One Way Love (너 밖에 몰아) by Hyolyn, Friday, August 27, 2021
YOU'RE A SELFISH GUY WHO ONLY THINKS ABOUT HIMSELF. "One Way Love" talks about a rather toxic relationship, that sadly, often turns into a toxic marriage. While, the intro, confusingly and in English, is spoken by the male perspective, the rest of the song is the female perspective. Hyolyn accuses her partner of never letting her meet her friends, while he is "out drinking all night long." He chooses the restaurants and makes all the decisions without consulting her. The most damning accusation is that he "only know[s himself]." The video shows the ambivalence of this kind of relationship. Hyolin both complains and ingratiates her partner. She won't leave him, but she will complain in this song. Released in November 2013, "One Way Love" reached number one on the K-pop charts and is Hyolin's biggest song to date. In 2014, it was still widely played in Korea, and it was one of the songs played at the small sandwich shop across from the institute where Allan often ate his lunch. Sometimes, for a short time, his class schedule coincided with Kelly and he often asked her to lunch. During these lunches the two got very close and shared about their pasts. Their conversations were not as if they were twenty years apart. But under scrutiny, from outsiders, Allan was informed appeared a certain way. "She's really into you," Abram said, shaking his head and chuckling. "No, it's not like that at all," Allan said with his heart sinking. "She's old enough to be my mother. We just have great conversation." But feelings were confusing. Love shouldn't look this way, should it? He had this welling feeling in his heart.
MY THOUGHTS AREN'T THAT IMPORTANT TO YOU. Lunch was not often the sandwich shop for the short time in the spring of 2014 that they met for lunch. Kelly had been a vegetarian since the '80s when she was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist church. "The missionaries were a lot stricter back then. Not very fun like today," she said with a breezy laugh. So instead, they ate a lot of Korean temple food, consisting mostly of rice and side dishes. Sometimes some of her ajumma friends would join them, and they would eat at a place that served meat or fish. Kelly's friends were impressed with how Allan enjoyed soybean-paste stew and complimented his chopstick skills. He told them about how in college, when he thought that he might come to Korea, he forced himself to learn how to eat with chopsticks by watching YouTube videos and being drilled by his friends who knew how to use them. Kelly seemed amused by everything Allan said. When it was time to stand up, they laughed as Allan's legs had fallen asleep. But during the intimate lunches, just the two of them, they shared fragments of their pasts. Allan talked about college and his family and growing up Adventist. Kelly talked about her family, about her 20s after college serving as a missionary Taiwan and Japan. She talked about her trips to the U.S. and her connections at Mission College where she studied theology for two months. They talked about Korean culture and the expectations on men and women by society. "I would never marry a Korean man," she said over a cup of barley tea, "particularly if he's Adventist." "What do you mean?" "Korean men, at least my age, are very traditional. They want women to do everything for them." "And if he's Adventist?" "He uses the Bible to justify it," she set her cup down a little harder than she intended. "So, just foreigners in your past?" She gave a knowing laugh and her eyes turned to the window on the opposite side of Allan.
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