To the Beautiful You: Episode 6

by gummimochi

Ack! The Cute is back in full force this episode. Phew, I thought I lost you there for a second. Now that we’ve decided that nonsense is the most sensible explanation of this series, this is a much more enjoyable ride now. This is why I like you, drama but I’d appreciate a little less of the emotional whiplash.

Episode 6 picked up a little wind with 5.6% in ratings.

SONG OF THE DAY

Super Junior – “니가 좋은 이유 (Why I Like You)” [ Download ]

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EPISODE 6 RECAP

Tae-joon mutters Jae-hee’s name after he reads her note and tightens his hold on the red shoelaces.

In the car, Daniel asks if Jae-hee is really okay with leaving without seeing Tae-joon jump. Isn’t that what she came here for? Jae-hee beats herself up for the umpteenth time that it was her fault for making things hard on him. “I don’t think I can watch him jump. I don’t have the confidence.”

He asks if she won’t regret it and Jae-hee remains silent.

Back at regionals, Hyun-jae successfully clears the 2m mark, the 2.05m, and the 2.10m mark. Tae-joon signals that he’ll pass. Uh, you haven’t high jumped in a while – are you really that confident that you’ll clear your own record?

Meanwhile, Hanna rushes to make the meet as her manager comments that he found that someone dropped off the uniform in the car. She lurches in disgust but spots the same lighted bracelet that was in Tae-joon’s room…

Hyun-jae clears the 2.15m bar and Tae-joon finally gets up. He warms up and the timer ticks down.

He runs towards the bar, leaps into the air as the music swells… but his lower body catches the bar, and it clatters to the floor. No good. (Hyun-jae gives a self-satisfied smirk.)

The taxi pulls back up to the school and Daniel tells her to go watch the meet. “You said that Tae-joon is jumping because of you. If it hurts, it hurts. If it’s hard, it’s hard.” He tells her not to avoid it because Tae-joon isn’t either.

She makes it just before his last attempt. She calls out his name and Tae-joon looks at her. He breaks into a smile and breathes, “Gu Jae-hee.”

With a new wave of determination, he sets off running. He jumps and soars into the sky, landing on the soft pad below.

She gasps, I gasp, and Tae-joon looks up. Lo and behold the bar remains untouched. Everyone breaks into a fistpump of celebration (yeah I saw you Coach Baek).

Tae-joon looks in Jae-hee’s direction, flashing the biggest smile I’ve ever seen and tears stream down Jae-hee’s face.

Afterwards, Tae-joon teases her about how she said she wouldn’t be able to make the meet. He asks if she’s disappointed he didn’t do as well as last time. Jae-hee furiously shakes her head; she was moved.

He plays off that she’s overreacting again and she quips, “Someone told me that overreacting is underreacting’s hyung!”

She gets a text from Daniel that says there’s no harm in her staying a little longer and she can come back any time. Nooo Voice of Reason, come back!

She shares the good news with Tae-joon and goes in for a hug. They stay there like that for an awkward moment and he pushes her off of him.

Tae-joon shows off the shoelaces, saying he used them well. Aww, okay that’s really cute.

Looks like Eun-gyul took Da-hae up on her offer about the movies. He asks what the title of the movie is and she answers, “Let’s date.”

It takes a second or two for that to register in his head. His eyes grow wide and his heart goes thump thump again.

Hyun-jae is miffed now that they’re tied at 2.30m. He vows that he’ll break it within the year. Reporter Yang drops by for a quick interview with Hyun-jae and congratulates Tae-joon on his comeback.

But Hyun-jae can’t help a last dig at Tae-joon. He asks that next time, Tae-joon doesn’t make it so easy for him because he’s starting to get bored.

Tae-joon, however, gets the last word: “It’s going to get even more fun from here on out. I guarantee it.” Hyun-jae betrays a look of worry.

After confirming the bracelet is Jae-hee’s, Hanna confronts her about the swiped uniform. Jae-hee tries to evade the questions but Hanna persists – is Jae-hee a pervert? Or better yet, “Are you a girl?”

Tae-joon interrupts, calling it pure nonsense but Hanna is adamant that it’s one or the other. She presents the bracelet as evidence and Tae-joon shows her his.

He tells her that they were selling these nearby the school and that Hanna should stop jumping to conclusions. She fumes.

Tae-joon tells Jae-hee that she should be more careful – there was the Pooh underwear and now the girl’s uniform. Omo, are you telling her you know? She asks what she’ll be outed as and he answers, “A pervert.” Way to sidestep that one.

Jae-hee takes offense at the comment and Tae-joon smirks in response, “Then what is it? Are you a girl?” He continues, “Don’t worry. I’ve been taught to respect people no matter how weird their tastes are.” She nearly pulls her hair out while Tae-joon stifles his laughter.

Some new Hyun-jae fangirls emerge from his recent victory and they start to question Tae-joon’s ability to fully recover. The Tae-joon Fanclub Trio get up in defense but it’s Hanna who beats them to it.

Pouring tea over their tablet, she warns that Tae-joon is currently training and he’ll be back on his feet soon.

The principal rushes over to the dorm leaders, upset that the preparations for this year’s festival is behind schedule. The Dorm Leaders have already printed out the pamphlets of course and the principal oohs and ahs over them.

He asks if the dorms are planning to do “that” again this year and Young-man pipes that they have to – it’s school tradition. The principal is on the fence about it but Seung-ri defends that they keep it in. In fact, his dorm has a trump card.

Turning towards the other dorm leaders, Seung-ri is positive that this year’s Miss Genie will be from Dorm 2. Oh you know, don’t you?

Jae-hee gasps in surprise over the past Miss Genie photos, finding it hard to believe that the pretty ladies are in fact their dorm leaders. Eun-gyul brushes the topic about whether he’s dating Da-hae aside to ask about Tae-joon.

He’s heard that he lost against Hyun-jae which effectively kicks him out of the team. Jae-hee worries about it too, sighing if she only knew what she could do to help.

Like help more? Didn’t you just say your meddling caused issues earlier?

Back in the room, Tae-joon waits up doing push-ups (rawr) and wonders what’s taking Jae-hee so long. Then he pauses, “Why am I concerned about her?” Uh, ’cause you luff her?

He goes to find her anyway only to run into her in the hallway. Jae-hee asks where he’s going since it’s late and he awkadorably points in a random direction, Uh, over there.

Jae-hee leaves first but she turns at the last moment. She tells him that she realized that, “Kang Tae-joon is the coolest when he’s out on the tracks.” He smiles in return, “Not yet.”

Hilariously, Seung-ri is busy in the lounge with a picture of Jae-hee. He draws in longer hair and then lifts his masterpiece with satisfaction, “Gu Jae-hee, I caught you.”

(Which is doubly hilarious since it can mean either, “I caught you [as a girl]” or “I targeted you.”)

On the soccer field, Eun-gyul is distracted in practice by Da-hae’s confession and Jae-hee’s insistence that she’s got his back. He accidentally kicks a ball straight to Coach’s head. Oops.

Jong-min sidles up to Jae-hee after having heard about her near-drowning incident. I wonder if she suspects Jong-min at first but he clarifies that he heard it from the guys. He raises his eyebrow – didn’t she have a chlorine allergy? Oh right, that.

He digs for more gossip and pouts when Jae-hee doesn’t give in, telling him that she just slipped from the platform. Seung-ri comes charging in the classroom and asks for a minute.

Staring out from the rooftop, Seung-ri poses the age old question: “What do you think a man is?” In a Totally Serious Voice, he says that there are times when the individual must sacrifice themselves for the group. He asks, “What if that was you?”

It’s the delivery and the music that totally kills me – I’m a fit of giggles. Jae-hee’s like, Sacrifice? What sacrifice? so Seung-ri shares the edited photo with her.

She gapes in horror and Seung-ri takes her by the shoulders. He declares firmly, “I’m saying this man to man. Like a man… can you consider turning into a girl?” AHAHAHA. Omg, this is awesome. Replay!

Jae-hee is against the idea but it’s Seung-ri’s persistence that gets me, “You were born to play a woman! You’re gifted to dress up as a girl!”

Jae-hee splits out of there and Seung-ri calls after her: “You’re not acting like a man! Be a girl just this once!” So, he doesn’t know she’s an actual girl after all. Hee.

Eun-gyul is bummed and distracted at dinner over his old cleats now too worn out to be repaired. When asked why he doesn’t buy new ones, Eun-gyul tells Da-hae they’re his lucky cleats – he scored three free kicks with them.

The sports jargon flies over her head but it’s sweet that she still tries. Eun-gyul asks if she knows what position he plays and she’s like, “Are you the visuals?” Aww.

After dinner, he throws the cleats away with a disheartened sigh.

Tae-joon does pullups in the room (rawr) and Jae-hee is clearly impressed with his exercise regime. She volunteers herself to be at his beck and call and she doesn’t her him answer that she needn’t do that.

She sticks her head out to hear him better but that puts them thhhiiiisss close to each other’s faces. She knocks her head on the railing and he falls into a beanie. Teehee.

Tae-joon retreats to the bathroom and mutters into his reflection, “Gu Jae-hee… Gu Jae-hee’s dangerous.” Oh is she now?

Teacher Lee tries to get her students excited about the upcoming festival. No one’s feels inclined to volunteer themselves as baristas so she assigns Tae-joon to the task. Which means Jae-hee joins. And Eun-gyul. And Jong-min.

Tae-joon is annoyed at the pesky fly aka Jae-hee trying to cool him off while he’s trying to break a sweat. He chases after her with one of the personal fans but stops when he sees the track and field team busy training.

HA – Seung-ri tries to act all cool and tough when Jae-hee approaches him. But he turns on a dime once Jae-hee agrees that she’ll cross-dress (or is it regular dress?) for the festival.

In exchange, she has a favor to ask. Seung-ri eagerly agrees to whatever it is though we don’t get to hear it.

While out shopping for supplies with Eun-gyul, Jae-hee picks up some lemons that help with fatigue. She works tirelessly to make honey-dipped lemons later that evening.

She puts them in with the heaping pile of fanmail for Tae-joon, touched that his fans still support him. You didn’t think you were a fanclub of one, right?

Tae-joon returns later that evening and he recognizes her drawings from the notes she left for him once.

Seung-ri leads his team through drills but his mind wanders back to Jae-hee’s earlier request. In exchange for participating in the Miss Genie contest, she asks that Seung-ri help Tae-joon rejoin the team. So Seung-ri approaches Coach Baek with the request.

Back at the classroom, Jong-min asks if it’s true that Jae-hee will be participating in the Miss Genie contest. That’s news to Eun-gyul and Tae-joon and Jong-min leaves in a pissy mood.

Coach Baek catches Tae-joon training in the gymnasium again and Tae-joon asks again to let him rejoin the team if Coach will have him. Then, he drops to his knees in front of Coach.

It’s a big step for the legendary star and Coach acknowledges as much. He agrees but reminds him that he’ll be training alongside Hyun-jae.

Festival Day. The boys set up the cafe and Jong-min hops in with an animal suit to attract more customers. He smiles gleefully when Jae-hee volunteers only to scowl when Eun-gyul mentions she looks cute.

While he fills in for her on her bathroom break, Tae-joon walks up with an iced coffee, thinking it’s still Jae-hee. Eun-gyul only takes off the suit later and looks at the iced coffee curiously. Why is Tae-joon suddenly being nice to her?

He slips back to the cafe where Da-hae is waiting for him. Tae-joon asks who she is and Eun-gyul is quick to clarify that they aren’t dating and that they “just friends.” Aww, and she overhears.

Jae-hee heads back inside and asks who the girl is and Tae-joon sweetly calls her Eun-gyul’s girlfriend. D’aww.

Eun-gyul looks over at Da-hae and smiles, and then spends a lingering moment staring at Jae-hee before he sees Tae-joon. He shakes his head.

Afterwards, Eun-gyul and Da-hae sit by the soccer pitch. Da-hae doesn’t let on that she’s heard the boys talking about her. She keeps the topic light despite his attempts to broach the subject.

Instead, she spews some soccer facts to Eun-gyul’s surprise. Aww, you learned about soccer for him. She accurately pinpoints him as the striker and says that she grew curious.

So when Eun-gyul asks if she suddenly got interested in soccer, she answers. “Not soccer. You.” To top it off, she gifts him with his old cleats, now fixed.

He invites her to see a soccer match herself and Da-hae asks if this means they’re dating now. Eun-gyul offers his hand and she happily takes it.

Time for the Miss Genie Contest. This naturally bores Tae-joon and he slips out, unwilling to stick around to support Jae-hee. He catches Seung-ri in the hallway and thanks him for his efforts. But Seung-ri tells him that if he wants to thank anyone, it should be Jae-hee.

I can’t tell if I like the butterfly ballerina who can pop or my eyes are forever seared by Jong-min dancing to “Bad Girl, Good Girl.”

Seung-ri drops by to hand over her outfit for the contest and then takes out a couple of loaves of bread. Jae-hee asks if it’s for her to eat but no no, it’s for her to put in. Hahaha.

Tae-joon contemplates heading into the dressing room before deciding against it. He walks past a mysterious student but doesn’t think much of it.

Meanwhile, Jae-hee is busy changing and the perpetrator swipes her hanging clothes when she isn’t looking. Which is the same time that Seung-ri announces her entrance. She doesn’t show.

Jae-hee panics in the dressing room and finding the door locked, Seung-ri runs to find the key.

The perpetrator runs down the hallway to be tripped by Tae-joon who emerges from the shadows. Turns out it’s No Pants after all, still miffed by the pant-pulling accident. Tae-joon grabs him by the shirtfront and pushes him against the wall.

In a calm, threatening tone, he tells No Pants to be careful because his patience is wearing thin. No Pants asks what business it is of Tae-joon’s to concern himself and Tae-joon answers, “I’m the roommate.”

Jae-hee panics when the door unlocks but a hand drops the outfit just inside the door. Jae-hee thanks him just before Seung-ri returns with the key.

Seung-ri rushes back to announce Jae-hee and she steps out on stage. Both the audience and Eun-gyul’s jaws drop, stunned by her beauty. Jae-hee sings.

Just when I’m thinking that she’s let the farm know that she’s a girl, we close up to Doc who says the exact same thing.

Eun-gyul tries to snap himself out of the dream that it’s just “a couple of loaves of bread.” He pretty much dies when she sends a wink his way.

Hanna drops by well after the festival wraps up and runs into Eun-gyul. He tells her to scram before he calls security but she feels hardly threatened. No big – she’ll just call the cops on the pervert who jumped in her bath. Eun-gyul grudgingly complies.

Jae-hee walks in while Tae-joon continuously tries to clear the bar. She thanks him for earlier, adding that she can recognize his hand. Tae-joon: “So… did you win?”

She didn’t, and she asks if she’s not that pretty. Tae-joon gives a small shake of his head before he steps towards her to pick some confetti from her hair. He tells her that she’s not all that bad to look at.

He tells her that he has to practice and Jae-hee takes her leave… but not before she trips on the pole and the box flies out of her hands.

Eun-gyul and Hanna watch as Jae-hee falls on top of Tae-joon, confetti flying around them.

COMMENTS

Cute, where WERE you? I thought I’d lost you in the Abyss of Angst last week and I’m happy to hear you’ve returned safe and sound. The show brought back what I’d hoped to see – more school antics, more of the slightly zany, all while balancing Tae-joon’s growing interest towards Jae-hee.

I love love love the dorm leaders. To pieces. They were the ones who made my day in the Japanese dorama version and I still love them here. I adore their petty bickering but especially love their united front when it comes to, yunno, school tradition. I squee whenever they’re on screen and I want MOAR. And I nearly died when Seung-ri gave Jae-hee that talk to be a “man’s man.” Man I loved Nanba, but I love you too dorm leader. *runs away from HeadsNo2*

Highlighting some other characters, I’m strangely intrigued by Hyun-jae and his determination to become an an excellent high jumper. His “I’m going to crush you” rivalry speaks more about his inferiority complex but really it boils down to natural talent vs. hard work. That isn’t to say that Tae-joon hasn’t worked hard to achieve his goals but for someone who’s regarded as second-best, it’s hard to see past that popularity and celebrity status.

He’s not necessarily bad-natured either because we can see that he cares about his classmates and friends, even taking the time to ask Eun-gyul what’s on his mind. He’s an interesting character for sure and one I definitely have my eye out for. I also see his hair wet more than I see it dry but hey, who am I to complain about glistening sweat?

Da-hae is a breath of fresh air and I love seeing her with Eun-gyul. Don’t get me wrong, his bickering sessions with Hanna are downright hilarious, but seeing a nice girl who cares for him is simply a joy to watch. What girl doesn’t empathize with that moment when your crush refers to you as ‘just a friend’ to his buddies? And since he didn’t tell her outright how he feels, I know that there’s more to come.

I do have to say that Min-ho is doing an impressive job of portraying Tae-joon in this series. That cold, callous character in the beginning was tough to get through but now that it’s cracking, I can’t help but acknowledge that he’s just so darned cute, adorable, and awkward. You should smile more – Noonas love that kind of stuff.

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