Fans Push Kim Hye Yoon to a New Horror Milestone

Kim Hye Yoon has turned a fan-vote win into a bigger industry story. The actress topped Plustar's latest weekly vote across all categories just as her horror film Salmokji continues to rewrite the box-office ceiling for Korean horror.

Plustar, a Korean star-voting service built around fan support, released its May 18-24 results on May 26. Kim led not only the actor category but the full weekly ranking with 1,080,490 silver points, a figure that shows how strongly her fandom is moving while her film career is also gaining new momentum.

The timing matters. Fan polls can be easy to dismiss when they stand alone, but this result arrived alongside hard public numbers: Salmokji has passed 3.18 million admissions and, according to Korean box-office coverage, overtook the long-standing Korean horror record held by A Tale of Two Sisters. For a performer many global viewers first met through bright youth dramas, the shift is striking.

Why the Plustar Win Stands Out

The latest Plustar vote covered the week from May 18 to May 24, and Kim's 1,080,490 silver points put her ahead of stars from multiple categories. In practical terms, that means her support was not limited to fans of actors. She competed across the platform's wider entertainment field and still landed at No. 1 overall.

That makes the vote useful as a fandom signal. It does not measure ticket sales or streaming minutes, but it does show repeated fan participation at a moment when Kim is already visible in theaters. For international readers, Plustar functions much like other organized fan-vote platforms in Korea: supporters collect and spend platform points to boost an artist's weekly rank.

Kim has been building this kind of active support for years. She became familiar to Korean drama viewers through SKY Castle, expanded her following with Extraordinary You, and reached a wider global audience with the time-slip romance Lovely Runner. Those roles helped establish her as an actress with a clear youth-drama identity: expressive, emotionally direct, and easy for viewers to root for.

The current moment adds another layer to that image. Rather than relying only on a drama-fandom wave, Kim is now being discussed as a film lead who can pull attention into a darker, more physically tense genre. That is why a fan-vote headline and a horror-film headline are feeding each other instead of feeling like separate stories.

Salmokji Gives Her a New Screen Identity

Salmokji centers on a filming crew that heads to a reservoir after a strange figure is spotted in road-view footage. Kim plays Soo-in, a producer who leads the team toward the site and becomes one of the emotional anchors of the story. The premise is simple enough for horror fans to grasp quickly, but Korean coverage has repeatedly pointed to Kim's performance as one of the reasons the film held audience interest past its opening weeks.

The film's admissions number is the clearest proof of that hold. Coverage citing the Korean Film Council's box-office system reported that Salmokji passed 3.18 million admissions by May 19. That pushed it beyond the 3.14 million total associated with the 2003 classic A Tale of Two Sisters, a title that had long served as the benchmark for Korean horror at the local box office.

The record did not happen in a single opening-week burst. The movie reportedly crossed 3.15 million admissions on its 39th day and kept drawing viewers into its sixth week. By May 25, additional box-office coverage listed Salmokji at 3,230,647 cumulative admissions, even as newer Korean releases took over the top slots.

That endurance is important for a horror film. Genre titles often open strongly among curious fans, then fall quickly once the initial shock value fades. Salmokji has instead stayed in the conversation long enough to become part of a broader discussion about Korean thrillers and horror films reclaiming theatrical attention.

From Romance Favorite to Horror Lead

Kim's casting is central to that discussion because Salmokji marks her first major step into horror. Korean reports noted that she returned to the big screen after Ditto and chose a role far removed from the warmth many viewers associate with her drama work. Soo-in is not written as a bright heroine who solves problems through charm. She is tired, burdened, and moving through fear that is tied to memory and guilt.

In interviews reported by Korean media, Kim said she was drawn to the script because she likes horror and found the use of water fresh. She also explained that Soo-in's fear is not only about what appears in front of her. The character carries trauma connected to water, so Kim focused on guilt, exhaustion, and the feeling of breaking down internally rather than simply reacting loudly to scares.

Director Lee Sang Min also framed her presence as part of the film's tension. He said a horror protagonist needs to create curiosity, and Kim has a quality that makes viewers sense a hidden story even before it is explained. That description fits the way audiences often respond to her acting: she can make stillness feel active, which is especially useful in horror, where silence can matter as much as dialogue.

For fans who followed her through Lovely Runner, the contrast is part of the appeal. A performer known for youthful romantic energy is now carrying a bleak reservoir mystery. That kind of turn helps an actor avoid being boxed into one lane, and it gives longtime fans a reason to watch her career as a progression rather than a repeat of familiar strengths.

Fan Power Meets Box-Office Proof

The overlap between Plustar and Salmokji also says something about current K-entertainment fandom. Fans are not only voting for Kim as a personality; they are responding to a concrete achievement. The same week she led Plustar, Korean entertainment coverage was connecting her name to a 23-year horror record and to the film's long-tail performance.

That combination creates a cleaner story for casual readers. Kim is not merely trending because of a viral moment, nor is Salmokji only a genre hit with no star narrative attached. The vote shows fan enthusiasm, the admissions show public turnout, and the record gives both a wider cultural frame.

There is also a tourism angle beginning to form around the film. A report on screen tourism noted that searches for accommodations in Yesan, the area tied to the film's reservoir setting, rose 35 percent year over year on Agoda. The same report linked that rise to interest in Salmokji, saying younger fans have been sharing night-visit experiences on social media.

That detail matters because successful Korean screen content often travels beyond the screen. Dramas and films can send fans to filming sites, cafes, neighborhoods, and regional landmarks. If Salmokji continues to generate curiosity around Yesan, the film's impact may stretch beyond box-office rankings into local travel and fan culture.

What Comes Next for Kim Hye Yoon

Kim's next challenge is to turn this moment into a durable film reputation. One hit does not define a full screen career, but Salmokji gives her something valuable: proof that viewers will follow her into a darker genre and accept her as the center of a theatrical story.

The Korean box office is currently crowded, with new releases drawing large daily audiences. Even so, Salmokji remaining above 3.23 million admissions by late May shows that its run has already moved from opening-week curiosity to milestone status. That gives Kim a stronger position when future projects ask whether she can lead outside the familiar romance and school-drama frame.

For fans, the Plustar result is the celebratory part of the story. For the industry, the admissions record is the harder evidence. Taken together, they show an actress whose public support is active, measurable, and increasingly tied to performance choices that broaden her range.

That is why Kim Hye Yoon's latest No. 1 vote feels bigger than a weekly ranking. It lands at the exact moment her name is attached to Korean horror history, turning fan enthusiasm into a wider career marker.