Cinderella and the Four Knights: Episode 6

by CandidClown

There’s a budding family in the Kang household, and Ha-won is right at the center of it. They may not like each other yet, but the cousins are all connected to our favorite girl, and she’s slowly pulling them in closer and closer. However, sometimes what brings us together also pulls us apart, and when the heart gets involved, all bets are off. As yet another hardship arises, Ha-won finds a new friend in an unexpected place, but that friend might just turn into an enemy.

 
EPISODE 6 RECAP

Rewinding a bit from last week, Ha-won and Bodyguard Lee stand outside the temple, waiting to see if the three Kang cousins will arrive for their fathers’ memorial. As more time passes, Ha-won asks Lee hopefully, “The guys… will come, right?”

The two perk up when a car arrives, but it’s Seo-woo’s boisterous mom, come to pay her respects. She stops in front of Ha-won, and identifies her as Hyun-min’s fiancée. Looking around, Seo-woo’s mom asks absently where her son is.

Seo-woo is currently in a recording studio, singing the song he wrote for his father. As he sings, we travel back through last week, reliving Ha-won’s conversations with the boys as she tried to convince them to visit their fathers.

Thinking of Ha-won’s words that he wrote this song for his dad, Seo-woo calls a stop to the recording and leaves the studio, telling the staff he has someone he wants to see. Aww.

Back at the temple, Hyun-min’s mother also arrives, and the two mothers engage in some passive-aggressive nitpicking.

A flashback brings us to when Hyun-min’s mother left the country after her husband’s death, a little Hyun-min desperately begging her not to leave. His mother told to remain behind and protect his position (as heir), giving him a brief hug before pushing him away. Tiny Hyun-min grabbed onto her arm, pleading, but she just shoved him off and continued on, leaving him crying after her.

Hyun-min wakes up from a nightmare (presumably of the flashback we just saw) and tries to shake off the lingering memory. He’s interrupted by the housekeeper, Ms. Beolgyo, when she enters into his room to clean, thinking he’d already gone to the memorial service.

Ms. Beolgyo exits the room, but mutters not-so-quietly that Hyun-min has no heart in refusing to go when Ha-won is going through such a difficult time. The comment catches Hyun-min’s attention and he stops her, asking what she’s talking about.

The housekeeper recounts a conversation she’d had with Ha-won while they’d been preparing the memorial offering food. Ha-won had been happy to help, admitting that her mother had passed away and she hadn’t been able to hold memorial services for her because her stepmother didn’t like it.

Ha-won says that being able to help now reminds her of her mother. She knows that her mom probably waits for the days when Ha-won comes to visit her (at the columbarium), and it makes her sad to think of the boys’ fathers who have been waiting so long for their sons to visit them.

Thinking over Ha-won’s words about his father being lonely and waiting for his son to visit him, Hyun-min gets in his car. As he heads over to the temple, Seo-woo also makes his way there.

Still standing outside, Ha-won has nearly given up hope when she sees Seo-woo’s van pulling up. His arrival is followed by Hyun-min’s, not a minute after. Looking sheepish, Hyun-min asks if she was waiting for him. Ha-won smiles and clarifies it’s his father who’s waiting for him, which gets a small answering smile from Hyun-min.

Both cousins head in together and Ha-won stays outside, still waiting for Ji-woon, though it looks like he’s a no-show.

Eventually it’s clear that she only got two out of the three cousins. Ha-won apologizes to Grandpa Kang, bowing deeply as she acknowledges that she failed this mission. Disappointed, Grandpa heads in and Bodyguard Lee tries to tell Ha-won not to worry, as she was at least partially successful. Ha-won forces a smile but says it still wasn’t a complete success, which means she failed.

The Kang family begins the memorial services, sans the wayward Ji-woon. Outside the temple, one of the monks greets Bodyguard Lee, saying that Grandpa Kang’s sons must be happy this year since all their sons came to visit. At Lee’s confused look, the monk reveals that Ji-woon stopped by earlier that day to pay his respects, even leaving a flower for his father. Sure enough, right below Ji-woon’s father’s picture is a dried rose.

After the service, Grandpa Kang’s new wife Hwa-ja, Hyun-min’s mother, and Seo-woo’s mother all engage in a mini-battle of wits, each trying to assert authority. Hyun-min’s mother goes so far as to point out that her son is the obvious choice for heir, smoothly dropping in that Seo-woo’s just the grandson of a concubine, so he doesn’t really count. Jeez, if they were guys I’d tell them to just take ‘em out and measure.

The ballsy part is that they’re doing all this right in front of Grandpa Kang. He finally shuts the mothers down with a warning that right now, neither of their sons are adequate to be named heir, and if he has to, he’ll scour the planet to find any other children his sons may have fathered.

In the car, Grandpa Kang and Hwa-ja discuss Ji-woon’s absence. When Hwa-ja mentions Ji-woon’s mother, Grandpa Kang tells her not to mention that woman – he blames her for causing Ji-woon to grow up alone. Interesting. Bodyguard Lee enters the car and Hwa-ja subtly removes her hand from Grandpa’s, her eyes briefly meeting Lee’s in the rearview mirror. (No! Ick! Show, do NOT pair him with the sketchy witchy lady! I forbid it!) Lee informs Grandpa Kang that Ji-woon actually did attend his father’s memorial earlier that day.

We go back to the night before when Ji-woon had gone to the columbarium to visit his mother. He’d seen the rose that Ha-won had left, immediately recognizing that it was from her. Ji-woon spent the night in there, thinking back on Ha-won’s words about visiting the man that his mother loved. The next day, he’d gone to the temple and paid his respects to his father, leaving behind the same rose that Ha-won had given his mother.

Having failed her mission (to her knowledge), Ha-won packs up her things. She leaves behind a note, “I don’t think I deserve to be here anymore. Thank you for everything,” but when she closes the door, it creates a small breeze and the note flutters to the ground, unnoticed.

Hyun-min and his mother drive back in his car after the memorial. Mother Dearest can only talk about the pecking order between cousins, reminding him for the gazillionth time to maintain his spot as heir. Hyun-min is sick of it, and when his mother asks where they’re going, he answers that he’s taking her to the airport, telling her to never come back to the country again.

Ugh, Ha-won’s Stepmom and Stepsis snoop their way into Sky House, simpering to Ms. Beolgyo that they are were sooo worried about their precious Ha-won that they wanted to make sure that she was living in a decent place. Not sure how Ms. Beolgyo can stomach their BS, but she directs them to Ha-won’s room and leaves them.

Stepsis immediately deviates, instead locating Hyun-min’s room where she makes herself at home, even bouncing on his bed. She’s in a stalker’s nirvana, until she spots the bag on his desk containing Ha-won’s school uniform. Stepsis immediately jumps to the conclusion that Ha-won is trying to worm her way into Hyun-min’s heart (are we forgetting how you pretty much just scent marked his room?). With an enraged — and alarmingly psychopathic — glint to her eye, Stepsis stomps on the uniform and grabs a bottle of ink off Hyun-min’s desk.

Outside Hyun-min’s room, Bodyguard Lee comes across Stepmom as she whisper-shouts at Stepsis through the door. Stepsis comes out, and Stepmom tries the same spiel about being a mother looking after her daughter. Stepsis sneers that since Ha-won is such a respected guest, that should make them important too. Lee calmly but firmly states, unfortunately, that that respect only extends to Ha-won, and has them escorted/thrown out.

Infuriated, Stepsis writes a slanderous post about Ha-won on their school’s website, claiming to know the “truth” about how she ran away from home and is now living at Sky House.

Ha-won’s barista friend, Ja-young, is cleaning at work when she turns around to find Ha-won sitting at a table, smiling and waving with her luggage in tow. Heh, gotta love her “Oh boy, now what?” face. Ha-won asks if she can stay the night, but unfortunately Ja-young’s house is crowded enough, and no amount of pouting on Ha-won’s part can persuade her.

Just then, Hye-ji arrives at the coffee shop, and Ja-young soon realizes that she and Ha-won know each other. Talking over the obvious tension between the two, Ja-young pretty much shoves Ha-won at her, telling Hye-ji to call her if Ha-won snores before scampering off. Hye-ji turns to leave but stops, instead giving Ha-won an awkward, “Let’s go.” Aww, that was kind of nice.

Hye-ji takes Ha-won back to her place, and Ha-won immediately notes the picture on her desk. It’s the same one that Hyun-min has in his room of the three children. Hye-ji looks uncomfortable but reveals that the children are herself, Hyun-min, and Hye-ji’s brother… who died a long time ago.

Changing the subject, Hye-ji asks Ha-won why she left Sky House when she’s engaged to Hyun-min. Looking relieved to tell the truth, Ha-won reveals that she was never actually Hyun-min’s fiancée. She promises that she was just pretending to be as a part-time gig, and had been living at Sky House while doing a job for Grandpa Kang.

She reassures Hye-ji that there’s nothing going on between the two of them, noting that Hye-ji looks much better with Hyun-min than she ever did. Hye-ji visibly thaws at the news and the two look a bit more comfortable with each other.

The girls split the bed that night and Ha-won talks excitedly about her graduation tomorrow. Hye-ji asks if that means she’ll be seeing her family then, but Ha-won just chirps that they probably won’t come. Hesitantly, Hye-ji offers to attend. Her offer gets a huge smile out of Ha-won, who hugs Hye-ji happily.

That same night, Bodyguard Lee knocks on Ha-won’s door, not knowing that she moved out. Ji-woon passes by and Lee calls out that he heard Ji-woon went to the memorial today. Lee guesses that he did it because of Ha-won, and Ji-woon sputters of course not, no way! Hmmm… Methinks thou doth protest too much.

Bodyguard Lee isn’t buying it either, and mentions that Ha-won was really hurt when she thought he wasn’t coming. He tells Ji-woon that it’s her graduation tomorrow and advises him to drop by and congratulate her.

Ji-woon retreats to his secret room, scoffing that it doesn’t matter to him if it’s her graduation. He lies down to sleep, but immediately pops back up, clearly unable to shake the idea and baffled about the whole thing.

The next morning, Hyun-min ventures into Ha-won’s room looking for her. Wondering where she went so early, her calendar catches his eye, and he realizes that it’s her graduation today. He winces to remember that he never returned her school uniform and races back to his room to grab it. Unfortunately, that immediately turns into panic when he sees that her school clothes have ink stains all over them. Wow, the show hinted it, but I still can’t believe Stepsis actually ruined the clothes like that.

Left with no other option than her red tracksuit, Ha-won heads to her graduation, standing out like a sore thumb against all the other students. In the school, Ha-won sits by herself in the corner as all the other girls talk amongst themselves, throwing looks her way. Oh no, they all read Stepsis’s post, didn’t they.

Hyun-min hurries to purchase a duplicate outfit for Ha-won. He calls her and leaves a message, promising to bring her clothes and telling her to wait for him. Outfit in hand, Hyun-min drives over to the school, leading a convoy of food trucks all sporting banners that read, “For the classmates of my girlfriend, Eun Ha-won.”

Hye-ji stops at a flower shop. Thinking back to Ha-won’s admission that she was never engaged to Hyun-min, Hye-ji smiles and asks for a pretty bouquet for her friend’s graduation.

Ha-won’s farewell note is finally found by Ms. Beolgyo while vacuuming. She frantically calls Bodyguard Lee, and he in turn reports it to Grandpa Kang. Grandpa instructs Lee to find her immediately and Lee answers that her graduation is today, so he’ll head over.

In the graduation hall, Ha-won stands awkwardly while all the students in the auditorium steal glances at her. It’s obvious that everyone is talking about Ha-won, having read the nasty story that Stepsis posted.

Oh man, we hear the rest of what she posted and it is ugly, insinuating that Ha-won got into Sky House by sleeping with Grandpa Kang (ew!) and is now turning her sights on the Kang cousins.

Rumors are already flying and poor Ha-won has no idea about any of it. All she can do is stand nervously through her graduation ceremony while her Stepsis and the entire student body leer at her.

To make matters worse, once graduation is over, Ha-won stands by herself, hopefully looking to see if her Dad decided to come after all. As she waits, she comes face-to-face with Stepmom. The woman sneers at her outfit, and when Ha-won says that she left Sky House, Stepmom quips, “Oh dear, where are you going to go now?”

Leaning in close, she tells Ha-won not to even think about coming home, then brushes past her to give a big hug to Stepsis. Okay, we need a truck of doom, pronto.

At his hair salon, Seo-woo posts some new selfies but gets distracted when he sees a bunch of messages from his die-hard fans about Ha-won. They all threaten blood and warn that it’s going down today at her school. Worried, Seo-woo tells his manager to clear his schedule for the day and runs off.

Meanwhile, one of Ha-won’s classmates tells her that there’s someone looking for her, directing her out of the auditorium.

Heh, Ji-woon arrives at the school looking uncomfortable and confused as to why he’s there. He gets scared off by a bunch of flower vendors shoving bouquets in his face, but as he leaves, a group of girls passes him and he overhears them talking about the beatdown that Eun Ha-won is about to get.

Hyun-min arrives with his food truck entourage and is immediately surrounded by a crowd of screaming girls. He casually takes a megaphone out of his trunk and asks if anyone has seen his girlfriend, Ha-won. One of the girls tells him that someone took her out of the auditorium earlier.

Sure enough, Ha-won is ganged up on by a group of girls in the school’s broadcast room. The girls all accuse her of doing trashy things to get into Sky House, and when Ha-won denies it, they call her the Chairman’s concubine. This crosses a line and Ha-won angrily demands they take it back.

As this is going on, both Ji-woon and Hyun-min scour the halls for Ha-won. I kind’ve love that Ji-woon can just sneak around, while Hyun-min has to deal with screaming girls with every room he goes into.

In response to Ha-won’s denial, the girls decide to cut off Ha-won’s clothes to find out how “pure” she still is, brandishing a pair of scissors. That’s just sick. (Also, WHY ARE YOU NOT FIGHTING BACK, HA-WON?!)

Still running around, Ji-woon spies a group of boys hanging out in front of a room and figures that that’s where Ha-won is being held. He proceeds to trash the would-be guards.

Inside, the girls have already sliced several holes in Ha-won’s clothes and are just about to start filming it when Ji-woon throws the door open. Seeing the prone figures outside, the mean girls flee.

Ji-woon walks over to where Ha-won is huddled on the ground, trying to hold her tattered clothes together. He takes in her battered appearance (that look!) and pulls off his jacket, gently draping it over her.

Ji-woon leads the traumatized Ha-won outside, but as they pass the groaning boys, the girls return with more guys in tow. Ji-woon gently nudges Ha-won behind him and prepares to fight the group, when a voice calls out, “Are you using your fists again?” It’s Hyun-min, who has his own method of fighting.

Holding up his car keys, he tells the punks, “I’ll give you this, so go away.” The boys all laugh, until he points to his hot little sports car sitting right outside the window. He reiterates, “I don’t care if you ride it around or sell it. Do whatever you want.” Then he tosses the keys out the window.

The boys all advance towards him… but then the leader says a quick thanks as they race past him to go find the fallen keys. As their backup runs off to play with the pretty car, the mean girls slink away.

Seo-woo finally gets to the school, posing for a few photos and gathering a large group of fangirls in his wake. His plan to ask for the “mean girls” to come forward backfires, so instead he asks where Ha-won is. Faithful Ja-young forces her way to the front, yelling that she knows where to find her. Seo-woo follows her into the school, running to keep ahead of his screaming fans.

In all the commotion, Hye-ji slips into the school, carrying her bouquet for Ha-won.

In the now bully-free hall, Hyun-min tosses Ji-woon’s jacket back at him and puts the new school outfit he bought around Ha-won’s shoulders instead. Looking surly again, Ji-woon starts to walk off, but Ha-won calls after him. He turns towards her and the two share a charged look before he keeps going. Ha-won makes to follow after him, but Hyun-min pulls her back, reminding her that she needs to change before she can go anywhere.

The wannabe thugs all sprint down to Hyun-min’s car, but Bodyguard Lee arrives first and snatches the key right out from under them. The leader attacks, but Lee catches his punch and then proceeds to kick some serious butt. Damn! I know his title is Bodyguard, but that was badass.

Ha-won changes in the broadcast room while Hyun-min sits next door, pouting that she wouldn’t change in front of him. Pffft. Finished, she yells her thanks through the window, and when Hyun-min gets up, he accidentally hits a lever on the soundboard, flipping the ON AIR switch. Uh-oh.

Hyun-min pulls Ha-won back into the broadcast room, wanting to talk, and the entire school stares as every TV in the school starts to broadcast their “private” conversation.

Seo-woo follows a skipping Ja-young until he runs into Ji-woon on his way out. He asks if Ji-woon came for Ha-won’s graduation, but Ji-woon snaps back, “Are you crazy?” Well, at least it wasn’t another “Get lost.”

Brushing it off, Seo-woo asks where Ha-won is, just as the monitor next to them flickers on to show Ha-won and Hyun-min. As they stare, Hye-ji arrives behind them, also watching at the screen.

Back in the booth, Ha-won tells Hyun-min that she won’t go back to Sky House, but Hyun-min doesn’t know what she’s talking about. He says he has something else to discuss. When Ha-won asks what it is, he steps closer and answers, “A confession.” (The word choice implies a romantic confession.) The whole school swoons and Stepmom and Stepsis stare, dumbfounded.

Hyun-min continues, “After meeting you, all other women seem boring to me. And you keep crossing my mind. I don’t like it when you’re with other guys, and I especially don’t like you hanging around Kang Ji-woon.”

In the hall, Ji-woon notices Hye-ji’s crestfallen expression and, almost reluctantly, heads back towards the broadcasting room. Bodyguard Lee arrives looking for Ha-won, and Seo-woo just nods towards the monitor.

Hyun-min finishes his confession (with a few gushes about his own attributes), but Ha-won gently tells him, “Let’s put a stop to all of this now.” Which of course sends the whole school into a tizzy that Ha-won rejected THE Kang Hyun-min.

Ha-won moves to leave, but Hyun-min stops her by grasping her shoulders. He tells her that he hasn’t finished yet. “You and I—” he starts, but just then, Ji-woon flips the switch back and the school groans as the broadcast is cut off. Oblivious to their new privacy, Hyun-min continues, “You and I haven’t even started yet.” Ha-won shakes her head and says she now wants to stop pretending to be his fiancée and end this fake relationship. Her words reach Ji-woon, who was just leaving the booth, and he stops dead in his tracks, turning back to stare at the pair.

Hyun-min takes a step back and agrees, saying they should stop the fake relationship. Instead, he wants to start dating her for real. Ha-won stares up at him, and just outside the room, a tear-stricken Hye-ji drops the bouquet of flowers, having heard it all.

 
COMMENTS

Hah! I can’t wait to see Hyun-min’s face when he realizes his confession just got recorded for all the world to see. I’d feel bad for him, but he seems more the type to roll with the attention rather than get hurt by it. Still, I’m anticipating some serious “Oh, crap” faces. Best part of this episode has to have been the four knights charging into the school to rescue their damsel in distress. I enjoyed how it played out, because this time they all came together not because of a mission or guilt trip or some kind of power play, but rather out of the true concern that they had for Ha-won. Granted, they didn’t exactly play nice one they saw each other, but it’s clear that she has become an important person to all of them.

Ji-woon and Hyun-min’s relationships with Ha-won are constantly changing (understandable given they’re our male leads), and I’m finally starting to like the direction they’re both going. I won’t go too in-depth with Hyun-min, but I will say that I’m not totally convinced that he really, truly wants Ha-won in a romantic sense. Watching this episode, I admit I swooned really hard at all the beautiful gestures he did for Ha-won, but looking back on it, I think he enjoys having someone to do them for, more than he enjoys the actual person receiving them.

Ha-won is the first person that Hyun-min has let into his life in any real capacity ever since his mother left and Hye-ji did… whatever it is she did (I really hope Hyun-min didn’t kill her brother, ’cause that’s a lot of guilt to work through in the ten remaining episodes). I get the feeling that right now, Hyun-min is just enjoying doing all the things he’d always stayed far away from when dating his many “floozies,” and Ha-won is the perfect excuse. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definite care and affection there (and obvious chemistry), and I can see a potential storyline with him falling really hard for her. But it’s also possible that her main role will be to open him up again, and that’s something he desperately needs, maybe even more than a love interest.

Also, side note, I loved Hyun-min’s confession in the end, but did he have to do it in the room where she was just assaulted?! Number one rule of love declarations: Location, location, location!

All that being said about Hyun-min, I’m still not completely on board the Ji-woon train yet, mostly because he keeps giving me friggin’ whiplash with every episode. Can we just pick a temperament and stay with it? Or, at least a consistent hairstyle? I vote no frizz. At least his mood swings seem to be tempering out a bit. It was great to see how all the physical aspects of their interactions (i.e., the slamming against walls and steamy shower scenes) didn’t really affect him, and it wasn’t until Ha-won reached him on an emotional level that he started to notice her. I especially loved the scene in the car when Ha-won had fallen asleep and Ji-woon almost, but not quite, touched her face. That almost-touch meant more than any wall-slamming ever did.

What I really want to know is, what happens now that the cat’s out of the bag now that Ji-woon knows Ha-won was never engaged to Hyun-min? Will he still pursue her now that it’s not “stealing?” I guess you could argue that he’ll still pursue her simply because Hyun-min is interested in her and Hye-ji will obviously not like that, but his face at the end showed a lot more emotion than I was expecting. Do we need to have him rescue Ha-won a few more times to find out his true feelings?

Because apparently the girl has conveniently forgotten her kickass fighting skills and can now be taken down by a couple of bullies who weren’t even holding her that tightly. I fully understand her being traumatized after that disgusting scissors move, since it was definitely assault (and frankly, a lot darker than I thought those girls were gonna go). What I couldn’t understand was how she got in that situation in the first place. What happened to the tough-as-nails delivery girl who beat up two full-grown men without blinking? Where’s the Cinderella who threw her shoe at Prince Charming? Come on, Ha-won! Just pretend that those girls refused to pay for their pizzas and kick their ass!

 
RELATED POSTS

• Cinderella and the Four Knights: Episode 5
• Cinderella and the Four Knights: Episode 4
• Cinderella and the Four Knights: Episode 3
• Cinderella and the Four Knights: Episode 2
• Cinderella and the Four Knights: Episode 1
• Cinderella is determined to turn her knights into a happy family
• Shouts, smirks, and song in Cinderella and the Four Knights teaser