High School King of Savvy: Episode 13

by dramallama

We are back in action, as Savvy returns with more of what it does best – a nice balance of comedy, zippy romance, and heart within a moving plot. Min-seok realizes that his time in the office isn’t all for naught, as he gains a zany yet valuable support team that’s willing to stay loyal by his side. It’s wonderful to see that Min-seok’s pain is a shared pain and that he’s got someone willing to lift him back up when he falls. But the reveals are coming fast, and hopefully, his team has enough steam to cover his tracks.

 
EPISODE 13 RECAP

Dad reads up on some rehabilitation medicine for Gramps but gets interrupted by a guest at the cleaners. It’s President Yoo, who greets him in a friendly manner and asks about his adopted sons. But Dad, repulsed by his presence, orders him to leave and not come back. Gramps imitates him and throws salt at their unwelcome guest.

Min-seok returns to the office, and the retail team gives him a warm welcome back. The mood is back to its light and cheery state, and the team is even more delighted to see that he has gifts for all of them: PPL Spam bags!

Soo-young arrives at work, also back in her chirpy mood, and the team gets to work. When Soo-young looks back at Min-seok’s office, he’s at the window sending kisses to her. She sends back a heart, signaling the return of our irresistibly cute office couple.

As Soo-young reads off his schedule, Min-seok looks at her in his smitten state and sneaks in a peck on her cheek. She’s clearly flustered but reminds him that he’s still a minor. She suggests that they keep their friendly noona-dongsaeng relationship until he graduates, which means no skinship, no kisses, nothing. Min-seok complains, but Soo-young knows it’s best to keep her secretary/noona distance.

Team Leader Kim bursts into the office calling him “Fake” and fretfully tries to cover up his slip when he notices Soo-young there. When Min-seok calms him down, telling him that Soo-young knows everything, he freezes. She knows… everything? Soo-young assures him that she’s on their side and requests that her resignation be ignored. She looks into his eyes and promises that she can be trusted.

After dealing with that sudden reveal, Team Leader Kim gets to his point. He tells Min-seok that he knows about his shoulder injury. Expressing his sympathy, he tells him not to worry about his future because Min-seok can work as an instructor at his brother-in-law’s sports club. Touched by Team Leader Kim’s loyalty and care, Min-seok gives him a hug, calling him “uncle.” Aww.

Director Han enters the office calling “Fake” and immediately freezes against the window at the sight of Soo-young. All the window blinds close for the new team’s secret meeting, where Team Leader Kim announces that they’re all on the same boat now – they’ve got to remain loyal to each other. They all gather for a silent team cheer. “On the count of three: 1, 2, 3… Loyalty!”

When Soo-young arrives home, she finds Yoo-ah asleep on the bed. She wakes her up to eat, but Yoo-ah’s not in the mood. Even though she can’t eat spicy foods, Soo-young offers to go out for Yoo-ah’s favorite spicy chicken dish, which finally gets her out of bed.

On the way back, they get some ice cream, and Soo-young does her best to keep the mood light. But Yoo-ah senses her sister’s carefulness around her. Yoo-ah assures her that she’s not doing that bad; the pain is bearable.

She also voices her realization, “Now that I think back, it was me who followed Min-seok around first. He never liked me back. I was the crazy girl. But I think I needed some sort of idol, which for others were teachers or idol stars. Unni, you don’t remember the name of the guy you liked when you were eighteen, right? It’s like that. I’m just eighteen, and there are lots of fish in the sea. There will be better guys than Min-seok.”

Soo-young looks at her younger sister apologetically and offers her face for a free punch. Yoo-ah laughs and playfully raises her hand, to which Soo-young crouches in fear. Soo-young hugs her sister, and Yoo-ah says that she’ll have to make it up to her possibly through higher allowances. Heh.

At work, Min-seok and Team Leader Kim bicker about the early morning meeting, but Soo-young interrupts them in full secretary mode to give them the run-down. The meeting is at 9:00, Min-seok’s exam is at 9:30, and there’s a way to attend both.

Soo-young packs all of Min-seok’s belongings from the apartment, and Min-seok runs out of the meeting as soon as it’s finished. They meet up, and Min-seok goes through a rapid change of identity in the elevator. He finishes up his wardrobe change in the revolving doors and runs off. Soo-young shouts reminders about meetings after his exam (a scene from the cold open in the first episode), and Min-seok rides off on a scooter.

Min-seok gets to class just in time, and afterwards, his friends tease him about dating Yoo-ah’s sister. They’re awkwardly interrupted by Yoo-ah, who asks Min-seok about his shoulder and tells him to cheer up. She turns to Tae-seok to tell him that she’s decided to date him, since he likes her so much. There’s a collective “Huh?!” look, but she skips off without any further explanation. Tae-seok trails after Yoo-ah, and Duk-hwan comments on how “Hubby Lee” is now “Hubby Oh” while Min-seok looks content and relieved.

Back on the elevator at work, Soo-young asks Min-seok about his exam. He says he did wonderfully because she told him to choose the right number to guess all the way down. He asks for a kiss, but Soo-young maintains her distance and refuses.

When Jin-woo enters the elevator, Min-seok makes their hand-holding very clear, but he ignores it completely and greets Soo-young. Min-seok tells him to pay no attention to them, but he ignores that as well and continues to address Soo-young. They’re basically back to their immature fights. Jin-woo: See you again, Soo-young! Min-seok: No, don’t see her again! But after they leave the elevator, Jin-woo looks pretty down.

Min-seok and Soo-young end up at the convenience store, and Min-seok acknowledges his petty encounter with Jin-woo. Soo-young nods in agreement and starts changing his caller ID to Foolish Lil’ High-Schooler. Min-seok takes out his phone to change her name to Popcorn Grandma. Their insult battle is interrupted by Gramps, who excitedly calls out to Pretty Unni.

The three of them end up at Min-seok’s house, where Gramps feeds Soo-young fruit and showers her with compliments. “Pretty Unni is soooooo pretty!” Min-seok shows a tinge of jealousy and tells Soo-young that Grandpa’s vision is bad. Gramps takes Soo-young’s glasses and shows her the “correct” way of wearing them by turning them upside-down. Sleep eventually overcomes Gramp’s desire to keep playing with Pretty Unni, so Min-seok takes him to his room.

In that time, Soo-young sneaks into Min-seok’s room, where she finds some *wink wink* special tapes. She nods in understanding while Min-seok tries to deny everything. But his mortification is short, as Soo-young notices her moss plant on his desk. She’s happy to see that her plant is still alive and starts to poke at it affectionately. Min-seok does the same, and things get awkward when their fingers accidentally touch. Feeling the heat, Min-seok escapes the room to grab some drinks.

When he returns, he finds Soo-young looking at a photo of young Min-seok playing hockey. He must feel regret after playing for so long, but Min-seok brushes it off, saying that many athletes have to drop their sport because of injuries. He was just unlucky.

To lighten the mood, Soo-young goes back in the album to find a naked baby picture. She asks for one – since they’re two of the same one – but Min-seok covers up the picture and tries to grab it away from her. The tug-of-war results in Soo-young lying on top of Min-seok on his bed, and after a moment, Soo-young jumps off. Min-seok plays the victim, accusing Soo-young of being an insidious grandma, starting with Namiseom, the nude baby photo, and now this. Soo-young claims that it was unintentional, but Min-seok runs out of the room, overreacting.

The two share an umbrella as Min-seok walks Soo-young home. She tries to clear up the misunderstanding again, but he gives his signature reply. “Let’s just pretend you didn’t mean it.” Soo-young asks Min-seok to be her trainer because her body’s feeling a bit uncomfortable lately. At first, Min-seok complains that he just got out of training, but Soo-young manipulates his jealousy by saying that she’ll get a fit and muscular personal trainer instead. Min-seok agrees to her requests and runs back home in the rain.

Upon returning home, Min-seok clears out all of the hockey gear, pictures, and trophies from his room. He leaves his box outside to throw away, but he immediately comes back to retrieve his precious memories.

While Yoo-ah is fast asleep, Soo-young does her research on rehabilitation methods for shoulder injuries. Aw, that’s why she wanted Min-seok to be her trainer: to sneak in some shoulder recovery.

The next morning, Min-seok meets up with an overzealous Soo-young to start their training. Min-seok begins with warm-ups, and Soo-young suggests that they do the national stretching routine. She goes full out, but Min-seok looks thoroughly embarrassed.

Min-seok notices that Soo-young’s midriff is exposed when she lifts her arms, and he quickly runs over to pull her jacket down as she stretches. Reminding him about their deal, she scolds him for attempting skinship. Frustrated, Min-seok distracts her, and while she’s looking the other way, he pretends to throw a punch at her. Haha.

Taking a break from their workout, Soo-young notices a man in the distance flipping on a pole. She shivers from a past trauma; she hit her head while turning on a pole when she was younger. She tells Min-seok that she has a bigger trauma about poles than about bugs, which he doesn’t seem to understand. Soo-young gets back up for more exercises, and when Min-seok asks why he has to join, she accidentally mentions his shoulder injury.

At the cleaners, Dad drags Grandpa out of the washing machine, though Grandpa claims that he’s just climbing into a tunnel. They’re interrupted by a man who hands over a fruit basket from his company’s president. Dad is left with the basket before he angrily realizes that President Yoo sent it to him.

President Yoo conducts a meeting, where Director Nam briefs him on a new potential project while Min-seok playfully sticks his finger in Director Han’s mouth. The new project would give Comfo the opportunity to build a shopping mall brand throughout Asia. Jin-woo advises President Yoo to delay the project, as it may be too overwhelming on funds on top of the current projects. But President Yoo disagrees and scowls at Jin-woo for giving up so easily on this chance to expand Comfo’s presence.

When President Yoo returns to his office, Dad is there to return the fruit basket. Dad admits that he does need money – he’s got an ill father and two adopted sons – but he’d never take President Yoo’s filthy money. He takes out the envelope that was attached to the basket and rips it up. Dad warns him to stay out of their lives and walks out.

Jin-woo and Director Nam witness Dad walking out of President Yoo’s office, and they’re ordered to drop by later. Director Nam recognizes Dad and tells Jin-woo about the relations. President Yoo used to be business partners with Lee Jung-soo, and “Chauffeur Choi” worked under Lee Jung-soo. Along the way, President Yoo’s actions somehow harmed Lee Jung-soo’s business, which led him to commit suicide. His wife died soon afterwards, possibly because of the shock and tragedy.

Jin-woo looks up more information on Lee Jung-soo as he thinks back to Director Nam’s explanation. He gets a text for Yoo-ah asking to meet again, same time same place.

Min-seok and Soo-young get off the bus from work, and Min-seok suggests that they get dinner. But Soo-young declines and tells him to meet her at the park to exercise. She finishes tying a band to the jungle gym just as Min-seok arrives, and they start by running laps. Soo-young clearly isn’t in shape, as she collapses every couple of steps, so Min-seok tells her that they can stop. Then she runs over to the bands and hurts herself when the bands fling her over, but she insists that Min-seok join her.

But Min-seok’s had enough. He yells at her to stop trying for something that’s impossible. Soo-young stays optimistic and says that even athletes with worse injuries have recovered, but Min-seok gives her a dose of reality. When he lost his parents and his brother left him, he realized that he was only hurting himself by having hope in things that were out of his control. “I don’t put hope in things that are impossible, so don’t try and get hurt because of something useless.” With that, he walks off.

Yoo-ah meets up with Jin-woo at the burger place to pay her debt from last time. Jin-woo tells her it’s fine, but Yoo-ah insists, saying that she is exact with her calculations. Tae-seok and Duk-hwan pass by the place, and they notice Yoo-ah exchanging money with a strange man.

Getting defensive, Tae-seok barges in and grabs Jin-woo by the collar. But he quickly drops his hands and apologizes when Yoo-ah explains that her sister works with him. Duk-hwan asks for his understanding, but Jin-woo looks mildly amused.

On his drive back, Jin-woo gets a message from Yoo-ah apologizing again and wishing him luck in the future. He then sees Dad and Min-seok walking together. Back home, he thinks about Min-seok’s insistence on not getting caught and Dad’s relationship to Lee Jung-soo. He asks a friend to look into Lee Jung-soo’s family relations, and sure enough, Min-seok and Hyung-seok are listed as family.

Min-seok decides to part ways with his hockey box and gives Soo-young a call before heading back inside. But she doesn’t pick up, leaving their argument unsettled.

The awkwardness is evident the next morning when Soo-young gives Min-seok a dull greeting. He follows her into the kitchen area and invites her to lunch, but she claims to already have plans. Her mannerisms seem uncharacteristically cold, especially with Min-seok’s attempts to appease her anger.

Jin-woo reports his findings to President Yoo, that Lee Hyung-seok is Lee Jung-soo’s son. He must have had some ulterior motives in coming to Comfo. President Yoo seems surprised but tells Jin-woo to lay off this situation. He’ll take care of it.

Min-seok spies on Soo-young from his office and tries messaging her to find why she’s mad, but she claims that she’s not. He’s interrupted by a call from President Yoo, who invites him to lunch.

President Yoo watches Min-seok scarf down his food and casually asks about his parents. Min-seok says that he and his father get along like friends, but his real parents passed away when he was younger – his father from an accident, and his mother from that shock. Min-seok says he was too young to really understand the situation, but he knows his father had some business problems before he passed. As all the facts match up, President Yoo’s face darkens.

The retail team is ready to leave for the day, but Soo-young is nowhere in sight. Min-seok looks around for her, but Assistant Manager Yoon tells him that she already left. Oh man, she’s definitely still mad.

Min-seok calls up his buddies to figure out what to do. Duk-hwan tells him that no girl is going to admit to being mad, and the only way to fix the problem is skinship. Min-seok stops him there and recalls that one time he screwed himself over by listening to Duk-hwan’s advice. Tae-seok remembers it as the Namiseom Selca Incident. They scold him for acting like a know-it-all without even having the experience and stuff dumplings in his mouth to shut him up. Ha.

Just before Min-seok heads to bed, he gets a call from Soo-young, who tells him to come to the park. He goes there right away, and she shows him something she never thought she could do: flipping on a pole. “I thought it was impossible, but I did it.”

Through a montage, we see Soo-young struggling with the pole throughout the night and the next day. This was the reason why she didn’t pick up her phone, had plans for lunch, and left early from work. Min-seok notices the bruises on her arms, but Soo-young seems enthusiastic nonetheless.

She shows him the flip again, and Min-seok walks over to kiss her while she hangs on the pole. She lifts herself up, but he pulls her down again for another one.

Having cleared up the misunderstandings, our couple runs to shelter from the rain. Min-seok praises Soo-young for her efforts and tries to sneak in another kiss, but Soo-young rejects him. Min-seok complains that she allowed the previous kiss, but Soo-young argues that there are exceptions to rules and that was one. But nuh-uh, not this time. They continue to bicker about the skinship rule, and when Min-seok returns home, he happily puts back all of his hockey stuff.

The next day, Min-seok returns to hockey training. He approaches Coach and says that he wants to play again; he’ll deal with the consequences. He’ll do his best, and if he still can’t play, then he’ll give up. After a moment of silence, Coach welcomes him back. The team erupts into cheers, and Min-seok expresses his gratitude on the brink of tears. Even the gruff sunbae comes to give his version of a welcome. “You’d better not expect any slack because you’re hurt.” Aw.

As a comeback gift, Soo-young takes Min-seok to buy a new hockey bag. At the counter, the employee comments on how nice it is of Aunt to buy her nephew a new bag. Soo-young scratches her head and says that she’s not his aunt. The employee corrects herself, calling Soo-young his noona.

Soo-young starts to walk out, and the employee whispers to Min-seok, wondering if she’s his mom. He calls out noona and aunt, but Soo-young replies with “Oppa!” He clarifies that she’s his girlfriend, and the employee gives them a thumbs up with a look of admiration.

The next day, Jin-woo has a guest, a friend’s younger brother and a high school hoobae who’s back home on a business trip. He knows that Hyung-seok also works at Comfo, and he says that he got to know him through a work project back in Germany.

They head out to meet him, but Min-seok conveniently appears. He needed to ask Jin-woo about something but says that he’ll be back later, seeing that he has a guest. Of course, Min-seok doesn’t recognize the guest, making him wonder if that really is Hyung-seok.

Min-seok changes back into his high school uniform and heads down the elevator, only to come face to face with Jin-woo. “I was wondering what you were hiding, and I guess this was it, Chief Director Lee Hyung-seok. Or is it… Lee Min-seok?”

 
COMMENTS

I’m happy to see the plot starting to pick up, especially after those few episodes of inevitable angst and gloom. We even got some tidbits of the overarching President Yoo-Dad story, which I almost forgot about. There was no real resolution to the age difference aspect of the romance, so I’m just glad that they figured something out to stop the excess angst that was weighing down the story.

It’s strange to admit, but I’m starting to enjoy this couple more. I expected to find it weirder that the romance would continue despite the reveal because that means they would be ignoring the legalities. To be honest, I didn’t know if the drama could resolve my uncomfortable feeling with the romance. I wasn’t sure what Soo-young was doing at the end of Episode 12. You’re an adult, he’s still a minor, and this is weird. But I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome in this episode because we see that Soo-young is taking this relationship with caution. She makes it known that she’s got boundaries, and she keeps them (though we did get one well-deserved exception).

I liked seeing that the rekindled relationship doesn’t mean that everything else in life is A-okay. Hockey is something that has a personal importance to Min-seok, and a relationship isn’t something that’s going to fix the pain of losing that special connection to a sport you love. Min-seok has a deeper reason for giving up so easily on something he holds dear, and I love that Soo-young is there to show him otherwise. Conquering her fears to show him that he can conquer his, she gives him the support and courage to do something he never would have done on his own. This is the aspect of the relationship that I appreciate the most and something I can definitely get behind. Turns out, kisses aren’t a panacea for all of life’s pains, but they sure do help.

And Min-seok returning to the hockey team has got to be one of the sweetest moments. The nerves and silence followed by an emotional welcome really stole my heart. Min-seok wouldn’t be himself without hockey, and I’m glad everyone else agreed.

Aww, Yoo-ah. For me, she’s never been a despicable character – I actually enjoy her – and this episode proved to me why I should like her more. She’s just a high-schooler, but she’s got the heart and the brains to figure out that that’s exactly it – she’s just in high school. I love her “life goes on” mentality that she adopts because not only does it make the story a whole lot smoother, it shows that she’s matured. Unlike Jin-woo’s sudden maturity and change of heart, we’ve seen hints of Yoo-ah’s maturity, almost seeming older than Soo-young at times. She acknowledges her own faults and shows that she really thought through this whole ordeal. And she’s not awkward about it either. Though he’s not Hubby Lee anymore, Min-seok is still her friend because she cares about him. How refreshing.

Now that Jin-woo knows about the big secret, I’m excited and worried to see where we’re headed. I hope Jin-woo doesn’t fall into another manipulation hole of doom because wow, that would be terrible. Let’s hope that Jin-woo deals with this mindfuck appropriately because there ain’t nothing like old bad habits to stunt your growth. If anything, cut this young lovestruck puppy some slack because the only thing better than romance is bromance, and you two have got potential.

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