By Nawaal
Based in the late 90s, the show begins in 2022 with a girl named Minchae doubting her
dream, which leads her to abandon her ballet performance. She finds herself engrossed in
her mother’s diary. This journal takes her back to 1998 when Korea was affected by the IMF
Crisis. The journal highlights the coming-of-age journeys of five individuals. Heedo, the
writer, devastated when her school’s fencing team disbands due to a lack of funds. This
chaotic and forever hopeful girl meets Yijin who has to leave behind the life of pleasure and
entertainment, filling his routine with a part time job at the comic bookstore and as a
newspaper boy. Yijin’s childhood friend who is Heedo’s idol, Yurim, fencing prodigy loses her
sponsor. Yurim’s open admirer, Jiwoong, is a witty skater boy but isn’t book smart. Jiwoong’s
best friend is the top student and class president, Seungwan. Despite their situation, all five
have greater hopes for their futures, thus turning to one another for reassurance.
This show has to be one my favourite for showing different perspectives of each character
towards life. My admiration for each character begins while watching their wholehearted
dedication and unquestioning trust towards what they want to achieve. As humans we crave
certainty and as death is the only certainty life can provide, we end up focusing on the wrong
things. The thought of; ‘vulnerability is the last thing I want you to see in me but the first thing
I look for in you’ stands out in this show. As all five follow different paths with Heedo as an
established fencer in Korea, Yijin reporting on the 9 11 in the US, Yurim competing for
Russia, Jiwoong becoming a fashion designer and Seungwan a producer, their priorities pull
them apart. The show ends with Heedo discovering her lost journal with Yijins entry in it and
realising that they both said words they didn’t mean and words that can’t be taken back. I do
despise the writer for the ending, imagine having the power to decide fate but choosing
reality.