#
칠순 & 환갑 — milestone birthday parties
1:30
근상 complains that Iceland or the Himalayas are destinations for 칠순 (chilsun), a 70th-birthday celebration, not a friends' trip — and jokes that 환갑 (hwangap), the 60th-birthday milestone, is still twenty-plus years away. Both birthdays are traditionally marked with large family feasts because reaching them once signaled a long life in a country with historically short life expectancy. Planning a big trip for these occasions is a very common modern substitute for the old-style banquet.
#
캠핑 감성 — the 'vibe-first' camping culture
2:21
근상 defends bringing nothing edible by claiming the real point of camping is 감성 (gamseong) — mood, atmosphere, emotion — not 럭셔리 (luxury). From the mid-2010s a whole aesthetic of 'gamseong camping' took over Korean outdoor culture: fairy-light setups, enamel mugs, and carefully staged photos matter as much as the food. His friends are not impressed.
#
납골당 — Korean columbarium culture
17:47
평온사 is a 납골당 (napgoldang), a columbarium where cremated remains are stored in individual niches. South Korea's land shortage made cremation the norm — by law, burials must be exhumed after 60 years. Families visit regularly, leave fruit and snacks at the niche, and have full conversations with the deceased, which is exactly what we keep seeing here.
#
제사 돈 — paper money left at memorial niches
21:24
삼동 mocks the 만 원 (10,000-won) notes left at 판석's niche as embarrassingly cheap. Leaving real or ceremonial paper money at a memorial is common at 제사 (jesa) rites and at columbarium visits — it symbolises giving the deceased spending money in the afterlife, a custom shared across East Asian cultures. 삼동's complaint is essentially a class jab: a rich man scorning a poor man's offering.
#
무당 — Korean shaman
23:24
미동댁 is a 무당 (mudang), a female Korean shaman who communicates with spirits, reads auras, and tells fortunes. Consulting a 무당 is a mainstream, if quietly practised, part of Korean folk life — people visit for big decisions, to contact the dead, or to resolve bad luck. 근상's awe at her accuracy ('지렸다', roughly 'she totally nailed it') is a very common reaction.
#
집밥 — home-cooked food as emotional currency
27:09
대춘 mourns that his son 필승 grew up not knowing what 집밥 (jibap) — literally 'house rice,' meaning ordinary home-cooked meals — even tastes like. In Korean culture 집밥 is shorthand for parental love and stability; the lack of it signals an absent or struggling family. The fact that 봉연's deepest wish is simply to cook one meal for her son makes this moment land very hard.
#
안치단 등급 — columbarium niche pricing
35:29
삼동 grumbles that 판석 occupies the cheapest 안치단 (anchidan — niche tier) yet draws the most visitors, and suggests visitor numbers should be capped by the price paid. Premium niches in Korean columbaria — especially in sought-after facilities near Seoul — can cost tens of millions of won, and the hierarchy among the deceased (and their families) is very real social territory.
#
세종대왕 vs 김 씨 — the 'ordinary Kim' comparison
37:33
귀순 argues that no one can guarantee King Sejong the Great lived a more worthwhile life than an everyday 김 씨 (Kim, the most common Korean surname). Sejong — creator of Hangul, revered as one of Korea's greatest monarchs — is the ultimate benchmark of historic greatness here, making 'ordinary Kim' the perfect everyman contrast. The point: social rank and legacy mean nothing once you're dead.
#
꿀 사라다 — honey potato salad
46:20
봉연 coaches 유리 to add honey to the potato salad (사라다, from the Japanese loanword サラダ) and chop it fine because 필승 hates onion chunks. This style of creamy, slightly sweet 감자 사라다 is a beloved Korean comfort side dish — often served with 돈가스 or in 김밥 — and a staple of home cooking. 봉연 knowing exactly how her son likes it is the whole emotional point.
#
응사 — the drama 'Reply 1994'
55:17
강화 excuses missing camping prep because he had to watch the finale of '응사,' short for 《응답하라 1994》 (Reply 1994), the hugely popular 2013 tvN nostalgia drama. Its central mystery — which guy 나정 ends up marrying — kept the entire country guessing until the last episode. Admitting you skipped chores for a drama finale is a very recognisable defence in Korean pop-culture life.
#
오만정 — the nickname 'All-Out Icy'
59:53
민정's nickname at the kindergarten is '오만정,' a pun on her name 오민정 and the phrase '오만 정 다 떨어진다' — meaning 'every last bit of affection drains away.' Korean nicknaming culture loves this kind of wordplay where a name becomes an insult hiding in plain sight. 민정 knows about it and pretends she doesn't care, which is the drama's whole point about her loneliness.
#
자장가 — lullaby parody
63:44
강화 hums a parody of the classic Korean lullaby 자장자장 (jajang jajang), swapping the usual tender words for '우리 거지' ('our little beggar') to tease 유리 about being cold and hungry. The original lullaby is one every Korean child knows, so reworking it as a joke is immediately funny — and the fact that he's holding her while singing it is the emotional gut-punch the scene is built around.