God of Study: Episode 7

by nokcha icecream

We are finally making progress with the characters! As it is for most of you readers, the more fun parts of the episodes are when the F5 are actually outside of class. This episode allowed the watcher to be able to see more of outside-of-class interactions and helped the characters to mature.

Episode 7 Recap

We pick up with Seok-ho storming down a hallway. He briskly opens classroom doors looking for the delinquent special class students. However, they are no where to be found.

Ma-ri gets news of this and displays her own state of panic. He abruptly stops (me thinking he’s going to smack Ma-ri upside the head) but he pulls out his cell phone and calls Chan-doo. Any particular reason as to why he waited so long to simply call them?

The kids –hiding in what looks like a storage room-are frightened when they see Seok-ho calling. Chan-doo wills his phone to stop ringing (I’m liking the Big Bang ringtone, haha) and it actually stops.

But Hyun-jung’s Yiruma ringtone starts up, and its Seok-ho. She quickly asks her suhbang what to do, and he remains silent and stoic, much to Pul-ip’s amusement.

Pul-ip gets up to leave saying she doesn’t like what they’re doing. Baek-hyun asks if she’s leaving alone, and asks the rest of the class if he forced them to come with him. Point of argument: Seok-ho is completely fooling them, and they all need to realize it.

Pul-ip, annoyed with their childish acts, proceeds to call Seok-ho and she tells him where they are. Hyun-jung accuses her of being disloyal, but Pul-ip has made up her mind. Baek-hyun keeps saying that they’re being fooled by Seok-ho, but they’re not that stupid. All she wants to do is study. What’s so wrong with that? If he’s so adamantly against Seok-ho, he should just quit alone.

Baek-hyun is not changing his mind. He’s tired off seeing Pul-ip believing Seok-ho’s wild claims telling them they can be accepted in Chun ha. His voice begins to rise against Pul-ip, but Chan-doo steps in her defense, at which Baek-hyun looks at him and says, “You, stay out of it.”

This gets to Chan-doo so he grabs Baek-hyun collar. “Hey, Hwang Baek-hyun, what are you about? Just because we let you do whatever you want, are you taking us for your followers?” With that, Baek-hyun knocks him down with one hit. Just as Chan-doo is about to fight back, Seok-ho appears at the door.

“Everyone! Back to the classroom!”

Pul-ip, Bong-goo, Chan-doo immediately leave. Baek-hyun and Hyun-jung linger behind.

As the trio walks back to the classroom, Pul-ip is concerned about Chan-doo’s mouth. Bong-goo and Pul-ip make sure any teeth aren’t loose, and Chan-doo reaches in and seems to find something wrong. Pul-ip and Bong-goo begin to freak out, but Chan-doo was only playing with them. The boys walk off playfully, but Pul-ip looks back thinking of what may be going on with Baek-hyun and Seok-ho.

Still in the hiding place, Seok-ho begins to question Baek-hyun. Even though Seok-ho is questioning the culprit, Baek-hyun throws a curve ball at Seok-ho.

Baek-hyun: “Helping me…was it with your office deposit money? Did you want to smear crap on my pride that badly? You just wanted to make me your pupil?”
Seok-ho: “You still have pride left that I can smear crap on? You have nothing, you’re a lousy student yet you still what to sit high and mighty on your pride? What a fool.”

With this, Seok-ho tells him to leave. Leave for the sake of those who actually want to study. Baek-hyun gruffly agrees. If Seok-ho wants to continue deceiving kids, fine, he’ll go. As he starts to walk out, someone stops him. Teacher Soo-jung. She turns and bows to Seok-ho telling him that she will return to the special class. She also asks that he forgive Baek-hyun this one time. When Baek-hyun begins to protest, she firmly puts him in his place.

The rest of the kids are waiting outside the classroom, and Seok-ho tells them to go in; Baek-hyun is currently talking to Teacher Soo-jung and will be gone for a while. Hyun-jung shoots Pul-ip a dirty look as she walks in, but is suddenly surprised to see a new lady erasing the board. Teacher Yi Eun-yoo.

She seems calm about the small incident, and asks about the culprit. Seok-ho responds saying he’ll be there shortly.

Soo-jung and Baek-hyun are alone in a room and she has no idea what to do with him. She wants to smack him, but she knows she can’t do that. So she decides to punish herself by holding a student’s punishment position telling Baek-hyun it is her fault; she was the one who ran away, she was the one that was stupid. He tells her to get up, and but she asks him to go back to the class. If he doesn’t go back, she’s leave. He responds by joining her on their ground. He tells her to stop, but she tells him again to go back to the classroom. He roughly stands up and grabs his bag. When she asks him where he’s going, he responds, “Didn’t you tell me to go back to the classroom?”

In the classroom, Teacher Eun-yoo is going over their current Korean Levels. Kil Pul-ip 6th grade level. Na Hyun-jung. 7^th. She doesn’t even bother to announce Bong-goo’s or Chan-doo’s. She finds Baek-hyun’s grades. Hwang Baek-hyun? He enters, on the way to his seat and responds: “Yes?”

Even though their grades are ridiculously low, it doesn’t matter. All they have to do now is learn. Electric guitar music in the background accompanied by confused looks by the kids? I like this teacher.

Meanwhile, Seok-ho sends Soo-jung on her next mission before her return: bring back Teacher Cha Ki-bong.

Teacher Eun-yoo begins her lesson much the same way the other teachers did: asking the kids if they think ______ is a boring subject. And as usual, all the kids agree it is.

For Pul-ip the textbooks are too boring. Teacher Eun-yoo agrees. For too many people, the language is too sacred. (Hence the book basking in the light and the cathedral organ music playing). You are to have fun with it, but not fall into the traps. The feelings that make your heart move, its poisonous. (And hence the cute mini-skit the kids act out in their minds). So in order to enjoy what they have to read, the kids have to be pumped with some of this poison. She plops a pink suitcase onto the podium, and opens it.

During the class period, Soo-jung visits Ki-bong. She sees hoards of little kids running out and crying. As soon as he sees her, he goes back inside. She follows him and is kicked out; he’s in the middle of a lesson. So she goes outside and knocks over a metal bowl, (“Be quiet out there!) and she waits.

Back in the classroom, the kids are reading very sensuous pieces of literature. The kids seem to be easily soaking it in and picture the stories in their minds. Baek-hyun giggles seeing the beautiful Pul-ip in a sageuk setting as she reminds him “of the moon and the stars. If it ever…(“suhbaaaaaaannngg”) eh? suhbang?” He snaps out of his daydream to have Hyun-jung recite just what he was thinking about Pul-ip. “Whenever I see you suhbang, I see the moon and the stars.” The kids were never exposed to such an emotional piece of work, so their studies in Korean were always boring to them. When you carefully read without any forced pressure, you can really discover how beautiful the literature is.

Soo-jung is getting tired of waiting outside so she moves inside and plops herself smack dab in the middle of his room, much to the amusement of the students. Until he goes back, she’s not leaving.

During break time, Pul-ip accidently drops a piece of paper and Baek-hyun, following close behind, picks it up and looks at it. It’s the study guide she used for the English competition. He’s about to hand it back, but when she sees him, he hurridly hides it. They sit to eat lunch together, but Pul-ip still won’t acknowledge Baek-hyun.

Hyun-jung prepared a fruit feast for Baek-hyun (his complexion wasn’t looking good lately) but he won’t eat it. Chan-doo pretends his food is fruit: this is apple, this is kiwi… He asks Pul-ip what she likes. Strawberries! Oh how she misses strawberries. Baek-hyun’s listening! Chan-doo attempts to feed her the kimchi strawberry and she’s embarrassed. But she takes it and plays along. Hyun-jung looks at them with annoyance, but Baek-hyun-out of spite-begins to stuff his mouth with the fruit Hyun-jung brought. Haha.

Meanwhile back at Ki-bong Academy, he begins to eat his own lunch. But the sound of Soo-jung’s sleeping growling stomach makes him put down his food, and next thing you know, he’s happily walking out with a very excited Teacher Soo-jung.

After lunch Bong-goo and Chan-doo are reading the tasty lit. that Eun-yoo gave them, and Teacher Young-sook spots them. She takes it away from them and is shocked to see what they are reading. She confiscates the papers and angrily walks off. However the Gym teacher asks if they have any more. (Haha). And yes, they have a lot more.

Teacher Young-sook confronts Eun-yoo and Seok-ho about the readings the kids had. And as a twist of characters, Eun-yoo is actually Young-sook’s sunbae, (older peer=more respect). So…“Don’t get in my way.” HAHA. O.M.G. I LOVE THIS LADY.

Seok-ho confronts Eun-yoo and tells her there is not enough time for them to be reading those things. She easily tells him to trust her, and tells him off too, “expecting people to do the things your way all the time is not a good thing.” “She is right.” In walks Ki-bong with a successful Soo-jung. The teachers have a faculty meeting and plan their strategy. The midterms are in two weeks. And their only goal: to receive a perfect score on the exams. It’s time to floor it.

But before they do that, some special guests were invited to join them.

It’s cute how Hyun-jung greets Grandma, and how Chan-doo greets Pul-ip’s mother.

Soo-jung is shocked to see Chan-doo’s father step in, and in the background, we see Anthony’s assistant looking very sneaky with a camera. Foreshadowing?

Seok-ho leads the parents through a tour of the sleeping quarters and Chan-doo’s mother can’t believe the condition of the sleeping arrangements. Soo-jung assures her the kids love it, and Grandma even tells his mom, “And there has to be pain to gain something.”

While still in the room, Seok-ho has an announcement to make. “Please do not expect your child to get into Chun ha.” The parents look around confused and he goes on to further explain his reasoning. “This is the chance you have to love your child.” Their duty as a parent is to encourage and love their child despite whatever may happen. He even leads them through a chant: “It doesn’t matter whether you pass or fail!”

Meanwhile, Ma-ri keeps thinking of her awkward interactions with Seok-ho, and she’s fighting them. Haha. She’s interrupted by the principle who tells her that the WBG’s acquisition team is here! She is at first happy to hear that, and then her feelings about it change.

Back in the classroom, Seok-ho is straightening out the desks, and Chan-doo’s mother hands him an envelope telling him to use its contents for the class or for himself. He accepts it, and Tina watches in the background, seeing all of this.

Soo-jung runs into Anthony outside and he tells her to stay quiet about him telling her to leave. Hahaha. She playfully disregards all negative feelings and hurries into the classroom. Here she sees Grandma, scrubbing away at a desk. Grandma saw all the other parents bring nice things for the class, but all she has to offer is her cleaning skills. Soo-jung offers to help her and they work together to finish the classroom. Seok-ho sees this kind gesture.

Seok-ho arrives home to a dark room and carefully turns on the light. Baek-hyun broke into his room and was waiting for him to come home. Baek-hyun questions him about losing his office and why he came to live in such a shabby room. Baek-hyun thinks he’s using any method possible to keep him tied down, and Baek-hyun is fighting to pay him pack. Fighting to retain his pride. Seok-ho has one way Baek-hyun can pay him back. Get a perfect score on him midterm. If Baek-hyun succeeds, Seok-ho will kneel in front of him for the whole school to see. “Just get ready to kneel in front of me.” With that, Baek-hyun leaves.

Chan-doo’s home, and his loving mom placed a bowl of strawberries on his desk. And he immediately thinks of Pul-ip and her desire for strawberries. At Baek-hyun’s work, his co-workers are eating strawberries. And next thing we know, Chan-doo’s riding a bike to Pul-ip, strawberries in tow.

Pul-ip gets a call. She steps outside and we see it’s from Baek-hyun. He hands her her studying paper, and she crumples it in front of her face in shame. He apologizes to her and she’s touched. He realizes now he shouldn’t have said those things to someone working so hard. It made him angry how Pul-ip was so obedient to Seok-ho. Just Pul-ip. She asks him why he was so annoyed about her, and he responds with an “I don’t know.” YEAH RIGHT YOU DON’T KNOW.

All Pul-ip asks for is that he doesn’t mind Seok-ho and he just tries his best. He tells her he’s going to study hard for the mid-terms, and she records this moment in history on an imaginary computer. He stands up to leave, but he reaches in his pocket and hands her something. But before he leaves, she asks him to make up with Chan-doo. She opens to package to find the strawberries.

And in the background watching everything, we see..

And then we see…

It’s gametime. The kids bring their belongings and their game faces. Everything is on these mid-terms. Seok-ho gives them their journals, and they’re to write what they want to get as their grade. Baek-hyun pulls his usual bad boy, and writes, “Aimed Score: 100”.

During another math session, Ki-bong scolds them for doing poorly on their last test. But Baek-hyun’s is the worst. Ki-bong angrily shows him his messy chicken-scratch handwriting and Baek-hyun almost jumps out of his chair. He restrains himself and to everyone’s surprise he simply says, “I’ll fix it.” He swallows his temper and agrees to work.

Ki-bong has written down 45 different formulas on past tests, and he has arranged the students to do 300 problems on each formula. Chan-doo shyly notices the small(er) stack of papers on the podium, but Ki-bong calls in Soo-jung, who brings in a grocery cart full of math problems. She’s about to leave, but he tells her to grab a test and join them (much to the their amusement). He walks to the back to see how she’s doing, and she’s simply translating the problems to English! Haha.

During a break, Baek-hyun comes up to Chan-doo and gives a half-attempted apology. Chan-doo scoffs at him, but Baek-hyun was being serious. Chan-doo is surprised at Baek-hyun, but then remembers Pul-ip asking him to make up. Chan-doo smiles.

Soo-jung is reading the student’s journals, and Seok-ho asks her why Hyun-jung’s parents didn’t come. She told him that she will tell him later, and he demands to know now. She hurriedly leaves announcing the day is over, and Bong-goo nearly face-plants into the door.

But Hyun-jung runs away and Pul-ip catches her. She’s off to a store to pickup new season things; if she doesn’t do it now, they’ll sell out. Oh the horrors. Pul-ip surprises her by saying she’ll go with her. It’s too dangerous for Hyun-jung to go out by herself, so Hyun-jung agrees.

They find the store, and a group of girls walk out. They recognize Hyun-jung, and she takes off running, them following close behind. She runs into a fence, unable to get past. They gang around her and start to pick on her. They tell her how much they suffered because of her transferring out. One of them winds up to deliver a punch, and Pul-ip stands in the background, not knowing what to do.

Comments

I didn’t really like how long after Baek-hyun’s bad boy this episode kept going. I thought writing down the “Aimed Score:100” was pretty raw, but we were kind of tossed around and splashed in the face with T-ARA. Out of all the members, Hyun-jung seemed the most legit at the moment. Haha. Maybe after this episode Baek-hyun won’t have anymore reoccuring, (and honestly it was getting tiring) rebel-like moments. Rebel-like moments that don’t get him anywhere.

RELATED POSTS

• God of Study: Episode 6
• God of Study: Episode 5
• God of Study ends on a ratings high
• God of Study: Episodes 3-4
• God of Study: Episodes 1-2
• The new Monday-Tuesday lineup: First impressions