365: Repeat the Year: Episodes 13-14

by LollyPip

The travelers are starting to put the clues together, and they’re getting closer to learning the truth about the reset. But most of the year is gone, and there’s not much time left to solve the mystery and save their own lives. Only one person knows the truth, but she’s not about to give away her secrets so easily.

  
EPISODE 13 RECAP

After having disappeared for seven months, Shin shows up just as the travelers are discussing her motives for bringing them back in time. She informs them that their worse fear is correct — in the original timeline, they all died during this year.

She explains almost gleefully that during her first five resets, they all died within the reset year. During the sixth, she decided to save them all, then she invited them along for the seventh. No-seob asks how she saved them, since none of them ever met her before her invitation. Shin says it was just a matter of making sure they avoided the place of their deaths on the designated days.

Flashbacks show us that Shin personally interfered with each of the deceased travelers on the days of their deaths, so that they were in a different place at the time. Jae-young is skeptical — it seems too simple. Shin points out that even Hyung-jo and Ga-hyun were able to alter fate because they knew what to change, proving that all it takes is knowing what to change.

Se-rin wants to know how Shin saved those who are still alive, but she pretends not to remember just to needle them. Ga-hyun asks angrily what Shin has against them, and Shin replies calmly, “I have no resentment towards you… I just have a lot of time.”

She announces that she was curious about whether they could change their own fates, which is why she sent them the flower baskets with hints. Hyung-jo loses his temper and grabs her, screaming that their lives must be a joke to her. Several bodyguards rush in and pin Hyung-jo to the table, and Shin addresses the others.

She asks if they’re curious about how, when, and where they’ll die, and says she’ll tell them if they’re polite. Ga-hyun asks if her definition of “polite” is to cry and beg like animals, because if so, she won’t get what she wants.

Sneering, Shin says that the next to die will suffer a gruesome death. She smiles benevolently, and says that she believes they can still change their fates. On her way out, she informs Hyung-jo that he’s about to get very busy, then she’s gone.

The next day, Shin reviews a file she’s compiled with information on the travelers, living and dead, then she goes to the police station to talk to Hyung-jo. She says that he’s probably itching to get something on her that he can arrest her for, and she wonders why he’s not asking who is the next to die.

Hyung-jo growls that she’s just baiting him with things he can’t confirm, and that he won’t fall for it anymore. Shin tells him that he’ll have to do better since he hasn’t got much time left (it’s roughly October now, in their reset year).

Later Hyung-jo meets with Ga-hyun — he’d put a tail on Ji-hyun, Shin’s former assistant, who’s suddenly very busy ever since Shin showed up at the cafe. He’s got pictures, and one of them shows Ji-hyun with an envelope from Park & Park Law Firm, one of the best (and most expensive) law firms in Korea. It just so happens that Jung-tae has applied for parole, and he’s being represented by a lawyer from Park & Park.

Hyung-jo tries to visit Jung-tae in prison, but he’s already got a visitor — Jae-young. Jung-tae asks if Jae-young has found someone named Choi Min-ho yet, and he says he knows where he is now. But he tells Jae-young that the price for the information has changed… he doesn’t want money, but help with something else.

Se-rin shows up at Ga-hyun’s house, crying that she went to Jian Clinic and asked Shin when she’ll die, and Shin had said that in exchange, she wanted to be entertained. Se-rin says that Shin told her who the next person to die will be and how they die, and gave her a choice to save that person or save herself.

Ga-hyun asks who it is, and Se-rin throws her arms around her and sobs even harder. Oh no. Ga-hyun loses her temper and screams at Se-rin to tell her how and when it happens, but we don’t hear Se-rin’s answer. Ga-hyun tries to call Shin repeatedly as she rushes to Jian Clinic, but Shin purposely ignores the calls.

She does answer when Se-rin calls her, and tells her that she did a good job. She assures Se-rin that she’ll keep her promise and Se-rin collapses in relief. When Ga-hyun arrives at the clinic, Shin just watches her pound on the gates through the security cameras, entertained by Ga-hyun’s frustration.

Sun-ho shows up at Hyung-jo’s place with beer and whines that the leg he broke catching Jung-tae still hurts, but he says that they’d have to quit their jobs if they were scared of getting hurt. Hyung-jo agrees that it’s just a reality of the job, like dying is a reality of life, and he chides himself for thinking he was invincible.

Sun-ho says that everyone thinks death won’t happen to them, and Hyung-jo sighs, knowing that Sun-ho is right — you can’t live your life always thinking about dying. Across town, Ga-hyun goes home and sinks to her knees, letting herself sob out her fear.

In the morning, Hyung-jo shows up at Jian Clinic and asks Shin if she came back after seven months because of Jung-tae. She smiles and praises his detective skills, but when Hyung-jo asks if Jung-tae is involved in the next death, she cheekily reminds him that he said he wouldn’t listen to her anymore. She says she’s paying for a mistake Hyung-jo made, then she dismisses him, saying that she has an important guest.

The guest is Ga-hyun, and she tells Hyung-jo nervously that she’ll talk to him later. In Shin’s office, she’s asks hesitantly if there’s a way for her to live. She’s even willing to make a deal, and Shin says it will be fun working with Ga-hyun since they have lots of time. Confused, Ga-hyun mentions that Shin said she was next, but Shin denies it, and Ga-hyun realizes that Se-rin lied to her.

She leaves in a daze, and Hyung-jo is waiting outside for her. She tells him that she was lied to about being next to die, then she tries to call Se-rin, but there’s no answer. They go to Se-rin’s apartment, and a woman approaches them saying that she’s Se-rin’s unni.

Se-rin had told Ga-hyun that her sister died in an accident, but her sister scoffs and asks if that’s what Se-rin is telling people these days. She advises them to check the club room of Se-rin’s university, and when they do, a couple of Se-rin’s classmates get annoyed looks on their faces. They tell Hyung-jo and Ga-hyun that Se-rin told her boyfriend Young-woong that she was terminally ill, so that now Young-woong is enlisting for his army duty to get away from her.

EPISODE 14 RECAP

Se-rin is on a bus out of Seoul on Shin’s orders, with instructions not to return until Shin contacts her again. She’s got Young-woong with her, though the poor guy doesn’t look happy to be there. At one point the bus stops at a rest area, and when Se-rin comes out of the restroom, Young-woong is nowhere to be found. She follows the tracking app she’d installed on his phone and finds it in the men’s room, but Young-woong is gone.

Se-rin’s classmate told Ga-hyun that Se-rin has Munchhausen Syndrome (a mental disorder in which a person lies and’or pretends to be ill). She has a habit of making up stories about her personal life or physical condition to buy sympathy from people. Hyung-jo realizes this is what Shin meant when she said that even a detective can make a mistake — Jung-tae was telling the truth that he didn’t break into Se-rin’s place and attack her.

Ga-hyun lets Se-rin in when she frantically rings her doorbell, and Se-rin launches into a panic-filled plea to ask Hyung-jo to find Young-woong. Ga-hyun says coolly that she met Se-rin’s “dead” unni, and nails her with all the other lies she’s told. Se-rin says pitifully that it’s fine if Ga-hyun takes her sister’s word over hers, and she begs Ga-hyun to help her find Young-woong, even producing a single fat tear.

Unmoved, Ga-hyun tells Se-rin that she just heard from Hyung-jo, and Young-woong is at the police station right now, reporting Se-rin for stalking. Se-rin says that she went through the reset just to get closer to Young-woong, and that she won’t give up this easily.

Ga-hyun shows her a video that Shin sent of her conversation with Se-rin, in which Shin told her she’s the next to die, then taunted her and laughed at her fear. She’d told Se-rin that in exchange for her help, Se-rin had to tell someone else that they were next, and make sure it was highly entertaining for Shin.

Ga-hyun asks why Se-rin chose her, so Se-rin says she had to pick the person she was closest to, someone who wouldn’t doubt her. Ga-hyun scoffs that Se-rin sold her out, but Se-rin tells Ga-hyun to be honest — that she felt relieved when she heard it wasn’t true.

This time she orders Ga-hyun to get Hyung-jo to help her with Young-woong, losing her temper and screaming in Ga-hyun’s face. She pulls a box cutter from her bag and says that she knows just how to cut herself so that she’s badly hurt but won’t die, because she’s done it many times before. She holds the blade to her wrist and shrieks at Ga-hyun to call Hyung-jo if she doesn’t want to end up like Jung-tae.

Meanwhile, Young-woong goes through with his complaint, and he adds that he always felt there was something strange about the night Jung-tae supposedly assaulted Se-rin. After Young-woong burst in and Jung-tae hit him, he’d heard him ask Se-rin, “What are you trying to pull?” and he thinks it just sounded wrong.

Se-rin confesses to Ga-hyun that she was responsible for the carnage that night, bragging that she fooled everyone. She moves the blade to her throat, but Ga-hyun’s phone rings and distracts her. Ga-hyun grabs for the knife, but she fails to get it away from Se-rin and her own hand is slashed badly.

Se-rin runs out of the house, but luckily, Ga-hyun’s manager SM comes by and he bandages up her hand. Ga-hyun asks to be alone, and she grieves the fact that Se-rin was never the friend she thought she was.

Hyung-jo goes to see Jung-tae in prison and says humbly that he wants to hear the truth now. Jung-tae tells him that Shin asked him to keep an eye on Se-rin, claiming to be worried about her. Jung-tae had seen Se-rin begging and crying to Young-woong to be with her when he gave her the “let’s just be friends” speech, and he’d thought Shin was scared Se-rin would kill herself.

He had been concerned as he watched Se-rin throw an absolute full-bodied temper tantrum in the park, and he’d asked her if Young-woong was harassing her. He’d mumbled that he hates scumbags who harass women, and Se-rin had seen an opportunity. She’d told Jung-tae that Young-woong was stalking her, and had asked him to scare Young-woong just a little bit.

The night of Jung-tae’s arrest, Se-rin had broken her own door lock and told Jung-tae that Young-woong did it. They’d gone inside, and Se-rin had suddenly started screaming, throwing things around the room, and hitting herself. Jung-tae had tried to stop her, so when Young-woong came to see what was happening, it looked like Jung-tae was attacking her.

Jung-tae had only punched Young-woong because he hit him first, then he’d turned back to Se-rin. She had glared at him triumphantly as she’d bitten her lip hard enough to bleed, then she’d said calmly. “You did well. You should run, because nobody is going to believe you.” Infuriated, Jung-tae had raised his hand, and that’s when Ga-hyun had walked in and assumed the worst.

Jung-tae tells Hyung-jo that he wrote a confession because his lawyer advised him that he’d get a lighter sentence if he plead guilty. Hyung-jo tells him that he can sue Se-rin for slander and ask for a retrial, but Jung-tae says wearily that he just wants to retire to a farm and die quietly when it’s his turn.

At Jian Clinic, Se-rin paces anxiously, thinking about what happened in the previous timeline when Young-woong reported her. She’d found herself surrounded by cops and holding that same box cutter to her wrist. Her sister had been there and had said that Young-woong wasn’t her boyfriend, and she’d growled at Se-rin to go ahead and kill herself. That had made Se-rin pause long enough for the police to disarm her and take her into custody.

Se-rin complains to Shin that she went through the reset to be with Young-woong, but things turned out even worse this time around. Shin is more concerned with the fact that Se-rin didn’t take the opportunity to leave town and save her own life, but Se-rin sobs that life is pointless without Young-woong. She begs Shin to let her reset again, and Shin agrees — if she survives, that is.

Shin summons Ga-hyun and seems gleeful at Ga-hyun’s obvious upset over what happened with Se-rin. Ga-hyun wipes the smirk right off Shin’s face by asking, “Does your daughter know that she’s going through the reset? If she finds out that she’s repeating the same year over and over again because of your cruel hobby, what will your daughter think?”

After a moment to control her expression, Shin replies, “Cruel hobby? I’ll try to match your description. I’ll tell you who’s really next.” Ga-hyun refuses to listen, so Shin asks if she won’t regret not saving them, but Ga-hyun stays resolute.

Se-rin gets another ticket out of town, but before her bus leaves, she gets a call that sends her running in a panic. At the same time, Hyung-jo follows Ji-hyun and Jung-tae from the prison to a hospital, where they see a sick woman sitting on a bench… the same woman that was there when Jung-tae was arrested.

She’s Jung-tae’s sister, and Ji-hyun tells him that Shin was able to find a heart donor for her. When Jung-tae approaches her she leaves without a word, so Jung-tae asks Hyung-jo for a ride home.

Jae-young is waiting inside Jung-tae’s place for him, wanting to know how to find the person he’s been looking for. Jung-tae tells him that the person he’s been looking for, Choi Min-ho, is now Choi Young-woong… and the camera pans over to show Se-rin, gagged and bound to a chair. What on earth??

Jung-tae asks Jae-young to let him leave, but Jae-young runs out, leaving Jung-tae alone with Se-rin. He approaches her menacingly and growls that they have a lot to catch up on. Both Hyung-jo and Ga-hyun miss calls from Se-rin’s phone that evening, and Ga-hyun listens to a voicemail in which Se-rin sobs that she’s the next to die and begging her to save her.

The mysterious figure adds the photo that Se-rin keeps in her wallet of herself and Young-woong to their trophy displays, along with the items of the other travelers who have died. And somewhere in the city, Se-rin’s phone rings repeatedly beside her body, which has been discarded under a sewer grate.

  
COMMENTS

The connections continue to reveal themselves, though what they mean is still a mystery. Jae-young has been looking for someone, who turns out to be the guy Se-rin is obsessed with. Now Se-rin is dead, and it looks like Jung-tae and Jae-young are guilty, but in this reset, nothing is ever what it appears to be. And I’m still curious about the travelers who died early and how they were connected to all this, and what Shin’s little game is supposed to accomplish.

So Shin is telling the travelers that she’s just entertaining herself, watching to see if fate can be subverted and they can save their own lives. I’m not buying it. There are too many things that don’t add up if she’s just playing games, such as Ga-hyun’s point that a mother would want to see her daughter grow up. She also didn’t have to bring the travelers back with her in order to play such a “game,” she could have just reset the year for herself again and observed them. Plus, Shin spent several resets watching them in order to save their lives in the sixth… thousands of people would have died in that year, yet she chose these specific people, and they just happen to all be connected in some way.

No, Shin’s choice of who to bring back in time is no random accident, and she had a reason for changing up her MO and bringing them back with her this time around. I still think that they were somehow connected with a tragedy that affected Shin — possibly her daughter’s death as I theorized before. Maybe saving their lives resulted in Young’s death, and it made Shin’s mind snap, so she decided to stop saving them and instead to toy with them and make them suffer, and let them die so that her daughter will live. It would explain why she’s changed up her method, why she’s so heartless about their deaths, and why she has continued to reset the year instead of seeing her daughter grow up… because Young’s survival is somehow tied up in the travelers’ deaths.

Thumbs up to those of you who pegged Se-rin for a liar — I figured she was up to something, but I didn’t expect her to be so vicious and cruel. I was once briefly the target of someone with Munchhausen’s (thankfully, they weren’t dangerous like Se-rin), and I can attest that it’s infuriating, baffling, and disheartening to learn that someone has preyed on your good nature and your genuine desire to help. So I can understand Ga-hyun’s grief and rage at being manipulated by Se-rin for so long.

But even though none of the travelers is a stellar person (okay, maybe Hyung-jo), none of them deserve to die in some madwoman’s sick game. Even if they were originally fated to die in that year, Shin has used her ability to reset to twist and distort that fate, so that it’s possible they’re no longer meant to die. Because of the way she’s played them, they deserve a chance to at least try, but Shin seems to be taking great pleasure in making sure they don’t survive this time around. Now it looks like Shin may be upping the stakes and framing Jung-tae and Jae-young for Se-rin’s murder, and if that’s so, then things are about to get a lot scarier.

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