Hee-Do's diary picks up in the summer of 1998. After the IMF crisis causes Hee-Do's fencing club to shut down due to underfunding, she asks her mother, Shin Jae-Kyung, if she can transfer to Tae Yang High School, where her fencing idol Ko Yu-Rim is also a student. Jae-Kyung tells Hee-Do to give up fencing, which leads to an argument between them.
As Hee-Do storms out of her house, she meets the new paperboy in her neighbourhood named Yi-Jin (a former chaebol who is forced to pick up part-time jobs after his family went bankrupt due to the IMF crisis). Hee-Do yells at Yi-Jin for throwing the paper directly at her peeing boy statue, which causes it to break. The two fight, but before they part ways, Hee-Do admits she yelled because she was angry at her mother. Talk about a memorable first meeting, right?