p 　　Min Ji-suk runs a quot ticket bar quot where customers can purchase tickets for certain quot services quot in the town of Sokcho in Gangwon-do She hires Miss Yang Ahn So-young , Miss Hong Lee Hye-young , and Se-young Jeon Se-young through the employment agency Miss Yang and Miss Hong, who are well experienced in this type of business, are used to accepting propositions from customers But Se-young, who is dating a college student named Min-su, rejects all requests for sexual favors When Min-su professes to having problems with his tuition and finances, Se-young reassures him that she will procure the necessary funds for him When the bar 三九 s clientele begins to dwindle because of Se-young, Ji-suk reprimands her severely Se-young develops a close relationship with a Captain Pak and even allows him to sleep with her She asks Captain Pak to find Min-su employment on a boat, but when Min-su comes to Sokcho for his new job, he sees how Se-young has been making her living Shocked, he turns his back on the job and leaves When he eventually returns to Sokcho, he scathingly denounces Se-young 三九 s morality and severs their relationship Decades ago, Ji-suk had stumbled into the bar business in a desperate effort to support her husband, who was serving time in prison she later left him voluntarily out of shame and moral degradation Concerned that Se-young will end up with the same fate, Ji-suk asks Min-su to meet with her She begs him not to abandon Se-young, but he flatly refuses Ji-suk reacts by pushing Min-su into the sea, and suffers a mental breakdown that lands her in a psychiatric institution p