Next Sohee (2022) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Sohee signed the form reluctantly under pressure from the new manager. As a temporary extern with no job security, she felt she had no choice but to comply. The manager framed it as a company-wide stance, making Sohee believe refusing would jeopardize her position. This decision haunted her later when she learned the truth about Junho's death.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Junho is shown as the one manager who genuinely supports the workers, hinting at his conscience-driven actions.

• Sohee
• Junho
• whistleblower
• form
• exploitation

Junho died by suicide through carbon monoxide poisoning in his car. He had previously sent whistleblower complaint letters to upper management exposing the exploitation of externs, underpayment, unrealistic sales targets, and manipulative practices. His complaints were ignored, and he felt guilty watching the workers he cared about suffer. The guilt and helplessness led him to take his own life.

Foreshadowing: Junho is introduced as a sympathetic manager who understands the workers' struggles, making his eventual death a tragic consequence of his conscience.

• Junho
• suicide
• whistleblower
• carbon monoxide
• guilt

When Sohee asked to quit after being hospitalized for self-harm, her teacher scolded her and insisted she return to work. The teacher viewed the externship as a valuable employment opportunity and likely faced pressure from the school to maintain placement numbers. The teacher's response reflects the broader institutional failure to prioritize student wellbeing over career metrics.

Foreshadowing: The externship was presented to Sohee as a rare opportunity secured by her teacher, establishing the teacher's investment in her completing it.

• Sohee
• teacher
• externship
• quit
• school

Human and Net exploited externs in several ways: they were significantly underpaid despite meeting sales targets, used as cheap labor to boost subscription sales, forced to stall customers rather than help them, and subjected to intense pressure to perform. The extern status was used as a legal loophole to justify underpaying workers while demanding full productivity. Trainees also endured degrading training sessions involving body shaming.

Foreshadowing: The training sessions early in the externship, with makeup lessons and body shaming, established the dehumanizing culture of the company.

• Human and Net
• exploitation
• underpaid
• externs
• labor violations

Sohee's breakdown resulted from cumulative psychological abuse: constant verbal harassment from customers, relentless pressure to meet sales targets, being underpaid despite her efforts, and the guilt of signing a form that betrayed Junho's memory. When the manager mocked her for being poor and money-minded, Sohee snapped and physically struck her, leading to unpaid disciplinary leave. The combination of isolation, guilt, and despair drove her to self-harm and ultimately suicide.

Foreshadowing: The incident where a customer insinuates sexual assault tests Sohee's resilience early on, showing her breaking point was already approaching.

• Sohee
• suicide
• mental breakdown
• abuse
• despair

Detective Yoojin faced pressure from her superiors to drop the case. The institutions involved, Human and Net, S-Plus Korea Telecom, and the school, blamed Sohee for her own death, calling her undisciplined and hot-tempered. Rather than hold the companies accountable, authorities chose to protect the institutions by muddying the truth and shelving the investigation, reflecting systemic corruption and prioritizing corporate interests over justice.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the investigation, the film shows institutional resistance, with the companies and school quickly coordinating to deflect blame onto the victim.

• Yoojin
• investigation
• suppressed
• justice
• institutional cover-up

The final scene shows detective Yoojin watching an old video of Sohee practicing a dance routine, the last video on Sohee's phone before she died. This poignant moment represents Sohee's lost potential and humanity beyond her tragic circumstances. It contrasts the vibrant, hopeful person she once was with the exploitation and despair that consumed her, serving as a haunting reminder of what was taken from her.

Foreshadowing: Sohee is introduced as a student who loves dancing in her spare time, establishing her passion early as a counterpoint to the dark reality she later faces.

• Sohee
• dance video
• ending
• potential
• memory

After receiving only partial pay despite meeting her sales targets, Sohee shifted her focus to processing customer cancellations rather than pressuring them to buy more services. This act of defiance was her way of protesting the exploitation, helping customers escape the same trapping sales tactics she herself suffered under. It was also a quiet rebellion against the company's priorities.

Foreshadowing: Sohee's underpayment despite meeting targets planted the seed of resentment that led to her act of quiet resistance.

• Sohee
• cancellations
• sales
• defiance
• exploitation

Human and Net, S-Plus Korea Telecom, and the school characterized Sohee as undisciplined and hot-tempered to deflect responsibility for their labor violations. By victim-blaming, they protected themselves from legal and public accountability. This reflects a common institutional tactic, shifting fault onto the individual rather than addressing systemic abuse and unsafe working conditions.

Foreshadowing: The new manager's mocking of Sohee for being poor and money-minded early established the company's contempt for vulnerable workers.

• victim blaming
• labor violations
• institutions
• accountability

Yoojin pursued the case because she believed the truth about Sohee and Junho's deaths needed to be exposed. She recognized the systemic exploitation and wanted to hold the institutions accountable. Her determination reflects a moral commitment to justice, even when faced with institutional obstruction and personal professional risk.

Foreshadowing: Yoojin's reinvestigation of both deaths establishes her as the film's moral center seeking answers.

• Yoojin
• detective
• investigation
• justice
• truth