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'Unintentional Love Story': Korean BLs go mainstream as 2nd gen idol Gongchan of B1A4 gets cast

The hit webtoon 'Unintentional Love Story' follows the tale of a suspended employee who pursues an artist to get his job back only to fall for him

After years of gay comic relief characters and mocking the LGBT+ community in K-dramas, the Korean industry is finally starting to get more diverse. With mainstream idols and actors taking up LGBT+ friendly projects like SHINee’s Minho, SF9’s Rowoon, Song Kang and Park Seo-joon, we now have Korean BL (boy love) dramas now picking up. Popularised in Thailand and Taiwan, BLs focus on romantic plots with same-sex couples. While it was considered a niche genre, the instant success of ‘Semantic Error’ which became the most-watched OTT drama has opened new doors. In fact, the next upcoming BL 'Unintentional Love Story' has roped in major celebrities like B1A4’s Gongchan.

Following the chart reversal and sudden popularity of K-pop boy group DKZ as one of its members was the male lead in ‘Semantic Error’, some Knetizens felt that Korean BLs would now simply consist of unknown K-pop idol actors trying to make it big. But the BL industry has proved them wrong and that ‘Semantic Error’ was not a one-hit-wonder with already famous idol actors now taking up Korean BL dramas. We have several members of VIXX, B.A.P, Pentagon and A.C.E playing the main lead in BLs. And now 'Unintentional Love Story' has cast actor Cha Seo-won and popular second-gen idol Gongchan of B1A4 fame.

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‘Unintentional Love Story’ gets K-drama

On June 28, the next Korean BL drama was announced – ‘Unintentional Love Story’. Based on the hit webtoon of the same name, it stars B1A4’s Gongchan as Ji Won-young and Cha Seo-won as Yoon Tae-jun. Quite different from the usual high school BL dramas, fans are excited as ‘Unintentional Love Story’ focuses on Won-young who is falsely accused of corruption and is suspended. He tries to get his job back by charming the chairman’s favorite artist Tae-joon. He hopes to convince the ceramic artist to help him get back into his boss’ good grace.

Cha Seowon of ‘Second Husband’ fame plays the stone-cold Tae-joon who is quiet and mysterious. His tough exterior makes it difficult for Won-young to get through but is truly a romantic at heart. Idol actor Gongchan who last starred in ‘Mokkoji Kitchen’ and also played a queer-coded character in ‘Lonely Enough to Love’, is Won-young, a charismatic employee who is popular and the centre of attention. He pursues Tae-joon in hopes of retaining his job but ends up falling in love with him. The BL K-drama is set to air in the second half of 2022.

‘I am here for it’

With Gongchan being a popular idol of the 2010s and B1A4 being one of the leading groups of the second-gen, his fans are proud and happy of him branching out and now dabbling in the BL genre. One fan wrote, “Was really expecting of Gongchan's new project and now it's BL! I'm God's favorite right now.” Another commented, “Korea is cranking out so many BLs and I am here for it! Can’t wait to support!”

One added, “WDYM UNINTENTIONAL LOVE STORY IS GETTING A LIVE ACTION?? also whats with idol in bl nowadays?” Another shared, “Hello what u mean gongchan in a bl drama AND IT'S UNINTENTIONAL LOVE STORY???!!!” One fan tweeted, “I would like to not apologise for the person I will be once the unintentional love story drama gets released and for every snippet I find about its production.” Another shared, “B1A4 Gongchan as an LGBTQ on  his drama characters so true…”