Song Kang Returns From the Military in Piano Drama Four Hands, While Co-Star Lee Jun-young Ships Out

Song Kang admitted his hands were trembling at the press event for his comeback drama. It's an honest detail, and one that makes sense: the actor was discharged from military service last October, and Four Hands is the first role he's taken since. That gap, plus the weight of stepping back in front of cameras, was apparently enough to rattle even someone who had performed piano at his own fan meetings before.

The online press conference for tvN's new weekend drama was held on the 25th, though the event itself was filmed in advance. Lee Jun-young, who plays Song Kang's rival in the show, enlisted in the army on the 21st of last month and recorded his portion of the press event before he left. His pre-recorded message was characteristically dry about the whole situation: "By the time this goes up, I'll be deep in training. Enlistment is only a few days away. No tears, just a lot of sighing. I'll come back healthy."

What Four Hands is about

Four Hands (포핸즈) refers to the musical technique of two pianists sharing a single instrument, and the title doubles as the drama's central metaphor. The story follows three students at an arts high school populated entirely by musical prodigies, tracking them from age 17 to 27 across a decade of friendship, rivalry, love, and growth.

Song Kang plays Kang Bi-o, a polished elite student who dominates both grades and piano rankings but quietly pushes himself to extremes in pursuit of his grandfather's approval. Lee Jun-young is Choi Jeong-yo, Bi-o's rival and foil: a piano talent from a difficult background who has spent years trying to ignore his own gift. The two are brought together through four-hands performance, and that collaboration becomes the turning point for both of them. Jang Gyu-ri rounds out the trio as Hong Jae-in, a viola major with exceptionally sharp hearing who has quietly championed Bi-o's music since childhood.

Director Park Hyun-seok described the show as territory Korean television hasn't quite explored before. "There have been music dramas," he said, "but something that genuinely weaves classical music together with a coming-of-age story feels like a first attempt. I think it will feel like reading a beautiful picture book."

The piano preparation

Both Song Kang and Lee Jun-young had to sell the illusion of being virtuoso pianists, and neither came to the role with that skill level. Song Kang started lessons months before filming began. During production, when regular lessons became impossible to schedule, he studied video recordings of his teachers playing, absorbing gesture and physical expression as much as technique. "Classical is on a completely different level," he said. "The same piece is different for every person, different emotion, different breathing. Playing fast pieces while also tracking your emotional expression at the same time was genuinely hard, but there was something fun about finding a different feeling inside each piece."

Lee Jun-young's approach was more radical: he memorized entire pieces from scratch. "I can't actually play piano, so I learned the whole thing by memory," he said. "The director helped by giving me second-by-second instructions for each performance scene." He described Choi Jeong-yo as the most emotionally varied character he has ever played, adding with a laugh, "I don't usually say this kind of thing, but I gave everything I had. I can genuinely say I put everything on the line."

Jang Gyu-ri had a head start, having studied violin as a child, but found the viola transition more demanding than expected. She attended classical concerts, listened extensively, and filmed herself moving through performance scenes before checking the footage with her teacher, frame by frame.

On squeezed piano benches and ten-year timelines

The cast will each play their characters at both 17 and 27, which generated one of the press conference's funnier moments. Lee Jun-young, deadpan, said he looked older than his age and had invested seriously in skincare for the high school scenes, then admitted that effort only goes so far. He thanked the director for casting co-stars who made him look comparatively young.

For the four-hands scenes, Song Kang and Lee Jun-young had to share a piano bench for extended shoots. Both are tall and broad-shouldered, and the winter filming schedule meant body heat was at least a partial compensation for the cramped conditions. "The bench was narrow and we were both big," Song Kang said. "Warm in the cold, but a little uncomfortable." Lee Jun-young confirmed: "Song Kang works out seriously. Sitting next to him on a small bench with his shoulders fully expanded was its own experience."

Those close-quarters scenes apparently worked in the drama's favor. Lee Jun-young noted that a lot of their shared scenes involved less dialogue and action than simply looking at each other, and that the physical proximity accelerated the chemistry between them. Song Kang was equally complimentary about his co-star's on-set generosity, crediting Lee Jun-young for easing him back into acting after a long absence.

Director Park said the atmosphere on set was warm enough that watching the three leads laugh together became a routine pleasure. "That energy will come through in the drama," he said.

Four Hands premieres on tvN on the 29th.