This is the third part and hopefully the last for this Episode. After I’ve explained the thunder, moon and the poem, I’m done with this show.

Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.

1. Dawn and thunder

I ended Part 2 talking about the writer’s use of coincidences and the complementarity of Seowon and Jisoo. I said that these two women are two sides of the same paper. Seowon is still unaware that she’s under the influence of Won. All she knows is there’s a guy who a) rents the recording studio at night, b) leaves a big mess for her to clean when she comes in at 8:30am and c) “Dawn” seems to be an appropriate name for him.

As a coincidence (what’s this? Coincidence #8?), she encounters Won on the same morning that he finally solves his problem. He’s so focused on designing a new AI with Jisoo’s personality that he loses track of time and overstays.

She sees him inside the booth, behind the glass partition, and asks him who he is.

SW: Excuse me. Who are you and why are you in there?
Won: Did the sun rise? (See? How he doesn’t answer like an AI.)

Without saying another word, he vacates the studio. She grumbles, “What’s with that person?” and she eyes the mess he’s left behind again. Grumbling some more, she says, “Look at the time interval. At exactly dawn. That person!”

But Won returns.

Won: I forgot to clean up after myself. I’ll do it.
SW: Didn’t you rent for the dawn?
Won: Until 4am.
SW: (to herself) It’s way past that time. I’m so busy. (to him) I come at 8:30 sharp so please clean up before I come.
Won: (repeating) 8:30.

She walks inside the booth to fiddle with a gadget. Won observes her and smiles. He remembers their first encounter when she told him to leave the door open so at least one more person can hear the music.

This is an important moment for the two. Later in this episode SW will refer to this moment as their first encounter, and Won won’t correct her faulty memory. Won knows that the first meeting was the afternoon his AH became awake. That was the afternoon AH remarked that the thunder was too loud.

To me, the thunder is a signal that a connection was made. After Won met SW for the first time, and AH activated, the thunder boomed.

Then when he arrived home and tested AH, the thunder pealed again because in another part of town, JiSoo was remembering the “Afternoon like the night” as she looked at Norway2005 website. Won and AH activated their connection with Jisoo.

Then the last time there was thunder and lightning, Won had been walking on a bridge. He didn’t know it then but SW and JiSoo had their first encounter. They became connected, too.

So, in this Episode 1, the thunder signified that a highly-charged connection was formed. lol. I think this is the writer’s corny way of adapting the French expression for love at first sight. The French call it “le coup de foudre” or literally, thunderbolt. In this story, when the three main characters connect, there’s a thunder.

2. Phase 2 of his Won’s project

The second part of Won’s AI project is getting Jinsoo’s voice. To do this, he needs SW’s help again. So he commissions his ditzy niece to persuade SW to tape Jinsoo’s voice.

How does he do this?

His niece employs SW to record the audio for a small live classical music performance at his grandmother’s farm. After gaining SW’s good will, she then asks SW to record a few phrases from Kim Ji Soo. SW naturally balks.

SW: Why should I?
Niece: Do you think I know? I don’t even know what this machine is for.
SW: (explaining) If you record with this, the audio is really vivid. It’s as if someone is talking right beside you.
Niece: Exactly. I guess he wants to hear Kim Ji Soo’s voice vividly.

SW wants to know who this person is and why he wants it. This is common sense: she should know who’s the job for before she undertakes the project. At a loss for words, the niece vaguely answers that it’s a request from someone who misses Kim Ji Soo. When asked for this stranger’s name, the niece refuses to reveal.

SW then argues that she isn’t close enough with JiSoo to request such a thing. The niece proposes that SW orders more dishes and meets up with her again to get the purchased item.

Niece: You can then say, “Wow, your voice is amazing” and record her voice.
SW: (laughing at how preposterous the idea is) Does one record someone’s voice just because their voice is pretty? Does anyone just go about saying, “I love your voice very much. Can I record it?”
Niece: Let’s not make a bid deal out of this.

Now, let me be honest here. This niece is a tool. She’s stupid not to have asked these questions of Won in the first place. Moreover, I don’t like how the actress portrays her role. She makes the character look even stupider because of her talkativeness and her jittery performance. If I were SW, I’d think that this lady was on amphetamines.

As soon as the concert begins, SW sets off to explore the house. She discovers a study with an old record player. She enters and investigates the record player. Notice here that she opens the doors again because to hear the music.

Then, she sits down to mull over the niece’s request.

SW: (complaining) What’s up with that person and Kim Ji Soo?
AH: Island like kids.
SW: (startled) Who?
AH: You asked. About me and Kim Ji Soo?
SW: (looking around but finding nobody) How long have you two known each other for?
AH: In Norway, two Korean kids met, and they became middle school students, and then high school students. As soon as the sun would rise, they would meet, and when the sun sets, they would say goodbye. They were together 24 hours. They didn’t like it when the sun set.

And the viewers are treated to a flashback of their days in Norway. The young Won read philosophy, while JiSoo practiced her Korean alphabet. She recited a Korean poetry, and he began to recite, too. This is the poem:

A leaf without any noticing
Lands right on your shoulder.
The universe places a hand on my body.
It’s so light.

AH: (continuing) The language of the two of them became a secret, and other children were bonded to each other like an island.

What does this mean to be “Bonded to each other like an island”? I think it means that they were so connected to each other that they’ve isolated themselves together far from the peers. Together, they’re like an island with a population of two.

I guess living in an island is better than living in this village in Nebraska. lol. I would have changed the name to stimulate growth.

SW: Who are you?
AH: Introduce yourself first. Then I’ll explain my relationship.

How many times has this question “Who are you?” have been asked this episode? Each time this question was asked, nobody gives a straight answer. Hence, all the identity confusion.

SW: Why are you hiding? Why the voice recording? Why do you need it? Do you have no plan to meet Kim Ji Soo?

Remember: the AI told Gary to answer one question at a time.

But here, SeoWon ask AH four questions at the same time. Which one will AH chose to answer?

Well…in another part of Korea, Won is being peppered too by his ditzy niece. She thinks that SW is going to relent and do as they requested. She belatedly asks Won questions, “Won, why did you ask me to do something like this? What you going to do with that audio-voice recording?”

This is the same question SW poses to AH. As Won answers his niece’s question, the AI also answers SW.

Won: A voice recording will be enough. I just need a piece of Kim Ji Soo.
AH: (the AI echoes Won) I just need a piece of Kim ji Soo.

Now, why is this significant?

Because it shows how closely the creator and the gadget resemble each other. They think alike. As the title indicated, this gadget has a piece of Won’s mind.

SW: Where are you right now?
AH: Look for me.

Spotting an individual passing outside the window, she thinks it’s the owner of the voice. She rushes out to find him. But the man is already gone. Of course, viewers know that it isn’t Won because Won is in the recording studio.

What a convenient coincidence, right? (What’s this? Coincidence #12?)

3. The moon

SW realizes that she missed the chance to see the voice in person. In the background, the musical ensemble begins to play Satie’s music.

She looks up and she sees the same view that Won saw a few weeks ago.

What’s the meaning of these scenes?

Here’s my interpretation.

Moon symbolizes yearning.

To me, looking at the moon is to yearn for someone, or something, beyond one’s grasp.

Won: he wants to meet JiSoo
SW: she wants to meet JiSoo’s companion; she wants to understand why he’s doing this.

Won has yearned for Jisoo so deeply and for so long that it must feel like he’s reaching for the moon. The vastness of his love for this missing person in his life cannot be humanly bridged.

Likewise, SW is moved by the depth of Won’s yearning for Jisoo. He loves her so much that he wants to have a piece of her, even it’s merely her voice. Subconsciously, she yearns for that same connection, too. She wants to be a bridge in that immense love.

4. The beginning of a relationship with Won

She returns to a dark studio to find Won still there. She trips and falls down in the booth and Won comes in to help her return her equipment on the shelves. She says she has night-blindness.

SW: Can you see?
Won: Yes, I’m used to the dark.

He touches her by her coat sleeve and turns her to face the exit.

Won: It’s over here.
SW: I can see that.

Why is this significant for me? Two things:

One, it’s their first physical contact. And for Won — who hasn’t touched JiSoo in what? years? a decade? or did he even touch her in high school? — this is a milestone. Human contact!

Two, he anticipates SW’s needs. Without her telling him that she’s lost, he instinctively helps her. That’s a good sign. He’s not uncaring about her needs.

Now, SW has a different reaction to this fleeting contact. Just like she couldn’t find the source of the voice, she does not see Won in the dark. She can only hear Won’s voice. And for a second there, his voice reminds her of the AI telling her, “Look for me.”

So she asks Won when she follows him outside the booth, if he’s been at the studio the whole day. When he says yes, she eliminates him as the “voice” in the farm. Naturally, he can’t be at two places at the same time.

SW: I just thought I had heard a similar voice to yours. He was hiding so I couldn’t see the face.
Won: Hiding?

SW proceed to explain how she found herself in a study with an old record player. There wasn’t any place to hide in there, but her stranger talked to her from his hiding place. Won figures out that it’s his gadget talking to her.

And this is why viewers can get confused. Won has a poker face, and his voice is monotonous like an AI. He must have been shocked to discover that the gadget interacted with SW but neither his face nor his voice registers a reaction. He sounds disinterested when he interviewed SW about her meeting his AI.

Won: What did he ask from his hiding spot?
SW: He told me to look for him.
Won: What did you say to make him say that?
SW: I just asked where he was and he told me to look for him.
Won: Why did you ask him where he was?
SW: Because he was hiding and talking to me.

This is a circular conversation. Why A? Because B. Why B? Because A. Won wants to know what activated AH this time (i.e., there was no thunder. So AH must have been triggered by something she said to it). But Won knows that the conversation isn’t going anywhere; it goes in circles.

Won: That’s strange. (meaning, his gadget, of course.)
SW: It’s more than that. There’s been so many strange things happening lately. People who I’ve never met before just showing up in my life. Asking me weird favors.

Won has no comment here because he knows of course who’s been asking her favors. Before leaving him, she asks him one more thing.

SW: Would you understand if someone was to say that he wants an audio voice recording of someone he misses? It’s not normal. But I would understand.

I think she means that although she personally finds it an unusual request, she wasn’t opposed to it as long as there’s a good reason for it.

Won: I think there’s no difference with keeping a photograph or keeping a voice recording.

Of course, a photograph and a voice recording are both remembrances. However, that’s not the point. What SeoWon was feeling qualms about earlier when she was talking to the Ditzy Niece was the lack of full disclosure and informed consent. Ji Soo will not be told the real reason her voice is being recorded.

The writer just skipped over this issue. BAD WRITER. Did she really think I’d miss that?

Coincidence #13. Of course, viewers will find out that SW herself keeps a recording of her mom’s voice. The recording helps her go to sleep.

That’s why Won’s reasoning resonated with SW.

Her mom’s voice: When the sun is up and shining, open the windows. Don’t close the curtains! It rained a lot there, right? The lower chamber here is flooded. It’s chaotic with all the water in the boiler room. You’d think that we are up high so we would be okay, right? Seo Woo! Today all the young ones came and took pictures and went on trips together. They look like they were enjoying their lives. You should date, too. You’re young so you should date.

SW can understand Won’s rationalization because she has a recording of her mother as well as a photograph of her parents. There appears to be a bandage of sorts covering her face. I’m taking a wild guess and say that there had been an accident. She’s covering her face with the bandage because she was the only survivor. Her parents died but she lived.

5. Back at work

Won makes correction to AH. He originally programmed it so that it wouldn’t communicate with anybody else but him and Gary. But after finding out accidentally from SW that it communicated with her, he modifies it again.

Sigh, it’s because the trigger is NOT the thunder. It’s NOT Satie’s music either. The Satie music only played AFTER SeoWon had spoken with the AH and she was outside the building.

SeoWon’s voice is the trigger. lol.

Now, just like Won is doing his job, Seowon is also fulfilling another odd job request. We’re not shown by this @#$@#$ lazy writer how SW manages to convince Jisoo to get her voice recorded. She doesn’t use the high-tech gadget Won had provided her for the recording. Instead, she brings JiSoo to the recording studio. She jokes that she’ll record her voice and sell it a high price to someone who misses her a lot. And Jisoo says there’s nobody who misses her like that.

Jisoo begins reciting the Korean phonemes, just like she did back in the old days when she was learning Korean in Norway. Then, she recites the “Leaf” poem without prompting from SW.  SW is stunned to see her recite the same exact verse that had just been emailed to her by the Ditzy Niece.

This is her visual and audio confirmation that the “stranger” who spoke to her in the study was saying the truth. There is indeed a secret language between Jisoo and the stranger, and they were bonded to each other like an island.

7. The Leaf verse

Note: The viki sub got the pronouns confused here so I fixed it.

A leaf without anyone noticing
Lands right on a shoulder.
The universe places a hand on my body.
It’s so light.

Let me explain the verse AS I UNDERSTOOD IT.

The secret of the universe, and of life itself, is found in a floating leaf. The secret isn’t heavy. In fact, it’s light as a leaf. Neither is it burdensome to carry on one’s shoulder. It’s reassuring like a hand on the shoulder.

That’s the meaning of the images in the verses, to me.

So now, what’s the secret of the universe? The secret of the universe is that life is ephemeral. Just like the leaf isn’t permanently attached to the tree, and it floats to land on a shoulder, our human existence in this world is impermanent, too. We’re transitory beings. We drift here and there, like leaves, until we settle on someone. Then, we become physically and emotionally present to that someone until our time is over.

To me, this verse doesn’t only explain the past relationship between JiSoo and Won, but also the current relationship of Won and Seowon. You know the next dialogue is very important but the subber(s) at VIKI did an unsatisfactory job so it’s confusing to viewers.

SW: (brainstorming) Just answer using common sense. This recording studio has a connection with a guy named Ha Won. From personal requests to this studio, I don’t when he started planning all of this. But he makes his moves while hiding. He’s secretive.

He’s right in front of her. He’s hiding in plain sight. It reminds me of “Daddy Long Legs,” a juvenile book which is often referenced by kdrama writers. Korean writers are obsessed with that story of a rich benefactor disguising himself as a friend and falling in love with the orphan he’s helping out. If any of you want a light and fluffy reading while in self-isolation during the coronavirus days, I suggest that book. Read it so you’ll understand the mindset of kdrama writers.

SW: (continuing) Everything is revolving around Kim Ji Soo. He misses her very much. However, this woman is depressed. As I was saying, what do you think of making the two of them meet? (Sighing) What kind of reasoning is this? I’m just crossing boundaries, right? And I’m usually the one who stays out of other people’s business!

Won: Why do you want to do that in the middle of the two?

Urgh. The VIKI sub is awkward. He’s asking why she wants to meddle with the two people. Why does she want Jisoo and Ha Won to meet?  He wants to know her motives.

SW: You don’t remember everyone’s first impressions, right?
Won: Perhaps.
SW: Me, too. I can’t remember all of them. However, there’s a first impression from a person that I remember. Even after all this time, when all I remember is us brushing past each other, how that person is sitting and standing, and how the person is talking. How the person came up the hill.

Now, I’m not Korean and I don’t understand Korean but even I can see that the translation is messed up.

I think Seowon is enumerating the different occasions when a “first impression” lingered in her memories. These first impressions don’t fade in time: how someone brushed against her, or how someone is sitting and standing, or how someone talked. Or how someone walked up the hill. These first impressions stand outbecause she can’t forget them.

SW: (continuing) That kind of people tends to stay in my life for a long time. JiSoo is like that. I want to help her.

She means that people who make a BIG first impression on her generally stay with her for a long time. He stares at her.

SW: Do you usually stare at people like that?
Won: Did I do that? It was because the reasoning was fun. It’s pretty persuasive.
SW: Are you persuaded?
Won: When you say that your heart is leaning towards something, even when you don’t know the reason why. There must be lots of afterimages piling one after the other.

The VIKI subber who did this segment is really in over her, isn’t she? lol.

I think Won is saying this: When her heart is moved by someone OR when she feels something for a person that’s inexplicable, then it’s because she unconsciously retained many sensations or reactions after the first encounter. And she hasn’t sorted out these sensations and reactions.

Won: I never thought about first impressions. (then realizing something and pointing at her) But I do remember a first impression.

And the Satie music starts again.

SW: Me too. We saw each other in this recording studio. You were inside the studio, and I was out here.
Won: (Hey! he shows a slight facial reaction! He realized that she didn’t remember their first time)
SW: Look at how you don’t remember. I must be someone just passing by in your life.

lol. The irony. Won is trying to hide a smile because he realized that HE didn’t make a big first impression on her. Jisoo made a strong impression on her but he didn’t.

SW: (continuing) Should I make it so the two meet? I would feel bad if I made them meet but it doesn’t work out.
Won: That’s up to them after that time.

Meaning, it’s up to him and Jisoo if their relationship doesn’t work out after they’ve been reunited. Hmmm… is it up to them or is it up to fate?

And this is how I relate the “Leaf” verse to Won and Seowon.

A leaf without anyone noticing
Lands right on a shoulder.
The universe places a hand on my body.
It’s so light.

It began by COINCIDENCE (See that? lol. You should know I’d connect everything with these pesky coincidences. I wasn’t complaining for nothing).

Like a leaf falling unnoticed, it’s by sheer coincidence that she dropped into his life. He heard the music and he followed it. That’s how she “landed” on him and a whole world of opportunity opened up to him.

Suddenly, his AI worked. Next, a door suddenly opened for him, giving him a chance to reconnect with his old love. Then, he was suddenly inspired to develop a female version of his AI.

Everything happened out of the blue, all because a new universe, named Seowon, appeared in his life. She had placed her guiding hand on him and made it easy for him. Now, where she’d lead him, I don’t know.

I’m undecided yet whether to pursue this drama or not. The writer’s style is too messy for me, and the awful subbing only worsened the situation.  I get what the writer is trying to say because her message is your typical kdrama fare. But her method of expressing that message needs a lot more organization and clarity. It seems to me that she and the director tried too hard with Episode 1 to create an artsy-fartsy feel to this drama, and to prolong the mysterious identity of Ha Won. But if most of the viewers couldn’t understand what the heck transpired in the INTRODUCTION, then the writer and director clearly overreached.