What Comes After Love: Episode 3

10 October 7, 2024October 6, 2024

What Comes After Love: Episode 3

by Dramaddictally

We get a little more insight into the breakup backstory this week, as our leads sit in silence together in the present. Also, an important woman from our hero’s past makes an appearance, giving us a total of four characters who are tortured by unhaveable love.

EPISODE 3

We’re only issued one episode this week, which doesn’t give us a ton of new information to grab onto, but this story has enough raw emotion to make up for it. Last week, we ended with Jungo stepping in front of Hong’s car to stop her from leaving. This week, as soon as she stops, he waltzes over to the passenger side and hops in.

They drive around in silence for a long time before Hong tells him there’s nothing left to say. Anything she used to want to ask him, it’s too late. Jungo tries to get past her ice wall by calling her “Beni,” like he used to. But she maintains the distance between them by calling him by his pen name, with a stern “Mr.” tacked onto it. He wants to clear up any misunderstandings that might exist, but Hong shuts the conversation down promptly by telling him she’s about to get married.

After she drops him back at his hotel, without so much as looking in his direction, she pulls out of sight and takes a breather. After five years, she had no idea she wouldn’t be over him yet.

Later, when Hong is with Min-jun, shopping for a wedding dress, she still can’t stop thinking about Jungo and how he said he’s never once forgotten her in five years. She remembers a time when she once tried on a wedding dress with Jungo and tears well in her eyes. The hurt on her face is terrible and I feel every second of the heartbreak in this scene. She’s not excited about marrying Min-jun, and even though the dress she’s trying on is beautiful and fits her perfectly, she doesn’t show it to him and says it didn’t fit.

Through flashbacks we learn more about what led to the breakup in Tokyo. At first, it’s all love and smiles while Hong shows up at each of Jungo’s many part-time jobs to wait for him until he gets off work. She tells us that she didn’t want to be away from him for a second. And she didn’t realize at the time that it wasn’t just a normal way love would make someone behave.

It isn’t until her friend and one-time roomie, PARK JI-HEE (Mi-ram), leaves Japan to return to Seoul that things become more stark. On the days that Jungo is stuck serving tables until late at night, we see Hong sitting home alone waiting for him. In fact, whenever he’s not with her, she’s alone.

One night, she’s out jogging and hurts her ankle. He can’t answer his phone while he’s at the restaurant. And by the time he gets home and she’s already been to the hospital and on crutches, she’s fuming. An argument ensues where she says that work always comes before her. He apologizes for not being there for her that day, but she sees it as a pattern. She insists he quit all this jobs.

He reminds her that he’s working to pay for his studies and she starts asking, “What about me? What am I in your life?” Finally, she lands on the pertinent question: “Why am I always alone?” But Jungo is a little confused. He responds by saying that they go to bed and wake up together every day. “Because I want to be with you. I’m working hard and doing my best,” he says. She’s contemptuous, remarking that she doesn’t know what he’s doing his best at. And then she says, “I’m sick of the fact that the only person I can get mad at is you.”

And now we’ve hit the root of it. I questioned in last week’s weecap if Hong’s loneliness abroad would play into their breakup, and now we’re seeing that it’s the main problem. In voiceover, Hong says, “Desolation makes people anxious. Loneliness weakens love. And, with youth added to that, everything becomes unstable.”

I want to take a second out here to say that while this dynamic is utterly believable, the lead up to this emotional scene was not enough, in my opinion. We’ve just seen that Hong got accepted to grad school, but she told her sister that she got rejected. Why is she not going to university? And what happened to the job she had at the ramen shop? Both of those things would get her out meeting new people. And let’s not forget that she speaks the local language perfectly.

We still don’t know what pieces of the story are missing, but by not putting those pieces up front, it takes the bang out of the argument they have. I find it hard to empathize with Hong (even though I’ve lived a version of her story myself) because she has ways to integrate available to her. I can think of reasons why she may not, in spite of that fact, or why it would be hard anyway, but we haven’t seen them. And without some explanation, she sounds unreasonable in this scene (although, from experience, I know she’s probably not).

The other big thing that happens this week is that we meet Jungo’s ex-girlfriend, KOBAYASHI KANNA (Nakamura Anne), whom he dated prior to Hong. We see that after Hong left Tokyo, Kanna ran into him heartbroken at a bar. She says she feels bad because he was never that hurt when she broke up with him. In the end, she asks, if he’s in so much pain, does he want to get back together?

Cut to the present and we see Kanna in Seoul meeting up with Jungo. She says she’s there for work and thought she’d surprise him and hang out for a few days. But later, at dinner, she reveals that she’s really there to see him. She’s been waiting five years for him to love her again, she says. And I’m confused about what exactly that means. Did he turn her down that day about getting back together? Or are they a couple right now and he just doesn’t show any love to her?

After Kanna says that bit about waiting for him to love her again, Jungo’s eyes go red and he looks away. She guesses he must have run into Hong. And after they part ways and he goes back to his hotel room to think about Hong and be sad, Kanna shows up at his door and exclaims, “Let’s get married.” She’s hugging him and he’s looking like he’s not sure what to do.

That’s how the episode ends, but I want to note that we also get a little insight into Min-jun’s character this week. We see in flashback that when Hong returned from Tokyo (with nothing because she left in such a rush), Min-jun was at the airport with Ji-hee waiting for her. He’s a doctor and was taking care of Hong’s father in the hospital just then. As the weeks go by, Hong is working hard to help out her dad’s publishing company, and Min-jun is working hard to take care of her.

There’s a moment after the wedding dress shop, where Hong and Min-jun are out having snacks and drinks and he says that he missed her while she was in Japan, and that’s why he finally decided to go after her. She begins to speak, and he cuts her off when the food arrives. But then he says that her feelings might change, and she might never need to say whatever she was about to say. And so, the point is, he knows she doesn’t feel the same way about him that he does for her.

Oof. Well, it’s doing a good job of making my heart hurt. Now I feel for all four characters instead of just the two. Min-jun and Kanna are in tough positions also, playing the back up and the safe bet, who are both clearly in love. They know that their love interests have their hearts elsewhere — and yet they continue to stick around and love them anyway. It’s got to be a kind of constant heartbreak. But I love that the drama is letting us see from their perspectives and not treating the main leads as the only ones we’re supposed to feel for.

My only real qualm is that I wish we had two episodes to dig into. I care about the characters and the story, but the little taste of what happened in Tokyo was not enough for me. I guess I’ll just sulk and be sad as I wait for next weekend.

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1 Kurama

October 7, 2024 at 11:27 AM

It looks like Hong left on a whim letting things unresolved. Because of her father's illness she didn't come back and Jungo was waiting for her comeback. It's why they both had something to tell but never could?

It's hard to judge their relationship but Hong's loneliness is hard to understand because the ramen shop's employees were nice with her, wasn't the boss who came to the hospital? She seemed curious, full of energy, so I don't understand how she ended up staying home alone.

Kanna's words about forgettin the past were pretty funny when she's just doing the same thing.

I was sad for Min-jun, it was hard to see your future wife so unmotivated for her wedding.

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2 Blue (@mayhemf)

October 7, 2024 at 11:41 AM

I can understand her loneliness in a foreign land but she also didn’t seem to have her own life. While he was doing what he had to do or wanted to do and had a clear idea of wanting to write.
Looks like she left abruptly without a proper break up. At this point the show might just end with these two cutting ties but more amicably so they can move on.
I feel bad for Min Jun. poor chap.

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3 panshel

October 7, 2024 at 11:42 AM

Maybe I'm a cynic, but we were watching their honeymoon phase last week. Of course they're so in love and can't stand being apart from each other, but it doesn't last. Even if a misunderstanding had caused their breakup and they were still together today, it's unrealistic for them to stay that happy through their entire relationship. The show is setting them up to be "the one that got away," but to root for them to get back together, I would have to be rooting for her to cheat on her fiancé, and I hate cheating.

What did happen to Hong's job at the ramen shop? It doesn't seem like her family sends her money since her mom is against her living in Japan, so why can't she go to grad school? Jungo argued that they go to bed every night together and wake up every morning together, but he doesn't even get home until 4 in the morning. I loved seeing Jungo's dad pick Hong up at the hospital.

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4 LillyBee

October 7, 2024 at 11:58 AM

I was wondering why everyone was being emo. I still don't feel connected to the story/characters, don't really know much about these people, but I do see why they would break up. I'm guessing it was a gradual process of being let-down with maybe a last straw at the end. The loneliness issue also shows the importance of having community and not relying on one person. Though I am glad boyfriend's dad picked her up.
I usually hate when exes show up (especially the "let's get back together" kind), and this one is no different. Why are you here...
And there's too much going on with this love square. Then again, it's a melo. I'll still keep watching I guess. Six episodes shouldn't be too bad.
Also, don't go through with that marriage.

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LillyBee

October 7, 2024 at 12:08 PM

I forgot to mention thanks for the recaps. And for making a space to discuss episodes.

Also, I was surprised that she'd been planning on marrying Jungo too. That scene caught me off-guard. Ya'll were going to get married!?! How... why. How long were ya'll dating??

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5 kiara

October 7, 2024 at 1:36 PM

These two broke up before I even cared about their relationship, so waiting for one episode per week makes it harder to get into it. At this point, I just want to roast the heck out of them.

The more I get to know Hong, the less I relate to her as a student in a foreign country. Why did she go to Japan in the first place? To find a boyfriend to babysit her or to be more independent and further her education? Why does love have to come first at this point in her life? Me me me me me, as she told him to quit his job.
Jungo doesn't express his feelings much. What does she love about him? His looks, kindness? What? She seems to be 100% in, and he's around maybe way less.

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6 Nessa (Bebe) 🌹

October 7, 2024 at 1:44 PM

I’m not currently watching the drama— just going with your recaps, @dramaddictally thank you 😘— so there may be a few nuances that I am missing due to this, but here are my thoughts:

1. Hong went to Japan on a low note, carrying the disapproval of family, that in itself has already got to sting and make Hong feel lonely and closed off to begin with. She then meets someone and they go through a whirlwind honeymoon phase but never accounted for what it would be like when they settle back into reality, so when it happens, things begin to come to a head, which is realistic. My inquiry is to ask if Hong ever had any feeling of self love and self worth (esteem) to begin with regardless if any of the things with Jungo ever happened? As the saying goes, “Others can’t love you if you don’t love yourself first”. It seems like Hong hasn’t shown up for herself ever since she landed in Japan and has been relying on others (Jungo) to show up for her, and when he fails to do so, well…

2. I do— but don’t— feel sorry for the 2nd leads. They’re knowingly walking into a relationship wherein they are aware the other person’s heart isn’t fully theirs. If we get any resentment from the 2nd leads down the road because of this, I think imma roll my eyes quite hard.

Even with just the recaps, I still quite captured by the mood of this show, so I’m going to keep with it, and then maybe watch it all in one go when all of its episodes are released

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7 tabong

October 7, 2024 at 1:45 PM

Thank you for the recap Dramaddictally!

Uhm...
This episode made me dislike every single character. The four of them feel like a different version if the same.

1. Why is Beni planning to marry her friend? Why is she repeating her parents story? She wants her friend to tell their kids "women can't forget their first love", and then give them the home address of her first love? Just like her parents did with her? Like, why is she doing this to him?

2. And why is he doing this to himself? Why would he give her the permission to cheat on him as long as she "goes back" to him or wtv? Yeah, feelings change, but that doesn't mean they'll change in your favor dumb dumb. She won't go back to you, because she was never with you.
I know that you freaking know that.
So why hurt yourself and why help her keep hurting herself too?

3. Why would you ask for an engaged woman's home address or phone number? After doing nothing for five years? After meeting her a la serendipity? After she told you she had nothing to say to you?

4. And why woman? Why? Like... Why? Your scenes are the most painful to watch. Please, stop.

Sigh. Tbh, this could work if this was a character-driven story that tries to show the complexity of human relationships and how imperfect or broken we all are, yada yada yada. But I barely know this people. And their relationships feel shallow as hell. And five years have past, but they're somehow worse than when they were young dumb broke college kids. They're so self-centered and dramatic. No one is considering the other person's feelings. They're all trying to get this "idea" of love—or wtv they think they're feeling—, and trying to force the other person to play with them.
Do they know each other? Do they even know what love is?

We saw how that after the three months of happiness thanks to the love hormones the main couple was completely out of sync.

I felt like Hong was clinging to Yun Oh because that's what was keeping her afloat in a time where she felt lost.
Hong didn't make friends or any other meaningful relationship outside of him. She gave up on continuing her studies, and it seems like she quit her job? I think he was working to take care of them both.
So, to me it felt like she what she was demanding from him wasn't just her "boyfriend" to be more attentive or wtv, but it was more of her desperation to have someone/something that would take her away of herself. She didn't want to face what she was feeling. She didn't know what to do with it. And I feel like she never figured that out, because even five years later she looks like she's drowning. And that's why she still has conflicted feelings about Yun Oh. Because she has those memories of their initial phase when she felt "okay" as long as she was with him. But it really isn't about him and their love or wtv.

And for Yun Oh... Tbh, my respect to this man because a young and broke college kid who is sincere about his...

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tabong

October 7, 2024 at 1:50 PM

And for Yun Oh... Tbh, my respect to this man because a young and broke college kid who is sincere about his career ends up having to feed two mouths out of nowhere, and he barely gets a break or has time for himself, all in the timeframe of a few months... It's like someone just left a child on his doorstep out of nowhere tbh. Like, it's no joke. I can't imagine that in a million years. So my respects to this guy for not resenting her (when she said "why don't you quit your jobs" la vi chiquita...). But even if he didn't, he did seem to have lost something. He was so cold. He didn't even asked how she got hurt! And I feel like that's what's bothering him. Guilt.

At least, that's how I decided to think of this episode because otherwise nothing makes sense to me. And still... You would think that after five years they would understand and learn and grow from that experience, but here they are. Making even weirder choices than before.

For the other two... LOL. I had to create this alternative story for the leads out of crumbs. I don't have a clue what's going with the other two. We know NOTHING about them.

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8 geminirat

October 7, 2024 at 2:36 PM

Thank you for the recap, @dramaddictally! I, too, would like at least 2 episodes each week, so I can process what's happening more. I understand that Hong became lonely in Japan, specially when her friend went back home and she had to move in with Jungo. He was busy with school and work and being left alone at home with nothing to do broke her. There are many "she could have" answers to it, but she left her home because she didn't like the way her mother dictates what to do in her life. Now that she's free of her mom, I think she felt radar-less because she relied on Jungo to be there for her - if not all the time, probably most of the time.