The Breakup Song That Became a Musical About Bodyguards

Part 10 of 16 in Kim Kwang-seok: The Dead Singer K-pop Can't Let Go

No. 7, “Those Days,” was a breakup song, and a director turned it into a musical that says “I’m sorry we couldn’t protect Kim Kwang-seok.” The musical has come back to the stage again and again since its 2013 premiere, including this year, and this year the song made it onto a K-pop awards stage too.

Kim Kwang-seok – “Those Days” (Official Audio, 2022 Remastered) — 400,000 views

Its combined views come to about 35.7 million, just 800,000 ahead of No. 8, “On the Street.” Both songs were written by his Dongmulwon friend Kim Chang-ki. Whenever I hear this song, I find myself nodding along with the heart of that musical. Sorry we couldn’t protect you: anyone who loved him carries a little of that feeling.

The loneliest song on a hit album

Kim’s second album, released in February 1991, is the record that made him a star, thanks to Han Dong-jun’s “Love Has Gone.” After the hit, the track critics always single out is “Those Days,” a gift from his Dongmulwon friend Kim Chang-ki. The Busan Ilbo’s classic-album series called it “a song you can’t just pass by,” pointing to its “gray, lonely melody” and “the rough, heart-aching delivery only Kim Kwang-seok could give” (July 1, 2015).

잊어야 한다면 잊혀지면 좋겠어 / 부질없는 아픔과 이별할 수 있도록

If I have to forget, I wish I could just forget, / so I could say goodbye to this pointless pain.

— Lyrics and music by Kim Chang-ki (1991), excerpt

There were days when just thinking of her, looking at her, hearing her voice was enough. She probably doesn’t even remember, but he cried just saying her name. Over and over he tells himself that if he has to forget, he’d rather the memory just disappear. In the end the song closes in silence, holding on to those days that will never come back.

Also read: His Brightest Song Hides His Saddest Line

Why the hero is a bodyguard

In 2013, director Jang Yoo-jeong made an original musical built only from Kim’s songs and named it The Days, after this one. In 1992, the president’s daughter and the bodyguard assigned to her vanish from the presidential Blue House, and twenty years later the head of the security detail follows their trail. The premiere sold 96% of its seats (Newsis, Sept. 29, 2014).

Jang explained why she made the hero a bodyguard. “I’m sorry we couldn’t protect Kim Kwang-seok, who left life so early. I wanted to comfort the people who feel that way” (Newsis, Sept. 29, 2014). The stage built from his songs was, from the start, a story about the people who lost him. Super Junior’s Kyuhyun and actor Ji Chang-wook starred in the 2014 revival (Yonhap, Feb. 11, 2015), and the musical returned to the stage again in 2026.

Musical The Days – 2026 trailer (official channel) — 250,000 views

Kyuhyun kept singing Kim’s songs afterward, as a guest at “Singing Kim Kwang-seok Again” concerts and at the 2025 “My Song” Kim Kwang-seok concert at the Suraksan Sunset Music Festival in Seoul’s Nowon district (Seoul Shinmun, June 11, 2025).

Lim Young-woong’s 17.26 million, ATEEZ’s Jongho at the Golden Disc

The biggest number on this song belongs to Lim Young-woong. His “Those Days” on TV Chosun’s Love Call Center has 17.26 million views on his official channel, nearly half of the song’s total.

Lim Young-woong – “Those Days” (Love Call Center, TV Chosun) — 17.26 million views

At the 40th Golden Disc Awards in January 2026, ATEEZ’s Jongho sang it. A 35-year-old folk ballad made it onto a K-pop awards stage.

Jongho (ATEEZ) – “Those Days” (40th Golden Disc Awards) — 97,000 views

INFINITE’s Nam Woo-hyun sang it on the live show THE LIVE (220,000 views), and Jung Seung-hwan took the stage with it on SBS’s K-pop Star 4 in 2015 (350,000 views).

Nam Woo-hyun (INFINITE) – “Those Days” (THE LIVE) — 220,000 views

Jung Seung-hwan – “Those Days” (K-pop Star 4, SBS) — 350,000 views

Singer Tei sang it on KBS’s Immortal Songs in 2016 alongside Kim’s recorded voice. The man in the song says he wishes he could just forget. Every stage that sings this song is a promise not to. I quietly add my own name to that promise.

Previous: Part 9 — “Just Throw It Away!” The One Note Kim Kwang-seok Refused to Fix

Next, No. 6: “Where the Wind Blows,” the Kim Kwang-seok song the leaders of North and South Korea heard at the same dinner table.

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Sources: Busan Ilbo (July 1, 2015); Melon (lyrics and music by Kim Chang-ki; Kim Kwang-seok 2nd, Feb. 20, 1991); Newsis (Sept. 29, 2014); Yonhap (Feb. 11, 2015); The Musical, The Days 2014 highlight video; Seoul Shinmun (June 11, 2025); Tei’s stage: KBS Kpop (Dec. 31, 2016). View counts as shown on YouTube, Oct. 25, 2026.