8 Life Lessons We Learned from the K-drama ‘Twenty Five Twenty One’

Like how to turn your worst enemies into your best friends.

In the penultimate episode of Twenty Five Twenty One, friends and athletic rivals Na Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri) and Ko Yu-rim (Kim Ji-yeon, aka Bona) face off in the finals of an international fencing competition. It’s a nail-biter of a match, but Hee-do ultimately ekes out a win against her powerful opponent, eliciting cheers and applause from the spectators. But what happens next is unexpected: instead of further vilifying each other, Hee-do and Yu-rim, both overcome with emotion, remove their fencing masks and wrap their arms around each other in a long, tearful embrace. Within seconds, we're taken from rejoicing in Hee-do’s meaningful victory to crying along with these two fiercely loving friends.

This memorable scene is just one of many moving moments in Twenty Five Twenty One that make the K-drama an emotional (and fun) roller coaster ride. The show has captivated audiences with its heartwarming story, relatable characters, depth of acting and gorgeous cinematography — and an unforgettable, nostalgia-inducing soundtrack, to boot. It ranked in Netflix’s Global Top 10 list of non-English language shows and was the most-watched program in its time slot in South Korea throughout its run. 

Twenty Five Twenty One — which shares its title with a 2013 song by acclaimed K-indie rock band Jaurim that is often played in the series — follows five friends who strive to pursue their dreams and navigate early adulthood in the bleak aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis (known as the “IMF Crisis” in South Korea). Despite the devastating recession, they still manage to overcome adversity and experience the joys of adolescence, while picking up some important lessons about love, friendship and personal growth along the way. 

Here are just some of the many life lessons that friends Hee-do, Yu-rim, Yi-jin (Nam Joo-hyuk), Seung-wan (Lee Ju-myoung) and Ji-woong (Choi Hyun-wook) learn in this coming-of-age drama. Warning: Major spoilers ahead.

Know your worth.

Hee-do lets neither her mother’s nor Yu-rim’s disparaging remarks about her fencing skills dissuade her from working towards her goal of becoming a champion. She loves fencing, knows she’s good at it and sets out to prove all the naysayers wrong. Her confidence eventually rubs off on her archnemesis turned BFF Yu-rim, who, in Episode 14, encounters a restaurant owner who refuses to give her food and calls her a traitor for representing the Russian fencing team. Yu-rim firmly demands that she be served, telling him, “Just like how you earn money selling jjajangmyeon, I’m earning money by selling my abilities... Just because I changed my nationality, our country didn’t get sold. And it did not cause your business any trouble. Give me my jjajangmyeon. I’m not a traitor, but a customer.” By standing up for herself, she succeeds in getting her bowl of noodles. (Let’s just hope he didn’t spit in her food.)

Stand by your moral values and principles.

After witnessing a teacher repeatedly strike her best friend Ji-woong in the face, Seung-wan decides she’s had it with his constant physical abuse toward students. She reports his behavior to the police and her school’s principal, only to learn that the system won’t punish the teacher for his actions. When the unrepentant teacher tries to blackmail her into apologizing to him in front of the entire school, Seung-wan resolves to drop out of school in protest and take the GED instead to get into college. While many moms would likely encourage their kids to give in and stay in school, Seung-wan’s mother respects her decision and, in a display of solidarity with her daughter, storms into the faculty lounge and reprimands the school staff, even threatening to file an official complaint with the PTA if the abusive teacher doesn’t apologize to Ji-woong. It’s at this point that we learn where Seung-wan gets her gumption from.

Your natural talents may show you the way to your passion.

Many have likely heard well-meaning people tell them to follow their passion. Well, what if you haven’t found your passion yet? As Twenty Five Twenty One shows, it’s probably best to start by looking at what our individual strengths are. For Yu-rim and Hee-do, it was fencing. Moon Ji-woong didn’t excel in academics, but he didn’t let that define him. Instead, he leaned into his keen fashion sense to eventually start his own clothing company. Finding and pursuing one’s passion can make life more rewarding, and it also gives us the opportunity to leverage our unique talents for the benefit of ourselves and others.

Progress looks more like a rough staircase than a smooth upward curve.

Hee-do asks her daughter Min-chae why she wants to quit ballet to which Min-chae dejectedly replies, “I try hard, but I don’t improve.” Hee-do responds by sharing a very insightful life lesson: “Your skills don’t improve consistently but in steps... And when people hit a wall, they want to give up. Once they get [over the hill], they’ll improve exponentially, but they don’t realize it.” Many of us have probably picked up a new skill at some point in our lives, only to quit when we felt we weren’t improving. Hee-do and her daughter learn that it’s inevitable to plateau before getting better, but the important part is knowing whether you still find the experience enjoyable enough to stick with it.

Use the element of surprise to deal with toxic people.

In Episode 4, Hee-do uses her wits — a skill she gained from fencing — to outsmart a bully. After Da-seul, a senior on her high school fencing team, berates her (and Yu-rim) for practicing fencing at night, Hee-do walks into fencing practice the next morning to ostensibly (and ostentatiously) apologize to Da-seul. Feigning deference, Hee-do loudly exclaims, “You’d asked if I wanted to do well so bad as to throw you under the bus. Not at all. Never!” As Da-seul fidgets uncomfortably, aware that all eyes in the room are on her, Hee-do suggests that they all train together at night so that the whole team can do well. Stunned, Da-seul refuses the unwanted invitation and tells Hee-do she can continue practicing by herself at night.

Lead with empathy.

In Episode 9, Hee-do learns that the unlikeliest of people have the potential to be our best friends. When Hee-do overhears a couple of students talking smack about Yu-rim behind her back, she interrupts them and basically beats them up. Yu-rim, who also happened to overhear the conversation, is shocked and touched to see Hee-do defend her. She begins to sob uncontrollably and apologizes to Hee-do for acting so mean towards her. Hee-do replies that it’s all OK and asks her to just promise her one thing — to stop jumping off the high-dive to relieve her stress. Hee-do could’ve easily chewed out Yu-rim for her unreasonably catty behavior, but, instead, she took the high road and showed concern for Yu-rim’s safety. And thanks to Hee-do’s classy approach, the two become fast friends.

Figure out what your priorities are and realize they may evolve over time.

The show doesn’t end with your typical friends-become-lovers denouement, which may disappoint viewers pining for Hee-do and Yi-jin to get together. But, then again, how many people in real life end up marrying their first love? Our needs and circumstances change as we get older, and what felt right to us initially may no longer be the case several years later. Hee-do and Yi-jin don’t throw away their lives or careers in blind pursuit of love. Though they do love and respect each other. As their busy schedules begin to hamper their relationship, they eventually realize that neither of them is willing to sacrifice their goals and dreams for a shared future together.

Learn to let go sometimes.

Speaking of endings, Hee-do and Yi-jin learn during their breakup that not all good things last forever, and that it’s OK to let go sometimes. No one should feel like they have to hold onto a relationship they’ve outgrown, or really anything else that brings them more pain than joy. 

“Looking back, every day was a practice,” the adult Hee-do says in the last episode as she reflects on her high school years. The moments that we think define us — whether they’re happy occasions or embarrassing mistakes — can often turn out to hold much less significance in retrospect. As Hee-do implies, in the end they’re all merely stepping stones to shaping the person we ultimately become. Hee-do realized this and was able to learn to let go of the past so that she could move forward.

This article originally appeared on Netflix Tudum.