Live On () is a South Korean television series starring Jung Da-bin, Hwang Min-hyun, Noh Jong-hyun, Yang Hye-ji, Yeonwoo and Choi Byung-chan. Written by Bang Yoo-jung and directed by Kim Sang-woo, the series centers on a high school girl who joins her school's broadcasting club in order to catch the person trying to reveal her secret. It aired on JTBC from November 17, 2020, to January 12, 2021.
Synopsis
A story of love and friendship unfolds in a school where social media is a defining force and everybody is judged according to the person's looks, fashion sense and popularity.
Baek Ho-rang (Jung Da-bin), a high school student, is popular on social media for being pretty and classy, but her standoffish and cold behaviour in person earns her a considerable number of haters. One day, a strange message from an anonymous sender is read over the school radio. The message reminds Ho-rang of a traumatic episode from her past. An anonymous account has also been threatening to blackmail her by exposing her secret. Due to this, Ho-rang decides to join the broadcasting club, led by the perfectionist and overly time-conscious Go Eun-taek (Hwang Min-hyun), in order to track down the person attempting to defame her behind the keyboard.
Cast
Main
Ho-rang is a student of Class 2-1 in Seoyeon High School and an anchorwoman of SHBS. She is a social media influencer renowned for being pretty and classy, but being standoffish and cold in person earns her also a considerable number of haters. Ho-rang joins Seoyeon's broadcasting club SHBS with an ulterior motive: to find out the person who is trying to divulge her long-hidden secret linked to a traumatic episode in her past.
Eun-taek is a student of Class 2-3 in Seoyeon High School and the manager of Seoyeon's broadcasting club SHBS. He lives a life that follows an exact, stringent timetable. Eun-taek is known by his clubmates for being a strict, perfectionist and overly time-conscious leader who does not put even a mere second to waste.
Woo-jae is a student of Class 2-3 in Seoyeon High School and member of the student council. He is an often quiet person and acts rationally in any situation, complementing Eun-taek's perfectionist personality. Woo-jae has a dull face which brightens only when he sees Jae-yi.
So-hyun is a student of Class 2-3 in Seoyeon High School and deputy manager of SHBS; Ho-rang's former best friend. A model student with high grades, she was once more comfortable hanging out with boys until she became best friends with Ho-rang back in middle school. Her friendship with Ho-rang was severed due to misunderstandings and a tragic incident that happened to Ho-rang.
Jae-yi is a student of Class 2-1 in Seoyeon High School; Woo-jae's girlfriend. She is an outspoken and simple-minded girl who is concerned with Woo-jae being hesitant to open up his thoughts to her.
Yoo-shin is Ho-rang's friend who is in Class 2-1 of Seoyeon High School. Compared with Ho-rang, he is a bubbly and easygoing person with an appearance of innocence and a bit of ingenuity. Yoo-shin likes So-hyun very much.
Supporting
SHBS Broadcasting Club
Hee-soo is a Class 2 student and member of the SHBS, who is revealed in later episodes to be the Internet troll attempting to reveal Ho-rang's tragic past to the public. She is one of Ho-rang's schoolmates back in middle school who detests her.
- Hyun Woo-seok as Kwon Sung-joon
Sung-joon is a junior student and a member of the SHBS.
A junior student and a member of the SHBS, Eun-ha aspires to become a great senior like So-hyun.
- Yang Jung-yeon as Kim Hee-won
A junior student and a member of the SHBS, Hee-won is baffled by how working in SHBS is harder than what she thought.
A junior student and a member of the SHBS, Young-jae considers it the best club in school and enjoys the life of radio broadcasting.
- Kim Eun-soo as Shin Jin-gook
Jin-gook is a Class 2 student and member of the SHBS.
Other students
Woo-sol is Woo-jae's younger sister who acts like a love counselor between him and Jae-yi.
- Lee Won-jung as Lee Hun-jo, Jae-yi's boyfriend
- Shin Yun-seop as Jung-bin
- Choi Su-jin as Soo-jin
- Kang Hae-lim as Park Hye-rim
- Chung Su-bin as Lee Sun-Joo, a girl from Ho-rang's earlier life who beat her up in a key incident that Ho-rang tries to hide
Special appearances
- Lee Han-wi as school headmaster (Ep. 1-2)
- Ahn Se-ha as literature teacher (Ep. 1)
- Kim Hye-yoon as Seo Hyun-ah (Ep. 1)
- Yoon Yoo-sun as Ho-rang's mother (Ep. 3, 5, 7 & 8)
- Kim Jung-hak as Ho-rang's father (Ep. 3 & 5)
- Song Seon-mi as Eun-taek's mother (Ep. 4 & 7)
- Yeonjun as Kim Jin-woo, So-hyun's ex-boyfriend (Ep. 8)
Episodes
Production
The first script reading took place on August 5, 2020.
Original soundtrack
Album
Singles
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Ratings
The popularity index of a drama is unusually high for a drama that is aired once a week. The popularity of the drama has been on the list of the previous episodes, and Hwang Min-hyun, who plays the role of the male protagonist Ko Eun-taek, has also been on the list of the cast members of the first and eighth episodes, respectively. The Lacoy index is also high, and the number of views of the first episode of YouTube, which was released only in Korea, has reached 2.5 million, showing a steady rise. (As of November 2021)
International broadcast
The series will be available with multi-languages subtitles on iQIYI in South East Asia and Taiwan. The series will also be available on Viki with multi-languages subtitles.
In other media
Bang Yoo-jung's screenplays for all episodes of Live On were published as one set on January 28, 2021 by Wisdom House. The screenplays are available for purchase both in print and e-book formats.
Notes
References
External links