ザラ Notes: 응답하라 1994 (Answer Me 1994) Quotes

Title: 응답하라 1994 Eungdabhara 1994
English Title:

Answer Me 1994
Reply 1994
Respond 1994

응답하라 1994 (Answer Me 1994) Cuts
응답하라 1994 (Answer Me 1994) Review

Episode 01: 서울 사람 (Seoul People)

Kim Sung Kyun, also known as Sam Chun Po: The first night in Seoul. The feeling of the soft yet crisp blanket, and the night's air that was hot yet chilly... I still remember those details. Seoul in 1994 was like that to me -- crowded but lonely, intense but tiring, a city that is hot and cold at the same time. A city whose thoughts I could not understand. Although we proudly became citizens of Seoul, we have yet to become Seoul people.

Sung Dong Il: People learn to adjust as they live their lives.

Episode 02: 우린 모두 조금 낯선 사람들 (We Are All Little Strangers)

Episode 03: 신인류의 사랑 (Neanthropic Love)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Mom, it's your son. I won't be able to go to your wedding. It's really not that I'm missing it on purpose, something funny just came up. I'll tell you about that later. Aw, I wanted to see Professor Park in her dress and make some fun of her. What a waste. Since I'm unable to come to your weddings, both of them, against my will, I will definitely go to the third one no matter what. Mom, the other day what I was angry about, it's because I'm still immature. It's like that. For some reason I now feel like... it seems like you're going to completely disappear. You're my mom but it seems like you're getting taken from me by someone else. Anyway, it's like that. Well, truthfully, I didn't really mean it, so don't worry about me and go on a nice honeymoon. Please don't fight this time. Live while turning down your temper. Ah, mom, these days I really want to eat that. What was it? Kimchi radish cubes, not the ones that are cut into small pieces, the ones that you chop kind of big just once or twice, you know the ones you make for me, with the perfect amount of kimchi liquid. Whenever I get hungry I always want to eat that. I will make sure to not let dad eat any, so after you return from your honeymoon, make some for me. To see how my mother is living, I'll go to the house to pick it up. When I go home, make me some food. I miss you, mom. Mom, your son, after thinking about it well, it seems I love my mom very much. Don't fight with your husband. Go on your honeymoon well and return with good relations. Honestly, though what I'm about to say isn't one hundred percent sincere, congratulations on your wedding. This time, definitely, be happy. I'm going to hang up. The kimchi radish cubes, don't forget about it.

Episode 04: 거짓말 (Lies)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: There are things that are right, and some that are wrong. Anyway, not everything is right.

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Why does it amuse me whenever I see you?

Episode 05: 차마 하기 힘든 말 (Words that Are Hard to Say)

Kim Jae Joon, also known as Sseu Re Ki: In this world, there are words that are too difficult to say. There are words that you can’t bear to say to the ones you love... when you have to explain the pain you’ve caused another… and when you have to convey the truth to those who are not yet prepared for it.

Episode 06: 선물학 개론 (An Introduction to Presents)

Sung Na Jung: Say, I moved to a new house. The paint smell in the house was so strong that I felt like my head was going to burst. But if I open the door, the exhaust fumes come in and make me cough. Then my boyfriend comes in and I tell him, "Honey, I moved in today. If I close the door, my head feels like it's going to burst because of the paint smell. If I open the door, I feel like I'll die because of the exhaust fumes. What should I do? Is it better to leave the door open or closed?" At this time, what is the boyfriend supposed to answer?
Kim Sung Kyun, also known Sam Chun Po: Aren't exhaust fumes better?
Son Ho Joon, also known as Hai Tai: No. It's better to close the door and bear with the paint smell.
Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: It seems like exhaust fumes is the right answer though.
Jo Yoon Jin: I'm going crazy. I'm about to lose my mind.
Son Ho Joon, also known as Hai Tai: Then what's the right answer?
Sung Na Jung: Neither is the right answer. The right answer is, "Are you alright? Don't you need to go to the hospital?"
Son Ho Joon, also known as Hai Tai: What a load of bullshit. What nonsense is that? The question is whether to leave the door closed or open. Why are you talking about the hospital?
Sung Na Jung: The door is not the important thing... The point is I feel sick right now because of the smell.

Sung Na Jung: All relationships grow more familiar and eventually get taken for granted. The strongest power of a present is its ability to take that familiar and expected relationship and infuse it with excitement and gratitude once again. Through picking out a gift and writing the card and considering that person, you realize again how much that person means to you. And those thoughts and feelings are certainly conveyed to the recipient of the present.
Sung Na Jung: But if that familiar and expected relationship breaks down, now gifts or belated efforts become meaningless. Like a neglected orchid left to wither in the corner of a balcony, to whom belated water or care is pointless. The gift must be given and feelings conveyed before the relationship breaks down, before you grow indifferent to one another.

Sung Na Jung: Present. In English, it has two meanings: a gift, and also the current moment. It may be that the most precious gift to us is the present, the time in front of us now. True, we may always be bickering with each other, but we leaned on each other and were happy together. The year 1994 was like a gift to us.

Episode 07: 그 해 여름 (The Summer of That Year)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: At a time when baseball meant everything to me, someone came who made my heart beat faster and feel hotter than baseball. The hottest summer in history had started and my life at age 20 was getting hot like the season. It was the summer of 1994.
Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Someone sang a song that summer is a season of the youths and a season of love. The summer of 1994, that season was passing by in that way.

Episode 08: 순간의 선택이 평생을 좌우합니다 (The Choice of the Moment Turns the Destiny This Way or That)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: For me, it's Na Jung. No matter what, it's Na Jung.

Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: I don't know. I don't know what I want to do... If it was only because I didn't know what I wanted to do, then I wouldn't have taken time off from college. I don't even know what I like. I don't know what I like or what I dislike. I'm twenty years old but I don't even have preferences. I'm so pathetic, right? I've lived for nothing all this time.

Kim Sung Kyun, also known as Sam Chun Po: Living is a choice made at every moment. Even if it's a log bridge, you have to make a choice. Should I go straight or turn back? Or should I stop there? After all, this point in time that I'm stepping on right now is a result of those innumerable choices I made in the past... Because of those tiny choices cumulatively, we've become what we are today. No matter which path you choose, it's normal to have a lingering attachment to the paths you didn't choose. That's why there's no such thing as a choice without regrets. That's why there's no such thing as a right answer in life. You need to believe that the path you chose is the right answer and make it the right answer. That's all. Living without having regrets on the choices you made -- that's the right answer in life.
Kim Sung Kyun, also known as Sam Chun Po: Loving without regretting the past choices that I've made. That is the answer, and that is always the coolest way to getting old.

Episode 09: 그러니까, 내가 하고 싶은 말은 (So, What I Want to Say Is...)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Here. Make a focal point in the center here. And with your two eyes, stare at that point like crazy and slowly cross your eyes. Then unfocus your eyes. Think as if you're looking at the dot with the back of your eyeballs, instead of the front. Until the picture becomes blurry, don't lose your focus and continue to stare until the end. Then, all of a sudden, something will pop out. Don't try to see it ahead of time. Until you can see it, you have to wait like crazy.

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Only those who can see, can see Magic Eyes. Those who can't see, can never see it.

Kim Dong Woo: I'm really not geared towards studying. I have no interest and I don't have the brains for it. Even if I studied, it will just be a waste of time.
Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: What else is a student going to do, aside from studying? You have to study so you can at least go to college. Do you think other people study because they like it? They just endure it.

Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: Sincerity can so often be hidden away. It’s so shy and delicate that the closer you draw near, the more you bully it, it hides deeper down. There is only one way to deal with it: make eye contact and open your ears until sincerity raises its own head. If you hold your words and thoughts and wait, sincerity will suddenly pop up and show itself. Any sort of pretense or haughty advice cannot be a real comfort. Comfort is usually created at the moment when sincerity is shared. If you want to comfort someone, it is enough for you to just watch and listen to that person.

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: When I get ready to really say it, my head fills with tens of thousands of thoughts, and I can't open my mouth. When that happens, I just need to take a deep breath and catch those floating thoughts one by one. In doing that, I realize that what I really want to say boils down to just two or three simple words. I just need to start it like this: So, the thing I really want to say is...

Episode 10: 어쩌면 마지막일지도 모를 (Something That Might Be the Last One)

Sung Na Jung: The last time always happens without the realization that it’s the last time. Perhaps the reason that last times always hurt our hearts is out of sadness for not realizing the moment as it passes by.

Sung Na Jung: Parting ways is never something you get used to. And if it is a goodbye that you don’t know will be the last, even if it is just one day’s connection, it’s still bound to leave you reeling. In 1994, on the last day before saying goodbye to being twenty, we said a goodbye that might become the last. And we spent a fateful night that might become the last.

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Why do you think I came here? Coming here in a bus that traveled for six hours, staying here for just three hours, then going back on a bus that travels again for six hours; why do you think I did that? I think you know it too, but this time, I should say it clearly. Since this year is almost over... I can't do an unrequited love for two years, you know. I like you, that's why I came all the way here. I'm not asking you to like me, though. I know that you like someone, and so I thought about not telling you. But what can I do about liking you? I think I will regret it if I don't say it today. I wanted to say it before the day ends.
Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Ten seconds left... eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... Happy new year!

Episode 11: 짝사랑을 끝내는 단 한 가지 방법 (The Only Way to End Unrequited Love)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: I confessed to Na Jung. I know Na Jung likes you but still I confessed to her. It was pathetic to see myself doing an unrequited love. So even if I get rejected, I told her that I like her.

Kim Jae Joon, also known Sseu Re Ki: Love and life are a lot like baseball. No matter what dangerous situation lies ahead, no matter how you try to avoid it, you have to win against someone else in the end to have victory. Unrequited love hurts the heart, but you do it alone so there’s no other way... whether you win love or get rejected indifferently, the only way to end an unrequited love is through confession. It's over only after you confront it. Perhaps love resembles baseball. And the world is big and there are a lot of rivals.

Son Ho Joon, Hai Tai: Of course, there are many one-sided loves that couldn't be confessed in this world. Those fools who know how to escape from an unrequited love but cannot escape. That's why unrequited love hurts.

Episode 12: 우리에게 일어날 기적 (The Miracle that Will Happen to Us)

Sung Na Jung: It was then I learned for the first time, to every guy there is one girl that you cannot touch. That girl's name is first love.

Sung Na Jung: Some people say there are miracles, and some people say there’s no such thing. But in moments of urgency, people inevitably pray and wait for a miracle. Thus, miracles need to exist -- so that in all times of urgency there is some glimmer of hope for people to dwell on. Miracles need to exist.
Sung Na Jung: But miracles are miracles because they are not common. There are far more misfortunes we don’t think of than miracles we don’t expect. That is the world. Life is too cold and harsh to live believing only in miracles.
Sung Na Jung: In the end, miracles are a matter of probability. Miracles only exist to one person, and to the 9,999 others, are simply empty talk of that thing they call miracles. Life is cruel with its absolute and overwhelming probability. But still, miracles are needed. Rather than the despair of a zero probability that will never come to pass, a ten-million-to-one chance is better. That is how hope exists.

Sung Na Jung: What is the probability that out of seven billion people on the planet, the person I like would like me back? Right now a miracle might happen to me.

Episode 13: 1만 시간의 법칙 (The 10,000-Hour Rule) (The Rule of 10,000 Hours)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Effort isn’t seen; what people see is only the result. That’s why other people’s success might get called genius or luck.

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: It is said that in order to achieve success in one field, ten thousand hours are required. The ten-thousand-hour rule. For Mozart, the Beatles, Steve Jobs and Kim Yu Na, it wasn’t an innate genius or good luck that created their success, but the effort and pain of more than ten thousand hours of work. It could be that work, relationships, and love are like that. In order to achieve that accomplishment, you can’t wait for an innate something to show up or a stroke of luck; you have to work hard and try and suffer until the very end. It ain’t over ’til it’s over.

Episode 14: 나를 변화시킨 사람들 Part 01 (The People Who Change Me Part 01)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: What can I do? I'll just have to wait. If now is not the time, I'll have to wait.

Sung Na Jung: You will do well no matter what.

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Maybe, just if... I don't know when... a few years after... if we should happen to meet again... and if, at that time, you don't have anyone by your side... then, let's date?!

Sung Na Jung: Impressive dreams are those that defy family and rise above one’s situation. But most of us can’t bear to step on the ones we love, and in the bitter end we take it upon ourselves to lay down our own dreams. But it’s okay. There’s no need to be discouraged by the dramatic sweat of success or swayed by a setback or the feeling that you lost. To us, people were simply just as important as dreams. The decision to change myself for the people I love -- is a pretty impressive thing.

Episode 15: 나를 변화시킨 사람들 Part 02 (The People Who Change Me Part 02)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: After I became a starter, it was the first game I ever lost. I was so mortified, so angry, that I didn’t go to baseball practice for one week. But the coach came to find me at home. To accept it, to accept it... "Right now, you can’t do anything. So accept it, and it’s enough if you win at the next game." After one year, to the same team, to the same player, I struck him out and won; the one I had lost to the year before. With this ball, I threw the same and won. This ball... I give it into your care. And I don’t know when it might be, but definitely, I’ll come back to get it.
Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Dreams always motivate me and make me change but what makes me more excited; what makes me change more greatly is the one who blocks the path to that dream -- the rival.

Episode 16: 사랑, 두려움 Part 01：응답하라1997 (Love, Fear Part 01: Reply 1997)

Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: When I thought about it, I realized I hadn't even tried. If I can't do it even if I'm beaten to death and I want to quit, I need to at least try it first.

Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: Since I'm doing it, I'm going to try my best.

Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: The reason why our youth is painful is that it's all full of unknowns. It's like the time of taking an exam when there's so many blanks that we have no idea how to answer. When I look back at those times, there were no right answers to the questions. But for some reason, I had a fear of someone holding an answer sheet and grading the papers. And I also had a fear about giving a different answer compared to other people.

Episode 17: 사랑, 두려움 Part 02：응답하라1997 (Love, Fear Part 02: Reply 1997)

Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: If you have nothing to lose, you have nothing to fear. The deeper love grows, and the more you don’t want to lose it, the more your fear grows. Love feeds on fear.
Kim Dong Joon, also known as Bing Geu Re: But what overcomes that love-fueled fear is love itself.

Episode 18: 다시 사랑한다 말할까 (Should I Say I Love You Again)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: As time passes... as more time passes... I'm sure I'll really be alright.

Jo Yoon Jin: If you really like those girls, you would've hung onto them no matter what, don't you think so? Grab their wrists before they leave or something. Beg them to not go.

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Oh, it's close. Ten seconds left... seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... Happy new year!

Episode 19: 운명을 믿으세요? (Do You Believe in Fate?)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: I... like you a lot. I started liking you the first time I saw you. And even now, I still like you.

Sung Na Jung: Sometimes there are moments when I really feel like there is a God. Even if there isn’t, there are times I feel like there has to at least be a something like fate to explain certain situations. This exquisite coincidence, this unbelievable timing, this ingenious reversal -- it’s possible that my fate is playing a game with me.
Kim Jae Joon, also known Sseu Re Ki: Fate is damned. Fate is cruel. And fate is strong. Fate throws us into dilemmas, traps us in corners where we can’t do a thing, and in the bitter end, even ignores our sincere prayers. That’s how fate is cruel and strong.
Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Another reason why fate is cruel and strong: timing you can’t predict. This is how fate is cruel.
Sung Na Jung: Fate pushes me to the edge of a cliff, makes it so that I can’t budge, and in the end passes me the ball. In the end, fate is choosing. Now I just have to make a choice.

Episode 20: 끝의 시작 (The Beginning of the End)

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: Without a father, without a mother, with just baseball alone I was plenty busy and warm. I always thought loneliness was just an emotion that found people who did not lead intense lives. But one day at age twenty, the day I began to empty out a space for her, that space felt hollow and began to feel cold. That this was loneliness, and that I was a very lonely person -- I had only now begun to realize. Because I was lonely I missed her, and because I missed her I was lonelier.

Kim Seon Joon, also known as Chil Bong: It ain't over till it's over. But if it's a game without an end in sight, you must decide to end it yourself. If it's something that you can't do even after 10,000 hours of heartache, for that person's sake, you must let go. You must start the end.