Woohoo Waikiki 2: Episode 7

by LollyPip

When people really care about someone, they’re often willing to sacrifice for their loved one’s happiness in ways that they won’t for themselves. Seeing your friends struggling or unhappy can be almost as difficult as being unhappy yourself, and it’s great to find a way to help them. But one of the housemates faces something so devastating that there’s nothing the friends can do, and there life may be changed forever.

 
EPISODE 7: “Our Twisted Hero/The Last Match

Joon-ki is playing a beggar in his current drama, but he shows up on set in too-nice clothes for his character. Jung-eun also has a role as a beggar, and she arrives looking incredibly scruffy with a ragged wig, filthy clothes, and pushing a shopping cart, lol. The PD is thrilled, and chastises Joon-ki for not rising up to Jung-eun’s standard.

Soo-yeon gets a job as a waitress in the restaurant where Woo-shik sings, and she brings him a drink after his set. She drops a plate, upsetting the owner, and she’s depressed on the walk home after all the mistakes she made on her first day.

Woo-shik assures her that she’ll improve, and he offers to buy her hotteok to cheer her up. The hotteok lady says they make a cute couple, and Woo-shik gets all shy, then he buys her entire cart’s worth of hotteok.

Joon-ki is doing some frantic research into homeless people when Woo-shik gets home with the hotteok. Ki-bong asks why he’s in such a good mood and Joon-ki says it’s because it was his first day at work with Soo-yeon. Woo-shik is annoyed that Joon-ki told Ki-bong about his crush on Soo-yeon, but he gushes excitedly about the hotteok lady saying they’re a cute couple.

Joon-ki looks more the part the following day on set, earning the PD’s praise… until Jung-eun arrives looking even betterworse than she did yesterday. The PD gives her Joon-ki’s lines, overriding her protests and upsetting Joon-ki. This means war.

At the restaurant, Woo-shik finds Soo-yeon mopping up a flood she created by clogging the sink. The owner tells Woo-shik privately that he wants to fire Soo-yeon, and Woo-shik begs him to give her another chance. The owner gets a call about their landlord, complaining that the other business owners are going to do a deep bow parade all the way to the landlord’s house to protest the rent increase.

He whines that he has bad knees, and it gives Woo-shik an idea. He participates in the protest in place of the owner, in return for his giving Soo-yeon another chance.

Joon-ki is busy stalking an actual homeless man (cameo by Kim Ki-cheon), but the man notices and tries to run away from him. He corners Joon-ki in an alley and asks if he’s trying to steal his baby carriage, so Joon-ki explains that he’s an actor looking for inspiration for his drama part.

The homeless man is offended until Joon-ki says that of all the beggars he saw, he was the most professional, ha. Calling him “Teacher,” Joon-ki gets on his knees and pleads for him to teach him the ways of the streets. But Teacher says he’s already busy enough just trying to survive, refusing to help.

Woo-shik is stiff and sore when the protester is over, but unfortunately, it didn’t impress the landlord. They discuss other options like writing letters in their own blood and a hunger strike, so Woo-shik frantically calls his boss and tells him what they’re planning. His boss tells him to do it, and in the background Woo-shik hears Soo-yeon breaking another plate, so he has no choice.

He’s given a huge sheet of paper, and he stays up all night laboriously cutting his fingers to make the letters. He’s near passing out from blood loss by the time he’s finished. Soo-yeon hears what he’s doing and comes to ask why he’s doing this, and she offers to talk to the boss for him.

But Woo-shik grabs her arm and tells her he volunteered because he’s just so very interested in rent issues, ha. He asks Soo-yeon to just go back to work and not upset the boss again.

Joon-ki finds Teacher again and begs for his help, but Teacher refuses and locks himself into his little hut for the night. Joon-ki sits outside on his knees like he’s petitioning a king, hee, and eventually Teacher takes pity on him and lets him inside.

First, Teacher gives Joon-ki a filthy, ill-fitting outfit to wear and a dirty bread roll for dinner, and Joon-ki dresses and eats nervously. Teacher tells him to sleep well, because the real lessons start tomorrow.

Ki-bong listens as Yu-ri suffers through a phone call with Byung-chul, pretending that his dumb jokes and ridiculous laugh aren’t killing her. After she hangs up, she whines to Ki-bong that she just can’t get used to Byung-chul’s laughter, but Ki-bong says that Byung-chul is teaching him the forkball pitch, so she’s satisfied.

Teacher leads Joon-ki to a busy courtyard where there are a lot of people who will have loose change on them. He says that the trick to begging is to stir people’s hearts, which is best done by making eye contact and looking as pitiful as possible.

Joon-ki gives it a try, but Teacher says there’s still hope in his eyes, so he takes Joon-ki’s money to make him more desperate. Joon-ki doesn’t improve, and Teacher snaps that it’s no wonder he’s still only getting tiny roles at his age. His harsh criticism does what taking his money couldn’t, and Joon-ki loses all hope, which finally gives him the pathetic look Teacher wants.

Woo-shik’s hunger strike continues, and by Day Five, he’s weak and wondering if he’s going to starve to death. Joon-ki runs by the strike hut carrying an armful of expired bread he begged from a store, and one drops practically in Woo-shik’s lap. Joon-ki notices that one is missing and wishes food poisoning on whoever took it from him, as Woo-shik scarfs down the bread as quickly as possible.

Joon-ki has grown frighteningly good at switching the pathetic look off and on. He’s such a good beggar that he earns a lot more change than Teacher himself, though he credits his success to Teacher’s lessons. Teacher says that Joon-ki has nothing left to learn and sets him free to go be the best beggar actor in the world.

Before Joon-ki goes, Teacher says he has a gift for him. On the set, Jung-eun is still being praised as “the god of beggars,” but when Joon-ki arrives pushing Teacher’s baby buggy, the PD marvels that he thought Joon-ki was a real beggar for a moment. Jung-eun asks why he hasn’t been home in days, and Joon-ki says in a heavy voice that he was receiving acting — no, life — lessons.

They start their scene, which is about three beggars who fight over some bread. Joon-ki scoffs at their incorrect portrayal of begging according to Teacher and uses the eye contact technique, and the PD is impressed by the look in his eyes.

Another beggar brings two bread rolls, and one is dropped and stepped on in the scuffle. Joon-ki stops fighting and picks up the smashed bread, remembering Teacher’s lesson to be unafraid of eating food off the ground, and he digs in. The PD has the camera zoom in on him, then calls cut.

He says he particularly liked Joon-ki’s performance, but that he didn’t have to eat food off the ground. Joon-ki barks that when you’re starving, you can eat anything no matter how filthy, and the PD calls him a true actor.

On Day Six of the hunger strike, even the other protesters are begging their leader to call things off since the landlord obviously doesn’t care. The leader agrees, so they decide that one of them should shave their head instead. He asks for a volunteer, but everybody suddenly has something else very important to look at , ha.

The number game is suggested to decide who will shave their head, and Woo-shik loses along with the lady who owns the beauty salon. They play the tangsuyuk game to determine the loser, and again Woo-shik loses. He asks for one phone call before they shave his head, which he uses to call his boss, but Soo-yeon just set the kitchen on fire. Bye-bye, Woo-shik’s pretty hair…

Thankfully, they’re just getting started when a voice calls out for them to stop. It’s the landlord’s attorney saying that he won’t increase the rent, and the protesters celebrate while Woo-shik wails about the loss of one huge strip of hair right on the back of his head.

Back at the guesthouse, Woo-shik cries (while wearing a beanie, lol) while Ki-bong teases him mercilessly. Soo-yeon brings him some porridge, and after she leaves his room, he happily eats it just because Soo-yeon made it, even though it’s horrible.

Jung-eun tells Joon-ki that she saw the bread on the ground but never thought about eating it. He pontificates that acting isn’t about copying someone else, but believing that you’ve become that person. Unfortunately, Joon-ki gets completely cut from the drama, because it airs at dinnertime and the sight of someone eating bread off the ground is considered too gross.

Byung-chul takes Yu-ri out for a steak dinner as an apology for being out of touch lately. He says he’s been working on something secret that he’ll tell her later. Yu-ri thinks to herself that when he’s not laughing, Byung-chul is pretty perfect, until he peppers his food and makes himself sneeze. His sneeze sounds like a cat meowing, then he gives himself the hiccups, which makes him sound like a cuckoo clock.

Yu-ri complains to the housemates about Byung-chul’s cuckoo clock hiccups and meowing sneeze. She declares that she’s got to break up with him, but Woo-shik reminds her that Byung-chul is teaching Ki-bong the forkball.

Ki-bong runs home, screaming that his coach saw his forkball and made a call, and he’s going to be re-evaluated for the major leagues again. Yu-ri trills that she’s breaking up with Byung-chul tomorrow and skips off happily, but Ki-bong is left worrying what he’ll say to Byung-chul.

Later, a houseguest returns to her room after taking a shower to find a pervert (cameo by Oh Hee-joon) sniffing her clothes. Her screams scare him off and the cops are called. Joon-ki comes home and the others explain, then belatedly realize that he’s carrying a snake.

Joon-ki says that he’s babysitting the snake for a director friend who’s going abroad. The housemates object, but Joon-ki says that Anne Hathaway Scarlett Johansson Megan Fox Junior is a very gentle snake and only a little bit venomous, HAHA. He promises to take good care of it and heads off to his room.

Early the next morning, Ki-bong gets up to prepare for training. As he grabs his jacket, it accidentally flicks AHSJMF Junior’s habitat and knocks off the lid. By the time anyone notices, AHSJMF Junior is long gone. They all pitch in to look for the snake before a guest sees it, but Yu-ri leaves to break up with Byung-chul and wishes them luck.

When she meets Byung-chul, she can’t get a word in edgewise because he’s too excited to show her his surprise — the restaurant he just bought. He says he’s retiring from baseball soon and the restaurant is his retirement plan, and he tells Yu-ri that he wants her to run the kitchen.

Joon-ki locates AHSJMF Junior upstairs, slithering into a guest room. Joon-ki follows it and slides under the bed to see where the snake went, and he hears a pair of female guests enter the room, wondering if they’ve caught the pervert yet. They decide to stay in their room for a while, leaving Joon-ki stuck under the bed.

Later, Yu-ri comes home all excited, having accepted Byung-chul’s offer to run his restaurant kitchen. She tells the housemates that sure, he makes weird noises, but it’s not that bad.

Ki-bong is feeling good after practice and looking forward to his upcoming re-evaluation. A man slams into him, knocking him to the pavement right on his bad arm, but he pops up, seeming okay. A woman yells that the guy was a thief, so Ki-bong takes a baseball from his pocket and hits the thief in the leg.

Joon-ki is still squished under the guest’s bed, listening to them talk angrily about how all perverts should be castrated. They finally leave, giving Joon-ki a chance to escape, but he ducks back under when someone else enters the room. It’s the pervert, but he hears the women heading back to the room and leaps under the bed with Joon-ki.

Joon-ki guesses that he’s the pervert, and he whispers that he’s just here for his snake, making Pervert laugh that the guests won’t buy that flimsy excuse. Joon-ki threatens to teach Pervert a lesson once they get out of there. But the girls decide to stay in the room all night, and the guys are trapped.

Late that night, Yu-ri finds Ki-bong sitting in the kitchen, too nervous about his test tomorrow to sleep. Yu-ri tells him that he’s been working really hard, so she’s sure he’ll make it to the majors this time. Ki-bong congratulates her on her new job at Byung-chul’s restaurant, though he still thinks she broke up with Byung-chul.

Yu-ri doesn’t get a chance to tell the truth, and Ki-bong is so cute as he credits this chance entirely to her. He promises to buy her a restaurant when he gets to the major leagues and starts making big money, though he adorably misinterprets “Yu-ri’s Kitchen” and “Yu-ri’s Chicken” and demands free chicken for life.

The guys get hungry as they listen to the girls eating snacks in their room. Pervert has a candy bar in his pocket, and he teases Joon-ki with it until he pouts that he doesn’t want it anyway. Pervert calls him sulky and gives him half, and they end up having a conversation about where to get the best snacks, hee.

In the morning the housemates see Ki-bong off to his evaluation, joking that he’d better not fail this time. Yu-ri gives him a special energy drink that she made, which she tosses to him, but he drops it. He leans over to pick it up and something in his shoulder pops. Oh no…

Joon-ki is still under the guest bed with Pervert, having listened to the female guests talk all night long. They’re currently trying to think of the name of a song, and Joon-ki and Pervert get into their own little tiff about which song it is, so they bet forehead-flicks on it.

When the girls remember, Joon-ki wins the bet. He gently fairy-taps Pervert, grinning that it’s for sharing his candy bar. OMG, the bromance is thick under that bed right now.

Ki-bong winds up for his evaluation — and pitches wide, almost taking off the coach’s head. He pitches again and this time his shoulder cracks loudly. Coach is worried but Ki-bong insists that he’s okay, but when he reaches for his glove, the pain brings him to his knees.

Pervert gets worried for Joon-ki when Joon-ki admits that he really needs to pee. Pervert can’t stand seeing his new friend suffer, so he tosses a lighter across the room, and when the girls look that direction, he slides out, grabs a half-empty drink bottle, and slithers back under the bed.

As they’re gazing at each other lovingly, Anne Hathaway Scarlett Johansson Megan Fox Junior slithers up between them. The pervert sacrifices himself and gets bitten on the lip for Joon-ki, resulting in his discovery and arrest. Joon-ki asks Pervert why he let the snake bite him, and Pervert says it’s because Joon-ki is an actor so his face is his livelihood.

He says he’ll get treatment in jail, and Joon-ki asks Pervert’s never to commit his perverted crime again. They pinky-swear on it, the bromance palpable as Woo-shik and Yu-ri wonder what on earth is going on, ha. Joon-ki screams that Pervert is the most loyal friend he’s ever had and runs crying from the room.

Ki-bong is in a sling when he returns home, and he says with a smile that he got injured. Yu-ri asks about his test, but he just says he’s tired and goes to his room. He’s called to practice the next day by Coach, where Byung-chul fusses at Ki-bong for doing this to himself after he wasted so much time teaching him the forkball.

Yu-ri spends the day at Byung-chul’s restaurant, cleaning the kitchen top to bottom. Byung-chul comes by after practice and she asks about Ki-bong, and Byung-chul sighs that she must not have heard yet that Ki-bong got kicked off the team.

He says that it’s because he’s injured that arm multiple times, sneering that a professional should take better care of himself. He calls Ki-bong stupid and rants about how he did this to himself, while Yu-ri just glares at him, growing angrier and angrier.

Finally she snaps and tells Byung-chul that he doesn’t know Ki-bong very well, or how hard he’s worked to get where he is. She says that no sunbae should speak that way about a teammate who’s going through something so difficult. She orders Byung-chul never to call her again and storms out.

Ki-bong looks like the world is ending as he replays the moment Coach delivered the bad news in his mind. Yu-ri sits with him and asks how he’s feeling, but he fakes another smile and acts like he’s fine. He says that there’s no other choice, because rehab takes a long time and probably won’t work.

He lies that he was getting tired of baseball anyway, but Yu-ri sees right through him. She makes him look at her then pokes him in the eyes, telling him to just cry. It breaks the dam, and Ki-bong wails, asking Yu-ri what he’s supposed to do now that he can’t play baseball. Yu-ri just holds him as he sobs.

 
COMMENTS

Woo-shik was a lot less grumpy in today’s episode, which made his crush on Soo-yeon that much cuter. He’s not denying it to himself or his friends anymore, so he’s free to squee any time Soo-yeon makes him porridge or gives him attention of any kind, and it’s frankly adorable. He seems a lot more like the guy Soo-yeon describes from high school, the one she fell for in the first place — the guy who is sweet and smiles and is willing to do anything for her, even if she doesn’t know it. My only complaint is that he’s doing things for her when she’s not around, but I want to see more of them together. They seem to have good chemistry, but we’ve really only gotten to see them have a couple of conversations, and I want more.

It’s so hard to watch Ki-bong’s heart break over losing his dream of being a major league baseball player. He’s the happy virus of the house, always cheerful and happy, and he tried so hard to pretend that he was fine. But you could see how brittle his smiles were, and thankfully Yu-ri was there to see how he was suffering and give him a cafe space to cry and just feel his loss. I have a feeling that Ki-bong is going to need a lot of patience and support, because he’s not the smartest guy and he’s only ever wanted to do one thing with his life. He’s going to feel lost and worthless for a while, but I hope that his relationship with Yu-ri strengthens as he works himself out.

I know I keep saying it, but the more we get to know Yu-ri, the more I love her. She isn’t evil at all, as Woo-shik thought — her worst quality is that she’s a bit entitled, but nobody’s perfect. Yu-ri is supportive to a fault, going out of her way to help anyone in the house who needs help or even just a friendly pep talk. But it’s her relationship with Ki-bong that really gets me right here, the way she was willing to date a guy whose annoying habits drove her crazy to help Ki-bong advance his career. Yes, that was unkind of her if you see it from Byung-chul’s side of things, especially when she decided to trade dating him for a job in his restaurant, but like I said, nobody’s perfect.

But Yu-ri fully won me over when she blasted Byung-chul for insulting Ki-bong on what has to be the worst day of Ki-bong’s life. A recurring injury is a death sentence for a professional athlete’s career, and Ki-bong already got bumped down from the majors to the minors once due to his arm. Now he’s lost his place on the team entirely and may never get it back (or it will take years even if he does), and Byung-chul has the nerve to call him stupid and unprofessional and to blame him for it right to his friend’s face. It made me so happy to see Yu-ri inform him exactly how much of an ass he is for that, because Ki-bong needs a friend like her right now more than ever.

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