ㄹ세라

'For fear that…' / 'not to be outdone'

-ㄹ세라 describes acting out of worry that something might happen: 행여 꺼질세라 노심초사 'fretting for fear it might go out', 놓칠세라 나란히 캐리어 감시 'watching the carousel side by side so as not to miss it.' Six of these eight lines are the fixed 질세라, from 지다 'to lose' — 'not to be outdone': 이에 질세라 하숙이도... 'not to be outdone, Hasuk too.' It is bookish, which is why it lives mostly in captions.

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