In Your Radiant Season- Episodes 1-2
A Love That Once Bloomed, Now Shrouded in Mystery
Episode 1 of In Your Radiant Season opens with a glimpse of a long-distance romance between two very different personalities. Chan is in Boston, quietly working away in a lab and speaking on the phone with Song Ha-ran back in South Korea. He’s serious and reserved, the kind of person who rarely smiles. Ha-ran, on the other hand, is bright, chatty, and full of warmth. Their conversations reveal a gentle affection between them. Chan even sends her a pen engraved with her name, which she later uses to win a design contest. During one of their calls, Ha-ran gushes about how much she loves the smell of rain, inspiring Chan to sketch a cute cartoon girl sneezing in a rainstorm.
Back in Seoul, we learn that Chan is actually the younger brother of Ha-ran’s boss, Eun-chan. When Ha-ran’s workplace announces a four-day holiday, inspiration strikes after she spots a plane streaking across the sky. On a whim, she decides to fly to Boston and surprise Chan. She sends him a cheerful video message announcing her arrival and even tells him she loves him.
Unfortunately, Chan doesn’t see the message until it’s too late. By the time he watches it, Ha-ran has already landed and is on her way to his university. Chan rushes toward a set of blue doors, clearly desperate to reach her, but just as he’s about to open them, a massive explosion blasts him backward. When Ha-ran arrives, the campus is filled with firefighters and police. Soon after, Eun-chan calls with devastating news: Chan didn’t survive.
Seven years pass.
Life has moved forward, but the past still lingers. We’re introduced to Nana Atelier, a prestigious fashion house founded by the legendary Kim Na-na. She also happens to be Ha-ran’s grandmother. Ha-ran now works there as a leading designer, but she’s no longer the bright and bubbly young woman we saw before. These days she keeps to herself, distant and withdrawn, often disappearing to brood alone.
Meanwhile, a man named Seonu Chan arrives in South Korea with his colleague Ben. Despite the burn scars on his arm, this Chan is almost the opposite of the one we saw years earlier. He’s cheerful, affectionate, and quick to greet people with hugs. The two men have come to Seoul for a work project, but Chan seems equally excited just to wander around his hometown again.
Elsewhere, Ha-ran spends time doodling at her favorite café. The owner hands her an invitation to a painting exhibition and encourages her to go. As fate would have it, Chan ends up attending the same exhibition. When he spots Ha-ran there, he’s visibly shaken. Later, outside the gallery, he notices construction materials about to fall on her. Without thinking, he shouts her name, warning her just in time. She’s saved, but Chan slips away before she can see who helped her.
Soon after, Chan and Ben attend a work meeting, only to discover their potential collaborators are none other than Nana Atelier. Chan, an animator, wants to partner with the fashion house to design clothing for his animated character, Won. His pitch impresses Na-na, who agrees to the collaboration. But when Chan steps outside to grab a USB from his car, he unexpectedly runs into Ha-ran again. She doesn’t recognize him, but the encounter leaves him shaken.
Back in the meeting, Chan can’t seem to focus and ends up spilling coffee all over himself. Ha-ran is sent to bring him a replacement shirt and accidentally walks in on him changing, catching sight of a memento mori tattoo on his chest. Later, Chan tells Ben he wants to quit the project and return to the United States. Ben is baffled by the sudden decision, and before long, Chan reconsiders. The project only lasts three months. Surely he can manage that long.
At home, Na-na tries to set Ha-ran up with one of their photographers, but Ha-ran politely refuses. The next morning, her sister Ha-young discovers a news clipping about the construction incident that nearly injured Ha-ran. She recognizes Ha-ran in the photo and becomes curious about the mysterious man who warned her. His face is blurred, but the shirt he’s wearing looks suspiciously familiar.
The two sisters initially brush it off as coincidence, but things take a strange turn when Ha-ran finds that very same shirt in the atelier’s changing room. Inside the pocket is the invitation to the painting exhibition she attended. Not long after, the office receives an envelope filled with candid photos of Ha-ran going about her day, taken without her knowledge. Ha-young begins to worry that Ha-ran might have a stalker. Adding to the unease, Ha-ran notices that Chan’s animated character, Won, bears a striking resemblance to her. She can’t help wondering if Chan might somehow be behind it all.
That evening, Chan visits the café Ha-ran frequents and chats with the owner, who seems to know him well. Their conversation drifts toward old memories and how impossible it is to keep them buried forever.
Elsewhere, Na-na drags Ha-ran to a hotel in hopes of setting her up with Photographer Yoon. Ha-ran refuses to go through with it, admitting she’s afraid of caring about someone again only to lose them. On the drive home, Na-na quietly notices a date marked “DD” on her calendar. The memory brings sadness flooding back as she recalls the tragedy that took Ha-ran’s parents, followed by the heartbreak of losing Chan as well.
Later, Ha-ran briefly speaks with Photographer Yoon just to politely decline any romantic interest. But then she spots Chan at the hotel and her patience finally runs out. Convinced he’s been following her, she storms up to him and demands to know how he knows her name.
Chan is left completely speechless.
In a final flashback, we see the old Chan searching for Ha-ran in the United States but failing to find her. A voiceover describes her as the warm spring that brightened the harshest winter of his life. The episode ends with Ha-ran repeating the words “I love you,” but this time she says the full name of the man she loves and it isn’t Seonu Chan.
It’s Kang Hyeok-chan.
Old Memories, New Encounters, and a Pen That Means Everything
Episode 2 of In Your Radiant Season dives deeper into the mystery surrounding Seonu Chan and his connection to Ha-ran, beginning with the aftermath of the explosion at the university in Boston. Chan is caught in the blast and later wakes up in the hospital. Afterward, he returns to South Korea for further medical treatment.
But the accident left its mark in more ways than one. Chan has lost all memories from the year before the explosion. Although Ha-ran’s face feels strangely familiar to him, he can’t remember who she is or why she seems so important. One day, he spots her on the street and instinctively follows her. He’s just about to approach when fireworks suddenly explode in the sky. The loud bursts trigger a rush of memories.
A flashback reveals the missing pieces. Years ago, Ha-ran had been speaking on the phone with another student, Kang Hyeok-chan. The call was on speaker, which is how Chan first heard her voice as she sang a soft little melody to Hyeok-chan.
Not long after, Hyeok-chan once asked Chan to reply to Ha-ran’s messages on his behalf while he was busy in the lab. But when Chan realized Ha-ran seemed a little down, he ended up chatting with her instead. Later, when Hyeok-chan left for a holiday, the two accidentally switched laptops. Hyeok-chan casually told Chan to ignore any messages from Ha-ran, but things didn’t quite unfold that way.
Back in the present, the fireworks force Chan to remember everything. Overwhelmed, he quietly walks away.
Meanwhile, Ha-ran confronts Seonu Chan about what she believes is suspicious, almost stalker-like behavior. Chan calmly explains that he had looked up Nana Atelier employees ahead of his meeting, which is how he knew her name when he saw her at the gallery. The explanation seems reasonable enough, and Ha-ran reluctantly lets it go.
But the moment of calm doesn’t last long. Chan suddenly notices someone dressed entirely in black trailing behind Ha-ran. Alarmed, he shouts out, and the two of them take off in pursuit. During the chase, the mysterious figure throws a bottle at Ha-ran, but Chan steps in front of her and takes the hit on his jacket.
The culprit turns out to be a woman and she’s not alone in attracting attention. Ha-young had also been secretly keeping an eye on her sister, while Yeon Tae-suk, the atelier’s COO, happened to cross paths with Ha-young during the chaos. Eventually, everyone ends up at the police station.
There, the truth comes out. The woman used to work with Ha-ran years ago but harbored deep resentment toward her. Feeling overshadowed and jealous of the attention Ha-ran received, she eventually quit her job. Despite recognizing her, Ha-ran decides not to press charges.
When the police mention that Chan might need medical treatment after being hit with the bottle, Ha-ran runs after him. She leaves him her business card and insists on covering the cost of any injuries and the damage to his jacket.
Back at home, Ha-young cleverly convinces their grandmother Na-na that Ha-ran might be talking to a potential boyfriend. Her goal is simple: if Na-na thinks Ha-ran is already interested in someone, she might stop constantly pushing her to date. Ha-young even suggests that Ha-ran give Chan a new set of clothes as a thank-you gift.
A brief flashback offers a glimpse of Ha-ran’s past fears. As a child, she once gathered up all the shoes in the house and hid them in the bathtub so her family wouldn’t leave. She begged them to stay home, terrified that something bad would happen. In the present, Ha-young can’t help remembering that moment, along with the worry Ha-ran showed when she realized her sister had tried to confront the stalker.
Later, Ha-ran drops off new clothes at Chan’s hotel. When Chan notices that it’s raining outside, he rushes down to offer her an umbrella, only to realize it’s broken. Just then, an acquaintance approaches Ha-ran and starts asking questions she clearly doesn’t want to answer, especially about why she disappeared for so long. Feeling cornered, Ha-ran quickly follows Chan up to his room to escape the awkward situation. The two end up waiting rather awkwardly for Ben to return with another umbrella.
Elsewhere, trouble strikes at Ha-ran’s favorite café. The owner, Mr. Park, falls ill and is hospitalized. When Ha-ran stops by and finds his loyal dog, Genius, alone in the café, she takes the dog home to care for him while Mr. Park recovers.
Later that night, Mr. Park shows up at Ha-ran’s house to retrieve Genius and ends up meeting Na-na. The two quickly realize they know each other from their hometown in Chuncheon, back when Na-na went by the name Na-bong. As they catch up, Mr. Park shares a memory of the first time he met Ha-ran, seven years ago, when he found her crying in the rain outside his café.
Meanwhile, Ha-ran notices the café lights are on and goes inside, only to find Chan there. To her surprise, he explains that he’ll be staying at the café for the three months he’s in Korea. Apparently, he’s been a regular there since returning. Just then, Mr. Park arrives and warmly greets both of them.
The next day at work, Na-na spots the name “Seonu Chan” written inside Ha-ran’s folder, something Ha-ran had scribbled down earlier when she thought he might be her stalker. Seizing the opportunity, Na-na deliberately turns a work meeting into a dinner and then conveniently leaves the two of them alone.
When Ha-ran receives a message from her grandmother, she quickly realizes what Na-na is trying to do. Still, she asks Chan not to reveal the misunderstanding about the stalker.
During dinner, a malfunctioning speaker in the restaurant suddenly blares loudly, triggering pain in Chan’s injured ear and leaving him disoriented. He rushes outside to steady himself, and Ha-ran follows. In the confusion, her engraved pen, the one that means so much to her, falls to the ground and disappears.
Outside, Chan briefly explains his ear injury. Ha-ran offers him her scarf to hide the stain on his shirt and tells him she’ll clear up the misunderstanding with her grandmother because she doesn’t want to feel indebted to him. Chan can’t help noticing how carefully she keeps drawing boundaries between them.
The next day, Ha-ran shows up to work with a cold. When she realizes her pen is missing, she panics and rushes back to the restaurant to search for it, but no one has seen it.
Another flashback reveals that years earlier, Hyeok-chan had asked Chan to pick out a gift for Ha-ran while he was already heading downtown. Back in the present, Chan offers to help search for the pen once the restaurant closes, but Ha-ran insists it’s a personal matter and asks him to leave.
Later that night, Chan returns home to the café and checks on a small plant cutting sitting in a glass of water. It had been wilting when he found it, and he decided to try bringing it back to life. Mr. Park notices that the cutting has finally grown roots and suggests it’s time to plant it in soil. The comment makes Chan reflect on Ha-ran’s situation as well.
Mr. Park also spots Chan’s “memento mori” tattoo and asks him a thoughtful question: is he truly living his life without regrets? The question lingers in Chan’s mind and suddenly, he rushes back out into the night.
At the restaurant, Ha-ran is about to give up on finding her pen when Chan appears again. This time, he says something unexpected. Instead of keeping their distance, he suggests they spend the next three months meddling in each other’s lives, owing each other favors, and simply getting to know one another.
A final flashback reveals something heartbreaking: before all of this, Chan had once been on the verge of ending his life. But messages from Ha-ran, sent to Hyeok-chan’s laptop, popped up at just the right moment and pulled him back from the edge.
DramaZen's Opinion
The first two episodes of In Your Radiant Season set up a story that feels both gentle and quietly heartbreaking. Right from the start, the drama leans into the idea that fate, memory, and timing can completely change the course of someone’s life. The contrast between the warm, cheerful Ha-ran from the past and the more guarded version of her in the present really stands out, and it makes you curious about how she’ll slowly open up again.
Chan’s storyline is just as intriguing. The mystery around his identity, his lost memories, and his connection to Ha-ran adds a layer of tension that keeps the story moving. I also liked how the show balances heavier moments with small, charming interactions, like the café scenes with Mr. Park or Chan’s awkward attempts to help Ha-ran without revealing too much.
The biggest hook so far is definitely the twist involving Kang Hyeok-chan. It completely reframes the love story we thought we were watching and leaves a lot of questions about what really happened seven years ago. After two episodes, the drama already feels emotional, a little mysterious, and full of potential.
