Episode 1

Episode 1 is the first episode of Descendants of the Sun. It premiered on KBS2 on 24 February 2016.

Plot summary


A meeting was convened between Foreign Minister Lee Han Soo and South Korean army generals, including Lieutenant General Yoon Gil Joon. Yoon stated that this act of provocation was made in hopes of triggering South Korea into firing at the DMZ, effectively contravening the Korean Armistice Agreement, so they could use it to negotiate a better deal for themselves in upcoming six-party talks.

Yoon dispatched Team Alpha of the Republic of Korea Army Special Warfare Command to rescue the hostages.

Standoff at Korean Demilitarized Zone
Captain Yoo Si Jin took over control of the operation from the Republic of Korea Military Police, who were standing by as sentries. Yoo and Sergeant Major Seo Dae Yeong approached Guard Post 301 without firearms, looking to speak to the North Koreans. Seo suggested they move in. Sergeant First Class Im Gwang Nam provided cover as the sniper. Explosives were put in place in case negotiations failed, and Staff Sergeant Gong Cheol Ho was on standby.

Yoo said that the South Koreans would clear a path, telling the North Koreans to leave. Yoo and Seo entered Guard Post 301, where they were held at gunpoint by a North Korean Corporal with a Type 58 rifle. Both came face-to-face with Senior Lieutenant Ahn Jeong Joon, who removed his pistol and brandished a bayonet, stating that he needed to kill a few South Korean Special Forces personnel to be branded a warrior.

In response, Yoo and Seo brandished their bayonets, with Yoo agreeing to a fight. Seo took down the Corporal, as Yoo did with the Private. Ahn charged at Yoo with his bayonet, only to be stopped by Seo. Seo then charged at both the Private and Corporal, who were both dazed, as they flew out a door, leaving Yoo and Ahn in the guard post.

In the darkness, Ahn noted that Yoo used to hold his bayonet with his right hand. Yoo and Ahn fought, to a standstill, with both gaining the upper hand each at separate points. As Seo was fighting outside, Yoo and Ahn burst out of the door. Yoo was sliced at his abdomen by Ahn’s bayonet, but he held Ahn at knifepoint at his neck.



Ahn taunted Yoo, saying that Yoo would not be willing to shoot him, to which Yoo debunked his statement, saying the South would always be ready to shoot first, if it meant keeping the peace. Yoo was held at gunpoint by the Private, but sniper Im had his laser sight aimed at the Private’s head. Ahn ordered the Private to put down his weapon. Ahn dropped his weapon, as did Yoo, and the North Koreans left the site.

With that, Yoo declared the mission accomplished, radioing back to Command and Team Alpha.

After the standoff at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, Yoo Si Jin and Seo Dae Yeong were at a shooting arcade, when they encountered the alleged motorcycle thief Kim Ki Beom.

Apprehending of Kim Ki Beom
Yoo and Seo were shooting at the arcade. Seo scored 10 points, while Yoo scored 20. Both complained of their guns having issues, after the system deemed them ‘Privates’ for ‘shooting with their eyes closed. Seo asked if the gun barrel was straight, while Yoo said he could not adjust the clip and zeroing. The owner refused to let them make any adjustments, before bragging that their guns were used by the Delta Force of the US Army, different from what they played around in the army, to which Yoo disagreed.

Down the road, the owner of a motorcycle shouted at Kim Ki Beom, telling passers-by the stop him. Seo asked to borrow the guns, as he and Yoo stepped out. Yoo protested against getting involved, saying that both were off duty. Both calculated Kim’s distance, as Kim urged passers-by to move aside, allowing him to escape.



As Kim went within 5 metres of the pair, both opened fire, landing 9 pellets at Kim’s forehead, causing him to skid and fall off the motorcycle.

The owner of the motorcycle reclaimed his property, and along with it, flyers, declining to make a police report, asking Seo not to call him regarding the incident. Seo called for an ambulance, while Yoo applied first aid on Kim, telling him that he’d hurt his own spine if he moved. Yoo asked to buy two stuffed bears, to which the arcade owner declined to sell. In response, Yoo said he’d win all the stuffed bears in the arcade if he refused. Yoo asked for a pen as well, so that he could write on Kim’s arm.

Kim was sent to Haesung Hospital, while Yoo and Seo went to Dal.Komm Coffee with their stuffed toys, Neukkun Wolf and Hayang Bunny, which they called Yoo Si Jin's comrade and Seo Dae Young's girlfriend.

Coffeeshop talk and discovery of phone theft
At Dal.Komm Coffee, Yoo received a call from Lieutenant Yoon Myeong Ju, to which Seo told Yoo not to answer. Yoo told Seo to ‘be a man’ and meet her and break up with her. Seo offered a bribe of a steak dinner. When Yoo rebuffed his attempt, Seo upped the offer, putting up a 17-year-old bottle of whisky as part of the deal. Seo’s final attempt was an offer of a blind date with his cousin, a flight attendant.

Yoo asked for Seo’s phone, which could not be found. Seo then realised that his phone was stolen by no other than Kim Ki Beom himself, when they were transferring him to paramedics.

At Haesung Hospital, Kim was attended to by nurses Ha Ja Ae and Choi Min Ji. Seo’s phone fell out of Kim’s pocket, and was picked up by a paramedic. At this point, Yoon called Seo’s phone, which was answered up by Choi. Assuming that the phone was Kim’s, Choi told Yoon that the owner of the phone suffered an accident.

In the ward, Kang Mo Yeon met Kim, and saw that Yoo had written “He is suspected to have had a rib fracture and a sprained ankle. Asking who wrote this, Kang was informed by Kim that the people who did it to him wrote the statement. Kang commended Yoo’s first aid skills as both ‘skilful and pretty’. Checking to see if Yoo’s conjectures were correct, Kang jabbed Kim’s ribs and ankle, to which Kim writhed in pain, confirming her suspicions. Kang asked if Kim was a thief, as it was written on his arm as well, with instructions to give Kim ‘the most painful treatment possible’. Kim denied it, and was asked to contact his insurance company. He was also given a neck brace. Kim received a call on his phone, and he asked the caller to bring their motorcycle, presumably so he could escape the hospital.

Fight outside Haesung Hospital
At the same time, Kang was speaking to the hospital’s head, saying that she had finished preparing materials for his thesis. The head thanked her, hoping that it had helped with her studies. He commended the neat arrangement of her charts, and asked if she had an interview left for an academic position. At the same time, Kang spotted Kim attempting to escape the hospital, limping across the road.

Nurses Ha and Choi discovered that Kim had gone missing, but by that time, Kang had wheeled him back into the ward. Kim protested against staying, to which Ha warned that he would have to sign a refusal of treatment form and pay consultation fees, or risk being reported to the police. Resigned to his fate, Kim expressed his decision to stay, while attempting to walk away. He asked to go to toilet, leaving Seo’s phone as a collateral.

Just then, Seo’s phone received a call from Yoo. Spotting the caller ID as ‘Big Boss’, Kang assumed that the phone was being rang by gang members. Yoo’s car pulled up at the hospital parking lot, just in time for the pair to spot a group of ten gangsters walking by the funeral hall parking lot. Kim limped out of the hospital, calling his friend to pick him up, as he flung his neck brace onto the ground.

Entering the ward, Yoo calls Seo’s phone, now in the possession of Kang. Kang asked if Yoo was Big Boss, and explained that she believed the phone belonged to Kim, the accident victim. Yoo said that the phone belonged to them. Ignoring Yoo, Kang spoke to a patient, before realising that Kim had gone missing yet again. Kang chased Yoo and Seo out. As the curtain closed, Yoo and Kang took one glimpse at one another,

Yoo asked if Seo wanted to find his phone, but was unwilling to go along, feigning pain and illness. Realizing his attempt at malingering had failed miserably, Yoo decided to tag along. Meanwhile, Kang and Choi deliberated over whether Yoo and Seo were gangsters, while Kang was stitching up a patient.

Following his hunch, Seo walked out of the hospital with Yoo, where they say the gang of ten beating up Kim and an unnamed victim. Seo insisted that he needed to recover his phone, to which Yoo interjected, approaching the gang. Kim begged Seo to help him, offering to return his phone. The unnamed victim explained to Yoo that Kim wanted to leave the gang, but could not, if he did not pay them 5 million won in compensation.

Seo baited the gang with his wallet, stating that whoever could defeat him would get payment for Kim’s dropping out. Seo apprehended two gangsters in one go, despite them carrying knives. Yoo taunted the remaining gangsters, telling them to ‘bring it on’. Surrounded by all ten, who charged at them with their knives, Yoo and Seo defeated them all.

Just then, Lieutenant Yoo Myeong Ju entered the ward, asking for the patient, based on her assumption that it was Seo who was injured. Yoon demanded to see the medical records of the patient, to which Kang refused, stating that Yoon should pay for his medical bill.

Kang met with Pyo Ji Soo, where she spoke of Yoon, whom Pyo said stole Kang’s crush some time ago. Pyo explained that Yoon’s boyfriend Seo, was a non-commissioned officer in the army, to which Kang realised that she might have mixed Kim’s and Seo’s identities.

Flicking of Kang Mo Yeon's cellphone
Yoo and Seo returned to the hospital with Kim, where they met Yoon. Kim proceeded to received treatment, when Kang asked him to tell the truth about the what happened earlier. Kang said she would be checking on security footage, and calling the police.

Yoo chased after her, attempting to explain the affair. Refusing to believe his story, Kang dialled for the police, prompting Yoo to flick her phone with his right hand, and catching it with his left, right before it was going to fall onto the floor.

Yoo expressed his desire at not wanting to get the police involved, identifying himself as a soldier. Yoo asked if Kang knew Yoon Myeong Ju, to which Kang asked if Yoo was Yoon’s boyfriend. Yoo went to approach Yoon, to certify his identity with her.

Just then, Yoon confronted Seo, asking why he was avoiding her. Seo refused to give a conclusive answer. In spite, Yoon told Seo to salute her, in an attempt to get him to stay. Yoo and Kang approached Yoon, who confirmed Yoo and Seo’s identities as soldiers.

Kang told Yoo to follow her to the security room, to review footage of the fight outside the hospital. Yoo and Kang chatted, and Yoo said that he and Yoon attended the same military academy. Yoo then said that he always protected beautiful women, the elderly, and children, a rule he lived by. Kang asked for Yoo’s real name, and both introduced one another, although Kang kept her distance from Yoo.

In the ward, Seo spoke with Kim, learning that the latter was a taekwondo specialist in the past, as the former specialized in judo and a former gang member as well, and asked if Kim had ever tried to get beaten up first in order to escape from his gang. Nurse Ha entered the ward to process Kim’s admission into the hospital. Seeing that Kim did not have any family, Seo offered to help admit Kim.

“Doctors don’t have boyfriends. They’re too busy.”
In the security room, Kang viewed footage of Yoo and Seo being chased by the 10 gangsters earlier during the fight. She witnessed Yoo apprehending a gangster, while beaming in excitement as she saw Yoo take down a trio singlehandedly.

Outside, Kang apologised for mistaking Yoo for a gangster. Yoo asked to receive treatment for his injury on the left of his abdomen, to which Kang prodded it, causing Yoo to wince in pain, before revealing the wound, to Kang’s horror.

In the treatment room, Yoo explained that the wound, supposedly re-opened during the fight earlier, was sustained when he was ‘doing labor’, joking that it was inflicted on him during the Battle of Normandy, a World War II incident, to which Kang asked in jest if he was saving Private Ryan. Kang told Yoo to receive further treatment in the army, but Yoo insisted on coming over to Haesung Hospital every day. Kang said that he could come thrice or four time a week if he wanted to have his wound healed quickly. Yoo asked if Kang would be his doctor. Kang offered to schedule for a 2pm appointment another day. “Doctors don’t have boyfriends. They’re too busy.” Yoo stated.

In camp, Sergeant Choi Woo Geun was playing the guitar, Staff Sergeant Gong Cheol Ho was dressing up Yoo Si Jin's comrade and Seo Dae Young's girlfriend. Sergeant Im Gwang Nam was holding a mirror, as Yoo attempted to pick a better looking combat uniform, to meet Kang at the hospital. Touching on the topic of pretty doctors, Im mentioned Lieutenant Yoon, and spoke of her relationship issues, calling her ex-boyfriend a jerk, to which Gong and Choi proceeded to corner him, as Yoo warned that he would pay for his curiosity with his life, as Seo, whose relationship with Yoon Im was oblivious to, was standing before him.

Later on, Yoo and Seo were present to process Kim’s discharge from the hospital. Kim apologised to Seo for stealing his phone, an apology which Seo accepted. Mentioning about their conversation in the ward, Kim said that he did try to get beaten up, even paying his gang, but to no avail. Seo said that he got out of his gang by escaping to some place where he would’t be discovered.

At the lobby, Yoo spotted Kang with Dr Jang, and Nurses Ha and Choi, wheeling a patient into the hospital. Ha offered get more blood, as Kang attempted to stem the bleeding. Yoo helped push the gurney that carried patient Jo towards Operating Theatre 2, where surgery started at 12.27pm.

The surgery ended at 6.04pm, and Yoo left before Kang emerged from the operating theatre. Yoo performed 6 chin ups, before his phone rang. Kang was calling him, telling him that the patient had survived. Yoo expressed his intention to meet Kang the next day, to Kang’s excitement, until he said it was for treatment, causing Kang to feel resigned and disappointed, as Yoo teased her.

Yoo then decided to meet Kang at once, to which Kang agreed.

Mission to Afghanistan
As Yoo entered the hospital, Kang put on makeup in the elevator. Just then, news broke that two United Nations employees had been abducted in Afghanistan. Yoo received a call from his commander. He then rushed into an elevator, and called Kang, telling her that he was at the rooftop of the hospital.

Yoo apologised for standing Kang up, as a helicopter prepared to land on the rooftop. Yoo asked to meet Kang on another weekend for a movie, to which Kang agreed.

Yoo rushed to the waiting helicopter, boarding it as it flew off. After 7 hours of flight on another transport aircraft, the team arrived in Afghanistan airspace, where tactical flying commenced. Team Alpha removed their identification tags, to remain unidentified in case they were killed in action. The hatch of the aircraft opened, as Team Alpha prepared to touch down.

Characters

 * Yoo Si Jin
 * Seo Dae Yeong
 * Kang Mo Yeon
 * Yoon Myeong Ju
 * Im Gwang Nam
 * Yoon Gil Joon
 * Gong Cheol Ho
 * Choi Woo Geun
 * Lee Han Soo
 * Kim Ki Beom
 * Ha Ja Ae
 * Choi Min Ji
 * Pyo Ji Soo
 * Jang Hee Eun

Cameos

 * Lee Kwang Soo
 * Park Pal Yeong (as Head of Haesung Hospital)