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'Dear M': Will NCT's Jaehyun's first K-drama ever air? KBS sheds light

The K-drama was postponed indefinitely after the lead actress was embroiled in a school bullying scandal

Fans everywhere are praying that NCT’s Jaehyun finally gets his first acting credit. The K-pop idol has often shown an interest in acting and had even landed two projects. ‘Dear M’ is a college rom-com and a spin-off of the popular web series ‘Love Playlist’. Jaehyun was part of the ensemble cast with the K-drama set to air in February 2021. However, there was a systematic attack by trolls who claimed several K-pop idols and actors were school bullies. While many of it turned out to be false, the case regarding Park Hye-su, the lead actress of ‘Dear M’, has taken longer with the show being postponed indefinitely.

In late 2021, we then got the news that the NCT member had next bagged the main role in the K-drama remake of a 2001 BL (boy love) film ‘Bungee Jumping of their Own’. However, due to disagreements between the original writer and the K-drama production, the project was scrapped. Jaehyun’s fans have been disappointed that the idol’s acting projects all seem to come to a standstill. But there is a sliver of hope for his first K-drama ‘Dear M’, according to KBS.

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Why was ‘Dear M’ postponed

Like several other school bullying cases against the K-pop idols in early 2021, Park Hye-su’s rumors might just be false. Dispatch, a Korean media outlet took it upon themselves to investigate the accusations and found evidence that the accusers could be lying. They more or less cleared the actress’ name in the eyes of the public when they unearthed text messages that show that the accusers were friends with Park Hye-su. In the second accuser’s case, the assault was led by another student and a male student. In fact, Hye-su’s middle school classmates shared that she was a victim of bullying before transferring to an American school.

The producers of ‘Dear M’ tried to broadcast the drama in August 2021 and even promoted it on the OTT platform iQiyi. However, the police investigation regarding the accusations is still ongoing and so the drama could not air back then. KBS has finally released a statement regarding the status of Jaehyun and Park Hye-su’s K-drama. While they are interested in airing ‘Dear M’, there are still some obstacles. A KBS official explained, “For now, it seems that the broadcast will be difficult in the first half of this year. I think we will be able to discuss the airing [of 'Dear M'] only after the police investigation results come out.”

‘Dear M’ follows four college students who are in search of the anonymous poster ‘M’ whose confession on a student community platform changes their lives. It stars Park Hye-su, NCT’s Jaehyun, Roh Jeong-eui and Bae Hyun-sung. If the drama does air, it will be on the KBS2 channel and will have 12 episodes.

'Give Jaehyun a new project'

Exasperated fans have posted tweets like, “It's been so long I literally forgot abt this show.” Another NCTzen asked, “When we will see actor Jaehyun?” One fan tried to come up with a solution, “I really wanna watch dear m.. cant they just blur her or cut her part idgaf just give me actor jaehyun.” Another posted, “Can they jus air dear m already. i need to see college jaehyun for mental health reasons.” One fan shared, “Wish they’d just pull the plug on dear m and give jaehyun a new project.” Another NCTzen was blunt, “How hard is it to just air the drama who f**king cares about park hyesoo? just release it on those online drama platforms. people were anticipating jaehyun’s acting debut and were tuning in for dear m because of him only.”