Haeundae Lovers: Episode 8

by kaedejun

The wedding! The wedding of the century! The wedding where the bride and groom are not right, but totally perfect for each other! Since we’re halfway through the series, more story is coming forth rather than the cheesy comedy I’ve been so used to in the past episodes. It’s understandable, but thankfully Kim Kang Woo is around to brighten up the day.

When it comes time for Joong Shik to give Tae Sung his daughter’s hand, he even recognizes that the groom is not Min Gu, and initially resists. But they have to force Sora’s hand out of his grip so that the fake wedding can go on smoothly.

Joo Hee freaks out at the sight of Tae Sung and she quickly intercepts Se Na before she can get to the wedding hall! Since Sora is the daughter of a gangster, Joo Hee thinks Se Na shouldn’t be socializing with her anyways. And once again a missed connection!

The wedding goes through somewhat smoothly, save for a ring too small for Tae Sung’s finger. Tae Sung still doesn’t smile for his wedding photos – but this time he has more of a pained or bewildered expression on. After the wedding, the bride and groom drive off – with Sora driving the truck. What happened to chivalry?! They head over to a lighthouse, and Sora takes the opportunity to cry silently to herself. Tae Sung then does something chivalrous – he lends his shoulder to Sora for three minutes so that she can cry, rest, sleep, blow her nose, or do whatever she wants. Since she’s always given him a hand, he’s lending a shoulder.

The uncles return home to divvy up the wedding money they received to give amongst the neighbors. Tae Sung comes in to confirm with them that they all know the wedding is a sham. That’s when the uncles take him outside for a “talk.” Uncle Soon Shin is about to begin the “History of the Family” when Tae Sung interrupts. He knows the gist of it and how their hotel was stolen from them. So Soon Shin cuts to the chase: as a prideful family, they’d like for Tae Sung to stay until they can catch Min Gu and rip him up into pieces.

Tae Sung laughs – a mere mortal managed to con a bunch of ex-gangsters! He doesn’t think he can trust the uncles, as he feels like they’re still trying to trap him and then sell him off. He riles them up, but thankfully Sora comes in to intervene. She sends the uncles off to repay their debt, and then she privately apologizes to Tae Sung. She should have listened to him before when he warned her about Min Gu. She hopes he can endure staying with them and keeping up the act for a little bit. He was only going to stay until his memory came back, and that should be enough time for them to track Min Gu down.

Tae Sung is more willing to grant Sora the request, but he wants her to grant him one wish too.

Of all things – it’s to swim in the Haeundae waters! They take the boat out, and Tae Sung dives into the water like a dog jumping in all-fours. Sora doesn’t want to get in with him to play, so he sneakily swims around the boat, boards, and then pushes her off the edge!

After some time playing around, they dry off on the deck. Even if their wedding is a sham, they needed a “honeymoon” at least. Suddenly, that word rings a bell for Tae Sung, and Sora wonders if Tae Sung’s been on a honeymoon before. Perhaps… he was married!? Tae Sung laugh it off – imagine if he really were?! He’d be a polygamist right now!!

Oh man, my sides are splitting from laughter.

Sora doesn’t think he could be since how could a married man come to Busan alone in search of a job? And why wasn’t he wearing a ring? Tae Sung: “Married men don’t always wear them so that they could pretend to be single!” Oh you got this all figured out, don’t you? I feel bad for your poor wife Se Na, who’s still holding on hope that her husband is alive.

On the other end of the stick is Tam Hee, who’s all too pleased to see her husband gone but still knows how to put on an act. She moans about what she and her son are to do, but their son Ga Joon looks like he doesn’t really care whether his father died or not, texting while pretending to cry. Granny is annoyed that Tam Hee had Man Ho cremated; now they can’t get his DNA to verify the “Tae Sung” that they find. The hospital doesn’t even have Man Ho’s blood or hair for testing (which is ridiculous too because it’s a hospital).

Tam Hee doesn’t care, she’s more annoyed by the mess that this search is causing for the hotel. Every day, hundreds of men are purposely getting star shaped tattoos on their butts and lining up all around the lobby to claim their inheritance. Besides, the hotel already has Ga Joon, so why are they looking for Tae Sung? She wants the search to stop by the end of the week. Whether they find him or not, Granny must try and find “Tae Sung” in the current pool of applicants.

And at that moment, Tam Hee gets a text from her son – he’s gone off to Antarctica for two months. HA! Guess he really needed to get away from his mother.

As Sora and Tae Sung do another round of deliveries to Haeundae Hotel, Tae Sung spots the ad for the search on the newspapers covering the elevator floor. Hey – since he has a star shaped mark on his butt, perhaps he could be the son too! Sora tells him to stop being silly and to hurry up with the delivery.

She then gets a call from one of the neighbors saying that everyone’s been ordered to vacate the shop because Yook Tam Hee bought their land. Sora stomps off in her rain boots in search of Tam Hee. Why were they getting kicked out? She and her uncles were supposed to have that shop after they were kicked out of the hotel! Why is Tam Hee stealing everything that belongs to her?

Tam Hee raises her hand to slap Sora, but Tae Sung stops it. “Who are you to raise your hand at my woman!?” Oh yeah – he just called Sora “his woman!” Tam Hee gets angry at him and his temper as well, and says that she was going to give Sora a month to move out, but now she’ll just give them a week! She’s so pissed off that she’s going to use all the money she has to make them feel pathetic and helpless.

Sora wonders if this is all because of the ruckus that was made during Man Ho’s funeral, but Tam Hee says that’s not the only reason. The other reason is because of the deal she has with Joon Hyuk on selling their fish to the hotel. She thinks that Sora and Joon Hyuk have got to have a special relationship, no? At that moment, Joo Hee comes rushing in to Joon Hyuk’s office to inform him that Tam Hee is having an argument with Sora at the lobby.

Tae Sung has had enough of Tam Hee’s insinuations and says that he’s going to sue her for defamation. But just then, Sora gets down on her knees. The only way to stop this whole fight is to beg, because at the end of the day, that’s probably what Tam Hee wants. Sora will give up her pride if it means that Tam Hee won’t kick them out of their store. All she asks is for a way to provide for her family and have a roof over their heads.

Tam Hee is enjoying this though, and she pushes Sora’s head down further. When Sora has no hope left, she should just end up crawling on her hands and knees, no? Joon Hyuk sees her completely disrespecting Sora at this point and yells for her to stop. Tae Sung also sees the banner for the search for Yang Man Ho’s son and decides to join. He’s going to help support this search that Tam Hee seems to hate so much, and hopefully the son will be found!

It’s amazing that Tae Sung feels quite confident that he’s Man Ho’s son just based on the mark on his butt. He even threatens Tam Hee that she just may be begging him on her hands and knees in the future. He applies, and is told that the physical exam will be the day after tomorrow. On the way back home, Sora thinks that Tae Sung just wasted his time with applying. Also, he’s now the fake son-in-law of Go Joong Shik! If he were to be Yang Man Ho’s son, the two of them would be Romeo and Juliet!

Tae Sung doesn’t really care about all that – they’re serving buffet during the examination!

Sora gets a call from her uncles saying that they got tickets to a baseball game. As true Busan-ites, Sora excitedly heads over to the stadium. While they’re all cheering, she decides to let them know on Tae Sung’s recent important decision to enter the search for Man Ho’s son. The uncles think he’s crazy, especially since a star scar doesn’t mean much. But then Tae Sung fires back that after all the begging and crawling Sora did, how could he not sign up for the search?

The uncles have a sinking feeling in their bones – did Sora actually beg to Bok Ja!? This is the worst feeling ever, and Soon Shin swears that after the game is over, they’re going to do everything they can into getting their hotel again.

Meanwhile, Joon Hyuk convinces his lawyer buddy to take on a case regarding Haeundae Hotel. It’s not clear what the case is about, though I bet it has to do with inheritance rights and ownership of the company. A secretary comes in informing the lawyer that Sora is back, and Joon Hyuk willingly waits “in the other room” while his friend assists Sora.

Joon Hyuk listens in as Sora is trying to figure out if there’s anything they could do to get back the hotel. The lawyer says that it would have been better pursuing all this 10 years ago, but it turns out that back then, Sora didn’t know how to deal with all this; she was only a high school student then, and her uncles were in jail. The lawyer doesn’t think that Sora will get a favorable ruling from the jury, so she might as well find out who the shareholders are and try to convince them to give the hotel back to her.

The alarm sets off – their ten minutes are up, and Sora owes him $100. Lawyers…

That evening, Sora and Tae Sung have a restless night where they toss and turn, wondering if Tae Sung could possibly be Man Ho’s son. I think both are believing the possibility more and more, with the growing hope that if Tae Sung is the son, at least Tam Hee’s life won’t be so great anymore. They both end up on the rooftop, and Tae Sung gets Sora to massage his finger to help him fall asleep. Tae Sung argues that since he might not end up being the true son anyways, he wants a baseball uniform as well so that he can fit in with the rest of the family.

The next morning he heads over to the hotel for the physical exam. Basically it requires the men to line up in a row and pull down their pants. Granny then has this huge magnifying glass and goes through each and every scar, looking for the right one. Sora tries to intercept Tae Sung before he goes in, saying that she doesn’t want to end up being enemies with him. She’s already afraid that it might be true! Tae Sung points out that they’re not going to see each other again once he gets his memory back; if anything they may end up being enemies again, so why can’t he have a little bit more money then?

It makes Sora angry enough that she drives off, but then Tae Sung mutters, “If I don’t show up, Uncle’s Fishery becomes the butt of a joke to the Yang family.” He needs to follow through on his little dare! Joon Hyuk and Tam Hee are surprised to see Tae Sung actually there, thinking that he had just signed up as a joke. Joon Hyuk also wants a word with Tae Sung after the test since he’s curious about his relationship with Sora.

The rest of the day, Sora is distracted and worried about Tae Sung. It looks like she really doesn’t want to become enemies with him, and is really starting to feel something for him. She ends up heading back to Haeundae Hotel to check up on Tae Sung, and runs into Joon Hyuk instead. He wants to ask her something about her relationship to Tae Sung, who could very well be the son of her enemy. But Sora wants to ask him something first!

They head to a cafe, and Sora asks what her mother is doing in Joon Hyuk’s family photo. Though her mother left her when she was a baby, she did see photos of her mother and knows how she looks like. A little stiffly, as though he’s just been caught, Joon Hyuk replies that her mother Young Sook is his stepmother. She had raised him since he was in kindergarten and they’re closer to each other than a biological mother and son. Sora wonders if it’s because of their mother that Joon Hyuk was nicer to her and offered to pay 5x the amount for the mackerel. Joon Hyuk says that’s not true; he actually doesn’t listen to his mom on certain things.

Sora wants to make sure that he’s not actually being good to her out of guilt for being raised by a loving mother when she had none, but Joon Hyuk assures her he’s not a good man. Uh oh… wait what?! Joon Hyuk was actually nice to her the entire time because he was impressed that there was a woman who could stand up to Tam Hee that day outside the hotel, when he first arrived, and she didn’t even have to be wearing heels and designer clothing to do so.

Basically – he just confessed to her!

Sora is so shocked to find that he likes her that she nearly misses answering his question: why did she end up marrying Tae Sung when he could be Man Ho’s son, and also when the wedding invite said “Kang Min Gu,” which is clearly not Tae Sung? Sora refuses to answer him, saying that there’s a reason why she ended up marrying Tae Sung, but she doesn’t have to get his permission or approval for it. Oooh… it looks like she’s not really interested in Joon Hyuk’s confession, since she’s so boldly shutting down his curiosities about her relationship to Tae Sung.

She doesn’t even bother asking Joon Hyuk about her mother, as she’s not even interested in people who aren’t in her heart in the first place. Dang – for the first time, a female lead not that interested in her parentage?! So Joon Hyuk tries one last thing: “If I got the hotel back for you, will you come to me?” That sounds a little desperate, but I think it’s almost sincere because it would explain his actions. He reminds Sora that if Tae Sung is the real son, what would happen to their relationship?

Sora doesn’t believe that Tae Sung could be the son in the first place, and she leaves Joon Hyuk alone, berating himself that he might have been pushing too hard for her.

Finally the last group of people enter the room, and Min Shik hopes that Granny can find the son in this group. It’s been a long day for these men, staring at men’s butts and helping Granny track down the real one. She goes down the line, and she hits one note on the xylophone before her if the person before her is the wrong one. Finally, she reaches Tae Sung, and her eyes widen in shock. It’s her Young Master Tae Sung!

Tam Hee and Joon Hyuk are immediately notified and they head over to the room where she’s been inspecting them. Granny is barely able to speak, but she finally points out to them the man who is Tae Sung, protected by some of Tam Hee’s men. He turns around… and it’s Tae Sung! (Or ‘Nam Hae’ for these people.) Tam Hee is so shocked that her knees buckle in shock.

Sora arrives at the room afterwards and sees Tae Sung. Not understanding what’s going on, she quickly motions for him to leave. But then Granny wraps her arms around Tae Sung and cries about him never being able to see his father when Man Ho was alive.

Uh oh… Sora can’t believe it – Tae Sung really is the true son!

Granny, Joon Hyuk, Tam Hee, Min Shik, and others have a meeting to discuss the results of the search. Granny says that she’s absolutely sure about her pick. The scar had occurred when he was just a baby and they were going around a candy shop in the neighborhood. Baby Tae Sung had fallen on a candy making tool that was in the shape of the star, and it made an impression on the butt, including a little line for the handle of the machine.

Tae Sung ends up hanging out in Man Ho’s office, and he keeps trying to call Sora, but she refuses to pick up. She’s taking the revelation a little to hard, angry and sad that she’s now going to have to hate Tae Sung. Joo Hee comes into the room and Min Shik explains that she is the secretary to the president and vice president – meaning him and Joon Hyuk.

Joo Hee smiles at him, and then he recognizes her from the wedding hall! Joo Hee thinks he means the wedding hall where he married Se Na, but he’s actually thinking of Sora’s wedding. However, he speaks vaguely enough (“You’re the friend of the bride aren’t you?”) that Joo Hee worries he might not have amnesia after all! She curses Kwan Soon in her breath, so it seems like she heard the full story from Kwan Soon over who “Nam Hae”/Tae Sung is. Eventually Tae Sung refers to Sora’s wedding, which makes her feel slightly relieved.

So Joo Hee… why aren’t you telling Se Na all this!?

Back in the meeting room, Tam Hee refuses to accept the fact that they’re going to announce the son of Yang Man Ho based on a star shaped scar on his butt. She wants them to do a DNA check when Ga Joon returns from Antarctica and make sure they have the same paternity in two months. Her men want to do a DNA check right away, but then Tam Hee adds another bombshell for these men: this Tae Sung is the new son-in-law for Joong Shik.

The men can’t accept that – that means in a way, Joong Shik is going to get his hotel back! But Tam Hee’s henchman points out that perhaps they can get a divorce, since they only married a few days ago. Joon Hyuk plays the devil’s advocate here and says that the will makes no statement over who Tae Sung is married to. Min Shik has an outburst: if Tae Sung refuses to get a divorce, they will simply refuse to acknowledge him as the son! After all, most people would rather be Man Ho’s son than Joong Shik’s son-in-law, so he’s sure Tae Sung would agree to a divorce.

Tam Hee just wants to make sure that Sora will eventually have that divorce and get kicked out of Haeundae, and as she smirks quietly to herself, Joon Hyuk wonders to himself what Tam Hee’s end game is.

Back at home, the uncles are trying to distract Joong Shik from wanting to run away to kindergarten by downloading some cartoons that he likes. They wonder why Sora didn’t bring Tae Sung back home with her, and she then gets a call to come back to the hotel. Unable to hide it from the uncles, she informs them that Tae Sung is actually Man Ho’s son for real. Uncle Hello Kitty: “Are we shooting a drama right now!?” Hahaha!

Uncle Soon Shin wants to go with Sora back to the hotel, since she’s now entering enemy territory with no backup. He and Uncle Hello Kitty follow her to the President’s office, but only she is allowed in the president’s office to see Tam Hee, Joon Hyuk, and Tae Sung.

Tam Hee gets right to the point – why don’t the two of them get a divorce. It’s impossible to stay together considering the history the two families have had. Sora: “How much are you going to give me for the alimony?” Tam Hee laughs – that’s so like Sora to ask for money in return. She gives Sora a blank piece of paper; she can name her price, though the most she can get under the law is $50,000.

Tae Sung grabs the paper and pen. “Who says we’ll get a divorce!?”

Comments:

Aw man! I love that Tae Sung doesn’t want this divorce! For him, this is all about getting revenge for Sora against Tam Hee and helping her get the hotel back. He doesn’t understand the power his position as Man Ho’s son would have. He’s also trying to save Sora and her family some face by continuing the charade of being married (as Joon Hyuk is the only one in the room to know that the whole wedding is a sham). And yet, it would be beneficial for all if they were divorced. Tam Hee would keep the hotel; Sora wouldn’t be married to the enemy; Tae Sung is still legally married to Se Na but now he wouldn’t be a fake polygamist; and Joon Hyuk would have a chance with Sora. I don’t understand why Joon Hyuk seemed resistant to the idea of divorce, as it would have been favorable for him because he’d have a chance with Sora. It also appeared that he was looking for legal loopholes to help Sora get the hotel back, so it’s not like she needs to be married to Tae Sung to get it back.

I wish that Sora could have just put her family history aside and just remain married to Tae Sung. She’s thrown away her pride several times already by apologizing to Tam Hee, and I feel that by accepting Tam Hee’s proposal for a divorce, she’s doing it again. Though she may refuse to stay with Tae Sung out of principle, I’m pretty sure the whole family realizes that Tae Sung isn’t that bad of a person, and in their own way, likes him too. If she remains married to Tae Sung, then she can get her hotel back; it may be devious but it is her best shot considering the lack of legal options offered to her.

I want Sora to be bad-ass for once, and claim what’s hers. If it requires a little manipulation then so be it! Tam Hee has done plenty enough of that against her already.

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