While I enjoy watching JH’s merry band of brothers, I haven’t written about them much.  To correct that oversight, I’ll talk about their first meal in Seoul.

The Cast:
Chisoo, the grouch
Gwangbum, the handsome
JooMook, the kdrama specialist
EunDong, the youngest or “maknae” in Korean
ManBok, the Rat

Grouch: What did you get?
Maknae: I didn’t know what to get so I got the one with the biggest lid.

Being well-acquainted with the dietary habits of growing boys, I thought the team maknae’s reply was true to form.

Do you remember in Episode 3 when Seri handed out awards? He received the first award for his kindness. Seri said his prize was either a hundred million won after reunification or 8 kilograms of corn right there and then. He took the corn. For boys who are constantly hungry like him, an ear of corn in the hand is worth all the empty promises of money in the future.  So yes, I expected him to choose the largest lid.

I hope however that he didn’t get tricked by the packaging. Sometimes a bigger container doesn’t mean more food. Sometimes it just means a bigger empty space or “slack fill” to cushion the contents inside from breaking up and crumbling.

Grouch: (turning to Gwangbum) And you?
Gwangbum: Carbonara?
Grouch: Car…? What kind of name is that?

As to be expected of Mr. Handsome.

Because pasta is an Italian dish, the writer/director most likely gave him the expensive ramyun to emphasize his cultivated looks. lol. Moreover, I thought carbonara moment showed how isolated North Korea is compared to the “cosmopolitan” South Korean. JungHyun’s squad had never heard of carbonara in their lives although it was already a mainstream and mass-produced flavor in the South.

He was Seri’s third place winner, and he received an award for being God’s gift to mankind because of his looks to the grouchy ChiSoo’s annoyance. He was offered to have a blind date with Miss Korea after a reunification or a goodbye hug from Seri. He chose neither.

Seri was impressed with his principled answer. She observed that whether she was in North or South Korea, handsome men were always “lofty.”

“Lofty” here could have two different meanings. She could have been saying that GwangBum was virtuous and upright, or that he was haughty and supercilious. Judging from the way that JungHyun consistently relied on him to carry out orders, I’m going with the first option.

Drama Fan: Mine is jjajang ramyeon. Every time I watched their dramas, I always craved jjajangmyeon. I’m sure this is a similar one.

True, I always see jjajangmyeon in a takeout dish in kdramas, and it’s usually clumped together.

Like this one in “Best Hit” with Yoon Shiyoon.

source: dramabeans

Fun fact: Jjajangmyeon is also the food eaten on April 14 when single people (i.e., people who didn’t receive any gift on Valentine’s Day and White Day) celebrate their state of singlehood. lol. If JooMook continues to spend his time on kdramas instead of dating an actual person, he might very well end up eating jjajangmyeon on April 14 by his lonesome.

In Episode 3, the second prize went to JooMook. He received a certificate of merit for his love for the Hallyu (meaning, Korean Wave). Instead of picking JH’s TV for a prize, he chose to have lunch with Choi Jiwoo after reunification. All of Seri’s prizes were intended to be received after the reunification since she didn’t expect to see them again after she returned home.

But I think she’ll honor the *spirit* of the awards and give JooMook his prize when they meet again.

This is Choi Jiwoo was the actress in JooMook’s favorite “Stairway to Heaven.” I remember her from the variety show “Grandpas Over Flowers” with Lee Seo Jin.

source: Omonotheydidnt

Maknae: Wow. This country is amazing. Look at how many kinds of noodles they got!
Grouch: Wake up! You shouldn’t be deceived by the variety. Think about it. Why would they have so many noodles if they enough rice? It’s all because they lack rice…

The Rat: (juggling a newly microwaved rice) Gosh, that’s hot! So hot! So hot! It’s hot!

The Rat: (continuing) Look at all the rice.

Welcome to the capitalist society! There’s a promotional sale on the rice. Buy two, get one free.

I’m sure that they were all shocked to see abundant rice on the shelves. But I think they would have been surprised as well that they didn’t need a rice cooker to cook these instant rice. They were all microwaveable rice.

Microwave! Can you believe that?

Remember when the maknae was amazed with the outdoor grill using briquette, because back home, they still used fallen leaves and weeds as firewood?

JungHyun responded to him, diplomatically. He said, “Soon enough, your hometown will modernize, and you will use these, too, comrade.” Then, under her breath, Seri remarked, “If briquettes are considered modern, then how advanced are gas boilers?”

Just like how the carbonara earlier, the microwaveable rice reminded me how widely disparate the North and South Korea are, and how vastly modernized the South is compared to the North. I’ve forgotten about these differences in lifestyles while Seri was living in the North because all I could see was how similar the basic necessities in life were, for instance,  food, water, electricity, bed, shelter, family, safety, protection, etc.

Oh well….I’ll have to reserve my thoughts on North and South for another post.

Seeing the packs of rice on the shelves sold at a 2+1 promotion, they all added rice to their ramyun. But I’m sure they didn’t realize that MARKETING CONCEPT behind the 2+1 promotion worked on them. lol.

Welcome to the capitalist world!

You see, in behavioral economics, there’s a phenomenon called the “zero price effect.” When something is offered for free (i.e., a free t-shirt offered at a company picnic), the demand for it inexplicably increases (i.e., everybody wants to have one, even when they have a million shirts in their closets). Simply put, an item suddenly becomes more desirable when it’s a freebie.

To me, when the squad saw the shelves stacked with packs of rice, selling cheaply because of the 2+1 promo, they HAD TO eat rice, too, with their meal, although they’d been perfectly satisfied with just their choice of ramyun earlier. They couldn’t resist the rice because it was so affordable.

Welcome to the capitalist world, the land of the plenty, and the laws of supply-and-demand.

One final thought on Grouch.

Of all the soldiers here, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to stay in South Korea at the end of their mission.

Despite his cynicism, suspicions and protests, he would take to life in South Korea without any problems. In a way, his reaction to living in South Korea was already foreshadowed by the shampoo, conditioner and bodywash that Seri left him as going-away present.

He didn’t know what do with them. He thought they were unnecessary items that JungHyuk bought for Seri to indulge her whims. But when Seri asked for them back, he refused to return them because he liked them. That told me that he was the type to get accustomed to the comfortable life in South Korea, and that he too could settle in like Donggu (or Kim Soo Hyun’s cameo) did.

Also, I thought him singing the South Korean anthem was also another foreshadowing.

When he sang the national anthem and admitted to knowing all the lyrics, he was unaware that he’d already succumbed to propaganda. lol. The song wasn’t aggressively promoting South Korean nationalism and allegiance to South Korea. It was extolling a unified Korean peninsula and people. “Great Koreans, to the Great Korean way, always stay true!”

I’m not good with predictions but if ever there are individuals in JungHyuk’s squad who’ll stay behind with him in South Korea, my bet is on him and the drama enthusiast.