[Drama 2022] Twenty-Five Twenty-One ​⌛ 스물다섯 스물하나

[aisling]

This is what got me worried. When Minchae googled their names, Heedo’s name appeared in recent news (that she transitioned from a fencer to a furniture designer in 2020) there were no news about Baek Yijin from 2009 onwards????

 

He was a successful news anchor, there’s no way there wouldn’t be any news about him in recent news?

 

 

[v s]

In real life love doesnt mean always belong together at the end...

Thats life. We all know..

But since love in the real life is not always have a happy ending..

Can we have a happy ending in this drama? Pleaseee writernim 

U broke our heart.....

 

The writer was so jenius. How he brought the most painful words...after the snowy kiss. It said...congratulation for your marriage...

I cant believe how cruel it was

 

[YongZura⁷]

Credit to Zero (@imzeroclock) for being our main translator in this thread.  I've been following Zero since OBS.  Although we usually can't reply to her directly, we can still DM or Quote her Tweet.

 

Another favourite of mine is the still pictures that tvN shared on their Twitter, just realised .. they have changed the pinned Tweet  

 

This week's photos:

BFF

 

 

 

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

 

Credit to tvN

[aria26]

a legal back up on the change of surname, I do not know how to link from reddit so I'm posting here:

 

 

Sonnet2521

 

·15 min. ago

 

Another potential #baekdo endgame clue:

I’ve been learning more about Korea’s family law and bankruptcy system during this period…in Korea you could have your bank loans discharged in bankruptcy but not taxes owed to the government or private loans from individuals (like the ajushi who were harassing BYJ and his little brother). That means the debt gets passed on to the children and wife, hence the sham divorce, living separately and BYJ feeling the obligation to pay off the debts and bring the family back together. As the eldest son he would feel a strong sense of familial obligation to his family like the sacrifices Yu-Rim made for her family to pay back their debts.

However, beginning January 2008, the patriarchal Hoju system where males are registered as the head of the household and children descend from the male line was deemed unconstitutional and switched to a more gender neutral family registry system. In this system women went from being under their father’s line to being added to her husband’s after marriage. This change was to address the inequality of situations where divorced mothers couldn’t have their ex-husband removed as head of the household despite having full custody of their children. Post-2008 women could have their children registered under her family line.

WHAT IF…BYJ and HD had KMC but held off on a formal legal marriage but finally tied the knot once BYJ could be removed from his father’s family registry and added to his mother’s which is surname KIM. Makes sense because BYJ wouldn’t want the debtors to now go after HD if she were to be added to his father’s family line. Especially as a high profile fencer with presumably a comfortable salary. This explains why KMC was born before 2009, why their relationship was kept secret (professional and debt related reasons), BYJ congratulated HD on her marriage with a smile since they could finally be “married” legally.

 

 

turn tragedy into comedy.

 

what if baekdo is endgame and minchae's baby voice is real and they show the behind the scenes of that 2009 interview, and it's yijin covering his mouth from embarrasment coz the baby he brought to work was too noisy.

[aria26]

I take back everything I've said before, in light of where the story has taken us, I know believe in a Baekdo endgame.

[japehin]

Keep thinking back all the details that nudged and trying to piece the information together to have a full picture which make sense:- 

 

2000 when they’re 24 and 21, they learn to understand each other - HD understood YJ on his work demand where he had to make that news report on YR which explains the preview with HD telling YJ that don’t keep it to himself when he’s feeling down 

 

2001 when they’re 25 and 21, they fall deep in love with each other which explains YJ saying let’s love each other with no regrets. However after the Madrid competition, something happens that somehow resulting in them parting ways. Connects to the earlier comment saying they part ways at the tunnel, still loving each other for their own good. They went on to pursue other goals in life with YJ becoming news anchor while HD eventually got married to Kim Jun Ho, giving birth to KMC. All these while, they’re aware of each other’s life but have never met up since then.

 

2009, when YJ interviews HD for winning her third gold medal, he congratulated her on her winning knowing it ain’t easy for her resuming fencing after the break. This explains the sadness in their eyes, and exchanging encouraging words to each other. 

 

Mapping to what was shared earlier about no news about YJ after Apr 2009, one way of explaining is because he has passed away for whatever reason. HD was being informed by YJ’s brother as he knew that HD was his brother true love hidden away. He asked if she would like to pick up some belongings of YJ for memorial sake. This explains why there’s YJ stuff in HD room.  HD named her furniture workshop as 25,21 was to keep a remembrance of YJ as he is the one who encourage her to go learn making the chairs that her father once made. 
 

This explains why MC doesn’t recognize BYJ, asking her grandmother which one in the picture is him. HD’s mom mentioned she saw YJ last month was when she’s visiting her husband grave. Also another reason why adult HD says nth last forever, and she doesn’t wish to recollect the memories at beach because it reminds her of her first love who’s no longer around. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by japehin

[Skysky]

@aria26 thanks for the theory. I actually already read that before on twitter but forgot to posting it here. Yijin could change his name to kim do hee, it was written on the poster and this hint about inheritence and debt already on the newspaper that yijin delivered in early eps. 

 

Honestly I dont think yijin being adopted 10 years ago is not just random fact like, why did the writer throwing that out of nowhere? Lets just hope that in the upcoming eps, yijin learn about this whole debt and inheritence then he searching for his real family, then change his name to kim do hee. That would explain why no baek yi jin after 2009 because he already changed his name

 

 

[kboramint]

4 hours ago, Skysky said:

@carolinedl IKR! The first eps reached 6%, thats quite high for the drama these day especially for cable channel, viewers already interested before we know about the 'kim' minchae, it could be higher without it, my friend dont want to watch because of that kim surname, and now watch business proposal instead.

 

The difference between Business Propoasal and Twenty Five Twenty One is that BP is a straight up romantic comedy while 2521 is a coming to age dramedy.     

 

 

4 hours ago, Skysky said:

 

I dont know why they dont have confidence and keep ruining the happy otp moments with the whole guessing game, when they have kim taeri-nam joo hyuk as main cast, its kim taeri comeback drama after 4 years, the writer and director are also famous, search WWW earn high praise, the director directed mr sunshine, the king eternal monarch etc. .just why

 

This isn't a drama where the story revolves around a OTP and secondary characters that have no character depth and are basically one dimension. This is a story about a group of friends. All with their own character development. Anyway, unlike typical romantic comedies where the main point of the story is for the couple to get together. This drama is unlike that.

 

A SHIP shouldn't be more important than the STORY.

 

 

 

    

 

   

[rocher22]

 

Ji Woong is the best when he is under the pressure      

 

 

 

[Skysky]

36 minutes ago, kboramint said:

The difference between Business Propoasal and Twenty Five Twenty One is that BP is a straight up romantic comedy while 2521 is a coming to age dramedy

 

Lol I dont know why you have respond this because thats just my friend pick and had nothing to do with the genre, she just hate sad ending and 25 21 had that potential of sad ending, thats all

 

36 minutes ago, kboramint said:

This isn't a drama where the story revolves around a OTP and secondary characters that have no character depth and are basically one dimension. This is a story about a group of friends. All with their own character development. Anyway, unlike typical romantic comedies where the main point of the story is for the couple to get together. This drama is unlike that.

 

A SHIP shouldn't be more important than the STORY.

 

I think you totally missunderstood what I said, it has nothing to do with story of group of friends and the genre, I complained about the whole guessing game about who is heedoo husband? And its totally ruining otp moment just like what @carolinedlsaid. This drama already have great STORY, thats why the guessing game is not necessary at all and kinda ruined the mood and look how everyone's mad and focusing more about the guessing husband game more than the story itself, thats what I mean

 

Also I disagree that this drama is about story of 5 friends, because jw and sw dont have same portion screentime as baekdo and even yoorim, Sw and jw arc are quite short too, I think even heedoo mom have more screentime and better back story than them. This drama story is still revolved around baekdo, and before this you always said about the diary and first love story is about yoorim but no, its about baekdo. The otp is still the most important and the center of story, even the whole poster, teaser and synopsis are about them, not about the 5 friends

[kboramint]

41 minutes ago, japehin said:

 

 

Mapping to what was shared earlier about no news about YJ after Apr 2009, one way of explaining is because he has passed away for whatever reason. HD was being informed by YJ’s brother as he knew that HD was his brother true love hidden away. He asked if she would like to pick up some belongings of YJ for memorial sake. This explains why there’s YJ stuff in HD room.  HD named her furniture workshop as 25,21 was to keep a remembrance of YJ as he is the one who encourage her to go learn making the chairs that her father once made. 
 

This explains why MC doesn’t recognize BYJ, asking her grandmother which one in the picture is him. HD’s mom mentioned she saw YJ last month was when she’s visiting her husband grave. Also another reason why adult HD says nth last forever, and she doesn’t wish to recollect the memories at beach because it reminds her of her first love who’s no longer around. 

 

 

Okay, let's say this theory is correct. Can I add the possibility that MC's current "father" is not a dude or that they are legally married to Hee-Do. 

 

The person who sent that dress is Ko Yu-Rim. LOL. 

[kboramint]

1 hour ago, Skysky said:

and before this you always said about the diary and first love story is about yoorim but no, its about baekdo. The otp is still the most important and the center of story

 

The diary started out with Hee-Do going to see Yoo-Rim. YR was the "kid" that MC thought was Hee-Do's ex. Later on, it started being about Baekdo BUT...

 

The OTP is not Baekdo. That title belongs to Yoo-Do/Hee-Rim. All the OTP tropes are there.

 

• They met when they were children.  
• They started out being enemies but ended up being friends
• Hee-Do is Yoo-Rim's protector
• Yoo-Rim is Hee-do's crush/fan
• Annonymous friends that find out they already knew each other
• They have one last date before they "seperate".

 

It's all there. Hee-Do and BYJ can be a couple AND Yu-Rim and Ji-Woong can be a couple but there is only one OTP in this drama.

 

Just kidding. Or am I?  

[carolinedl]

58 minutes ago, aria26 said:

It's different for everyone.

 

I actually also like how the present timeline brings us down to earth. Yup, the emotions from the past are so strong and happy, and then we go to the future and we get to examine that same situation without the adrenaline of the moment. In fact, the show was pretty kind in that it does not show the future after the really heart fluttering baekdo moments (confession, kisses). So I think the contrary, I think the writers/directors were confident in the story they are telling, that the audience would first feel the pang of loss (like the initial longing we have of our memories) but then come to peace and gratitude that those things did come to pass.

 

I agree with you. I also liked the present moments and how they put the past in perspective. But without the guessing game, I feel they would have done this better. Right now we don't know if everything really passes or if BYJ and NHD actually stayed together because they loved each other so much... I also wish we could have seen the others in the future too. Without showing much but wouldn't it have been cool to see YR in the future, see her friendship with NHD? Or someone else from the gang. They keep telling us things pass, but we don't see which ones as we have only a very limited vision of the future. I wish we had seen more of it actually (and I also liked adult NHD).

 

And see what it all does to us here? We are going crazy and ranting/rambling away...

 

 

ETA: Ah @ari26 - why did you take off your post? I really like it!

[kboramint]

2 minutes ago, carolinedl said:

 Without showing much but wouldn't it have been cool to see YR in the future, see her friendship with NHD? Or someone else from the gang.

 

 

 

 

I kinda want to believe that she was the one that sent the dress to MC.   

[carolinedl]

4 minutes ago, kboramint said:

 

I kinda want to believe that she was the one that sent the dress to MC.   

Didn't they say it was her father and MC was disappointed that her father thought she was still an 8-year-old girl? Frankly, only  aman can make such a mistake, no? Ha ha... I think if YR had sent the dress, she would have sent something more fitting for a 16-year-old.

[kboramint]

9 minutes ago, carolinedl said:

Didn't they say it was her father and MC was disappointed that her father thought she was still an 8-year-old girl? Frankly, only  aman can make such a mistake, no? Ha ha... I think if YR had sent the dress, she would have sent something more fitting for a 16-year-old.

 

Yeah, Hee-Do did say it was from MC's father. Wish they could of left that out so we can guess who sent her the dress. Haha.  

[YongZura⁷]

50 minutes ago, carolinedl said:

And see what it all does to us here? We are going crazy and ranting/rambling away...

 

@Sleepy Owl Some of us here might need the poll to focus on  otherwise the Mod will have to be the chairperson of this brainstorming session.  

 

50 minutes ago, carolinedl said:

 

ETA: Ah @ari26 - why did you take off your post? I really like it!

 

Yes, where did it go... i just read  it a few mins ago.

 

@carolinedl What does ETA mean here?  

[seabysea18]

Personally I don’t like the guessing endgame and I feel that 2009 interview scene was there to play with our emotions. It brought back Reply series memory (and thank goodness there is no love triangle war here).  However I do see that it was done on purpose to boost the ratings and keep viewers engage to the end. I am ok with whatever ending it is whether they’re together or not together as long as no one dies. Hope the writer will not disappoint us.  One more week to go.  I am sad to say goodbye to this little gem. I’ve been a fan of KTR for a long time and she’s really phenomenal as Heedo.  She really brought her character to life. I kept rewatching the little details in ep 13 where she had a giggle about the late fee millennial bug and then instantly felt depressed about her own personal millennial bug or where she repeatedly linked K with kiss and outwardly blurted out what was on her mind. I am very impressed by her nuanced acting. 

[aria26]

1 hour ago, carolinedl said:

 

 

ETA: Ah @ari26 - why did you take off your post? I really like it!

haha, I felt embarrassed about rambling again, I did not know you already quoted it. thanks haha

[Daphné Chan]

Hi all.. I happen to read this : https://www.koreaboo.com/news/k-drama-twenty-five-twenty-one-genre-changed-viewers-upset-episode14/

 

This probably telling us they might actually move on with their lives. Its sad but maybe it's true that after everything that had happen "it all shall pass" ... Yi jin little smirks might be telling heedo to be well and happy.

 

i couldnt bring myself to watch ep14 really. Maybe i shall just stop at ep 13.. it's going to be really a reality than just a korean korean drama.

 

Edited March 29, 2022 by Daphné Chan
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