligations.
https://www.soompi.com/article/1729865wpp/kim-soo-hyuns-agency-releases-official-statement-regarding-recent-allegations
https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/kim-soo-hyuns-agency-denies-legal-papers-were-a-threat-but-offered-kim-sae-ron-time-to-pay-debt/11938027

I have previously researched the relevant accounting and tax issues because people were describing Kim Soo-hyun as personally demanding repayment without even establishing who the creditor was. The company said it could not simply erase a large receivable without documenting the circumstances, including the possible consequences for management and the taxation of debt forgiveness. A write-off in company accounts is not necessarily identical to immediate legal extinction of a debt, which is why the documents and their purposes matter. But it is wrong to present the amount as a personal loan by Kim Soo-hyun or to say that he personally demanded repayment when the documented dispute concerned Gold Medalist and its former artist. The family's lawyer disputed the company's characterization of the notices, and that dispute should be judged against the actual correspondence rather than slogans.

The financial history also began before the DUI. In June 2025, SBS reported that Kim Sae-ron had been listed as a creditor in her father's bankruptcy proceedings following the collapse of his business during the pandemic. Her reported claim exceeded ₩250 million, equivalent to approximately €167,000 or US$187,000 at October 2026 exchange rates. Other reporting described difficulties involving a family restaurant, loans from acquaintances and her financial responsibility for relatives. Kim Sae-ron had worked since childhood, yet by the time of her DUI she was already dealing with serious family-related financial problems. Wider estimates of her obligations reached approximately ₩1.2 billion, although those estimates cannot simply be added to the Gold Medalist balance without risking double-counting liabilities.
https://ent.sbs.co.kr/news/article.do?article_id=E10010302287
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/others/20250609/actress-kim-sae-ron-was-listed-as-creditor-in-fathers-bankruptcy-lost-over-180000

That chronology raises questions that have received far less attention than the story of a supposedly cruel former boyfriend. Why was a young woman who had been earning money for years already involved in her family's financial difficulties? How much of her income had supported relatives or businesses? What happened to the money she had lent? How did the DUI, loss of contracts, public criticism and reduced earning capacity affect her ability to recover financially? I previously examined whether the posthumous allegations could have changed the public interpretation of the debt, shifting attention from the company's receivable to potential claims for compensation. That was an interpretation of possible incentives, not an established finding of criminal intent by her family. The underlying financial circumstances nevertheless remain essential to understanding her situation. People also keep demanding to know why Kim Soo-hyun did not simply pay the debt himself. Even if he had still been her boyfriend, expecting someone to personally absorb hundreds of thousands of euros or dollars without legal protection is an extraordinary demand. By 2024, their acknowledged relationship had reportedly ended roughly four years earlier. He was not her creditor, accountant, lawyer or financial guardian. Whether he could have offered greater personal support is a moral question. It is not proof of coercion, grooming or responsibility for her death.

The claim that he bought his way out of the investigation is another example of confusing television drama with reality. I have already challenged this repeatedly. South Korea has experienced corruption, and nobody should assume its institutions are perfect. But anyone claiming that Kim Soo-hyun bribed investigators needs evidence of bribery, not simply the observation that he once earned a great deal of money. Who was paid? Which official was compromised? Which forensic examiner changed a conclusion? Where are the transfers, witnesses or documents? The accusation becomes even more implausible when it requires police, prosecutors and independent reporting to participate in a coordinated cover-up without a trace. Consider what happened to former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol. On February 19, 2026, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at first instance over the December 2024 martial-law crisis; the verdict was subsequently appealed. He had occupied the highest political office in the country and possessed networks of institutional and political influence far beyond those available to an entertainer. Yet those connections did not prevent his prosecution and conviction at first instance. I have never understood how some commenters can acknowledge that reality while simultaneously insisting that an actor with no comparable political authority must somehow control an entire criminal investigation.
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20260224003851315

Kim Soo-hyun also paid an enormous professional price before any investigative conclusion was reached. Advertising partnerships were suspended or terminated, his projects were affected and his commercial reputation suffered serious damage. He had been one of South Korea's most highly paid actors, but earning large fees over a successful career does not mean possessing unlimited liquid wealth. Nor does a contract worth millions mean that money remains in his personal bank account after taxes, agency expenses and other obligations. I find the idea that he could casually finance a vast corruption scheme while his commercial position was collapsing particularly unconvincing. No evidence of such a scheme has been presented. There have since been concrete developments concerning his professional return. Kim Soo-hyun appeared on Indonesian television on August 23, 2026, during RCTI's anniversary broadcast, and returned to a major Korean public event as a presenter at The Fact Music Awards in Busan on September 19. In September, Gold Medalist also secured a final civil victory in the advertising-fee dispute brought by watch brand Mido, after the claimant did not appeal the dismissal of its claim. These developments do not guarantee that his next drama will be a commercial success, but they contradict the suggestion that his professional career has already been conclusively erased.
https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/entertainment/kim-soohyun-returns-to-public-stage-in-indonesia-after-17-months-away-from-spotlight/12840384
https://www.mk.co.kr/news/hot-issues/12150392

A separate part of Kim Sae-ron's personal history is also relevant. On March 25, 2025, The Fact published an interview with a former boyfriend, identified as K, who said Kim Soo-hyun was not responsible for her death. He described serious personal difficulties she had faced, including an episode of self-harm requiring hospital treatment on November 1, 2024. K stated that he accompanied and supported her during that hospitalization, while an agency representative paid the medical expenses. He also made allegations concerning her family and another man involved in her life. Those were his statements to a newspaper, not findings from a criminal trial. Two days later, The Fact published the response of the man described as Kim Sae-ron's New York husband. He confirmed that they had married in the United States on January 12, 2025, and said they had subsequently been discussing an annulment. He disputed allegations of violence and coercion made by K. The accounts conflict, but together they document a later personal life that was considerably more complicated than the suggestion that Kim Soo-hyun remained the central man in every aspect of her existence. Her reported marriage, the former boyfriend's account of accompanying her to hospital and their competing explanations of her difficulties deserve to be considered when people assert that her former relationship with Kim Soo-hyun must explain everything.
https://news.tf.co.kr/read/entertain/2190507.htm
https://news.tf.co.kr/read/entertain/2191702.htm

I do not believe that Kim Sae-ron's emotional or psychological circumstances can be understood through the single photograph she posted in 2024 or the single date on which she died. I previously suggested that the photograph might have been an impulsive attempt to attract attention, reflect unresolved feelings or damage Kim Soo-hyun's career at an especially sensitive moment. Those were hypotheses based on its timing and deletion, not statements about an intention she publicly confirmed. I also considered whether she had become more emotionally attached to him during their earlier adult relationship than he was to her, and whether that contributed to later disappointment. Again, private relationships cannot be reconstructed with certainty from public material. But there was never a sound basis for erasing the DUI, family finances, professional collapse, public harassment, other relationships and medical difficulties to assign the entire tragedy to one person. Kim Sae-ron was subjected to extensive online hostility after her DUI, including criticism that continued long after she had accepted legal responsibility for the accident. That treatment was cruel. Her efforts to work again attracted further controversy, and her reputation became inseparable from the worst period of her life. Her death in February 2025 should have prompted a serious discussion about the punishment celebrities endure beyond the legal consequences of their actions. Instead, within weeks, another campaign of allegations and public condemnation developed around Kim Soo-hyun, often employing the same tactics of humiliation and moral certainty.

Kim Se-ui's criminal proceedings are therefore central to what happens next. He was arrested in May 2026 and indicted while detained in June on charges including dissemination of allegedly false information, as well as offences connected with private material and stalking. Prosecutors reported that supplementary investigation had identified circumstances suggesting material was arbitrarily edited or distorted and false information was disseminated without basic verification. At the October 15 hearing, Kim Se-ui sought bail and disputed the allegations, while prosecutors opposed his release. His lawyers challenged aspects of the AI-audio allegations and the evidence. The next preparatory hearing was scheduled for October 28. He has been indicted, not convicted in this proceeding, and the criminal court must determine his responsibility.
https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20260623158700004
https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20261015107400004
https://nwww.newsis.com/view/NISX20261015_0003827293

Finally, the legal warning published by Gold Medalist on October 13, followed by its fuller October 14 statement, should be read in its proper context. Article 70 of South Korea's Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection addresses online defamation involving damaging factual allegations made with the purpose of disparaging another person. Articles 307, 310 and 311 of the Criminal Act respectively concern defamation, the public-interest exception for certain true statements, and public insults. Article 314 addresses interference with business through legally specified means. These are actual legal provisions, not merely threats invented by an agency. At the same time, deciding that someone has committed a criminal offence requires an assessment of the law, evidence and jurisdiction; neither an agency statement nor an angry online commenter can substitute for a court.

Gold Medalist's original notices can be read directly here:
https://www.goldmedalist.com/ko/notice/6acdda8ff5bafc0fa9ea5df8
https://www.goldmedalist.com/ko/notice/6acddbbdf5bafc0fa9ea5dfb

The underlying issue has never been whether everybody must like Kim Soo-hyun, approve of his previous adult relationship, forgive his public denial or continue watching his work. Nobody is required to do any of those things. The issue is whether people can publicly describe someone as a child predator, groomer, rapist, murderer or corrupt criminal when the evidence presented to support those accusations has been investigated and substantially challenged. The chronology we reconstructed did not support the alleged six-year underage relationship. The July 2026 police investigation did not find sufficient evidence to refer the Child Welfare Act allegation. Dispatch's October 2026 reporting now identifies another celebrity as the participant in the disputed 2016 KakaoTalk conversation, with an allegation that its sender label was deliberately changed. The financial record does not support the claim that Kim Soo-hyun personally lent and demanded ₩700 million. Reporting about Kim Sae-ron's family difficulties, later relationships and hospitalization describes circumstances that cannot simply be erased from her life.

Kim Sae-ron deserves compassion and respect for the person she was, not to have her private life repeatedly turned into material for an online battle. Kim Soo-hyun deserves to be judged on what the evidence actually establishes. And everyone accused of manipulating or spreading evidence must also be judged through the appropriate legal process. What I will not accept is an accusation becoming permanently true merely because enough people repeated it before the facts were investigated.

I can see why you think Talay could end up being the character who connects the different storylines, because the current synopsis does put him between Connor, Kom and Jason. But I still wouldn’t jump from that to “Max is the overall lead.” Everything released so far presents four central characters, and nothing official has ranked one couple above the other. In 2026 I’m also very cautious about treating anything as fact just because people online repeat it or because something “looks obvious.” Promotional positioning, styling and fan theories can be clues, but without an actual source they’re still only clues. “Love Sand” itself is fundamentally Khom and Connor’s story. Talay and Jason do not exist in MAME’s original novel. Khom begins the story immediately after one of the most painful moments in his life: he has finally told Type, his childhood friend and first love, that he is gay after years of listening to Type’s homophobic comments, and Type rejects him. Chronologically, Type has already gone to university in Bangkok, met and lived with Tharn, but he is still deeply struggling with homosexuality at this point. He returns to Koh Phangan, Khom finally comes out to him, they have their major fight, Type goes back to Bangkok, and then Connor arrives. What is supposed to be only three days together begins with very strong physical attraction, but gradually becomes the relationship through which Khom moves beyond Type, accepts himself and starts believing that somebody can genuinely choose and love him. That emotional journey is basically the backbone of “Love Sand.” So turning two characters created specifically for the adaptation into the sole primary couple would be a much bigger change than simply expanding MAME’s story with a second main romance.
There’s also why I’m not automatically assuming MaxYi will become the dominant couple simply because Max is the most established BL actor here. This is Max’s first new BL pairing after a long time away from BL and his first new partner after MaxTul, while this is Yi’s first BL altogether. Yi is also the only one of the four who isn’t fluent in Thai yet. Even if “SAEP” is mostly in English, it is still a Thai BL being made inside the Thai BL industry: Thai director, Thai production environment, workshops, promotion, interviews, events and fandom culture. Ben and Tata already operate naturally inside that environment. MaxYi absolutely could become extremely popular — Max’s return alone will bring attention, and Yi is already attracting interest — but actor popularity and narrative importance are not the same thing. In fact, part of what makes MaxYi interesting to me is that they’re starting from such different places: Max returning to BL with a completely new partner, and Yi entering both BL and the Thai entertainment environment for the first time. So for now, I still think the safest reading is four leads / two main couples: BenTata carrying the original Connor/Kom story and MaxYi carrying the newly created Talay/Jason storyline. Ben and Tata being positioned at the front of promotional material was a clue, just as Yi changing his hair to red fits what we know about Jason being an influencer, but neither proves story hierarchy. If the production later clearly markets Talay as the central protagonist, then fair enough, I’ll happily revise my interpretation. I’d just rather wait for something concrete than turn speculation into fact.

You were right about Max playing Talay — the LE LYS interview is finally a reliable source because Max himself says his character is named Talay. So yes, MaxYi are playing the new Talay/Jason couple, while BenTata are almost certainly Connor/Kom.
Where I still disagree is the idea that this was “confirmed” before just because of promotional positioning. Ben and Tata standing in front was a clue, not evidence. In 2026 I really don’t trust anything based only on someone saying “it’s obvious” or repeating information without a source. Once there is a direct interview, official post or production credit, then I’m happy to correct myself — like here.
What actually surprises me is that Max revealed “Talay” publicly at all, because in Yi’s latest Q&A he answered most of my questions directly but still said he couldn’t reveal which character he plays. He even dyed his hair for the role and kept the character name secret. So either Max had permission to reveal his character, or the team has started loosening what they’re allowed to say.
And one small distinction: I agree MaxYi are the new/“second” couple in the sense that Talay/Jason were created for the adaptation, but I wouldn’t call them a secondary couple yet. Everything we’ve seen so far points more toward four leads and two main couples.

I’ve looked for this and I still can’t find any reliable source confirming Max = Talay. The current public information still doesn’t officially assign the four actors to Connor, Kom, Talay and Jason, so unless you have the interview/link where Max actually says it, I’d still consider it unconfirmed.
Yi’s latest Q&A actually makes me even more cautious about claims like this. He answered most of my questions directly, including questions about Max, their working dynamic, the “top/bottom” aspect of his character and the workshops, but when it comes to his actual role he specifically says he can’t reveal who he is yet. He even dyed his hair for the character and still won’t name him 😅
So I’d be very surprised if Max had already publicly revealed “I’m Talay” while Yi is clearly keeping the character identities secret. If you have the source, please send it because I’d genuinely like to see it. Until then, I’m keeping the roles as unconfirmed.
Yi’s Q&A is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOy7HOzhlP8 — he actually reads and answers several of my questions directly. My YouTube name there is @LeeJunHo1990.

I think this is where the prompt matters enormously. If I simply ask AI “what happened in this case?”, then yes, I have very little control over which sources it chooses or how deeply it checks them. But I can specifically tell it to prioritize court documents, official statements, Yonhap and established Korean newspapers, give me the original links, compare their reporting, identify contradictions, and tell me which claims come from police, prosecutors, lawyers, journalists or anonymous sources. I can then open those links myself. If it doesn't provide the sources, I don't consider the job finished.
The same applies to “understanding” the content. AI doesn't understand something the way we do; it analyses the information available to it. If I give it one article and ask what that article says, I shouldn't expect it to magically know everything the article omitted. I need to ask it to search for contradictory reporting, compare sources, verify the chronology and look specifically for material information that could change the interpretation. That's why I keep saying AI is a tool, not a second brain.
Imagine I give an AI two facts: “fire burns” and “ice burns.” Without enough context, those statements can look contradictory or equivalent. Give it the relevant information about what “burn” means in each context and ask it to analyse the distinction, and it has the data necessary to explain why they are not the same thing. Humans bring enormous amounts of accumulated context automatically; an AI depends much more explicitly on the context, sources, tools and instructions available to it. Translation works similarly. I can ask AI to translate a Korean article very literally, preserve legal terminology and ambiguity, and flag expressions for which there is no exact English equivalent instead of smoothing them into nicer English. That can be extremely useful, but I still keep the Korean source because the translation is not the evidence; the original is. So I wouldn't say AI cannot assess comparative source quality or analyse content. I would say it doesn't automatically do those things just because we asked it a question. You have to ask for them, give it access to enough information, demand the sources and then verify its work. AI can be remarkably reliable when used properly, but the person operating it is still responsible for deciding what task it performs and whether the result is good enough to publish.

I think this is where we really disagree. To me, if you start from the assumption that MDL has an anti-BL agenda and then examine every omission through that lens, you will inevitably keep finding things that seem to confirm it.

I never experienced MDL that way. It is actually where I find most of my BLs, BL lists and discussions, and when I disagree with an article or correct something in the comments, nobody has ever tried to stop me. My own discussions with MDL actually made me understand the News section differently: these people are not journalists producing investigative articles. They are mostly community contributors relaying and translating Asian entertainment reports for international readers.

So I don’t see every omission as an “editorial decision” from some owner deciding what LGBTQ+ content should be visible. If I want deeper journalism, I look at the original Korean coverage — and interestingly, Ji Woong’s BL past is often missing there too, except in outlets more specifically interested in that side of his career.

That doesn’t mean MDL is beyond criticism. I just think sometimes we may be looking for an agenda where a much simpler explanation exists.

I’m wondering what you expect me to prove here. MDL told me about “Lily Alice” privately in response to a comment I made, so of course I’m not going to publish a private exchange. I shared the information; I didn’t ask anyone to accept it blindly. You clearly know MDL well, so you can simply ask them directly and verify it yourself. As for Daebak Media, being a US company behind MDL establishes ownership and independence from Korean agencies, but it doesn’t turn MDL News into a press newsroom. “Media” is a very broad term. MDL is primarily an information/database platform, and its News section largely relays, translates or shortens reporting from Asian sources.

Yes, they COULD decide to rewrite, expand or correct every source article. But choosing not to is also a perfectly legitimate editorial format. Independence means they are free to do so; it doesn’t mean they are obligated to. That is why I separate the broader criticism of MDL’s treatment of BL/LGBTQ+ content from this specific article. If the original Korean report omitted Ji Woong’s BL roles and MDL reproduced that report in the same form, this article alone is weak evidence of homophobia. Plus, MDL shared the source under the article: JTBC Entertainment

MDL told me directly that it is a shared ghost name used by different writers, so I don’t think it makes sense to accuse “Lily Alice” personally of homophobia. And I actually think the Korean source matters a lot here. MDL News is not really an independent press outlet rewriting stories from scratch; these ghost writers mainly shorten, translate or relay what the Asian press is reporting while keeping the original framing. Their role is to inform MDL users about those reports, not to rebuild an actor’s biography or correct every omission in the source. So if the original Korean article skipped Ji Woong’s BL roles, MDL reproducing that omission makes sense. The broader question about how MDL treats BL/LGBTQ+ content is still worth discussing, but I don’t think this particular article proves anything about the writer behind the Lily Alice name.

Yes, I agree there are two main couples. My point isn’t that BenTa are secondary characters, only that I’m not convinced they are Connor/Kom. Yi has confirmed he is a main character and that Max is his partner, so MaxYi are clearly one of the two central couples. I still lean MaxYi = Connor/Kom because of the stranger-to-lovers, physical and English/Thai dynamic, while BenTa fits Talay/Jason’s long shared history better.

I said it before, I don’t think promo placement proves who plays Connor and Kom. Yi has confirmed Max is his partner and that he plays a main character, so MaxYi clearly aren’t a minor couple. I still lean MaxYi = Connor/Kom because that relationship starts between strangers, is very physical, and has the foreign/local English-Thai dynamic. BenTa makes more sense to me as Talay/Jason because they share a long history and both speak Thai naturally. The BTS also pushed me further that way: MaxYi worked heavily on physical intimacy, while BenTa’s scenes felt more focused on an established emotional relationship. Hopefully they reveal the character names soon.

I don’t think the order of the pictures or who stands slightly more forward in one promotional shot is enough to tell us which couple has the original Connor/Kom storyline. All four are officially listed as leads, and Yi has now personally confirmed two things: that Max is his partner and that he himself is playing a main character. So MaxYi clearly aren’t being treated as a minor side couple. What makes me lean toward MaxYi as Connor/Kom is actually the story itself. Connor and Kom meet as strangers and their relationship starts with a very physical attraction while they are still learning about each other. Yi is Chinese-Canadian, speaks English and is still learning Thai, while Max is Thai. That fits the foreign/local, English/Thai dynamic of Connor and Kom extremely well. They are also both very athletic, which fits how physically driven that relationship initially is.

Talay and Jason are different: they have known each other since childhood, Jason has loved Talay for years and returns while dealing with an arranged marriage. Benjamin and Tata both speak Thai naturally, so to me they fit much better as the couple with an established Thai history.

And the first BTS makes me lean even more that way. Max and Yi were specifically doing intimacy and physical-comfort exercises together, while Ben and Tata’s workshop seemed much more focused on an already existing relationship and emotional reactions. So yes, BenTa’s picture may have been posted first and they may be placed more forward in some promo photos, but I don’t think that proves they are Connor and Kom. Right now my guess is still MaxYi = Connor/Kom and BenTa = Talay/Jason. Hopefully they just say the character names soon so we can stop doing detective work 😂

I agree with part of what you are saying, because asking AI “is this true?” and getting “yes” is absolutely not proof. AI can make mistakes, misunderstand sources and sometimes confidently give you complete nonsense. That is precisely why I keep insisting on links. If AI tells me Yonhap reported something, I want the Yonhap article. If it tells me a court decided something, I want the court record or reliable reporting about that decision. I don't expect anyone to believe something because ChatGPT said so, including me.

Where I disagree is saying AI has no mechanism to research or check data. That really depends on what AI you are using and what access you give it. Some can search current sources, compare articles, find primary documents and cross-check contradictory reporting. That doesn't make the AI itself a source. It makes it a research tool. Google isn't proof either; the documents you find through Google are. And there is another problem I think is even more important here. Something can be factually correct and still be biased. I can give AI ten genuine facts supporting Kim Soo-hyun, leave out five genuine facts that don't support him, then ask “is everything I wrote true?” It might correctly answer yes. But I still wrote a biased article because I decided what information went into it. The opposite obviously works too. That's why “is this true?” isn't enough. You also have to ask what was left out, what contradicts it, whether the sources are reliable and whether everyone involved is being judged by the same standard.

So I think we actually agree on the important part: AI saying something is true doesn't make it true. The human using it is still responsible for checking the result. That's also why I prefer putting the original sources directly in my comments. You don't have to trust me. Open the links, translate them if necessary, check what they actually say, and then make your own conclusion.

I answered about that, plus Yi said he plays the lead with Max in his video channel.

I’m increasingly convinced that MaxYi are Connor and Kom, with BenTa as Talay and Jason. Yi has now confirmed himself that Max is his partner and that he plays a main character, so I really doubt MaxYi are just the secondary couple. Max’s return to BL after the MaxTul era is already generating a lot of attention, and commercially it would make much more sense to build the main romance around that return.

The story itself also fits. Connor and Kom meet as strangers and their relationship begins with very strong physical attraction. Yi is Chinese-Canadian, speaks English but only limited Thai and is currently learning more, while Connor is the foreign character entering Thailand. Max is Thai and would naturally fit the local side of that cross-cultural relationship. They are also both extremely fit and athletic in real life, which fits a couple whose attraction is supposed to be very physical from the beginning.

BenTa makes more sense to me as Talay and Jason for the opposite reason. Those two already have a long history together: Jason has loved Talay since childhood and returns while hiding an arranged marriage. Both Benjamin and Tata speak Thai, so a relationship built around years of familiarity and unresolved feelings would naturally work much better between them than with Yi, who is still learning the language. Benjamin is also Thai-British and Tata is Thai, so they can handle the Thai-heavy side of the story naturally.

Nothing has officially connected the four character names to the actors yet, so I’m still calling this a theory rather than fact. But with Yi confirming Max as his partner and himself as a main character, the language setup, the different types of romance and Max’s BL return, MaxYi as Connor–Kom and BenTa as Talay–Jason currently makes the most sense to me. The first BTS episode is tomorrow, so we may finally get the confirmation then.

Not Yours — When Love Begins as a Debt

Baobei has spent much of his life carrying responsibilities that should never have belonged to him. He sells flowers while helping support his family, but an already precarious existence collapses when his mother is accused of stealing an expensive diamond ring belonging to the mother of Junying, a wealthy young company president. With the accusation creating a debt his family cannot repay, Baobei is forced to remain at Junying’s side as compensation for something he did not personally do. Junying has money, authority and a past that has taught him to protect himself through distance and control; Baobei has pride, obligations and very little freedom to decide how their relationship begins. What initially connects them is therefore neither attraction nor choice, but an imbalance of power that neither can simply pretend does not exist.

Their hostility slowly becomes attachment, but “Not Yours” is built around the difference between keeping someone close and actually being chosen by him. Junying begins to see beyond the debt that brought Baobei into his life, while Baobei discovers a man more vulnerable than the cold executive he first encountered. Yet affection cannot automatically make their relationship equal. Baobei was placed beside Junying because circumstances left him with almost no alternative, and Junying must eventually understand that protecting him does not give him ownership over him. For Baobei, the greater question is whether the moment will come when staying is no longer something he owes, but something he genuinely wants.

Their relationship is complicated further by Junying’s older brother Aya, whose ambitions place the family’s internal conflicts, wealth and power at the centre of a much darker struggle. The official television synopsis expands the story into betrayal, manipulation, kidnapping and an attempt to uncover the truth behind what has happened, turning what initially appears to be a wealthy-man/poor-man romance into a broader family drama where love itself can be exploited as leverage. Running beside it is a second relationship between Jiang Weibang, Baobei’s loyal best friend, and Milan, a young artist. Their constant clashes provide a lighter contrast to Junying and Baobei’s more oppressive beginning, but the production presents both couples through the same idea of mutual rescue: four men whose relationships force them to reconsider the lives and roles that seemed to have already been decided for them.

This is also a much freer adaptation of BamBam’s “Not Yours เมื่อผมไม่ใช่” than the title might initially suggest. In the rewritten edition of the novel, Baobei becomes P’Eng’s kept boy after his father leaves behind a five-million-baht debt. P’Eng takes him in, supports him and agrees that their arrangement will end once Baobei graduates. The debt is eventually forgiven, but by then Baobei has fallen in love with him, only to believe that P’Eng has found someone new: a cute celebrity whom Baobei awkwardly happens to admire himself. Once their original arrangement ends, Baobei becomes an ordinary employee in P’Eng’s company and tries to move forward, while P’Eng insists that Baobei was actually the one who abandoned him and begins pursuing him again. The drama keeps the source material’s most interesting foundation — debt, dependency, unequal status and the uncertainty of whether feelings remain once obligation is removed — while replacing much of the surrounding plot. The father’s financial debt becomes the mother’s alleged theft, Baobei becomes a flower seller, Junying receives a much larger family conspiracy, and Milan and Jiang Weibang are developed into a second central romance.

The adaptation itself reflects the increasingly international direction of Asian BL production. “Not Yours” is a Thai-Chinese co-production between Xingyi Pictures and Aplan International Group, directed by Shawn Zhou, Jane Kitt Bottasri and Toon Rungrapee Kingkaew, with Longs credited for the screenplay. Shogun Paramee Thesdaroon plays Baobei opposite Ross Chen as Junying, while Xuan Hao plays Milan and Jerry Loong plays Jiang Weibang. Rather than disguising that mixed production identity, the release strategy embraces it: the series premieres on September 26, 2026, with a Thai-language television version airing every Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on MCOT 9HD, followed at 11:30 p.m. by the full Chinese-language version on Viu, GagaOOLala, Heavenly and Rakuten TV. For viewers in metropolitan France, that places the streaming release at 6:30 p.m. while France remains on summer time, moving to 5:30 p.m. after the October daylight-saving change.

A ten-episode run is currently listed consistently across several drama databases, which would give the series a weekly schedule running from September 26 through November 28, with episodes expected on September 26, October 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31, followed by November 7, 14, 21 and 28. Unlike the premiere date and Saturday broadcast schedule, however, the total of ten episodes has still not been explicitly stated by MCOT or the official series account, so it is better treated as highly likely rather than officially confirmed. The runtime has likewise not yet been formally announced. That distinction matters after several recent BL listings have circulated incorrect episode totals before the streaming platforms published their final schedules.

There are reasons to be interested in the production team, although its track record is not uniformly reassuring. Aplan International Group previously participated in “Cutie Pie,” which remains one of the more internationally visible Thai BLs of its generation and currently sits around 7.5/10 on IMDb from roughly 3,600 ratings. More recently, Aplan was one of the international partners behind “Payback,” alongside Korean, Japanese and Thai companies; that adaptation finished 2026 with strong specialist audience scores, including 83.8/100 on DramaBL and 8.9/10 on Feyno. Those successes cannot be credited to Aplan alone, particularly because both productions involved substantial partners, but they show that the company has experience working on BL projects intended for a wider international market rather than only small domestic productions. Xingyi Pictures is more difficult to judge because it does not yet have a sufficiently established BL catalogue to provide a meaningful quality history.

The directing side is similarly mixed. Jane Kitt Bottasri has worked in BL for years, including “SOTUS S,” “Oxygen,” “Nitiman” and “The Luminous Solution.” Their audience ratings range from a comparatively strong 7.8/10 for “SOTUS S” to 6.4 for “Oxygen,” 6.6 for “Nitiman” and only 5.8 for “The Luminous Solution” on IMDb, so his name alone is not a guarantee of quality. Toon Rungrapee Kingkaew brings another interesting connection: her production work includes “4MINUTES” and “Payback,” two considerably more ambitious Thai BL productions, with “4MINUTES” in particular maintaining strong international reception. This leaves “Not Yours” in an unusual position: there is enough experience behind it to expect more than a disposable low-budget adaptation, but also enough inconsistency that the execution of its expanded storyline will matter more than the reputation of any single company or director.

The most promising part may ultimately be the way the television adaptation has chosen to reinterpret its title. “Not Yours” begins with a relationship in which money and family circumstances make it appear possible for one man to claim another, but its central conflict is really about dismantling that idea. Baobei may owe a debt, Junying may possess the power to keep him nearby, and both may eventually fall in love, but none of those things are equivalent to freely choosing one another. If the series manages to explore that difference without romanticising the imbalance that creates it, while successfully balancing its family intrigue and second couple, “Not Yours” could be worth watching precisely because it has turned a relatively simple debt romance into a story about whether love can become genuine only after possession ends.

SAEP on the Beach — MAME’s Love Sand Reworked Into a Four-Lead International Romance
Thai title: แซ่บ on the Beach
Adapted from: Love Sand / หาดร้อน ซ่อนรัก by MAME

Synopsis

“SAEP on the Beach” adapts MAME’s “Love Sand,” but the television version is developing into something considerably larger than a direct retelling of Connor and Khom’s original romance. In the novel, Khom is a nineteen-year-old living on Koh Phangan who agrees to replace his injured friend Mahasamut as a tour guide for three days and two nights. His client is Connor Warrington, a wealthy Canadian visitor with blond hair, green eyes and the confidence of a man accustomed to getting what he wants. Khom is already recovering from an earlier heartbreak and understands why becoming involved with someone who will disappear after a few days is dangerous, while Connor initially approaches their attraction as something temporary. Their relationship becomes physical quickly, but what should have ended with the trip instead unsettles both of them: Khom risks a heart that has already been damaged once, while Connor discovers that the young Thai man he expected to leave behind may be the first person capable of making the habitual player reconsider what he actually wants from love.

The television adaptation keeps that cross-cultural attraction while substantially rebuilding the circumstances around it. Current production material describes Connor as a British pearl broker who arrives on a southern Thai island hoping to complete an important business deal, while Khom is currently romanised as Kom. Kom still becomes his guide after replacing an injured friend, but the adaptation gives his previous heartbreak a much more concrete place in the story through Talay, the guarded owner of a pearl farm whom Kom has been trying to forget. Talay refuses Connor’s proposal and instead challenges him to find the legendary Melo Pearl, tying Connor’s commercial ambitions directly into Kom’s emotional past. Jason completes the central quartet: an influencer concealing an arranged marriage who returns to confess feelings for Talay that began in childhood. Instead of simply stretching Connor and Khom’s three-day encounter across ten episodes, the television series is therefore constructing two interconnected romances in which new attraction, old feelings, business and different ideas of possession continually collide.

That structure is important because the two relationships appear deliberately designed as opposites. Connor and Kom meet as strangers, with language and cultural differences between them and an attraction that is physical almost immediately. Talay and Jason, by contrast, already share years of history: Jason’s feelings reach back to childhood, and his return forces him to confront both Talay and the marriage awaiting him elsewhere. The casting appears to reflect that contrast. Yi Fang Gao has personally confirmed that Max Nattapol Diloknawarit is his partner in the series and has also confirmed that he himself plays a main character, while Benjamin Brasier and Tata Krittapat Sawangjit are presented together as the other couple. That makes MaxYi increasingly likely to be the principal pairing rather than a smaller secondary romance, particularly given the attention surrounding Max’s return to BL after the MaxTul era.

The strongest current interpretation is therefore Yi as Connor and Max as Kom, with Benjamin and Tata taking Talay and Jason, although Dream Dimension has not yet formally attached the four character names to the actors. The language setup makes that distribution particularly logical. Yi is Chinese-Canadian, speaks English fluently and has openly acknowledged that his Thai remains limited; he is currently spending time in Thailand improving it ahead of what will be his first major long-form scripted BL role. Connor is the foreigner entering an unfamiliar Thai environment, so Yi would naturally fit the English-speaking side of that relationship. Max is Thai and would provide the local counterpart, even if casting him as Kom would mean substantially ageing the nineteen-year-old Khom from the novel. The adaptation is already changing enough of the original story that this would hardly be its most radical alteration. Max and Yi are also both strongly associated with fitness and athletic physiques, which suits a romance that begins through immediate physical attraction before emotional intimacy develops. Benjamin and Tata, meanwhile, both speak Thai naturally, which fits a Talay–Jason relationship built on childhood familiarity, shared history and unresolved feelings rather than two strangers learning how to communicate.

Max’s possible position at the centre of the adaptation also makes commercial sense. He remains the most internationally recognisable BL actor in the cast, having built the MaxTul pairing through “Together With Me,” its sequel and “Manner of Death.” Since that era ended, he has not established another comparable BL partnership, which makes his return inherently significant for viewers who followed Thai BL through that period. Pairing him with Yi, a Chinese-Canadian newcomer entering his first major BL drama, creates both familiarity and novelty: Max brings an established audience and experience with male-male romantic roles, while Yi gives the production the international profile it is explicitly seeking. If MaxYi are indeed Connor and Kom, Dream Dimension is not simply asking Max to support a younger couple from the sidelines; it is placing his return at the centre of the source novel’s original romance. Benjamin and Tata would still carry an important second storyline, particularly because Talay connects all four characters through Kom’s former feelings, Connor’s pearl deal and Jason’s return.

Khom himself also carries much more history than viewers discovering him through this adaptation may realise. MAME first introduced him years earlier in the “TharnType” universe as Type’s childhood friend from his hometown. Khom is gay, and Type’s early homophobia directly hurts him; only after falling in love with Tharn forces Type to confront his own prejudice does he eventually return and apologise. MAME later explained that Khom remained in her mind because she felt she had put the character through enough and wanted to give him his own happiness, which eventually became “Love Sand.” The novel is officially part of the “TharnType Story” series, while its connection to “Love Sea” is equally direct: Mahasamut is the friend whose broken leg originally causes Khom to meet Connor, and he later becomes the protagonist of “Love Sea” opposite Tongrak. Khom even appears again in Episode 6 of the 2024 “Love Sea” television series, played by Pentor Jeerapat Pimanprom after having previously been portrayed by Kaprao Pongkorn Wongkrittiyarat in “TharnType.” The different actors make the connection easy to miss, but “TharnType,” “Love Sand” and “Love Sea” genuinely belong to the same fictional universe.

The adaptation may nevertheless change how directly “SAEP on the Beach” leads into “Love Sea.” Earlier speculation suggested that Mahasamut and Tongrak might become the second television couple, effectively turning the series into a bridge between both novels. The newer synopsis instead gives Talay and Jason a complete romantic story of their own, while Mahasamut is no longer named and appears only indirectly through the reference to Kom replacing an injured friend. He may still exist in the adaptation because his accident is fundamental to how Connor and Kom meet, but the second central romance now appears to belong to Talay and Jason. That makes “SAEP” less of a straightforward prequel to “Love Sea” and more of a reinterpretation of MAME’s wider universe.

Language is one of the project’s defining features rather than a marketing detail added afterward. Director Lit Phadung Samajarn has explained that “SAEP on the Beach” is being developed as a multilingual production using English and Thai, with English functioning as a principal language and cultural difference becoming part of the actual relationships. Benjamin is Thai-British and fluent in both languages, Tata speaks English, and Yi’s Chinese-Canadian background gives the cast another genuinely international perspective rather than simply asking Thai actors to perform foreign identities. The production has also discussed Spanish and potentially other dubbed versions, showing that international distribution is being considered from development rather than after completion. Yi’s current Thai study therefore makes sense even if his character ultimately speaks mainly English: a long Thai production still requires him to understand direction, rehearsals, scene partners and enough of the language for whatever bilingual interaction the script demands.

The source material gives Lit considerably more to work with than a thin premise stretched into a full season. The Thai edition of “Love Sand” was published in April 2019, runs to 466 pages and approximately 119,000 words, and currently holds 4.92/5 from 115 ratings on MEB. It is therefore a substantial and well-liked novel rather than a forgotten side story being revived only because MAME’s name remains commercially useful. The adaptation’s challenge is almost the opposite: preserving enough of Connor and Khom’s original intimacy while introducing Talay, Jason, the pearl business and a much larger four-lead structure without allowing the expansion to overwhelm the emotional simplicity at the centre of the book.

The production currently has ten episodes confirmed through Dream Dimension’s industry presentation. Lit has said the series is expected to air in 2027, but an exact premiere date, runtime, weekly schedule, broadcaster and international streaming platform have not yet been announced. Dream Dimension is still presenting the project to potential co-production partners, investors and distributors, so the final scale of the series may depend partly on which companies eventually join it. Some development and promotional footage has already been shot, and the first behind-the-scenes episode is due to be released imminently, which may finally reveal the character assignments that the production has so far deliberately kept hidden.

There is nevertheless a reassuring creative record behind the project. Lit directed “SOTUS,” which currently holds about 7.8/10 on IMDb from roughly 2,500 ratings, and the 2022 version of “Love Mechanics,” which stands at 8.0/10 from around 2,200 viewers, with its finale rated particularly strongly. He also directed the GL “Mate,” currently around 7.4/10 from close to one thousand ratings. “Love Mechanics” is perhaps the most relevant comparison: Lit already demonstrated that he could take an established romance, expand it into a ten-episode production and retain enough chemistry and emotional tension to satisfy an existing fandom. With “SAEP on the Beach,” the challenge is larger because he is simultaneously expanding the source, introducing another major couple and designing the production for a multilingual international market.

“SAEP on the Beach” is therefore becoming much more than another attractive beach BL. It brings back a character whose history reaches to “TharnType,” adapts the novel that later connects into “Love Sea,” introduces an entirely new second romance, places Max Nattapol’s long-awaited BL return beside Yi Gao’s first major scripted role, and builds the project around cultural and linguistic difference from the beginning. If the series can make both relationships feel necessary while preserving the intense attraction and emotional vulnerability that defined Connor and Khom’s original story, it has the potential to turn one of MAME’s older novels into one of the more distinctive international Thai BL projects currently in development.

Synopsis

More than a year has passed since Hiro Suzuki and Natsuo Washizawa finally put aside the misunderstanding that had followed them since high school and admitted that what existed between them was real. Their relationship no longer begins with revenge, hidden intentions or uncertainty over who loved whom first. They are together now, and for once, Hiro is allowing himself to enjoy it. That comfortable routine changes after an unexpected problem at Hiro's home leaves him temporarily unable to stay there. The obvious solution is also the one that brings their relationship into completely new territory: Hiro moves into Natsuo's home, and the two begin living together. For Natsuo, sharing a home with Hiro seems almost ideal. He has never been particularly restrained when it comes to showing how much he loves him, and living together means that the person he wants beside him is finally there every day. Hiro is inevitably dragged along at Natsuo's pace, but beneath his usual complaints, he begins to realise how easily this new domestic life is becoming something he does not want to lose. Living together, however, is different from dating.

The small parts of a relationship that can remain hidden when two people return to separate homes suddenly become impossible to avoid. Their habits, insecurities and expectations now exist in the same space, and the happiness of waking up beside each other is accompanied by a more difficult question: what kind of future are they actually building?

Season 1 was largely about Hiro learning that the boy he remembered as one of the worst parts of his adolescence had never seen him the way he believed. Season 2 moves beyond that misunderstanding. Hiro already knows that Natsuo loves him, while Natsuo no longer has to convince Hiro that his feelings are genuine. Their problem is no longer whether they should become a couple, but what happens when love starts influencing the choices they make about the rest of their lives. Both men begin questioning what they genuinely want for themselves. Work, their surroundings and new people entering their lives gradually disturb the comfortable rhythm they have created, forcing them to think about ambitions and decisions that cannot simply be solved by loving each other more. TOKYO MX describes them as reaching a crossroads in life and having to decide what their own form of happiness should look like.

That makes this sequel quite different from simply creating another romantic obstacle to separate them. Hiro and Natsuo have already spent enough time misunderstanding their past. What they now need to discover is whether they can move forward without losing either the relationship they fought for or the individual lives they still want to build. The Proper Way to Write Love Season 2 therefore follows the part of romance BLs often leave unexplored: after the confession, after the reconciliation and after the happy ending. Hiro and Natsuo already know that they love each other. Now they have to learn how to live with that love—and decide what they want it to become.

Source material
This is important because Season 2 is not a straightforward adaptation of a second manga volume.
Ogeretsu Tanaka's original The Proper Way to Write Love was a short work, and much of the main Hiro/Natsuo storyline was already used for Season 1. Season 2 is instead an original continuation supervised by Ogeretsu Tanaka, retaining the manga's characters and world while incorporating material from original spin-off stories. TOKYO MX has not yet identified exactly which spin-off material is being used. That author supervision is reassuring because the sequel is not simply a television writer inventing a second season after the source story has ended.

Airing information
Episodes: 6
Premiere: October 29, 2026
Broadcast: Every Thursday, 9:25–9:54 p.m. JST on TOKYO MX1
Episode slot: 29 minutes
Projected finale: December 3, 2026
International streaming: Not officially announced yet. Season 1 was internationally distributed by GagaOOLala, but I would not assume Season 2 is returning there until GagaOOLala or TOKYO MX confirms it.

Same here 😅 I’m definitely watching for Kodai Fujimoto, but also for Ayuta Fukuda because I’m currently watching him in Your Sky: Love After the Rain. And I’m especially happy to see Hideyoshi Kan again—I really loved him in Season 1 and also in Although I Love You, and You?, even though I personally didn’t enjoy his pairing with Jun Nishiyama there. So Season 2 already has several reasons for me to come back.

It did have a complete ending, but only for the first part of their story. Season 1 adapted the first novel and ended with Hioki and Watarai finally becoming an official couple. The author later wrote a second novel following them into their third and final year of high school, and Season 2 is adapting that. They’re already together this time, so the story shifts to what comes after the confession: being separated into different classes, Watarai’s jealousy getting even worse, his ex-girlfriend appearing, entrance exams, graduation, and the question of what happens to them after high school. So it’s not really reopening an unfinished ending; it’s continuing a relationship that had already reached a satisfying first conclusion.

No international platform has yet been officially announced for Season 2. Season 1 eventually appeared on Viki, but I would not assume Season 2 will automatically follow until Viki or another distributor announces it.