[Korean Culture & Language] Min-soo Story

Hello, this is Uptempo!


Do you remember that the term ‘손민수(Son Min-soo)’ refers to someone who enjoys copying others, and the term ‘손민수 하다(Son Min-soo-ing)’ describes the act of obsessively copying someone?

https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list?titleId=720121


In the video below, a girl tells a ‘썰(story)’ about a ‘민수(Min-soo)’ who kept on copying her. 

유자(Yuja - the storyteller), 민수(Min-soo), 장미 (Rose) were friends. For some reason, Min-soo started copying Yuja in every manner possible, including replicating Yuja’s Instagram posts, purchasing the same products Yuja purchased, even attempting to seduce her ex-boyfriend after they broke up.

She thought it was weird, so she had to ‘장미한테 이 얘기를 진짜 힘들게 털어놨어 (get it off my chest and talk to 장미 about it)’. ‘털어놓다’ means ‘to get something off one’s chest’.

After talking with 장미, she realized that ‘나만 따라한 게 아닌거야 (Min-soo didn’t only copy me, but also others)’.

She continues, ‘다들 심증만 있잖아.’ ‘심증’ directly translates to ‘heart evidence’ and refers to ‘circumstantial evidence’. There’s no physical proof that Min-soo was copying Yuja because she kept telling everyone that she bought the items before Yuja. So, ‘심증만 있고 물증은 없었다(there were circumstantial evidence but no physical evidence)’.

If Min-soo had informed Yuja that she admired her style and asked for beauty advice, Yuja might not have been as offended. However, Min-soo kept lying and said that ‘이거 원래 있었던건데? (I’ve always had these)’ ‘예전부터 샀던건데? (I got these a while ago)’ instead of admitting that she copied her.

Min-soo even texted Yuja’s ex-boyfriend and said, ‘I guess we can grab dinner or drinks together now that you’ve broken up with Yuja’. Yuja said Min-soo’s actions gave her chills (소름 돋는다).

Do you find Min-soo’s actions creepy? Or can they be tolerated?

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