Vocabulary
기억이 나다
expression
Beginner
to remember, to recall (something comes to mind)
emotions family
오래된 일이라서 잘 기억이 안 나요.
It was so long ago that I can't really remember it.
눈물
noun
Beginner
tears
emotions
그 영화를 보다가 눈물이 났어요.
I cried while watching that movie.
자랑스럽다
adjective
Beginner
to be proud of, to be a source of pride
family emotions
부모님이 항상 저를 자랑스러워하세요.
My parents are always proud of me.
위안
noun
Beginner
comfort, consolation, solace
emotions family
힘들 때 음악이 큰 위안이 돼요.
Music is a great comfort when things are hard.
착하다
adjective
Beginner
to be kind, good-natured, well-behaved
family
우리 아이는 정말 착하고 예의 바른 아이예요.
Our child is really kind and well-mannered.
영정 사진
noun
Intermediate
portrait photo of the deceased displayed at a funeral
family
영정 사진 앞에 꽃을 놓아드렸어요.
I placed flowers in front of the funeral portrait.
염치
noun
Intermediate
sense of shame, conscience about one's behavior toward others
emotions
염치도 없이 또 부탁을 하다니 정말 미안해요.
I'm really sorry to ask again with no sense of shame.
임플란트
noun
Intermediate
dental implant
medical
어머니가 임플란트 시술을 받으셔서 음식을 잘 드실 수 있게 됐어요.
My mother got a dental implant so she can eat comfortably now.
실컷
adverb
Intermediate
to one's heart's content, as much as one wants
emotions
오랜만에 고향 음식을 실컷 먹었어요.
I ate my hometown food to my heart's content after a long time.
사고를 치다
expression
Intermediate
to cause trouble, to get into an incident
family
그 아이는 학교에서 사고를 많이 쳐서 선생님이 힘드세요.
That child causes a lot of trouble at school, so the teacher has a hard time.
챙기다
verb
Intermediate
to look after, to take care of, to attend to (someone's needs)
family emotions
바쁠 때도 항상 주변 사람들을 잘 챙겨 줘서 고마워요.
Thank you for always looking after the people around you even when you're busy.
흐느끼다
verb
Intermediate
to sob, to weep quietly
emotions
그 소식을 듣고 혼자 방에서 흐느꼈어요.
Upon hearing the news, I sobbed alone in my room.
상여꾼
noun
Advanced
pallbearers who carry the funeral bier and sing traditional dirges
family
상여꾼들의 구슬픈 노래 소리가 마을에 울려 퍼졌어요.
The mournful song of the pallbearers echoed throughout the village.
애달프다
adjective
Advanced
to be sorrowful, mournful, heart-achingly sad (literary/lyrical register)
emotions
그 옛날 이별 노래는 들을수록 더 애달파요.
The more you listen to that old farewell song, the more heartachingly sad it becomes.
설워하다
verb
Advanced
to grieve, to feel sorrow (archaic/poetic form of 서러워하다)
emotions
봄이 가도 설워 마세요, 또 새봄이 올 거예요.
Do not grieve as spring passes — a new spring will come again.
Key Expressions
Expressing regret about missed opportunities
다음에 보면 되지
"I can just see (them) next time"
Used to express the casual, taken-for-granted assumption that there will always be a 'next time,' often said with retrospective grief when that next time never comes.
항상 '다음에 연락하면 되지' 했는데 그게 잘못이었어요.
I always thought 'I can just reach out next time,' but that was my mistake.
-어서 어떡하지
"What am I going to do, having done / being in the state of —"
Expresses distress or helplessness about a situation that cannot be undone; often used in first-person self-reproach to convey guilt or sorrow.
시험을 망쳐서 어떡하지? 부모님한테 너무 미안해요.
What am I going to do after ruining the exam? I feel so sorry to my parents.
Reassuring someone about their worth
절대 그렇게 생각 안 해
"Absolutely does not think that way"
A firm, emphatic reassurance used to push back against someone's negative self-perception; 절대 intensifies the denial.
제가 화났다고 생각하세요? 절대 그렇게 생각 안 해요.
Do you think I'm angry? I absolutely don't think that way.
Expressing helplessness or inability to act
그깟 ~얼마나 한다고
"How much could that measly ~ even cost"
그깟 dismissively minimizes something, and 얼마나 한다고 challenges the cost rhetorically; together they express bitter self-reproach for not doing something trivially affordable.
그깟 꽃 한 다발 얼마나 한다고 생일에 못 사 줬을까요.
How much could a simple bouquet of flowers cost — why couldn't I buy it for her birthday?
Grammar Patterns
-ㄹ 줄 알았어
Mistaken Assumption / Expectation That Was Wrong
Attaches to a verb stem to express that the speaker believed something to be true, but it turned out otherwise. It is softer and more subjective than -ㄹ 것 같았어, implying a confident expectation that was ultimately disappointed. Commonly used with retrospective grief or surprise.
Practice sentences
그 가게가 이렇게 빨리 문을 닫을 줄 몰랐어요.
I didn't know that shop would close so quickly.
이렇게 어려울 줄 알았으면 시작하지 않았을 거예요.
If I had known it would be this hard, I wouldn't have started.
💡 Don't confuse -ㄹ 줄 알다 (assumption about a fact) with -ㄹ 수 있다 (ability); -ㄹ 줄 알았어 always refers to a belief the speaker held, not a capability.
-ㄹ 텐데
Reasoned Assumption / Inference with Emotional Weight
Combines -ㄹ 것이다 (conjecture) with -ㄴ데 (contrastive/trailing nuance) to express a confident inference about something the speaker cannot directly verify. In emotional contexts, it conveys empathy or belated understanding — 'she must have / would have…' — and the trailing -ㄴ데 leaves the thought open, implying an unspoken consequence.
Practice sentences
혼자 오래 기다리셨을 텐데 얼마나 힘드셨을까요.
You must have waited alone for so long — how difficult that must have been.
그 말을 들으셨다면 많이 기뻐하셨을 텐데.
If she had heard those words, she would surely have been so happy.
💡 The -ㄹ 텐데 ending often trails off to leave an implied consequence unsaid; resist completing the sentence when shadowing, as the pause itself carries emotional meaning.
-아/어서 어떡하지
Helpless Distress About an Unchangeable State
The causal -아/어서 connects a state or action to the expression 어떡하지 (what am I going to do), producing a pattern of anguished self-questioning. The speaker acknowledges an unchangeable condition (feeling sorry, having done something wrong) and expresses helplessness about how to move forward. It is often used in emotional monologue or confession.
Practice sentences
이렇게 늦어서 어떡하지? 친구가 많이 기다렸을 텐데요.
What am I going to do being this late? My friend must have waited so long.
이미 말해 버려서 어떡하지? 취소가 안 될 것 같아요.
What am I going to do now that I've already said it? I don't think I can take it back.
💡 어떡하지 is casual speech; in formal situations use 어떡하죠 — be careful not to mix registers within the same utterance.
Cultural Notes
영정 사진 (Funeral Portrait Photo)
In Korean funerals, a 영정 사진 is a formal framed portrait of the deceased displayed prominently at the altar throughout the funeral proceedings. Family members and visitors bow before it as an act of respect. Won-seok's confession that even this photo feels like a stranger's face makes his estrangement from his mother viscerally concrete within a culturally specific image.
상여 and 상여꾼 (Traditional Funeral Bier and Pallbearers)
A 상여 is an ornately decorated wooden palanquin used to carry the deceased's coffin in a traditional Korean funeral procession. The 상여꾼 are the pallbearers who carry it while singing a 상여 소리 (bier song), a mournful call-and-response dirge. Though increasingly rare in modern urban Korea, this tradition is depicted in the show as part of Gongjin's village character.
명사십리 해당화 (Funeral Bier Song Lyrics)
The song sung by the 상여꾼 references 명사십리 (a famous beach in North Korea's Wonsan, known for its beauty) and 해당화 (beach roses). The lyric '꽃 진다 잎 진다 설워 마라' ('Flowers fall, leaves fall — do not grieve') consoles the living that death is a natural cycle, like the changing of seasons. It is one of the most recognizable and emotionally evocative traditional funeral songs in Korean culture.
임플란트 비용과 효도 (Dental Implants and Filial Piety)
Dental implants are expensive in Korea (typically 1–2 million KRW or more per tooth and not covered by basic insurance for many age groups historically). Won-seok's guilt centers on the fact that he could afford to send his child abroad to study, yet never spent money on his elderly mother's dental care — a stark failure of 효도 (filial piety), the Confucian duty of caring for one's parents. Du-sik having quietly paid for it reframes the moment as an act of profound, silent love.