Doom at Your Service: Episode 14

by CandidClown

Now that Doom and his lady have recovered their memories, they will have to face the fact that they can no longer run from their fate. Whether you’re a god or human, some things are inevitable. When the end comes, all you can do is decide how you want to spend your time: together, or apart.

 
EPISODE 14 RECAP

After recovering their memories and finding one another again, Myeol-mang and Dong-kyung sit outside her apartment. She apologizes for making the deal to erase their memories. She had wanted to bear all the consequences herself, yet everything ended up the same. Myeol-mang jokes that he’s sorry too: For being so handsome that she fell for him again. Hur.

She asks what they should do now and Myeol-mang says they should finally accept their fate, acknowledging that nothing they do will change what is coming. Dong-kyung knows that this was he plan all along and he means to disappear and save her.

Dong-Kyung blames herself for starting all of this with her wish, but Myeol-mang insists she didn’t do anything wrong because it led to them meeting. If they hadn’t, he would have continued to be nothing. “I want to mean something to you.”

Returning to the hospital, they are met by Soo-ja who yells at Dong-kyung for leaving and admonishes Myeol-mang for being away for the last few days. Dong-kyung is surprised that everyone’s memories of Myeol-mang have returned. Then he shocks her further when by smoothly answering Soo-ja that he had some things to take care of, you know, before their wedding. (Say wut?!)

Hyun-kyu wallows over at the café after his failed first-of-three dates with Ji-na. Poor Sun-kyung is trying to piece together what happened with Ji-na through his boss’ mutterings about “her” kissing another man in the rain. Hyun-kyu finally sits up to clarify that he was dumped…and Sun-kyung gently lays him back down to continue moping.

Joo-ik picks that moment to stride in and tell the dejected Hyun-kyu to come back home. Sun-Kyung remembers Ji-na saying her #1 and #2 guys live together and figures out that Joo-ik is #2. Shocked, he runs off to pester her about kissing another guy, but she speed walks away.

The two burst right into Dong-kyung’s hospital room, but their mini-drama is quickly forgotten when Soo-ja announces the upcoming nuptials. Dong-kyung tries to deny it, but Myeol-mang’s firm confirmation seals the deal. Sun-Kyung grabs Myeol-mang while Ji-na snags Dong-Kyung, tugging the affianced couple out of the room.

The boys head up to the roof for some guy talk. Declaring that he really admires Myeol-mang for his choice, Sun-Kyung gives his future brother-in-law a bank book, revealing that he’s been saving money for years to give back to his sister. He asks Myeol-mang to use it for the wedding.

As though revealing a huge secret, Sun-kyung admits that he first thought Myeol-mang was a free-loader taking advantage of his sister. (Myeol-mang the mind reader just smirks.) He knows now that Dong-kyung is lucky to have met Myeol-mang and adds that Myeol-mang must have led a nice life as well to end up with her. Ooof.

Sun-kyung sincerely asks that his future brother-in-law to remain by his sister’s side and treat her well. Touched, Myeol-mang promises that he will.

The mood is a bit different over with the ladies. Ji-na can’t believe that Dong-kyung wants to get married and is mildly flipping out. Dong-kyung just answers that she wants to do whatever Myeol-mang wants.

Ji-na tries to argue that marriage shouldn’t be taken lightly, but Dong-kyung interrupts her with a hug. Cluthing her friend, she starts crying that no matter what she does, she’s running out of time and doesn’t know what to do. Ji-na returns the hug and assures her that it’s not her fault, promising to support her no matter what.

Myeol-mang leaves Sun-kyung, but once he’s alone he can’t hold back his grief anymore and falls to his knees, gasping out tears. Next to him, a butterfly flaps feebly against the ground then stills.

Hyun-kyu returns to Joo-ik’s apartment and the two share the most awkward dinner ever. Watching Joo-ik wash the dishes after, Hyun-kyu notes that Joo-ik always used to watch him this way, waiting for him. He tells Joo-ik not to wait anymore, planning to move out so he can learn to grow up.

Over at the hospital, Doctor Jung is all smiles as he grants Dong-kyung’s request to postpone treatment until after her wedding. He admits that the upcoming surgery is dangerous, but encourages her to live a little longer, be a little happier.

Now that Dong-kyung is returning home (until after the wedding), Sun-kyung is worried about her being outside the hospital. Ji-na agrees that she’s worried as well, but tells him that she’ll take responsibility. Since Dong-kyung cried in front of her, she’s going to do everything she can to make sure her friend can live the last of her life with no regrets.

Heh, ever the chameleon, Myeol-mang is now lounging as a patient in Dong-kyung’s room. She finds him posing on the bed the same way he once did in her apartment. Turning on the charm he pouts that she should be happier, since not ever girl gets to marry a guy she thought was handsome the first time they met.

Myeol-mang tries to cheer her up with the bank book that Sun-kyung saved for her, but Dong-kyung wordlessly hugs him instead. His smile dropping, Myeol-mang hugs her back, both comforting the other the best they can.

Hyun-kyu takes Ji-na out to their old high school athletics field for their second date. He reminisces back to when they first met and what drew him in was how her eyes were always honest, unlike his. He comes clean about getting sick and failing his SATs, then choosing to run rather than tell the truth. He had believed that he would have failed anyways and was relieved to find a way to avoid facing her.

When he left the country, all he wanted was to go back to her, but he couldn’t do it. Ji-na asked why he never found her when he returned from abroad and he admits that he was embarrassed. He thought it was better to be a bad guy than a pathetic guy, but in the end that made him even more pathetic.

Hyun-kyu finally apologizes for leaving her the way he did. Looking around the field, he says it still feels big to him, guessing that means he still hasn’t grown up. Reminding Ji-na that they still have one more date left, he tells her to ask him out again only if she really wants to see him.

The two split ways outside the school, but Ji-na turns to look back at Hyun-kyu, the same way she did in that hallway a decade ago. Hyun-kyu pauses as he once did, but this time, instead of turning around to see her, he continues walking forward. Ji-na watches him go with a quiet “Farewell.”

Hyun-kyu wanders back to the café where Joo-ik is waiting for him outside. Seeing him there, Hyun-kyu breaks down crying. Joo-ik pats his once-student’s back and Hyun-kyu sobs out that he’s not running away this time. He warns Joo-ik to never mess up or he’ll run back to Ji-na and take his spot. Joo-ik smiles and promises to never lower his guard.

The next morning Ji-na goes for an early hike. At the summit, she watches the sunrise and finally seems at peace. Dong-kyung tells us Ji-na later said that at that moment, rather than a lost teenager, she felt like was finally where she belonged. That no matter how long it took her the get there, she would have ended up in the same place eventually, nothing could change that. Dong-kyung supposes that means it was her fate.

Struggling with her own fate that cannot be changed, Dong-kyung meets with the goddess one last time. She desperately asks for help one last time, but the goddess says it’s out of her hands now and all they can do is accept what will happen.

Dong-kyung refuses, swearing that she will doom the world instead and save Myeol-mang, but the goddess just hugs her. Saying that she’s lived through countless cycles of life and death, no one knows better about perishing. Everyone cries and tries to fight it, but in the end all you can do is accept it. “Because it’s his choice. And that choice is his fate. So just accept it. Accept Doom.”

The goddess tells Dong-kyung that this is what Myeol-mang wants; this is his happy ending. Dong-kyung can’t believe that this could be a happy ending when they’re both miserable, but God argues that there is a reason behind everything she’s gone through. That reason will be her happy ending, but she can only find it if she stays alive. God wishes her to live a long and happy life, because that’s what Myeol-mang wants.

At “work,” Myeol-mang stops by an old woman selling roses. He tells her it’s time and that he’s the last person who will buy her flowers. He bids her goodbye, and she leaves all her wares behind, calling them a burden now that it’s time for her to go.

Dong-kyung returns home as an outpatient. Her doorbell rings and she scoffs to once again see the mountain and Italy scenes through her peephole. Myeol-mang pops out from behind the door the same he as when they first (officially) met and presents her with a whole bouquet of roses, cheerily asking her to marry him. Too cute.

Myeol-mang says he received the roses as a gift from someone whose life is ending today. He calls it a person who is about to disappear giving them to someone else who will soon disappear. Standing in each other’s arms, Dong-kyung asks to always stay together and never part, forever.

For the time that they have left, Dong-kyung and Myeol-mang spend every day with each other; Reading, walking, cooking, watching tv, even falling asleep together. The two go to see the tree that Myeol-mang had said was dying and he is surprised to see that there are green leaves on it. He wonders if it may yet flower one more time, so Dong-kyung says they should come see it together, next spring.

Dong-kyung narrates that spring will come again and the sun will continue to rise each morning, even after Myeol-mang is gone. His life will end but hers will begin. She thinks, “So every year when spring comes, and every time morning is here, I will think of you throughout my entire life. While I be able to endure that? Will that life be any different from doom?” Oh man, this is gonna hurt.

We are down to D-1 and Dong-kyung sends out the gifts she bought for everyone: Ji-na’s fountain pen, Soo-ja’s designer handbag, and Sun-kyung four boxes of shoes. She includes notes to all of them, telling them to be strong, saying goodbye, and thanking them for being her family.

Lastly, Dong-kyung visits her parent’s urns. She admits being scared since she doesn’t know what she’ll choose, but that either way it’s going to hurt.

Myeol-mang finds Dong-kyung outside the crematorium and brings her to a library for his work. He discloses that words die too when people stop using them and he’s here to bear witness as they fade away.

Noting her sad face, Myeol-mang adds that there is a short list of words that will never disappear and her name is one of them (Dong Kyung translates to “admiration.”). Dong-kyung asks if “Sa-ram” (her name for him meaning “human”) is also on that list. He smiles that it is.

That night, Dong-kyung tries so hard to stay awake but can’t. She grumpily warns him to stay with her and he sweetly promises not to disappear. Once she’s asleep, Myeol-mang heads out for one more farewell.

Back at the broken bridge, Myeol-mang meets God a final time to say goodbye. He asks if she knew all along that he would make this choice, since a god knows everything. She responds that everything is uncertain, suggesting that maybe he should bet on the possibility that Dong-kyung’s wish doesn’t have the ability to bring doom on the world after all.

Myeol-mang refuses, saying instead that he will bet on the one sure way he has to save her life. It is the only way to keep his promise, protect her, and save the world. The goddess notes that he seems to have more to protect than she does.

God reveals that she plans to stick around a little longer, extended her life a bit further. Myeol-mang is surprised since this is the first time she’s every done that. She replies that she has something she still wants to see in this life: A flower in full bloom.

Whoops. Myeol-mang’s sneak out wasn’t sneaky enough and he returns to find Dong-kyung completely distraught, thinking that he vanished already. He rushes to hold her and she cries that they’re almost out of time. Desperate she asks him to use her last wish to take away her love for him, for anyone. Make her unable to love.

Looking like his heart is breaking, Myeol-mang refuses, stating he has to save her. She yells that a life without him means nothing, but he says it has meaning for him. If she brings doom, he will have to live in a world without her and everyone she loved.

Myeol-mang insists that humans can find a way to love again, but he cannot. Echoing Dong-kyung’s words from long before, he tells her she can one day love again because she is human, while he doesn’t eat, sleep, or cry, because he is not.

Dong-kyung refuses and breaks down in his arms. She sobs that she can’t live in a world without him. Myeol-mang face crumples and he holds her close, crying as well.

When they both calm down, Dong-kyung asks to finally make her wish. She wants him to take her to the world of doom. Whether it is real or in her mind, she wants to spend her last day with him in his world. Myeol-mang covers her eyes and when she opens them again, they’re standing in the city, except it is completely void of all living creatures, as though everyone simply vanished.

Myeol-mang says that here, in the world of Doom, he has no purpose. There is nothing here, so there’s nothing for him to bring doom upon. He exists for the things that disappear, but when there is nothing that will disappear, he ceases to exist.

Dong-kyung tells him he still looks lonely when he sees things disappear. He points out that she has the same expression when she looks at him.

Dong-kyung asks to go to a church. She kneels at a pue but Myeol-mang wonders why since without humans, there is no god in this world. She points out that she is here as a human, so there must be a god. With that, they both bow their heads to pray.

The two watch the sunset later and Dong-kyung asks what Myeol-mang prayed for. He jokes that it’s between him and the deity. Dong-kyung admits that she prayed one final time not to love anyone, knowing it won’t work but still wanting to try.

Facing Myeol-mang, Dong-kyung confesses that she loves him. She apologizes for falling in love with him, but he is the one who matter to her most in the world. With hi heart in his eyes, Myeol-mang thanks her for loving him. He leans in and gently kisses Dong-kyun a final time while the world around them darkens and vanishes.

Back in the real world, Myeol-mang holds out his hand to Dong-kyung, saying it is almost midnight.

Myeol-mang promises that everything will be alright and Dong-kyung slowly takes his hand. Tears stream down her face and she whispers again that she loves him. He smiles sweetly, “I know.” Do-kyung is scared, but Myeol-mang tells her that their contract is over and promises to take all her sadness and pain with him when he goes.

Holding her face, Myeol-mang confides that at the church he prayed for her happiness. He says he was created for humans so she shouldn’t worry, asking her instead to live a happy life. Do-kyung tearfully begs him to please stay, saying she can’t be happy without him.

Myeol-mang reminds Dong-kyung of when they ran in the rain and he told her the even when she doesn’t have an umbrella, she just has to run for a bit and she’ll get home soon. “I want you to run once I’m gone. Don’t look back and just run. Then you’ll soon be…”

Before he can finish, Myeol-mang begins to fade away. He silently vanishes, leaving her standing alone with her hand reaching out into empty air. Dong-kyung collapses the ground, sobbing her heart out while it starts to rain.

 
COMMENTS

I think I’m broken. This couple may have legitimately broken me. It’s the only explanation for the huddled, sobbing mess that is all that’s left of my once dazzling self. (Or at a least a self that wasn’t wrecked from ugly crying for a half hour.) I almost can’t even find the words for how much this episode moved me. Oh my heart.

Alright, how about we rewind and start with our side trio – give me a chance to work my way back up. I will admit that I have greatly disliked the triangle of perpetual moodiness going on between Ji-na, Hyun-kyu, and Joo-ik. It all seemed like one big toxic mess of relationships, and I could not see any purpose for them besides providing a narrative break from our main leads. Even now I’m still not fully on board and if this drama was just those three, I would’ve dropped it long ago. That being said, something about them this week really resonated with me. This entire episode was centered around acceptance of what cannot be changed and meeting your fate with grace. And here we have three people who became lost because they could not accept what was.

Hyun-kyu was stuck, never truly growing up but instead always running away from his moment of failure. His embarrassment and pride not only shaped his life, but essentially stopped it. Ji-na has always been in a weird limbo, constantly looking back and not able to move on because she never got closure. She may have grown up, but she never let go. Lastly, Joo-ik’s guilt from causing Hyun-kyu’s failed exam left him always hovering around Hyun-kyu and Ji-na, waiting for the two of them to move on so he could take the next step as well. I still think their storyline could have been handled much better and I do not regret skipping past some of their previous scenes. However, it was undeniably a beautiful moment when Hyun-kyu paused while walking away from Ji-na – a rewind to the past and then him choosing not to look back this time, but go forward instead. He faced his shame to tell the truth, Ji-na got her long-awaited good-bye, and they were both able to start their lives again. It tied nicely with the episode’s main theme of how running from your fate doesn’t change it. We all have to face something in order to overcome it.

And face their fate our main couple did. They have both grown so much, with Dong-kyung honestly admitting her feelings and Myeol-mang seeing that the world is worth saving. They’ve come full circle from their shared apathy and they were able to do it because they had each other. Dong-kyung’s plan really did come true: she fell in love with Doom and thus saved herself and the world. But the irony is that in the end, it was Myeol-mang who truly saved everyone. I loved the conversation between Myeol-mang and the goddess when she suggests that there is a chance that Dong-kyung might not be able to bring Doom upon the world. He never even hesitated with his decision to sacrifice himself, since this way he could save not only the world, but Dong-kyung as well.

I was trying to figure out why the characters kept saying that this, disappearing, was Myeol-mang’s choice. It kept coming up over and over about him choosing this. Then I realized that for his entire life, he never had a choice in anything. He was created for humans and destined to simply exist as a doom button. This was his happy ending because he could choose it.

But dear gawd did he have to go like that?! My heart still hurts from seeing him smile while fading away, all the while telling Dong-kyung to live a happy life running in the rain. Ooof. I hope that crafty little goddess is hiding one heck of a deus ex machina in that flowerpot of hers because if he is gone forever, I might just wish doom upon the world myself.

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