Snowdrop Quotes – Comrades

“Don’t go thinking that the Party trust you.”

Joo Gyeok-chan

성공할 가능성 희박합니다. 어차피 조장 동지 얼굴도 알려진 데다, 안기부에서 한이섭일 철통같이 지킬 겁니다. 그런데 무슨 수로..

“Our chances of succeeding are slim. Your face has been disclosed, in any case, and the ANSP will be keeping a strict guard on Han Yi-seop. So how are we supposed to–?”

[n.b. ‘your’ = ‘Comrade Commander’]

~ EP04

니놈이 나 쐈지? 여차하면 니 목부터 따 줄 테니까 기다려.

“You’re the bastard who shot me, right? If it comes down to it, I’ll take your head off first, so wait.”

~ EP05

겁먹은 똥개가 따로 없군.

“Never was there such a terror-ridden mongrel.”

~ EP05

이 개간나 새끼들아! 다 죽여 놓갔어!

“You mangey sons of curs*! I’ll kill you all off!”

[*n.b. The Northerners use a whole range of curses I’ve not encountered before, but they’re a little hard to capture in English, since expletives don’t always translate well. If it’s not obvious, his Northern accent makes an appearance here.]

~ EP06

공작에 실패했으니 이제 우리가 갈 길은 하나뿐입니다. 저것들 다 쏴 죽여 버리고 자폭하는 거죠. (…) 협상을 구걸할 게 아니라 자폭하는 길만이 위대한 수령님의 영예를 지키는 길입니다. (…) 개죽음? 야, 이 간나 새끼야. 자폭을 개죽음이라고? 인질들 다 쏴 죽여 버리고 자폭의 수류탄 억세게 틀어쥐고 죽는 것이 공화국 전사다운 명예로운 죽음이야!

“Since the op’s failed, there’s only one path left to us: we kill all of them* and blow ourselves up. (…) Not attempting to negotiate, but blowing ourselves up — that’s the sole way to defend the honour of the Supreme Leader. (…) A dog’s death? Oi, you mangey son of a cur. You call blowing ourselves up a dog’s death? Killing all the hostages and dying with a grenade held firmly in hand is an honourable death befitting a warrior!”

[*Literally: ‘those things,’ referring to the hostages contemptuously; Gyeok-chan speaks to Soo-ho in an odd mix of jondaetmal and banmal because, as his CO, Soo-ho is owed respect but, as a person, Gyeok-chan holds him in contempt.]

~ EP06

출신 성분 내세워 빠다 맛이나 보던 놈이 감히 혁명 정신을 모독해? 애초에 니가 기숙사로 오지만 않았어도 문제없었어!

“A bastard who uses his lineage as a shield and got a taste of the good life* dares profane the Party? If only you hadn’t come to the dorm in the first place, there wouldn’t have been a problem!”

[*Literally: ‘got a taste of butter’ (빠다 = 버터), referring both to the fact that Soo-ho has lived abroad and that he was born to privilege.]

~ EP06

당이 널 믿는다고 착각하지 마. 사상성이 의심되는 새끼는 언제든지..

“Don’t go thinking the Party trust you. Curs with suspect ideology can always be–”

[n.b. The word I have as ‘ideology’ is ‘sasangseong’ (思想性) which, here, is being used to mean a person’s ideological commitment to the communist cause/revolution.]

~ EP06

야 장난해? 나한테 총질한 새끼를 치료하자고? (…) 우릴 두 번씩이나 속여 놓고 약속? 여차하면 너부터 쏴 죽여 버릴 테니까 까불지 마.

“Are you kidding? We should treat the cur who shot at me? (…) You’ve crossed us twice now and you talk about promises? If it comes down to it, I’ll kill shoot you dead first, so don’t mouth off.”

~ EP07

조장 동지. 죽여도 시원찮을 놈을 치료해 주자고요?

“Comrade Commander. Killing the bastard wouldn’t be enough, and you’re saying we should treat him?”

~ EP07

조장 동지. 이 여자 가방에서 총이 나왔습니다. 총이! (…) 우릴 세 번씩이나 속였는데, 찾았으면 됐다? 조장이 이따위니까 저 새끼들이 우릴 무시하는 거잖아!

“Comrade Commander. A gun came out of this woman’s bag. A gun! (…) They’ve crossed us three times now, and ‘it’s fine if we found it’? It’s because our commander is like this* that those curs are looking down on us!”

[*n.b. Gyeok-chan tacks the adnominal ~ddaui (따위) — indicating contempt or disdain — onto the word ‘this’ (이), which could be approximated a number of ways: ‘this soft,’ ‘this lenient,’ ‘this spineless,’ etc.]

~ EP07

이 남조선 아새끼들! 다 죽여 버리갔어!!

“Why you South Korean curs! I’ll kill you all!!”

~ EP07

우릴 빨갱이라고 불렀던 그 계집부터 처치해야 되지 않겠습니까?

“Shouldn’t we dispose of that chit who called us reds first?”

~ EP07

컵라면도...

“And cup ramen...

~ EP08

주격찬: 2층에서 해결하라니까.
계분옥: 전 여기 학생이 아니라서 쟤들처럼 빌릴 친구가 없단 말이에요.
주격찬: ..방이 어딘데?

Gyeok-chan: We said sort it out on the 2nd floor.
Bun-ok: I’m not a student here, so unlike them, I haven’t got a friend to borrow things off of.
Gyeok-chan: ..Where’s your room?

~ EP09

그만? 믿는 구석이 있다 이거지? 조장이 자꾸 널 봐주니까 나까지 만만해? (…) 한 번만 더 거슬리면 너 하나 죽이는 건 일도 아니야.

“‘Stop’? So you don’t think we’ll actually harm you,* is that it? Because my CO constantly gives you a free pass, you think I’m a pushover, too? (…) Cross me one more time, and killing you will be only too easy.”

[*Literally: ‘there’s a nook that you trust/there’s a part of you that trusts’]

~ EP10

림수호를 제거해야겠다 싶으시면 언제든 제게 말씀하십시오. (…) 남파될 때 밀명을 받았습니다. 항상 림수호를 집중 감시하다 사상성이 의심되면 가차 없이 처단하라는 명령이었습니다. (…) 림수호는 언제든지 반역자가 될 놈이라고 말씀하셨습니다.

“If you feel you ought to eliminate Lim Soo-ho, tell me at any time. (…) When I was deployed South, I received secret orders. They were orders to monitor Lim Soo-ho closely at all times and, if his ideology seems suspect, to kill him without mercy. (…) She said Lim Soo-ho was a bastard who could turn traitor at any time.”

[n.b. Like Cheong-ya, Gyeok-chan makes a point of pronouncing Soo-ho’s surname the Northern way, with the initial ‘L.’]

~ EP10

제 손에 살인권이 주어진 걸 놈도 아는 눈치입니다. 그걸 알면서도 제 앞에서 은영로를 감싸고 도는 놈입니다.

“The bastard seems to be aware that I’ve been given permission to kill him. He knows it, and yet he keeps defending Eun Young-ro in front of me.”

~ EP10

주격찬: 일찌감치 널 내 손으로 죽였어야 했어.
이강무: 어이. 생사를 같이한 동지를 죽이라는데 그딴 소리가 나와?
주격찬: 동지? 천추에 용납 못 할 반역죄를 저지른 놈이 어떻게 동지야! 씨

Gyeok-chan: I ought to have killed you myself to begin with.
Gang-mu: Oi. They’re telling you to kill the comrade who’s been through life-and-death [situations] with you* and that’s the kind of crap you spout?
Gyeok-chan: Comrade? How is a bastard that’s committed the unforgivable crime of treason a comrade?!

[*n.b. Can also more generally mean ‘to share one’s fate/throw one’s lot in with someone.’ The Disney+ subs used ‘comrade-in-arms’ here, which I quite like.]

~ EP11

리 동무, 죽고 싶어? 계집에 눈먼 민족 반역자 새끼를 도와 어딜 감히 강 동지..

“Comrade Li, you wanna die? How dare you help a traitor to our people who’s been blinded by some girl and actually tie Comrade Kang–?”

~ EP11

닥쳐. 암만 저 계집이 좋다 해도 북에 있는 가족들을 버리고 저 계집을 택해? 언제든지 반역자가 될 놈이니까 사상성이 의심되는 새끼는 가차 없이 죽여라. 그런 지령을 내린 이유가 있었어. (…) 설령 여기서 살아 나간다 해도 니놈은 북으로 못 돌아가. 저 계집이랑 여기서 편하게 살지도 못할 걸? 조국이 끝까지 찾아내 널 처단할 테니까. (…) 애당초 니놈은 버리는 카드였어.

“Shut up. No matter how much you like that chit, how could you abandon your family in the North and choose her? ‘He could turn traitor at any time, so kill curs whose ideology seems suspect without mercy.’ There was a reason they handed down such orders. (…) Even if you make it out of here alive, you won’t be able to return to the North, you bastard. You probably won’t be able to live here in peace with that chit, either. Since the homeland will hunt you down and execute you. (…) From the start, you were a card meant to be discarded.”

~ EP11

그때부터였어...놈은 반당 반혁명 분자가 될 소질이 다분했어.

Ever since then...The bastard more than had the makings of a traitor to the Party and the Revolution.

[n.b. ‘the Revolution’ = the North Korean People’s Democratic Revolution (인민민주주의 혁명)]

~ EP12

어차피 당이 버린 놈이야. 그런 놈을 따라 가족들을 버려? 니가 변절한 걸 알면 니 식구들은 모두 정치범 수용소로 끌려갈 걸?

“He’s someone the Party have forsaken, anyhow. You’d follow a bastard like that and abandon your family? If they know you’ve turned traitor, your family’ll probably all be dragged off to the concentration camps for political prisoners.”

~ EP12

너나 주둥이 닥쳐. 위대한 공화국 전사가 적의 수괴 앞에서 비굴하게 목숨을 구걸해? ...안기부장 딸년과 정을 통하다니. 그것만으로도 넌 총살감이야.

“You shut your trap. A warrior of the Great Republic begs for our lives like a coward before the enemy’s ringleader? ...And an affair with the ANSP director’s brat. That alone’s enough to make you gun fodder.”

[n.b. The phrase he uses here (정을 통하다) implies a lot more intimacy than their innocent attraction warrants, often connoting an illicit relationship. You can see the way Soo-ho’s face changes when he says it. Though, it’s probably also in part because Gyeok-chan tacks the word 년 (‘bitch’) onto the word 딸 (‘daughter’), which is every bit as rude as it sounds — much worse than brat.]

~ EP13

변절자들이 어떻게 되든 나랑 뭔 상관이야?

“What’s it to me what becomes of traitors?”

~ EP14

드디어 임무를 완수하는군.

“Finally, I complete my mission.”

~ EP15

어차피 다 죽어야 할 목숨이야. (…) 적어도 우리 어머니는 안전하시겠지!

“All our lives are forfeit anyway. (…) Even if I die, I bet my mother will be safe!”

~ EP15

이 모든 게 너 때문이야. 너 때문에 모든 게 망가졌어. 니가 여기 오지만 않았어도! (…) 난! 널 항상 집중 감시하란 지령을 따랐을 뿐이야.

“All of this is because of you. Because of you, everything’s been ruined. If only you hadn’t come here! (…) I..! just followed my orders to constantly keep a close watch on you.”

~ EP15

이번에도 내 윗선에선 널 죽이란 지령을 내렸어. 잘 가라, 림수호.

“My command handed down orders to kill you this time, too. So long, Lim Soo-ho.”

~ EP15

임수호: 격찬아 가면 술 한잔하자.
주격찬: 조장이 날 감당할 수 있갔어?

Soo-ho: Gyeok-chan-ah, let’s grab a drink when we get there.
Gyeok-chan: Think you can handle me, sir*?

[*Literally: Commander]

~ EP16

난 컵라면.

“For me, it’s cup ramen.”

~ EP16

우리 어머니한테 내, 내 죽었다고 말하지 마시요.

“Don’t tell my mother that I, that I’m dead.”

~ EP16

Li Eung-cheol

조장 동지는 같이 안 가십니까?

“Are you not coming with us, sir?”

[n.b. ‘sir’ = ‘Comrade Commander’]

~ EP04

조장 동지!

“Comrade Commander!”

~ EP05

아 그래도 위생실은 보내 줘야 되지 않갔습… (격찬이 응철을 노려본다) 뒈지기 전에 날래 눈 감으라우! 눈 감아!

“Ah, still, shouldn’t we let them go to the lavato– (Gyeok-chan glares at him) Close your eyes fast before you eat lead! Close your eyes!”

[n.b. Unlike Soo-ho, whose accent only emerges at very specific times, and Gyeok-chan, who drops into a Northern accent intermittently, Eung-cheol consistently speaks in a pronounced Northern accent –which makes sense, since his character profile states this is his first time being deployed South. I haven’t attempted to replicate it, since any English accent I might map it onto carries its own associations that would be out of place here. Another translator might choose to handle it differently. He doesn’t literally say ‘eat lead’ but something more like ‘croak; kick the bucket’ but since he’s threatening to shoot them, I opted to translate it this way.]

~ EP05

알갔습니다. 저는 조장 동지 말은 무조건 따르갔습니다.

“Understood. I’ll follow your orders* unconditionally, Comrade Commander.”

[*Literally: ‘your words,’ not restricted to direct orders; In contrast to Gyeok-chan, Eung-cheol consistently uses polite, respectful, and humble language towards Soo-ho, since he idolises him. (And yes, those are three different things).]

~ EP05

리응철: 죄송합니다, 조장 동지. (…) 전 괜찮습니다.
임수호: 괜찮긴, 이 새끼야. 그래도 정맥과 동맥은 안 다쳤어.
리응철: 복근으로 도끼날도 막아 내는 몸인데. 이까짓 총상쯤이야 거뜬히 이겨 낼 수 있습니다.

Eung-cheol: Apologies, Comrade Commander. (…) I’m all right.
Soo-ho: Yeah right, you damn punk. Still, your veins and arteries weren’t injured.
Eung-cheol: This body can even deflect axe blades with its musculature; I can easily get over something like this little gunshot wound.

~ EP06

어이, 점박이. 노래 잘하던데. 그, 다시 한번 불러 보라우. (…) 야, 야! 아이, 그, 씨... 그, 2절 없네? 그...

“Oi, polka dots. You sing quite well. Erm, sing it once more. (…) Hey, hey! That’s... What, no second verse? That is...

~ EP09

조장 동지? 잘 안 들립니다. 크게 말씀해 주십시오!

“Comrade Commander? I can’t hear you well. Speak loudly, please!”

~ EP10

아, 먹고 싶은 거! 먹고 싶은 거? ...닭곰 한 그릇만 먹으면 나을 거 같.. 에이, 괜찮, 괜찮습니다!

“Ah, something I want to eat! Something I want to eat? ...If I could eat just one bowl of talkgom, I think I’d heal right– Ey, it’s all, it’s all right!”

[n.b. Talkgom is a Northern dish, a sort of boiled chicken soup; Soo-ho and Gangu-mu have a funny exchange around it in EP11, since in South Korea ‘chicken soup’ would typically be either samgyetang or gomtang /gomguk.]

~ EP10

누가 뭐래도! 난 조장 동지 믿습니다! 훈련받을 때도 그랬디만! 날 살릴 사람은 조장 동지뿐입니다!

“No matter what anyone says! I believe in Comrade Commander! That was true when we underwent training, too! But the only one who will save me is Comrade Commander!”

[i.e. both then and now, Soo-ho is the only one he believes absolutely will save him.]

~ EP11

한 입만 먹어 보시라요. 남조선 닭곰 진짜 맛있습니다. 한 입만 먹어 보시라요. (…) 주 동무, 죽을라고 작정했습니까? (…) 주 동무 심정 이해합니다. 하지만 일단 살아남아야 될 거 아닙니까?

“Try just a bite. South Korean talkgom is really delicious. Try just one bite. (…) Comrade Joo, are you trying to die? (…) I understand how you’re feeling. But for now, we’ve got to survive, don’t we?”

~ EP12

리응철: 조국이 남조선과 짜고 우릴 다 죽이려 한단 말 못 들었습니까? 난 조장 동지 믿습니다. 조장 동지는 불피코 우릴 살릴라고 이러는 겁니다.
주격찬: 당이 우릴 죽이기로 결정했는데 무슨 수로 살려?
리응철: 아닙니다. 조장 동지는 불피코 우릴 살릴 수 있습니다. 북수백산에서 죽어야 할 동무들을 살린 거 잊었습니까?

Eung-cheol: Did you not hear the words ‘the homeland plotted with South Korea and is trying to kill us all’? I believe in Comrade Commander. Comrade Commander is definitely* doing this to save us.
Gyeok-chan: The Party have decided to kill us; by what means is he supposed to save us?
Eung-cheol: No. Comrade Commander undoubtedly* can save us. Have you forgotten how he saved the comrades who were supposed to die on Mt Buksubaek?

[*n.b. The word he uses here is ‘bulpiko’ (불피코), a Northern iteration of ‘gipilko’ (기필코), meaning ‘surely, certainly, assuredly; undoubtedly, without fail; at any cost; no matter what.’ So he’s asserting that Soo-ho both can and will save them, at all costs.]

~ EP12

기랬으면, 중앙당에서 조장 동지를 살려 뒀갔습니까? 조장 동지 말이 맞으니까니, 외려 지도원 동지를 징계한 거 아닙니까.

“If that were true, would the Central Party have let Comrade Commander live? Because what he said was correct, they actually penalized our instructor comrade, didn’t they.”

~ EP12

조장 동지. 우리 식구들은 어케 되는 겁니까?

“Comrade Commander. What will become of my family members?”

~ EP12

조장 동지가 어케 되신 줄 알고 이 간이 쫄았습니다.

“I nearly lost my lunch* thinking something had happened to you, sir.”

[*Literally: ‘my liver blanched’; in Korea, courage is thought of as stemming from the liver.]

~ EP13

놈들이 쳐들어오면 지하실은 제가 사수하갔습니다.

“If the bastards storm in, I’ll take the basement.”

~ EP13

안 됩니다, 조장 동지. 이대로 풀어 줬다간 조장 동지부터 쏴 죽일 겁니다.

“You mustn’t, Comrade Commander. If you untie him, he’ll shoot you dead first.”

~ EP13

리응철: 무전이 전달됐으니까니, 이제 림지록 부장은 철직당하겠디요?
임수호: 십중팔구.
리응철: 기렇다면 오늘 당장 조장 동지 동생을 죽이딘 않갔네요. 강청야 동지도 도망간 마당에 우리 이제 어카디요?

Eung-cheol: Since the radio transmission has been received, Director Lim Ji-rok should be deposed now, right?
Soo-ho: ‘Bout an eighty to ninety percent chance.*
Eun-cheol: In that case, they likely won’t kill your younger sister straight away tonight, sir. Now that even Comrade Kang Cheong-ya has run, what are we to do?

[*n.b. Can also more generally mean ‘in all likelihood, almost certainly, ten to one, in nine cases out of ten,’ etc.]

~ EP15

우리가 살아야 가족들도 살릴 수 있는 방법이 있디 않갔습니까? 저는 조장 동지가 하자는 대로 할 겁니다.

“We have to live in order for there to be a way to save our families, too, right? I’ll do whatever Comrade Commander says we should.”

~ EP15

이 새끼한테 맞은 거 안 보이십니까? 조장 동지까지 죽이려고 한 새끼입니다. 이딴 놈을 와 치료를 해 줍니까? 개간나 새끼가..

“Do you not see where this cur hit me? He even tried to kill you, sir. Why would you give a bastard like this treatment? Mangey son of a cur..”

[n.b. ‘you’ = ‘Comrade Commander’]

~ EP15

꼭 무사히 오셔야 합니다. 기다리갔시요.

“You absolutely must arrive safely. We’ll be waiting.”

~ EP16

씁, 근데 강청야 동지가 조장 동지를 좋아하는 거 같디 않습니까? (…) 크, 역시. 이 사랑의 힘은 위대한 거 같습니다.

“But, doesn’t it seem like Comrade Kang Cheong-ya likes Comrade Commander? (…) Haa, as I thought. The power of love is really something it seems.”

~ EP16

그나저나 저 달이 꼭 송편 같습니다. 우리 오마니가 해 주시던 송편, 참 맛있었는데. 아유! 배고프다. 가기 전에 남조선 닭튀김 한 입만 먹으면 소원이 없갔습니다.

“But you know, that moon looks just like a songpyeon. The songpyeon my mother made were so good. Auff! I’m hungry. If I could just have one bite of South Korean fried chicken before we go, I’d want for nothing.”

~ EP16

Park Geum-cheol

조장 동지, 용케도 따돌린 것 같습니다.

“Comrade Commander, it looks like we’ve managed to lose our tail, too.”

[n.b. Like Eung-cheol, Geum-cheol speaks in a pronounced Northern accent.]

~ EP02

조선 민주주의 인민 공화국 만세!

“Long live the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!”

~ EP02

저는 말임다. 옆자리에 오마니를 태우고 벤츠 몰고 평양 시내 한 바퀴 도는 거이 그거이 제 소원임다.

“As for me, sitting my mother in the front passenger seat of a Benz and going for a drive around Pyongyang, that’s my wish.”

~ EP02 Bonus Scene

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