49 Days

Dramatic Hour Long Korean Drama, Supernatural Soap Opera



49 Days is a 2011 South Korean Drama totaling 20 episodes.

Bright, bubbly Shin Ji Hyun is the girl who has everything - wealthy, adoring parents, a devoted fiance (Kang Min Ho), and a long-time best friend (Shin In Jung). On the other side of town, Song Yi Kyung, who once had loved ones and a job at a high-end hotel, is now alone, working at a convenience store, and finding increasingly little to live for.

An unsuccessful suicide attempt by Yi Kyung leads to Ji Hyun's death shortly before her wedding, but as Ji Hyun was not fated to die that day, the Scheduler (a reaper) gives Ji Hyun a chance to earn back her life.

He gives Ji Hyun permission to take over Yi Kyung's body while she's sleeping. She has 49 days to find three people unrelated by blood who have truly loved her and will cry sincere tears of grief for her. As she sets out to find these people, Ji Hyun discovers that her perfect life may not have been so perfect after all. As the 49 days pass, the lives of Ji Hyun and Yi Kyung collide and just may be the salvation of them both, as they discover the difference between true and false love and begin to come alive again, each in her own way.

The series contains examples of:
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 * Actor Allusion: The Scheduler being a Badass Biker. Hmm..
 * Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Literally, since the souls ride a cosmic elevator into the next life.
 * Altar the Speed: Ji Hyun's father pushes Min Ho and Ji Hyun to push forward their wedding due to his financial troubles, and they agree to do so only for Ji Hyun to get into the accident.
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Bait and Switch: The first episode starts of with Han Kang.
 * Big Eater: Ji Hyun, whose stomach is constantly growling
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In Jung,
 * Bittersweet Ending.
 * Blatant Lies: Ji Hyun (in Yi Kyung's body) pretending not to be Ji Hyun
 * Body and Host
 * The Cameo: Kim Hyung Bum as another 49 day-er, trying to get his tears
 * Celestial Bureaucracy: The rules and regulations for the 49-Day Traveler are pretty convoluted.
 * Chalk Outline: Shown in flashback. It's Song Yi Soo after his fatal accident, and the last thing Yi Kyung thinks about before throwing herself in front of the truck.
 * Childhood Friend Romance:
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: Tears that have been shed evaporate with a colorful poof based on the feelings behind them, with those of pure love evaporating into a white mist.
 * Completely Different Title: The original Korean title is 49 Il, which is literally 49 Days in English. When free TV network ABS-CBN showed the Filipino dub of the drama two months after it ended its original run, it was titled Pure Love perhaps to avoid confusion--a homegrown Supernatural Soap Opera, 100 Days to Heaven, already started its run two months earlier. (Both ran during weekday evenings in the Prime Time block, the former being shown three hours later.)
 * Convenient Coma: For both Ji Hyun and her dad President Shin Il Suk.
 * Converse with the Unconscious: Song Yi Kyung, when she begins hearing Ji Hyun towards the end of the time limit.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Min Ho,
 * Daddy's Girl: Ji Hyun
 * Deader Than Dead:
 * Death Amnesia: If Ji Hyun comes back from her coma, she won't remember any of the events since her accident.
 * Death's Hourglass: Or in this case, Death's Countdown Cellphone.
 * Did Not Get the Girl:
 * Dogged Nice Guy: Han Kang
 * Don't Fear the Reaper: The Scheduler
 * Double-Speak: The Scheduler refers to an individual's deaths as 'appointments.'
 * Driven to Suicide: Yi Kyung, who attempts suicide twice. Both times, she's stopped by Dr. Noh.
 * It is implied that she frequently attempts suicide due to extreme loneliness.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: All three male leads.
 * Everyone Is Related: In the best karmic fashion.
 * Fetch Quest: Ji Hyun must find three people to cry genuine tears of grief for her. They are to be collected in a teardrop-shaped glass necklace.
 * Grand Theft Me: In order to earn her three tears, Ji Hyun is given the opportunity to possess Yi Kyung's body over the course of 49 days whenever Yi Kyung is sleeping. However, Ji Hyun only possesses Yi Kyung's body because her own is obviously incapacited and because Yi Kyung indirectly caused the accident that put Ji Hyun in a coma.
 * Genki Girl: Ji Hyun
 * Ghost Amnesia: The Scheduler
 * Green-Eyed Monster: In Jung's main motivation for her plots.
 * Grim Reaper: Don't call The Scheduler this. He doesn't like it. Really.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Yi Kyung is Queen Seondeok.
 * Hidden Depths: Ji Hyun learns there's more to everyone around her than meets the eye:
 * Her fiance Min Ho and her best friend In Jung
 * Her Unlucky Childhood Friend Kang is a truly Jerk with a Heart of Gold even though he consistently acted like a complete Jerkass to Ji Hyun before the accident.
 * Hikikomori: Yi Kyung only goes outside her house when she has to work her graveyard shift at a convenience store; otherwise, she sleeps the whole day.
 * I Know You Know I Know: Ji Hyun in Yi Kyung's body does this often - with Min Ho, In Jung and Kang.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Han Kang stepped back when Ji Hyun decided to marry Min Ho.
 * Identity Amnesia: The Scheduler can't remember his past life -- only that there was something important he needed to do.
 * The Ingenue: Ji Hyun, with a small helping of Brainless Beauty
 * Intertwined Fingers: Yi Kyung and Yi Soo in their middle school days.
 * It Is Not Your Time: Ji Hyun was not 'scheduled' to die in the car accident.
 * Jekyll and Hyde/Sharing a Body: Ji Hyun and Yi Kyung are sharing the same body.
 * Jerkass Facade: Both Kang and the Scheduler attempt to pull this off -- Kang to hide his feelings for Ji Hyun and the Scheduler due to his responsibilities as a Scheduler that include staying out of the affairs of humans.
 * Just Following Orders: The Scheduler. Also his boss.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: It's stated that if a person successfully earns their three tears in the alloted 49 days, when they return to their body they will not retain any of their memories regarding those 49 days in order to uphold The Masquerade.
 * Libation for the Dead: On his mother's deathday, Han Kang poured a glass of her favorite red wine and placed it on the piano where she used to perform.
 * Long-Lost Relative:
 * Love Triangle: More complicated than usual, thanks to spiritual possession. We have: Ji Hyun/Han Kang/Min Ho, Ji Hyun-in-Yi Kyung's-Body/Han Kang/Min Ho, Min Ho/Ji Hyun/, Min Ho/Ji Hyun-in-Yi Kyung's-Body/ and Han Kang/Ji Hyun/Seo Woo.
 * Manly Tears:  Ji Hyun gets her first teardrop.
 * Mistaken for An Imposter:
 * Mistaken for Cheating: Yi Soo
 * Neck Snap: One of The Scheduler's 'appointments' is a young woman who breaks her neck slipping at a pool.
 * Nosebleed: A nosebleed in this arc is a sign of overworking. It happens in a flashback, when Yi Soo was working two jobs to make enough money for an engagement ring.
 * The Nothing After Death: Ji Hyun experiences this.
 * One Steve Limit: Averted. Ji Hyun and In Jung have the same last name, Shin. Ends up being a Plot Point later on.
 * Parental Abandonment: Yi Kyung was left at an orphanage when she was young.
 * Platonic Life Partners:
 * Pool Scene: The Scheduler doing laps at the local community pool. He's working. Really.
 * Relative Error: Inverted. Ji Hyun first believes Yi Soo to be Yi Kyung's brother, especially since they share the same surname. It turns out that when they met in an orphanage as children, Yi Soo gave Yi Kyung both his surname and the first part of his given name since she didn't know her own.
 * The Reveal:
 * Revealing Skill
 * Shirtless Scene: The Scheduler when he goes to a public pool to collect a soul.
 * Shout-Out: The Bourne Identity is mentioned when Ji Hyun and The Scheduler run from a tail hired by Min Ho.
 * Shower Scene: Han Kang singing under the showerhead.
 * Single Tear
 * Spoiled Sweet: Ji Hyun.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers:
 * Sunbae Hoobae: The Scheduler sometimes turns to a senior Scheduler for advice about Ji Hyun's case, and in episode 9 she even shows up to punish him for interfering in human affairs.
 * Swiss Army Tears: Rather than the actual tears themselves, the pure feelings behind tears shed for Ji Hyun are what will allow her to come back to life.
 * Tsundere: Kang who attempted to hide his feelings for Ji Hyun behind a Jerkass Facade out of consideration for both her and his friend Min Ho. When Ji Hyun shows up in Yi Kyung's body, he spends half his time blowing up at her and the other half uncharacteristically letting her do whatever she wants.
 * Title Drop: Ji Hyun is told she has 49 days to earn her three tears, although she doesn't actually get to use all 49.
 * Together in Death: Averted.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Kang grew to love Ji Hyun after she defended him in high school and made every effort to become his friend. He eventually had to go overseas for university, but fully intended to come find her and confess his feelings once he was back in South Korea. Unfortunately, Min Ho beat him to it.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Ji Hyun thinks she and the Scheduler are friends, he does not.
 * When Elders Attack: The Scheduler gets smacked around a little for helping out Ji Hyun more than he should by a senior Scheduler. This senior Scheduler happened to be an actual senior citizen.
 * Your Cheating Heart:
 * Yi Kyung accused Yi Soo of this prior to his accident.
 * Yi Kyung accused Yi Soo of this prior to his accident.