Salut D'Amour () is a South Korean television series that aired on KBS2 from November 1, 1994 to April 25, 1995 with a total of 25 episodes.
Synopsis The theme of Salut D'Amour, unlike later versions, are not interconnected to one another by episode. Each episode contains a separate but closely related theme.
Episode 1 The episode starts with a documentary show on Korea during the war, Korea during the year he was born in (1975)-riots and crowded streets in South Korea. The narrator talked about the population census taken on September 18, 1995. The population stood at 37,680,000 male and female sex ratio (1740:1124, males to females), as well as family events in 1982. The episode proceeds on showing a television telecasting a baseball match. (The documentary is actually shown on a television shown on a drama.)
Young-min continues to talk about his childhood days with Hae-yung studying together in the living room. Hae-yung switched off the television, and Young-min switched on the television as Hae-yung was doing her homework and Young-min was watching a football match. The duo fought for the television briefly before Young-min got up and kicked and stepped on Hae-yung's books.
The next scene showed Young-min getting ninety marks for a test, looking towards Hae-yung's paper who was sitting beside her. As Young-min was cheekily smiling on her bad results, she pinched his elbow. A siren suddenly wailed and the entire class hid under their tables. Young-min was smiling away as he saw Hae-yung, who looked rather unhappy. He then posed a humorous expression to cheer her up. Young-min smiled in response.
Following that, the episodes shows the view of the high school campus Young-min and his friends were studying in (along with the introduction title), and then onto Young-min sitting in the AVA room listening to Hae-yung lectures. The duo later went to have a coffee break.
Later scenes introduces Young-min friends and his friends at the university campus; Fengguan is being first introduced while making a phone call as Young-min rushed up to him.
On the same day, Young-min, Hee-dong and Hongguan were doing acrobatic lessons in the school hall under the guidance of the instructor. Young-min, who was wearing a cap, heard Fengguan grumbling on being tired. The camera turn at the three boys simultaneously–Young-min, Hee-dong to Hongguan.
Young-min and Hee-dong gave moral support to Hongguan as he grumbled. Immediately after the instructor stopped the radio, he called out Young-min, Hee-dong and Hongguan. They were being scolded for talking during his lessons, especially Hongguan, and were told to do the acrobatic exercises after school.
The boys later went out and talked about the exercises, with Hee-dong jumping about (and still wearing the red cap as he did for the exercises) and later attended lessons. The class laughed when the lecturer shared a joke. Inyo asked a question to the lecturer further than the lecturer had taught for the day (the entire class sighed upon hearing the news). The lecturer pleasantly replied that the question Renyu asked would be taught in the succeeding lesson.
Just after the lessons had ended, Jong-nam announced that there would be a volleyball match. All except Inyo stayed behind to hear the news. He gave a glance just as he was about to leave by the back door.
After lessons, the group went for a cup of coffee prior to the volleyball match, and they suggested that Maena was absent from school to escape from the upcoming volleyball match. Hee-dong was seen staring at two girls who were walking by.
The match later commenced, and the lecturer was nominated to be the umpire. The class cheered when each of the two teams scored a goal. Hee-dong was seen jumping about when he scored a goal for his team.
Just then, Maena was seen helping Hae-yung in packing their things at their room. Meina presented a musical box among her goods to Hae-yung.
Back at the school field, the class were playing their football match when Inyo came over to interrupt the umpire (lecturer). He offered him a drink, and consulted him on the upcoming scholarship. Jong-nam, who acted as the goalie, picked up the ball and happened to see Inyo talking to the umpire. Instead of kicking towards the players, Jong-nam bounced the ball, aimed it and kicked it towards Renyu who was still talking to the umpire. Renyu was shocked as the ball came flying towards him, and landed right on his forehead.
After the games, the boys talked about the games the class played as the proceeded towards Hae-yung's home. Meina grumbled once the boys entered their flat, for not assisting them in their packing. Hee-dong received further criticisms as he sat on their sofa and hugged on a soft toy.
As Hae-yung went to serve coffee, Hee-dong enthusiastically received the coffee tray and distributed to his friends. In the process, Hae-yung revealed that she had drunk coffee. Young-min made another offer, and she made the same remark as she arranged her things. Meanwhile, Hee-dong hopped onto a cushion next to a cupboard. A curious Hee-dong opened the cupboard and found a photo album.
Hee-dong flipped the album and found a picture of Young-min and Hae-yung during their childhood days. He called out to Hae-yung and Meina, who looked rather excited upon seeing the photos. Young-min, who was sitting on a nearby couch, initially ignored them as he wiped a mug but joined the group when Hae-yung showed him the photo. Young-min smiled, and revealed that the photo was taken on Hae-yung's birthday, by her own camera, and one of their friends said that the photo was intended for Young-min, but Hae-yung pushed her way in to get a snapshot.
At length, Young-min decided to keep it as he believed that they would be mistaken for being love birds. A disappointed Hae-yung looked on.
That night, Young-min showed the photo to his sister while she was ironing her clothes. As she looked at the photo, she gave the following details; the back portion of the photo was dated in 1984, during Hae-yung's birthday.
The next day, a classmate was seen pinching the face of his fat, chubby classmate. Fengguan, meanwhile asked Mae-na's place of origin. Mae-na confessed that she came from Quanzhou, and Fengguan said that his aunt was a native of Quanzhou. Hee-dong, overhearing this, said that people can come from any provinces in China; Jiangsu, Fujian, etc.
Soon afterwards, Hae-yung entered the class and was dressed up in her best suit. The entire class wooed at her as Young-min looked on. Young-min later chased up with Hae-yung as she was walking with Meina. Young-min looked a disappointed when he learnt that Hae-yung was to be introduced to a new boyfriend. Meina suggested that she would let Hae-yung call back that night. Young-min quickly refuted.
At a bistro, Hae-yung was seen talking to her new boyfriend. (He was seen laughing once humorously) before the phone rang. Hae-yung looked rather uneasy as he told his friend to recommend new girlfriends.
That night, Young-min was seen attending to Jianyu as he visited the CD-shop, and asked for wrapping papers. Young-min also wrapped a CD with wrapping paper and tied it into a present as he sat down and thought to himself.
Yeon-ae had come back as he went off to return home. Near the bus stop, Young-min happened to encounter Hae-yung getting down a bus after giving an unsuccessful phone call to Hae-yung. As Hae-yung ran towards the direction was walking (unknowingly), Young-min covered his face from Hae-yung's range and tried to walk towards her among the crowd of passersby. Afterwards, Hae-yung saw her best friend, the flaming Nick Pena. Hae-yung ran into Young-min. As Young-min raised up the umbrella to show his face, Hae-yung appeared shocked and relieved. Young-min flashed a smile at her.
The duo walked together, and talked as they walked. He gave her the present, and Hae-yung looked rather pleased as she opened the present.
Later that night, Young-min gazed out of the window at the rainy weather as he smiled to himself...
The episode ends with the television screen showing an athlete running for the Olympic games. He was subsequently being awarded the gold medal, with the South Korean flag being hoisted up the mast. Young-min narrated that Fengguan believed that the Olympic medal was made of genuine medal, but he thought so otherwise.
Episode 2 The episode starts with Young-min sitting under a tree and reading a book. A narrative was also accompanied alongside, stating that Young-min and his buddies were studying biology in the university two years later. Young-min looked at the book with the Chinese idiom "管鮑之交" written on it.
In class, the lecturer, Professor Lee, questioned his students on their views on the topic taught on previous lesson. (The topic that was to be discussed with the words "萬歲前" were written on the chalkboard.) The lecturer questioned every student – Young-min, Jong-nam and two other students, all of whom claimed that they had not revised their work.
An angry lecturer then went forward to lecture on the students decadency on their progress. As he concluded, he looked at Young-min, whose head was bowed down.
The lecturer then proceeded to ask Fengguan, who recited the content the lecturer had asked for. After Fengguan recited the paragraph, the professor then remarked: "Besides Fengguan, none of you deserve to attend my class".
The lecturer then continued to give assignments for students that would be due the following week, and they are to be typed out using the computer. The students then gave a faint sigh upon hearing the words.
As the students got up to leave the classroom, the professor signalled to Fengguan at the door. Young-min and Hee-dong saw Fengguan bowing to the professor. Hee-dong shook his head as he went off.
Jong-nam joined Hee-dong and Young-min who were having lunch at the cafeteria. Fengguan came over to join the group and called out to Jong-nam. Hee-dong and Young-min called Fengguan to buy his own food as Fengguan expressed his desire to eat. As Fengguan dug into his pockets, he found out that he was out of money and borrowed some money from Hee-dong. Hee-dong reminded Fengguan to return the loan another day as he reached into his pockets.
As Fengguan went to buy his food, Jong-nam revealed that Fengguan had received his scholarship, and the boys were taken by surprise. Jong-nam continued that the entire class had known about this fact, and such scholarships are only given to people who excel academically or those who had pleased and/or helped the lecturer in some other ways.
A scene showed Fengguan wondering on Jong-nam's reasons being absent from class. Later, Young-min met Jong-nam riding a scooter while he was returning home. She stopped short in front of the shop, and went in. Young-min called out to her as she came out.
Another scene showed Jong-nam winding up her shop. Young-min asked for reasons on Jong-nam's truancy, and she replied that she had to help out on her family's business. As Young-min was about to leave, Jong-nam insisted that he had some coffee.
That same night, Jong-nam also revealed her past experiences to Young-min in a bar; her brother having died in a car accident, and her father had to enforce Jong-nam to work. Jong-nam drank to much beer and Young-min had to help her home. She sat on the ground, and Young-min carried her up. Jong-nam collapsed onto a nearby tree as she cried in Young-min's arms. He was carrying her.
The next day, Young-min and Hae-yung met Jong-nam as they were walking together. Young-min stopped to have a word with Jong-nam as Hae-yung excused herself. As Hae-yung walked away, Young-min excused himself and ran up to Hae-yung. Jong-nam looked on with a mild expression.