In this old post of mine, I noted that the Songhwa is the complete antithesis of Jang. I would have to be blind not to see how directly opposite they are when many of Songhwa’s best qualities were featured in these past five episodes (NOTE: when I wrote this, only five episodes had been shown).

For instance, Songhwa wasn’t shy to go after the guy she liked even though he was inside the shed with three other guys. In contrast, Jang hounded IkJun to intercede for her and joined a tasteless, gossip-y session with Bong.

Also, Songhwa showed true compassion to her patients while Jang was Ms. “Did you give chest compression?” Remember now, SongHwa inspired the twins to become doctors because of the care and kindness she showed during their mother’s hospitalization. That time, Songhwa was only a junior doctor (a resident?). The same couldn’t be said of Jang.

More importantly, Songhwa endured her secret in silence all these years. Unlike Jang, she didn’t break down and begged JW to quit the priesthood. (Oh the drama!) A couple of times, she wanted to talk to him about it. But both times, she held back out of respect for JW’s decision-making process.

Songhwa is the prize catch, and Jang is the booby prize. To me, JW ending up with Jang isn’t any better than Chilbong ending up with no one in Reply 1994. Thanks, but no thanks.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Another day, another HP post. 🙂 When are you ever going to get tired of this?

A question was posed by @nrllee: Who was Songhwa’s love when she rejected SH?

Again, I don’t like to get involved in these speculations because we’re only 5 episodes in, in what may be a 36-episode kdrama. Why 36 episodes? Because I expect 12 episodes per season and I read that 3 seasons were “projected.” But please don’t quote me on this. I’m not privy to tvN’s deal with Netflix.

Right now, we haven’t seen enough backstory yet to come up with a good idea of Songhwa’s first love was.

However, this doesn’t mean that I haven’t been keeping tabs on the story. This is what I have so far. I’m not basing my theory on “feels.”  And since it’s up to you to form your own opinion, please don’t try to argue with mine. I’m not in the mood. 😈

1. Songhwa’s eye movement

In Episode 1, when Songhwa opened the door of the shed where the guys were hiding during orientation night, her eyes first darted left then looked right.

I paid attention to Songhwa’s eye movement because in Reply 1988, the director did the same thing. Back then, I told people to take note of Taek’s eyes whenever he entered the room. Even before he declared that he liked Deoksun, I knew that he liked her because his eyes always gravitated towards Deoksun.  For instance, on the night of his surprise birthday party for him, he opened his bedroom door and was shocked to see the whole gang. But his eyes focused on Deoksun first before sweeping over to other guys.

To me then, this eye focus is an old trick used by this director.  When he calls “Action!” his actor has already been coached on where to look and how to move for camera.

That’s why I think Songhwa’s eye movement here wouldn’t be random, especially since this was a close-up shot. She was instructed to look left then look right. The guy on the left was the guy she was looking for.

But who was on her left? And who was on her right?

Lol. I won’t tell you. That’s for you to find out.

2. The camera

Songhwa brought a camera, right?

In Reply 1988, Deoksun also brought a camera and she lost it on the train (or was it bus?) on their way to the school’s sleepover. The point the writer was trying to make here was bringing an expensive camera was such a privilege back in those days — unlike nowadays where even elementary children have iphones in their backpacks.

Same thing for Songhwa. Songhwa didn’t have a camera with her “just by accident.” She would have planned to bring a camera to this freshman event, asked her parents if she could borrow it and carried that camera all times with her *for a reason.*

Now, I could think of only two possible reasons for the camera.

A. She was taking pictures of PEOPLE. She was excited to be at the freshman night and she intended to take lots of pictures of her classmates and friends as souvenir.

But do you see what’s wrong with this reasoning?

If this was true, then why did she leave the event even before the show was over? (And where were her friends? The other guys came in pairs.) The guys had a reason to leave. They thought it was a crappy affair.

But since she brought the camera with her for the occasion itself, she should have stayed in there and took pictures of her classmates. She should have hang out with the students. She didn’t have to leave the place.

B. (And this is my wild guess.) She was taking a picture of a PERSON.  She had brought her camera to take a photo of her crush as a keepsake.

Now, it could be argued that IJ was her crush. If IJ was her crush, then she would have been ecstatic because he had his hand on her shoulder on that photograph.

However, I don’t think she followed IJ (or Jwan for that matter) to the shed.

You see, if she had been “crushing” on IJ or JWan at that time, she would have noticed the moment they left the concert room and followed them immediately outside to the shed.

The order of arrival at the shed would have been:

first, IJ and Jwan,
then Songhwa,
last, SH and Andrea.

Do you see what I mean?

If she’d brought along her camera to take a picture of her crush (and not the event), she would have been out of that place as soon as she saw her crush leave.

To me, based on the order of their arrival at the shed, it made more sense that she was following SH and Andrea. That’s why she came AFTER them. She saw them leave the concert room. She saw them enter the shed. When they didn’t go out again, she decided to investigate.  She opened the door, expecting to see her crush. She didn’t expect to see all four boys in there, her crush among them. lol.

I thought it was brave of her to join the guys. Normally, a girl would have apologized for intruding and found another place, but she stayed with them.

C. The picture

Look: we all agree here that Maggot is set up to be the anti-thesis of Songhwa, right?

Songhwa inspired the twins to become medical doctors and she comforted the distraught mom of the liver transplant patient operated on by Darth Vader.

Meanwhile, Maggot only stood back when that same distraught mom collapsed earlier at her feet and cried. (BTW, notice the camera shots used here. Close range shots for Songhwa to denote closeness and empathy for patient. Distant shots for Maggot to denote her detachment.)

Also, let’s not forget that Maggot asked a panicking mom, “Did you perform chest compression?”

Andrea fussed over Songhwa while they were eating at the restaurant. But he didn’t even ask Maggot if she was okay after she chased the dad.

Maggot chased that dad for a mile around the hospital and wrestled on the ground, but Songhwa easily knocked him down with an empty water jug.

By now, viewers should be able to discern who the director and writer favor in this kdrama. It’s Songhwa. If there’s a contest between the two ladies over who’ll get the guy, Songhwa wins.

Now, there’s another thing that Maggot and Songhwa have in common. They both have a photograph of Andrea taken secretly.

Maggot connived with IJ to take pictures of Andrea secretly. This was one of them.

She actually wanted a solo pic of Andrea and she asked IJ for one.

Ouf! I dislike IJ for selling his friend’s privacy just so he could have a resident. And I dislike Maggot for using her position to stalk a guy. She’s creepy as heck.

In comparison, Songhwa managed to take a picture of her crush, too, back then.

But she didn’t use a go between to get a picture for her. She did it herself. She used a lame excuse but she asked the guys, “Hey, it’s a fun coincidence that we all met here. Do you want to take a picture together?”

Even back then, the guys’ replies already showed their character.

JWan: (abrasive) Are you for real?
Songhwa: (just laughing) I’m for real.
IJ: Sure. (and fixes his hair because he wants to look stylish for the pic)
Andrea: (supportive and helpful) We can get the chair and put the camera on top.
SH: (silent)
Songhwa: Okay.
Andrea: (standing up) Hold on.

Do you see that? Both Maggot and Songhwa had pictures of Andrea in a group setting. Maggot made no bones that she was after Andrea. But Songhwa kept the identity of the person she really liked secret all these years.

So there you go. That’s all I have for now (I think…lol.) Gotta run.