The episode ends with a visual motif that will define the series: Yuki and Hana standing beneath a bare, winter-bitten tree, snow falling between them. The final subtitled line of the episode is Hana’s voiceover, translated as, “That winter, I met my destiny.” The word “destiny” in Korean ( unmyeong ) carries connotations of both fate and tragedy—a force that cannot be escaped, only endured. For the attentive viewer, this is not a promise of happiness but a death warrant. The tree of heaven is a ladder for the dead, not the living. The episode has spent its runtime planting the seeds of that tree, and the audience already knows: whatever grows will be beautiful, thorned, and brief.

: Full episodes with English subtitles are often shared in dedicated drama groups on Facebook .

While the parents depart for their honeymoon, they leave the inn in the hands of Hana's spiteful aunt, Yoko , and her jealous cousin, Maya , who immediately begin mistreating Hana.