Choo Young-woo, Kim So-hyun Share Tearful Hug in 'Between Steps'

Actors Choo Young-woo and Kim So-hyun shared a tearful embrace on the ENA drama "Between Steps", as their characters finally confessed their feelings. With just one episode left, the show also set a new personal best in the ratings.

Episode 11 aired on Nov. 9. It drew a 2.9% nationwide household rating, according to Nielsen Korea. That is the highest figure since the series premiered.

The episode brought Park Min-jae (played by Choo Young-woo) and Lim Yoo-jin (played by Kim So-hyun) face to face again after a painful breakup. Min-jae finally shared the anxiety and fear he had been hiding. Yoo-jin pulled him into a hug to comfort him.

Early in the episode, Min-jae tried to move on by deleting photos of their time together from his phone, one by one. The stress kept building, and it started to affect his health. At an after-party for a welcome event with his lab colleagues, he suddenly complained of chest pain. He then coughed up blood, collapsed, and was rushed to the emergency room.

Meanwhile, Lee Ji-hoon (played by Jang In-seop) confessed his feelings to Yoo-jin. He gave her a bracelet he had picked out himself. She turned him down, saying there was someone else she liked. Ji-hoon took the answer as if he had expected it. He told her not to force herself to forget if she still had feelings. Back home, Yoo-jin lay awake looking at photos of herself with Min-jae.

At the hospital, doctors told Min-jae his condition may be a peptic ulcer caused by stress. Hong Eun-ju (played by Shim Hye-jin) heard the news and came to see him. She asked his lab colleagues what had happened. When they said Kim Se-jin (played by Lim Jin-hyo) had been the source of his stress, Eun-ju told Se-jin to stop seeing Min-jae. Se-jin then revealed the truth, Min-jae and Yoo-jin had dated, and the breakup was what had been weighing on him.

Yoo-jin heard about his hospitalization late and rushed over. Visits had been limited at the family's request, so she could not see him. The next day, she made rice porridge herself and went back. She learned he had already been discharged, so she headed to his home.

There, she heard something she did not expect. Min-jae had decided to quit school and his robotics research and go back to Canada. When Yoo-jin asked if he was threatening her, he explained why he had chosen to break up.

"Being with you made me happy, but it also scared me so much," Min-jae said. "I was afraid of being abandoned. I didn't want to get hurt, so I always held back and made up excuses to run away."

Then, in tears, he went further. "I let you die because I didn't want to get hurt," he said. "You loved me, but I didn't."

Yoo-jin told him he had loved her a lot, too, and wrapped her arms around him. Whether the two can put the breakup behind them and get back together will be revealed in the finale.

The final episode of "Between Steps" airs later today, Nov. 10 at 10 p.m. KST. It is also available on KT Genie TV and Disney+.