Jiyoung takes a cab after being shamed on the subway

Kim Jiyoung takes a taxi after being shamed on the subway late in her pregnancy, when commuting to work has become physically difficult and decisions about childcare and her career remain unresolved. The encounter turns an ordinary journey home into a public judgment of her right to keep earning money while expecting a child; her choice to leave the train and take a cab is both a response to distress and a small, deliberate act of self-preservation.

The pressure of commuting while pregnant

Near her due date, Jiyoung is still working and traveling by underground. Her commute has become harder as her pregnancy advances: she experiences pain in her sides, and standing in a crowded carriage is difficult. Although passengers sometimes offer her seats when she travels during the day, that consideration is less available in rush hour. When people look uncomfortable or displeased as she stands in front of them, she tries to explain it to herself as exhaustion rather than indifference, but the looks hurt her nonetheless.

The strain extends beyond the carriage. At work, Jiyoung has faced resentment over the time allowed for pregnancy-related adjustments. After she insists that she does not intend to arrive late, she comes to the office an hour early to avoid the rush-hour crush. The episode leaves her caught between exercising an available accommodation and fearing that doing so will mark her as a burden or set a difficult precedent for younger women. The subway journey takes place within this wider bind: she is expected to protect her pregnancy while also avoiding any appearance of receiving special treatment.

The encounter on the train

On a journey home that is slightly later than usual, the carriage has no empty seats and few handles available. Jiyoung manages to grasp a handle near the doors. A woman in her fifties notices her pregnancy, asks how far along she is, and asks whether she is returning from work. Jiyoung answers awkwardly and looks away, trying not to attract attention.

The older passenger recognizes that Jiyoung may be in pain and wishes someone would give up a seat. She cannot offer her own because she has recently sprained her ankle, so she looks around for someone else to move. Her persistence makes the carriage uneasy and makes Jiyoung more uncomfortable; Jiyoung repeatedly says that she is fine and tries to get away from the exchange. A university-aged woman seated beside the older passenger then pushes past Jiyoung and makes a loud, contemptuous remark implying that a woman this close to childbirth should not be riding the subway to earn money if she cannot afford a child.

Jiyoung understands the comment as a judgment of her whole situation, not simply her presence in a crowded carriage. She is pregnant, still working, and traveling by public transport; the young passenger treats those facts as evidence against her. The insult lands with particular force because Jiyoung has already been trying to manage pain, other passengers’ reactions, and workplace expectations without appearing either weak or undeserving.

Leaving the train

Jiyoung begins to cry and cannot hide her tears. At the next stop, she gets off. She sits on a platform bench and cries before leaving through the turnstiles. She is far from home, in an area she does not know, but she does not return to the carriage or wait for another train. Instead, she finds a queue of taxis and gets into the first one.

The choice matters because another train would have taken her home, and she recognizes that she could have continued crying among strangers. But after panicking and leaving the carriage, she chooses not to force herself back into that situation. Taking a cab is not presented as a solution to the public contempt she has encountered; it is the route she selects when continuing by subway has become intolerable. The scene closes on that decision rather than on an apology or a reversal by the passenger who insulted her.

The decision surrounding the incident

The encounter occurs while Jiyoung and her husband, Jung Daehyun, are confronting what having a child will require. They had not previously discussed family planning in depth. Jiyoung worries that pregnancy and childcare could change her body and prevent her from maintaining her career. Because both spouses work late and on weekends, she doubts that daycare or a babysitter alone could provide enough care, and their parents are not in a position to help. She also feels guilty for imagining that someone else might care for a child who has not yet been born.

Daehyun offers to take on practical tasks such as changing diapers, feeding the baby, and washing the baby’s clothes. Jiyoung asks what he himself expects to give up. She names her youth, health, job, colleagues, social networks, career plans, and future as what she is placing at stake. Daehyun anticipates seeing friends less often, coming home earlier, feeling constrained by work dinners and late hours, and carrying financial responsibility. Jiyoung sees his prospective losses as far smaller than the disruption she faces.

As the due date approaches, they write out three possibilities: Jiyoung returning to work immediately, returning after a year of maternity leave, or not returning. They consider the costs and responsibilities of childcare, including sending the baby to Daehyun’s parents in Busan or hiring a live-in nanny. His parents are willing but elderly, and his mother has recently undergone back surgery; a live-in nanny would be costly and would become part of the household’s daily life. They conclude that one parent must stay home and that Jiyoung will do so, citing Daehyun’s more stable, higher-paying job as well as the familiar expectation that husbands work while wives care for children. Against this decision, the subway scene makes visible how Jiyoung’s paid work is judged even as the practical and customary arrangements of parenthood place the career interruption on her.