Answer Me 1988: Episode 10

by girlfriday

An act of rebellion from one of our gang sends everyone else on an adventure to bring home their lost lamb. It’s a fun, light episode with lots of hijinks all around to keep us laughing. Meanwhile, everyone’s lovelines take a step forward when curious friends get involved and people are forced to stop and evaluate how they feel about one another. The short answer? It’s complicated.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

December – “네게 줄 수 있는건 오직 사랑뿐” (All I Have to Give You is Love) for the Answer Me 1988 OST [ Download ]

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EPISODE 10: “Memory”

It’s mid-January 1989, and Taek’s dad is back at home now but still on bed rest. Sun-woo’s mom makes sure to bring him his dinner and warns him not to try doing the dishes.

Deok-sun and No-eul are so lost in watching the movie La Boum on TV that Mom says they’ll get sucked into the television. The movie is playing at Jung-hwan’s house too, and suddenly Jung-hwan’s Dad sneaks up behind Mom to put a pair of headphones on her to recreate the romantic scene in the movie. Mom just snaps at him and wonders where her expensive can of American ham went.

Jung-bong, who just returned from ten days on a vegetarian temple diet, is hunched over his desk as usual. Only this time, he’s carefully peeling open a can of SPAM to scoop and eat with a spoon. Gross.

Dong-ryong is cozied up in Jung-hwan’s bed and refuses to go home because no one’s there, but he also refuses to sleep over because tomorrow’s his birthday and Mom promised to cook him a special breakfast. Jung-hwan is amazed that his mother is going to cook, and Dong-ryong confirms that Mom hasn’t cooked in months.

But aw, the next morning Dong-ryong gets up early and shuffles into the kitchen to find a note from Mom, apologizing for having to rush off to work. She left some cash on the table and tells him to buy something to eat with his friends, and he sighs in disappointment.

Deok-sun brings her girlfriends over to her house for the first time, and they flinch when they hear that Bora unni is home. Deok-sun tells them to just bow at the waist if they see her, and has to convince them that Unni won’t bite.

They ask if they can get a peek at Taek, but Deok-sun snaps that Taek is off-limits, and they can see anyone else but him. She calls him their neighborhood treasure who needs to be protected, and he’s not home anyway.

They perk up when Sun-woo comes by, but Deok-sun refuses to invite him over, and when he starts to ask about Bora noona, she shouts that Unni left early in the morning and stomps off.

Her friends gape at her ginormous house, and Deok-sun slowly points down to the basement to say that she lives down there. That’s why she’s never had them over until now, but they’re good friends and reassure her that it’s cool.

They head down the stairs and stop in their tracks when Jung-hwan comes out of her house looking awkward. He stammers that he had something to say to her, and pulls her aside for a chat. On the way up, he kind of gets trapped under the awning and can’t extract himself without looking uncool. It’s so awkward. I love it.

Naturally, Deok-sun’s friends spy on them eagerly. Inside, they flinch again when they have to greet Bora, and Deok-sun does too when Unni warns her not to make a mess on her way out.

Jung-hwan sees that Dad’s birthday is tomorrow, and Mom says she convinced Dad to splurge on a new car. They head out to see what he bought, excited for an upgrade, only to find Dad proudly showing off his new car… that looks an awful lot like the old one, just red. They sigh and trudge back inside without a word.

Deok-sun’s friend is excited to set her up with a boy, and they make plans for the blind date. Her friends ask what Jung-hwan wanted, and she says he asked to go see a movie. She swears that they’re just friends, but this time her friends are positive that he likes her. They tell her to check by telling him about her blind date, and if he shows anything other than indifference, it means he likes her.

Deok-sun asks what happens if he does like her, and they tell her to date him: “Do you like him?” Deok-sun: “I… don’t know.” They suggest dating him to find out, and she worries about how uncomfortable things would become. They urge her to ask sincerely and not joke around, convinced that they’re never wrong about these things… except for that time with Sun-woo. They ask about the girl Sun-woo likes, and Deok-sun snaps that it’s no one they know.

The girl in question has been contemplating her Lee Sun-hee concert tickets all day long, and finally makes up her mind to find Sun-woo at the library. He’s not at his desk, so she leaves her ticket there, and returns about five times to make sure it’s visible and to write a note. She tells him that she can’t go, and that he should go with his friends.

Jung-hwan’s mom is upset about the car, and her mood only gets worse when she finds out that Jung-bong’s latest obsession is video games. (I love how Dad acts out all the games to ask which one.) We see Jung-bong monopolizing the arcade machine, much to the dismay of the grade-schooler boys in the neighborhood.

Deok-sun steels herself to tell Jung-hwan about her blind date, but now she’s the awkward one at his front door, not sure where to look or how to stand. He asks if she has something to say to him, but she chickens out and asks where he’s going, and he says that Sun-woo’s desk at the library is free because Sun-woo’s studying at home before the concert tonight. Oh noes, that means he won’t see Bora’s note!

Sun-woo gets ready for his big date with such excitement, and heads out with his concert ticket in hand and the cutest grin on his face. Meanwhile, Bora studies in the library but can’t seem to concentrate, and at the last minute she runs out.

She goes to Sun-woo’s desk, and is taken aback when she finds Jung-hwan there instead. She sees her ticket and note on the floor and quickly retrieves them, and Jung-hwan says that Sun-woo never came here because of the concert. Jung-hwan: “I thought he was going with you…?” She races out of there before he can finish asking, and grumbles as she gets into her car and peels away. Aw, you totally care!

Sun-woo waits and waits outside the stadium, while Taek’s dad watches Lee Sun-hee on TV. Sun-woo’s mom brings dinner again, and she tells him that Taek’s dinner is on the table too. It’s become routine by now, and he promises not to do the dishes and just leave everything to her.

It’s getting late, and the ushers make the final call to seat people as Sun-woo continues to wait outside in the cold. He suddenly starts smiling though, and we see Bora running as fast as she can until she reaches him. She’s out of breath as she explains that she left her ticket and a note but he didn’t get it, and she only came here to say she that she couldn’t come here. Lol, this is great.

She tells him not to take it the wrong way, and grumps in annoyance that he caused her to worry. He just smiles and says, “You came, that’s all that matters.” He grabs her by the hand and runs inside the stadium. Yay!

When Jung-hwan comes home that night, Deok-sun is standing in the yard waiting for him, and this time she doesn’t chicken out and admits that she has something to ask him. He cuts her off and suggests going to his room because it’s cold, so then she sits awkwardly on his bed waiting to start.

He sits down next to her and prompts her to begin, and she hesitates another beat before finally blurting that she’s going on a blind date this week. Jung-hwan’s expression changes immediately, though he doesn’t say anything as Deok-sun names the guy she’s being set up with.

There’s another long pause, and Deok-sun bravely scootches closer to Jung-hwan on the bed until she’s right in his face: “Should I go on the blind date?” I’d think Jung-hwan were a statue if he didn’t blink.

She leans in even closer and asks again, “Should I go on the blind date?” I get the distinct feeling that Jung-hwan is more focused on her lips than on her words, but we cut away before hearing his answer.

That night, both sisters lie awake with their thoughts, Sun-woo smiles as he falls asleep, Jung-hwan stares at his ceiling, and Taek stays up to play baduk.

Jung-hwan’s family sings happy birthday to Dad in the morning, but he does seem depressed on his birthday, which Mom mentioned the day before. The boys give him a present, and Mom knows right away that they had Deok-sun pick it out because they’d have no clue what to buy.

Dad seems deflated all throughout breakfast, and when Deok-sun comes in with their usual greeting, Dad actually seems unenthused and goes through the motions for Deok-sun’s sake.

As if to answer our question, Dad tells Mom that he doesn’t know why he always gets depressed on his birthday. She asks if he used to get beaten on his birthday, or if he misses his mother, or if he got his heart broken on his birthday, but he chuckles and says his mom’s been gone for ten years and it’s none of those things, and he doesn’t really know why he gets sad.

Deok-sun frowns as Jung-bong scrapes all the frosting off of Dad’s birthday cake and shoves it into his mouth all at once (grooooss), and then challenges him by trying to shove an entire slice into her mouth in one bite. Jung-hwan just watches the two of them shovel cake for a while, and then says he has something to give Deok-sun.

When Deok-sun hears that Jung-bong is trying to get the high score on a video game, she says that she’s the high-scorer in their neighborhood. Jung-hwan says Hyung’s been banned from arcade games in their neighborhood though: “He got into a fistfight with the grade-schoolers.”

Deok-sun’s parents come by to wish Jung-hwan’s dad a happy birthday, but Mom tells him that he gets weirdly depressed on his birthday. While everyone’s milling about, Jung-hwan answers the phone and shouts, “You ran away from home?!”

Suddenly all eyes are on him as he calls Dong-ryong a crazy bastard, and tells him to stay put. Jung-hwan tells the parents that Dong-ryong ran away from home yesterday and ran out of money. He threatened to run again if Jung-hwan told his parents.

They wonder what would make a good kid like Dong-ryong run away from home, and Jung-hwan’s mom sighs that she’d believe it if her sons ran away, but not him. Both boys turn to look at her as if they’re offended, heh.

Deok-sun’s dad tells Jung-hwan to go bring Dong-ryong back, and they’ll all sit tight and pretend not to know anything. Jung-hwan says the kids will go and get him back, and Deok-sun’s mom worries about them going without an adult.

So of course Bora gets roped into driving them, much to her ire and Sun-woo’s glee. She snaps at Taek to lower his head in the backseat, only to have everyone else yell at her not to mess with Taekie. Aw. Bora screams that she’s going to rip Dong-ryong a new one, and Jung-hwan even covers Taek’s ears so he doesn’t have to hear.

They ask where Dong-ryong is, and Jung-hwan says he kept saying incoherent things about being at the beach with Chow Yun-fat. We see Dong-ryong huddled near a Chow Yun-fat poster in the cold, looking not at all happy to have run away from home.

Jung-bong thinks he’s being sneaky as he creeps up behind Mom and reaches for her wallet, and Mom doesn’t even have to turn her head as she suggests he take a bigger bill. He reenacts Chow Yun-fat’s commercial on the TV and gives Mom a kiss on the cheek, and she smacks him for going to play video games again.

Dong-ryong is so hungry that he resorts to stealing a few chocopies and a bottle of soju from a group of guys playing volleyball, and when he gets caught in the act, he begs and pleads as two guys drag him away.

It turns out to be Jung-hwan and Sun-woo though, and they throw Dong-ryong into the car and lock him inside. He screams to be let out, that is until Bora noona tells him to shut up or die, and he quickly calms down.

It’s not until they have Dong-ryong that the boys realize their problem—they have one too many passengers for the return trip home. Bora grouses that it’s their fault for all of them coming along, and says they’ll just have to leave someone behind to take the bus home.

Sun-woo says maybe two is better than one, and Bora points out Taek and Deok-sun giggling over chips like a pair of oblivious fools. Deok-sun offers Taek a chip and sticks her finger in his mouth over and over, and the others wonder how Taek is actually a genius.

Jung-hwan’s mom goes to throw away a box of old junk that Dad insists on keeping, but he catches her in the act and she’s forced to bring it all back inside. She tells the other moms over beers that he hoards everything and refuses to throw anything away. The others ask Sun-woo’s mom about how Taek’s dad is doing, and they nudge her to just marry him. She protests a little too much, which only makes the others tease her more.

Deok-sun and Taek just stare as Bora and the other boys drive off without them, and they don’t even seem the least bit concerned or surprised. Deok-sun just asks Taek for his wallet, inspects the contents, and then offers to buy him meat with his money, heh.

Taek mostly smiles at her while she stuffs her face, and when she comes out of the bathroom, a pair of neighborhood grandpas has already wrangled Taek into a game of baduk. She drags him back to the beach for coffee, and sighs when he can’t even manage to drink that without spilling it on himself. She wonders how he’ll get through life, worried that he’s just asking for others to take advantage of him.

Neither of them wants to head back home right away, and Deok-sun agrees that they can’t waste a trip to the beach. She sheds her socks and shoes despite the frigid winter temperature, and eggs Taek on to do the same, goading him to be a man.

He refuses, whining about it being too cold for that. But when a stray volleyball comes flying in right at Deok-sun, he’s lightning fast about protecting her and throws himself in its path like a swoony human shield. Deok-sun: “Oooh, you’re a man.” Taek: “Of course I’m a man. I’m not a woman.”

She suddenly demands, “Then take it off.” Ha, she means his shoes, and drags him by the feet to the water’s edge, where they tussle for his shoes and play in the water as the sun sets behind them. It’s ridiculously adorable.

Jung-hwan’s dad is still depressed and turns down the offer to go out for dinner, and wonders where Jung-bong is. Jung-bong has spent the day playing his video game and finally wins, and when he goes to start over from the beginning, a scary-looking gangster stops him. Ruh-roh, not a couple of grade-schoolers this time. He goes running as a whole pack of thugs gives chase.

Deok-sun’s friend Mi-ok (the one with the braces) comes out of her giant mansion and goes back to get an umbrella because it looks like rain. She stops at a payphone to call their friend Ja-hyun, who swoons about having just met her fated match. Mi-ok sighs that that kind of stuff doesn’t exist (she’s always the one telling them that romance novels aren’t real).

…Which is of course the perfect timing for her to walk right into the path of oncoming gangsters, who brush past her as they race by. And then someone suddenly appears beside her and puts an arm around her as he pulls the umbrella down over them.

It’s Jung-bong, who slowly lifts the umbrella to reveal a smile, a la Kang Dong-won in Tempation of Wolves. Mi-ok is transfixed, and Jung-bong says she looks familiar. She tells him what school she goes to, and he says he knows a girl named Deok-sun who goes there. Mi-ok: “She’s my best friend!” Jung-bong: “What a coincidence! No… is it fate?” Hahaha. They stand there like that in the rain for a really long time as other people keep passing them by.

Bora and the boys arrive in the neighborhood, and she tells Jung-hwan to make sure Dong-ryong returns to his room before leaving him alone. Sun-woo is the one to finally ask why he ran away from home (you guys seriously didn’t ask him until now?), and they’re surprised when it’s not because of Teacher Dad, but his mother.

Mom is the 7-year consecutive Insurance King at her company, but Dong-ryong complains that Mom only cares about money, and thinks of her clients more than her kids. He says that yesterday was his birthday (the boys wish him a quick happy belated birthday, which he doesn’t seem to mind), and that Mom just left money on the table instead of breakfast.

Dong-ryong says that his parents were always working, so he and his brothers have gotten used to eating out or eating at their friends’ houses, but Mom has one dish that she makes really well—seaweed soup. It’s because she cooks at home for that one special occasion—their birthdays. But ever since she became Insurance King, it’s been years since he’s tasted her seaweed soup.

The guys feel bad for Dong-ryong, but Bora listens to the whole story and then asks what brand his shoes are, and points out all the brand-name clothes he’s wearing from head to toe. Bora says that Deok-sun’s been wearing the same no-name sneakers for three years, as we see Deok-sun run home pouring wet and race to dry her shoes as if they’re precious.

Bora tells Dong-ryong that his parents work hard to earn all that money, and they don’t have time to guess what he’s thinking. She tells him to just get mad instead of running away, because his parents aren’t mind-readers.

Properly chastised, Dong-ryong shuffles to his front door with Jung-hwan behind him. He hesitates and tries to bargain with Jung-hwan to go in with him, but Jung-hwan says he’d just get hit too and makes him go inside.

Dong-ryong heads inside, prepared to be in some major trouble. But agh, what he comes home to is sadder than two angry parents, because Mom didn’t even notice he never came home last night, and Dad yells at him to stop spending the night at his friend’s house all the time. That’s the end, and Dong-ryong hangs his head in defeat. Aw.

Sun-woo walks Bora home in the rain, and just casually shares his plans to go home for dinner and then head out to the library and be back late. She asks what that has to do with her, and he says it’s just for her to know, and he adds that just in case, he’ll wait outside her house for ten minutes.

She calls him crazy, but he says he’s just doing what he wants and she needn’t concern herself with him. She’s about to get mad at him again, but then she notices that his shoulder is dripping wet from the rain because he’s been holding the umbrella over her all this time. Of course he has! He lurves you! He notices her noticing that and tries to hide his smile.

Jung-hwan comes out and invites Sun-woo over for chicken, and says that Deok-sun and Taek got home way before them because Bora drives like a turtle. Dong-ryong is there too, and Deok-sun says he ran away again. Dong-ryong sighs that no one even knew he ran away from home in the first place and doesn’t see the point in it anymore.

Jung-hwan’s mom bought chickens for everyone on the street because of Dad’s birthday, though nothing seems to fix Dad’s mood today. Mom insists on throwing out the box of old junk in the pouring rain with Jung-bong, and then stops to marvel at an old cassette tape in the box.

The other boys gasp to hear that Deok-sun threw Taek in the water, and she insists that it was just his feet. They show the scar on Taek’s forehead and remind her that she put that there too, back when they were nine and she thought it’d be fun to wrestle with Taek on concrete. Dong-ryong: “That’s attempted murder.”

They argue that he’s been weird ever since (lol), and that he could’ve gone pro even younger if it weren’t for her. They tell her to take responsibility for the rest of her life (as in, marry him), so she declares, “Fine, I’ll take responsibility!” Taek looks over at her with a little smile as she says that she lucked out in the deal.

Jung-hwan snarks that Taek did nothing wrong to deserve that, while the others notice Taek smiling and accuse him of liking Deok-sun. He denies it with a laugh, and Dong-ryong tells them to date because Taek ought to learn the bitterness of life at some point.

They all laugh it off, but what they don’t notice is the way Taek keeps smiling and stealing little glances at Deok-sun.

When she gets up to go to the bathroom, Dong-ryong asks what he really thinks of Deok-sun, and Sun-woo encourages the match. Jung-hwan laughs nervously and says Taek would have to be crazy when there are so many girls out there. But Taek shocks them all with a simple and direct answer: “I like her.”

Oh noooooooooo. Jung-hwaaaaaan!

Dong-ryong asks again, and Taek doesn’t beat about the bush: “I like Deok-sun. Not as a friend, but as a woman.” Omo. Omo.

Ack, I can’t take the look in Jung-hwan’s eyes. Taek smiles as he says it out loud, and Dong-ryong and Sun-woo express their utter shock, joking that he may have sustained a head injury at the beach. But Jung-hwan is quiet the whole time, trying not to betray his reaction as his friends prod him to join in the teasing. He gives this little laugh, but it feels like he’s crying on the inside.

Jung-hwan’s mom plays the cassette tape she found in Dad’s box of junk, labeled “Jung-bong age 9, Jung-hwan age 3.” It’s the two boys singing songs and being adorable, and Dad gets increasingly sadder as he listens to it.

Mom wonders if he’s just feeling nostalgic, but Dad says he can hear it in the background—his mother’s voice. It was the year before she passed away, and Grandma and Dad have this cute argument in the recording about who should sing on his birthday, because she’s the one who worked hard to give birth and all.

Tears trickle down Dad’s face at the sound of her voice. He must’ve been missing his mother and didn’t even know it. He heads out in the rain and sings the song he sang to her back then, remembering her and taking the moment to grieve.

Sun-woo’s mom leaves dinner for Taek’s dad like always, but this time he asks her to stay and eat with him. She gives excuses like having to make Sun-woo’s dinner, but he knows that the kids are all eating chicken and tells her to sit down and eat already: “I’m sick of eating alone.” All he says is for her to stay and eat with him, but why does it sound like he’s asking for more?

She hesitates, but he out-stubborns her again and she sits down across the table to eat with him. I hope you guys get married!

Jung-hwan’s dad says he’s finally figured out why he gets sad on his birthday. Mom already guessed that it’s because of his mother, and Dad gets teary-eyed as he says that he didn’t even know that he always remembered his mother on his birthday. He sheds a tear as he says like a little boy, “I wish I could call her. I want to call her and say it’s my birthday, but I have no place to call.” Mom pats him on the shoulder sweetly as he cries.

Deok-sun is in shock when her friend Mi-ok tells her that she met Jung-bong and now believes in fate. Deok-sun is confused and wonders if they’re talking about the same Jung-bong, and Mi-ok changes all of Deok-sun’s descriptions from “fat” to “chubby” and from “round” to “cute.”

Mi-ok asks about Jung-hwan, and Deok-sun gets adorably shy and starts twirling the phone cord at the mention of him. She refuses to tell Mi-ok what he said about the blind date though, and says it’s her secret.

We rewind to FINALLY hear his answer, the night that Deok-sun asked if she should go on her blind date. He stared and stared for the longest time without saying anything, and then: “Don’t go.”

It was Deok-sun’s turn to become a statue, and he repeated, “Don’t go on the blind date.” All they did is sit there staring wide-eyed at each other, but it says something that I’m screaming the whole time, Kiss her! Kiss her, you fool!

Back in the present, Jung-hwan sits at his desk and takes out a pair of Lee Moon-se concert tickets that he bought. Things are way more complicated now though, and he heaves a long sigh.

Sun-woo walks home after studying and smiles when he turns the corner onto his street. There’s Bora, standing outside her house waiting for him like she said she wouldn’t. He asks if she’s waiting for him, and he’s all giddy smiles until the moment she says that there’s something she wants to say.

He’s scared that it’s another rejection and tries to stave it off till tomorrow, but she continues and says that he really has a way of making her concerned and is always around wherever she looks. He braces himself for what’s coming next.

She says that she’s thought about it and it’s probably her fault because she gave him the leeway to do that. And then she really stuns him by smiling and declaring very matter-of-factly, “Okay, let’s date. I like you too.”

He’s so shocked that he can’t form words, while she’s already rattling off all the people he can’t tell (basically anyone they know, lol). He just beams and nods, and then she smiles back at him in the cutest way.

After gathering his wits, the thing Sun-woo finally manages to say is, “Noona, can I kiss you?” Hahaha. Bora snarls no and slams the door shut behind her, and Sun-woo is just over the moon as he yells goodnight at her from the street. He stands out there for a good long while, basking in his happy moment.

 
COMMENTS

Aw, I’m happy for Sun-woo, and glad that Bora actually came to like him instead of always thinking of him as a little brother who’d never grow up. While that could be said of the others in various ways, Sun-woo really is more mature than the rest of them, as a big brother to Jin-ju, and especially as a thoughtful, caring son to his single mother. And he clearly knows Bora well enough to know how to convey his sincerity in actions, and to hang back without pressuring her. I thought he did a pretty good job of respecting her boundaries while still demanding to be seen as a romantic suitor and not just the kid down the street. Though he kinda killed it when he asked for permission to kiss her, which made him seem twelve and adorable.

I think they’ll be even cuter from this point forward, what with trying to keep their relationship a secret on the street where nobody keeps any secrets. I really enjoy that Bora’s relationship is very true to life, where you either choose to date a guy or not and then just date, because I’m sure we’ll get plenty of drama from Deok-sun’s lovelines, which will be far more angsty. That’s fine with me, since I don’t actually want my dramas to be, yunno, without drama, but it’s a nice reprieve to have one couple get to actually be a couple while the rest of the kids sort out their mess of tangled feelings.

I loved that the whole gang went out to bring Dong-ryong home, even though it was mostly an excuse to go on a day trip for most of them. I don’t mind that we don’t see much of Dong-ryong’s home life on a regular basis since we have so many other parents, but it was nice to see a bit of explanation as to why he’s a latchkey kid who doesn’t like going home. I thought maybe he got ordered around by his brothers or just always got yelled at by Teacher Dad, but it seems that his house is mostly empty, and that’s what he hates more than anything. It was pretty sad that he and Jung-hwan’s dad were both sad on their birthdays for the same reason—missing their moms—but Dong-ryong’s the kind of kid who would just suffer quietly and go unnoticed, even when he friggin’ ran away from home. I expected them not to notice he was ever gone, but I thought it would be played more for comedy; when he realized that his parents never knew that his big act of rebellion had even happened, he looked so deflated, like he’d never be able to tell them how he feels if they wouldn’t first get mad at him for running away. He seems like a well-adjusted kid though, and he has friends who’d come running to get him anywhere, so I’m not too worried about him.

It was a big episode for Taek and Jung-hwan alike, though I was equally excited to see the first signs of Deok-sun’s feelings when her friend asked how things went with Jung-hwan. She’d gone from not knowing how she felt about him to being coy about her feelings, which was the cutest little moment. Granted, she was quick to fall for Sun-woo at her friends’ suggestion and just as quick to fall out, so it’s not exactly a lot to go on at this stage. And I was awed by Taek’s direct admission of feelings, even if it was just to the boys for now, because there was zero hesitation on his part. We’d seen his crazy adoring smiles at Deok-sun for a while now so it’s not a shocker that he feels this way; but knowing and hearing it said in words is a totally different story, and Taek’s advantage is that he feels no embarrassment over letting his feelings be known.

Jung-hwan, on the other hand, oy—I’m just massively relieved he even told Deok-sun not to go on that blind date, because I was sure he’d lose his nerve and play it cool like a cool, stupid moron. I’ll be honest—my stomach dropped when Taek said he liked Deok-sun, because Jung-hwan’s silent freakout was killing me. I’m impressed that he managed to step up and tell Deok-sun not to go on that blind date at all, and I was thoroughly surprised that he didn’t tease her, or say it half-jokingly, or leave himself some other way out. He said the clearest thing possible, at least for the thing she wanted to know, and for a guy like Jung-hwan, I think that’s saying a LOT. It’s funny that Taek declared his feelings but Deok-sun still has no idea how he feels, but Jung-hwan hardly said a thing and yet seems to have conveyed that he likes her. In the most roundabout way, of course. Though all bets are off when Deok-sun finds out that both boys like her, because that look on Taekie’s face and the way he just says things like “I’m a man”—gah, it makes me worried for cautious kitty Jung-hwan and his cautious kitty ways.

 
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