I’ll Find You on a Beautiful Day: Episode 14

by quirkycase

For our characters, the coming of spring indicates new beginnings. Some will choose to leave, some will stay, others will reveal long-held secrets or take that decisive step. Whatever it is, nothing can be put off forever. For our protagonist and her family, this spring will be a time of reflection and hard truths. Hopefully, everyone will come out on the other side all the better for it.

 
EPISODE 14: “Sisterfield Maze”

As Hae-won holds her, Myung-yeo briefly regains consciousness. She looks up at Hae-won, considering, “Should I tell you?” She passes out again, and Hae-won’s screams bring her friends running.

Myung-yeo narrates she can’t help thinking things could be normal again, that she could get back what was lost, were she to return to that day. We see a happy, bright young Myung-yeo. Then, we flash back to Yoon-taek’s proposal.

Presently, Myung-yeo wakes in a hospital bed. Holding her head and staring into a mirror, she pleads, “Please, let me return to the person I was back then.” Myung-yeo sighs and hangs her head.

The doctor explains Myung-yeo’s glaucoma to Hae-won, claiming that the fainting was due to a build up of intraocular pressure. The doctor surmises Myung-yeo must’ve suffered greatly from headaches and eye pain. Hae-won finally realizes the significance of her aunt’s severe headaches.

Hae-won calls her mom from the hospital to tell her Myung-yeo fainted. “I understand,” her mom replies and hangs up. Incredulous at this non-response, Hae-won slams the phone down. Just then, Eun-seob arrives as moral support.

Jang-woo has lunch with coworkers and hears through the grapevine that Eun-shil broke up with the boyfriend he wasn’t aware she had. Jang-woo is impressed with his colleagues’ intel, but in that small town, everyone knows everyone. Conversation turns to marriage, and they start pestering Jang-woo about it.

Eun-seob narrates that every February, the town holds a rice cake festival. It’s a signal that spring is coming as young and old come together to make rice cakes. At the festival, Eun-shil updates her mom and some ajummas about Myung-yeo’s condition. They start gossiping about Hae-won’s family — a favorite topic, it seems.

The women go on about how those beautiful girls, Myung-joo and Myung-yeo, wasted their lives. Geez. When one ajumma conspiratorially whispers Myung-joo committed murder, Eun-shil emphatically corrects her; it was manslaughter, not murder. Regardless, the ajumma notes, their poor mother was so brokenhearted and even died of cancer.

They then start gossiping about Jang-woo’s blind date, which catches Eun-shil’s attention. “He went on a blind date?!” She scoffs when the ajumma says she heard he’ll probably get married next month. Pfft. The ajummas celebrate the happy news while Eun-shil looks decidedly unhappy and fishes for more info.

Jang-woo arrives at the festival and is fawned over by the ajummas. Inside, he surreptitiously looks around for Eun-shil, not realizing she’s been standing behind him. When he turns to leave, he’s staring right at her. She asks who he’s looking for. “Me? You. I… hold on. I need to go to the bathroom really badly,” Jang-woo blurts and runs off. Ha.

They relocate outside and sit beside each other awkwardly. Eun-shil asks about Gil-bok – he’s fine. Jang-woo asks about her coffee event – it went well. Then Eun-shil can’t hold it in anymore and asks about his blind date and supposed nuptials.

She presses for details, so he admits he went on a date but is not getting married. She smirks to hear he wasn’t into his date. Eun-shil is suddenly much more relaxed and talkative, and they’re back to their usual dynamic.

At the hospital, Myung-yeo is already packing up to leave. Hae-won confronts her about needlessly enduring the pain, but Myung-yeo argues it was just laziness that kept her from getting it checked out. When Hae-won won’t back down, Myung-yeo encourages her to go back to Seoul since her nagging is exhausting.

Eun-seob narrates that those who need to leave will leave, and those who have to stay will stay. “That season is coming.” In the hospital hallway, Eun-seob morosely hangs his head.

Meanwhile, the town residents are enjoying each other’s company and mountain food at the festival. Jang-woo follows Eun-shil around like a lost puppy.

Myung-yeo takes a taxi home to find her sister waiting. Myung-joo orders her to remove her sunglasses, so she does. Myung-joo fights back tears as she admonishes her. This isn’t the full life she told Myung-yeo to live. “How am I supposed to do that? I killed a person,” Myung-yeo boldly states while meeting her sister’s eyes.

Others may pity Myung-joo, but Myung-yeo pities herself. Her right to pay for her crime was taken away. Myung-joo argues that Myung-yeo did nothing wrong that she needs to pay for. “I did!” It was her foot on the pedal.

She remembers every detail of that day. Myung-yeo cries as she asks how she could say she’s done nothing wrong. The sound of the door opening makes them quickly hide their tears, and Myung-yeo disappears to her room as Hae-won enters.

Hae-won and Myung-joo go out to eat, and Hae-won asks her mom to convince Myung-yeo. Doctors say they can save her other eye if she’s treated. Myung-yeo might listen to Myung-joo since they’re close. Myung-joo: “Are we?”

Since Myung-yeo recently started writing again and meeting with Yoon-taek – Myung-joo pauses upon hearing that – Hae-won thought she might be changing. She notes sadly that she was wrong, and Myung-yeo is still as apathetic as ever. Myung-joo breathes a helpless sigh.

In a flashback, we see her sitting on a swing with Myung-yeo, who’s resting her head on Myung-joo’s shoulder. “I want to do everything in this world. I’ll do it all,” Myung-yeo announces optimistically. We cut to Myung-yeo visiting Myung-joo in prison, sobbing, “Unni, I’m scared” over and over. In the present, Myung-joo looks at Hae-won as she stares listlessly out the window. They eat in silence, each lost in worry.

At school, Hwi is energetically cleaning the classroom when a girl comes in and smacks her hard across the face, knocking her to the ground. How dare she come to school on Yeong-soo’s bike? The girl informs Hwi she’s Yeong-soo’s girlfriend Song Jae-in.

Hwi calmly gets up. “Ah, so you’re Song Jae-in. Nice to meet you,” she says before yanking a handful of her hair. Now it’s on, and they’ve both got each other by the hair as the rest of the class films them. A boy runs into Yeong-soo’s class to tell him about the fight, but Yeong-soo just sighs and keeps studying.

Eun-seob accompanies his mom, who was called to Hwi’s school. Yeo-jung chides Hwi for getting into a fight over a guy. Hwi places a hand on her mom’s shoulder. “Mom, guys are my everything.” HA. Her mom does not take well to that, especially since the guy in question has a girlfriend. Hwi explains she wasn’t making a move – it’s a business deal of sorts. So coming to school together was the deal?

Seung-ho comes running up to Hwi after hearing she got in trouble. Hwi accuses Eun-seob of telling Seung-ho which he admits to with a grin. The four of them head off with Hwi and her mom still bickering.

Later, Eun-seob and Hae-won drop Seung-ho off at the hospital. On the way back, Hae-won asks Eun-seob if he tried to reach Seung-ho’s dad. Ah, so he does have at least one parent. Eun-seob couldn’t get ahold of him, though. And he hasn’t been back in five years.

Eun-seob asks how things are with Hae-won, so she shares her frustrations about her mom and aunt. Eun-seob muses that, maybe, time will help resolve what’s going on for both Myung-yeo and Seung-ho’s dad. Hae-won: “Just like spring follows winter?” Hae-won agrees with Eun-seob’s feeling that spring is coming soon. Looking melancholy, she stares at Eun-seob and takes his hand. They smile at each other.

At home, Myung-yeo deletes her opening sentence and replaces it with a message to Yoon-taek. She admits he was right, and the rumors aren’t true. She sends it to him in an email.

Yoon-taek reads the manuscript Myung-yeo sent to him titled “Sisterfield Maze.” Myung-yeo writes that she never wanted to give up on herself. We flash back to a young Myung-yeo, confident in her talent. Then, we see current Myung-yeo battling pain in bed.

Myung-yeo never expected to fall apart, get sick, or get old. She falls to the ground in agony and, later, vomits. She never foresaw herself spending her life alone, like she’s just waiting to die. We cut to her telling Yoon-taek to live well while walking away. “I never wanted, even for a moment, to break up with you.” As he reads, Yoon-taek tells the taxi driver to turn around.

Myung-yeo meets Yoon-taek at the station again. “Hey, Shim Myung-yeo,” Yoon-taek calls across the tracks. “Let me hug you just once.” He crosses the tracks and grabs her in a tight hug. Yoon-taek tells her that he never, for a moment, wanted to break up with her either.

Myung-yeo’s voice breaks as she asks if he really read what she did. Yoon-taek quotes the clause in their contract where he won’t ask what’s fact or fiction. She notes that he’s more tolerant than she gave him credit for. “Of course. That’s why I loved you,” he replies, still embracing her.

All the book club members are at Gil-bok’s, prepping the place for his arrival once he’s discharged. Eun-shil calls Jang-woo into the tiny kitchen, where he has a little freak-out that they’ll be crammed in there alone. She uses him as a taste tester, feeding him various dishes. But the only one he says is good happens to be the one her mom made.

We get the dramatic fall and catch where Eun-shil literally slips into Jang-woo’s arms. “Wow, your arms are really strong,” Eun-shil breathlessly observes. Jang-woo stammers that his legs are too. “Gosh, that’s good. I mean, good for you.” HA! Geun-sang stumbles onto this scene and suggestively asks what they’re doing. They hop apart, stuttering.

Hwi watches Hyun-ji expertly chop wood. How’d she get so good? Hyun-ji says she learned it to incorporate into her hip-hop performance. Whaat? Pfft. Hwi: “And people call me a lunatic…”

Hwi turns to Yeong-soo and starts ranting about his “girlfriend” beating her up. She may have been an outcast for years, but no one’s ever slapped her face before. Yeong-soo dryly notes that she did some hair pulling herself. He scoffs when she says Jae-in started it. Yeong-soo informs her that now, Jae-in wants to come to school with them every morning. At that, Hwi throws an actual fit, making Yeong-soo chuckle.

Eun-seob leads Gil-bok and Seung-ho inside where everyone’s waiting to welcome Gil-bok home. Afterwards, Eun-seob takes Hae-won home. In the car, she tells him about Bo-yeong’s apology and how she said she hates Hae-won because she liked her.

Hae-won can’t even remember how she felt about Bo-yeong in the past. Did she ever like her? It’s too late now, anyway. She compares trust to glass that, once broken, will always have cracks.

When Eun-seob gets back to the bookshop, he opens an email from Myung-yeo. It’s “Sisterfield Maze.” Wait, she sent it to him too? The following morning, he’s still at his computer. He lets the phone ring as he stares at the screen, looking burdened.

Eun-seob replies to the email in which Myung-yeo gave him the choice of whether or not to show the manuscript to Hae-won. Okay, that’s not fair. He writes that it seems, by sending it to him, she wants Hae-won to know the truth. We see Hae-won cooing at Gunbam, clearly in one of her happy moods.

Eun-seob continues that he doesn’t think he can make the decision since he doesn’t know the full circumstance. It’ll be difficult, but she should tell Hae-won herself. If Myung-yeo can’t handle that, he’ll give the manuscript to Hae-won. He ends by acknowledging how hard it must’ve been to keep this secret and that he doesn’t doubt her love for Hae-won.

Next thing we see is him passing Hae-won a printed version of “Sisterfield Maze.” I guess Myung-yeo couldn’t tell her in person. Eun-seob encourages Hae-won to go home and read it. He’ll come over after work. His serious tone confuses Hae-won, but she agrees. He silently embraces her.

Hae-won leaves the manuscript untouched on the table all day, hesitant to read it. That evening, she finally takes the plunge. It opens on the morning of the incident when Myung-joo sent a simple text to Myung-yeo: “Curry?” Myung-yeo came over, and we know what happened next.

Hae-won cries as she reads, “Even the scene of my brother-in-law beating my sister was the same as any other day.” The difference that day was that Myung-yeo ended up killing him. Shaken, Hae-won slams the pages down. She stands, looking lost, as Myung-joo walks in.

Tears still streaming down her face, she manages to stutter out the question, “Mom, who killed Dad?” Myung-joo grabs the manuscript in alarm and reads. Hae-won screams at her mom to answer. Breathing heavily, Myung-joo shakily lies that Myung-yeo didn’t do it.

Hae-won has had enough and starts to leave, but Myung-joo grabs onto her. Angry that they kept this from her, Hae-won says through tears that she understands why her mom hated her dad; she didn’t like him all the time either. “Still, he’s my dad.”

She breaks down as she says aloud that it was her aunt who did it. Hae-won thinks back to when Myung-yeo told her she’d be her guardian from now on. From then on, her aunt was on the only one she could trust and rely on. In tears, Myung-joo steps toward Hae-won who steps back.

“You two are scary,” Hae-won says, staring at her mom with disdain. Voice breaking, she orders her mom not to follow her out. Myung-joo stands rooted in place, shaking as tears roll down her face. Myung-yeo arrives home later and sees the manuscript on the table. She thinks, “Tell me. Can you forgive me?”

Hae-won sits alone at the bus stop in the pouring rain. She stares ahead blankly. We flash back to when she was little and excitedly gave her mom a flower she had picked. Myung-joo barely looked up from her book. Little Hae-won’s face fell until her dad called her over to say Myung-joo was in a bad mood, so he’d play with her instead.

Hae-won rides the bus to the end of its route. Her face streaked with tears, she repeatedly taps her head against the window. Concerned, the driver comes over to ask if she’s okay.

Eun-seob races out of the bookshop and speeds to the bus terminal. He finds her sitting alone, looking broken, and drapes his coat over her before sitting beside her. When she looks at him, she begins to cry in earnest. Eun-seob pulls her close and holds her.

Eun-seob’s Blog Post

There was a time when I thought life was the process of finding one’s place. A place where it’s okay for me to exist without bothering anyone or being bothered. Finding a place where no one would refuse me. That’s what I thought life was. But now, I’ve changed my mind. Wherever it may be, the place where I am right now is my place. As long as I live as my true self, I believe it will be okay for me to exist in this place. That’s all I have to say today. If I say more, I might want to quit everything.

 
COMMENTS

So it’s finally out there. The reveal had to happen, and I’m glad the truth isn’t being concealed anymore. This process will be painful, but it’s the only way for everyone involved to move forward and live. Seeing how optimistic and full of life Myung-yeo was before the incident was hard. She lost her spark and started surviving rather than living. Although Myung-joo took the fall out of love, as Myung-yeo pointed out, it robbed her of the opportunity to take responsibility and atone. I’m glad she’s finally facing what she lost and trying, however late, to take back her life a bit.

The secrets ate away at not only Myung-yeo but the whole family. Hae-won and Myung-joo had to watch Myung-yeo go through life like a zombie, giving up all ambition and hope. Myung-joo distanced herself from Hae-won to the point of destroying their relationship, leaving Hae-won feeling lost and abandoned. And now, after all the lying and secrecy, Hae-won’s fragile trust in her family has been wholly shattered. Thank goodness she has Eun-seob because I’m not sure how she would’ve coped without at least one person she trusts by her side.

I was not happy with the way Myung-yeo handled the reveal, though. She should never have put that burden on Eun-seob. This was her (and Myung-joo’s) responsibility, and it shouldn’t have been shifted onto anyone else, especially someone who’s unrelated to the events. I’m sure she thought that, him being the closest person to Hae-won, he’d be able to judge whether she could handle it and help her cope. But it’s not his place, as he pointed out. If Myung-yeo couldn’t tell Hae-won to her face, which I get, she could’ve written her a letter or just given her the manuscript herself. It should’ve come from her.

Now, Hae-won is left feeling like she’s the only one who didn’t know this hugely relevant detail of her own past. The whole situation surrounding her dad must be incredibly confusing and challenging for Hae-won. That comment she made about not liking her father sometimes could imply she knew of his violent tendencies. But, to her, he was a loving father who treated her better than her mother did. How do you deal with the fact that the parent who was there for you was an abuser to someone else? Her mother has always been cold toward her, while her father gave her warmth and affection. That scene with the flower was so reminiscent of the scene with Eun-seob giving Yeo-jung the beetle. But for Hae-won, her mother barely acknowledged she was there much less showed interest. We can see Myung-joo was likely depressed and struggling to survive, but to a child, it must’ve felt like her mother didn’t want her around.

Once again, we got a lot of side story and background action this hour. While I’m happy the side characters are well-developed and their stories aren’t ignored, I do think they could’ve been worked in more seamlessly. As it stands, it feels chunked. First, we focused on Hae-won and Eun-seob, and then we moved onto the side stories. I’d much rather slow the progression between Eun-seob and Hae-won, spreading it out over the course of the show alongside the side stories. Right now, it’s like we’re taking a detour before getting back to our main couple. I assume the final week will refocus on Hae-won and Eun-seob since not only did that truth bomb drop, we still haven’t dealt with the major question of whether Hae-won is leaving. Whatever happens, change is in the air. And as we’ve been told … spring is coming.

 
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