En route to

A typical day at a girls’ boarding school somewhere in the countryside. Suddenly, the news breaks: their homeroom teacher, Jong-sung, has vanished without a trace. Most of the students take it in stride, but Yun-ji is deeply shaken. She had an affair with the (married) teacher and is pregnant. Has he gone into hiding to avoid taking responsibility?! Yun-ji’s cool roommate Kyung-sun, on the other hand, seems primarily interested in money; she sells e-cigarette liquids to her classmates and saves every penny so she can finally finance her dream and run off to Australia. But when she returns to their shared room after school, all her money has been stolen and Yun-ji is gone, having left to get abortion pills. Filled with rage, Kyung-sun sets off in pursuit, but when she finally catches up with Yun-ji, the film takes a surprising turn: Friendship comes into play, Kyung-sun begins to show solidarity with her roommate, the young women weigh the options of (illegal) abortion versus teenage pregnancy together, and Yun-ji eventually finds the courage to confront the class teacher’s wife.

With its captivating imagery, *En route to* tells us so much more than just the story of an unplanned pregnancy, an “impossible love,” or the hardships of illegal abortion (in South Korea). It speaks to the beauty of growing up alongside friends, of solidarity and empathy—and the quiet realization that there isn’t just “one” right way.