Summer Strike: Episodes 7-8

by Unit

Time might slow down in a small town, but that doesn’t stop romance from speeding up. And this week, we get a double serving of romance, alongside bits of our librarian’s traumatic past on the side.

 
EPISODES 7-8 WEECAP

Bom’s hospital discharge party at Yeo-reum’s last week had one guest missing: Dae-beom. And though he tried his best to catch up, the party already ended before his arrival — not that it’d have made a difference anyway, since he’s still very much traumatised by his sister’s murder in the billiard-hall-turned-house. But not being able to enter Yeo-reum’s house doesn’t stop Dae-beom from making plans and hanging out with her everywhere else.

The duo make such an adorable pair, and I don’t know if they’ve realized that they have moved past friendship into the talking stage. Yeo-reum takes the initiative with the “What’s your favorite fruit?” and “What’s your favorite season?” questions, and Dae-beom is very quick to say he likes summer (Yeo-reum) — and even quicker to clarify that he meant the season and not Yeo-reum herself. Lol. I believe you, dude.

Dae-beom and Yeo-reum’s cute not-date is rudely cut short when they see another graffiti on Yeo-reum’s building, and this time, it’s a message for Dae-beom. He’s shaken to see his sister SUN-AH’s name sprayed on the wall, and he runs off without looking back — almost getting hit by a car in the process. He collapses in a panic attack at home, and lies in the dark with hallucinations of his childhood self, as well as flashbacks of being questioned by the police on his testimony about seeing his dad exiting the building after Sun-ah’s death.

You’d think that the police would know better than to interrogate a minor without a guardian present. But not only did they try to force more answers out of him, they also taunted him for being happy that Sun-ah died because he supposedly hated her. And while I don’t agree with the police, I see why they thought that way — adult Dae-beom even admitted to always being yelled at by their father because of Sun-ah. But that’s definitely on the father, and I don’t think Dae-beom hated his sister because of it.

Dae-beom’s return to worse than his default withdrawn state, serves to twist the knife of jealousy that is already in Ji-young’s guts. Rather than be happy that her recluse of a friend is making new friends, Ji-young is jealous that Dae-beom spends more time with Yeo-reum than he does with her, and she wants to gatekeep his attention because she has feelings for him. Jealousy plus hurt equals tears, and her one source of consolation is from Sung-min — who likes her — and this whole triangle is just messed up.

But not as messed up as Ji-young blaming Yeo-reum for renting the billiard hall and dredging up Dae-beom’s traumatic memories. But how is that Yeo-reum’s fault? Ji-young also drops the bombshell that Dae-beom (yes, he’s Anon) got the money for Bom’s hospital bill by selling his research to his professor (whoa!) — and an ethics committee hearing has been set to investigate the case. And with all the blame Ji-young heaps on Yeo-reum, you’d think Dae-beom was not adult enough to make decisions for himself. Pfft. Ji-young’s final request is for Yeo-reum to convince Dae-beom to attend the hearing in Seoul, and a noble idiot’s mask advertises itself on Yeo-reum’s face.

Summer break arrives at school, and Bom’s grandmother suggests she goes on a trip with Yeo-reum. Jae-hoon invites himself along, and to everyone’s pleasant surprise, Dae-beom leaves his panic and trauma at home to go with them on the fun trip. Yeo-reum starts to sample the idiocy mask by blaming her arrival in Angok for all Dae-beom’s woes, but he stops her short: he enjoyed every encounter they shared since then, and he’s happy she came to Angok. In your face, Jo Ji-young! *Mwahahaha*

Meanwhile, Bom and Jae-hoon engage in a conversation of their own, and we learn that after Jae-hoon moved to the U.S. in the sixth grade, he was teased for his English accent and then kicked out of school after finally punching one of his teasing classmates. According to him, his parents were only too happy to ship him back to Korea since he “embarrassed” them by not being smart enough, and it’s quite ironic that two psychology professors couldn’t understand how their own son feels.

It starts to rain, and while Bom and Jae-hoon share a kiss underneath the shower, Ji-young and Sung-min part ways after a meal (a date on his part, and a cheer up dinner on hers) where she interrupted his confession to her with an admittance that she likes Dae-beom. Then she asks Sung-min to kick Yeo-reum out of the house, and I officially dislike her now. Just because they are friends doesn’t give her the right to be entitled to Dae-beom’s feelings. Jeez!! Imagine the tables were turned and Sung-min went around harassing Dae-beom because he liked Ji-young? I’d like to know how she’d feel about that.

Anyway, Ji-young doesn’t need to try so hard to separate them, because Yeo-reum finally convinces Dae-beom to go to Seoul for the ethics committee hearing. She’s all fake smiles even though she doesn’t really want him to leave, and this can never be my Bom and Jae-hoon. Those two remain stuck with each other despite his aunt’s attempt to come in between their friendship. Bom doesn’t cower or back down, and I love it for her.

As we wrap up the week’s episodes, Yeo-reum — who’s on the lookout for intruders after the graffiti incident — sees a man on her rooftop. She sneaks up behind him to make a recording with her phone, and is startled when she sees his full face in frame. It’s Geun-ho! Well, sneaking up on suspicious people is almost never a good idea as it can lead to falling off the stairs (and fracturing a few bones or worse). What was she thinking?

Geun-ho is behind the graffiti, and from the looks of it, he saw something on the day Sun-ah was murdered. All Geun-ho wants to do now is to “protect Sun-ah” but since he appears to be on the spectrum, he’s unable to properly articulate whatever it was that he saw. Besides, for some reason, his parents are very wary of the police. (And I would be too, seeing how the police treated Dae-beom). Anyway, the two weeks left in the show is plenty of time to unravel the mystery surrounding Sun-ah’s death, and I can’t wait to find out who’s behind it — is it Dae-beom’s dad, or any of the other suspicious people in Angok?

 
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