Can This Love Be Translated Episode 1 Opens With A Mysterious Confession

Can This Love Be Translated Episode 1 begins on the final day of filming a reality show starring South Korean actress Cha Mu-hee and Japanese actor Hiro. The shoot takes place at a scenic location, where the two enjoy the surroundings together. Communication between them relies entirely on a translator, Joo Ho-jin, who is interpreting remotely from another location.

As they admire the view, Hiro suddenly tells Mu-hee that the scenery felt special because she was part of it. The statement catches Ho-jin completely off guard, leaving him frozen and unable to translate the line. Hiro then asks Ho-jin to translate something else, but the audience is given no subtitles to clarify what is actually said. Instead, Ho-jin translates it as, “I need Cha Mu-hee to know I adore her.” This moment immediately raises doubt—was the confession truly Hiro’s, or did it come from Ho-jin himself?

Can This Love Be Translated Episode 1 then shifts back to April, one year earlier. Ho-jin is in Japan working as a translator for a South Korean writer, Mr. Kim. During their conversation, it is revealed that Ho-jin will soon be traveling to Spain for work. After parting ways with Mr. Kim, Ho-jin boards a train—only to realize that Cha Mu-hee is on the same train.

Their paths cross again when both enter the same ramen shop, Momo-chan Ramen. Ho-jin sits beside Mu-hee and overhears her struggling with a translation app. Before they can properly interact, chaos breaks out when a young boy from an Italian family suffers an allergic reaction. Since Ho-jin speaks Italian, he helps the family communicate and assists in getting the child into an ambulance.

After the emergency, Ho-jin returns to the shop and finds that Mu-hee has watched over his belongings. She asks him for help translating a conversation with the restaurant owner. It soon becomes clear that she is not there casually—she has come to confront her ex-boyfriend, Yu-jin, who works as a chef at the restaurant.

Mu-hee learns through Ho-jin’s reluctant translation that Yu-jin left her for a woman named Eiko, an older woman who is now seven months pregnant. The shock deepens when Mu-hee realizes Yu-jin broke up with her only three months earlier. Devastated, Mu-hee storms out of the restaurant.

However, Eiko asks Ho-jin to pass along a message. She explains that the baby is not Yu-jin’s but her ex-husband’s. She also says that if Mu-hee can change Yu-jin’s heart, she is willing to let him go. Though Ho-jin initially refuses to get further involved, Mu-hee insists she is doing this for love and convinces him to translate once more.

Can This Love Be Translated Episode 1 deepens the conflict as Mu-hee asks Eiko whether Yu-jin spent time with her during periods when he disappeared for weeks. Eiko confirms it. Mu-hee accuses Yu-jin of treating Eiko like a charity case, though Ho-jin deliberately avoids translating this harsh remark.

Eiko responds by revealing that she and Yu-jin dated while he was still studying, but he eventually fell for Mu-hee—a woman abandoned by her family. She accuses Mu-hee of using her pain to keep Yu-jin emotionally trapped.

Overwhelmed, Mu-hee begins to cry and asks Ho-jin not to let Eiko see her tears. Ho-jin hugs her to shield her from view and then lies, telling Eiko that he and Mu-hee are traveling together and only stopped by out of politeness. They leave the restaurant and part ways awkwardly—until Mu-hee realizes she accidentally took Ho-jin’s phone and runs back.

Ho-jin receives a call from the Italian boy’s mother, who thanks him for saving her son and offers him her dinner reservation as a gift. Ho-jin invites Mu-hee to join him, and she accepts. They decide to spend the day together before dinner.

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As they sightsee, Ho-jin learns that Mu-hee is an actress, though not yet widely famous. They travel to an island, where Ho-jin confesses that he once visited the same place with a woman named Ji-seon, someone he deeply loved. He reveals he came back on her birthday to see how much he still missed her, explaining that their separation was caused by a misunderstanding.

While searching for a restaurant, Mu-hee and Ho-jin make a playful bet over directions. If Mu-hee is right, she asks Ho-jin to follow her on Instagram. Their moment is interrupted when Ho-jin receives a call from Na Jin-suk, the man currently dating Ji-seon. Jin-suk explains that he argued with Ji-seon and noticed from Instagram that she is in Japan.

Ho-jin realizes she is likely at the island observatory. Encouraged by Mu-hee, he runs there at full speed. However, just as he arrives, Jin-suk calls again, altering the situation before Ho-jin can reunite with Ji-seon.

Sometime later, Mu-hee lands the lead role in a zombie movie. When a director argues with a stuntman, Mu-hee volunteers to perform the stunt herself. The scene initially goes smoothly, but at the last moment, the cables snap, and Mu-hee falls from the building.

Can This Love Be Translated Episode 1 concludes with Mu-hee waking up in the hospital after being in a coma for several months. During her absence, the film The Quiet Woman and her character Do Ra-mi have become a global phenomenon. Elsewhere, Ho-jin sees the news, silently witnessing how Mu-hee’s life has transformed.

The episode closes on a note of distance and fate, setting up a story driven by language, missed timing, and emotions that may—or may not—ever be properly translated.

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