Ho-gu’s Love: Episode 7

by javabeans

If last week’s developments spun the story in a sideways direction, today gives us answers and explanations, which shed a lot of light on what’s actually going on with these characters. I would have expected a story to have fully set up its main story well before the fourth week, but there’s an appeal to discovering things in layers, peeling back truths in steps to keep the things shifting.

SONG OF THE DAY

Hello Gayoung – “어른인 듯 아닌 듯” (Kind of grown-up, kind of not) [ Download ]

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Seventh Foolish Act: “Let’s respect one’s preferences”

Kang-chul admits to us that the most beautiful person to him is Ho-gu, but from his furrowed and the way he forcefully tosses back his wine, it seems he’s not exactly thrilled about it.

Ho-gu says that the most beautiful person to him is, naturally, Do-hee—or at least it was, until he saw this little guy. He looks down at the newborn adoringly, finding the kid the cutest thing in the world.

He dials it back when he realizes Do-hee’s awake, and asks how she slept. Ha, and in her reply she accidentally slips into some of his baby talk before catching herself. Then over on the floor coach stretches awake—it’s like a clown car in this room.

At school, Ho-kyung reports on her research project to Professor Mok, who’s pleased with the progress. She’s equally pleased to hear about Ho-kyung’s date with her son, though she assures her that she doesn’t need regular reports—on this front, she’s content to step back and trust Ho-kyung to handle the dating. But she does add that she’d love for things to proceed to the next level. Ho-kyung assures her that things are already in motion.

But it’s Ho-gu’s name that Kang-chul is looking up on their high school alumni list. (Ha, I love the recurring bit where people assume Ho-gu’s unemployed, hear that he’s a webtoon artist, and then say, “Like I said, unemployed.”) Kang-chul racks his brains trying to figure out the link between fish-shaped buns, condom, and Ho-gu, because nothing about their elevator encounter makes any sense to him.

And then he wonders in disbelief whether this is about the events of “that day”—”surely not still?” He’s so shocked he spills coffee all over himself, and thinks back to a morning just like this morning, which unfolded six years ago.

Flashback to high school. Kang-chul recalls it being a fine morning as he arrived on campus, just as Ho-gu stepped off the bus as “the only flaw” marring the moment. We see “Ho-gu” wearing a hoodie with a scarf covering most of the face, but he’s identifiable by the school nametag pinned to the coat: Kang Ho-gu.

Kang-chul watches as the school bullies surround Ho-gu and start harassing him. But today, Ho-gu swears back at them under his breath—and although it looks like Ho-gu, that’s definitely Ho-kyung’s voice we’re hearing. Kang-chul is just as amazed as the bullies are when “Ho-gu” talks back and sends the leader flying with a well-placed uppercut, then proceeds to knock down all the underlings.

Ho-gu’s lunch goes flying, and (s)he starts collecting the containers. Then (s)he notes the kimchi stain on Kang-chul’s shirt, tosses out a careless “sorry” and tells him to follow so they can clean it up. Kang-chul sputters about being late for school, and “Ho-gu” just laughs in his face about being such a goody-goody model student that it provokes his temper.

In retrospect, Kang-chul notes that the right thing to do would have been to ignore Ho-gu. But in the moment, hes irked at the school wimp laughing at him, so he follows. “That was the start of that day’s tragedy,” he thinks.

“Ho-gu” leads Kang-chul to the manhwa store and asks Dad to clean the shirt. Kang-chul waits awkwardly while Ho-gu lounges around reading a manhwa book (the latest volume of the Elise series), and Dad cheerfully scrubs away at the shirt… and makes the stain ten times worse. Hee.

Kang-chul is appalled at the stain and Dad’s casual attitude about it, so “Ho-gu” takes him to Mom next to fix things. Next thing we know, Kang-chul is at Mom’s alterations shop wearing a garish flower-print shirt while ajummas sing trot and feel him up. And then Kang-chul’s jaw drops when Mom presents the finished product, replete with elaborate red dragon stitching, which makes him look rather like the world’s nerdiest gangster.

Kang-chul storms off angrily, and when “Ho-gu” asks about it, he roars that it would’ve been better off without any of their “help.” But the day has gone off the rails for him, and everything starts going askew—next a motorcyclist snatches his bookbag and drives off. “Ho-gu” starts running after the bike screaming, and he finds himself lost and alone in the strange neighborhood.

Broke and hungry, he doesn’t know what to do other than look around for Ho-gu, and spends the day wandering and waiting at a neighborhood playground.

Adult Kang-chul heads into work that day, and something about secretary Gong-mi, sporting an unfortunate pimple, has him wondering if they’ve ever met before. She doesn’t think so, and he shakes off the thought—but in flashback, we see the connection.

While Teenage Kang-chul waits for Ho-gu, there’s a group of tough-looking girls nearby dancing to rap music, and the leader catches him staring. It’s Teenage Gong-mi, wearing a monster zit on her forehead, and she accuses him of laughing at her dance.

He insists he was smiling, not sneering, but and when Teenage Gong-mi continues to harass him he pushes back, to both their surprise. And just as Gong-mi’s about to send her fist into his face, “Ho-gu” reappears to defend him. Kang-chul is so relieved that he grabs “Ho-gu” and whimpers, “Why’d you come only now?”

Ho-kyung drops by the law firm for an unannounced visit, but when she hears that Kang-chul isn’t in, she kicks off her heels and sits back, annoyed. Gong-mi notes the lack of relationship progress since Kang-chul hasn’t so much as texted Ho-kyung since their date, and wonders if he might be gay. Ho-kyung reminds her that he has an ex-girlfriend.

Ho-kyung tells her that the girlfriend wasn’t just a Do-hee lookalike, but actually Do-hee. Gong-mi says now she understands his lack of interest in women, because nobody can measure up to Do-hee, and scoffs that Ho-kyung has no shot—Do-hee was likely his first love, first girlfriend, first kiss.

Ho-kyung’s face falls as she thinks, “First kiss? That’s probably true, isn’t it?”

Kang-chul concedes that he doesn’t want to dump the blame for his lack of love life on “that guy.” He picks up the flashback from the last scene, after the scary girls have been sent off and “Ho-gu” has recovered his stolen bag. “Ho-gu” spots an unopened beer bottle left behind and helps himself (herself) to it while Kang-chul hisses at him not to. But this Ho-gu knows exactly how to push his buttons, teasing about him being too scared to drink, and Kang-chul chugs down the beer.

Tipsy, Kang-chul sits on a swing watching perplexedly as “Ho-gu” swings back and forth, both confused as to what his deal is and thankful for all the help today. Then he wonders how a guy could have such nice fingers, and his heart thumps. It makes him bolt to his feet in alarm, and he drunkenly tells “Ho-gu” that he likes girls.

“Ho-gu” laughs at him, then walks him home. Kang-chul heads toward his house determined to ignore Ho-gu tomorrow, lest the school pushover start thinking they’re friends—but then “Ho-gu” falls over and sways drunkenly back and forth, struggling to tie his shoe.

Kang-chul takes over the task, and as he ties the lace, “Ho-gu” calls his name and leans forward to kiss him. Then (s)he replaces her face scarf and skips off saying that it’s a “present” for spending a fun day together. Kang-chul’s heart starts thumping uncontrollably, and that’s when he says his heart became broken—not as in shattered, but literally malfunctioned.

After that, his heart wouldn’t race for anyone, man or woman. He doesn’t blame Ho-gu for all of it, supposing that growing up in an a cold household probably had a hand in it.

He visits his mother at her office on campus, and she prods him to see Ho-kyung while he’s here and ask her out on another date. Kang-chul says he’s not going to, because she’s not his “style”—the word can mean you like a certain type, but it’s also the word used euphemistically to refer to your orientation.

Mom asks what he does prefer, and Kang-chul thinks on that. He flashes to high school when Ho-gu had angrily shoved a four-leaf clover into his hand, which he still carries around with him to this day. Aw, you thought it was from Ho-gu, didn’t you? (Ho-gu, on the other hand, knew it was from Do-hee and was warning Kang-chul not to discard her gift.) Kang-chul tells himself that Ho-kyung just isn’t his type, and that this has nothing to do with Ho-gu.

Ho-kyung spots Kang-chul leaving the building and perks up, thinking he must be here to see her. But then she watches as he sees her calling him and just ignores the call.

Coach takes Ho-gu out for hamburgers and warns him darkly about keeping his mouth shut about Do-hee, threatening to sue if he so much as talks to anyone about it. Ho-gu assures the coach that he’s well aware of the position Do-hee is in and says he’s a friend, so the coach doesn’t have to be so scary and mean—he’ll keep the secret. Coach just orders three more burgers for Ho-gu and thanks him for helping Do-hee through labor.

As they head back to the motel, Coach suddenly whirls around to see a pair of reporters appear down the street; they’ve received a tip on a Do-hee sighting and are here to check it out. They hurry to Do-hee’s room where Coach calls her agency—he’d asked them to have those reporters followed to avoid such a scenario, but somebody dropped the ball.

Hearing that her agency has been contacted alarms Do-hee, but her coach says that it’s too big a problem for him to handle it on his own, and he needs their resources. She looks panicked to hear that the CEO has ordered her to come in, but Coach assures her that he didn’t say anything about the baby; he just made a cover story about her getting hemorrhoid surgery and then going AWOL for a while.

While they head out to the agency, they ask a grandpa in the motel to watch the baby, and he cheerfully agrees. Ho-gu watches anxiously as Grandpa bumbles through the directions, and darts in to take over before the baby gets burned or starved.

So while Grandpa promises he’ll manage fine, Ho-gu refuses to give up the baby to him. He insists that they have to leave the baby with someone else, but doesn’t have any suggestions, and Do-hee points out that she has nobody to ask. So he says he’ll take responsibility for the baby, and brings him to the workshop.

Tae-hee naturally thinks he’s insane, and refuses to be roped into this. He reminds him that Chung-jae can’t stand babies and urges him to leave before he gets here, except they’re too late because that’s when Chung-jae walks in.

Quickly, the two friends move to block the baby from his sightline, but their refusal to budge is more suspicious than anything, and Chung-jae darts around them to see what they’re hiding.

Waiting in the CEO’s office, Do-hee nervously runs through a few sample apologies, trying to figure out how best to appease the inevitable burst of anger she’s about to face. Then the TV report announces her rival’s latest gold medal win, and when asked about Do-hee, she laughs that Do-hee wasn’t really her rival so much as she was the team’s pretty face.

Then a high-level director steps in, her ice-cold glare making Do-hee shrink back immediately. Apparently CEO Park is out of the country at the moment, so the director instructs Do-hee to stay hiding for the time being.

On her way out, she runs into Kang-chul, who’s a consultant for the agency. They step aside to talk, keeping smiles on their faces since they’re only semi-private. She tells him to mind his own business since he’s no longer involved, and says she’s got adoption plans in the works. He’s mollified by that (“At least you’re not idiotic through the end”), and she turns to go, wanting to be done with him.

Kang-chul stops her to ask if she’s still in touch with Ho-gu, and she lies that she hasn’t seen him since graduation. She asks why he’s interested, and Kang-chul stammers a lame explanation about how they’re old friends—er, classmates. Do-hee scoffs at his words, then asks suspiciously, “Are you…” Kang-chul gulps nervously, but she finishes, “…getting married?”

That’s the explanation that makes most sense to her, that he’s casting a wide net to collect wedding gift funds. ‘Cause he’s certainly never cared about old friends or classmates before.

It’s a disaster zone at the workshop, with Ho-gu and Tae-hee trying their best to figure out how to quiet the crying baby. When they find the stinkbomb in its diaper, they flip out even more and blunder through the process of changing it, leaving them all exhausted and shell-shocked. Chung-jae exhaustedly warns Ho-gu that he’s going to kill him—but later, once he’s recovered his senses, since he’s all worn out.

Then Chung-jae screams at Ho-gu to leave before he kills him, and Ho-gu packs up and heads out cradling the baby. Tae-hee goes with him.

Do-hee runs into another familiar face at the agency—her rival, Sung-shil, who’s been scouted here after winning all those gold medals. They trade barbs coated in sugary coating, with Sung-shil expressing her “relief” that Do-hee didn’t get fired from her agency after all.

Do-hee doesn’t bat an eyelash at the rumors of her having a baby and just says it’d be nice if they said she had a son. Sung-shil returns that she should have a daughter that’s just as pretty as her, but she shouldn’t make her swim—because then she’d just sell her face with photo shoots and ads instead of winning medals.

Not one to be cowed, Do-hee sweetly returns that Sung-shil absolutely must have her daughter swim, “Because that’s her one path to surviving.” Sung-shil nods, not even registering the insult for a long beat: “Wait, that was an insult, right? Which part was the insult?”

Ho-gu and Tae-hee wander around town with nowhere to go, trying to figure out where to take the baby. They head to their favorite squid place to get out of the cold, but recoil in panic upon seeing Ho-kyung sitting there. They dart outside without her spotting them, which is easy enough since she’s drowning her disappointment in soju.

Ho-kyung thinks back to her date with Kang-chul, and how he called her the second-most beautiful person he’s encountered, assuming that Do-hee must be his Number 1. Thinking of how he ignored her call, she screams angrily that she won’t date him, no way! Glug, glug.

Ho-gu and Tae-hee end up at a convenience store, and the baby starts to cry again. Tae-hee tells him to return the kid to Do-hee, but Ho-gu says he promised to take care of him until Do-hee’s agency business was all cleared up. Then they get kicked out of the convenience store too, and Tae-hee rages at Kang-chul for shirking his responsibility.

Ho-gu thinks to himself, “Why did it have to be Byun Kang-chul?” It would have been easier to just write off the dad as some deadbeat if he hadn’t known him, but since he does, this makes him extra-mad. So he decides to go to Kang-chul now.

Meanwhile, Do-hee arrives in Ho-gu’s neighborhood, frustrated that he’s not answering his phone. She leaves a voicemail just as a drunk Ho-kyung comes through, knocking into her and falling to the ground.

The boys arrive outside Kang-chul’s building, awed at the obvious wealth represented here. Then Kang-chul heads inside with a woman at his side—it’s only Gong-mi, but to their eyes it seems like he’s a carefree bachelor flirting with a woman, and Ho-gu fumes even more.

They’re here for a business meeting, and Kang-chul sits with his client as raised voices sound outside his door. Ho-gu insists on barreling past the secretary and bursts into the office—and the sight of him has Kang-chul sitting up in shock.

Ho-gu extends a hand and says it’s good to see him again, though the hard look in his eye belies the words. Kang-chul thinks to himself, “Kang Ho-gu, this crazy guy, has finally come to find me.”

Do-hee worriedly checks on Ho-kyung, who whimpers in pain and growls half-intelligible insults about Do-hee. She ends with the declaration, “This is all that chick’s fault—Do Do-hee.”

Kang-chul rises to his feet to shake Ho-gu’s outstretched hand, his four-leaf clover falling to the ground as he does. “Good to see you, Kang Ho-gu,” he says.

“My name is Ho-gu,” Ho-gu thinks with more conviction today.

In the street, Ho-kyung looks up to see her helper, and blinks in confusion to recognize Do-hee. “My name is Ho-kyung,” she thinks.

 
COMMENTS

I know that the full picture was purposely withheld till this point, but I do wish we’d gotten it a bit sooner, before I so thoroughly jumped off the Kang-chul train, while I might have cared more what happens to him. Admittedly, not seeing him being an ass for a full episode definitely does soften him up and make him more of a quirky, introverted character than a plain douchebag, but just because we don’t see it doesn’t erase how blood-boilingly hateful he was previously, and once a character crosses the line into classist misogynist, there’s not a lot you can do to argue “He’s just misunderstood!”

I thought that they were going to make Kang-chul gay and was interested in what the show would do with that, but I see now that they’re framing it a bit differently. It’s not that liking one boy (or so he thinks) makes Kang-chul think that he may be gay, but rather that he’s only felt that way about one person ever, and it’s never happened with anyone else, so he’s never even had an opportunity to figure out his orientation. He was, it seems, indifferent at best.

Which adds to the suggestion that Kang-chul may not be the baby daddy after all, although right now that question is still mostly in speculation territory. I can’t see Kang-chul having sex with anyone given the way he’s describing his feelings, although I also don’t see Do-hee sleeping with someone lightly. So the father’s identity remains the big question mark, no doubt one that will hover over the show for quite a while.

If it’s true that Kang-chul isn’t the father and we are merely being misled into that conclusion, I can see how the show may be setting itself up for that reveal. Kang-chul is her agency’s lawyer, and he writes contracts and is privy to Do-hee’s business. And it occurs to me that the word for “use” (as in using condoms) sounds the same as the word for “write”—so it’s possible they’re using wordplay to make us think he’s saying he won’t use those annoying condom things when he’s really saying he refuses to write those stupid documents. It doesn’t explain how or why he and Do-hee are close enough that he feels he can tell her to have an abortion, but again, this show does seem to be keeping a very tight rein on the way in which it doles out its information—carefully and strategically.

That aside, I do enjoy seeing Ho-gu falling in love with the baby and determined to be the safety net that Do-hee doesn’t have… just as I also enjoy watching him struggling with every step of it, because it’s great to have good intentions, but unhelpful when you don’t actually know how to see them through. I wondered why he didn’t take the child home because his parents seem the type to willingly help, but I was glad to see him try to figure it out on his own, because he declared that he’d take responsibility, not that he’d foist it off on someone more capable. That’s Ho-gu’s charm, in that he’s not necessarily (or ever?) the most capable person for the job, but he will do the job nonetheless. What good is competence when you refuse to use it? A willing heart and determination to figure it out can go a long, long way. Even if means dirty diapers and crying fits and never seeing sleep again.

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• Ho-gu’s Love: Episode 3
• Ho-gu’s Love: Episode 2
• Ho-gu’s Love: Episode 1
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