#Lessons In Living

[simphellscape]

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13TH, 2020 - 2:38AM // SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13TH, 2020 - 10:49AM // next | tw: cursing, vomit

This is the second time you’ve found yourself waking up on your couch, wrapped up in Kei. This is the way you two seem to handle intense nights, indulging in each other’s touch for a few hours. The nagging feeling that this moment is fleeting, that Kei will inevitably retract and return to his strict no-touching policy, is agonizing. Even after what happened last night, you can’t shake the thought. You’re almost afraid to open your eyes; if you do, the moment might immediately end. You can’t handle that, not yet. So, you feign sleep, focusing instead on the feeling of his arms folded securely around you, on the way your legs are tangled together. The generated heat from hours of such close contact is intense, but it further grounds you to him. You sigh into the cloth of Kei’s t-shirt, sinking deeper into his embrace.

You’re so engrossed in your thoughts that you jump when his calloused fingertips brush against your cheek, brushing your hair away from your face.

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry,” he whispers, voice husky from sleep, “I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.”

You debate on whether or not to speak. While you fear that doing so would begin the chain of events that cause him to leave you, you also can’t help but want to continue hearing his voice. The latter eventually wins out.

“I wasn’t sleeping,” you murmur, finally opening your eyes and peering up at him.

As your gaze settles, you think about how good it is to know that you didn’t miraculously invent the sensation of Kei’s body enveloping you. He’s wearing his usual pleasant smirk, amber eyes half-lidded with morning haze. Any casual viewer wouldn’t be able to notice anything amiss, but you’re able to notice the slight differences. His lips are still slightly pinker from kissing you, and the hold he has on you seems to have tightened now that you’re awake. Maybe, just maybe, he won’t run away this time.

“M’kay,” he coos, continuing to stroke your hair.

That dread you were feeling is slowly overpowered by a wave of hope and confusion. He’s conscious and sober, and aware that you are too, and he hasn’t made any sort of attempt to run away yet. You’re glad, no doubt about that, but the signals he’s sending are all out of whack. His usual contactless approach is far from what’s happening right now. As much as this baffles you, you don’t want it to end.

“This is nice,” you breathe.

Kei hums in response, his eyes searching your tired face. He seems to be contemplating something. Don’t go, you repeat silently, please don’t go.

You feel his core muscles shift beneath you, and your stomach immediately churns. You expected him to leave, to untangle himself from you. Instead, much to your delight, he simply leans forward to plant a kiss on your forehead.

Though it’s brief, it’s infectiously warm. His lips are feathery soft against your temple, blessing it with a short-lived, tantalizing fever. Your heart practically does a backflip in your chest. Before you can even breathe again, it’s over. He resumes stroking your hair, as if he didn’t just set your entire body on fire. It’s silly, the reaction you’re having to such a simple act of affection, but after last night -- no, after the past month, all of it is totally involuntary.

Your mind wanders to the night you met Kei. You remember how scared you were by the idea of him. Your heart knew before your brain could even try to understand; he was meant to be yours. Whether that was for a brief while or for the rest of time, whether it was platonic or not, it didn’t matter. It still doesn’t. You love him all the same, and you have from the moment you laid eyes on him. It feels important that you express this right now, while the tenderness allows for it, but you lack the facilities to. So, you settle.

“So last night was… something.”

His pleasant expression drops, and his hand pauses near the crown of your head.

“Something good, I hope,” he replies, a nervous edge to his tone.

“Oh, yes! It was good, yes,” you scramble, reaching for Kei’s hand and encouraging it to continue caressing you.

“Good,” he sighs, responding to your touch, “you scared me there for a second, birdie.”

“Birdie?” you question.

Kei had never called you that before. He usually either called you by your name or other choice terms. The ones that come to your mind are ‘big-head’ or ‘butt-face’. You questioned those at first too, but he insisted that he called you those things out of love. “If I mean it, you’ll know,” he said.

“Huh?”

“You called me ‘birdie’ just now.”

“I did?”

You nod slowly, biting back laughter.

“Well, that’s embarrassing for me,” he sighs.

You let your cackling loose, causing Kei to giggle too.

“Listen, it just slipped out!”

“It’s fine,” you reassure through your fit, “I thought it was kind of cute.”

“Yeah, your laughter really shows me that!” he fires back sarcastically.

“No, really!” you insist, “it was adorable and not at all something I’ll bring up every day for the rest of time.”

It seems like all the two of you do together is laugh, you think as the two of you devolve into uncontrollable giggling. It takes the pair of you a fair chunk of time to compose yourselves, but soon you’re wiping the tears away. With a long sigh, Kei tucks loose strands of hair behind your ears.

“Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” he declares.

“Yeah, I could go for breakfast!”

“Excellent,” he smiles, giving you a quick peck on the lips before getting up.

“Woah, woah, woah,” you contest, “hold on!”

“What?”

“That was lame as hell, Kei.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Just a little smooch? Where’s the passion?”

You don’t really know where all of this is coming from. This situation is entirely foreign to you, so it’s natural to have new urges to act on. You never knew you were such a tease, though.

He cocks an eyebrow in response. The seconds of pause he’s taking are beginning to make you nervous.

“Oh?” he returns as he slinks back toward the couch, “I guess you’ll have to teach me, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

A mixture of nerves and butterflies settles in your stomach. You’re pleased that he’s matching your energy, to put it lightly. You’ve never been in the position where you’ve had to make the first move, however. As he settles himself above you, supporting himself by planting his arms on either side of your head, you resolve to lie in the bed you’ve made for yourself. You bite your lip instinctually as you search his face. The smug look on it, the glimmering honey-pot eyes, the galaxy of faint freckles… it’s almost too much.

“Well?” he drawls.

“No,” you breathe, “this is part of it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You have to build tension,” you pause, reaching to meet him slowly, “Make them excited.”

As you approach him, you notice the breath fanning across your face start to quicken. You are starting to mirror his enthusiasm, but you continue at your glacial pace.

“You have to make them want it,” you finish.

Finally, you meet him. You take your time at the start, taking everything in. The difference between this kiss and your first one with Kei is remarkable. Last night, it felt like a bomb had been set off in the confines of your rib cage. This one feels more like a match dropped on a trail of gasoline. You see it in the movies all the time -- the villain drizzles the contents of a gas canister from their target to a safe distance away, they drop the lit match, and the fire starts. A perfect trail of fire travels to the unassuming building, lazily at first. Then the pace picks up. Then, without fail, the building catches fire and explodes. With your eyes closed and your lips leisurely exploring, the image of the trail of fire is clear in your mind. You match its careful pace, allowing the curls of the flame to guide the way you move your mouth. You realize that this plan is working when you feel Kei’s encouraging hum rumble against you, followed by his body shifting down to meet yours. With his hands free, they’re roaming you, seemingly making up for lost time. They are their own trail of fire, calloused fingertips leaving what feels like pleasant burns wherever they graze. You find your own fingertips tangled in Kei’s hair, your own legs tangled with his. He nips at your bottom lip, begging you to give him more. So you do.

And you do.

And you do.

Until the familiar chime of his phone ringing breaks the euphoria.

You’re alarmed at the speed at which you come hurtling back to the planet Earth, as you open your eyes and find Kei resting his forehead against yours. He’s panting and groaning.

“Now?” he complains.

“Duty calls, number two.”

“You know,” he says, reluctantly getting up, “I’ve heard that Americans call shitting ‘going number two’.”

“No wonder they’re so obsessed with winning,” you muse, earning a chuckle from Kei.

He fishes his phone out of his pocket, and his brow furrows upon seeing the caller ID. The atmosphere of the room, which was previously dense with excitement, is now immediately turned tense. You suddenly feel inexplicably uncomfortable looking in Kei’s direction, so you find your gaze shifted to the floor.

“I gotta take this,” he mutters, rushing to your balcony.

You simply nod, even though his back is turned to you before you can even register his leaving.

____________________________________________________________________________

There are thousands of different ways this could go; Keigo knows that. It seems too early for Dabi to remind him about the meeting he’s supposed to attend today. Hell, it seems too early for Dabi to even be awake. In the time between telling his little white lie and showing up at your doorstep last night, Keigo considered the possibility of the League finding him out, and planned accordingly. He just hoped that he wouldn’t have to tell another lie to cover up his original lie.

As he shuts the glass door to (Y/N)’s balcony, he inhales deeply and answers the phone.

“Yes?” he groans.

“You have a little too much fun at your… ahem… press event last night, bird brain?”

Keigo can practically hear the air quotes around the words “press event”. Even if it’s a simple deviation in Dabi’s speaking pattern, which happens occasionally to everyone, since he can’t see the body language of him, Keigo has to assume that he’s been caught. He wasn’t looking forward to enacting this plan, this second unnecessary lie, but a part of him is excited to indulge his inner child.

“No, I didn’t go.”

“Oh, is that so? Care to tell me why you didn’t turn up at our spot then?”

“I’ve got food poisoning. Didn’t think you’d appreciate me losing my lunch all over your fresh linens.”

“Should have brought a barf bag.”

“Then I would’ve needed a barf bag for both ends, if you catch my drift. I’ve been hanging out real close to my bathroom since about eight last night.”

“Eight seems a bit late for a press event to start, don’t you think?”

“The event actually started at six-thirty, but I was feeling nauseous. I figured a late arrival would -- hang on.”

Keigo holds his phone a reasonable distance from his head and starts making retching noises. Funnily enough, a brief section of the espionage training he received as a teenager was spent learning how to feign illness in a convincing manner. He never thought he would use it, though. As he returns the phone to his ear, he makes a conscious effort to make his voice deeper and more strained.

“Sorry, did you hear that?”

“You know, there’s a mute button on most smartphones.”

“I was a little distracted, forgive me. Listen, I haven’t forgotten about what you said last night. I’ll be there, just give me an hour to take a Pepto or something.”

“Good. Wear a fucking diaper if you have to.”

With that, the line goes dead. Keigo sighs, understanding that the worst is most likely over. He knows that the League will remember this, however. In order to make it up to them, and the HPSC, he can’t be absent from any more meetings. Even if he actually is puking his guts out.

Even if it involves you.

He gathers himself and prepares to tell yet another lie.

Upon reentering your apartment, he finds your spot on the couch empty. His stomach drops.

The possibility that the League employed surveillance on him that he hadn’t detected had crossed his mind, but he didn’t take that thought very seriously. They’re a small team, with moderate investigative skills. Enough to fool a lot of people, but not Keigo. If this is real, if this is actually happening, then they are much more skilled than he gave them credit for.

He’s broken from his spiral of thought when he hears the clanging of pots and pans from the kitchen. Slowly, quietly, he rounds the corner.

There you are, turning on your rice cooker. Humming a tune. Not a worry in the world.

He swears that he will keep it that way, as long as he possibly can.

“Hey,” he sighs.

You look up from your task and beam at him.

“Hey, you! I was just about to make some food. Hungry?”

“Yeah, but uh…”

He doesn’t want to do this. He really doesn’t want to do this.

“That was the commission. It’s urgent. I gotta go.”

A look of concern washes over your face.

“I can’t really discuss it, but don’t worry. I’ll be just fine.”

He offers you a reassuring smile, the best one he can muster.

“Alright,” you concede, placing your utensils down and making your way towards him, “be safe.”

When you reach him, you place a soft hand on his cheek. Without thinking, he leans into the touch and closes his eyes. Meetings with Dabi put him on edge, and lying to you makes him hurt, but you seem to have a healer’s touch. You stand on your tip toes and plant a delicate kiss on his nose. It seems like that heals him a little, too.

But when he collects his things and walks out of your front door, the wound rips wide open all over again.

[friendlessghoul]

Buster Keaton in Lessons in Living - Jeep commercial (1960)

[forestechos]

As a 31 year old I’m telling you, life does not end after your twenties nor are you old in your 30s. I might have a smile line or two and some new aches in my body but there is so much more life to live. If you are feeling the inevitable passing of time a little more lately, I just want you to know that it is okay if you don’t have it all figured out yet by 18, 22, 25, or any age after. And you certainly don’t have to fit any mold that society has placed in front of you. Go at your own pace, be kind to yourself.

I promise there is time left for you.

[tjeromebaker]

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving presentation, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. For more on Randy, visit:…

[reality-detective]

World Trade Center 7, a 47-story skyscraper, "collapsed" at 5:20 PM on September 11, 2001, despite not being struck by a plane.

WTC 7 housed the following tenants:

⁃ CIA

⁃ IRS

⁃ Secret Service

⁃ Department of Defense

⁃ NYC Office of Emergency Management

⁃ Securities and Exchange Commission

The BBC reported that Building 7 had collapsed 25 minutes before it actually did. 🤔

[devonhale]

actually one of the most beautiful things about hacks is that we can be changed by anyone and at any period in our lives. deborah was in her forties when ava was born. she’d lived a life longer than ava’s before ava even existed yet they both have had a profound effect upon each other. it’s never too late. you haven’t met all of the people who are going to change you yet.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Not beating the allegations.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[hinamie]

playing around w slightly different hair renders

[beccawise7]

Late Night Thoughts.

Life... 💜🖤

[friendlessghoul]

Buster Keaton in Lessons in Living - Jeep commercial (1960)

[selfhealingmoments]

[zed-sabre]

there are many inspiring themes in witch hat, but i connected the most with agott…

[wolfienation]

when you really really think about it, the elphie who sings for good is the elphie who might have stayed and the glinda who sings for good is the glinda who might have gotten on the broom and they will both spend the rest of their lives missing each other and mourning what could have been all the while knowing there is no world in which they make different decisions because they are who they are and in the moment of defying gravity neither of them have been trialed by the world as harshly as they have been by for good

and isn't that just the fucking tragedy of it all. that the harsh hand of destiny said "you will be a revolutionary, a martyr of your cause" and "you will be the pride of your people" and together they'll have nothing more than one short day for a lifetime of fun to hold onto for the rest of their lives

[reality-detective]

Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to finally withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization...

Official Testimony Bill Gates was behind the World Health Organization global power grab

The WHO also involved in “WHO sex crime scandal, where 83 WHO staff has sexually exploited girls and women — including rape — victims as young as 13”

“Gates bought the WHO, and they now recommend his products. It is that simple. WHO's current sugar daddy is Bill Gates, who has made billions out of his investment in the same vaccines that WHO promotes.”

This official testimony is absolutely INSANE🤔

[lej222]

Supernatural Involvement and Ominous Signs in ASLFUA

For a while, many readers have theorized that there is some kind of a higher power/higher being in ASLFUA, and looking at the latest episodes it seems to have been confirmed. With this post, I've tried to gather every instance of the higher power's implied presence and all the ominous scenes in the story. I also included foreshadowing scenes that could have made Miae aware of certain things if she had paid attention because coincidences are important in the story, and certain moments that were defining in the plot. The list contains spoilers for the newest KR episodes and it keeps being updated.

Episode 2 :

Miae is reading a book in the library about how the last day of 1999 will be the end of the world: "'1999, a terrifying overlord is coming...the end of the human race.." -> this might be a reference to the famous prophecy of Nostradamus in which in the 7th month of 1999 a great king of terror would descend from the skies (which makes me think...is it July in the story right now?)

The Hwang family's phone stops working

Miae's dresser breaks and therefore she has to take out the trash, where she sees Cheol crying

"This boy is about to be this girl's most special person, someone whom she will never be able to forget."

Episode 3

Miae and her mother visit the Buddha statue and Miae's wish is not to be in the same class with Cheol - it doesn't come true.

Miae, Cheol and Jisu all become classmates in their last year. Miae and Cheol become deskmates by coincidence.

Episode 4

Cheol's furniture becomes Miae's, along with the contents of his dresser, something only he knows about

Episode 5

Yunhui calls Miae on their new cordless phone, the line is interrupted by another conversation, "Did you get the present I sent you?" - it sounds like a message to Miae from the higher power about Cheol

Episode 8

Miae ruins her bangs, her mother says she should do something about her hair - the first time we are told Miae should go to a hairdresser to fix it

Hwanggeum Academy uses corporal punishment - might be relevant later on?

Miae has to go to karaoke so she gives up on going to the hair salon (this foreshadowing is super crazy btw)

Episode 9

Cheol is compared to the protagonist of the comic Miae reads, 'My First Love Next Door Is Number 1' - gets into trouble and transfers, fights the school bully and wins, nicknamed Lucifer, has a facial scar, lives next door

As Miae is thinking about Cheol, her thoughts are interrupted by a cockroach in the classroom

Episode 11

Miae notes how strange it is that she keeps seeing Cheol while they didn't bump into each other the previous year (just like how Jisu later keeps commenting how strange he keeps meeting Miae) - Miae acknowledges the higher power

Yunhui's pager says "between friends goodbye"

Episode 12

Miae has a weird feeling when she's talking to Cheol's shoe as if it understands what she's saying

Episode 15

In her dream, Miae remembers Cheol crying and her making a wish with a stone tower about how she wants to be his friend. The phone suddenly rings, the TV becomes static and there's a storm outside despite the weather forecast not saying anything about it. The other end of the phone is silent and the lights go out.

Episode 17

Cheol's shoe gets smudged with ink so Miae cannot give it back to him. She cannot concentrate on her practice test, foreshadowing her involvement with Cheol's academy.

Episode 21

Miae again remembers some memories about Cheol saying he doesn't want to be her friend while she's sleeping

Side note: while Soonkki is a great writer, there's some inconsistency about Jisu's seating arrangement. I think she always meant him to sit in Block 1, that's why we got limited panels of that area of the classroom, but his position kept changing until his official introduction. Here, he should have been sitting in front of Seonghan, but there's another boy in that seat. In episode 23, we get a panel of Block1 again, and there's a boy who looks like Jisu from behind in that.

She again remembers her time with Cheol while sleeping on the bus

Episode 24

Daebak Academy notebook says "The teacher is spoon-feeding you, so why can't you pass" -> the higher power is giving hints to Miae, why can't she understand them?

Episode 29

Miae thinks about how she doesn't bump into Cheol as much as before, we get a close-up of the shoe and the Daebak Academy notebook

Episode 37

Miae falls on Cheol while playing soccer

Episode 39

Miae and Cheol are arguing but still bump into each other because of their parents

While Miae thinks about how Cheol should smile at people, she almost gets hit by a ball but Cheol saves her.

Episode 40

Cheol goes to Miae's house to do their homework. Miae's mother says she wonders if it will rain before she leaves. Cheol tries to change the lightbulb in Miae's room, but the lights go out because of the storm. Miae thinks "again?" and they fall on each other. She tells Cheol they should be friends.

Episode 41

Cheol agrees to be Miae's friend and we see a flashback of young Miae wishing they would be friends. While they are doing their homework the rain stops. Miae says planes even fly in the rain and Cheol replies that airplanes fly above the clouds.

Episode 42

Miae answers their phone and the line is interrupted again. Someone thanks their boss for the present and says they will do well on their own from now. -> is it a sign Miae should do well on her own after the hints?

Interesting to note that every time Miae might be involved with the higher power, certain objects in her room are highlighted - Cheol's shoe, the lamp, the notebooks. They all give signs to Miae that she keeps ignoring.

Episode 43

Cheol and Yonghui point out that Miae should get a haircut. Miae ends up cutting it herself instead of going to a salon.

Episode 45

Miae wishes upon a star instead of a plane so that the presentation in class will go okay. This actually comes true, as also noted by the narrator in ep 46.

Episode 46

Daebak Academy booklet says "nothing comes easy"

Episode 47

Something I've noticed is that throughout the story Miae keeps thinking she forgot something, and there's usually a situation that seems like the answer to it. Here, it turns out she forgot about Jinseop's homework. And Taekwang's song is about how someone cannot do both things at the same time. It was the same when she forgot about her homework while playing soccer. Forgetting about things is a recurring plot point for Miae, which culminates in the Jisu subplot where we learn Miae completely forgot about his existence even though she didn't have many friends who were boys.

Episode 50

Cheol's father wants to take a picture of Cheol and Miae, but Cheol refuses

Episode 51

Miae again cuts her own hair and wonders if she cut it too straight

Episode 55

Cheol kicks Miae's pencil into Jisu's chair (side note: you can see here again how Jisu's seating arrangement was inconsistent, he should have been closer to the window)

Episode 56

Miae gets sent out to the corridor with Jisu

Miae's friends talk about handsome boys and someone mentions the number1 student (Jisu)

Episode 60

Jisu becomes Miae's folk dance partner - the first time Cheol and Miae are not doing something together

Episode 61

Hwanggeum Academy booklet says "there's nothing you can't do if you put the work in, do not expect a miracle" when Miae is struggling with the dance

Episode 65

Cheol's father takes a picture of Cheol and Miae after the sports festival

Episode 66

In Miae's dream, Cheol's sister says for a while means 5-6 yrs, Miae counts she will be in middle school by then. There's also a memory of Miae running after Cheol, saying "wait for me".

Miae's mother tells her to get a haircut but Miae replies she needs a bigger allowance for it.

The narrator says Miae should watch where she's walking after she bumps into Cheol.

Episode 67

Miae loses her name tag and Jisu finds it

Episode 70

Miae wonders how her wishes never come true, but remembers she also made one with the stone tower as a kid, but cannot recall what it was about.

Episode 71

Miae's mom notes their phone keeps ringing since yesterday. The day before Miae wanted to tease Cheol with how she heard him saying he "loved her" in the shop and she saw him shirtless the same night.

Miae doesn't realize it was Jisu who called her a pervert

Episode 72

Miae notices someone wearing her name tag (Jisu), but doesn't find the culprit

Episode 75

Cheol wants to ask Miae something, but the homeroom teacher interrupts. Miae and Jisu get called to the teachers' room and have to do cleaning duty together for a week.

Episode 76

We see Miae's mom at a hair salon - could the lady in orange be Jisu's mother? who knows

Episode 77

Cheol stands up for Miae, but when Honggyu asks if they are dating, they both vehemently deny it. It suddenly starts raining.

Episode 78

Miae and cheol promise to be friends for real, forever. The narration comments, "But will they end up regretting their promise?". The rain stops. "1999, the final year of the century is half over" -> Miae's story is half over at this point. I have pointed out this before, but the series seems to be about the transition period between childhood and young adulthood, symbolized by the last year before the new millennium. Hence the title, 'green apple academy'

In her dream, Miae remembers asking Cheol if they are friends. She is awoken by their phone. the Daebak Academy notebook says "you are in danger if you are relaxed" and we see a girl talking to Cheol.

Episode 81

Cheol and Miae fall on each other and almost kiss, but the phone rings. Later, they do end up in the same position with an accidental kiss.

Episode 82

Miae wants to confront Cheol about the kiss and gets embarrassed, but her actions are interrupted when the trash bag she gave Jisu splits open, spilling its contents. Miae runs to him to collect it.

Episode 83

While Miae talks to her friends, she thinks back on her memories with Cheol and the narration says "I always liked.." and Miae looks surprised by it.

Episode 86

Interesting detail that Cheol doesn't know why Miae keeps looking at airplanes. If we assume she has a reason for doing it from the past, it's likely not related to Cheol.

Episode 87

Miae uses the trashbag as an excuse to run away from Cheol, repeating how she has to throw it out. All of a sudden, Jisu appears and takes it out of her hand, giving her a chance to run. It's just my personal theory that the trashbag here symbolizes Miae's vulnerability and reluctance to face her feelings, and Jisu takes it from her hand. It makes sense when we remember how his words made her think about her actions when she wanted to interrupt the confession. It's a great early foreshadowing that Jisu might play an important role in Miae's growth story as her voice of reason.

Episode 89

Cheol and Miae take photos together in a photo booth, first with Jinseop and Song-I, then the two of them alone. We don't know if Miae still has her pictures, but we can assume she somehow lost them during running around from the bullies because we never see them again. Cheol gives her a new name tag in the next episode.

Episode 95

Cheol gifts Miae an airplane model for her birthday. I personally believe this episode marks the end of the first part of the story and it's a turning point, but more about this under ep96.

While Miae leaves for school, their phone suddenly rings and her mom answers it. Miae sees posters about love on her way to school. For the first time, Jisu arives early for cleaning duty.

Episode 96

The series has had 2 symbolic illustrations at the end of 2 episodes. The first one was at the end of ep2, when Cheol and Miae's story started in the present:

Miae is offering a green apple to Cheol - a biblical allusion, here, the green apple probably signifies how Miae helps Cheol in the first part of the story to mature and grow as a person with her own knowledge.

This illustration comes at the end of ep96. Like I mentioned, I believe this marks the start of the second half of the story which focuses on Miae's growth as a person. Space is an important concept in the series, Miae also has planet stickers on the wall of her room,has a charm on her bag, etc.

"16 years old. An age much like the universe." "16 years old. An age where it's like you're thrown into space." - highlights the narration.

But why is it compared to space? We have the illustration right after Jisu splashes water on Miae's face and Cheol wakes up from his dream. In my opinion, it's because this is where these kids' limited worlds start to expand. In part 1, Cheol and Miae were mainly together, but as you grow up you start to feel like you're just one insignificant part of a greater whole. You might feel like you're the center of the universe when you're a teenager, and that the world is ending when you experience negative emotions, but as the illustration shows us, it's not just Miae and Cheol standing alone in the universe. There are other people, facing different directions, but they are all interconnected by an invisible force. Miae is looking at Cheol, but Jisu is standing in her shadow- because even though she was not aware of him, Jisu had his own life happening parallel to what we saw in part1, and this is where he starts to have an intersection with Miae. If there is a higher power in the story, it is aware of all these connections and talks about youth in a nostalgic way. The sense that these moments are fleeting is always present in the story, however, connections formed between individuals will always have a lasting impact, just like how the universe will continue to exist. Being thrown into space might feel like losing your footing, but here it's the personal relationships that ground these teenagers and make them stay close to Earth.

Episode 98

The teacher tells Miae to cut her hair after Jisu takes the blame for ruining the plant.

Cheol is acting strange because of his dream, and while Jisu looks at Miae the narration box says: "16 years old. An age riddled with the unknown, just like the universe."

Episode 99

Miae's hair gets stuck in the zipper of Cheol's bag and he pulls it out, ruining her bangs in the process. They go to the infirmary after Miae gets scratched by the zipper.

Episode 100

At the countryside, while Miae picked a flower she thought how nice it would be if Cheol came to her school - and it became true. She thinks how it was so strange -> Miae again unknowingly acknowledges the higher power when it comes to Cheol

Episode 101

It's raining and the TV is not working in Cheol's home. He remembers taking a picture with Miae in the countryside. He asks his father about the picture on the sports day -> the data was lost. Miae gets grounded by her mother and she wants her to quit the academy.

Episode 102

I've mentioned symbolic objects in the story, but this one was noted by other readers as well: in ep 101, Miae accidentally drops the chalkboard eraser out of the window and Jisu fails to catch it - but Cheol does. However, in this episode Miae tosses it back to Jisu before saying she hopes they'll never see each other again (it's the first, but not the last time she declares it).

Cheol fails to convince Miae's mom about the academy -> Miae's mom points out Miae's grades have been dropping since last year. She makes her stance clear - she wants Miae to study.

Episode 103

It's raining and Miae cannot open Cheol's drawer in her room.

She tries to cut her hair, but the phone rings. On the other line, Miae hears someone saying "I only did what I did because you wanted it so bad, but you screwed up that chance! You don't deserve that project, I'm going to hand it to someone else." -> the first time the higher power tries to directly say Miae is late

Miae's mom cuts her hair instead of sending her to a salon...

Miae loses the name tag Cheol gave her

Episode 104

Jisu says "see you again" to Miae (and will keep saying for a while lol). Miae points out she never wanted to see him again.

Episode 106

After the teacher discovers their conversations in class, Miae and Cheol get separated and Miae becomes Jisu's deskmate. Miae and Cheol are not allowed to interact until the final exams are over.

Hwanggeum Academy's notebook remarks "Do you regret it now?"

Episode 107

Miae dreams about the flower from the countryside and a voice says she should hurry up and do what she wants about her wish if she remembers. She doesn't remember and the voice gets angry, Cheol appears and crushes the flower, telling her if she doesn't remember she should just forget it. The voice remarks Cheol is angry because Miae is late.

Episode 111

Jisu, who has also become aware of the coincidences, tells Cheol he's not the only one having something special with Miae.

When Miae calls Jisu her friend from the same class and tells him he should learn for himself, Jisu tries to say something, but he is interrupted by Cheol.

Episode 112

Miae thinks about their bet and how she should ask something serious, something more than friends do from Cheol, and we get a bunch of error messages. Cheol's dream is all fuzzy.

Jisu wins the bet, but we never get to know his wish because Miae gets angry at him.

Episode 115

The narration points out Cheol has changed and matured a lot, is it Miae's turn?

Episode 116

We see some posters about a summer festival, the forest in Midsummer Night's Dream and how everything is the product of coincidence.

The forest in Shakespeare's play is dominated by the supernatural - what we have in common with this story is the forest Miae and Cheol played together as kids, and obviously the involvement of a higher power. The coincidences poster is possibly a reference to Carl Jung's Synchronicity, a concept that states that seemingly meaningful coincidences have a deeper meaning, they don't have a rational explanation - almost like destiny, a deeper order in the universe. It's a connection between one's psyche and the material world (so you have to notice and acknowledge the deeper meaning of these coincidences in order to experience synchronicity). Jung used this to argue for the existence of the paranormal. For example, if you cannot decide something, you might come across a book on the topic. What a coincidence, right? In this interpretation, everything is interconnected in the universe, and we are a part of this web of connections. So those coincidences...were actually not coincidences. -> Hmmmmm.....I wonder.....meaningful coincidences, the universe, connections...why do they sound familiar??? BECAUSE OUR STORY IS EXACTLY ABOUT THIS NOTION! Who notices these coincidences? Miae about Cheol, Jisu about Miae....One has to be open to the possibility of the connection between our inner world and the outside world, only then they can start to notice the signs the universe is sending them. Soonkki, you deserve my applause! Because it was exactly what I said about the art at the end of ep 96 and the placement of the characters. Mind? Blown!

Miae thinks that she feels something is wrong

Yunhui's pager says friends goodbye

Jisu gets involved in the Yonghui-Yunhui storyline by coincidence

Episode 117

We see all the coincidences from Jisu's perspective and how he became aware of them. And what does he say about them? That they are fascinating and kind of funny! My boy Jisu got the synchronicity message.

This is the 3rd time Miae and Jisu didn't hold hands. The first time Miae pretended to help him up, only for him to fall back. Then Jisu held out his hand after the exam, but she didn't take it. Here, he again reaches out and Miae doesn't take his hand. Remember this later!

Episode 118

Someone steps on Cheol's bag, and he's worried it might be Taeuk

Jisu wants to join in another bet in exchange for his help

Episode 119

Jisu gets involved in the Shim storyline, and as we know from later he picks up the cigarettes to get revenge on him

Episode 122

Miae learns that Cheol rejected Seonyeong and the lights flicker in her room

She cannot remember her dream. The narration says that she should have realized that something changed.

Episode 123

Miae notes that she experienced the kiss in the comic book with Cheol

Jisu almost catches her, but Cheol pushes him away

Episode 126

The parents are having dinner together at a pig feet restaurant and toast for the future of their children. The TV is not working, and a boy who looks like Jisu tries to fix it.

Miae kisses Cheol

Episode 127

Miae has a dream again in the white dress. As she realizes she might like Cheol, the voice says she's too late and there's no use regretting it.

Episode 129

Miae remembers that they took a picture in the countryside together and wants to take one now. She makes a wish to an airplane about how she just wants one photo, and remarks that the planes never granted her wish before. Spoiler, they won't this time, either.

Miae chooses to take the picture with Cheol. The narration box says "she's always done whatever she sets her mind to. That has always been one of her better attributes. But Mi-ae, it seems as though you keep forgetting something. I told you, you're too late."

The pager's message means idiot, cancelled and it suddenly starts raining. Maie and Cheol cannot take their photo and Cheol cannot give her back the hairpin she dropped a few eps ago.

Episode 132

Graduation photos were postponed until the second semester

In Miae's dream, the voice says she's all over the place and cannot decide what she wants from Cheol. In her memory, Miae wishes at the stone tower that Cheol would like her back. The voice angrily remarks how it must not mean much to her.

Episode 133

While Cheol and Miae are looking at each other, Miae is smacked in the face by a flyer. Later while they are riding the bike, Cheol almost says she looks pretty but he is hit in the face with a flyer that belonged to Jisu.

Episode 134

Miae takes the cigarettes from Jisu and puts them in her backpack

While Jisu and Miae look at each other, the narration box says "Well. this is what we would call fate. What do you think?" Miae can sense the voice and dismisses it.

Jisu again says "see you later" and Miae answers let's not, but Jisu replies they never know and it would be fun.

On the radio in Miae's room there's a voice speaking, asking if it was a success and how there is something you can't stop thinking about. "A friend? The fact that you weren't wrong? Whatever it is, I don't think it's such a bad thing to obsess over it a little bit. I hope you have no regrets about it."

Episode 135

Miae's eyebrow and bangs are so ruined she has to finally go to a hair salon. Yunhui gives her money and says there's a cheap place where she can go. It turns out Jisu's mother is a hairdresser and after realizing she is Jisu's friend, she doesn't ask for money. So if anyone ever wondered why Miae kept ruining her hair in the story, here's the answer....

a little bit of strange wording here:

The narration says "Now that I think about it, this was about the time..wait,no, it was a little bit earlier that things started to go wrong, little by little. You two were completely oblivious, though. Just you two."

Miae's mother goes to the academy. One theory I can give on this is that Miae's family might be moving. She wished for it at the start of the story, mentions it in a later episode as well. Who knows ~

Episode 138

Miae doesn't tell Cheol her feelings because of her pride as she feels like she would lose first

Miae has a feeling as if something is trying to make her look bad in front of Cheol and her gun suddenly starts working

Everybody forgot to buy the picture they took together in ep 139

Episode 140

After conveying their feelings indirectly to each other, Miae tells Cheol they cannot date right now because her mom wouldn't allow it. She plans to go to the same high school, university, everything and thinks there's no one to stop them so nothing can go wrong.

Episode 141

Cheol imagines high school together with Miae and their friends

Every time Cheol is flustered, he accidentally drinks his sister's coffee and he cannot sleep at night..in a story where dreams are relevant I'm sure this is just a coincidence, right???🧐🙃😏

Miae says they should not be obvious before the entrance exam and they start to think of it as a competition

Someone watches them from the street

Episode 144-145

We get everything from Cheol's POV

Cheol got his scar because he wanted to give Miae the romance book she liked before they left and he fell on the stone tower

The picture his dad took of them is about a young Cheol accidentally kneeling with flowers in his hands, the same flowers from Miae's dream, in front of Miae. This picture was in the book Cheol and his family kept.

Cheol realized the book was in his dresser that is now in Miae's room, the one she couldn't open before

Episode 146

Miae sees two flyers in the newspaper, one is about how a student still didn't give it up, the other is about changing one's car

On the street, the same car ads keep flying after her in the wind

Miae goes with Yonghui to wait in a line and the same flyers are all over the place

Episode 147

Miae wants to call Cheol, but Jisu stops her. Miae notices how often they have met during vacation, and Jisu says these coincidences are fun. He remarks it's almost like as if some higher power is involved (!!). Miae is standing on the car ad, they look down on it with Jisu, then she kicks it away. Jisu tells her he has a feeling they will meet again, but Miae hopes they won't.

The academy is also full of the car ads and Miae falls on them

Miae thinks that for a while she's had a feeling as if something wants to get between her and Cheol, but brushes it off

Miae ends up with a bubble gum in her hair and goes to Jisu's house to fix it. Jisu tells her she should stay because he is bored, and there is a car ad on a stool.

Episode 148

We see some of Jisu's childhood memories and he was called a magpie by Miae which was a symbolic choice (I also made a post about it). Jisu in this story is the grateful magpie.

Miae and Jisu "touch hands" for the first time when they high-five (I wrote about how their hand hold never happened before)

After spotting some men smoking, Jisu tells Miae to go inside (one of them might be his father?)

Episode 149

Miae finally remembers Jisu

the narration boxs keeps saying how Jisu is cool and showing heart-thumping sounds and Miae is confused about these strange things

Miae not remembering Jisu was an important plot point considering she recalled everyone else from her past. As I theorized, memories and fate seem to be intertwined, the synchronicity theory also supports this. Synchronicity happens when seemingly unrelated events coincide and they become significant to you. It's easy to see why Jisu was aware of this notion, but Miae was not - because Miae had no idea about those coincidences other than meeting Jisu randomly. Him being her classmate, being the one who found her pencil, who helped her in the crowd, found her name tag, etc. - only Jisu knew about these. But right now, Miae was made aware that they knew each other in the past - a pretty big coincidence.

So now that Miae might have kickstarted her own fate, the question is whether she will be able to fight it or if there are certain things bound to happen no matter what. Is the narrator omnipotent and omniscient? So many questions that will hopefully get answered.

Episode 150

For the first time, Miae says she and Jisu will see each other again sometime. Before this, it was always Jisu who said it and Miae would reply that she didn't want to meet him again.

Miae remembers Jisu transferring, but doesn't know why he singled her out (so she will probably recall more memories later)

As Miae leaves Jisu's house, the car ads are flying in the air around her

Jisu enrolls at the academy and for the first time he says it's not a coincidence

Episode 155

Hwani tells her mother it would be great if they could keep being neighbours with Miae because she's fun. After a pause, Cheol's mother agrees.

Jisu keeps telling Miae she's a "traitor" or "bat" (depending on the translation, meaning she keeps secrets from others like the Yonghui Yunhui situation and the fact that she went to Jisu's house) and she might get into trouble because of that

Episode 156

The narrator directly communicates with Miae again, and informs us about Miae's thoughts. It makes heart-thumping sounds when she's with Jisu just like in previous episodes, but Miae ignores them.

Jisu again says how the coincidences are so fun. He counts to three until the teacher interrupts Miae and Cheol's bickering (similarly to Taekwang in ep 158)

When Jisu tells Miae he'll go out of the room to let her talk with Cheol, Miae thinks she'll talk to him regardless of anyone's interference and we get a close-up of an academy notebook saying 'NO' and a plane flying in the sky.

Episode 158

Flashforward in the episode to a scene with Cheol leaving Miae at the academy while a storm is coming and Miae looks like she's about to cry

An hour earlier in the story the dark clouds are already gathering (I mentioned how rainy weather is always connected to the change in Miae and Cheol's relationship, and how it's usually an ominous sign). After seeing Jisu's flustered face, Cheol tells Miae that he wants to change the lightbulb in her house before she gets hurt. The lights at the academy are highlighted as they keep vibrating. (I also noted how the lights are signs of the supposed higher power, they get their own panels in Miae's room, and they went out 2 times when Miae and Cheol's relationship changed)

After Jisu reveals that Miae was in his house and Cheol gets angry, Miae's pager starts buzzing (again, the pager messages always appear when the higher power wants to communicate with Miae).

Taekwang is an interesting character because the things he says are sometimes connected to the greater theme of the story. Like when he listened to his music and said how Miae cannot choose two things at the same time (come on, it was the foreshadowing for the current conflicts!), he smelled Jisu on Miae (???), Jisu even said he's the one he cannot deal with, and now he was counting the seconds until Miae got another sign. Is he used as a medium? (who knows lol)

Miae wants to check the pager message but the fluorescent lamp(?) breaks. Jisu shields Miae from the shards while they fall on the ground, making it his first successful attempt to save Miae in the story. The pager lands in the corner of the room.

Episode 159

Miae goes to a phone booth to check her messages and it's filled with the car ads so she kicks them away

The first message is a loud noise of a song recording. I personally think if there's a higher power in the story, this message came from it. The other is about Miae's friends telling her they'll visit her at her academy which gives Miae a sense of panic knowing Yonghui and Yunhui might meet.

Miae sees an airplane in the sky and the narration says Miae has a feeling that something is interfering with her and the panels get fuzzy with flashbacks to phone calls earlier in the story (omg this is actually crazy)

It starts raining and we get a glimpse of the last countryside memory we haven't seen yet about Miae running after Cheol at night. In the present, Miae trips just as she did as a kid, but instead of Cheol she meets Tae Uk.

[dailygihun]

day 26 || he is like lily of the valley to me