Tak Dong Kyung (Park Bo Young) gets the news she has a brain tumor. An operation is a must per Dr. Jung. Dong Kyung points out she doesn’t have enough leave to take a week off. DJ counters if she doesn’t get the operation, she should expect to die in 3 months. Calmly, Dong Kyung accepts the verdict. She then urges DJ to complete writing the episodes that are due soon.
As Dong Kyung walks to the hospital lobby, she bumps into Myul Mang (aka Doom) (Seo In Guk). She notices his good looks. Myul Mang/Doom says he knows he’s handsome and doesn’t have time for her. He strides away. Dong Kyung watches him go.
Myul Mang/Doom heads into the emergency room and stands next to an empty bed. He counts down.
Dong Kyung watches the ambulances arrive and discharge their patients. She winces at the bill and offers to pay the balance on 3 monthly installments.
Ambulances arrive with victims and the shooter. They are ferried into the emergency room. A nurse doesn’t recognize Myul Mang/Doom and asks who he is. Myul Mang/Doom touches her arm, looks into her eyes and she forgets her worries. He tells her to draw the curtain around the patient he’ll tend and not let anyone besides the police enter. She nods her concurrence.
The shooter is Myul Mang/Doom’s patient. He’s slashed his throat in an attempt to kill himself after shooting the victims. Myul Mang/Doom orders the shooter to wake. He does. Myul Mang/Doom tells the shooter he’s the only one that can cause chaos in his territory. He tells the shocked man that he won’t die today. He’ll have to live with the consequences of his actions. He heals the slash in the man’s throat. He promises the want he’ll return when the time is right. The police arrive. Myul Mang/Doom departs.
Myul Mang/Doom meets Sonyeoshin (a god) and complains. She notes there are a variety of humans – good, greedy, evil, etc. Sonyeoshin says they all belong in her garden. Myul Mang/Doom asks what he is in her garden. She says he’s forever the butterfly for the flowers in the garden. He states she’s being mean on his birthday. Sonyeoshin notes he’s not human. She tells him to today is the only day he can become someone’s wish.
Dong Kyung waits at the bus stop, stunned at she has a terminal tumor. Her boyfriend calls and asks her to meet him at a coffee shop right away.
At the coffee shop, it isn’t the boyfriend but his wife that meets Dong Kyung. The wife tosses a glass of water in Dong Kyung’s face. Patrons notice. Dong Kyung states she didn’t know the man she was dating was married. She admits that she found it strange he went radio silent on weekends. The wife calls Dong Kyung terrible things. Feed up, Dong Kyung stands and tells the wife to feel free to blame her for everything and find a way to forgive her feckless husband. As she leaves, the pregnant wife grabs her stomach in pain. Dong Kyung can’t leave the woman to suffer. Dong Kyung takes the woman to a doctor.
The nurse asks Dong Kyung if she’s the woman’s guardian. Dong Kyung says she knows the guardian. She fills out the forms with the husband’s name and phone number. The wife tells Dong Kyung their conversation isn’t over. The wife admits she was suspicious of her husband’s activities. She wanted to blame it all on the other woman. Dong Kyung reasserts she didn’t know he was married. She tells the wife she’ll be dead in 3 months because she has a tumor. Go ahead and blame her and live a healthy life as wife and mother.
Dong Kyung goes to work and apologizes for taking longer than expected with her meeting. CEO Park chews her out. He sees the posted video of the coffee shop confrontation. Though the other woman is shot from behind, he recognizes Dong Kyung’s clothes. She denies being in the video. Fed up with his treatment, Dong Kyung declares she’s taking the entire day off and leaves.
Myul Mang/Doom walks the street irked by his conversation with Sonyeoshin.
On the subway, Dong Kyung gets a text that the man in front of her is secretly filming her. She grimaces at the notoriety the coffee shop video is yielding. She confronts the man. He flees at the next stop. Dong Kyung pursues him.
Myul Mang/Doom gets into his car. He flights a switch. An accident in the intersection occurs. He gets out a cigarette. He pulls out a lighter. Dong Kyung pursues the man onto the street. Myul Mang/Doom flicks his lighter. A large hole appears in the road under the man. Dong Kyung looks over the rim in shock at the prone man. Myul Mang/Doom looks in the rearview mirror and sees the situation. He sighs that today isn’t a great one. He drives away.
Myul Mang/Doom isn’t happy when he gets home. Myul Mang/Doom grouses that being human isn’t as great as others make out.
Dong Kyung walks home. It begins to rain. She gets soaked. Her brother Sun Kyung calls and lies he’s at Jeju and needs money for a rental car issue. Dong Kyung reminds him this is the anniversary of their parent’s death. Sun Kyung doesn’t appear to have remembered. He presses for the money. Dong Kyung refuses and hangs up. We see her brother is gaming and tells his friends his sister has no money.
When Dong Kyung arrives home, she puts the cake down decides getting dry is the priority. She recalls that at a young age she learned to stuff her emotions. She prepares dinner. She shares her meal with a picture of her parents.
Flashback…10-year-old Dong Kyung and her young brother are at their parent’s memorial. They overhear relatives arguing about either taking them into their home or putting them in an orphanage. Dong Kyung smiles bravely at her frightened brother.
She wonders if all the emotions she’s swallowed formed the tumor. Her aunt calls from Canada and Dong Kyung pretends all is well.
Myul Mang/Doom pour himself a drink and look out at the night sky. Shooting stars appear.
Dong Kyung drinks. Under the influence, she goes outside. Shooting stars appear. She yells at the world. She wishes everything stopped existing. Bring doom down around the world! She toddles back inside.
At the same time, we see that Myul Mang/Doom can hear all the wishes people utter. He picks out Dong Kyung’s and smiles.
At 3am Dong Kyung wakes to insistent knocking at her door. Myul Mang/Doom is on the other side and sidles his way into the house. Dong Kyung can’t believe it and orders him to leave. He refuses. He tells her he heard her wish for doom down around the world. He’s doom and can accommodate. Dong Kyung can’t grasp what he’s offering. She tries to leave and the door locks. Myul Mang/Doom informs her she’ll die in 100 days. He circles the date on the calendar. He lets her know his birthday is a rare thing. He offers a wish before it is too late. She worries she’s hallucinating. Myul Mang/Doom leaves noting she’s still got time to change her mind.
Myul Mang/Doom returns home. He admits this is bothering him. He enters Dong Kyung’s dream. She arrives at his house. She can’t believe it. He introduces himself as Doom. When she tries to open the door to leave, she’s high above the city. He takes her to a beach instead. He offers the wish. She doesn’t understand why she’s getting this offer. He says she’s the only human that made a wish right when the shooting star died. He says his birthday gives him the chance to become someone else’s hope. Her alarm goes off. She wakes on the couch.
As she goes to work, she encounters Myul Mang/Doom. He offers her a pain free 3 months to live. She’s not interested. At a vendor, he offers to grant her a wish. She’s not interested. On the crowded subway, she tells herself to get it together. She gets jostled. She wishes everyone were gone. She looks around. Only Doom and herself are on the subway. Then things are back to normal. Doom is gone.
At work, her coworkers state a writer is waiting for her in the conference room. It’s Myul Mang/Doom. He continues his offer of a wish. She refuses and leaves. He leaves.
As Dong Kyung stands on one side of a cross walk, and tries to share her troubles to her Aunt via phone. She sees Myul Mang/Doom standing on the other side of the road. She ends the phone call. Dong Kyung starts to cross and pain shoots through her head. She falls to her knees. A truck driver doesn’t see her in the sidewalk. The world stops. Dong Kyung looks around and sees everything frozen in place – the truck about to hit her, the shocked onlookers, etc. Myul Mang/Doom walks toward her tells her she can die her or come with him. He offers his hand. Dong Kyung considers then puts her hand in his.
Dong Kyung’s voiceover “like that I put my hand in Doom’s”. We see she has 99 days left to live.
My Thoughts
Dong Kyung had a very bad terrible day. Writer Im Meari started the episode with Myul Mang/Doom learning she has a tumor that will kill her in 3 months. Them more indignities piled on; finding out her boyfriend is a married man, a video post with the confrontation with the wife, getting yelled at by her boss, getting rained on, her brother groveling for cash, her parent’s death anniversary, drinking until she wanted the world to feel doom, etc. etc. etc. Dong Kyung didn’t collapse from the bad weight. Myul Mang/Doom offered to give her a wish. She refused. But when her head exploded in pain, he was there. He offered his hand and she took it. This episode laid the ground work. I’m curious about Myul Mang/Doom. I like Dong Kyung’s fortitude. There is promise and potential.
Tak Dong Kyung (Park Bo Young) kept moving forward under a torrent of bad happenings. The last series I saw the engaging Park Bo Young was the enjoyable Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. She’s still appealing and draws you to her character. Dong Kyung has personal strength. Will Myul Mang/Doom be a blessing or a curse?
Myul Mang (aka Doom) (Seo In Guk) didn’t give up. Funny that Myul Mang/Doom didn’t give Dong Kyung a backward glance when they first met. But when he was feeling down, her wish caught his ear. He went to her but she refused his offer. He didn’t give up. As time stood still, Myul Mang/Doom offered his hand. Dong Kyung accepted. Will Dong Kyung be a blessing or a curse?
I rank this episode as good, 7 on a 10-point scale.
Asian drama fan. I watch and blog dramas on https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/.
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Charming actors, my kind of fantasy premise, dialogue so far so good…enjoyed the first episode. I will be riding with you on this one too, kjt.
P.S. Im Meahri was such a memorable character in Gentleman’s Dignity I had to look up the writer. Not much info… also wrote Beauty Inside (series) which I liked.
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enjoyed the first episode. I will be riding with you on this one too, kjt.
Excellent DD. This has potential.
I had to look up the writer. Not much info… also wrote Beauty Inside (series) which I liked.
Both writer and director have a short bio.
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Great recap 🙂 I’m so looking forward to watching this series. Both of these actors are fantastic, and I like the fantasy romance genre a lot 🙂
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Agree these are appealing talented actors, if the story is decent, it should be a good drama.
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“Dong Kyung had a very bad terrible day.” -KJT. That was an understatement.
I think I would have taken Doom’s too … At this point what does Dong Kyung have to lose❓⁉️
I like both of these lead actors and their characters. I concur this drama has great potential.
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