When last we left our grumpy and sunshine, they spent 12 years apart, and grumpy got grumpier.
Do Hoe agreed to dinner, but it’s not what Ju Yeong expects
It’s a group dinner with Hyeon Ho and some rich friends who talk at Ju Yeong. Poor Ju Yeong is still in his taekwondo uniform.
But not really poor Ju Yeong, but I’ll explain why I think that later.
Do Hoe is in douche mode, ignoring Ju Yeong. Except when their hands touch briefly.
Ju Yeong quickly has enough. Outside the restaurant, he congratulates Do Hoe for being successful because that’s what this must be all about. And if he’s so successful, he can wait to sell the gym.
Do Hoe doesn’t want him to interfere and wants to know if he still has feelings for him. Ju Yeong asks so what if he has feelings? Do Hoe wants Ju Yeong to stay out of things, he’s doing fine.
Do Hoe is not doing fine
He’s forced to go back home, where he remembers Ju Yeong getting beaten while he left for school.
He finds Ju Yeong cleaning his old room. Do Hoe won’t sell the gym to him and wants no trace of the place to remain. He’s the one who called the police that day. He knew his father was beating Ju Yeong. He’s not the person Ju Yeong thinks he is nor can he be. He wants to be treated as a stranger.
Ju Yeong chases after Do Hoe. He calls him an idiot for ruining his dreams because of him. Do Hoe calls himself despicable, but Ju Yeong has realized how hard his lies made things for Do Hoe.
As Ju Yeong cleaned his old room he found the note Do Hoe left him. A sweet simple note about meeting in Seoul. He tells Do Hoe his happiest time was with him.
Snow falls on them reminding them of that happy time. Do Hoe kisses Ju Yeong, right there in the street.
Unfortunately, Hyeon Ho is on Do Hoe’s couch
Do Hoe says he stays over when drunk and tells Ju Yeong to go home.
After he leaves, Do Hoe tells Hyeon Ho not to arrange weird dinner meetings anymore. So that dinner was Hyeon Ho’s doing. Hyeon Ho is jealous of Ju Yeong, and thought Do Hoe didn’t want to return to the past. Do Hoe says he’s not, he’s picking up where he left off.
Hyeon Ho goes in for a desperate kiss. Do Hoe doesn’t let it happen.
Time for some out-of-order storytelling
But I’m recapping in an order that’s easier to understand.
Do Hoe texts Ju Yeong as promised that night, but is quiet the next morning. An anxious Ju Yeong texts him about meeting up that night but Do Hoe replies that he’s going home to rest. An old MP3 player haunts Ju Yeong, so he takes it to Do Hoe’s.
Only to see Do Hoe and Hyeon Ho get out of the elevator together.
We’re supposed to think Do Hoe is favoring Hyeon Ho. He’s not. After an exhausting workday, Hyeon Ho tried to force a date at a fancy restaurant on him. Do Hoe refused.
Ju Yeong doesn’t know any of this, but confronts Hyeon Ho for acting like he lives there. Hyeon Ho mentions spending the night and says he knows Do Hoe better than Ju Yeong.
Do Hoe is quiet until the two talk about punching. He tells Ju Yeong to stop but Hyeon Ho leaves.
Ju Yeong wonders if he overstepped but knows something is off. Do Hoe pushes a kiss on Ju Yeong and says he doesn’t do that with Hyeong Ho. Ju Yeong wants to talk but Do Hoe wants to mix pills and booze. He’s done with the past and wants to add Ju Yeong to his car insurance.
Ju Yeong gives in to Do Hoe’s advances. They have sex, their ease with each other now intercut with their adorable fumbling when they were younger.
Ju Yeong learns what a mess Do Hoe is
Do Hoe looks down on Ju Yeong’s choice of restaurant and gives him a super expensive wallet to replace the one he got him ages ago. He doesn’t let Ju Yeong interfere when they see a kid they both know being bullied by his parents.
Ju Yeong learns a blueprint hanging on Do Hoe’s wall is of a famous house. Do Hoe claims it’s his design. He remembers seeing Do Hoe’s college entrance exam results. I can’t read them but I think they weren’t good.
Do Hoe is defensive, and knows Ju Yeong wants to buy the gym. He feels Ju Yeong always brings up things that torture and scare him. He thinks Ju Yeong wants the gym because of his father, not him.
Ju Yeong tries to confront Do Hoe about his avoidance, but Do Hoe breaks up with him. After, Do Hoe sits in his kitchen. The poor guy hates himself.
Do Hoe is not a lost cause
He’s sensitive about how the students are treated. Despite holding Ju Yeong back earlier, he confronts the mother about her treatment of her son. We don’t see the full convo, of course, but she seems to make a dig at him about his education.
Hyeon Ho tries to reach Do Hoe, but he blows him off. Ju Yeong finds him instead. He’ll regret it if they part again. He wants to drive him around in a nice rented car. He promises not to talk about anything DH doesn’t want to talk about.
The rental car navigation system shows past trips to what is probably Hyeon Ho’s law firm and Do Hoe’s Gym.
Ju Yeong is on a mission to save Do Hoe from himself
Do Hoe is acting terrible and hurtful, and Ju Yeon wouldn’t be faulted for walking away.
But I think Ju Yeong is fine and Do Hoe is on a path to self-destruction. He’s so desperate to put up this wealthy, successful facade because he’s so ashamed. It’s not just his Dad’s gym he wants to obliterate, he wants to obliterate his past self. He’s falling apart.
Ju Yeong is secure in himself. He isn’t threatened by Hyeon Ho. Just annoyed.
I suspect Hyeon Ho is trying to help Do Hoe put up this front. Those two seem bound together by their past wounds, but their efforts to help each other are unhealthy. Do Hoe sees this enough to try to create boundaries with Hyeon Ho.
Considering his level of fear, it’s amazing he gives Ju Yeong a chance. He must want to change on some level.
Ju Yeong is the strongest of the three. He wants to confront the situation and not hide. When he sees how scared Do Hoe is, he’s very, very kind to him. Saving Do Hoe is more important to him than being right or his ego. Do Hoe’s behavior hurts him, but Ju Yoeng is stronger than Do Hoe.
I’m eager to see Do Hoe confront his demons with Ju Yeong’s support in the next two episodes.
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