In Korean society, “Expediency” often has a different connotation than being “clever” or “wise.” In When This Summer is Over (2024), the protagonist Ki-jun, despite still only being in elementary school, is transferred to a rural school from the city due to his mother's aspirations for the special university admission benefits for students in rural areas. She cannot wait to move into the new apartment being built in the neighborhood, but participates in the local community that demand a higher compensation for the gentrification, just to get in their good graces. The film poses the question of what children’s lives would be like while the grownups are eager to take advantage of the loopholes of laws and systems. Struggling to survive in an unfamiliar neighborhood, Ki-jun catches the eyes of Young-moon, who wields his own power. Even though he suspects that Young-moon is wearing the exact shoes that he lost, he compromises his own ethical conscience to continue the benefits that come with being under Young-moon’s wing. Summer will eventually pass, but comforting breeze would not easily come to their hearts. The landscape of the newly constructed apartments, towering across the rural neighborhood, reminds us of Lee Chang-dong’s Green Fish (1997). (MOON Seok)