Currently Reviewing: Still Shining

by Cryssy Anne, April 10, 2026 · Updated April 22, 2026

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Currently Reviewing: Still Shining

Drama: Still Shining, Revised romanization: Shining Hangul: 샤이닝

Director: Kim Yoon-Jin, Writer: Lee Sook-Yun, Network: JTBC

Reasons To Anticipate Still Shining and my first article on MDL Currently Watching: A Piece of Your Mind 2020

Spoilers included up to episode 6, along with visual content and melodies!

Yeon Tae-Seo (Jin Young) is a subway train driver. He is an independent person, who lives faithfully in the present rather than to strive for something in the future. His motto is to get by safely for today. He has succeeded in becoming self-reliant and he is settling into his life. One day, he reunites with his first love Mo Eun-A (Kim Min-Ju). He knew her when he was 19 years old. Mo Eun-A is a former hotelier and now works as a manager of a traditional Korean guesthouse. She is passionate about everything and has a thoughtful and lovely personality. While she lives her life by setting small goals, she has experienced small joys and also big failures. She happens to meet her first love Yeon Tae-Seo. (Source: Asianwiki)

A fateful encounter between Yeon Tae Seo and Mo Eun Ah, who meet during the summer vacation of their senior year of high school. After becoming one another’s first loves and leaving a lasting mark on each other’s lives, the two go through a painful breakup at the age of 20 before reuniting a decade later at 30. In the photos, Yeon Tae Seo, who has just transferred to Mo Eun Ah’s school, enters the school building without a uniform. Meanwhile, Mo Eun Ah is wearing her uniform as she studies alone in the library.

When the two students lock eyes through a glass window, Yeon Tae Seo gazes at Mo Eun Ah with a blank expression, while Mo Eun Ah seems to recognize Yeon Tae Seo. What is the hidden connection between these two teenagers, who are seemingly meeting for the first time, and what changes will this encounter bring to their previously tranquil lives?

Tae Seo, who focuses on reality and tries to faithfully push through whatever circumstances he is given, and Eun Ah, who is still uncertain but wants to chase her dreams by throwing herself into them headfirst, come to acknowledge their different situations and grow into a relationship where they encourage and embolden one another.

Just when it seems like the two are headed toward an ideal relationship, an unexpected crisis arrives. In the newly released photos, the expressions on the faces of Yeon Tae Seo and Mo Eun Ah look noticeably darker, drawing attention. Tae Seo sits alone in the library where they used to study together, his eyes full of loneliness, while Eun Ah stares off somewhere with a hardened facial expression. The two are also set to board a train to Seoul together due to a college admissions information session. However, while Tae Seo busily moves from one admissions session venue to another, Eun Ah is seen wandering aimlessly around the streets with a downcast look. (Photos used are from Tumblr)

Whether sneaking into Mo Eun Ah’s house to enjoy a secret date at home or spending a quiet evening by the river together, the two of them look completely comfortable with one another, hinting at how their affection for each other has deepened. Providing glimpses of the distinctly different worlds the two now inhabit. College student Tae Seo is captured studying diligently in a lecture hall, while Eun Ah is seen wearing a uniform at a hotel instead of school.

With nowhere to stay, Mo Eun Ah unexpectedly ends up moving in with Yeon Tae Seo, who opens his home to the first love that he has clearly never gotten over.

Although time has changed both of them and the air between them is awkward, the former couple visibly harbors lingering feelings for each other. They also remain naturally considerate of one another: Mo Eun Ah smiles as she looks at clothes that Yeon Tae Seo prepared for her, while Yeon Tae Seo gazes thoughtfully at a flower and note left by Mo Eun Ah. A final photo captures the two exes embracing one another, as if they have erased a decade of separation in one lingering split second, mostly like the feeling of reuniting with someone from another life.

Tae-seo is a smarty pants who studies hard and wants to get into the best college. So when he arrives in the middle of summer at his new school, there’s only one other person who goes to the library every day to hit the books. And that would be our heroine, MO EUN-AH (Kim Min-joo), who hasn’t been as dedicated to studying as Tae-seo, and drives him nuts with her chatty and restless behavior.

Eun-ah’s story is that, until recently, she was taking care of her single dad post-divorce. Later on, we’ll learn that her father, MO SEON-GYU (Kim Tae-hoon) has been suicidal, and Eun-ah is scared sick about leaving him alone. She transferred to this town about five years before, but now that Dad is running a guesthouse and spending time with a girlfriend, he wants her to get out and live a little, so she can find what she really wants to do with her life.

Well, once our hero comes along, it’s only a couple of months of riding bikes, eating ice pops, and waiting for the bus, before Eun-ah knows what makes her happy. She’s got such anxiety about her dad that just seeing Tae-seo starts to bring her calm. And when Tae-seo hears her say this, he sits on the other side of the table, rather than beside her — so that she can look across at him.

He’s able to do this because Tae-seo knows a lot about anxiety already. He’s on high alert all the time, worrying about his family and feeling that he needs to earn enough to take care of them one day. When he sees Eun-ah worry, he picks up on it and becomes anxious as well. And by the end of summer, they’ve spent so much time in each other’s energy that they’re already intertwined without needing to say much.

But, Eun-ah does blurt out a few words to the effect of “I like you” just before school starts again, and then Tae-seo avoids her in the halls. As he actively ignores her, she follows him to Seoul one day, where he basically tells her to take a hike — but we see it’s not what he really wants.

Without him to follow around, Eun-ah visits the woman her dad is dating, PARK SO-HYUN (Kim Ji-hyun), and finds out she’s got another man. So-hyun defends herself, saying that Seon-gyu is the one that can’t decide about dating, not the other way around, and “liking someone doesn’t always mean you can date them.” This is the start of Eun-ah’s dislike toward So-hyun, and the complicated dynamic that we start to see between the story’s adult.

After Tae-seo has a hearing test and finds out his troubles stem from stress, he changes his tune about Eun-ah and the two meet up in Seoul. They travel back to their town by train, talking about the unease that keeps them a little distanced from the world. Eun-ah says that she’s walking around with a constant knot, but in his presence, it starts to release. He responds that he was avoiding her due to that same tension, but suddenly today it wore off.

This thing they feel — which eases around each other — is the shared experience that binds them. As they discuss this, she says that maybe they’ll be together forever. And then, their hands on the train seats get a little closer, before his hand is atop hers. “Let’s do that,” he says. “Starting now.” And so, their forever togetherness is sealed.

A couple more months pass and it’s time for college entrance exams. It’s pretty clear that Tae-seo will test into the National University in Seoul. Eun-ah is hoping to get in anywhere, and while he has high aspirations for a moneyed career, she mostly just wants to be near him. When they celebrate in Seoul after the exam, she confides that she’s worried everything will change when they’re apart at different schools.

Tae-seo replies that they’d have to be in different worlds in order to fall apart (because, text messages), and Eun-ah mentions her mom, who lives in another country and has no contact with her. But Tae-seo doubles down by saying that they’ll try hard and make it work — because that’s the essence of who they are together. Then they kiss, for what looks like the first time — hesitant but familiar — and we can feel the depth with which they believe they know each other, and the tension that lies behind it.

Graphic images from this section: khaoala on Tumblr.

After all the intimate talks, and upon arrival to her house, Eun-ah says, “I want to be together” and they sneak into her bedroom, where the scene starts fiery and heads into realism as Tae-seo tries to keep his lips locked on hers, while also taking off his hoodie. One thing has to give, and so, the kissing is put on hold. But then, trying to restart isn’t smooth — and all that slowness and space we’ve gotten accustomed to in these long sequences is used to produce hot tension that’s also awkward anticipation.

Of course, that’s the moment Dad calls out, asking if Eun-ah is home, and our leads scramble apart, so one can guard the door while the other unsuccessfully tries to get under the bed. It’s a short mishap, though, and when Dad leaves them alone, they get back to business.

The next day they get the exam results, but by then, I’m not sure either of them really cares — since they’re more interested in sneaking Tae-seo into Eun-ah’s room again. By December, after six months in each other’s lives, he’s a pro at the sneak-in and neither of them are nervous anymore.

The important results come in February when Tae-seo is admitted to the number one school, and he’ll be heading off to Seoul soon to start tutoring and earning money. On the day he’s set to leave, Eun-ah takes the train with him, even though he asked her not to, and it’s all sad goodbyes at the end of the line — until the news comes that she got into college too. Her school is nearby where they live, so seeing each other won’t be easy, but they’re both just excited that she’s în.

Unfortunately, getting accepted is only the first battle and not long after she arrives and makes a close friend, students stop coming to class. She’s studying education, only because she needs a major, but her friend who really cares about the career takes a leave of absence (I think because the school’s not that good). This leaves Eun-ah on her own, not interested in her work, and missing Tae-seo like crazy.

She travels to Seoul to surprise him on more than one occasion, but he’s busy each time. More forlorn each day, she stops attending classes and no one seems to care. A new guy that works at her dad’s guesthouse, BAE SEONG-CHAN (Shin Jae-ha), suggests she just quit and take up work in the hospitality business. At the same time, just when she’s feeling down and unseen, her dad gets engaged to So-hyun, leaving Eun-ah furious and making a scene in front of their guests. So-hyun re-explains herself, saying she’s cutting it off with the other guy now since Seon-gyu has decided to be with her. Both men knew about each other, she didn’t mislead anyone, and Seon-gyu is the one she has feelings for. Eun-ah can’t understand this, and it makes her angry and more protective of her father. However, when Seong-chan tells her she’s too old to be so concerned with her dad’s dating life, she backs down and accepts the engagement.

The final shots have Eun-ah running off to Seoul again to see Tae-seo, while he’s busy in a lab. Even though she doesn’t tell him where she is, he realizes she’s in the city, and goes out to find her. She feels stuck in uncertainty, she says, while he has all his goals to move towards. He tells her that “nothing is more important than us being together” and hops on the subway, guessing where she is. We end with Eun-ah on the platform, awaiting his train, and saying that she’s not wandering anymore.

Eun-ah has taken a job at the nearby hotel — an opening presented to her by Seong-chan (we’ll get to all the complications around this guy later) — and she’s really liking her new work. She learns that if she becomes an intern, she can stay at the dorms for free (since she’ll be on-call around the clock), and the idea of living independently is too much to turn down.

"I was just wandering and thought of you." (Graphic images from this section: khaoala on Tumblr)

But, right there is the problem. Now that Eun-ah knows what she wants and where she can use her talents, she’s not as invested in her relationship with Tae-seo. Both of them try — they really do — but they have to make a choice between their careers and each other. And Eun-ah is the one to make the final choice. We see the pressure that they’re both under, but Tae-seo even more, since he knows he’s got to do well to support his brother and grandparents when he gets out of school. And still, he’s making that bus trip back home on the weekends, tired as he his, because he’s totally in love.

During what will be his final visit, Eun-ah is working and not responding to his texts. But then we see that she’s off the clock and still not responding to his texts. When they have a phone call, she breaks it off, saying she doesn’t want either of them to waste a single moment (which seems like an incredibly cruel way to put it). Tae-seo is shaking and fighting tears, and yet, he understands. He can’t keep up the life they’re living either, and he agrees to let it go.

A few months later, he’s off for mandatory military service, and the whole vibe around him is depressed. We hear his thoughts as he mulls over what he’s doing with his life. He’s always doing what he’s supposed to do, not necessarily what he wants, and Eun-ah made him curious about his own future. Without her, he doesn’t have that. And our hero enters into a sullen state that looks like it’s still got a grip on him ten years later.

This gives us a lovely setup for a reunion when Eun-ah suddenly moves to Seoul. From the looks of it, her father recently passed (no details on this yet) and she left in a hurry to start a new life in the big city. She’s been working in hotels and hostels for the past ten years, and now she’s taken a new job as the manager of a guesthouse.

Eun-ah’s life looks complicated and I’m not totally sure yet how to read between the lines of what we’re seeing on screen. First, it’s clear that her father died and something happened to his guesthouse. In an argument with Seong-chan, we hear snippets about the guesthouse being taken over by outsiders because he and Eun-ah got duped and now they’re suing.

(Graphic images from this section: khaoala on Tumblr)

*Don’t. Let’s stop forcing our schedules to match. This time is so precious to lose for me. I want to make use of it all. I’ve found something I want to do, and it matters a lot to me. I just need to do it. I really want to excel at it. You should stop wasting time going back and forth. Spend the time on yourself. Let’s not waste a single moment of our time. Well… I mean…"

For now, the question is: why is she having that type of heated argument with Seong-chan? It was clear from the beginning that this guy had eyes for her and that’s why he was helping her enter the hotel business. Now, we have him chasing her to Seoul to yell at her on a subway platform. As is the style of the script, nothing is laid out in dialogue for us to easily understand, but at one point he asks why Eun-ah needed a break when they weren’t even dating. It seems to me that whatever is going on between them romantically, it’s remained informal as they worked together as colleagues during the last decade.

Just before the altercation between Eun-ah and Seong-chan takes place, Eun-ah has stepped off a train onto a subway platform. She hears an announcement about a delay and realizes it’s Tae-seo’s voice. She starts walking toward the front of the train, and he sees her through a camera that’s monitoring the platform. But he’s forced to pull away to keep the schedule. (Wow, this wordless scene is so affecting.)

When he finishes his route, he runs off the train and back to the station where he saw her. When he arrives, he’s on the opposite platform and has to get to the other side. This is when she’s arguing with Seong-chan, and as Tae-seo hurries down the stairs toward her, she bolts up and away from the argument. They both stop and lock eyes. And then she rushes past him like she doesn’t know him.

Afterward, he’s a wreck. He’s clearly never gotten over her and starts looking into what she’s been up to. He goes back to their town and searches for clues, learning that her house is supposed to be demolished, and that she’s sent postcards every year from her travels, saying she’s doing well. He leaves his number with the halmeoni she’s been writing to, since he doesn’t know how else to contact her.

For her part, Eun-ah has been thinking of Tae-seo in the background all this time too. Now that she’s seen him, she tells herself that she’ll stop — until she gets the message about his phone number. She calls, appearing as an unknown number on his screen, and when he calls back, she says, “It’s me.” She wants to know why he’s worrying about her. She knows the situation that day may have looked bad, but really, he doesn’t need to worry. He asks what exactly the situation was, and she responds that Seung-chan wanted to apologize. Tae-seo says, “Be clear with him, then he won’t show up asking to apologize.” But all this talk is too much for Tae-seo and he soon hangs up.

Sometime after this, Eun-ah goes to the station where Tae-seo’s route ends and waits for him. He gets off the train, sees her, and purposefully turns his back on her. She notices, staring at his backpack as he actively ignores her. She turns away in tears, and he walks past her and off the platform. She sits on a bench and starts to sob. But on his way down the stairs, he pauses. She waits a long time before leaving, and when she finally does, he’s at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her. “It’s been a while,” he says, as they stand face to face and the credits roll.

A lot of mysteries this week, with tension building all around. The visuals remain amazing and so much is being said without saying anything. There’s drawn-out pacing within individual scenes, and then quick cuts to new situations, giving us depth and breadth simultaneously. I’m loving it. Apart from that, I’ve been disliking the pushy Seung-chan character since the minute he appeared and I’m curious what’s up with him and Eun-ah. And I’d also like to know who the other dude is that’s got a live-in partner but keeps calling her. If this is a show about messy relationships, I’m ready. Just as long as the camera keeps focused on Jinyoung and his pretty 10-years-later hair.

Last time, we left Tae-seo and Eun-ah on a subway platform, staring down the tension between them. When we re-enter that scene, Tae-seo walks her to the place where she’s housesitting, and we get some answers to the loose threads from last week.

Essentially, the couple that’s putting her up at their apartment is linked to So-hyun. When Eun-ah arrives back that night, leaving Tae-seo at the door, she finds that her friends have come home early, and there’s a big argument, which Tae-seo overhears. In it, Eun-ah demands not to be referred to as So-hyun’s daughter, and says she blames So-hyun for her dad’s death — which, by the way, happened way back in 2018 when Eun-ah was abroad.

She takes her suitcase and rushes out the door where Tae-seo is ready to grab hold of it. He wants her to stay at his place, since she’s got nowhere else to go for a few days, but she’s reluctant. When she finally follows, she explains that she was seeing someone recently, but they’re on a break (that would be Seong-chan — so it seems it was serious enough for her to mention it). Tae-seo thinks she’s telling him because she’s still stuck on it, but really she just wants him to know the situation so it’s clear.

His apartment is primarily a woodworking studio, where he makes custom frames in his spare time, and so, he shoos her into the bed area and then stays up all night working. In the morning, she leaves, but says she’ll be back for her suitcase. By the time she returns, Tae-seo has a new plan and sits her down to talk about it.

After a while the big question pops up to the scene, “Did you break up and you need time to accept it? Or are you taking time to work it out?” Eun-ah starts out vague, saying she and the guy see things differently, but Tae-seo pushes by saying that her way of seeing it is all that matters. He doesn’t care who the other person is or how he sees it, but he wants to know if he’s crossing a line.

All of this careful talk is about Tae-seo inviting her to stay for the next few days while he’ll be out of the apartment. As her “once close friend” (ouch), even facing her right now is difficult. Eun-ah finally admits that it’s over with Seong-chan, but she’s been putting off the final conversation. And so, Tae-seo tells her to stay, rest, recover, and (implicitly) let him take care of her. He’s gone out to buy water and other provisions so she doesn’t have to — all she has to do is relax before returning to her life.

Afterward, Eun-ah still has to pick up her suitcase from Tae-seo’s, and she enters with the passcode to find him sleeping. She walks toward the bed and puts her hand near his and he moves his hand over hers while still asleep. As she tries to break free, he latches onto her other hand and then pulls her toward him. She’s a little resistant but ultimately lies down, as he hugs her next to him and says, “I knew you’d come back.” And this boy is not talking about suitcase retrieval.

Before long, they’re on city walks together, holding hands outside, and talking about people they’ve dated since they broke up (so refreshing). Then they talk about their own breakup in a way that shows how much distance they each have from it now. They feel the same about each other as they always did, but there’s no crying or hurt feelings or blame overlaying any of their conversation. The past is past and now they’re here again — and so, they officially get back together. (The dialogue in this scene is spectacular.)

Later on, at his home/studio, while Tae-seo and Eun-ah work back to back, we learn that he’s only planning to live in Seoul until he has to return home to take care of his grandparents. They have an abstract conversation about the future — he wants to marry but she’s never considered staying in one place long enough to think about it. And yet, she seems to want to be with him wherever he ends up. (Do I smell trouble? Isn’t that what she said ten years ago?) Anyway, the scene ends with a lot of kissing, as they make up for every birthday they didn’t spend together.

A girl that’s been chasing around Tae-seo happens to stop by his apartment just as Hui-seo gets the news and she drives him all the way back home. When Tae-seo is off work, he goes too, and tries to calm Hui-seo’s guilt. This means that Tae-seo is outside of Seoul when Eun-ah has her upsetting conversation with So-hyun, and she has no one there to comfort her. Seong-chan keeps calling but she’s avoiding him, and she finally goes back to the guesthouse to knock on So-hyun’s door. But before she makes a sound, she hears Seong-chan inside the room — meaning he knows where Eun-ah is.

She leaves immediately and wanders down a street where Tae-seo is currently being dropped off by the girl who has a crush on him. (Oh brother.) This is because Halmeoni is fine after her surgery and he needed a ride back to Seoul. It’s the middle of the night, but the first thing Tae-seo does when he arrives is go to look for Eun-ah. He had sent her a text saying he was going to see her, and she had replied not to go to the guesthouse. But, he’s already there, and when he looks up from his phone, he sees Seong-chan outside. This web of missunderstanding will be untangled from here on out, with many more aspects left for a definite conclusion of their 10 years old relationship.