Thanks for the brain worms, Lovely Runner. Now I have theories

I don't watch a lot of currently airing dramas and when I do, I don't usually post anything aside from 'cuuuuute' or 'paaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnn". But because I can no longer be normal about waiting for things, I have let Lovely Runner consume my mind and now I have thoughts about it.

Because the real cool thing about this show (and about kdramas in general) is that it's not just a quirky romcom about two clowns falling in awkward love with each other- it's a murder mystery whodunnit revolving around how Sun Jae died the night he reunited with Im Sol. It's a kdrama but giving '7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hugo' vibes where the protagonist has to figure out who the murderer was in what looks like a suicide while inhabiting a body that's not their's. But in this case, Im Sol has yet to realize that it's a murder. And now I have a Theory.

And it's that Im Sol was the objective the entire time. If not the target, then the focus of the killer. The murderer, whoever it was, just wanted Sun Jae out of the way because he knew that if Sun Jae managed to re-establish a connection with Im Sol again, it would be harder to prey/stalk/possibly murder her.

Because I have watched ep 1 god only knows how many times, and it actually looks as though the phone was deliberately knocked out of her hand. I've seen some theories float around that it might have been a future version of Sun Jae but why would he do that to the woman he loved, knowing what she would endure with her cell phone out of commission (unable to call for help, stranded in the cold with a broken wheelchair). It makes more sense that it was someone with more sinister motives, someone who definitely didn't want her to be able to call for help. It would also make her more willing to get into the most convenient, immediate form of transportation that happened to be passing by. Like...a taxi.

I also think that this stalker/murderer would have been doing this since her high school days because of the fact that someone in a taxi had been following her in episode 4. And what a parallel that would be- just as Im Sol admired to Sun Jae since she was a teenager right into her thirties (and vice versa with Sun Jae having been in love with her from the beginning to the present day) we have another character who has also been obsessed with Im Sol, but not in the sweet, innocent way she was devoted to Sun Jae but in a dangerously obsessed fashion that's more "if I can't have you nobody can''. The night of her accident could have been her stalker's attempt at confessing his "love" only for it to spiral into a kidnapping attempt. Im Sol attempts to run away, Sun Jae thwarts her attacker but it all ends with Im Sol too traumatized to remember that night and resentful of Sun Jae for rescuing her. Sun Jae, full of guilt, keeps his distance and Im Sol is without her protector. And her stalker/Sun Jae's future murderer has been hovering in the margins of her life, satisfied that since she's wheelchair bound and without Sun Jae, she was helpless and 'his'.

But then Sun Jae comes back into her life, Sun Jae who is both a rival and someone who has a habit of saving Im Sol again and again. So, Sun Jae has to be gotten rid of for Im Sol to be truly vulnerable and alone again.

Do I have a theory to who this is? Not really. No one really stands out at this time. Maybe it's a random member from Sun Jae's swim team. Or Sun Jae's swim rival who hates him. But I think he and the CEO guy could just be red herrings for who the actual killer is. I don't think it's Kim Tae Sung. I do think Kim Tae Sung encountered the killer before and the reason he was "expelled" was because he found out the killer's part in Im Sol's accident and was trying to avenge her. It's a little too convenient that he disappeared from the scene after Im Sol's accident because of a 'fight'.

Anyways this could be completely wrong, but I'm having fun guessing. By guessing, I mean suffering waiting for the next ep.

PS Why are 19 year old Sol's bangs so much more cringe when she's not being possessed by her 34 year old self? Kim Tae Sung was telling the truth when he said she got cuter when she became Grandma Sol again.