@nrllee, you said a couple of weeks ago that you wanted to visit seaside town of Geoje which is near the big city of Busan, the capital of Lee MinHo’s Corea in “The King: Eternal Monarch.”

Me, I’d like to see this Namwon, during their annual Chunhyang Festival in April. Lol. Doesn’t the palace in the middle of the Gwanghallu Pavillion look like it’s been a filming site for a sageuk, like “Mr. Queen?” All I know about the love story of Chunghyang, after whom the Festival was named, can be attributed to the Hong Sisters’ first modern drama, “Sassy Girl Chunhyang.”

Compared to the other recent episodes, I think this weekend’s offering had a lot of factoids for me to digest. I had to look up what Indang Sea was and why it was brought up in the conversation in the beginning of the show.

Apparently, Dindin and Inwoo confused Chunhyang’s story with the story of Simcheon. They’re both famous young girls in their folk stories.

Chunhyang is in love with the governor’s son, and he’s in love with her. A corrupt official forces her to be his gisaeng but she defends her virtue until the governor’s son returns from his stay in Seoul and punishes the official.

Simcheon, on other hand, is a daughter of a blind man who needs to raise money to recover his eyesight. She sells herself to sea merchants who plan to offer her as a sacrifice to the sea god. She preempts them by jumping into the sea. The name of the sea is Indang. The Deity rescues her and she lives to become the wife of the Emperor.

Seyoon teased Inwoo that he was only at acting. And Inwoo protested. This reminds me of the incident at the sauna two episodes ago when Dindin challenged him to an arm wrestling. Inwoo told him, “Ah Hyung! Stop fooling around. Seriously, fooling around….You underestimated me too much.”

In this episode, they asked if Inwoo would like to switch teams.

Inwoo: I’ll be honest. I need to switch teams to be able to show what I’m truly capable of.
Ravi: (guffawing)
Dindin: (laughing at the chutzpah of this newbie)
Inwoo: Because I thought those two would be good at anything. But their performance was poorer than expected.
Dindin: Inwoo, if you swap teams…what you’re truly capable of will appear even worse.

Dindin anticipated a rude awakening for Inwoo, that Inwoo would realize that he wasn’t all that. Meanwhile Inwoo thought it was Dindin who’d regret giving up on him.

Inwoo: And then, you’ll wonder, “Oh, why did I let Inwoo go?”
Ravi: No. Inwoo. You’ll realize what we’re capable of.

Ravi sided with Dindin. According to Ravi, Inwoo would realize how helpful his hyungs had been to him. lol.

That’s why I’m glad the YB were split up that way. Seyoon with Dindin, Junghoon with Ravi, and JongMin with Inwoo. To me, that’s the best YB+OB combination.

Seyoon: This is the real final match.
Inwoo: You’re right! We’ll find out who the problem is.
JongMin: Yes, the real problem!

Seyoon asked the YB who they would like to pair up with. To Ravi, it was all the same to him since he knew the strengths and weaknesses of the three Old Boys. Dindin said it didn’t matter to him, too, although he’d been partnered up with JungHoon the most. According to the director’s captions, he hinted that he wanted to match up with Seyoon because he brushed Seyoon’s arm.

The caption read, “Appealing with his small hand”

Hahaha. The PD sure likes to joke about Dindin’s small stature. But that’s true, Dindin doesn’t do skinship with the other guys so that gesture was odd. Ravi, on the other hand, doesn’t mind the skinship.

As for Inwoo, he grinned when he was asked about his choice of partner. It was obvious that he wanted Jongmin.

Ravi spoke what was in everybody’s mind.

Ravi: In this team, both will talk, and none will understand. These two might take up the whole program.
PD’s comment: This will be a killer combination.
JungHoon: That should be fun.
Ravi: On this trip, through the games, I want to see Inwoo use his brain. All the games we played with him so far didn’t have anything to do with knowledge or thinking. He even got Chunhyang and Simcheong mixed up.
Inwoo: (feigning innocence) I did?
Ravi: He asked if that was Indang Sea.
Inwoo: (challenging him) Do you have proof?
JungHoon: (pointing at his mike) It’s all recorded. (lol. JungHoon almost called him “fool.”)
Dindin: (oddly quiet)
Seyoon: By now, Dindin should’ve said a lot. On the way here, he said, “This is Indangsu Sea!”
Dindin: (since everybody was spilling beans) Ravi said…
Ravi: What?
Dindin: “Atka mackerel”?

Ravi got his geography wrong, too. North Jeolla province is on the west coast of South Korea, and it has China Sea on its coast. That atka mackerel’s natural habitat is the Sea of Japan, which is on the east coast of the country.

Inwoo randomly volunteered that the atka mackerel is an expensive fish. Hearing his high voice, Seyoon commented about the speech pitch.

Seyoon: I didn’t watch all of your dramas, but (raising his voice) do you talk like that in them too?
Inwoo: No.
JungHoon: Talk like you’re in a drama.
Inwoo: Now?
Seyoon: Say “atka mackerels are expensive.”
Inwoo: (in a gruff but low voice) Atka mackerels are expensive.
Jongmin: Talk like that!
Ravi: You should make that your persona!

I think Ravi meant that Inwoo could speak in a low, measured voice, like a king in sageuks. lol.

Inwoo: Why?! (hopping like a bunny)
Jongmin: (hopping like a bunny, too) Why would you do this?
JungHoon: This is funny.

Ravi and Jongmin hopped around like bunnies, and team collapsed in laughter.

Inwoo: (protesting) Wow! When did I do that?
Jongmin: (mimicking him) “When did I do that?”
Ravi: By the way, Inwoo tends to jump around.

Judging from their comments, they’ve already seen the previous episodes of Inwoo the Winter Training, and half of their trip to Geoje. Lol.

To me, the fact that they’re teasing Inwoo means that they’re comfortable with him already even though, at the time of their shooting, it’s only their sixth week, and third outing. (Kim Jong Min tested positive for Covid on Feb 17.)

I’m happy too, @nrllee, when the 2 Johns won the Lunch Game. It vindicated Inwoo’s assertion that he isn’t the “black hole” or the person who sucks at games and brings the whole team down.

The other factoids I learned from this episode….

1. “Spicy loser or spicy pride”

“Maepbusim (맵부심)” means one is proud that he can handle hot spices.

Yes, there’s a certain bragging right attached to eating the spiciest food on the menu. However, that’s changing with the younger generation. The YB guys, Dindin, Ravi and Inwoo, don’t seem to like spicy food. They have “choding” (kiddie) tastes.

Junghoon didn’t know what maepjjili and maepbusim mean. Ravi predicted that JH wouldn’t understand the next questions because JH is a boomer (“from the old generation”) and isn’t up-to-date with slang. On the flip side, Ravi knows all the buzzwords.

I like how:

a. the background music becomes slow and jazzy whenever JH was clueless,
b. Ravi laughed heartily whenever JH asked him to explain.

2. The MBTI

MBTI = Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Ravi: So some of the companies ask their applicants to write down their types.
JungHoon: Really? Gosh. The world has changed a lot.

If I were asked for my MBTI, my answer would be:

A-B-C-D-E-F…forget…U.

3. The perilla leaves dilemma

This question seems to be a rage in k-entertainment world. I know Ahn Hyoseop and Kim Sejeong talked about it in their “A Business Proposal” promotions. Kim Sejeong said it mattered to her HOW her boyfriend would help her friend separate the perilla leaves, while Ahn Hyoseop answered that the taste of the perilla leaves mattered more to him. Lol.

Apparently, when perilla leaves are pickled, they’re stacked together, making them hard to separate with chopsticks.

source: kimchimari

The question is how you would feel if you’re dining out with your boyfriend and your female friend, and your boyfriend helps out your friend separate a perilla leaf by picking one up and placing it on her rice bowl? Will you be fine with it or bothered by it?

According to JungHoon, his wife was very upset about this issue.

JH: My wife was so upset about this. When we were having a meal, she was having a debate alone. I was really surprised. I thought I was watching a current affairs program.
Ravi: When you two were eating?
JH: Yes.
Ravi: She asked about your opinion.
JH: Yes.
Ravi: So what did you say?
JH: I said…
Ravi: (guessing) “It doesn’t matter.”
JH: If we were abroad or something, I would be okay. You could help separate the leaves as a gentleman. But when I listened to my wife, she was right. According to the Korean culture, this is unacceptable.

Lol.

JH must have grilled by her wife because he was adamant that helping a female friend with the perilla leaves is “No!” “Don’t separate them.” “Don’t even put your chopsticks there!”

Personally, I’d find it gross and unhygienic if my husband used his chopsticks (or fork) to touch somebody else’s food. But would I be jealous? No.

Why should I?

I’ve seen my husband use a ladle or serving spoon to help my sisters-in-law and other female guests with soup, potato salad, ice cream, cake, etc., at dinner. It’s way easier and faster than passing the soup tureen, potato salad bowl, ice cream tub or cake platter over to them. lol.

So, I don’t see any difference with a bowl of perilla leaves.

However, if my husband used his own silverware to serve the potato salad or perilla leaves, then that’s gross and unhygienic.  It’s a breech of etiquette, and it’s like sharing saliva.

I doubt my in-laws or friend would accept the food, at any rate.

4. The Power of Wife

I thought that scene was sweet. JungHoon is “whipped” by his wife.

Question: when is your happiest moment?

JungHoon: When I was dating my wife for the first time.

Question: what’s the scariest thing in the world?

JungHoon: My wife.
Ravi: (bursting into laughter)

The wife made him both very happy and very scared. Lol.

Ravi: So that’s the scariest moment.
JH: Huh? (then explaining) She’s the one I fear the most. When you cherish it so much, it scares you.

Awwwww….

5. There’s a “Hello Kitty”-themed room in Seoul??

Hahaha. JH said he and his daughter are going on an outing and they booked a “Hello Kitty”-themed room. I’m so shocked. My nieces had princess-themed room, but “Hello Kitty?” He’s lucky.

For my boys’ outings, they liked laser tag, paint ball, civil war reenactments, roller coasters in theme parks, ghost tours, surfing, camping, sailing, escape rooms, hiking, and rock climbing.

Shucks! I missed out on fun girly things.

6. The generations

Here, in the US, there are four categories.

Boomers: born 1946 to 1964
Gen X: born 1965 to 1980
Gen Y or the Millennials born 1981-1996
Gen Z: born 1997-2012

But there’s also a Gen MZ (combination of the Millennials and Gen Z) in South Korea. They’re known to be digital/media-savvy.

Inwoo considered Dindin a boomer because he’s a stickler for hierarchy and seniority.

Inwoo: (pointing a hand at Dindin) But you won’t get to eat it. I’m sorry.
Dindin: (pointing a finger at Inwoo) Did you just point your fingers at me, imma?

“Imma” is an impolite, “hey you.”

JH: (commenting on Dindin’s strictness) He’s worse than I thought.
Ravi: (talking to Inwoo) You know what? He’s excited since he got a new character.
Inwoo: Is that so?
Ravi: He seems excited since he got something to do.

Ravi meant that Dindin was glad that he no longer has to play the “spoiled brat” persona in 2D1N anymore. He now has a new persona: he can be the curmudgeon or grouchy boomer.

7. Taking pictures of the photographer is the “in” thing in social media???

Ravi: This is what’s trending these days on social media (motioning to JH to keep taking pictures while he’s taking pictures of JH)
Dindin: That’s right.
Ravi: Then we’ll take a picture of you.

They all stand in line, taking pictures of others.

Seyoon: People do this these days?
Ravi: This is what they do.

I like this episode because of these little “insights” on what’s going on in South Korea. I don’t get these insiders’ perspectives when watching kdramas, but these help me understand what I’m watching.