The chronology of Lost (K-drama): Bu-jeong and Gang-jae’s timeline
I have read a few people complaining of Lost’s “plot holes” that detracted them from fully enjoying the series. I disagree with them, although I do concede that Lost is a series that’s significantly different from most popular K-dramas because it takes focus and attention: it relies so much on gazes, glances, smiles, and silences, and viewing between the lines.
I realized, however, that Lost is well-told precisely because of the seamless chronology of the series. Through minor details, the perceptive viewer is rewarded by an even more affective story. In my re-watch, I paid attention to the dates that were shown over the course of the series, and what I discovered was an even better-written masterpiece than I imagined.
I’ll try my best to provide the events that provide the background to the series as completely as possible.
April 25, 1979 — Bu-jeong’s date of birth: it’s the password to her father’s apartment, and it’s also seen in the OB record (below).
May 25, 2019 – the first edition of Jeong A-ran’s book was published. Bu-jeong plagiarized the work of a book she was translating, likely because of her bitterness and anger toward A-ran.
Late January, 2020 — Bu-jeong has a dead baby in her womb. Jeong-su confesses to her that he’s seeing Gyeong-un on occasion, without anything overtly sexual happening between them.
March 2, 2020 — Bu-jeong suffers from a miscarriage. This was likely caused by stress from work, and the revelation that Jeong-su was in an emotional affair with Gyeong-un. In the same episode, Bu-jeong was informed by her OB-GYN one year later (March 2, 2021) that she had a dead baby in her uterus for five weeks which happened when she locked herself inside her bedroom.
The diagnosis on the screen showed “R/O septic abortion,” which, given the doctor’s description, was actually a septic abortion. A dead baby that isn’t removed for five weeks will definitely cause an infection that will spread across the bloodstream, which was what occurred with Bu-jeong. In cases like hers, the uterus is removed, which means that Bu-jeong will never be able to conceive again (consistent with what the doctor noted).
It must have been absolute hell for Bu-jeong, and it’s unsurprising why she had thoughts of suicide afterward. Everything was pretty much taken away from her: her child, the possibility of her being a mother, her trust toward Jeong-su, her work, and being physically abused on top of that, to boot.
People who have never encountered depression or severe tragedy as hers might paint her as histrionic, but I actually appreciate her character as a strong individual. Few people can withstand a constellation of traumas as Bu-jeong did, and her rage towards A-ran must have helped sustained her clinging to life.
June 19, 2020 — Bu-jeong has chosen not to push through with scouting the area (likely Yuwon) with Jeong-woo. Jeong-woo suggests that she might be his suicide partner: “we might die together.”
September 17, 2020 — Bu-jeong posts against A-ran.
October, 2020 — Bu-jeong resigned from the publishing firm, and started working for Ji-na, the actress.
December 22, 2020 — Nam Min-su, son of Jeong Jeong-won and Nam Hee-sun, had died. From the length of treatment and admission, I’m thinking that the diagnosis was cancer.
December 29, 2020 — Bu-jeong was truly planning to kill herself, writing a suicide note to her father.
She never stopped sending money to Jeong Jeong-won’s son, however, because she did not know that Nam Min-su had already died. When Akira’s manager asked why Jeong Jeong-won didn’t have anything on Bu-jeong, Gang-jae realizes it was probably because she was also approached by Jeong-won, but instead of taking advantage of her, he saw her goodness like Gang-jae did. She must have known of Min-su’s longterm illness, and deposited 50,000 (symbolic to her) every fifteenth of the month to his account.
February 2, 2021 — Jeong Jeong-won’s suicide with Nam Hee-sun. The pair lost their only son to a long, enervating battle in the hospital, and they are riddled with debt. Because Nam Hee-sun chose to do the right thing in protecting Ji-na from Jin-seop (A-ran’s abusive husband), she lost her job [Episode 15].
Why did Jeong Jeong-woo kill himself?
He was burdened with massive debt. Gang-jae noted that he borrowed “two big ones,” which meant that he had borrowed 200 million won. However, his son’s treatments cost far more than that. These four screenshots total 238,565,711 — and there were a few more balances not pictured.
I find it insightful that while her world shattered, Bu-jeong never stopped giving 50,000 monthly to Jeong-woo. That really reflects her personal goodness. On the anniversary of her miscarriage, she asks whether Min-su was all right.
His son died. Since Nam Hee-sun was also determined, because it was their son (and she lost her job as well), I find it amusing that it was a little over 40 days before they took their lives. They properly mourned their son, prepared for their suicide, and did it.
In Bu-jeong’s conversation with Ji-na in Episode 15, it’s confirmed that it was Hee-sun who vouched for Bu-jeong as her replacement. After she lost her job, she nevertheless recommended Bu-jeong.
February 3, 2021 — Gang-jae overhears Bu-jeong’s breakdown and offers his Hermes handkerchief for her. It’s their first meeting.
February 4, 2021 — Jeong-woo’s ashes are spread. Bu-jeong confronts A-ran, while Gyeong-un and Jeong-su meet again in a reunion. Despite Jeong-su vowing to not meet Gyeong-un (their conversations reflect that it was roughly a year ago that the emotional affair occurred, which was in line with Bu-jeong locking herself into the room), they meet again and still have the same chemistry with each other.
The most important occurrence, however, is that Bu-jeong is followed by Gang-jae to the rooftop after her rage-filled tirade against A-ran. He learns that she’s had a miscarriage and lost her job because of A-ran, and she thinks about suicide again before being stopped by Gang-jae.
February 10, 2021 — It’s Gang-jae’s 27th birthday. Bu-jeong’s dad gives Gang-jae some cake as a reward after Bu-jeong saves another lady from committing suicide. Bu-jeong texts Gang-jae and gives thanks for the handkerchief. They exchange numbers.
February 11, 2021 — Bu-jeong returns the handkerchief, which Gang-jae takes from his letter box.
February 12, 2021 — Jeong-su receives a wedding invitation and his mother tells him to take Bu-jeong along.
February 21, 2021 — It’s the day of the wedding for Jeong-su’s relative. Bu-jeong tries to look for Gang-jae after seeing him. Later, Gang-jae and Bu-jeong meet again after he hides her from Jeong-su. Their work and lives are revealed through the conversation between Jeong-su and his assistant. Ddak breaks down when Min-jung doesn’t reply after their wedding stint, because she was with older men.
February 22, 2021 — Bu-jeong and Gang-jae meet by accident once more through Soon-gyu, Ddak’s sister, and share a ride together. He sends her his business card, she books him, and they spend an hour inside a motel talking about themselves. After they separate, they meet once more on the rooftops, where they share a meal of bread and coffee milk.
March 2, 2021 — Bu-jeong has a follow-up. She has some vaginal bleeding, which points to the possibility that she may have only undergone hysterectomy, but could no longer become pregnant. Remembering Min-su, she asks about him only to be told by Gang-jae (through Jeong-won’s phone) that he already passed. Jeong-su and Bu-jeong go visit her father, and Bu-jeong meets Gang-jae on the elevator. Bu-jeong goes back because her father’s amnesia is becoming more progressive with his Alzheimer’s and he stays outside of the room. Gang-jae is told to break off from Bu-jeong, and he does it to protect her. His heartbreak is palpable through the screen, and his internal breakdown was well-wrought by Ryu Jun-yeol.
March 3, 2021 — Gang-jae has a haircut, and then doesn’t go out of his room for a month.
April 20, 2021 — Gyeong-un’s husband dies. Bu-jeong visits Yuwon (suicide spot) after working at a house party of a VIP. She is reported by the taxi driver, and she’s taken into custody. Gang-jae comes for her, and invites her to go to the mountains with her. Jeong-su stays past midnight to help Gyeong-un with her husband’s wake. One telling scene, I think, that shows that he’s definitely invested in Bu-jeong is that he’s not confident in his looks when it comes to her. Before he enters the police station, he looks himself up in the mirror.
April 21, 2021 — The continuation of a pivotal day in Bu-jeong and Gang-jae’s lives: the tent scene has been written about by most fans, and it is a masterclass of acting.
April 24, 2021 — I think this is the most important day that is the culmination of all their restrained passion and feelings for each other. While working for Ji-na in a hospital, she receives the observatory pictures of her and Gang-jae, with the message that “the Galaxy has arrived so I’m sending it to you.” Jin-ah, Bu-jeong’s assistant then, texts her about the issues of plagiarism that were discovered in A-ran’s book. Gang-jae finally tells Bu-jeong that he wants to see her, and she accedes. Jeong-su is invited by Gyeong-un, and he buys a Kahi gift set for her.
A-ran in this episode is made more empathetic, because she understands that while she had a hand in Bu-jeong’s rage, she also counters with her belief that Bu-jeong isn’t even innocent in the first place. Nevertheless, aside from canceling the lawsuit on Bu-jeong’s plagiarism, she also covers it up by purchasing all available copies.
I think this is the most important day that provides us the depth of the destruction of Bu-jeong and Jeong-su’s marriage, and the strength of Bu-jeong and Gang-jae’s connection. Jeong-su is with Gyeong-un because she is understandably devastated from the death of her husband, and Bu-jeong, finally, affirms the mutuality of feeling between her and Gang-jae through kisses. She has the meal before her birthday in a pojangmacha (outdoor stall), where both of them talk about themselves honestly and openly, and where Bu-jeong realized that “life without an illusion is closer to death.” Both are open about their own jobs at the moment, and Gang-jae opens to Bu-jeong that it’s his first time serving drinks outside of work.
It’s telling that Bu-jeong welcomes her 42nd birthday being happy with Gang-jae, were it not for the her father’s dissociative fugue (also an effect of Alzheimer’s), and well-enacted by Park In-hwan. Sadly, however, he gets rained on during this state, hits his head on the pavement after being rescued by Jeong-su, and develops pneumonia.
Bu-jeong and Gang-jae’s date is cut short by this, and Bu-jeong rushes to the hospital.
April 25, 2021 — Bu-jeong’s 42nd birthday happens inside the hospital whilst taking care of her father. While her mother-in-law’s understandably angry, Bu-jeong quickly goes in and takes care of him.
April 26, 2021 — Bu-jeong’s father dies. This message was sent prior to the hospital calling Bu-jeong that his father had passed.
April 28, 2021 — Gang-jae discovers that Chang-suk has already died, and sends his condolences. Likely out of guilt, and because she still has some hang-ups to deal with (with Jeong-su, for instance), Bu-jeong deletes his number and their conversation, even though she already admitted for herself that she liked him, too.
June 30, 2021 — Gang-jae is texted by that kind lady whom he met in the observatory that there was a show featuring the stars starting that day.
Bu-jeong must have completed and realized her divorce, because she’s no longer wearing her wedding ring.
She starts working as a translator again, while Gang-jae is more unabashed with his work. Seeing the ad for the galaxy presentation, she also goes to it. When they meet again, the stars no longer matter: their eyes are only for each other, and now, they can begin again.
Even with the little details, Lost is a masterpiece.
