AH

**Spoilers for episode 2**

That's how the penalty was originally explained. If TDK fails to complete her wish for doom to befall the world before her fated death day (100 days from her terminal diagnosis / her parents' memorial day), the person she loves most at that time will die IN HER PLACE. Meaning that she will get to live, but she will have to do so with the knowledge that the person she loved most died because of her.

When MM first explains the penalty in episode 2, he says that TDK's doom will transfer from her to the person she loves most. When TDK writes down the details of the contract in her notebook in episode 3, MM comments that she's a pessimist for focusing on the fact that the person she loves most will die instead of focusing on the fact that she gets to live.

Doesn't make a ton of sense as a penalty (since the person she loves most would die anyway if doom befell the world), but the drama was pretty clear about the fact that she would live if the penalty was invoked.

*Spoilers for episodes 1 and 2 only below*

Doom offered to take away TDK's pain and to grant her an extra wish (something other than wishing for doom to befall the world) in exchange for completing her first wish (for doom to befall the world). When that didn't work, he created a scenario where TDK was going to be hit by a truck and killed. He told her he would only save her if she took his hand, which obviously would mean accepting his contract. TDK decides to accept his offer because (despite her lack of emotion about her terminal diagnosis) she doesn't want to die.

Doom later adds that the promise to take away TDK's pain comes with a condition: she has to recharge the protection every day by holding his hand before midnight. Also, when TDK finds out the penalty (the person she loves most will die in her place) of not holding up her side of the bargain (completing her wish for doom to befall the world before her fated death in 100 days) later in episode 2, she protests. Doom recreates the same scenario where a truck is about to hit and kill her in order to prove that she would still accept the contract even after she knew all the details, and she does accept it again. You can kind of think of it as two agreements. First: if TDK accepts Doom's offer, he will save her from being killed immediately by the truck. Second: the real contract.

The parts that confuse most people are the extra wish (it's mentioned very quickly in episode 1) and the penalty (because people are confused by the fact that the penalty will result in TDK getting to live past her fated death day). Both of those points are confirmed in episode 3.

I've also kept track of the contract details here if you want to check when certain parts of the contract come up: https://kisskh.at/discussions/destruction/62551-notes-to-keep-track-of-plot-points.

A swing and a miss. He's hung up on someone else.

You can try this list of dramas where a secondary character has feelings for one of the leads, but the leads' feelings never waiver: https://kisskh.at/list/4YW5nGAL

The SML stops trying to constantly touch the FL even when she obviously tries to avoid being touched, but his role isn't minor (I thought it was going to be a much smaller and shorter role) and he continues to pursue her persistently in the second half of the drama.

If you feel like dropping it at episode 10, I'd say go ahead and drop it. The pace remains just as slow and the scenes are just as repetitive in the next six episodes, if not more so than in the first 10.

I totally agree. The writers really didn't do a good job of explaining why Myeol Mang was able to make it so that TDK would live as a result of the penalty when Myeol Mang and the Deity both said they were otherwise unable to change TDK's fated death.

Plus, as other viewers have pointed out, Myeol Mang was able to prevent the murderer from dying at the point in time when the murderer was originally going to die, so clearly Myeol Mang is able to use his powers to change a person's fated time of death in at least some cases. Maybe he can only delay a death when doing so can somehow be construed as dooming the person. But even if that's the case it still doesn't explain why he was able to change TDK's fated death via the contract penalty.

If I were to speculate, I think maybe Myeol Mang could always transfer TDK's death to another person. He made it the person she loves most for the contract penalty as an incentive, but maybe he could've transferred it to a murderer instead. But that would've totally thrown a wrench in the story arch so I get whey the writers didn't go there.

Also I think the Deity might be lying about not being able to save TDK from her cancer / not being able to change her fated death. The contract penalty plays into the outcome she wanted so it's very possible that she could've saved TDK without having to invoke the contract penalty but she chose not to in order to help Myeol Mang in the long run.

The girl in the hospital is a Deity (the one and only). She created Myeol Mang / Doom, who is the only other immortal.

She wants Myeol Mang and Tak Dong Kyung to be happy, but believes that they can only achieve a meaningful happy ending (with one big change in particular) if they suffer and have to struggle to achieve it. When she says cruel things to Myeol Mang or seems like she's trying to separate them, she's manipulating him and playing the long game in order to help them achieve a happy ending.

The Deity only exists because of the will / wishes of humans and she and Myeol Mang will disappear / die / cease to exist if all humans disappear / die / cease to exist, so ensuring the world doesn't end is understandably a priority for her. She said her illness / frailty / short lifespans are the price she pays for humanity's existence (the writers never explain this further) and she's willing to pay that price because humans are responsible for her existence.

She lives in the body of sick / frail people and reincarnates frequently because that is the price she has to pay for humanity's existence. The Deity also makes a comment suggesting that she is also ill / in the hospital because she exists as a result of many humans crying out for a god and hospitals are places with high concentrations of such prayers. The writers don't do a good job of really explaining the nuances of all that.

In terms of her abilities / power, she and Myeol Mang can both travel through time and space. The Deity can also affect memories and change things in the present (moving objects, making things appear or disappear, etc.) and is aware of all things that happen in the present. She doesn't know the future, but can make guesses based on what she knows about the present. She can create immortals but has only done so once with Myeol Mang. She also has access to a separate world / garden that is sort of like her own private heaven (human souls don't seem to go there when they die). Big spoilers ahead: she can also turn an immortal into a human under the right circumstances.

**spoilers for viewers who have not seen episode 2 (note that some plot points that are introduced in episode 2 are affirmed in episode 3)**

The part about the guilt is something the audience has to infer as the reason why that outcome would be a penalty. TDK gets upset when she finds out about the penalty because she realizes she has no option that lets her save the person she loves most. As she says in episode 3, that person will die either way (if she completes her wish or if she fails to complete her wish, which would invoke the contract penalty).

You can rewatch episode 3 starting at minute 25 to see Myeol Mang confirm that she will live if the contract penalty is invoked. In minute 53 the Deity also confirms that she will be responsible for finding the person who will die in Tak Dong Kyung's place if / when Myeol Mang and Tak Dong Kyung break the contract. And in minute 59, after Tak Dong Kyung reveals her plan to Myeol Mang, she notes that her plan will allow her to live without losing anything.

You can also see Meyol Mang explain the penalty for the first time in episode 2 at minute 27.

"I have a question, why Tak Dong Kyung didn't die? she should die anyway.. the agreement won't save her..they said from the beginning that no one can prevent her death.. the agreement was about her promise to wish destroying the world in return for not feeling the pain from cancer...she will die without pain...if she didn't destroy the world ,then the most person she loves will die instead "which was her brother, then became Kim Sa Ram"..did I miss something? can anyone explains why she didn't die?"

The main terms of the contract did not affect the fact that Tak Dong Kyung was destined to die on March 2nd. However, as you noted, the only thing that could affect her destined death was the penalty Tak Dong Kyung would face if she failed to fulfill her obligation under the contract. If Tak Dong Kyung failed to wish for doom to befall the world before her destined death on March 2nd, she would live and her doom / death would transfer to the persons she loved most at that time. That person would die instead of her, and she would have to live on with that knowledge.

It agree that it's counterintuitive that the contract penalty would give her the only outcome where she lives and the writers never explained why Myeol Mang was able to make that the penalty when he and the Deity both were not able to do anything else that would affect TDK's death, but that's always what the penalty was. Myeol Mang talks about the doom transferring / the person she loves dying instead of her in episode 2. In episode 3 he calls TDK a pessimist for focusing on the fact that the person she loves will die if she breaks the contract, rather than focusing on the fact that she would get to live.

No. When she says "Is he an American or what?" in the first episode, it's a comment on his rude behaviour (wearing shoes inside and leaving dirty foot prints in her apartment). She's not assuming he's American, or even speculating that he might be. The point of the comment is to express frustration with his behaviour, which wasn't in line with Korean social norms.

It would be like an adult watching a little kid who is very good at swimming saying something like "Wow is he part fish? He's so quick!" Obviously that person doesn't actually think the kids is part fish. The point of the comment is to emphasize how good the kid is at swimming.

When TDK tells her aunt that he's American later in the drama she does it to explain his behaviour, because she can't very well say that he's a non-human, immortal creation of a Deity / the living embodiment of doom and that's why his behaviour isn't in line with their expected cultural norms. TDK didn't say that because *she* thinks he's American. She's known from episode one that he's neither human nor American. It was just the most plausible lie she could make to explain his behaviour.

He wore his outdoor shoes inside her apartment and didn't kneel / show respect to her aunt even though he was supposedly her boyfriend and her aunt would look at him and see someone who looks half her age. Basically he didn't follow Korean cultural norms / social expectations and instead acted like an American would in those situations.

"we found out in ep15 that every time we heard dong kyung’s voiceover throughout the show, it was her recounting the events of her and myul mang’s story in her novel.

and now it turns out that, when we suddenly start hearing myul mang’s thoughts as well in ep 8, it’s because that’s the point in the story when dong kyung starts asking for his input, getting his own pov into her memories of them."

https://clarawho.tumblr.com/post/655342641262870528/god-this-show-is-so-brilliant-we-found-out-in

Another viewer (https://clarawho.tumblr.com/) noted something interesting about the narrative structure that we find out in episode 15 and 16:

You're right that spoilers are subjective. Thank you for hiding your original comment.

ssinz, please hide your comment as a spoiler.

Yes, even though it's predictable, that's definitely a spoiler. Even without any further details or implications.

"The contract was if she wants to continue Living she has to ask him to destroy the world." It's the opposite actually.

The contract terms did NOT state that Tak Dong Kyung would only live IF she wished for the world to end. If she wished for the world to end, she and everyone else would have died / disappeared.

The main contract did not change the fact that Tak Dong Kyung was fated to die in 100 days. She promised to complete her wish for the world to end in exchange for: (1) Myeol Mang taking away her pain before she died (as long as she recharged her protection); and (2) getting an extra wish (which she was not allowed to use to cure her cancer / to live longer).

If she breached the contract by FAILING / REFUSING to complete her wish for the world to end before her fated death day, then the penalty would be that Tak Dong Kyung would live but the person she loved most (ultimately Myeol Mang) would die in her place.

All the contract details are covered here: https://kisskh.at/discussions/destruction/62551-notes-to-keep-track-of-plot-points.

Not quite.