11 timestamped notes explaining the Korean cultural context in this episode — customs, idioms, food, honorifics, and history, at the moment each appears on screen. These notes discuss events across the whole episode. To see them revealed scene-by-scene as you watch, use the episode page to find an airing.
These visitors are attending a 문상 (munsang), a condolence call at the family's home or a funeral hall. In Korea, mourners typically visit within a day or two of the death, bow before a portrait of the deceased, and offer a cash envelope. The hushed question about whether it is okay to hold the 상 (sang) — the formal funeral rites — reflects that an unexpected or suspicious death can delay proceedings.
The newscast announces that Chairman Choi has 출두 (chuldu), meaning he has voluntarily appeared before the 검찰 (geomchal), South Korea's powerful prosecution service. Unlike in many countries, the Korean prosecution both investigates and indicts, so a high-profile summons like this is a very public signal that someone is a serious suspect, not merely a witness.
민영 (Min-young) blurts out '비아그라' (Viagra) because Yeong-hun's vague explanation about a private 'men-only conversation' sounds like a cover story for a prescription. In Korea, ED medication is still a somewhat taboo topic that men might go to great lengths to keep discreet — hence his flustered reaction.
Min-young is heading to cover the 보신각 타종 (Bosingak tаjong), the ringing of the great bell at Bosingak Pavilion in central Seoul on New Year's Eve. The bell is struck 33 times at midnight, broadcast live nationwide; it is South Korea's most iconic New Year's Eve event, drawing enormous crowds and matching Times Square's ball-drop in cultural weight.
Young Yeong-hun scolds Young Seon-wu for not answering his 삐삐 (bbibby), the Korean nickname for a pager/beeper. Before mobile phones became widespread in Korea in the late 1990s, pagers were the primary way teenagers and young adults sent quick messages to each other — you'd page someone with a number code and they'd find a payphone to call back.
Seo-jun insists that what just happened counts as a 상견례 (sanggyeonlye) — the traditional first formal meeting between a couple's two families, usually held at a restaurant to discuss the relationship and potential marriage. It normally takes careful planning, so Min-young is flustered that it happened accidentally in a hospital hallway.
Young Seon-wu says '서른여덟' (thirty-eight) as the age at which his future self will die. Korea traditionally counts age differently from the West — a baby is 1 at birth and gains a year every January 1st — so this Korean age (세) is roughly 36–37 in international years. The drama uses the traditional count, which is how Koreans most naturally talk about age.
'테모달' (Temozolomide, brand name Temodar) is a chemotherapy drug used almost exclusively to treat 교모세포종 (glioblastoma multiforme), an aggressive and typically fatal brain tumor. Finding this drug in someone's pocket is how young Yeong-hun and the older doctor instantly understand the nature of Seon-wu's illness — and its gravity.
On-screen Seon-wu is anchoring the live New Year's broadcast from Bosingak, announcing the arrival of 계사년 (Gyesa-nyeon) — the Year of the Snake in the sexagenary cycle, corresponding to 2013. Major Korean broadcasters air the bell-ringing live and then roll straight into a special news bulletin; anchoring that program is considered a great honor for a TV journalist.
Being named the 메인 뉴스 앵커 (main news anchor) for a network's flagship evening program is the pinnacle of a Korean broadcast journalist's career. Network news anchors in Korea carry enormous public authority and name recognition, closer in status to a national institution than a presenter. Cheol-min's boast that Seon-wu owes his position to him underlines how politically managed these appointments can be.
Min-young spots the initials 'J·M·Y' — in Korean romanization, 주 (Ju/Joo) = J, 민 (Min) = M, 영 (Young) = Y — and realizes they could stand for 주민영 (Ju Min-young) rather than her own name 박민영 (Park Min-young). Korean name initials are taken from the romanized surname first, which is why the 'J' points to the family name Ju rather than the given name.