Haeundae Lovers: Episode 6

by kaedejun

Oh, this drama cracks me up each week. I don’t know why I am loving it more and more, but I do. It’s really candy for the brains, with the cheesiest music cues ever. Case in point – the song of the day.

SONG OF THE DAY

Rain – How to Escape the Sun [download]

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So. Are they going to see each other? Se Na turns to look in Sora and Tae Sung’s direction, and that’s when Tae Sung turns his head to yawn!! Are you serious!? GRARGH.

Joo Hee then offers to drive Se Na back to the hotel, and Tae Sung whines that he’s still feeling queasy, so they ought to make the delivery as soon as possible. As Tae Sung heads back to the passenger seat, Joo Hee catches a glimpse of him. Could that… be Tae Sung?! But she thinks nothing of it, since she really thinks he’s dead, and it could just be someone who looks like him.

When Tae Sung returns to the store, he bumps into Kwan Soon, who’s feeling very guilty over the fact that he just got blamed for her misdeed of selling the fish and keeping the money. She hands him a can of walnuts – they’re good for the brain and hopefully he can regain his memory.

At Haeundae Hotel, Joo Hee opens the curtains in Se Na’s room to wake her up. It’s about time she go around Haeundae! But Se Na actually had trouble sleeping, and so she didn’t have a restful sleep. If only Tae Sung were in Busan with her…

Guess what!? He’s right at the Haeundae Hotel kitchens, finishing off a delivery with Sora! He complains about why they always have to take freight elevators, since they stink so much, and why Sora’s job had to be fishing, since that career is also quite stinky. He’s confused over why he even chose Sora’s place to stay initially, since she’s not located near the nightclubs. Sora smiles: “You came because you fell head over heels for me.” Tae Sung: “PFFFFFFT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Maybe I was on drugs.” Harsh, but too funny!

Before she can feel more hurt, Sora gets a call from Joon Hyuk – he’s revised the contract and wants to meet with her. Sora tells Tae Sung to go back home, and she ditches him. Smart – he’s an amnesiac, yunno? Now left to his own devices, he decides he won’t take the  freight elevator as an act of defiance, and heads to the main elevators. As he walks through the lobby, he doesn’t notice that Se Na is also there. The pain from her appendix freezes her in her tracks, but it also allows her a glimpse of Tae Sung. Since it’s not a good look, she doesn’t think too much of it and heads to her car.

Tae Sung finds the truck door locked, and realizes that Sora never gave him the key. Annoyed, he heads back to the hotel, but then passes by Se Na – who’s collapsed in between the cars from the pain. He tries to revive her, and when she flutters her eyes open, she calls out, “Tae Sung?” She passes out again, and this time Sora finds the two of them in the parking lot. She suggests they head to the hospital, but right at that moment, Joon Hyuk drives up to them and offers his car to bring her.

Joon Hyuk requests that Sora accompany him, since he’s not completely familiar with the city just yet. Sora tells Tae Sung to wait for her at home, and then gets into Joon Hyuk’s car. But how is he going to get home!? She didn’t give him the key, AND he has no money!

At the hospital, the doctor informs Sora and Joon Hyuk that because Se Na didn’t fully recover from her surgery yet, she collapsed. She would be ok after getting some rest though. Joon Hyuk is relieved; he doesn’t like it if a guest at his hotel falls ill. Joo Hee comes rushing in, which is a surprise for Sora because she never knew that they in particular were friends. Se Na regains consciousness, and suddenly starts searching for Tae Sung. She saw him! She knows he’s around! Where is he?!

Sora’s confused. No one else but “Nam Hae” was there to find her!

Joon Hyuk drives Sora back home, but he misses a turn because he’s “so hot he can’t think straight.” He needs some ice cold lemonade. I says he needs an excuse just to go on a date with Sora. Joon Hyuk remembers the awesome ice cold lemonades his mother used to make for him, which prompts Sora to call him a mama’s boy. No matter – she’s a daddy’s girl anyways! And off they go for a food tour of Busan: shaved ice, hotteok, odeng, and more!

Meanwhile, poor Tae Sung is suffering. First, he can’t catch a rest out in the hotel’s garden because the cicadas won’t shut up. Then he gets kicked out of the cafe by Tam Hee for stinking up the place with his fishy smell (and drinking 10+ glasses of free water). She does accidentally fall on to him when a guest brushes past her, and she gets a good feel of his chest. Jealously, she acknowledges that Sora got a good catch.

Finally, Tae Sung decides to walk it back home. But it’s an excruciatingly long walk, as her home is far from the richer parts of Busan. He walks so far, runs so far, even swims in the ocean to reach her home. “Go So Ra!!!!!!” Dude – seriously, this guy is in such a drama. He arrives at the store but no one is around, and he grumpily picks up the ringing phone: “This place is out of business! Don’t call anymore!”

But it’s the police calling! They found a family looking for a “Lee Nam Hae.” Like a little kid, Tae Sung sticks up a note on the fish tank saying that he’s leaving after a very “nice” walk, and bounds for the police station.

Only when he gets there – the family’s already found their little Nam Hae, a young 11-year old who worried his parents by going missing. Wrong person.

Joon Hyuk finally drops Sora back home, with the promise that they’ll have another food tour of Busan delicacies. She finds Tae Sung’s note, and is confused over why he would have had a “nice walk;” after all, didn’t she give him the keys? She reaches into her pockets… and finds the car keys. Woops – she just made him walk miles by hiimself!

Tae Sung walks out of the station into the glaring sunlight… and cue Rain. (Click on the audio above for full effect.)

He sees a water delivery person and grabs a bottle. He pours it all over himself, letting the cool water drip all over him. Just then, he sees Sora coming out of a cab. “She can pay for it,” he says, and walks off. Hah! He doesn’t even want to ride in a cab with her, and just walks right back. Of course, Sora follows after him, apologizing all the way for abandoning him like that. “Do you think I could have driven it even if you gave me the key?” Tae Sung retorts. He’s got amnesia, remember? He’s really pissed off because he had to wait around for her pathetically, and couldn’t do a single thing for himself.

But Sora cheers him up a bit. She’s been thinking, and if she brings him back to the nightclub where they first met in Seoul, the people there might be able to give him a clue about his identity! Oooh! Smart!

Tae Sung is so excited that he’ll be leaving the family soon, and he happily says his goodbyes to the family even though he’s grown attached to them. They plan to leave on the next day’s train at 2pm. Thing is – that morning, a neighbor come rushing up to Sora with terrible news. Rumor has it that Haeundae Hotel is going to build a resort on their neighborhood, and everyone is going to lose their stores or their homes with no compensation!

Sora calls up Joo Hee for confirmation, but Joo Hee doesn’t know a thing. Sora finds out Joon Hyuk’s address instead and rushes on over there. Mr. Vice President lives on a yacht, no less!

At that moment, Joon Hyuk is on a video call with his mother, who keeps bugging him about coming back to the States. He quickly hangs up on her though when Sora arrives, and listens to her breathless rant about Haeundae Hotel’s plans for a resort. But… Joon Hyuk never heard of such plans. He promises that he’ll get to the bottom of the truth for her, though I bet he suspects Tam Hee’s hand in all this.

Joon Hyuk invites her inside for a bit of champagne; he wanted to invite her over sometime but never found the opportunity for it. Sora’s impressed that he’s living on a yacht, but she’s even more surprised when she steps out and finds that they’re already out on the waters, as she didn’t feel the boat move. Turns out Joon Hyuk’s pal/assistant/someone named Christian had driven the boat out, thinking that he was alone with Joon Hyuk. Joon Hyuk demands they return to shore, since Sora needs to leave.

“Sorry – I forgot to gas it up yesterday so we’re totally empty on fuel.” WHAT!?

Sora freaks out, because Tae Sung is waiting for her at the station! Joon Hyuk stops her from jumping into the waters and swimming back, as they’ve already called for help. She gets a call from Tae Sung, who’s using a stranger’s cellphone – where is she!? She tells him to exchange the tickets for a later one, as she’ll be late! Tae Sung is so furious with her, but he can’t do anything about it.

The hours tick on by, and eventually Tae Sung is left stranded in the station. By the time Sora manages to get to land and reach the station, the last train has already left. He’s so pissed with her, because he was so close to finding his family and returning to his life, but she ruined it for him. Sora promises that they can leave on the first train the next morning. They’ll sleep at the station and make sure they don’t miss it.

Well. Hm. Tae Sung lies down on the floor, then scooches on closer to Sora, eventually resting his head on her lap. If she says so! She helps him fall asleep by massaging his middle finger, even though it’s all callused and hard.

The next morning they reach Seoul and head straight for the nightclub. Except… The nightclub has closed down. For six months. NOOOOOOO! Poor Tae Sung – he can’t catch a break! Sora feels bad; if she had thought of the solution earlier they might have been able to reach someone before the club closed. They can’t even contact the boss or the former employees because they’ve all scattered off.

Meanwhile, back in Busan, Kwan Soon accompanies her friend in apartment hunting. They enter an apartment where the owner has all his things packed up, and Kwan Soon gasps in surprise – the owner is Min Gu! What is he doing selling the apartment that he supposedly bought for him and Sora?! Using the loan that the uncles gave him!? Min Gu quickly leads Kwan Soon away to talk to her privately. He lies that he got a little bit more money from Joong Shik, and managed to purchase an even nicer home in one of those skyscraper buildings overlooking the waters. It’s a surprise for Sora, so she better not say anything. That’s why he’s selling off this apartment. To ensure her secrecy, Min Gu even gives her some allowance, which makes Kwan Soon really happy.

That evening Sora and Tae Sung have returned to Busan, and she takes him to her favorite place by the waterfront. The location gives them a view of Gwangan Bridge; if Tae Sung is going to be staying in Busan for a while, he might as well learn the city! They then go on a bus ride around the city, sitting on the top level of the double decker bus. Tae Sung resolves to find a job as a bodybuilder and start getting his life sorted out. Alright!

Sora has one last “present” for him – a cellphone. Wow, Tae Sung looks like he just arrived at a candy store. He bounds happily towards the store, and is super giddy when he has his new cellphone. Because he didn’t have one before, it was super inconvenient for him to contact her whenever they separated. Since she is the first person he saw when he woke up from his accident, he’s become attached to her like a duckling to its mother. He’s always the one following her around, but now, with her number, he can call her to come over anytime he wants!

He even starts playing with her, stepping a few feet back to call her and then ask, “Can you hear me now?” Dude – you’re not in a Verizon commercial!

They return to the restaurant and start working the evening shift for the restaurant. Sora gets an unexpected guest in the form of Joon Hyuk, who came over because he heard her clam bakes were very good. Sora offers him a serving on the house, but Tae Sung interrupts – they don’t sell single servings of clam bakes! He protests against her show of favoritism, so Joon Hyuk says he’ll order two orders – as long as Sora sits down with him to eat it! Suddenly Tae Sung is all jealous, and he decides that he wants to join in too. How about the men share a drink together?

Several bottles each later, Joon Hyuk and Tae Sung are drunk as heck. Well, when you’re drunk, the truth comes out! Tae Sung boldly admits that he doesn’t like Joon Hyuk because he looks like a sleaze. Joon Hyuk admits that the feeling is mutual, but that he’s only respectful to Tae Sung because he’s Sora’s fiance. Wait, fiance? That’s the first time Tae Sung is hearing that, and he quickly denies it. Sora jumps in to apologize to Joon Hyuk; because of Tam Hee’s comments, a misunderstanding arose. However, Tae Sung isn’t the fiance.

For Tae Sung though, it doesn’t matter. He scolds Joon Hyuk for trying to woo a woman that’s already spoken for, while Joon Hyuk dismisses him as a “nobody.” Aww – that actually hurts for Tae Sung, since he kinda is a nobody because of his amnesia! Joon Hyuk falls over off his chair, tipsy, and Tae Sung declares himself the winner of this drinking game. Wahoo!

Sora rights Joon Hyuk up back on his seat, and picks up his fallen wallet. In it is a photo of Joon Hyuk and his mother. But wait! That’s Sora’s mother! She hurries back to her room and looks through her photo album; the woman in Joon Hyuk’s photo is the same woman standing with her father! Joon Hyuk and Sora… are siblings!

The next morning, the revelation is all forgotten. The uncles all help Tae Sung practice his tricks again; since he’s a bodybuilder, he’s going to need to get back in shape and start looking for a job. Though it may seem daunting at first, his body may remember his skills and hopefully his mind will soon after with his memories. I love that the family is all doing this to help Tae Sung – and for our amusement. Tae Sung’s first act? Pulling a truck on a rope with his teeth. The heck!? How is a prosecutor supposed to do this!?

But he does it! Slowly but surely, he’s pulling the truck! Until it’s revealed that Joong Shik and his little friends are actually pushing the truck from behind, thinking it’d be funny. Their pushing puts the truck on a slanted hill, and before anyone can stop it, it rolls down and hits the telephone pole below. Heh. Tae Sung is really strong! Another trick is to walk on eggshells – without breaking them. Of course, Tae Sung stomps all over them. The last one includes blowing spectacular flames from his torch. He really does it – but ends up burning his own lip because of the fumes!

Trip to the hospital time! Sora berates him for being stupid and listening to the uncles, but Tae Sung really believes that he was a bodybuilder, and just forgot some of his most basic acts. As they leave the hospital, Sora remembers she needs to go pick up his medicine and rushes back. Tae Sung waits for her in the courtyard, and he sees Granny pushing Man Ho around in his wheelchair. She’s reassuring Man Ho that she’ll find Tae Sung, and then asks Tae Sung to watch over Man Ho while she goes to the bathroom! Tae Sung and Man Ho just keep bumping into each other! Tae Sung takes Man Ho over to the shaded area, since it’s really hot, and recognizes him to be the father that kept looking for his son. He doesn’t pay him much mind though as he checks out his lip, so he doesn’t see Man Ho wake up temporarily and stretch out his hand over to his back. But right before Man Ho’s fingers touch Tae Sung, he falls faint.

He’s dead.

Tae Sung turns around and thinks that Man Ho just fell out of position, and so he fixes him back up nicely. Granny arrives from her bathroom break and wheels Man Ho away. But after just a few feet away, she shrieks. What’s wrong with her president!? Medics surround the two of them as Sora joins Tae Sung, wondering what’s going on. She recognizes Man Ho though, and realizes that he’s now dead.

She takes the news back to the uncles, and Uncle Hello Kitty is super happy about it. Finally, the one thorn in their side has been eliminated. But Sora thinks that while Man Ho’s betrayal was terrible to her father, she thinks that it’s best they go and pay their respects at the funeral. Uncle Hello Kitty is staunchly against it; if Sora goes, he’ll starve himself to death! But Soon Shin reminds him that if Joong Shik regains his memory, he might be disappointed in them for not having had been respectable enough to attend the funeral.

To drive the point home, Sora goes over to her dad to tell him that Man Ho went somewhere “far away.” Joong Shik only giggles – he misses Man Ho! He wants to eat corn on the cob together with his dongsaeng Man Ho!

They dress up in their suits and head out to the funeral. Tae Sung wonders where they’re all going, because he doesn’t like getting ditched! Aww, he’s really reverted back into a little kid.

When the uncles, Sora, and Joong Shik arrive, they’re faced with all of Joong Shik’s former men that are all now Man Ho’s men. They move away, but not before staring at them suspiciously and wondering why they’re here. Joong Shik smiles at everyone, then heads into where Man Ho’s ashes are. He puts corn on the cob on the offering table, knowing how much Man Ho liked them. It’s such a sweet, simple offering that gets ruined when Tam Hee storms in and shrilly asks what on earth these “low lifes” are doing here.

Even though Soon Shin asks that they not blow this up out of proportions (and addresses her as Bok Ja, natch), Tam Hee is going to make it a big deal. If they wanted to come pay their respects, she snipes that they should have dressed more upper class. She starts throwing the corn at them, and one hits Joong Shik on the head. Poor Daddy – he starts crying that he got hurt.

Tam Hee can only think cynically, that the uncles are super happy that her husband is now dead. Sometimes, just the assumption is bad enough, but mix it with her voice and it becomes 10x worse. She orders her men to kick out the uncles and Sora. Dong Baek and Uncle Hello Kitty don’t want to fight, since they’re sorely outnumbered, and Sora tries to intervene with words. Their intent for visiting was to leave on good terms with Man Ho, holding on to the good feelings from 10 years ago. But since they’re unwelcome, they’ll leave.

For a moment it looks like Tam Hee is thinking over their words, and actually taking them to heart. But then she calls them back and throws a slipper at Sora – do they think they can leave just like that?! This woman is just looking for a fight – and a fight she gets!

No longer caring about being outnumbered or not, the three uncles start charging for the nearest gangster and beating them up. The fight moves into the actual room where Man Ho lies, and bodies go flying, crashing against the food and Man Ho’s portrait. Even Sora gets in the fight, trying to stop them from all fighting, while Joong Shik hides under the plants. Of course the uncles fall, and get their guts kicked out. Tam Hee’s right hand gangster then picks up a heavy vase-like object to smash on one of their heads, but Sora intervenes. So he ends up hitting her on the head with it!

As she falls, she looks up to see Tae Sung, who had followed them there!

The two of them stare at each other in shock, fists flying all around them. And… that’s it.

Comments:

Ok – it’s a bit weird of an ending, especially after episode 5’s, but I think the look that Tae Sung and Sora exchange conveys more about their growing relationship than about plot movement. Tae Sung looks pained when he sees Sora hurt, and Sora looks like this was not the side of her family she ever wanted him to see. She never acknowledged that her family used to be gangsters to him, only that they were rich once upon a time. Now that Tae Sung is seeing them amidst this whole fight, he might find out that they’re a bunch of gangsters. It may not necessarily ruin his impression of them, but Sora certainly thinks so. Rather, I think Tae Sung would rise to Sora’s defense. I’m hoping we get to see him kick butt and beat that guy who hurt Sora.

This episode was cute in that we saw Tae Sung get insanely attached to Sora, and with good reason. After all, she’s the only one by his side who seems to know who he is, and has been helping him. It’s natural he wants to stick by her until he’s more stable mentally. While the episode moved quickly, they went from one situation to another that allowed their trust in each other to grow.

I do enjoy how Tae Sung’s one-liner “This is the first time I’ve ever felt this way,” has become a real joke. At first it was a joke because it was a total misunderstanding between the two. Now, Tae Sung really means it! To him, it is the first time he’s felt a lot of ways because he forgot a lot of things! He says it several times in the episode, referring to humiliation or the feeling of abandonment. I love that this joke really is taking a life on its own.

As for the one big revelation in this episode: the fact that Joon Hyuk and Sora are siblings dampens my thoughts for what I thought the drama would be (i.e. rivalry over the hotel). Again, this storyline becomes very melodramatic and cliched, hearkening back to the old dramas of yore – amnesia! Sibling love! However, I’m sure that this particular drama trope is going to get twisted and wrung out for laughs instead of tears. Once Joon Hyuk finds out, it has got to be way awkward for Joon Hyuk, since he’s interested in her. And if he were an evil character, I bet that his newfound relationship with Sora would put a wrench in his plans. I am now curious over Sora’s relationship with her mother, because I just assumed that her mother was dead. It certainly was easier to think that way.

While this drama is amping up the characters’ relationships and the storyline, I hope it doesn’t lose the laughs!

RELATED POSTS

• Haeundae Lovers: Episode 5
• Haeundae Lovers: Episode 4
• Haeundae Lovers: Episode 3
• Haeundae Lovers: Episode 2
• Haeundae Lovers: Episode 1