The Village Barber — Part 2: The People I Fell in Love With
When I watched some clips of the show on reels before starting it and saw all three of them connecting with Seon-hui and Do-in, I honestly felt that it looked a little performative. I thought this was probably a two-day show and obviously they were going to get attached to the kids and the kids were going to get attached to them, and because there were cameras, maybe some of it was just for the show. I didn't think too much about it at the time.
But now, after finishing the whole show, I am sitting here in nostalgia and wondering how these two girls managed to become such an important part of my experience.
Both Seon-hui and Do-in, and especially their relationship with the Geumdongyi trio, somehow took me straight back to my childhood.
When I was in 5th grade, there were two uncles—I think they were probably around 25–30—who lived in the same rented apartment building as my sister and me. Sometimes we would go over to play with them, sometimes we would take them homemade food, and honestly, we hardly even met them. Maybe seven or eight times. That was it. And yet I still remember the day they left. They gave us a picture with them and some gifts before they moved away.
I had completely forgotten about that part of my life.
I genuinely hadn't thought about it in years.
And somehow, this show brought those memories back.
I think that's one of the reasons this show has affected me so much. It wasn't just showing me something happening in a village in Korea. It was somehow making me remember little pieces of my own life that I had forgotten. Those temporary people who enter your childhood for such a short time and yet somehow leave behind a memory that stays for years. Maybe you don't realise it when you're a child, but later you understand that those small connections were actually very special.
And that is exactly how I felt watching Seon-hui and Do-in with these three.
Seon-hui's relationship with Dong-yeon made me so happy and honestly made me tear-eyed so many times. He made food for them and she immediately picked her favourite uncle to be Dong. And then she was constantly helping him. She would help him in the kitchen, attend to the guests, help spread the love around, and somehow she just became this little helper who was always around him.
Their relationship was so, so pure.
And I loved that Seon-hui wasn't necessarily as expressive with words as Do-in, but you could still feel her affection so clearly. She didn't need to say too much. Her actions were enough. You could see it in the way she helped him, the way she stayed around him, the way she chose him, and somehow that affection wasn't only felt by the Geumdongyi trio. Even we, the people sitting behind the camera, could feel it.
And then there is Do-in.
Oh baby girl.
I have so much love for you in this world.
I think I know exactly how you feel, and maybe that's why she affected me so much. I can already imagine her remembering this experience for the rest of her life. I feel like this could genuinely become one of those childhood experiences that she will remember when she is 30 or 40 and think, "I remember those three men who came to our village and opened a salon."
And maybe this experience will be life-changing for her in some small way.
She was hesitant at first, but as she slowly became comfortable with the trio, she started taking so much care of them. And I loved that she never overstayed her welcome. She helped however she could, she was present, she gave them her affection, and then she knew when to step back. There was something so mature and thoughtful about that.
And then she gave them those lovely words at the end.
I was already emotional, and then watching those three men become emotional because of what this little girl said to them just completely destroyed me.
And that little gift she gave them...
Does she even know how special that was to them?
Maybe for her it was just a small gift. Maybe as a child she might have even wondered why these adults would care about something so small. But she still put effort into it. She thought about them and gave them something. And watching all three of them care so much about that little gift made me so emotional.
Because it wasn't really about the gift.
It was about the fact that **she thought of them.**
And I loved that they understood that.
Then came the goodbye and I could literally feel the lump forming in my throat.
Especially when Dong-yeon said that he understood now why their grandmother keeps feeding them, because sometimes food is the only way you can express that kind of love.
Oh.
That stayed with me.
Because what else could these three really give those girls to tell them how much they had come to mean to them? There was no material thing that could explain it. No gift could really say it. So they cooked for them. They fed them. They made sure they ate. They used food to tell them that they cared.
And I think that is why Dong-yeon understood it so deeply.
Food really had become his love language in that village.
I also loved how Park Bo-gum took so much extra care while cutting Do-in's hair. He was so careful with her, and then Dong-yeon saying, **"Put her haircut in my tab"** was such an uncle thing to say. Hahahaha. I loved it so much.
And all three of them hyping these girls up constantly... I just loved it.
They made them feel so important.
Ahhh.
What an experience.
And then we have the villagers.
I LOVE THE VILLAGERS.
I loved all of them so much. They somehow made me feel like I had become a resident of that place for those few episodes. I knew their faces, I knew who was coming into the salon, I cared about their reactions, I wanted them to be happy, and somehow when the show ended I felt like I was leaving the village too.
Ms. La is obviously my favourite for very obvious reasons.
I am going to miss you, Muju village.
You have somehow become a place that I never visited but still feel nostalgic about.
And this sounds dramatic, but honestly, you have inspired me to live again.
There was something about watching these people live such ordinary lives that made me want to participate in life a little more. To cook more. To meet people. To talk to neighbours. To be useful. To share food. To stop thinking everything has to be extraordinary to be meaningful.
I think I needed that.
And then the part-timers!
I think there were five visitors throughout the show, and I loved seeing every single one of them bring their own energy into the village.
The *When Life Gives You Tangerines* duo were honestly so sweet and helpful. I loved watching them work. There was something so satisfying about how naturally they just did whatever needed to be done. Their manners and etiquette were so lovely to watch, and they never seemed to make a big deal about any work.
And making 200 bogpungnyu was no joke!
Yet they were doing it so calmly, even in the middle of all the chaos. I don't know, there was something so comforting about watching them just quietly work and help.
Rain, on the other hand, was chaotic in his own way and I loved him for it. Hahahaha. From all the outdoor duties to mopping the floor, he just kept getting involved in everything. And again, I loved how simple these people were about work. They are so famous, and yet nobody seemed to think that some work was beneath them.
Kim So-hyun was like morning sunlight.
So warm and magical.
She just brought this lovely energy with her and I really enjoyed watching her.
But my favourite part-timer was definitely the chef.
OH MY GOD.
DAEBAK.
He was so natural!
He could have easily been a permanent part of the show and I wouldn't have questioned it for one second. He was funny, so comfortable, so natural, and I loved his relationship with Dong-yeon so much. It felt like watching two people who genuinely enjoyed each other's company rather than two people who had been brought together for television.
Honestly, I could have watched much more of them.
And I think that's the thing about this show.
I know there were cameras.
I know they knew they were being filmed.
I know they probably acted differently sometimes because they knew there was an audience watching them. Maybe some moments were more performative than others. Maybe some things were edited to create a certain feeling.
I don't really care.
Because I wasn't watching this show trying to figure out whether every single second was authentic.
I was watching it because I felt something.
And what I loved was that, even knowing they were being filmed, these people seemed so secure in themselves. They never behaved as though any work was too small for them. Nobody seemed embarrassed about being a rookie. Nobody was afraid of looking silly. Nobody was constantly trying to look perfect.
They had their rookie moments.
They laughed out loud.
They had their cringe moments.
They got tired.
They made mistakes.
They teased each other.
They worked.
They sweated.
They ate.
They cared.
They showed us their human side so beautifully.
And I think that's what I was looking for without even knowing I was looking for it.
I have seen actors in cafes and restaurants and other little reality clips before, and I have always been fascinated by that version of them. Because when I watch them only as actors, they are always someone else. They are a character. They are part of a story.
But here, for a little while, I got to see them just be people.
And somehow I felt like I was sitting there with them.
Like I was inside that salon.
Like I knew these villagers.
Like I was watching these three men become attached to these children.
Like I could smell whatever Dong-yeon was cooking.
Like I was there when Bo-gum was nervously practising.
Like I was laughing with Sang-yi when he was being chaotic.
Like I had somehow been a tiny part of this little world.
*The Village Barber* is going straight into my comfort-show list.