There are my notes.
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They met on Sept 11, 2019. They met on Monday, Sept 30, 2019. Thanks. @Welmaris
He returned on Nov 11, 2019.
This was two months after they last saw each other.
I know there’s lot of theories about 11/11. (Thank you, @mychoiyoung.) I’ll pick one for the purpose of the narrative.
November 11.
The show offered multiple reasons why this day is important.
One, it was Leonardo DiCaprio’s birthday.
LG: I don’t know but the ID card that I have was issued on November 11th 2019, and I’ve been waiting for that day.
TE: That’s Leonardo DiCaprio’s birthday. (LG rolled his eyes) I totally forgot about him. Were we just meant to be?
She just wouldn’t take him seriously back then.
Two, it’s “Pepero Day” in Korea, and “Pepero Day is like mini-version of Valentine’s Day because people exchange boxes of the chocolate-covered stick with their friends and loved ones.
“Pocky” is the Japanese version.
There’s even a Pepero game. Just think of “Lady and the Tramp” eating chocolate sticks instead of a spaghetti noodle.
In the drama, Jangmi handed out garatteok, or white rice cake. Garatteok is a more traditional snack to hand out, but I don’t think it’s as romantic (and commercialized) as pepero. Jangmi said, “I love you” to SinJae.
He was also excited because the first snow of the season was on the forecast that day.
Three, the first snow of the winter season.
Now, if you’re a drama newbie, you must know that “First snow” is one of the Top 10 kdrama trope. All dramas that have a winter setting must create a scene with first snow as subject. Like pepero, the “first snow” is part of the dating culture in Korea.
Don’t take it from me because I’m not Korean. Take it from Seri, the heroine in “Crash Landing on You.”
Seri: (suddenly leaning in to whisper) In Seoul, the communication network crashes when it’s the first snowfall of the season. It’s crazy! They’re all trying to set up a date with their crushes. Why? If they watch the first snow together, their love comes true.
Four, TaeEul wasn’t really participating in this office chitchat with SinJae and Jangmi because she was still stunned that her new ID card was processed only that day. Her ID now bore the date 2019.11.11 just as Lee Gon had said two months.
I don’t think she’s a superstitious person but she must have figured out things were happening BEYOND her control. First, she lost her ID when she was accidentally bumped by a child. Then, she renewed her ID. She reassured that it would be done by October. But it still ended up being issued on November 11 — of all days.
Now, if I was a superstitious person (I’m not) I wouldn’t want 11.11 because it looks like a crying emoji.
But tearful is probably how TaeEul felt at that moment. “Pepero Day” and “First Snowfall Day” are big days for dating couples. This day would have been a double-celebration.
But TaeEul was an odd-man out. It would hit her hard that she was missing the guy whom she dismissed as a con artist and mad man.
See then?
So when her desk phone rang, she had to compose herself before answering her phone. She wasn’t ready to talk on the phone. But of course, nothing could prepare her heart from hearing Lee Gon’s voice on the line.
TE: Lieutenant Jeong of Violent Crimes Division Three.
LG: It’s me.
Lol. I really thought he was saying “Nice” or “Nah-ce” in a fake Southern accent.
LG: (continuing) You haven’t gone home yet. I’m relieved.
TE: (she hung up)
So he called up again. SinJae reached out to answer it for her but she told him she’d do it.
TE: Hello?
Note that: she didn’t identify herself anymore.
LG: You keep hanging up on me. Do you get off late again? I thought I’d go see you since you might’ve waited for me.
TE: (she hung up again)
She got up and rushed home to meet him. She didn’t tell the other guys that the guy she’d been waiting for was back in town.
Three things I’d like to point out here.
1. When Lee Gon called her direct line at work, he had a formula. First, he’d say, “It’s me.” Then, he’d confirmed that she was still at work. Then he’d say “I’m relieved.”
It struck me odd that he was RELIEVED that she was at work. Unlike other guys he didn’t mind that she was keeping late hours. He didn’t pester her to come home.
2. Remember that Chohon or “Invocation to the dead” poem we talked about a while ago. I said the poet deliberately did NOT invoke the name of his lover three times? Here, too. Lee Gon only called her up two times AND more importantly, he avoided calling her by name.
3. But there was a time, back in Episode 2, when he called her three times on the phone. But he also didn’t say her name out aloud.
I found that scene funny because he was driving TaeEul crazy when she was working and TaeEul merely hung up on him instead of scolding him.
One.
TE: Hello?
LG: It seems that there’s a dish called budaejjigae in your world. I would like to try it. If you are free sometime–
TE: (hung up)
Two.
TE: Hello?
LG: I’m in front of the Gyeongbokgung Palace and they happen to be reenacting a royal event. Why do they say it’s for the last king? Did something happen to Queen Yuna?
TE: (hung up)
Three.
TE: Hello:
LG: I just discovered something very interesting. It turns out the bakery that makes my pre-meal bread exists in this world, too. What’s odd, though, is that everyone here is tasting–
TE: (hung up)
Now, when Lee Gon was offered to borrowed the phone a little bit longer, he declined saying, “That would be dangerous. I suppose she’s tying up her hair now.”
Hahahaha. I laughed this because he was enjoying messing around with her. I like this playful side of Lee Gon because this wasn’t a personality trait he could easily show to other people, apart from his closest confidantes like Lady Noh and Young.
This shows that he didn’t put TaeEul on a pedestal. He easily assessed her personality and knew what would push her buttons. As it was, he already noticed that whenever she became exasperated with him, she tied up her hair in a ponytail.
Anyway, why am I mentioning about this?
It’s to show people that although the couple seemed to have moved with lightning speed from “getting-to-know-you” stage to “let’s-date” stage, there’s a logical reason. They were going against time. By the time November 11 came around the corner, TaeEul and Lee Gon knew that something bigger — fate? the gods? Lee Lim — was at work in their lives.
The Reunion.
Now, if you notice, this FIRST reunion was so much different from the SECOND reunion I discussed in my post about Number Theory post.
Link here: Number Theory for Bitches, part 1
It’s different because she wanted to know where he’d been. These are normal questions typically by girlfriends (and boyfriends) when their partners just disappeared on them.
TE: Where were you?
LG: My world.
TE: Don’t lie to me.
Yes. That’s a typical reaction. Girls do think that the guys make excuses. However, Lee Gon didn’t lie there. In Episode 3, when she asked where he was going, he told her, “Back to my world. I’m the King there. I left the palace empty for too long. And you didn’t share that ice cream with me.” lol.
LG: I really did.
TE: You don’t even know my name, but you went home?
Again, this is a typical reaction. She was angry at him for disappearing on her so she distrusted everything he said.
But the funny thing here is when Lee Gon told her that he was leaving she COLDLY told him to go. “Alright, then. Goodbye. I’m gonna be late.”
Tsk tsk tsk. She shouldn’t have let him go so easily then if she wanted him to stay in the first place.
LG: I never said I don’t know my name. I just said you can’t call my name.
TE: Why did you come back?
Again, this is a fair question if you’re a girl who’s feeling abandoned by her boyfriend.
LG: There’s some money I have to pay back and I need two more stamps for my coupon. But I forgot the coupon as I was in a rush. And I was also wondering if you were doing all right.
Awwww. This was sweet and romantic…and kinda criminal, just like what TaeEul said during their first meeting.
hahaha.
One of the theories of criminology is that opportunity makes the crime. That means that a criminal like an escape artist Lee Gon (lol) wouldn’t have committed the crime (i.e., escape the palace) if there had been NO opportunity to do so (i.e., the lightning and his guard was distracted). Escape Artist Lee Gon would have made a logical decision that would give him big reward (i.e., see TaeEul) with little effort (i.e., no problem getting here because of the portal) and little risk (i.e., he planned to be back right away at the palace before his absence was detected).
But he would reap what he sowed later….
LG: Now that I’ve paid back and saw you, I should get going because I sneaked out this time.
TE: Do you really have a house?
Now, here you can hear TaeEul’s mind running. She just saw him AND she wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.
LG: I do! I’ve a really big house. There are many rooms and it has a great view of the ocean. And a large garden as well.
TE: I have one question. The picture on my ID card that you saw. In that picture is my hair down or tied up?
LG: So it was today. Did you lose your ID card while I was gone? That’s why it was today. You got your ID card today.
Here, I agree with Welmaris when she wrote this:
I don’t think he’s saying, “That’s why you got an ID card dated today.” I think he’s saying, “That’s why it was today [that I was called to you]. Your got your ID card today.”
Two independent events happened today and we’re trying to find their connection:
A. TaeEul received a reissued 2019.11.11 for her lost ID.
B. It thundered and Lee Gon left the palace to visit her.
One connection is cause-and-effect. Welmaris is saying that A caused B. That is, TaeEul got her ID card and that’s why Lee Gon was called to her on that day 11.11.
However, it’s also possible that there’s no causality at all. That is, A didn’t cause B or vice versa. Everything is just a sequence of events that could have gone either way.
For instance:
It thundered.
Lee Gon could have waited for the doctor or escaped.
If he waited, nothing happened.
But if he fled, then he would meet TaeEul with her new ID.
After he met TaeEul, he could have returned home with her or not.
If he went home by himself, nothing happened.
But if he went home with TaeEul, then she’d meet Lady Dragon.
After she met Lady Dragon, she could have given her ID or not.
If she kept her ID, nothing happened.
But if she gave her ID, then it would get lost.
And so on…
Now, this second scenario that I just explained is my simplified drama adaptation of yes/no, 1/0 or on/off switch of computer language.
In the end, when you analyze where the “error” occurred, you can pinpoint where the breakdown occurred. And once you know where the critical error was made, you can avert next time. You’ll know what must be done to come up with an alternative solution. And you’ll see that there was a choice or series of choices that could have significantly changed the outcome.
For instance, do not bring her new ID with her.
Like bring cookies instead of your ID.
TE: Just answer my question. In that picture is my hair down or tied up?
LG: (approaching her and holding her hair up) It was tied up. Like this.
Ahhhh. I like this scene. Last time, he could only head-butt her because he had dirty hands. Now he could hold back her hair.
TE: What am I wearing in the picture? The uniform, right?
LG: No. Just a navy jacket.
TE: It can’t be.
LG: Do you want to see for yourself? You can come with me if you want.
TE: Come with you where?
And the snow started falling on two pepero sticks. lol. See their shadows? They looked like pepero sticks.
LG: Come with me. To my world.
TE: If you’re lying again, you are so dead. Where should I go?
I wish they’d stop threatening death like this. Gives me the chills.
LG: You can’t get there by car.
TE: Hold the rope tightly. I will hold you.
So does this November 11 bode well for the couple or not? I think it does. They fulfilled all the auspicious superstitions associated with the day. He returned to her, by hook or by crook. (lol) He didn’t call her name three times. They looked like Pepero sticks on this day. And they spent the first snowfall of the season together.
************
Next post coming later. It should be about water. lol.
@Packmule, Lee Gon and Maximus arrived in ROK on Monday, September 30, per LG’s bespoke Longines Automatic Swiss Made watch. We get a full screen view of it (PPL) when Eun Sup sees it in the bin with LG’s possessions at the police station. Check time mark 14:33 in ep. 2. I can send you a screen catch, if you like. The top small dial is for the date, and the hand for that dial is on the 30. I also double checked the 2019 calendar, and Sept. 30 did fall on a Monday. (In contrast, 11 Sept 2019 was a Wednesday, and the day dial clearly says Monday.)
Writer then makes a point of impressing the accuracy of this watch on us.
LG: Yeong would have recognized right away that the accurate watch doesn’t go faster or slower even by one tenth of a second.
—–
TE: Eun Sup. [TE picks up LG’s watch from the bin, looks at it, holds it up.] It’s seven already. Aren’t you going home? [In doing this, TE confirms the time we saw on the watch, and coincidentally the accuracy of the date we also saw.]
I’m rewatching episode 8 now.
TE says at 01:29, ‘Same faces, same ID card and parallel worlds, I should have known that day when I was wondering where my ID card went.”
Which day is she talking about here? She said it very consciously and so I take it she meant the card that LG had at the beginning, correct?
Okay. Let me edit then. Thanks. 🙂
@Packmule3
I feel like this drama is a gold mine for you.
At this rate, you’re gonna hit 50 articles before episode 10.
If someone’s getting you a Christmas present, it won’t be a Nancy Drew video game, it’ll be the drama DVD box set. 😀
Too bad the drama wasn’t shot in 2011 and the morning.
11/11/11 11:11:11 (exact time of appearance) ^^
Episode 04. Approximately 55:00 until the end.
My feeling about the ID card published on 11/11/2019 was a misunderstanding of the scene. Two scenes before, we see TE taking the picture of the card and we tell him that it will be ready at the end of October. When she receives the card on 11/11, impossible to connect the time difference.
– How could she forget about the card not arriving in time?
– Between the two scenes, no feeling that time has passed, there are no other side scenes showing her in activity, or claiming her card.
However, I have just reviewed the scene, and there is one detail I had missed. A conversation at the beginning when the officer giving her the card states that it took another two weeks. The realization could have helped more than a simple dialogue.
In the rest of the scene, the actress’ performance is very good. If anyone still doubts her acting qualities, just watch this scene! The background music is good to generate the metaphysical unease + heavy hit on the close-up with the ID card. The reaction of hanging up the phone naturally, as if it was too much to bear all of a sudden. It’s not every day you get proof of a supernatural phenomenon. 😉
Later, when LG finds TE, there is this famous music on the piano, when she gets out of her car. I hadn’t paid attention. No wonder I liked this scene from the first time, or that I’m addicted to romance without always knowing why!
Rendered comtemplative, slow-motion, but for the best this time.
Just at the beginning of the scene as well, a close-up on a drop of water, a reference to another scene with a timestop. I don’t know the meaning of this shot.
AH! Also: he is redoing her hair. The perfect romantic gesture. A side note: W episode 7 when Kang Chul is doing his romantic homework. ^^
Bonus: end of the episode, the intense look during the chliffhanger, with again a very beautiful music.
For anyone having difficulties with the romantic story, this part of the drama should be convincing. Even without theories of infinite time loops. You get proof that this man is connected to her. So the weight of fate is falling on her!
As for the dates, the lack of causality, all this can be seen in terms of synchronicity. Find out more about this theory.
Thank you for your article, Packmule3. It gave me the opportunity to rewatch this series of sequences, and to appreciate them even more than when I first watched them. 😉
I’m obsessed with the drama and this blog.
Minor thing regarding this:
“Ahhhh. I like this scene. Last time, he could only head-butt her because he had dirty hands. Now he could hold back her hair”
But the scene in which he head-butt her (ep 6) came after this one (ep 4). Just a tiny detail.
So according to Google, the number 11 is a master number and an alternative meaning is “infinite” or “endless” – wow! That means eternal!
Dear Ladies, this was my comment on The King: Number Theory for Bitches, part 1.
“Dear Ladies, as always it is a pleasure to read you.
There is a lot to say about a zero. A zero could be an infinity in disguise. (Any Real number)/(Infinite number) tends to zero, lim(x->infinite)n/x—>0 (here n represents any real number). That means that both Tae-Eul and Luna are wildcards, but even if this mathematical definition is interesting, this post is about infinity and the relation it has in our lives.
Carl Sagan said that a mind was something very vast inside something very small (our minds can explore and map the Universe, yet our brains are around 1500 cubic centimeters).
In the Book of Secrets (by Osho) one of the first methods of meditation he gives is based in observing our breathing, for in that minuscule moment where the respiration changes direction Enlightenment can be found. It is also interesting to notice that these 112 methods to attain the Enlightenment are derived from a conversation between Lovers, Lord Shiva and his Consort Devi. They represent the two methods to attain it (Lord Shiva uses the Way of Will so he knows these 112 tools, but Devi has attained such a state using her Devotion, that is, she has Surrendered to the Divinity).
The point is that Tae-Eul has become a zero in that moment of absolute interior silence and stillness that is her unexpected meeting with her beloved, but in that Sacred Space (that Emptiness) that has become her heart and her mind lurks that Infinity that is Love, for she is Devoted.”
@WEchanteur, loved your insights in that article.
lol. That’s true. Then we’ll switch that to “Other times he could only head-butt her. Meantime, now he could hold back her hair.” 🙂
I wish that you to write any theory about this drama even if your posts for the The King already passes 50 😁 Cause your theories make this drama even more beautiful and meaningful than the first time I watched it. I like it.
Drama is good and great, and your explanation make it better and better.
And the snow started falling on two peppero sticks. That made me laugh out loud. Thanks I really need a good laugh nowadays.
Glad I made you laugh. 😂 Sometimes I wonder whether the readers here realize when I’m making fun of the story.
Two peppero sticks on the first snowfall of the year.
I could have said worse: two rice sticks just chillin’ out on the first snowfall on the year. Brrrr.
Evidence of time loop: The two ID cards issued to Tae Eul on 2019.11.11 look slightly different because of their plastic holders.
The card that Lee Gon has had in his possession for 25 years is in a plastic holder with small cut-outs on the two long sides of the back. [See ep. 1, time mark 55:39] We see Lee Gon sitting at his desk in his study while looking at this card, and the date on his desk clock is 2019.09.10 (Sept 10th).
The card that Tae Eul receives after Lee Gon’s first visit to KOC is in a plastic holder with an oval cut-out in the center of the back. [See ep. 4, time mark 1:01:33]
I made screen catches, @Packmule3, if you want them.
@Welmaris
I noticed this when I was re-watching the episodes.
That answers one of my questions.
That’s why TE didn’t confuse the ID card that LG showed her with the ID card that was stolen from the old lady in the palace.
Trully appreciate for this blog and comment from all of you, makes me wonder KES is really genius, i hope many korean people and around the world reading your blog because as @Luna Lee said, your theories make this drama even more beautiful and meaningful than the first time I watched it. I like it.
Drama is good and great, and your explanation make it better and better. many thanks to your blog
I burst out laughing when Jang-mi was like, “It’s garrateok day” all pure. You know, I really want to see who Jangmi is in KOC. I hope there’s a reveal in the end, some extra scenes, of Jang-mi being a cool person in KOC or a real gangster in suits, his exact opposite. Haha
@FGB4877 What an insight! Thank you for this!