WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU TANGERINES
Now we have a house
and a boat.
This is crazy.
Are you happy?
Yeah.
I'm so happy.
Stop it.
It was the brightest season that would never return.
LIFE GOES ON AND ON
HALLIM DISASTER RELIEF DEPUTY CHIEF OH AE-SUN
BABY FORMULA
I have to live up to my title, right?
I'm the deputy chief, after all.
Let's add two more. I'm the deputy chief.
Seriously, you little troublemaker!
I told you I'd give you candy after you finish your sujebi, didn't I?
Why don't you ever listen to Mommy?
Mommy, give me a hug.
Ms. Oh! Geum-myeong was in an accident!
-Mommy. -What?
Mommy.
Is she bleeding?
I don't know. It's that way.
Auntie! Please watch my kids, okay?
Are you the Dragon King's daughter?
Wild dolphins mean a storm is coming, and you're riding your bike?
The motorcycle hit me. I didn't hit it.
Jeju's winds can flip cars, you know?
This tiny thing would be flipped a hundred times.
Auntie!
What about my kids?
Did you put them to bed?
Come again? Which kids?
Eun-myeong!
Why did you leave the boys alone?
It wasn't even a big accident.
-Eun-myeong. -Eun-myeong!
Baby!
-Dong-myeong! -Eun-myeong! Dong-myeong!
-Dong-myeong! -Baby!
Baby!
Eun-myeong!
Eun-myeong…
Grandma always said once boys start running,
they'll go everywhere!
-Remember? -Their shoes.
They aren't here.
I'll go to the cabbage field.
-Ae-sun! Pay me for my green laver. -You can keep looking.
I had to bring your eldest son,
so I missed out on harvesting the laver.
You're driving me crazy.
Didn't I tell you to stay in the house?
He was standing alone on the seawall looking for you.
What were you thinking, going there on your own?
The truck auntie would have come for you. Why couldn't you just wait and…
If you stand there, the waves will swallow you up.
Even cows are swept away by Jeju typhoons. You must be careful!
And Dong-myeong?
-Where is Dong-myeong? -At home.
Wasn't Dong-myeong with you?
At home!
What are you saying? You're scaring me!
Mommy, give me a hug.
-Is she bleeding? -Mommy.
Geum-myeong,
call the fishing co-op office.
Who can stop the summer's whims?
Just yesterday, it was bright and sunny like a newlywed bride.
Then it suddenly turns aggressive, like a wife losing her temper.
A wife you can replace, but you can't hide from the summer frenzy.
For God's sake.
Crap!
Good God.
He's building a retaining wall with his mouth.
Gwan-sik!
Baby! Dong-myeong!
Dong-myeong!
-Yang Dong-myeong! -Dong-myeong!
Dong-myeong!
Yang Dong-myeong!
Dong-myeong!
-Dong-myeong! -Dong-myeong!
-Yang Dong-myeong! -Dong-myeong!
Where did he go? Dong-myeong!
Dong-myeong!
Dong-myeong! Baby!
Yang Dong-myeong! Baby!
Dong-myeong!
Yang Dong-myeong!
Please have mercy on us. Whatever it takes, spare the child.
Please spare our baby. Send him back to us.
Please send our baby back to us.
Losing a child takes only a moment's lapse.
Please save my grandson.
Do you know what everyone in the world says
when they lose their children?
-Dong-myeong. My baby. -They all say the same thing.
They say it happens in the blink of an eye.
They lost their child in the blink of an eye!
Did you find him? Did they?
-Ae-sun. -Did you find him?
Ae-sun.
What?
Hospital.
We need to go to the hospital.
Oh dear.
My baby's cold.
Why won't anyone call an ambulance?
Dong-myeong.
Baby.
Dong-myeong.
Baby.
What's wrong with him?
Baby.
The doctor.
We need to call the doctor.
Gwan-sik, call an ambulance.
Why won't anyone call an ambulance?
No one's calling an ambulance.
On the day their world collapsed…
for the first time…
their Steelheart collapsed.
A father's weeping drowned out the waves.
I should've hugged him.
The son she had fed lunch
was no longer the same by dinner.
Mommy, give me a hug.
I should've hugged him while I could.
I should've…
Grandma didn't utter a word of blame toward Mom during the funeral.
She said a mother who has lost her child sheds more tears than the sea.
Keep living.
What choice do you have?
You have two children who still need to be fed.
Life will go on if you keep living.
Life will go on and on.
Life goes on and on.
There will be tougher days in your life.
One day, life might get so tough that you feel like you can't go on--
I told you to stop talking!
I won't promise.
I'm not going to eat abalone.
My precious little one.
When will you grow up?
Ae-sun.
If life gets so tough that you feel like you can't go on,
remember me, who dived every day.
Those who make a living on land mention dying over the slightest hardship.
But no matter how tough life gets,
a haenyeo would never say that.
I've come close to death countless time in those fierce waters, and each time,
I found countless reasons to keep living.
Then keep living.
You should live on.
Why die with countless reasons to live?
Your mind can't weep if your body is weary.
One day, life might get so tough that you feel like you can't go on.
Don't just lie still.
Struggle with all your might.
Stomp wash your blanket.
Plow the field or even do odd jobs to earn some money.
Tell yourself you won't die and must survive, no matter what.
Paddle your arms and legs like crazy.
You'll get through the dark waters
and see the sky.
You'll be able to breathe again.
You can do it?
It'd be sweet, right?
That looks so good.
Is that what you wanted to eat?
Is that what you've been craving?
Why won't you talk to me?
Are you mad at Mommy?
Yang Eun-myeong.
I asked why you won't talk to me.
Are you never gonna talk to me again?
SCHOOL SUPPORT FEES DUE BY THE 20TH
Why didn't you show us the perfect score?
Why didn't you show them off to me?
Geum-myeong.
What's wrong?
Are you mad at Mommy?
You won't talk because you're mad at me?
Is it because…
I didn't bring your brother back?
Are you not talking to me because you're mad at me?
Because you're angry.
What was that?
I left my brother behind.
That's why he's dead.
It's because…
I went to ride my bike.
If I hadn't gone to ride my bike, Dong-myeong would still be alive.
I was told…
not to ride my bike because of the typhoon,
but I still went to ride it.
That's why Dong-myeong is dead.
Mom and Dad said
that was when they came to their senses.
I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I'm sorry.
It's all my fault.
I'm sorry, Eun-myeong.
The Steelheart picked himself up after three days.
He finished his mountain of rice
and then simply went out to sea.
Geum-myeong,
tell your teacher
Dad will pay the school support fees in three days.
Okay?
They were allowed three days to mourn.
Just three days.
Dad, what will you catch today?
Brown croakers. Summer brown croakers.
-Brown croakers? -Yes.
I won't sell them. I'll bring them home.
-Our home? -Yeah.
Let's have them for dinner tonight.
Let's eat together.
You're not eating?
She sold everything and is packing up now.
She has her back to the sea, but she still sells well, right?
She can't even stand the sight of that damn sea.
But just how clear is that sea?
It looks so clear and peaceful, as if nothing happened,
that it makes her want to vomit.
The sea took her mother, her father, and now her son.
Imagine how she feels having to make a living from that sea.
She's enduring life with a heart crudely stitched back together.
The Dragon King sure is fickle, isn't he?
He's taken everything she holds dear,
yet he keeps giving her things as if to say, "I still won't let you die."
I'm grateful to that little one.
I'm grateful she's carrying on.
Did you sell all the squid?
I managed to catch a longtooth grouper today.
If we sell it, we could easily make 1,000 won.
More than enough to buy Eun-myeong a new backpack.
It's so unfair.
It's all so unfair.
Geum-myeong. Eun-myeong. Let's go.
I really don't want
anything to do with that damn sea.
It's so unfair.
Ae-sun.
Let's stop crying.
If Mom and Dad keep crying, it will cast a shadow over the children.
They'll be anxious.
I just want this damn summer to be over.
It's so annoying how fickle it is.
When it's bright, it's too bright.
When it rains, it pours.
Summer allows everything on land and at sea to thrive,
and then it brings storms that crush them.
We're completely helpless.
The two-faced summer
brought my young parents to their knees.
Why does it have to be so harsh?
If it were me, I'd go easy.
Even drivers cut beginners some slack.
Everything is a first for me too.
Why can't it go easy on me?
Like the grass flattened by a typhoon…
How can we move on from this?
…they fell down but got back up again.
Still, the summer's fickleness will help us go on.
Grass and trees knocked down by the summer typhoon
eventually rise again.
Rain may pour as if it would sweep everything away.
But once the sun starts blazing again, life rises again, no matter what.
Everything on land and at sea.
What if I can't go on?
I keep thinking I can't go on.
-There are crabs here. -Crabs?
We have to save the kids.
You can't catch that.
Gwan-sik.
It was my fault.
I was the one…
who'd put Dong-myeong on the seawall.
Ever since he turned one, I'd carry him to greet you on the seawall.
I'd line the kids up and tell them,
"If we stand here, Dad will come."
I told them that even if there was rain or wind,
you'd come back to us if we waited there.
I told them that.
Our Dong-myeong…
died because of me.
It was all my fault.
The heavens and the Dragon King are harsh. They're to blame.
It's not your fault at all.
Okay?
No one in our family is to blame. No one at all.
Dad kept telling himself that, but deep down, he did resent someone.
Mom said she found out who he resented 30 years later.
Hey.
ENDOSCOPY CENTER
Do you know what your dad muttered?
Did he speak gibberish?
People do that during endoscopies.
What, did he mention another woman?
Retaining wall.
What? "Retaining wall"?
Gwan-sik!
"I shouldn't have gone to build the retaining wall."
"I shouldn't have gone."
That's what he said.
No one else has a heart of steel like him.
Once something enters him, it will never escape.
He keeps it all bottled up inside.
I don't know how he keeps going.
How did you both keep going?
What, then? Give up?
We still had two kids with twinkling eyes watching us.
I guess we saved you and Dad.
Of course you did.
You saved us.
If it weren't for you…
If it weren't for you guys…
NAME OF THE DECEASED: YANG DONG-MYEONG
HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD: YANG GWAN-SIK
RELATIONSHIP TO HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD: SON
DATE OF BIRTH: SEPTEMBER 6, 1974
3 YEARS OLD
No words can describe the pain of losing your child.
He couldn't even cry openly anywhere.
His heart was completely shattered.
You can't eat dalgona as a meal.
I already finished all my food.
Right. Stop eating.
I wondered how we'd ever go on.
What could you possibly have eaten?
I eat every day.
They usually bring meat too.
We were able to go on thanks to the people who fed us.
A canola flower never blooms alone.
They bloom in a bunch.
If I had been alone, I would have broken down countless times.
Just like it takes a village to raise a child,
it takes a village to save a single life.
They'll be fine.
The cooking steam means they'll survive.
Don't be so obvious. They might not like too much sympathy.
So I shouldn't give these to them, then? They're the hens' first laid eggs.
Give them the eggs. Pullet eggs will give them strength.
These eggs are nothing.
You're the one who gave away all our rice.
You're the one who gave them all our octopuses!
So I was just wondering…
I mean…
Some rice--
I don't understand what you're saying.
Stop whining.
There are many worse off than you.
It was you, wasn't it?
The rice jar.
I don't know what you're talking about.
What do you mean you don't know?
I know you do.
The rice jar was filling up, not emptying out.
I saw that the rice jar was empty before I went to bed.
I swear I saw it.
Every morning, there was a little more, then a little more.
I thought I might not have seen it clearly since it was nighttime.
But it wasn't just for a day or two.
There was always just enough for a family of three.
It just didn't make sense.
Just enough to confuse me.
It was the exact amount for three.
Why do I bother?
Why do I even bother?
This isn't some magical jar, and I'm not a fool.
It also gave her a headache.
If she had just given it to you, you wouldn't have taken it.
It gave her a headache, trying to sneak you little bits at a time.
If it was such a headache--
Who would want to see a pregnant woman go hungry?
You go steam the octopus.
I found it on my way home.
Why do you keep taking care of my mom's ancestral rites?
If there's no octopus on your mom's table, she'll scold you.
Have you ever seen a haenyeo diving on her own?
When you're struggling to breathe in the dark waters,
you need to stay close to others to survive.
Or fear will grip your heart, and you won't make it.
No one can live on their own.
Go together, with others.
If you do, 100 miles will feel like ten.
GO TOGETHER, WITH OTHERS. IF YOU DO, 100 MILES WILL FEEL LIKE TEN.
Gyeong-ja. That's Gwang-rye's daughter's.
-Ae-sun is going to give birth soon. -I'll give it to her.
It's been a while, so I just wanted to touch it.
Right?
Please write "Moral scholarship."
If you write that, she'll understand.
"Mo-ral."
"Scholarship."
Is this right?
MO O-RAN SCHOLARSHIP 10,000 WON
Is it wrong? Three months' rent for the baby's family, right?
Can you not read?
One, two, three, four.
One, ten, hundred, thousand.
It's right. It's fine.
Dear me.
If only I hadn't hidden in that closet.
Why did you pay their rent?
I guess it's my fate to live with wonder women.
Don't you have any shame?
Sure, I might deserve to be slapped for what I've done.
But you've done nothing wrong. Love is not a sin, you know?
Stop talking crap.
Get your act together, okay?
Karma is straightforward.
Beasts raise beasts, and nobility breeds nobility.
Children perfectly inherit their parents' traits.
Min-ok,
that's enough.
She must have hated me.
I ruined Oh Ae-sun's adolescence.
I suppose I'm slyly trying to make up for it with just 10,000 won.
I gave her the cabbage field.
That field of rocks? That field of dog crap?
It was Ae-sun's small hands that plowed the entire field.
And her mother owned that field in the first place.
Min-ok.
You can run your mouth, but have some decency.
Quit talking rubbish.
Min-ok, I told you to stop. I can get mad too.
Now that I've raised kids,
I think even you, of all damn people, should have paid for Ae-sun's college.
Come on, that damn college. She can go!
Tell her to go now. I'll pay for it, even if I have to take out a loan.
How could she go to college now? How?
Just tell her to get into one!
I'll lay down money before her!
Say nothing if she doesn't get in.
She doesn't need a degree to be a captain, deputy chief, or whatever.
She'll only get ripped off in Seoul.
The best she'll get is a doctorate.
She'll just bleed the family dry.
Yes, the government office will hang a congratulatory banner for her,
but what's the point of all that?
Geum-myeong.
Hey, you're home.
Did you get in?
Did you not?
Mom!
If I didn't get in, who else could?
Come on. Look at it.
"Yang Geum-myeong." It's got my name on it.
Goodness me.
Hey! Let's sell the boat!
You did it, you did.
I'm not sure if it's okay for me to say this.
I never thought I'd say this ever again.
I'm…
Are you happy?
I am.
Beyond words.
I'm so happy!
CERTIFICATE OF ADMISSION
Okay. One, two, three.
BOARDING HOUSE AVAILABLE
AFFORDABLE ROOM FOR RENT
RENT NEAR SNU AFFORDABLE ROOM
Geum-myeong!
Is your child's name Geum-myeong?
So is someone in our family.
Your son's name is Geum-myeong?
No.
Mine is.
I'm Geum-myeong.
I'm Park Geum-myeong.
Really?
What an interesting coincidence.
YALASHANG FILM CLUB
What about jjajangmyeon?
So, what's your major?
Well, law is--
Aren't we having jjajangmyeon? Let's take the pictures and go.
Let me take it if you all want one together.
That's so nice of you.
Okay, you take ours, and I'll take yours.
-Take whose picture? Why? -Let's take it. Come on.
Thank you.
Here we go. One, two, three.
I'll take one more.
Smile.
One, two, three!
I didn't like him.
I told you I didn't like that punk, didn't I?
What's wrong?
When did Geum-myeong take a solo photo?
That son of Park Geum-myeong zoomed in on Geum-myeong.
He zoomed in on her!
I'll just take one more.
Smile.
One, two, three!
So? Are you upset?
-Call Geum-myeong right now. -Why?
You think they went to Busan together?
Why would she go to Busan?
You dragged someone else's daughter there, but you won't let your daughter go?
Did I drag you there?
I think you'd be on the warpath if she ever got married.
Why would she get married?
I'm letting you know now.
I can't go tomorrow.
Right.
No need to come.
You have a class.
How can I go all the way to Nonsan?
I can't.
Go with your mom.
It's fine.
No need to come.
Or go with Oh Ye-rim.
Why would I go with her?
Anyway, I can't go.
I get it.
I said I can't go!
I said I got it.
-Damn it, you don't get it. -What is it now?
What does it mean if I can't go?
Tonight
is our last night.
Our last night before you join the army!
Anyway, keep her in check.
Your daughter…
Do I really have to…
What's wrong with you?
…is just like you, Oh Ae-sun.
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU TANGERINES
Sweetie.
That's nice, isn't it?
Yeah.
Is it a lot more expensive to live on higher floors?
She said there was no room.
You believe her?
She can be a little short with us, but she's still the eldest.
And she always worries too much. Even though I tell her not to.
Why do people in Seoul build rooms in the basement?
It would break my heart to see my baby live in the basement.
Do you think anyone would buy the cabbage field?
Leave that one alone.
But would they?
Stop selling stuff.
Why? You can't let it go?
If we sell everything, there'll be nothing left in your name.
Whatever. Your wife over your daughter?
You know, looking back,
those days were nice.
Was that the summer of our lives?
Everything was so new back then.
Everything felt awkward and difficult,
but it was all a first.
I loved everything.
First love,
our first night…
our first home,
our first boat, our first full net.
Our first child.
Having our first child…
No words can describe it.
Still, leave the cabbage field.
Just leave the cabbage field.
That field is your reward for surviving that summer.
I wondered how we could move forward.
But life really did go on.
Life went on and on.
LIFE GOES ON AND ON
"IN THE HOPE THAT OUR ECHOS WILL FLOW AND FLOW UNTIL THEY REACH YOU."
Subtitle translation by: Sung In Jang