The Vincenzo reunion in My Youth now counts on one more name with another key player signing on for it

The pastel-tinted romance of My Youth has been carrying a thrill for fans of Vincenzo. What began as a gentle story about first love and long-buried wounds slowly turned into a reunion of the chaotic Jipuragi family and the players who once stood in the shadow of Babel Tower.

Song Joong-ki, Jo Han-chul, Yoon Byung-hee, and Kwon Seung-woo were already reshaping their pasts in this new, softer world. Now the circle widens with another unexpected arrival. Yoo Jae-myung, forever remembered as Hong Yu-chan, steps into episode 8 and transforms a late-night drinking sequence into something filled with memory and emotion.

Seeing Yoo Jae-myung again is striking because of what Hong Yu-chan meant to Vincenzo. He was the lawyer whose idealism lit the first spark of rebellion and whose death broke the heart of Vincenzo Cassano. That loss set the revenge plot in motion and gave the mafia consigliere a reason to fight beyond gold and survival. To watch that same face reappear in My Youth is like seeing a ghost return, not to haunt but to change the air of the story.

From mafia consigliere to florist and first love

Song Joong-ki’s transformation is the most radical of the reunion. In Vincenzo, he was Vincenzo Cassano, the Italian-trained consigliere who dismantled the corrupt Babel Group with ruthless precision. Every scene carried danger, charm, and the weight of someone who had survived both adoption and betrayal.

In My Youth, he plays Sun Woo-hae, a man once adored as a child actor who now runs a flower shop and tries to write his way back to himself. His life seems still and almost fragile until Sung Je-yeon, played by Chun Woo-hee, returns after more than a decade. Their reunion glows with unfinished longing, and each encounter shows how much weight unspoken words can hold when years have passed. The gaze that once promised destruction now trembles at the memory of love.

Jo Han-chul’s shift from comic schemer to estranged father

Jo Han-chul once embodied Han Seung-hyuk in Vincenzo, a duplicitous lawyer at Wusang whose cowardice and greed provided dark comedy even in the show’s most violent turns. His antics were ridiculous but dangerous, always trying to stay close to power.

In My Youth, he plays Sun Woo-chan, a father who abandoned his son and left his young daughter adrift. Woo-hae had to grow up under the shadow of that absence, carrying responsibilities too early.

Every scene with Woo-chan hurts because Jo Han-chul makes him both selfish and strangely human. It's anger laced with reluctant tenderness, a reminder that incompetence can harden into harm. Viewers who laughed at Seung-hyuk’s blunders now watch the same actor portray wounds that linger for a lifetime.

Yoon Byung-hee’s loyal heart in two different worlds

Yoon Byung-hee was Nam Joo-sung in Vincenzo, the clumsy but fiercely loyal paralegal at Jipuragi Law Firm. He brought comic timing and deep-hearted devotion to Hong Yu-chan and later to Vincenzo and Cha-young.

In My Youth, he plays Lee Geon-noh, Woo-hae’s childhood friend and long-time neighbor. He is no longer a bumbling sidekick but a quiet constant in Woo-hae’s life, someone whose presence carries warmth and stability. The loyalty remains, but without the chaos; it becomes the steady pulse of a man who has always been there.

Kwon Seung-woo from monk to quiet light

Kwon Seung-woo’s part in Vincenzo was small but unforgettable. As one of the monks living in Geumga Plaza, he added eccentric humor and unexpected wisdom to the tenants who became Vincenzo’s unlikely allies.

In My Youth, he appears as Choi Ki-beum, a gentle supporting figure who brings levity to Woo-hae’s world. The shift is subtle but effective. Where the monk once added offbeat spirituality to a violent revenge story, Ki-beum softens the edges of a drama built on love and memory.

Yoo Jae-myung changes the temperature of the story

Episode 8 of My Youth brings the most surprising return. Yoo Jae-myung, who played Hong Yu-chan, the righteous lawyer whose death launched Vincenzo’s war, walks into a bar and meets Woo-hae and mistakes him for a colleague. His character is not a crusader this time. He is simply a man who knows how to listen, someone who shares a drink and an understanding with a stranger weighed down by illness and regret.

For longtime viewers, the moment hits hard. In Vincenzo, Yu-chan’s murder was the wound that fueled the entire narrative. Here the same actor offers Woo-hae a fleeting connection and a measure of grace. It is a reunion built not on storylines but on memory. The face once tied to righteous death now brings quiet solidarity.

Fans react to the growing reunion

Viewers spotted the most recent cameo almost instantly. Screenshots of the bar scene flooded social media with comments about how the Vincenzo family keeps finding its way back together in this new setting. Fans joked about Geumga Plaza secretly extending into every K-drama Song Joong-ki touches, while others described the scene as an unexpected gift.

The response is more than playful nostalgia. For many, it feels like a reward for following these actors through wildly different projects. Watching them share the screen again, even briefly, stirs emotions tied to past battles and old heartbreaks.

Blood versus bouquets

The gap between the two dramas remains striking. Vincenzo thrived on satire, mafia theatrics, and the slow burn of revenge. My Youth leans on silences, heartbreak, and the work of loving again after disappointment. Yet the shared cast creates a dialogue between these worlds.

Jo Han-chul’s bumbling lawyer becomes a selfish father. Yoon Byung-hee’s nervous paralegal becomes a lifelong friend. Kwon Seung-woo’s chanting monk becomes gentle support. And now Yoo Jae-myung, once the fallen idealist, appears as a man who offers understanding over a drink.

The show never breaks its own tone or winks at the audience, but memory does the work. Fans cannot watch these scenes without recalling the fire and loss of Vincenzo. Every glance carries history. Every small gesture is reframed by what these actors once meant to each other.

A reunion that deepens My Youth

My Youth remains a soft romance at its core, but the addition of Yoo Jae-myung gives it new depth. The drama becomes more than a healing love story; it turns into a meditation on what actors bring with them and how viewers carry those past lives into every new role.

For fans of Vincenzo, the message is bittersweet and powerful. The fire that once burned so fiercely has cooled into something tender. Where there were betrayals and gunfire, now there are flowers and late-night confessions. Yet the ache remains, transformed but still alive. With each familiar face, My Youth grows more layered and more rewarding for those who know where these actors have been before.