memories of the alhambra episode 1 dramacool

EPISODE7 RECAP. At Bonita Hostel, Grandma wakes from her slumber and notices the light on in Se-joo's room. She enters the room in anticipation, but it's only Min-joo practicing her dance moves. Min-joo tells Grandma that Se-joo hasn't returned and that she's found refuge from Grandma's unbearable snoring. Memoriesof the Alhambra Title: 알함브라 궁전의 추억 / Memories of the Alhambra Chinese Title: 阿爾罕布拉宮的回憶 Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Action Episodes: 16 Broadcast network: tvN Broadcast period: 2018-Dec-01 to 2019-Jan-20 Air time: Saturday & Sunday 21:00 Synopsis WatchMemories of the Alhambra Episode 16 EngSub | Extend-1: Memories of the Alhambra tells the unique and suspenseful love story of Yoo Jin Woo and Jung Hee Joo. Strong spirited Yoo Jin Woo is the CEO of an investment company with a degree in engineering and EPISODE1 RECAP In Barcelona, a frazzled young man urgently speaks to someone on a pay phone. We'll later know him to be JUNG SE-JOO ( Chanyeol of Exo), and he suddenly looks around with a frightened expression. He quickly tells the person to meet at the hostel in Granada before dropping the phone and running off. 1x01Episode 1TV-MA. 1x01. Episode 1. A frantic young man is running scared in Barcelona. After getting a strange call while on business in Spain, CEO Yu Jin-u heads to Granada on a quest. Die Zeit Bekanntschaften Er Sucht Sie. Головна сторінка NetflixТЕЛЕСЕРІАЛИ Й ФІЛЬМИ БЕЗ ОБМЕЖЕНЬУВІЙТИУ пошуках загадкового творця інноваційної гри з доповненою реальністю керівник інвестиційної фірми зустрічає власницю хостелу в роляхХьон Бін,Пак Сін Хе,Пак ХунАвториСон Дже Джон,Ан Гіль ХоУ ролях Пак Сін Хє Доктори», Спадкоємці» і лауреат премії Пексан» Хьон Бін Прорив», Таємничий сад».Докладні відомостіДивіться офлайнДоступно для завантаженняПро серіалЗаплутане,Гостросюжетне,РомантичнеАкторський складХьон БінПак Сін ХеПак ХунКім Йон РімЧаньйольЛі РіЛі Хак ЧуЛі Сі ВонКім Юї СонСхожеНезабаромЕвакуація 2Побувавши на межі смерті, досвідчений найманець Тайлер Рейк береться за нову небезпечну місію врятувати з полону сім’ю безжального із Рівії, мутант, найманий мисливець на монстрів, вирушає назустріч долі в неспокійному світі, де люди часто виявляються страшнішими за епічна історія — адаптація серії фантастичних романів Діани Ґеблдон, яка розповідає про стосунки пари закоханих, які подорожують у працювати самостійно, колишній напарник Бетмена Дік Ґрейсон зустрічає кількох молодих героїв, яким відчайдушно потрібен конюшина Меч короля магівПоки хоробрий хлопець, який не володіє чарами, прагне стати королем магів, чотири попередні володарі цього титулу, повертаються, щоб знищити Королівство зовсім нарвалДопитливий маленький Келп усе життя вважав себе нарвалом… аж доки не дізнався, що він насправді єдиноріг. Тепер перед ним відкриваються цілих два світи!Крізь моє вікно Розділені моремАрес і Ракель провели рік поодинці. Зустріч на пляжі обіцяє бути спекотною. Чи зможе кохання перемогти все, і навіть дружній флірт або нові комплекси?PamfirПрацьовитий сім’янин відвідує рідне село заради місцевого свята й вимушено повертається до злочинного життя, яке він колись покинув. recaps discussion news cast 222 December 3, 2018December 3, 2018 Memories of the Alhambra Episode 1 by dramallama This is amazing! From the director of Forest of Secrets and the writer of W-Two Worlds comes a thrilling drama that leads us on an adventure between a virtual world and reality. We’re given a gripping introduction to our characters, who’ve found themselves at the junction of this virtual reality in Granada, Spain. It’s a conglomeration of a magical reality, some impromptu confrontations, and enjoyable humor that all mesh to create this intriguing introduction to the story. Let’s dive right in! EPISODE 1 RECAP In Barcelona, a frazzled young man urgently speaks to someone on a pay phone. We’ll later know him to be JUNG SE-JOO Chanyeol of Exo, and he suddenly looks around with a frightened expression. He quickly tells the person to meet at the hostel in Granada before dropping the phone and running off. Se-joo runs for his life through the night streets of Barcelona, seemingly being chased by someone or something, but we can’t see what he’s running from. Out of breath, Se-joo finally boards the train and seems to be safe from the pursuit. When Se-joo reaches his cabin, one of his cabinmates asks Se-joo to wake him when they reach Granada. Still shaken, Se-joo nods and hugs his knees on his bed. Se-joo wakes up the announcement of their approach to Granada and wakes up his cabinmate as promised. The cabinmate nods and turns around, still dozing off. Then suddenly, the sunny weather transforms into a storm, and Se-joo looks at the dark clouds and rain with worry. He opens the cabin door, and his eyes widen at the sight of someone. A gunshot fires, splattering blood on Se-joo’s bed and piercing the train window. When the train arrives at Granada Station, the weather has transformed back to sunny and clear skies. As the cabinmate leaves, he notices that Se-joo left his backpack on the train. In a narration, we hear that this was the last official sighting of this young man. Bonita Hostel owner JUNG HEE-JOO Park Shin-hye wakes up to the doorbell ringing. It’s past 1 and she sleepily lugs herself off the couch to greet a guest at the door. We’ll soon know him as YOO JIN-WOO Hyun Bin, and he asks if she has any open rooms. He narrates “This is where the story begins. That person sought me, and I sought that person, here in Granda.” Hee-joo checks in her late-night guest and notes that most people make a reservation. Jin-woo explains that he was on a business trip in Barcelona and needed to make an impromptu trip to Granada. She offers their two options — a double or quad — but Jin-woo wants a single room. She comments that most people who want singles go to a hotel and then remembers that she does have one single room on the sixth floor. Jin-woo gladly agrees to take the room before realizing that the hostel doesn’t have an elevator. Hee-joo offers to refer him to a hotel, but he insists on staying at the hostel. Hee-joo offers him the open space in the quad dorm on the second floor, but after seeing the mess of the room, Jin-woo decides to haul his luggage up to the sixth floor. Hee-joo apologetically leads him to the sixth floor as Jin-woo carries his suitcase on his shoulders because he doesn’t want to scratch up his suitcase. Once they arrive at the sixth-floor single, it turns out to be a long untouched storage room with furniture piled in a corner and dust layered all over. Hee-joo hurriedly tries to open the windows for fresh air and apologizes that she didn’t get a chance to clean the room yesterday. Jin-woo implies that she must have skipped cleaning for much longer. Hee-joo once again suggests that he move to a hotel, but he tackles the stairs with his luggage again. When Hee-joo returns to the ground floor, her grandmother asks about their late-night guest. Hee-joo describes the guest as rich person, dressed in high-end brands from head to toe, and wonders why he wouldn’t just stay at a hotel. Grandma figures that he could be dressed in counterfeit accessories, and Hee-joo nods in agreement. Looking disgusted, Jin-woo tries to clean the cobwebs in his room with a broom and runs into one mess after another. He pulls off the handle while trying to open the window, stuffs crumpled up toilet paper into the mouse hole, and deals with a toilet that won’t flush the toilet paper he used to wipe the heavy layers of dust on the nightstand. Ha, this is somehow really relatable. While trying to plunge the dusty toilet water, Jin-woo picks up a call from his secretary at the hotel in Barcelona. Secretary SEO JUNG-HOON Min Jin-woong finds it absurd that Jin-woo left for Granada when their flight to Seoul is that morning, but Jin-woo tells him what’s really absurd When he tried to wake his secretary for an impromptu trip to Granada, his drunk secretary wouldn’t budge and even cursed Jin-woo in his sleep, so he came to Granada on his own. Secretary Seo sheepishly falls to his knees and explains that he was celebrating their last scheduled night in Barcelona. Jin-woo orders Secretary Seo to submit his resignation letter upon reaching Seoul and hangs up. Secretary Seo looks crushed, but he immediately receives a call from Jin-woo ordering him to get to Granada on the first morning flight. After Jung-hoon successfully clears the dusty toilet water, he tries to charge his phone into the outlet in his room, but of course, it’s blocked. All the other outlets are taped off, so Jung-hoon resorts to outlets on the ground floor kitchen. As he charges his phone, he texts someone named Choi Yang-joo asking how much longer, and Yang-joo responds that it’ll take about 30 more minutes. Jin-woo cooks himself ramyun while waiting, and a young girl enters the kitchen. She introduces herself as JUNG MIN-JOO Lee Re, and Jin-woo incorrectly assumes that she’s the hostel owner’s daughter. Min-joo corrects him that 27-year-old Hee-joo is her older sister. She tells him to ignore her dance practice for her audition next week, and she proceeds to jam out around the table while Jin-woo slurps his ramyun. When Jin-woo leaves his pot in the sink, Min-joo tells him to clean his dishes right away, so he reluctantly follows the rules. Then, he finally receives the notification from Yang-joo that he can check the thing he’s been waiting on. Jin-woo exits the hostel and walks through the night as he narrates, “Most people come to Granada for Alhambra Palace, but I’ve come to see something else — something more mystical than the Alhambra.” He reaches a fountain in the middle of a plaza and notices buildings on a faraway hill burst into flames. Then, a rock fires towards him and explodes in the air, crumbling to the ground around him. Jin-woo ducks and looks closely at the approaching figure behind the dust. It’s a medieval knight with arrows piercing his back, riding toward him on a horse. Jin-woo stands up cautiously as the knight stops before him, and then the knight rears the horse, much to Jin-woo’s surprise. The dead knight topples to the ground, and the horse runs off through the streets, but no other passerby seems to notice the ruckus. After taking a close look at the knight, Jin-woo looks up to the statue in the plaza as it suddenly turns into a real warrior. The warrior leaps off the pedestal and slams his sword to the ground, causing an explosion of dust. Jin-woo falls to the ground and looks terrified as the warrior approaches him with the sword. Then, the warrior slices his sword at Jin-woo, who just barely saves himself by bearing a cut on his arm. He sees blood dripping onto the ground, and we’re finally clued in that he’s wearing special contact lenses. We see the world from his perspective A computer program notifies Jin-woo that the warrior killed him and logs him out. Upon logging out, the blood and rubble disappear, and Jin-woo breathes heavily in relief before cracking a smile. Through his earpiece, he talks to his colleague Yang-joo, who’s blown away by this augmented reality AR game. Yang-joo fumes in jealousy when Jin-woo confirms that it felt so real that he believed that he was dying, which is a funny thing to envy. Jin-woo takes out a contact lens, still hot from the program, and Yang-joo predicts that this form of AR could take off in the market within the next year. They wonder who this crazy genius could be. Flashback to 4 hours prior — Jin-woo wakes up in the middle of the night to pick up a call from an unknown number. It’s runaway pay phone caller Se-joo, who nervously explains that he received an offer from CEO Cha Hyung-seok seemingly Jin-woo’s friend but doesn’t want to sell his game to a bad guy. He needs to make a decision by the next day and tells Jin-woo check his email. He urgently tells Jin-woo to meet at Bonita Hostel in Granada before running off. Jin-woo seems confused by the sudden call and tries calling back, but nobody answers. His eyes widen when he opens the attached file and immediately gets out of bed to dig deeper on his laptop. Jin-woo makes a call to a mysterious person saved on his phone as “A” cameo by Park Hae-soo and asks for details about Cha Hyung-seok’s stay in Barcelona. It seems like someone has wiretapped one of their phones and monitors the conversation. As Jin-woo packs his suitcase, he tells “A” that he’s headed to Granada to check out the program himself. Back to the present in Granada, Jin-woo tells Yang-joo that they can only wait for their mysterious programmer to appear. Until then, Jin-woo says that he’ll keep trying to level up in the game to find any potential flaws. Meanwhile, at the Seoul office, Yang-joo shares this mindblowing AR game with his superior Director Park, all three of them keeping this on the down low. Putting the contact lens back into his eye, Jin-woo logs back into the game, taking place in Granada in year 1492, during the war between the Aragon and Nasrid kingdoms. He swipes through the virtual screen, and the game instructs him to follow the map to find the basic weapon provided to all level 1 players. Jin-woo follows the virtual reality navigation to his destination the bathroom of a bustling restaurant. He’s charged with finding the weapon there, so he searches the mirror and sink for any sign of the weapon. Then, he pulls at a random chain, and that opens a virtual window from the ceiling to reveal a sword. The sword lowers from the ceiling, and Jin-woo grabs it in awe. The program informs him that this is the only weapon available for level 1 and that he must level up to upgrade his weapon. From the other end, his colleagues Yang-joo and Director Park marvel at the realistic weapon, and Jin-woo confirms that it feels real. In the bathroom, a drunk man at the urinal looks at Jin-woo’s gestures curiously and presumes that he’s drunk. As Jin-woo exits the restaurant, he waves his sword, which is invisible to everyone else. He returns to the statue at the plaza with his virtual sword, and just like before, the warrior leaps down from the pedestal. This time, Jin-woo defends himself with his sword, but he’s knocked down by the mighty force of his enemy. When he looks around, his enemy has disappeared, but the warrior jumps from above and attacks him, much to his colleagues’ frenzy. The Nasrid warrior kills Jin-woo once again, and he’s logged out. Adjusting to the game, Jin-woo takes on the challenge again and fights his statue enemy once more. But this time, his rusted sword breaks, and he loses his life and weapon. As they watch, Yang-joo and Director Park mock Jin-woo for his poor performance, saying that it’ll take him a year to level up at this rate. Jin-woo logs in for the fourth time — this time with no weapon, so he returns to the restaurant bathroom to retrieve the virtual sword. The waiter who greeted him at his first visit looks at him strangely and wonders if he comes in just to use the bathroom. Jin-woo faces the Nasrid warrior multiple times while his colleagues now watch his repeated failures while munching on popcorn. All night, Jin-woo fights, dies, and revisits the restaurant bathroom for his virtual sword while his colleagues shake their head at his incompetence. His level 1 battle seems repetitive and predictable until he switches up the fighting ground and stands by a car. At first, he doesn’t see the warrior anywhere, but suddenly, the warrior lands on the top of the car, shattering the glass and denting the top. Jin-woo and his colleagues freeze in shock and awe that this program just incorporated a real-life item into the game in real time. The warrior kills Jin-woo and breaks the weapon once again, but Jin-woo smiles in excitement. When Jin-woo returns to the restaurant to retrieve his weapon, it’s closed. He waves over the workers to let him in and hands the annoyed waiter some cash to remain open for one more hour. That’s some addiction commitment. As night becomes day, a confused elderly couple watches Jin-woo continues flail and roll around against the invisible enemy. From Jin-woo’s perspective, he’s fighting with his all against the Nasrid warrior and finally manages to wound him with the sword. He breathes heavily in this final faceoff and slices his sword at the warrior flying toward him. The warrior collapses in defeat, and Jin-woo finally levels up! Woohoo! The dead enemy disappears, and Jin-woo is charged with a new mission Find the Warrior’s Key. He reaches into the fountain and obtains the key, which the program instructs him to use to find his new weapon. Jin-woo looks accomplished and collapses to the ground in satisfaction. Through the earpiece, Director Park tells him that they can’t find any flaws — only that it’s too addictive. He warns Jin-woo not to lose the bet on this AR game, and Jin-woo assures him that he has no plans to let this slip through his fingers. Lying on the ground, he imagines how this game could be the future all over the world and how Granada will become famous — not for Alhambra Palace but as the magical city, the mecca for all users. He admits, “As soon as I imagined this future, I became fearful and dispirited at the possibility that I could lose this game.” Jin-woo returns to the hostel just as hostel owner Hee-joo arrives on her scooter. She tells him that she plans on cleaning the sixth floor first, and he tiredly agrees to this. As he climbs the stairs, he worries that the mysterious programmer already signed over the game to CEO Cha Hyung-seok. Jin-woo grumbles as he heads back down the stairs to the kitchen to charge his phone. He agrees to watch over another hostel guest’s cooking ramyun and picks up a call from investigator “A,” who reports that Cha Hyung-seok cancelled his whole schedule for today. Jin-woo worries that he’s already lost the game to his rival, but “A” doesn’t think so. “A” shares details on the mysterious programmer 17-year-old Jung Se-joo. “A” has also illicitly hacked into his emails. Jin-woo seems alarmed that this programmer is a minor, and the call is interrupted by the fire alarm, triggered by the burning ramyun on the stove. Annoyed by the sound, Jin-woo turns off the stove and opens the window before going outside to continue his call. But the call gets cut off from the poor Bluetooth connection, and Jin-woo can’t bring his phone outside because it’s low on battery. He finds Hee-joo trying to turn off the sensitive fire alarm and barks at her to turn off the alarm faster. Jin-woo tries to return to his call, but Hee-joo confronts him for his rude burst of anger. As the alarm shuts off, Jin-woo decides to call back later and addresses Hee-joo. He explains that he’s blaming her because she’s the owner of this wretched hostel. As a businessman himself, he says that he detests mediocre business owners like her. He belittles the hostel for having nothing to offer other than some free ramyun and yells complaints about the clogged toilet, mouse hole, broken window, stairs, and broken outlets. Hee-joo nervously squeaks out her disclaimer that she did suggest moving to a hotel. Jin-woo sternly warns her that if this deal worth one billion won goes wrong, it’ll be her fault. Hee-joo apologizes but also accuses him of bad manners. He finds it funny that she’s seeking manners after treating her guests without any and walks into the lobby to return the call to “A.” Hee-joo crouches down and sobs at the harsh words while Jin-woo learns more about the mysterious programmer, who needs his guardian’s consent because he’s still a minor. “A” tells him that the programmer’s parents have passed away, so his legal guardian is his older sister Jung Hee-joo, the owner of Bonita Hostel. Jin-woo pauses in realization that he’s been staying at Bonita Hostel and looks back at a sobbing Hee-joo. “A” says that Hee-joo doesn’t seem to know anything, based on the emails she exchanged with her programmer brother. Jin-woo looks at her from the kitchen entrance, and Hee-joo shoots back a glare. Jin-woo narrates, “This is how the magic started in Hee-joo’s life. Hee-joo had authority over the technological innovation of the future. And like all fairytale princesses, she didn’t know her identity, lived in a wretched house, and let in a wolf.”  COMMENTS I’m sold! I was happy to find that this show met the hype and my anticipations, as expected from this production team. The sci-fi fantasy element is right up my alley, and I’m excited to see how the two worlds mesh through this show. As an inexperienced video gamer read I can maybe figure out Mario Cart, I find the concept of virtual reality and augmented reality overwhelming but fascinating — meaning I could never excel in the game, but I am so intrigued by the idea that I would love to be good at it. I’m not sure how exciting this show was for those who’ve been immersed in the world of VR and AR for a while, but for me, this was quite an exciting watch. I think I may finally understand why people watch videos of other people playing video games. W-Two Worlds really blew me out of the water with its creativity and exhilarating twists and turns, so I’m excited for how this drama unfolds with this writer at the helm. I can already see the parallels — in a good way — with how the two worlds of reality and AR overlap and interact. Even though Jin-woo’s level 1 failures were repetitive, it didn’t feel trite or boring thanks to the multiple perspectives and angles possible with this concept. This director knows how to get those angles and portray the clear points of view of the people privy to and unaware of the AR game. This director-writer combo already had me excited, and this was a strong first episode to showcase their potential. I had forgotten how much I had missed Hyun Bin and his dimples, and I think he chose a great project for his dramaland comeback. He’s a natural at the likeable ass with a sprinkle of cheeky humor, and I can’t wait to see how he tries to recover from putting his foot in his mouth. I’m not too keen on Park Shin-hye’s character being characterized as the clueless fairytale princess, as she’s played these types of characters before. I hope her character transcends that archetype and proves that she’s more than the “princess” that Jin-woo sees. I’m eager to dive deeper into the virtual world of Alhambra and as excited as Jin-woo looks when he finally conquered level 1. Level/Episode 2, let’s go! RELATED POSTS Premiere Watch Clean With Passion for Now, Boyfriend, Memories of the Alhambra More teasers for Memories of the Alhambra Promos for suspense romance drama Memories of the Alhambra Reminiscing about Spain at sunset in tvN’s Memories of the Alhambra Park Shin-hye up to join Hyun Bin in Memories of the Alhambra Hyun Bin offered new sci-fi drama from W–Two Worlds writer Tags Chanyeol, featured2, first episodes, Hyun Bin, Memories of the Alhambra, Min Jin-woong, Park Hae-soo, Park Shin-hye Premium Supporter ♥ Currently Airing recaps discussion news cast 280 December 17, 2018December 17, 2018 Memories of the Alhambra Episode 6 by LollyPip This show just continues to blow my mind, with everything getting twistier and scarier the further into the game we go. I love that I have no idea where things are going or what’s going to happen next, and I spend the whole hour on pins and needles, equally excited and terrified. Who ever thought that the normally lovely, relaxing sounds of rain and a classical guitar could feel so menacing? EPISODE 6 RECAP After finding Jin-woo in the rain outside the hospital, Hee-joo walks home, still soaked and worried. Grandma is surprised that she left Jin-woo alone, but Hee-joo says that his wife showed up. She had followed as Jin-woo was carried, unconscious, back to his hospital room. Yu-ra had been waiting impatiently, and later Hee-joo overheard Yu-ra on the phone with someone complaining that she may have to drop the divorce suit if Jin-woo has actually gone crazy. Yu-ra had stopped Hee-joo from entering Jin-woo’s room, angry that she lied to her earlier. She’d threatened Hee-joo not to mess with her, and Secretary Seo told her to be respectful to Hee-joo — only to get kicked in the shin, ouch. After he recovered, Secretary Seo had told Hee-joo to go home so as not to anger Yu-ra further, promising to call her later. When Jin-woo wakes, he ignores Yu-ra and asks Secretary Seo if he’s having a nightmare, ha. While Secretary Seo and Yu-ra bicker, Jin-woo is alarmed by a clap of thunder and the sound of a guitar. Hee-joo tosses and turns in bed, thinking about how Jin-woo pulled her to him and asked her if he seemed crazy. Eventually she gets up for a glass of wine, and she hears a knock at the front door. When she opens it, she finds Jin-woo, still in his hospital pajamas, looking around as if terrified. He blames his presence on the fact that Yu-ra is at the hospital, holding Hee-joo responsible for telling her where he was. He asks Hee-joo to get his things from his sixth floor room, specifically his lens case, but Hee-joo seems skeptical that this is the real reason Jin-woo is here. He waits in his car while Hee-joo goes inside, and the first thing she does is call Secretary Seo, who’s been looking everywhere for Jin-woo. He tells Hee-joo to humor Jin-woo, because the doctor thinks he’s suffering from stress-related paranoid ideation — in other words, he’s seeing and hearing things, like a dead person who’s chasing him with a sword. He says that after Hee-joo left, Jin-woo had a seizure and was given a sedative, so Secretary Seo left him alone, which is when he escaped. He tells Hee-joo that Jin-woo’s “hallucinations” should go away after a few days, so to just go along with him for now. While Jin-woo waits, it begins to rain, and he goes very still. He rolls down the car window and sticks his hand out tentatively, and when his hand remains dry, he quickly closes the window again. He looks around as he hears a guitar, and the game’s UI user interface appears in his vision and informs him that “an enemy has appeared.” Through the rain-distorted windshield, Jin-woo sees a figure approaching — NPC Hyung-seok, sword in hand. Hee-joo runs outside where it’s perfectly dry with Jin-woo’s lenses, but inside the car, he’s locked in a stare-off with Hyung-seok. He acknowledges Hee-joo with a gesture, but doesn’t take his eyes off Hyung-seok until the timer runs out and the game cancels the duel. Once Hyung-seok disappears again, Jin-woo rolls down the window and asks for his lenses, and as soon as Hee-joo hands them over, Jin-woo pops them in and logs onto the game. Everything in-game seems normal, directing him to his next quest as usual. Jin-woo prepares to drive away, but Hee-joo begs him desperately to let her drive or she won’t be able to sleep out of worry. She wails that she’s scared he’ll get hurt even worse, driving with a broken leg while on sedatives, and asks if he’s crazy. He says calmly that he already told her he’s crazy, noting that she seems a little nuts herself, the way she goes off at the mouth when she’s angry “You could be a rapper”. Hee-joo assures him that she’s quite sane, and she says that she wants to cancel the contract to sell him the hostel. She tells Jin-woo that for one day she was thrilled with the money he offered, but that she won’t be able to live with herself if he drives in his condition and kills himself. When Jin-woo says he can’t do that, Hee-joo tells him to at least open the car door, and he does without hesitation. In a heartbreakingly honest tone, he says, “I’d be grateful if you came along. I was scared to go alone anyway.” Oof. Jin-woo drives, confusing Hee-joo when he knows where to go without help of a GPS, unable or unwilling to tell her that the game is directing him. He stops at a closed antique shop and asks Hee-joo to call the owner they’re neighborhood buddies. She can’t reach the owner, so Jin-woo uses his crutch to smash the glass door in, shocking Hee-joo. He lets himself inside, and an NPC shopkeeper appears to welcome him to Armas, an in-game weapon shop. Jin-woo looks around, and now, instead of antiques, the walls are covered in weaponry of all kinds. As he checks out the weapons, the game tells him when he’s too low-level or doesn’t have enough in-game gold for each piece. He eventually finds two level four weapons, a Dagger of Wind and a Fairy’s Ninja Star, that the game will let him purchase. Outside, Hee-joo finally gets ahold of the shop owner and tells them that a guest of hers accidentally broke their door. She goes inside to find Jin-woo appearing to throw something over and over — he’s in Practice Mode trying out the star, but to Hee-joo, it looks like he’s gone even further ’round the bend. He manages to land a solid hit with the star just as thunder booms and the sound of a guitar fills the air. Jin-woo spots NPC Hyung-seok standing just outside the shop, and unfortunately, the shattered door means there’s no obstacle to stop the duel from beginning. Jin-woo hits Hyung-seok with two of his three ninja stars he whiffs the first one, then the game auto-equips his familiar Assassin’s Blade. Hee-joo waits outside for the shop owner, assuming that Jin-woo is alone inside. Jin-woo has retreated to a storeroom, which causes the game to delay the duel due to the closed door. But instead of just standing there like he’s done before, this time, NPC Hyung-seok reaches out and opens the door. Holy crap, the game is evolving. Equipping his new dagger, Jin-woo waits until Hyung-seok enters the storeroom, then attacks. He stabs Hyung-seok from behind, leaving the Dagger of Wind in Hyung-seok’s shoulder, then equips his sword and runs it through Hyung-seok’s belly. He wins the duel with a critical hit and advances to level five, but all Jin-woo can think is that he just murdered Hyung-seok… again. He’s still reeling when Hee-joo finds him to tell him that the shop owner is here. She believes he wants to buy something, but he tells her wearily to just pick something and he’ll purchase it. Once they’re both back in the car, Hee-joo wants to return Jin-woo to the hospital, but he refuses to go. He mutters, exhausted, “I don’t want to die, but it feels terrible to kill.” Lightning flashes, and Jin-woo can see NPC Hyung-seok standing in front of the car. He continues, “There’s no point in killing him. Damn it, there’s no way out of this.” Professor Cha visits the spot where Hyung-seok’s body was found, having learned that he met Jin-woo here the night he died. Jin-woo’s fingerprints were found on Hyung-seok’s neck, and the time of death coincides with the time that Jin-woo left the area. He’s already visited Soo-jin, who’d tearfully apologized for not taking better care of Hyung-seok. Professor Cha yelled that if she was so sorry, she “shouldn’t have done that” left Jin-woo for Hyung-seok. He reminded her of her promise to make up for how she and Hyung-seok ended up together, angry that instead, one man is dead and the other will be handicapped for life. He accused Soo-jin of being the reason that his only son lost everything, became an alcoholic; then died in a foreign country. Professor Cha said that he knows Hyung-seok’s death isn’t Soo-jin’s fault, nor is Jin-woo’s accident, but he can’t find it in his heart to feel sorry for her. Director Park has come to Spain, and he finds Professor Cha at the park, having already visited Jin-woo, who’s back in the hospital and sedated for “anxiety.” Over lunch, Professor Cha tells Director Park that they need to handle this with the press. He’d pressured Soo-jin not to approve the autopsy, afraid that no matter the results, reporters would take it as proof of murder. He tells Director Park that he doesn’t doubt Jin-woo’s innocence, but Director Park doesn’t seem as confident. He remembers Jin-woo telling Yang-joo that he “destroyed” Hyung-seok, and further back, when Jin-woo told Director Park himself that he might have stabbed Hyung-seok if he’d had a knife, but he tells Professor Cha what he wants to hear. Professor Cha decides to cover up as much as possible, so Hyung-seok’s death is covered up. Everyone leaves Granada, Hyung-seok’s body is sent home, and Jin-woo, realizing that NPC Hyung-seok can’t come after him if he’s asleep, voluntarily allows himself to be kept sedated. Nobody ever asks Jin-woo what happened between him and Hyung-seok that night, because if they had, he’d have told them that he killed Hyung-seok. When Jin-woo wakes up, the only person still with him is Hee-joo. She’s sleeping curled up in a chair, so he covers her with a blanket and watches her for a little while. He leaves the bedroom, finding himself in a large apartment with a pool on the balcony, where Min-joo is happily splashing away. She tells him that the doctor cut off his sleeping meds. She says that she came to help Hee-joo nurse him, but that he only wanted Hee-joo. He vaguely remembers begging Hee-joo not to leave the room, slurring that he was afraid to be alone. Min-joo asks why, but Jin-woo admits that he doesn’t know, either. Min-joo tells him that he’s doing a great job charming her sister, and that she’s even created a nickname for him, though she doesn’t say what it is. She adds that she used to like Go Yu-ra because she’s pretty, but she came by the house and now Min-joo doesn’t like her anymore. In flashback, we see Yu-ra show up at the hostel, extremely drunk. She shoves Hee-joo hard enough to knock her down, screaming that she warned Hee-joo to stay away from Jin-woo. Min-joo tells Jin-woo that the other guests pulled Yu-ra off Hee-joo, and she asks why he married someone like that. He says he doesn’t remember, looking both angry and guilty. Hee-joo is still asleep when Jin-woo checks on her again, and her friend Sang-bum arrives to bring her some things. When he sees that Jin-woo is up and awake, he asks if he can take Hee-joo out since it’s her birthday and her friends want to throw a party. Hee-joo is alarmed when she wakes to see an empty bed, but she finds Jin-woo sipping coffee in the dining room. He wishes her happy birthday, and Sang-bum invites her out for a birthday party. Jin-woo looks like he feels a little left out, but he tells her to go, insisting unconvincingly that he doesn’t need her anymore. Hee-joo gives in, but she feels unsettled leaving Jin-woo alone without even Secretary Seo to watch over him. Jin-woo goes back to bed after she leaves, sitting stiffly as if expecting the thunder and guitar at any second. He relocates to the couch, but he startles at the loud screeching of cicadas. His anxiety returns as the last of the sedatives wore off, but a frantic search of the apartment turns up nothing, not even alcohol. Jin-woo curls up in bed, wondering if he’s mentally ill as he feels Hyung-seok getting closer and closer. While getting ready for her party, Hee-joo calls Jin-woo to check on him, and he lies that he’s perfectly fine. She offers to return to keep him company, but he tells her not to come and hangs up on her. An enormous bouquet of roses is delivered to the hostel for Hee-joo, with a note from Jin-woo wishing her happy birthday. At the apartment, Jin-woo is sitting huddled in the shower stall when the thunder comes. NPC Hyung-seok materializes in the bathroom, and this time, Jin-woo tries to talk to him. He says, “Hyung-seok, how long will you keep following me? Can’t we stop this now? I really, really want to stop. Will you be happy only after you’ve killed me? How long must we fight?” Hyung-seok just stands there, unresponsive to Jin-woo’s pleading, but not attacking, either. He begins to glitch, and his fierce expression seems to soften a little. When Secretary Seo returns, he finds Jin-woo still in the shower stall, but alive. Jin-woo says he wants to leave now, but he’s afraid of being trapped on a plane in case Hyung-seok shows up again, so he requests that they take a train back to Barcelona. In the middle of her birthday party, Hee-joo steps out to call Secretary Seo. He and Jin-woo are on their way to the train station, and Jin-woo asks Secretary Seo not to tell Hee-joo they’re leaving. Secretary Seo tells Hee-joo that everything is fine, but when she says she’ll stop by the apartment later, he asks Jin-woo again if he can please tell her the truth. Jin-woo doesn’t respond, so Secretary Seo tells Hee-joo that they’re on their way out of town. Her face falls and her voice falters, then she turns and runs out of the restaurant. She catches a taxi and directs the driver to the train station. Secretary Seo settles Jin-woo into his seat on the train, and Jin-woo looks defeated, narrating, “I fled from Granada in fear. I couldn’t even afford to think about someone else’s feelings. But… ” He watches as Hee-joo runs out of the station and onto the platform, trying to catch the train. The train pulls out, leaving her behind, and on the train, Jin-woo hangs his head. COMMENTS The “romance” finally seems to be kicking in a little, though at this point, what’s between Hee-joo and Jin-woo seems like it’s mostly about their shared experiences in the past few days than any true romantic emotions. They’ve had the unique experience of having seen each other in their lowest, most vulnerable moments, and that’s bound to create a bond of some kind. I actually like that the show is taking this part of the story slowly — I appreciate the slow-growing awareness of the other person’s true self rather than the persona they present to the world. That sense of knowing who each other are on a fundamental level is not only an understandable basis for forging a strong connection, but it’s a good place to begin a relationship from, if that’s where this is leading. I was skeptical that a romance between Jin-woo and Hee-joo would be believable until this week’s episodes, but now that we’ve seen how they’ve been there for each other at their worst, I can absolutely imagine this bond turning to friendship, then love. It was hard to see Jin-woo so broken in this episode, both in body and mind, by his realization that he killed Hyung-seok and the game’s subsequent relentless stalking. I think back to the wolf he was in the first couple of episodes, and it’s heartbreaking to see Jin-woo’s confidence and spirit so completely destroyed. By the time he sees Hyung-seok in the bathroom after “killing” him a second time, Jin-woo looked like he was almost ready to give up on life, literally, and let Hyung-seok kill him just to get some peace and atonement. I keep forgetting that Hyung-seok wasn’t a simple villain, but Jin-woo’s very close friend whom he loved very much, and probably never stopped loving even after what happened with Soo-jin. After killing him once by accident, then again on purpose even if it was in-game, it still looked and felt very real, it’s no wonder that Jin-woo’s mind and spirit just couldn’t cope. I hope he finds something to bring back that spirit soon because he’s got a long time — at least a year that we know of — before he’s safe again. I love this whole game-as-antagonist twist to this drama, because you can’t fight a game that can just regenerate your enemy as many times as it likes, which is a terrifying thought. And the scariest thing about the game is the way it’s evolving and adapting, making it nearly impossible for Jin-woo to find safe haven, because the game just learns how to circumvent any safety measures he discovers. First it behaved like a game should, staying within the parameters of its programming, but then it became capable of killing a human player in real life, and making that player an NPC. For a while that NPC obeyed the gaming rules, but now even that can’t be trusted, since NPC Hyung-seok learned how to remove obstacles instead of just waiting for them to be removed. I don’t know if Jin-woo’s desperate plea in the bathroom is what worked to save him, but I hope it’s something that can be repeated, because we’ve seen that he’s still fighting the game a year from now. What scares me the most is what we saw at the end of Episode 5 — Se-joo lying on the ground at the train station, unable to be seen by anyone not in the game. My feeling is that Se-joo was alive until he boarded the train and ran into his own thunderstorm, because he could interact with the people around him until that point. I believe that Se-joo was at a similar point in his game’s evolution then as Jin-woo is now — still human and alive, but unable to control the game and being chased by an NPC that he inadvertently created maybe the mysterious Marco?. So somehow, the game went through an evolutionary process with Se-joo, ending or did it? by pulling Se-joo into itself. Now it’s repeating that process with Jin-woo, but why? Is the game sentient, or is it simply glitching in a deadly way that Se-joo never predicted? And why is it doing so again with Jin-woo? There’s got to be something that both Se-joo and Jin-woo did to kickstart the process, and the question is, will Jin-woo be able to discover what’s happening and stop it before he too is pulled into the game and can’t get out? Editor’s Note Please don’t discuss spoilers because we’d hate to delete your comment! This includes anything shown in previews. RELATED POSTS Premiere Watch Clean With Passion for Now, Boyfriend, Memories of the Alhambra More teasers for Memories of the Alhambra Promos for suspense romance drama Memories of the Alhambra Reminiscing about Spain at sunset in tvN’s Memories of the Alhambra Park Shin-hye up to join Hyun Bin in Memories of the Alhambra Hyun Bin offered new sci-fi drama from W-Two Worlds writer Tags Chanyeol, Hyun Bin, Memories of the Alhambra, Park Shin-hye Premium Supporter ♥ Currently Airing Thought romance, turns out Pokemon Go Thriller addition ... w plotholes, and awkward writing So I was expecting this to be a lovers reunion; I've always thought so from the cover and title, that's why I kept the title on the Plan to See shelf for so long ??Then to my surprise this is Pokemon Go the movie with a DEEP PLOT and ACTION!I liked the story premises and I'm hooked up!But the acting more like writing was on the weak side considering A LIST actors were on the show! Their actions and reactions were sometimes awkward, embarrassing, and weird!I hope it's just a first episod thingy where some series have everything awkward at first..Aside from that, we have PLOT HOLES, not many but major ones! Like we have no idea when did he get the AR lenses, we don't get any back story on how futuristic is AR in this world! Like why was he so impressed? We don't know in his world how developed is AR games to judge if the game is really that impressive!And we didn't know the email contents or see how he located the contact and the starting point of the game, especially that he was totally clueless about the whole thing!but he adapted so fast and streamed the game live to his team?!?! All these major things make no sense, for we saw his first night went awfully and he only booked the night of his arrival!Anyways, it's a good original plot as far as I watched with great actors and setting so I hope it doesn't go downhill. Read More Was this review helpful to you? Amazing Well.... i guess that you understand everything what happend there the most if you are a gamer! - it was just so hilarious when he tried to defeat the first boss over and over again and his laugh at the end - so well done D just great! And what i love most about is they really cared about small details - like ramen notices at the hotel, the money, the european people... everything feels so "real", altough it has so much virtual reality - thats ensures the qualitiy of the effects!! - So eager to know what will happen in 2nd episode. Was this review helpful to you? Exiting and incredible CGI! I loved the special effects in this show that help create the perfect atmosphere for the world that this drama is trying to create. It seems promising enough but we all knew the girl was going to be important. It was so predictable, it shocked me when they showed it in the drama. It does not make sense, but it does. I have high hopes for this drama and hope the development of the story turns out great. Was this review helpful to you? Read the plot before you start Made the mistake of watching this without the plot I always read the plot before since it helps me decide to watch the drama but I saw the cast and knew I must watch it Because of his I was very confused the first 30 min. The ending was of course a plot twist but the entire episode was fascinating. I couldn't look away. I am really exited for tomorrow! Was this review helpful to you? Stunning Special effects and camera work are lovely. Started very strong and had moments of humour. A very strong start to what looks like it will be an interesting ride. Was this review helpful to you? recaps discussion news cast 267 January 1, 2019January 2, 2019 Memories of the Alhambra Episode 10 by LollyPip Every time I think I know how the AR game works, the rules change, or at least they appear to. But that’s probably the scariest part — are the rules changing, or are they just so complex that our brave protagonist can’t see clues that are right in front of him? What I do know is that you can’t take anything for granted, because just when I think I have it all figured out, something happens that makes me think that in this game, there are no rules at all. EPISODE 10 RECAP Jin-woo and Secretary Seo had taken the night train to Granada, and on the way, Secretary Seo had mentioned that Se-joo is the highest level player in the game, and wondered if he’s hiding out of fear of Marco. He asked why Se-joo would call them to Granada – maybe another problem? — but Jin-woo had just snapped testily that they’d find out when they got there. In the morning, they arrive in Granada, and have their confrontations with warriors on the platform Secretary Seo and terrorists on the train Jin-woo. Secretary Seo tries to log out to avoid his attackers, and when that doesn’t work, he rips out his smart contact, but he can still see them coming. The train pulls out with Jin-woo still on it — his last glimpse of Secretary Seo is of him on the ground surrounded by warriors, and he gets an in-game message that he’s lost his ally. A terrorist shots Jin-woo point-blank in the face, but the bullet stops in midair as the game informs Jin-woo that he’s gone out of bounds. He calls Yang-joo, who checks the game files and sees that Secretary Seo logged out of the game at Granada Station. At the next small station, he has the attendant call Granada Station, but nobody matching Secretary Seo’s description has been found. Jin-woo leaves his contact information, and he’s forced to wait nearly an hour for the next train back to Granada. He calls Secretary Seo while he waits, but there’s no answer. He calls Yang-joo again to make a request, but we don’t hear what he asks. The train finally arrives, and on the ride back to Granada, Jin-woo writes out the story of the past year on his phone, the story we’ve been listening to, in case he and Secretary Seo end up dead in Granada. There’s an incoming call from Hee-joo, which reminds Jin-woo of his overly confident prediction one year ago that by this time, Granada would be famous for magic, and that people would flock there. He lets the call go to voicemail and limps to the restroom as the train nears Granada. He’s automatically logged into the game and is notified that he has four hours until the Hawk’s Parchment quest expires. The storm rolls in and he pushes his way into the restroom, where he attempts to open the quest. The same tells him that he only gets one shot at it, and he opens the quest. The small parchment projects a 3D hologram of the Alhambra with a pin blinking at one point, and a simple quest text “Rescue Master!” The quest recommends four players level 90 or higher, with difficulty level “highest.” The quest officially begins, and the first directive is to go to the Alhambra. He’s notified that an enemy has appeared, and a scan of the train shows him that he’s facing seven attackers, and the guitar also heralds Hyung-seok’s appearance. Jin-woo steps out of the restroom and almost casually takes out NPC Hyung-seok, then he notices that his limp is completely gone. He summons a second pistol and prepares to meet the game head-on. He narrates that he was right that Granada has become a city of magic, a crazy place where nothing seems strange no matter how messed up. He opens fire on several terrorists in the train car, taking several seemingly painless shots himself, then hides while the train goes through a dark tunnel. He faces off with another terrorist, and just manages to outshoot him and advance to level 91. Even though the battle is over, Jin-woo stays on alert as the train pulls into Granada Station, since his injured leg is still working perfectly. He’s carrying a rifle with a scope, and he scans the station platform for enemies, which the game tells him are everywhere. He searches the station for Secretary Seo, but he’s nowhere to be found. Unable to locate his ally, Jin-woo takes a taxi to the Alhambra. On the way, he stops at the Alcazaba Cafe, the in-game quest hub. On Yang-joo’s suggestion, he approaches the pirates the Pirates of Malaga, according to the game that wouldn’t even speak to him at level 4, but this time they look at him with respect. One of them says that it’s been a long time since he saw a user above level 90, and Jin-woo is invited to join them for a drink. He declines, but he asks their help finding a user called City Hunter Secretary Seo’s handle, lol. The pirates demand 300 gold to take the job, another 300 as a deposit, and a final 1000 gold when they find Secretary Seo. Jin-woo pays the Pirates of Malaga what they want, and they eagerly take the job. Jin-woo tells them to send Secretary Seo to the Alhambra when they find him, and they head off on their quest. Almost immediately, the quiet strains of a guitar float to Jin-woo across the cafe — Emma. Like the first time, Jin-woo says, “Hello, Emma,” and Emma looks up at him. Unlike the first time, she responds in kind, then tells Jin-woo, “This place is dangerous.” He says he came to find her brother, and Emma replies that she hopes Jin-woo finds him. He asks Emma if he can do it alone, and she smiles as she says he can, and that she’ll be waiting for him to return safely. She fades away, and Jin-woo walks out of the cafe and into an ambush, but he seems calmed and centered after his conversation with Emma and quickly picks off the archers. He makes his way to the Alhambra which was originally a fortress, then later its ruins were renovated into a royal palace, slipping past the crowds of sightseers. He finds the area that used to be an underground prison, and a tiny spiral staircase that’s marked by the game as the dungeon entrance. Jin-woo hesitates as the game alerts him that he can only enter once — he won’t be allowed in again if he fails the quest. His four hours have dwindled down to two, so he enters the dungeon. It’s dark and cavelike, and eventually he comes upon a game-generated metal gate barring his way. The gate flickers but feels very solid, and beyond, the passage lights up with torches as the game tells Jin-woo, “Welcome to the dungeon of the Nasrid Kingdom.” The bad news is that he’s forbidden to use any weapons or items that aren’t from Granada. One by one, Jin-woo’s guns, potions, and all of the special items that he got from Yang-joo are automatically removed from his inventory, reducing him to his trusty Black Knight Sword. The gate dissolves and reappears behind Jin-woo — there’s no way out but through, now. Jin-woo hears a crunching sound, and he turns to find the animated corpse of an Aragon prisoner behind him. AAAACK, zombies! Although Jin-woo takes it down, it’s not easy. As soon as he dispatches the reanimated prisoner, another appears behind him — damn, what hell has Se-joo been living in for the past year? Eight hours ago, in her home in Korea, Hee-joo was woken by a tapping sound, which lead her downstairs to her workshop door. She opened the door to find Se-joo standing outside, staring off into the distance. He startled a little at the sound of his name, then looked at Hee-joo and says softly, “Noona…” But it was just a dream. Hee-joo runs downstairs but there’s nobody at the door, and she notices the business card that Jin-woo left her still sitting on her workbench. She remembers him saying that she can watch what’s happening with his Se-joo rescue, so she goes to to see Yang-joo. He’s been prepped by Jin-woo, so he leads Hee-joo to the elevator, then screams in her face LOL! when he gets a good look at the real live inspiration for his favorite NPC. He scurries around his messy office cleaning up, then hurriedly deactivates his projection of Emma when she starts playing the guitar in the corner. He finally lets Hee-joo in, then blurts out, “Are you married?” He giggles when she says she’s not and stammers that she’s beautiful. OMG Yang-joo, shutupshutupshutup! Weirded out but with no other options, Hee-joo asks about Jin-woo’s quest to find Se-joo and his statement that she can monitor him. Yang-joo tells her in rapid-fire nerd speak that Se-joo created a secret quest that only he knows how to unlock. He says the game’s launch has been delayed, so Jin-woo’s gone to Granada to trigger the quest and find Se-joo. He’s all excited because he gets to watch it unfold with his crush. Right then is when Jin-woo calls Yang-joo to tell him that Secretary Seo went missing. Meanwhile, Director Park tries to talk Professor Cha into waiting until Jin-woo returns from Granada before calling a board meeting to have him dismissed. He argues that if they can find Se-joo, they’ll be able to solve the issues with the game and release it to the public, and even get answers about Hyung-seok’s death. Director Park says that if Jin-woo really is mentally ill, he’ll give up on him and support his removal. But he also admits that he still has hope for his friend, making Professor Cha remind him that he even gave up on his own son and covered up his death for the sake of the company. Director Park asks, “I thought you covered it up for Jin-woo?” Professor Cha mentions that Yu-ra came to see him, so drunk she could barely stand. She accused Professor Cha of being happy she divorced Jin-woo, and told him a “fun story” just between the two of them. Professor Cha doesn’t tell Director Park what she said, but he does say that he had a paternity test done on Soo-jin’s son, thinking that he probably wasn’t of his blood, but he was wrong. Director Park asks why Professor Cha would think the baby wasn’t his grandchild, and Professor Cha says he doesn’t trust Soo-jin. He agrees to hold off on the board meeting for a few days, looking forward to what Jin-woo finds in Granada. As Director Park heads back to the office, he gets a message — Jin-woo’s will, the full story of the past year that he wrote out while on the train. He reads it, but he can’t reach Jin-woo by phone. He’s surprised to hear that Hee-joo is in the building at this very moment, and she asks him why Jin-woo hasn’t been reachable since he got to Spain, but Director Park says he’s looking into that himself. He starts to call Secretary Seo, but Hee-joo tells him that she can’t reach him either, and Director Park starts to look worried. He calls Yang-joo, but he’s been disconnected from Jin-woo’s game feed since he went underground half an hour ago. Yang-joo tells Director Park that Jin-woo and Secretary Seo got separated, so even though the quest is too difficult for one player to complete, Jin-woo was out of time and had to proceed alone. In Yang-joo’s opinion, the only way for Jin-woo to complete the quest is for Secretary Seo to be found, and for him to go in to help Jin-woo. Director Park refers back to Jin-woo’s will, which says that if he or Secretary Seo dies, or they can’t reach them, to shut down the servers because the game is compromised. But he’d said to give him time to find Se-joo, and only to make that decision after the quest ends. Director Park goes back to Hee-joo and tells her nervously not to worry, that Jin-woo is just underground. He says it’s only a quest in a game, but his laugh is a bit too forced, which just worries Hee-joo even more. She says that Jin-woo thinks he’ll find Se-joo if he completes the quest, and Director Park eagerly asks if she believes Jin-woo is sane. He suddenly blurts out everything — that Jin-woo is addicted to drugs and the game, and that the company has given up on him. He whines that Jin-woo blamed his problems on the game, then he took off to play the game when he’s about to be fired. His voice wobbles as he tells Hee-joo that the company might fold if Jin-woo is right, because it will mean that the game they’ve heavily invested in is a disaster. He says he wants to believe Jin-woo is wrong so they don’t go bankrupt, and because if Jin-woo is right, then he’s on a suicide quest. He decides that he wants to believe Jin-woo is crazy , and he advises Hee-joo to find her brother some other way. She’s alarmed by Director Park’s talk of Jin-woo dying, unaware that the game is anything but a game. Director Park says that Jin-woo was a great man whose passion built this company, but now he’s sick, and has even convinced Secretary Seo to lie for him. Suddenly his phone rings with a call from Secretary Seo’s number. Director Park picks it up yelling, but then he goes very quiet, and asks Hee-joo to speak to whoever is on the other end since they’re speaking Spanish. She asks who’s calling, then stares at Director Park in shock. Jin-woo spends nearly an hour fighting his way through reanimated corpses in the underground dungeon. He makes it to a clear area and stops to rest, but he’s notified that another enemy has appeared. It’s another zombie, and ha, Jin-woo mostly looks annoyed, but more show up until he’s surrounded. With a muttered curse, Jin-woo starts dispatching zombies. At one point several of them nearly overtake him, but he pulls out a dagger and fights two-handed. The zombies get him up against a metal grate and hold him there, slashing at him over and over until he’s severely weakened. He finds enough strength to push them off, but he’s literally fighting a losing battle. The game tells him that his ally has appeared, and he sees someone on the other side of the grate fighting back the zombies. He calls out to Secretary Seo with a weak laugh, asking what took him so long, but when he gets a better look, he gets a shock. It’s Secretary Seo, but he doesn’t look good — he’s battered and bloody, with arrows sticking out of his back. Worse, he’s glitching like the NPCs. Oh no… Back in Seoul, Hee-joo talks to someone at Granada Station, who tells her that the owner of the phone has passed away. Secretary Seo’s body was found near the train station, lying in some tall grass with his hands still positioned as if holding a sword. As Jin-woo watches NPC Secretary Seo hack emotionlessly at the zombies, it dawns on him what this means. Tears stream down Jin-woo’s face as he realizes that his secretary — no, his friend — is dead. Also in shock at the news, Director Park wonders if it’s time to pull the plug on the game, but Yang-joo tells him that Jin-woo still has thirty minutes left in his quest. Meanwhile, Hee-joo runs home and ignores Sang-bum’s questions as she searches frantically for something. She finds a flyer and calls the number on it, speaking in Spanish. Jin-woo just watches as NPC Secretary Seo calmly kills the rest of the zombies in the room. When they’re all dead at his feet, he fades out. The game tells Jin-woo that his ally may reappear when he’s in danger, but that’s hardly any consolation. Jin-woo’s health is down to ten percent, and he has less than thirty minutes left to complete the quest. He pulls himself to his feet and continues on, but another wave of zombies approaches, and Jin-woo sighs. He parries one zombie’s swing, but another stabs him in the stomach, and he slides to the floor. The zombies close in, and Jin-woo braces himself for the end. But a light shines on him, and he isn’t attacked again. He looks up, and what he sees makes his eyes widen in surprise. COMMENTS Once again, WHAT THE HECK?! This game just gets worse and worse, and now we’re throwing zombies into the mix, which is where I personally nope right out of a game. Poor Jin-woo had to fight through an hour’s worth of reanimated prisoners, and I don’t blame him for looking just plain weary mentally and physically. No wonder the game recommended four players for Se-joo’s rescue quest, and I can personally attest to “group quests” being nearly impossible for one person to complete alone. Thank goodness NPC Secretary Seo showed up to save him, but why?? Why did he have to die? I actually cried when I saw him glitch — I loved him so much, and now he’ll be gone when Jin-woo inevitably shuts the game down. At least he went out like a damn hero. I’ve been a fan of Park Chanyeol’s for years now — he’s not my main EXO bias, but it’s close! — and I’d hoped that he would have a bigger role in this drama not to mention that I’m still not over what happened to his character in his last drama that I recapped. But aside from that, Se-joo is a fascinating character that we have a lot to learn from… how he created the game, what niche he intended it to fill, what happened between him and Marco, and why the game allows its players to die and be brought back as vengeful NPCs over and over and over again. As a gamer myself, there are a lot of problems I can see with a game of this type being actualized in the real world, not the least of which is people running around, waving arms and legs wildly and talking to people who aren’t really there and generally creating public nuisances of themselves. But for the purposes of storytelling, I love how the game weaves the player’s environment and the gameplay together, using the player’s surroundings to create tension and interest. It’s fantastic as a concept, especially since the game, at this point, still appears to be non-self-aware and simply acting on a glitch in programming. But what’s really frightening is how the game is able, under some circumstances and in some situations, affect the actual physical well-being of its players. It’s glaringly obvious sometimes, such as how Hyung-seok and supposedly Marco died while engaging in in-game duels that should have been perfectly safe. But the game also has shown it can injure, like when Jin-woo, Se-joo, and Secretary Seo all keenly felt injuries inflicted by NPC Marco and NPC Hyung-seok, though those injuries were not permanent. It can also, apparently, heal, as it proved in this episode, by giving Jin-woo the ability to walk without a limp while in the game. But I find it truly terrifying that every time we think we know how the game works, it twists things around on us. Secretary Seo is the first player that we know of to have been killed by NPCs, and he’s been brought back by the game, but as an ally, not an enemy. The worst part is that now it’s not just players accidentally killing other players, but the game itself can now kill. I don’t know what this means for the future, but I do know that I’m equally excited to see more, and scared to find out what other horrors the game has in store. Editor’s Note Please don’t discuss spoilers because we’d hate to delete your comment! 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