Take Care of My Cat

Ji-young is detained in a juvenile facility after her grandparents die in the roof collapse, even though she committed no crime. With no parents to vouch for her and the police unwilling to help a young woman from poverty, the system locks her up rather than providing support. This reflects how the system fails vulnerable youth who have no family protection or resources.

The film earlier shows Ji-young's precarious living situation, the dilapidated house with a worsening roof and no landlord willing to make repairs, establishing her vulnerability before the tragedy occurs.

Hae-joo and Ji-young drift apart because their lives take different paths after high school. Hae-joo moves to Seoul to work at a brokerage firm, gradually climbing the corporate ladder, while Ji-young remains in Incheon struggling with poverty and low-wage jobs. The class and opportunity gap creates distance, what once was a close high school friendship cannot survive the pressure of their differing circumstances.

Early scenes show Hae-joo calculating how to make herself noticed in the corporate world while Ji-young counts every penny to survive, highlighting the divergent worlds they are entering.

Ji-young's grandparents die when the roof of their dilapidated house collapses. The house had been deteriorating for some time, Ji-young had been worrying about the roof's condition as landlords delayed repairs while she lived there with her grandparents and their kitten Teetee. The tragedy strikes after Ji-young spends the night at the twins' house, and she returns to find the house shattered and her grandparents dead.

Earlier scenes explicitly show the worsening roof and Ji-young's anxiety about it, making the collapse feel like an inevitable consequence of her poverty.

Tae-hee runs away from her family after deciding she cannot tolerate the rigid, heteronormative expectations of her comfortable middle-class upbringing any longer. She has been working without pay at her family's sauna and feeling trapped by the belittlement she faces at home. When she leaves, she takes the money she was owed for a year of unpaid labor, reclaiming what she earned.

Tae-hee's earlier fascination with ferry terminals and migrant workers, combined with her quiet resentment at family obligations, establishes her growing desperation to escape.

The Working Holiday is a reference to a working holiday visa program, likely in countries like Australia or Canada, which allows young people to work legally while traveling abroad. Earlier in the film, Tae-hee and Ji-young sketch out this plan as a way to escape their constrained lives in Incheon and seek a broader world beyond the boundaries of their current existence. It represents their shared hope for a life with less fear and more possibility.

Tae-hee's attraction to foreign migrant workers and ferry terminals earlier hints at her dreams of traveling and finding a life beyond Incheon.

The ending at Incheon International Airport represents Ji-young and Tae-hee's choice to pursue an uncertain future together rather than remain trapped by their circumstances. Both have faced system failures, family abandonment, and poverty, Ji-young losing her grandparents and being detained, Tae-hee leaving her family with no financial support. Their departure symbolizes self-determination and hope, choosing liberation over the safety of a known but oppressive situation.

The entire film builds toward escape as a theme, with Tae-hee repeatedly drawn to terminals and departure points, and Ji-young revealing she has nowhere safe to go if released.

Tae-hee is drawn to migrant workers and ferry terminals because they represent freedom and possibility beyond the confines of her restrictive middle-class life. Growing up in a rigid, heteropatriarchal family where she works without pay at the sauna, she feels trapped. The migrants symbolize a world where people move freely across borders, unburdened by the expectations and limitations she experiences at home.

Her earlier scenes of standing at ferry terminals watching the horizon establish this longing before she ever acts on it.

Bi-ryu and Ohn-jo's Chinese-speaking grandparents have disowned their mother, which means they refuse to see the twins as well. The film does not explain the exact reason for this family rift, but it clearly shapes how the twins navigate their lives in Incheon's Chinese enclave. Despite this abandonment, the sisters live independently, selling handmade jewelry to survive and building a resilient life together.

The twins' early independence and their determination to make ends meet despite having no family support establishes their resilience throughout the film.

Hae-joo is relegated to sending faxes, fetching coffee, and taking notes because the brokerage firm prioritizes seniority and conformity over initiative. Despite her ambition and efforts to make herself noticed, the corporate hierarchy values experience and internal politics more than fresh energy. She remains at the bottom, invisible to the system that demands her labor while offering no real opportunity.

Early scenes show Hae-joo calculating how to stand out, but the rigid workplace structure immediately undermines her ambitions.

The shared diary serves as a symbol of the friends' close bond during high school and their collective attempt to maintain connection as they transition to adulthood. It chronicles their hopes, fears, and promises to stay connected. As the friends drift apart due to different circumstances, especially the widening gap between Hae-joo and Ji-young, the diary becomes a poignant reminder of what they once shared and what they are losing.

The diary is mentioned early as a tool binding the five women together, making its subsequent neglect more poignant as friendship fractures.