Snowdrop [Jung Hae In X Jisoo]

First Sight Love

The spring of 1987 at Hosu Womans University. Dorm room 207 is home to the first years Eun Yeong-ro and Yoon Seol-hui, as well as senior students Ko Hye-ryeong and Yeo Jeong-min. The dorm’s phone desk is operated by Kye Bun-ok, who is around the same age as the senior students.

Elsewhere, members of Aemin Party, the ruling party, meet for Dongsim Society’s 30th anniversary. In attendance is the Secretary General, Nam Tae-il, who is ranked second among the party members. In a power struggle with him is Eun Chang-su, the Director of the Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP), who is ranked third.

After the gathering, Tae-il and Chang-su meet separately with Aemin Party’s president about the progress of Operation Phoenix. Chang-su outlines a plan to abduct Professor Han I-seop, the brains behind the opposition party, and make it seem like the opposition party operates with the support of North Korea.

Cosmos Toys is a front for ANSP’s headquarters, where agent Jung Ha-na arrives to see the chief, Ahn Gyeong-hui. Also there is agent Lee Gang-mu, the legendary Black Tiger, who has returned from Germany in pursuit of a North Korean spy referred to as Taedong River 1.

Gang-mu is shaken by Ha-na’s presence, and she doesn’t appear happy to see him either. After shooting metaphorical daggers from her eyes and a literal bullet from her pistol, she forces her way onto Gang-mu’s team.

That night, a few graduate students, including Im Soo-ho and Oh Gwang-tae, have a rooftop barbeque. According to the girls observing, Soo-ho studies economics at Berlin University and has returned to Korea for his thesis paper.

With only 15 minutes left until roll call at the Hosu dorm, Yeong-ro runs back with a wave of equally frantic students. She comes across Hye-ryeong receiving a ring in a love confession from a soldier and urges her to join the throng.

On the hill leading to the dorms, Yeong-ro drops her tin of rice cakes. As it rolls away, Hye-ryeong tells her to leave it and keeps running. Yeong-ro doesn’t listen and the caretaker, Kim Man-dong, is forced to shut the dorm’s door and hand over the key to the matron before Yeong-ro makes it back.

Yeong-ro goes around the side of the building and climbs to the second story ledge below the bedroom windows. As she inches her way to 207’s window, Bun-ok helps to distract the matron from catching sight of her.

In 207, Jeong-min berates Hye-ryeong for abandoning Yeong-ro since she won’t be able to afford a room if she gets kicked out. According to Jeong-min, Yeong-ro’s family owns a humble rice cake shop and she relies on scholarships and assisting Bun-ok with the phones to stay at the dorm.

Seol-hui spots Yeong-ro at the window at the same time Bun-ok does. With the matron closing in, Bun-ok cries “rat!” sending the dorm residents into a frenzy. The 207 girls use the commotion to pull Yeong-ro in and throw a nightgown over her dirty clothes while wiping the grime from her visible skin.

Later, Yeong-ro realises she left her tin by the front door and goes to retrieve it from Man-dong. He asks her to make a delivery to Bun-ok while she’s there.

Bun-ok only pokes her head out when Yeong-ro comes knocking, suspiciously keeping her room concealed. In exchange for incurring the matron’s wrath, Bun-ok asks Yeong-ro to bring her an English edition of Romeo and Juliet.

Ha-na joins Gang-mu’s meeting the next day. He thinks that Professor Han is likely to have helped Taedong River 1 sneak into Seoul. Ha-na will use the rapport she has established with the opposition party while pretending to be a journalist fired for condemning the ruling party to keep an eye on the professor.

At the dorm, Yeong-ro vents about the lack of correspondence from her brother while helping Bun-ok with the phones. Yeong-ro picks up a call from Gwang-tae who introduces himself and arranges a group date with the girls of 207, though it’s mostly an excuse for him to meet Hye-ryeong.

Gwang-tae, being one boy short of the four needed to pair up with the four girls of 207, begs Soo-ho to join the date. Soo-ho only agrees when Gwang-tae threatens not to introduce him to Professor Han. Meanwhile, Yeong-ro laments that Jeong-min is unlikely to go and Bun-ok eagerly takes her place.

The day of the date comes around. When the girls from 207 arrive Gwang-tae jolts out of his seat to greet them, bumping the table and sending the matchstick tower Soo-ho was building crashing. Soo-ho and Yeong-ro both go to catch it and her hands cover his – it’s the beginning of a series of curious glances between the two.

Bun-ok joins the 207 girls and throws herself into the seat opposite Soo-ho before anyone else can, introducing herself as a Hosu student named Gye-seong. With two concert tickets, she’s eager to partner up and leave (preferably with Soo-ho).

The girls close their eyes while each of the boys place a token on the table. Hye-ryeong is the first to pick from the tokens and chooses an exam certificate, thinking it belongs to Soo-ho until Gwang-tae reveals that it’s his.

Yeong-ro is next. She’s drawn to a paper plane – Soo-ho’s actual token – and he obviously wants her to pick it, clearing his throat once her hand hovers over it. Bun-ok, who overheard Soo-ho and Gwang-tae discussing their tokens earlier, swipes the plane before Yeong-ro has a chance to pick it up.

After the date, Yeong-ro listens to a record at a store and unconsciously sings along. Mortified, she tries to make a quick getaway and bumps into Soo-ho as he peruses the shelves, having cut his time with Bun-ok short.

Yeong-ro, still humiliated, tries to quickly purchase a cassette tape and leave but finds her wallet empty. She rushes out but doesn’t get far before Soo-ho catches up to her, cassette tape in hand.

Feeling guilty about accepting the sudden gift, she runs after Soo-ho as he walks away. Both are unaware of someone watching them from a parked car. Soo-ho sees a group of officers searching for wanted men and turns into a laneway. It’s a dead end.

Yeong-ro follows him in, dropping the tape into his pocket. Noticing the officers now crowded around the entrance, she pretends like they’re a couple in the midst of a lover’s spat. Soo-ho pulls her into a hug. As she trembles, he pats her back reassuringly. It’s enough to convince the officers and they move on.

Soo-ho comments on Yeong-ro’s convincing acting. She says her brother was once arrested during a protest by way of explanation and walks away. Soo-ho follows, starting to ask her out to dinner when he notices the person watching from the car. He stops, giving her the tape and his thanks instead.

Yeong-ro is the one to stop him from walking away this time. She says she doesn’t like being indebted and asks him to meet her for coffee the next day to return the favour. He never shows…