Love for Love’s Sake- Episode 5 – Recap and Review

When last we left our unhappy teen and (game) player, our teen wasn’t so unhappy anymore. Now he is the most adorable thing ever.

Yeowoon is so cute, Myungha will do whatever he wants

Myungha lets Yeowoon drag him off to a coffee shop even though he’s clearly reluctant. The camera goes handheld to let us know Myungha is uncomfortable as they go inside. He bolts before they give their order and Yeowoon follows him. He won’t tell Yeowoon what’s wrong and snaps at him.

Yeowoon has learned a few tricks though, and drags Myungha off for ice cream.

After their treat, Myungha explains that it’s his mom’s coffee shop. He’s never gone and didn’t think it would be a big deal. Yeowoon apologizes and wants Myungha to tell him more about himself so something like this doesn’t happen again.

Myungha insists they go to the amusement park and Yeowoon’s affection level rises to 23. The park is closed. Myungha finds the pouting Yeowoon cute. So do we all.

Everything is going great until they’re on the phone later. Myungha talks about how they’re friends and Yeowoon’s happy, cute expression goes serious with disappointment.

Myungha is in a mood too

He tells his Grandma about seeing his mom but not talking with her. She advises him not to dwell on hard things. He asks her to live a long life and the notification of 282 days until death pops up. 

Laying in bed and looking at pictures of Yeowoon makes him smile again. But then he gets strange nonsense texts and a notice about a system error. That bass rumbling starts up and Myungha looks around like he can hear it. When it’s over he lays down and closes his eyes, not seeing things in his room flickering.

Yeowoon wants Si-a’s advice on confessing to Myungha. She thinks Myungha treats him like a kid and he doesn’t have a chance. Yeowoon doesn’t care. Yeowoon is like a switch that’s turned on.

Myungha’s out on a walk when he gets notification that he completed his mission by expanding Yeowoon’s circle of friends. His reward is to see Yeowoon’s biggest wish.

He doesn’t see it because he’s distracted by Sangwon smoking and crying nearby. Sangwon’s elderly dog is sick. Myungha agrees it’s a sad thing.

Sangwon then confesses his feelings and tries to convince Myungha that he’s sincere. He even joined the track team. This doesn’t win Myungha over.

It’s Yeowoon’s turn to disappear and be hard to reach

Myungha calls Yeowoon to track him down since he’s not at school yet. Yeowoon lies about being on his way. In reality, he’s at home keeping an eye on his alcoholic father. His alcoholic, abusive father who slaps his face. Yeowoon stops his father from hitting him again and runs from the house.

Myungha is still looking for him at school when a question-and-answer notification pops up, the answer in his handwriting. We saw this once before, in episode 2. Both are about happiness and based on what we saw in episode 4, I think these are questions writer-senpai asked and Myungha answered at the bar.

His new side mission is to earn 3 million won, which sounds like a ton but the internet says it’s around $2,000. 

Instead of finding Yeowoon, he finds Sangwon. Sangwon lies to cover for Yeowoon, poorly, and says he’s not anywhere nearby. The Love Supremacy notice pops up and tells Myungha otherwise.

Sangwon wants to know why Myungha favors Yeowoon over him. Myungha avoids the question and tells him to find a good man. 

Myungha sets a record for rejecting people

Instead of the hallway, Myungha finds Yeowoon outside. He’s concerned about the slap mark on Yeowoon’s face. Yeowoon wants him to stop treating him like a child and let him take care of things, but Myungha keeps pushing.

Then Yeowoon blurts out that he likes Myungha. Though he knows Myungha doesn’t like him back. Myungha tells him to like someone else, which is what he just told Sangwon. 

Yeowoon says he’ll do his best to be friends, and doesn’t want Myungha to ignore or avoid him. (Although avoiding each other at school seems to be an important part of their relationship.) Yeowoon walks away and despite being rejected, his affection level increases to 38. 

None of this improves Myungha’s mood

He’s in bed, remembering Yeowoon’s confession and feeling crazy. The notification about Yeowoon’s biggest wish comes up again and this time Myungha nods to activate it. He sees little Yeowoon holding a crayon drawing of his family and wishing on a star to be happy.

Myungha wishes he were someone from Yeowoon’s world. The death notification says he has 278 days now.

At work, Myungha quizzes Sangwon about Yeowoon. Which Sangwon points out is mean. He’s not wrong. But Sangwon doesn’t know who hit Yeowoon. Myungha offers to take on bullies for Sangwon too. Aww. 

Apparently, Myungha is also working multiple jobs and writing papers to earn money. 

We haven’t seen enough of Kyunghoon this episode, but he’s the MVP

The friend Kyunghoon has been texting is his boyfriend, who is abroad. Myungha asks how they make it work when they can’t be together. Kyunghoon says it’s because they can’t see each other that he needs to give it his all. 

Myungha looks stunned and then goes running.

Yeowoon’s father is destroying things in their home. After he leaves, Yeowoon cuts his hand cleaning up. Myungha arrives and sells him a band-aid, which seems mean, but it’s the last amount he needs to reach his goal. Now his reward is seeing what’s hurting Yeowoon the most, and it’s his abusive father. 

Myungha offers Yeowoon money, not out of pity but because he’s in a difficult situation. Yeowoon says he knows Myungha’s nice to everyone, but Yeowoon doesn’t want to be everyone. He’ll go to Myungha. And he does. And kisses him.

Gold flutters up from their feet.

Absent parents, abusive parents, and system errors, this is not the fun part of high school

If Sangwon wants to understand why Myungha likes Yeowoon more, he should compare their confessions. Sangwon’s was silly and needy, and he joined the track team just to get Myungha’s attention. He comes off young. Myungha treats Yeowoon like a kid, but Yeowoon’s was the more serious, mature confession. He didn’t pressure Myungha, he just wanted him to know.

Well, until the kiss anyway. I guess Myungha coming after him again gave him some extra courage.

I feel like the passage of time got confusing in the last section of this episode when Myungha was making money. Considering it’s a couple thousand dollars, maybe he was able to work hard and earn it quickly. But he was asking Sangwon about Yeowoon like he wasn’t at school. For how long? Or was he there but too busy to see Yeowoon? So how long was Yeowoon’s abusive father hanging around destroying things? 

Another impending death notification might have been nice to give me a better idea of how fast things were going.

But I won’t complain too much because the ending was lovely. Everyone needs gold glitter at their feet during their important kisses.

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