Architecture 101

Seo-yeon approaches architect Lee Seung-min to design a new house on the site of her 30-year-old Jeju family home. He agrees reluctantly, but struggles to craft a design that satisfies her. They decide to renovate and expand the existing house instead, kicking off a long, intensive collaboration on the island.

The demanding renovation pulls Seung-min into long days and nights in Jeju, leaving his fiancée Go Joon-hee feeling neglected and anxious about their upcoming marriage and move to the United States. The relationship strains under the shifting priorities and growing emotional distance. The project atmosphere amplifies underlying tensions between commitment, memory, and choice.

Meanwhile, Seo-yeon tends to her dying father, a responsibility that deepens memories of the past. As she manages care and absence, she confronts the weight of time and the unresolved things between her and Seung-min. The present-day urgency sharpens the pull of what remains unfinished.

Seung-min recalls meeting Seo-yeon in the early 1990s during college in Seoul. He revisits the neighborhood of Jeongneung-dong and the atmosphere of their shared architecture class. The memory marks the beginning of a feeling he never fully voiced in the years that followed.

In those college days, Seo-yeon seemed to be drawn to the wealthy student Jae-wook, while their mutual friend Nab Deuk-yi tries to coach Seung-min on how to win her heart. The social dynamics of youth frame the personal longing that will echo into the present. The memory highlights class, aspiration, and a fragile hope for connection.

Hoping to confess at the perfect moment, Seung-min asks Seo-yeon to meet him at the abandoned house they once frequented on the first day that it snows that winter. The plan hinges on a single, symbol-filled moment that could seal or derail their relationship. The scene blends anticipation with the quiet risk of vulnerability.

One night Seung-min witnesses Jae-wook arriving with Seo-yeon at her home in a state of drunkenness, revealing complicated emotions and potentially fragile loyalties. The moment exposes the complexities of desire, social circles, and unresolved feelings. It sets a tonal pivot in the memory that haunts the present.

When the first snowfall arrives, Seo-yeon waits alone in the abandoned house, leaving behind a portable CD player and a CD from her favorite artist. The moment crystallizes a promise between them and a tangible reminder of what was hoped for. The snow becomes a marker of time, distance, and missed chances.

In the present, Seo-yeon receives the very CD player and CD she left behind, a sign that Seung-min later visited the site and remembered their shared promise. The tiny artifact bridges the memory with the current reality, infusing the day with what might have been. It is a quiet, poignant nudge from the past.

Despite the tender cue from the past, Seung-min ultimately chooses his fiancée and flies to America with her, a decision that preserves the practical path but leaves Seo-yeon with the memory he built into the house. The choice reframes both the present and the meaning of the shared space. The airplane departure underscores the irrevocability of some decisions.

Seo-yeon sits in the house Seung-min designed and built for her on Jeju, listening to the CD, and absorbing the ache of what could not be. The space becomes a sanctuary for memory as the CD's music echoes the past. The scene ties together the physical space with the emotional echo of their story.

The project continues to unfold in Seoul and Jeju, with memory and possibility weaving through every decision. The film frames memory as a living influence on choice, and the spaces they inhabit become tangible testimony to what was, what is, and what might still be. The final cadence leaves open the tension between memory and the future.