Thanks @Growing_Beautifully for organizing this list. It’ll come in handy. -packmule3
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
The Group
Our bunch of resident protagonists are only from Block 101, units 1 and 2. There are 21 persons. The lockdown took place when children were in school and some families were at work.
Owned Apartments
1501 (Kim Se Hun, the Guy who wants T-shirts)
1202 (Apartment Rep Oh Yeon Ok and Bible-wielding husband)
601 (Doctor Oh and Mistress Sang Hee)
602 (Attorney Kook and wife Shin So Yoon)
Rented Apartments
501 (Sae Beom and Yi Hyun) + Officer Kim Jung Look
502 (Girl Park Seo Yoon and parents)
401 (Writer? Na and Brother)
302 (Elderly couple Dad Kim, Mum Ji and bratty son Kim) Elderly mum looks like she was scratched by Min Ji in her zombie state
201 (Empty but the 3 external cleaners stay there. Cleaner Ko, Cleaner Ji (his wife) and employee Ahn Guk Jin/Andrew
Management : 1 cheerful cleaner
Gym : 1 staff Kim Seung Beom (Suspected of being infected but he does not seem to be. He claims to have not taken the drug.)
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
But of these 21 people, only a few of them can be relied upon by SaeBom and YiHyuk.
The Gym guy is out; he’s most likely infected. -1
The cheerful cleaner is probably good for taking care of the little girl should SaeBom be preoccupied.
The three cleaners are good. Andrew looks weird but his “hero-complex” can come in handy. Besides, he didn’t squished the bug on the railing; he released it into the air. Anybody who respects God’s littlest creatures can’t be cruel, right? +3
The elderly couple are out. Old Lady is infected. It’s only a matter of time before she infects her husband, too. -2
Their bratty son can be “incentivized” to help by allowing him to record everything for release after their lockdown is over. +1
Writer Na can be of help. +1
Her brother? His cooperation can be bought by promising him a place to live in with his family should they get out of there alive. +1
Child SeYoon is a child. She’s also has a heart problem.
YiHyun’s hyung officer is a pushover. He can be Seyoon’s bodyguard. Hopefully, he can be relied for something greater later on.
Attorney and wife. Nah. Kinda shady.
Murderer and Mistress. They can be offered to the madmen as human sacrifice. -2
Apartment Rep and Husband. They can also be offered as human sacrifice. lol. -2
Edited to add this: according to the gym logs, these residents used the gym: from #601, Park Minji, from #602, the attorney’s wife Shin So Yoon, and from #1202, the apartment rep’s husband, Preacher Seon Woo Chan.
Last, the rich guy who lives in the Penthouse. I wonder what other military stuff he keeps in his house aside from the army blanket. He’ll come in handy. +1
For now, I think SaeBom and YiHyuk have enough individuals to rely on to fend off the diseased residents.
Where are the Power Rangers when you need them?
LOL @pkml3 Thanks for adding your take on the reliability of the residents. That’s so funny, especially since we have 4 ‘extra’ to offer up as sacrifices to the zombies if necessary. 🤣
I’ve started thinking that we should rename them ‘Zompires’. Zombie in spasticity but vampirish in bloodlust. Either that or we call them ‘Vampbies’, but that somehow sounds lewd LOLOL.
“Zompire” sounds good. 👌 Vampbies remind me of Bambi.
I was about to do a “threat analysis” but thought a reliability assessment of personnel was lighter.
I was worried about the glass walls in the basement and front lobby. The advantages of being in a high-rise building with limited access (elevators and the stairs) is that they only need to defend a few entrances/exits, and they can move to higher grounds after closing off exit behind them. They probably need to disable elevators.
Worst situation, they get rescued by helicopter at rooftop.
Stairs to the basement car park need to be sealed off. Most units have interconnecting car parks? The basement car park may well service more than just block 101. So zompires can gain entry. Do their mental faculties enable them navigate stairs? 🤔. They can’t open doors. So I gather the lifts are safe because I assume they don’t know how to push buttons. Or do they? When they are lucid…like the CEO.
Stairs to the basement car park…that’s what SB was looking at in the final seconds of Episode 4, right? Everyone else had their attention drawn by the zompire security guard outside the glass, but with her training in anti-terrorism, SB was doing a risk analysis.
@pkml3 @nrllee @Welmaris, Zompires, it is! LOL.
Wow, threat and risk analysis. Yes, I agree that the basement carpark is common ground for all apartments and if anyone (may not be the zompires but other residents) breaks through the glass walls to access Block 101, 101 residents will be at high risk.
Yup the stairwell door has to be secured and the elevator disabled for the basement.
The times of greatest vulnerability is when 101 folks have to get out to retrieve the food. So they may have to give up on the military-provided meals, and just make do with their existing supplies. They think that they’ll be in there only for another 6 days … I believe it was D6 before Ep 4 ended, but I’m thinking that may change now that the whole complex is infected except most of Block 101. By rights, HTS should air fly them out of there now, before more of 101 residents are infected.
They gave us a shot of the rooftop … was it wide and clear enough for a helicopter to land?
Kalimera LAdies!
I agree about the Zompires! @GB Unnie you rock! *grins*
I think SB was looking at the stairs because she heard incoherent noise coming out from down there. At the same time, she was doing a risk analysis as @Welmaris pointed, but I am curious to see if a Zompire was down there at the time making the situation more dangerous for them!
How is the Colonel going to give them ammunition? We got to see a scene from the trailer with a rifle and Yi Huyn going somewhere.
Correction: From the trailer, where the Colonel was holding a rife and Yi Huyn was with him going somewhere…
Are we doing a zompires apocalypse scenario, @nrllee?
Yes, the underground garage is shared by multiple buildings, but I don’t know how many buildings.
Perhaps move a car or van and park it in front of the glass wall to block it? But it has to be bigger than wall so zompires don’t push it to crash the wall.
The zompire wife climb down the stairs to chase after husband, 6th floor to 5th floor. So they can navigate stairs.
But they can’t seem to crouch and move forward at the same time. Like in the refrigerator truck, the pole barrier in the middle stopped them.
I think anger triggers their zompire symptoms. Hence, during their interrogation, YiHyun shouted at the gym guy to make him angry. The guy shouted back but he didn’t turn into a zompire.
Also, in the basement, when YiHyun checked the gym guy’s teeth in an unceremonious way, the guy didn’t turn into a zompire.
LtCol Han also knows that anger triggers the disease. The Pharma Boss was taunting him that his wife’s blood tasted the best, and Han deliberately stepped closer and said, “It’s tough to suppress your thirst, huh?” And that angered the Pharma Boss.
It wouldn’t surprise me if there was an affair between the Pharma Boss and the wife of LtCol Han. That’s probably why Han assaulted him. But he was exonerated (or charges were dropped?) because he was the best man to find a cure. We’ll find out soon enough.
Maybe the Boss visited Han’s house and he became a zompire then biting his wife. After he got sober that’s when Han assaulted him.
Let’s be positive because there’s a baby. 😬🤞🏻I don’t know.
Hey @agdr03!
I don’t think that Colonel’s wife had an affair with the Pharma Boss.
She could be working with him and he could be attached her at work.
The Pharma Boss became a zompire from his greed, I think.
Han assaulted him because of what he did to his pregnant wife.
Still, they covered it up because he was the first one to become a zompire. So for my the Boss is Patient Zero and Han’s wife Patient One.
Correction: Could have attacked*
I propably need a lunch break.
@agdr03,
I’m just saying… 🙂 This is kdrama and extra-marital affairs are part of the Arsenal.
The Pharma Boss and LtCol Han’s conversation had weird undertones.
Pharma: TaeSeok, your wife’s life is on the line here, too. I heard the baby is still in her womb. (Han stirred here) Two persistent lives are at stake. (Flashback image) Do you know that your wife’s blood tasted the best?
Han: (stepping forward) It’s tough to suppress your thirst, huh?
Pharma: (getting angry and turning zompire)
To me, I could interpret “thirst” as coveting something that didn’t belong to him.
The Pharma Boss was taunting Han to lose his cool by saying that he tasted Han’s wife’s blood. So LtCol shot back. He implied that the Boss really couldn’t resist his innate greed and coveted somebody else’s wife.
Pharma Boss couldn’t get Han to lose his cool but with one sentence, Han made Pharma Boss lose his sanity because the remark hit bullseye.
But perhaps the wife didn’t like Pharma Boss and it was the Pharma Boss who like the wife. 🤷♀️
The point is there must be a reason why:
a. LtCol Han didn’t want to touch his wife’s hand.
b. When he was about to pull the trigger at the zompire in the car trunk, the image of his wife screaming at him flashed in his mind. (Did he want to shoot his wife too?)
c. When he saw his wife on the floor being bitten by the Pharma Boss, he just stood there emotionless. The wife called out to him, “Yeobo.”
Some things don’t add up. 🙂
I have a favor to ask: Could someone please explain the numbering system typical in big residential complexes like La Ciel? I’ve never before lived in such a setting. I grasp the concept of building numbers, but blocks…?
For as large as the exteriors of these highrises look, the interiors we’re seeing are smaller than I’d expect with one (penthouse) to three flats per floor. Is each building divided by firewalls into sections, each with separate entrance, elevator, staircase, etc?
@Welmaris usually a block is just that. One block of many units with their individual apartment numbers depending on the floor it is on. But here it looks like block 101 has 2 subunits 1 and 2. So I am guessing it’s like Tower 1 and Tower 2? Each tower I gather has their own apartment units within and are designated numbers. The first segment being the floor the apartment is on and the second is the actual unit number?
So the address would potentially be Block 101-1, #0501 (or something like that)
Most units I know have one stairwell (fire escape) which connects all the floors of the Block (right down to the car park). I am not sure if 101-1 and 101-2 interconnect or if they are separate. Potentially they share the same lift lobbies with one side servicing 101-1 and the other side 101-2? The underground car park however I would imagine services all the apartment blocks. But you park at different sections to access the different lifts to the block you want to access. A bit like how the mall has different exits from the underground car park which allows you to access different parts of the mall.
In a way SB was correct about the cement blocks put up by residents in floors above being illegal. Stairwell access is supposed to be clear (by law), because in the case of a fire, you wouldn’t want to have to move stuff to access them? It was a safety hazard. What was keeping the renters from the upper floors was ironically barring the owner occupied residents from emergency evacuations in case of a fire. They weren’t just locking them (renters) out, they were locking themselves in.
Thanks for the explanation, @nrllee. So a block would be a building, and a tower would be a section of that building; I can picture that now. If their block’s towers do join at a central lift lobby, I wonder if it will be possible to isolate one tower from the other.
I was concerned to see SB, frantic to get into her building from the underground parking garage, having trouble with her electronic key card. It wasn’t giving her access: the cleaning lady opened the door for her. I know it is possible for the management office to deactivate individual cards. Could the owners have pressured building management to deactivate renters’ cards, denying them access to their building once outside? Throwing them to the wolves? It would be just like the apartment representative to deal with “building irregularities” in such a cold-hearted manner, I think.
@Welmaris Not sure why the key card didn’t work. Your suggestion is plausible but it could also be just a means to give the audience angsty moments. 😂
Latest Soompi article excerpt (https://www.soompi.com/article/1498911wpp/park-hyung-sik-and-han-hyo-joo-display-laser-focus-behind-the-scenes-of-happiness)
The producers of “Happiness” commented, “The passionate acting of Han Hyo Joo, Park Hyung Sik, Jo Woo Jin, and the rest of the cast is the force that brings our unique city thriller to life.”
They went on to tease, “Fear breeds selfishness and gives rise to new dangers. Please keep an eye on the changes and choices people make as they are swept up in a whirlwind of danger.”
Thing is though, the drug NEXT was developed as a treatment for COVID? According to YH’s friend who did the research. And it failed as a treatment option. His friend did raise an interesting question, “Nothing has happened all this time? Why would it be a problem now?” Why didn’t those people treated with the experimental drug (developed to treat pneumonia) go on to develop into zompires? Was it because they died of COVID? Maybe the drug was given as a last resort? Nothing else worked so we will just give them NEXT to see if it helps? But they died of COVID before they developed symptoms. And it’s only now they are seeing the end result of using the drug for recreational purposes other than to treat a near terminal case?
Someone mentioned that maybe the little girl’s parents had the disease and that’s why they couldn’t get back. Another reason could be that aside from cordoning off the apartment complex, HTS rounded up all those residents who had gone to work that day and quarantined them in another facility (whether they took the drug or not). It was only those (old man and the writer’s brother) who were allowed back in because they were there whilst they were in the middle of the process of locking the residents in. So the little girl’s parents may not have taken the drug, they were just caught in the net (close contacts).
🙂 Do you know that I was about to take Advil liquid-gel pill for my headache tonight but its blue-green color reminded me of “Next” so I took Tylenol instead.
What do you think about that text message from the little girl’s mother? Do you think it was actually sent by her mom or was an automated reply? The text was just as LtCol said. “I love you.”
@packmule3 😂.
I didn’t think that hard about the text 😂. Could be an automated reply. Did they take SB’s phone away from her while she was in the facility? I can’t remember.
For those who’ve watched Secret Royal Inspector & Joy and are fans of Joy’s vile mother-in-law, the same actress plays the cheerful cleaning lady in Happiness.
Whew, finally caught up to episode 4! So much posts to read also and to think about.
Since ep4 is still fresh, some random thoughts. Why are they not telling people publicly about NEXT pills and that it is suspected to cause the disease? If they have been open to that, some deaths could have been avoided at the complex. Although I do doubt if people will readily admit they took the pills even if they really did or even possibly infected like the grandma who got scratched at the back or even SB’s partner, I hope it would have made other people more conscious and better informed.
SB is cool but very impulsive and brash. She is complementary partner though of YH who is very level headed, a bit stoic. Their training and styles are different and suit their personality. With Covid awareness, why would she touch the blood on the elevator wall and even try to taste it? Yuck! The hug at the end of ep3/start of ep4 was sweet. And their involuntary holding hands during the emergence of the zompires at the end of ep4 was notable. They are really partners now and have to survive this together, hopefully with the kid and his sunbae, too.
@Janey, yes, precisely. That was what I meant. Dissonance compared to what should be. Why aren’t the authorities doing the basic things to keep people informed and safer. No warnings given, no concerted effort to protect or prevent hysteria. Well, maybe people are not as hysterical as we were over Covid. I guess the man on the street might be tired of dealing with infections over many the last few years, but the authorities seem to be far too uninterested as well. Or is this meant to reflect the attitude that some places had over Covid ie let herd immunity happen, don’t do much, just let it spread?
Maybe so far the death rate is low, and so it does not seem urgent?
Maybe in the next episodes we’ll hear of people calling for a new vaccine and meds to cure the infection, but so far the public have only just officially heard about it. It’s the attitude of the authorities and people in the know that bothers me. They are just biding their time until they can make big bucks from the pharmaceuticals.
However, even SB and YH’s attitude bothers me … they do not see the need to inform everyone about the ‘Zompire Pills’. Even if it’s not proven yet, it’s (as you said) a precaution that should have been taken since Episode 2!!!
@Janey
Thank goodness I wasn’t the only one who thought it was thoughtless. It wasn’t just unhygienic, it was dangerous? 🙄🤷🏻♀️
@Janey, @GB, @nrllee, the dialogue between HTS and the infected pharma CEO hinted that the CEO had enough power to keep news of the madman disease away from public ears and eyes. HTS got scolded for doing the news conference, and was reminded that CEO recommended him for his current position because he seemed capable of keeping the disease hush hush. I wonder why he had that much influence, even using the military for his own purposes; that seems like a plot hole to me. Another eye-raising moment for me was learning that after its dangers were discovered, all remaining stock of Next was warehoused rather than destroyed. The CEO himself took advantage of that by informing the drug dealer of the stockpile and encouraging its black market distribution; the CEO’s goal was to force the escalation of infections so research on finding a cure would be speeded up. That means CEO held two diametrically opposing goals: keep the disease quiet, but spread the disease to force the search for a cure.
For the quick escalation of infections at La Ciel, to keep that from being a plot hole or zombie trope, I’d like to see some explanation as to why that happened. Were that many people taking Next?
IKR @nrlee!!! I bet we will find more “yuck” moments in the show.
@welmaris, I concur with your thoughts on the pharma CEO! What was also dreadful in that scene was when he grabbed the aide and feasted on him during his sick moment. It was sickening that they keep him isolated yet the people around the CEO are not protected. The CEO should have a metal cone as you suggested in previous post. There should also be metal collars for people to use as part of their PPE.
@Janey @Welmaris @nrllee and everybody who have started much eye-rolling, 😕 😒 😖 🙄 🤪 LOL… I guess I’ll decide to watch this for the sheer heck of looking for plot-holes, unlikely scenarios, weird reactions/responses or lack thereof and of course for what the writer wants to say about us/them when dealing with man-made/deviant infections.
Of course the OTP are fun to watch and I want to know whether all the good guys manage to keep Zompire teeth at bay, or whether more Zompires can get the better of being mind-controlled by the virus/succumbing to their appetite for blood, plus whether a vaccine/cure can be found super fast. So I guess, the show works on some fronts. 😆
@GB I am staying because it’s just 12eps. I think I can manage that. I am sure the eye rolling will continue so I am just going to suspend belief and just run with it 😂. Must admit on the back of COVID where hand sanitizing is the norm and every surface I touch is a potential source of contagion, SB’s finger on the blood stain was even more gruesome than the frothing zompires 😂.
LOL @nrllee I too cringed at that, but probably not as much as you did!! Ah, I forget it is just 12 episodes. Good that belief suspension can be managed for a fewer number of times.
Kalimera Ladies,
Life is too hectic at the moment and although I read you I cannot answer to you as I want to.
I am happy to overcome some parts for the sake of the story. I get your cringed moments, but at the same time, I know some people who are not taking all the safety measures for COVID.
I will take that Seo Bom is the reckless type. I am glad she has Yi Huyn with her. There are some people who need to be reminded from others what we should or not be doing. I guess her characters is kinda like that, an example for us all.
I like her though.
I like that she is fearless and brave, but she has a hidden vulnerable side as well. I am glad that she took under her wings the kiddo Park Seo-Yoon from #502, even though she is too indepedent. That she didn’t let behind her partner, even though she could be infected as well this time around. I am glad that she puts a strong front and when she realized that Huyn was trapped with her in the building, she went and hugged him.
Seo Bom is breaking the stereotype of damsel in distress and I like that.
She is not perfect but she is what she is. 🙂