뒤
dwi
"The back of it is complicated" — and there's no back alley
The picture The side your back is turned to. Your eyes can't reach it, so it comes later, stays unseen, and never shows on the surface. 앞 is the side your eyes reach, so it comes first; 뒤 is the side they don't, so it comes later and stays hidden.
Where the picture shows up in 뒤
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the side your back faces
건물 뒤에 주차하세요.
geon-mul dwi-e ju-cha-ha-se-yo
Park around the back of the building.
Parking on the yard that the building's face never looks at
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the later side of a line
제 뒤에 서시면 돼요.
je dwi-e seo-si-myeon dwae-yo
You can stand behind me.
Someone stepping into the empty spot in the line on the side your back is turned to
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the later side of time
그 얘기는 뒤에 다시 할게요.
geu yae-gi-neun dwi-e da-si hal-kke-yo
Let's come back to that later.
Folding up the topic you're on and setting it down in a time-slot behind your back
Behind in space becomes later in time, with the same word.
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the side out of sight
뒤에서 도와주는 사람이 있어요.
dwi-e-seo do-wa-ju-neun sa-ra-mi i-sseo-yo
Someone is helping from behind the scenes.
The person onstage is lit up while a hand pushes from the dark just behind the stage
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the side that doesn't show
이 일은 뒤가 좀 복잡해요.
i i-reun dwi-ga jom bok-ja-pae-yo
There's a complicated backstory to this one.
Lifting the neat front panel to find threads tangled up all over the back
Not always negative — it can simply mean there's history behind it.
All of it in one picture
뒤 is the side your eyes cannot reach. The yard the building's face never looks at is 건물 뒤; the empty spot in the line behind your back is 제 뒤. Fold the current topic into a slot behind you and you will take it up 뒤에; a hand pushing from the dark behind the stage is helping 뒤에서. Lift the neat front panel to find tangled threads, and 뒤가 복잡하다. So 뒤 isn't a direction; it names the side that hasn't come into view yet.