Writer: Nikita Punia (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)

Editor: Arpita Jena (Baripada, Odisha, India)

Anyone who was born in the 90s was too young to remember the IMF crisis of 1997, but that’s what this story reflects. It all starts in the year 1994 when a guy named Hyun Woo visits a bakery straight out of juvenile prison. He asks for something that contains Soy and gets suggested Soy milk by a girl at the bakery.

The background here is that while Hyun Woo was in prison, he became too accustomed to the unchanging routine of prison life. He deeply wished for at least one thing to change in the outside world by the time he was released. So, as he was about to leave the bakery, he heard the radio announce a change in the host of the Music Album programme. He was deeply moved by this and even went as far as to call it a miracle.

^{Picture Credit: Seongyong’s Private Place}

He comes back later that day and applies for a part time job at the bakery and gets the position. Hyun Woo learns that the girl’s name is Mi Soo from the bakery owner. The owner considers Mi Soo part of her family because Mi Soo’s late mother had helped her greatly in the past. In return, she now helps Mi Soo as a way of repaying her mother’s kindness. Learning about her story Hyun Woo also confides in the owner and tells her about the prison.

Soon it was the end of the year and around Christmas a group of Hyun Woo’s male friends visit him at the bakery. The usually calm environment of the bakery is adversely affected by the group and Eun Ja, the owner, asks them to leave. Before leaving with his mates, Hyun Woo asks for an advance payment and receives it. Both Mi Soo and Eun Ja wondered if he would ever come back.

^{Picture Credit: THE KOREA HERALD}

The story then reveals that the boys had a friend named Jyeong Hyeop who passed away a few years back. After a group of passers-by commented on their sad appearance, they get into a fight with them. Back at the bakery, Mi Soo, who had shared a few good moments with him, hopes and waits for him to come back but he didn’t show up. This marks the end of their first segment together.

By the year 1997, the bakery is shut. Mi Soo starts a job at a newsletter editor company. Eun Ja has progressed in her life and is now working at a much larger-scale noodle shop. The guy who disappeared, meanwhile, is seen working as a furniture mover. Mi Soo and Hyun Woo happen to cross paths just in front of the bakery.

^{Picture Credit: DRAMABEANS}

Since there had been no way for them to stay in touch during all those years, they had a lot to share. He tells her that his compulsory military service would begin the next day and walks her home. The two spend time together at her apartment and Hyun Woo ends up staying the night.

Mi Soo confesses how long she had waited for him to come back. Hyun Woo explains that his period of probation was revoked because of the huge fight that took place that very night. This was why he couldn’t return.

^{Picture Credit: WINDOWS ON WORLDS}

The next morning, she wakes up before him and creates an email address for him. She tells him about it and asks him to keep in contact but only after they depart does she realize that she forgot to give him the password, which was the same as the password for her home.

The next jump is straight to the year 2000 where Mi Soo is shown to be miserable at her newsletter editing job. All this while she had continued sending emails to him even though she knew he couldn’t read them.

^{Picture Credit: TMDB}

Once out of military, he searches for her without any luck. He decides to move into her old apartment, and it’s only when he’s about to sign the house agreement that he finds out the house’s password and is therefore able to access his email. They both exchange their phone numbers and agree to meet the next day.

However, as fate would have it, he finds himself in a fix and is unable to carry out their plan. Mi Soo writes him an email in a happy tone and tells him to get in touch with her when something good happens.

^{Picture Credit: MOVIE NATION}

Five years later, Mi Soo is happy at her new book publishing job. Hyun Woo is seen to be working at a video-editing start-up that moves in above Mi Soo’s workplace. The two meet yet again, and this time they start dating.

They spend quality time together for the next three days at his place. Later, they visit Eun-ja, who has gotten married and has a stepdaughter who is nothing but trouble to her. They continue to spend time together after which Mi Soo learns something about his past that he never wished she would have to know.

^{Picture Credit: NETFLIX}

It wasn’t that he was at fault; he simply wanted at least one person in the whole world not to know about it in order to live a life without his past haunting him. This causes a rift between them and he leaves. He does come back, only to find Mi Soo gone.

The climax reveals him working at a job that Mi Soo had recommended to him and they find themselves looking at each other through a glass window and finally realising that they are meant to be.

Have you watched this Korean love story, and do you believe some people are simply meant to find their way back to each other?