Answer Me 1988: Episode 8

by girlfriday

Today’s episode is about brothers, the kind who’re weird and drive you crazy most days, and are kind of embarrassing. But put them in danger, and suddenly it reveals so much about everyone around them, and what they’d do to protect someone they love.

Episode 8 logged the highest average ratings for the entire Answer Me franchise, coming in at 12.2% and beating out Answer Me 1994’s finale.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Deulgukhwa – “사랑한 후에” (After Love) [ Download ]

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EPISODE 8: “One warm word”

It’s two days after Christmas in 1988, and like clockwork, Taek’s dad wakes up at the crack of dawn to go make Taek a warm breakfast. He then goes outside to sweep the street like usual, but this time the other parents stop when they see him wearing his new pink mittens. He proudly tells them that they’re a birthday gift from Taek, and everybody finds it adorable.

Deok-sun bundles up for the cold day and opens up her drawer… where she’s got a pair of pink gloves (from Jung-hwan) next to a pair of pink mittens (from Taek). Well doesn’t that just sum up her predicament quite nicely? She sits there contemplating them for a moment, then decides on the mittens. One point, Taek.

Deok-sun meets her friends at the ddukbokki place, where she shouts at them that she’s not stupid. They swear that this time, it’s really for sure—Jung-hwan likes her. Why else would he dash all the way to Gangnam at a moment’s notice for her? Deok-sun snaps that she’s not about to let them make a fool of her twice after being wrong about Sun-woo, and points out that they know nothing about boys anyway. That shuts them up instantly.

She notices that her friend dyed her hair lighter and wants to do the same, but they warn her that using hydrogen peroxide burns and smells disgusting. Their solution: beer. Deok-sun goes straight home and pours four giant bottles of beer into a basin, then dunks her head in. Oh, the things we do.

Mom is upset about something and asks Deok-sun where she went earlier today. Bora unni says that some money is missing from Mom’s wallet, and though Deok-sun claims to know nothing about it, Bora goes to check Deok-sun’s wallet anyway.

Deok-sun bursts into tears and cries that she didn’t take the money, horribly offended that Unni or Mom would suspect her. She wails to Mom, who feels bad and feeds her sweet potatoes while wiping away her tears.

Deok-sun figures that this only leaves No-eul as the possible thief, and Mom just asks her not to say anything because he’s at a rebellious age. That just hurts Deok-sun’s feelings all over again, and she asks Mom why her feelings weren’t spared when she’s also at a rebellious age. Lol.

Today’s the day that the college entrance exam results will be announced, and by the heavy silence in Jung-hwan’s house, I’m thinking there was no Christmas miracle for Jung-bong hyung. Dad says maybe he heard wrong and calls again, but this time it’s for sure—he failed, yet again.

Jung-hwan gives Hyung a silent tap on the shoulder before heading to his room, and Dad plays peacemaker to try and lift Jung-bong’s spirits. Dad reminds him that he has to be admitted into the hospital tomorrow, and it’s important not to be stressed out. Hm, what’s going on with Hyung?

Mom sighs that if it hadn’t been for the surgery… but Dad says he’s just grateful that Jung-bong grew up well. I wonder if he’s been sick his whole life or something? Dad asks if she’s forgotten, but Mom says she hasn’t.

Bora talks to her boyfriend on the phone (she’s actually rather sweet when she’s talking to him) and defers meeting up until next week. But then another friend calls to see her today, and she heads out right away.

Sun-woo is hanging out in the street and greets her less formally than usual, and she corrects him to use jondae with her. Jung-hwan and Dong-ryong come out too, and she says pointedly that she’s heading out to see her boyfriend, and snaps at Dong-ryong for not greeting her formally either. He quickly bows at the waist in apology.

Jung-hwan asks Sun-woo if he still likes her when she’s like that, and Sun-woo admits that he doesn’t like that part. Jung-hwan feels bad that Bora is going out to meet her boyfriend, but Sun-woo says she’s lying—she always wears skirts when going out with her boyfriend, and lied for his benefit. Jung-hwan stares like he’s gone crazy.

The three of them hang out in Taek’s room, and when Dong-ryong decides his new favorite star is Lee Ji-yeon, Jung-hwan teases that Sun-woo likes the strong type. They exchange silent looks over Dong-ryong’s head, but Jung-hwan keeps going: “You know, like Bora noona.”

Dong-ryong says that’s possible, but they shouldn’t assume that Bora is any different in front of her boyfriend. Both boys turn to look at him, and Dong-ryong sighs that they know nothing about girls. He says that no matter how much a girl does silly dances at home, she’ll be totally different and act coy in front of the boy she likes. He points out that the reverse is true too: If a girl dances like that in front of you, she doesn’t see you as a man.

Cut to: Deok-sun doing that very dance in front of them a few minutes later, as Jung-hwan scowls in the corner. Hahaha. You can practically see it stamped on his forehead: Not a man.

Taek opens the door and almost runs away scared at the sight, but Deok-sun mime-reels him into the room, and he just smiles SO wide, it kills me.

The moms have a beauty day when Jung-hwan’s mom has the Amore lady come and give them massages (dude, I totally remember my mom doing this back in the day!), and when the saleslady says that Jung-hwan’s mom looks like she’s never had a day of stress in her life, they laugh.

The kids play rock-paper-scissors and Jung-hwan is the loser who has to go make ramyun, and no amount of complaining gets him out of the task. They shoo him out, eager to start watching La Bamba.

Dong-ryong asks Taek if he remembers their group movie date tomorrow, and doesn’t even seem surprised that Taek asked them to go and forgot. He says he has a match tomorrow, and they remind him that they already accounted for that.

They tell him not to bother trying to find the theater on his own, certain that he’ll get lost, and Deok-sun pats him on the head like a little kid and tells him to wait at the training center until “noona” picks him up. He doesn’t seem to like that very much, though he doesn’t say anything.

Dong-ryong assumes that Taek hasn’t been to a movie theater in ages, but Deok-sun says the two of them went recently. Aha, so the movie date DID happen! Sun-woo asks what they saw, and Deok-sun says Taek wouldn’t know—he slept the whole time. HA.

She says Taek had pulled two all-nighters in a row before seeing the movie, and we flash back to the theater, where Deok-sun shoveled popcorn in her mouth and Taek fell asleep on her shoulder. That is tiny and adorable.

Jung-hwan finally arrives with ramyun, in which everything from the fridge has been thrown into the pot. He calls it his hyung’s style, which sounds about right. They ask about Hyung’s surgery, and he says that this time it’s only an hour-long procedure, so they needn’t come visit in the hospital.

Deok-sun remembers the surgery taking ten hours the last time, but Sun-woo says last time they were replacing valves; this time they’re just replacing batteries. Taek asks about Hyung’s exam, and Deok-sun quietly tells him that he failed.

Jung-hwan suddenly gets a bloody nose, which they all seem to be used to. Dong-ryong asks if Jung-hwan isn’t sick too (NoooooooooooOOOOO!), and Sun-woo says he’s already been tested—he’s fine, but both Jung-hwan and Jung-bong are rather weak. Deok-sun jokes that the bloody nose is because he’s seen too many racy things.

Taek says that Jung-hwan’s mom must be really worried even if it’s a routine procedure, and Jung-hwan scoffs. Mom is currently getting her second massage of the day, and making sure that her friends get a boatload of free samples after buying enough beauty products to fill her entire vanity counter.

The moms chuckle over how the salesladies all tell Jung-hwan’s mom that she’s likely never touched a drop of water or had any hardship in her life, when they know that she’s had the toughest life of all of them. They remember how hard things were for her back when Jung-bong was sick, and how she ran around doing odd jobs like wallpapering, delivering newspapers, and working in restaurants.

Deok-sun’s mom says that if her child had a heart condition, she’d likely just collapse. Jung-hwan’s mom says she didn’t really have a choice—Jung-bong needed surgery and she had no money, so she had to go earn it wherever she could. She remembers starving for two days along with her husband, and the other moms chide her for not telling them back then.

They ask what the procedure is this time, remembering that last year he had a valve replaced because it’d been ten years since the original surgery. They’re amazed that she doesn’t seem worried, but Jung-hwan’s mom says now they have all the money they need and the best doctor possible. In his room, Jung-bong quietly puts away all the things he’s been obsessed with lately—telephone books, Rubick’s cubes, stamp collections—as he cries.

Bora prods her friend to quit stalling and say whatever it is that she called her here for. Her friend hems and haws, and accidentally refers to Bora’s boyfriend as “oppa” instead of “sunbae,” alerting her to the bomb that’s about to be dropped.

The friend starts crying as she tells Bora about a drunken “accidental” kiss they shared on a trip when Bora wasn’t around, acting like she was suffering because she felt so guilty all this time and couldn’t look Bora in the eye. Bora remains stone-faced, then finally tells her friend to stop crying because she’s going to stop seeing her boyfriend. She gets up and adds that she’s going to stop seeing her too, because they’re not friends. Yeah, no kidding. Good for you.

Deok-sun’s dad comes home drunk yet again, and oh noes—he’s bought another useless thing on the subway. This time it’s magical ink-eraser, and he’s gone and bought three bottles of the stuff. Mom is stressed enough as it is with money missing from her wallet, and this time she just snaps and grabs a bottle of ink and pours it on Dad’s white shirt.

Dad remains calm and says it’s fine because he has ink eraser, and begins to pour the pink liquid on top of the massive stain… which of course only serves to spread the ink around. How can a man be so funny and so infuriating at the same time?

They launch into a huge fight, and Mom starts throwing random things in front of her at Dad, like a towel, a bag of popcorn. But then she doesn’t realize that she’s picked up a decorative rock until it’s too late and she’s already hurled it at him. She gasps, and the rock slides off Dad’s face, revealing a giant red bruise around his eye.

Hyung comes into Jung-hwan’s room carrying a giant box of his stuff, and shows him all of his prized possessions one by one. He says solemnly that Jung-hwan can have all of it, and Jung-hwan scoffs that this is going a little overboard for a one-hour routine surgery. He says that he looked it up, and there’s only a 3% failure rate for a surgery like this.

Hyung turns to him and says that there’s only a 2% chance that a child will have heart disease: “So that 3% really scares me.” Aw, Hyung. Jung-hwan grows quiet at that, but he decides that Hyung is still going overboard and tells him that everything will be fine. Hyung asks hesitantly if Little Bro wants to sleep in the same bed tonight, and Jung-hwan shoots that down right away. Jung-bong pretends to be too old for that too, but he looks a little disappointed as he shuffles away.

Deok-sun comes home and gasps to see Dad’s bruiser, but is more weirded out when Mom and Dad speak to each other pleasantly and formally in jondae. She asks No-eul what’s going on, and he tells her that Mom threw a rock at Dad, and they’ve decided that speaking to each other in jondae will force them not to call each other names and fight all the time. Deok-sun thinks this is more embarrassing than them fighting, and No-eul agrees.

It’s the morning of Jung-bong’s surgery, and for Mom it’s business as usual, while Dad and Jung-bong are subdued and have to be coaxed to eat breakfast. Deok-sun’s parents are still speaking in jondae at the breakfast table, though hilariously they’re still arguing about the same old things and pointing out each other’s flaws, just in formal language and pleasant tone. No-eul answers a call for Bora and repeats her brush-off: “She said to say she’s not here,” and Bora retreats to her room for the day to brood.

Jung-hwan joins his family at the table after another bloody nose (you’re starting to freak me out over here. I will DIE if something happens to you, ya hear me?!), and Mom and Dad tell him not to come to the hospital until tomorrow since there’s no place for him to sleep anyway. Jung-hwan just puts another reassuring hand on Hyung’s shoulder as they eat.

The kids head out to go pick up Taek at the training center for their movie, and Deok-sun loses the boys on the way there because they’re too busy snacking. They send her to go fetch Taek on her own, reminding her to hold his hand the whole way so they don’t lose him. Hee. He’s not five!

Deok-sun kills time making funny faces on the glass in the phone booth outside, and sees Taek being led out by his coach. He gets congratulated on another win, and then a bunch of aspiring players line up with stars in their eyes, eager to just shake hands with Taek, trembling nervously as they tell him it’s such an honor.

He gets to the end of the line and beams to find Deok-sun standing there, and he pats her on the head sweetly. She asks where he left his bag because he was carrying one when he left this morning, and yells at him for being so forgetful.

It startles everyone else to hear someone talk to the God of Baduk that way, but Taek just goes to fetch his bag like he was ordered. One of his hoobaes raises his hand and offers to do it for him, but Deok-sun says Taek needs the exercise and nags him not to dillydally, and everyone gapes as Taek just smiles and runs off.

Jung-bong’s doctor (cameo by Kim Tae-hoon) comes in to explain the procedure he’ll be getting in two days, which actually doesn’t sound all that minor. They’re going to replace his artificial pacemaker, and though they usually last five to ten years, in cases like his, they can be positioned in a difficult place and need to be changed out. That… sounds way more serious than a simple battery replacement to me.

Mom and Dad just want reassurance that it’s a simple procedure that’ll only take an hour, but the doctor refuses to confirm anything, leaving them all on edge.

Bora’s boyfriend calls again, and this time Bora just hangs up on him and tells Mom that he’s a crazy bastard. She buries herself in schoolwork, which somehow makes it sadder than if she just had a good cry.

The kids take the bus home after the movie, and Sun-woo is lost in thought over what he heard earlier that day, when Deok-sun and Taek joined them at the street stand. (I love it when Jung-hwan wipes Taek’s face with his own spit like a mom.)

Dong-ryong asks why Bora noona is extra pissy lately, and Deok-sun tells him that she had a massive fight with her boyfriend and is probably going to break up with him soon. She adds the jab while glancing over at Sun-woo: “He’s probably not in his right mind if he likes Sung Bora.”

Sun-woo just takes all this in quietly and mulls it over on the bus ride home. A bus seat opens up in the back row and Dong-ryong tells Jung-hwan he can sit down now, but Jung-hwan says he’s fine standing. It’s because he gets to be near Deok-sun that way, though it’s not exactly romantic when she’s fallen asleep with her mouth hanging wide open.

Once Jung-bong is asleep, Mom heads out to the waiting room to watch some TV, and Dad notes that she’s gotten so much stronger now. Mom scoffs that this is nothing compared to the big surgeries he’s had, though Dad seems a little more worried. He gets emotional and quietly wipes his tears as he watches Jung-bong sleep.

The boys sleep over at Taek’s and they ask about Jung-bong hyung, remembering how they used to play soccer with him all the time when they were little. Sun-woo remembers that Taek used to be good too, and that Jung-hwan’s dream was to become a soccer player. Jung-hwan doesn’t answer. The night ends with Dong-ryong’s farting shenanigans, as usual.

Jung-hwan comes to the hospital the next day with a banana and a pineapple from Taek, and Mom insists on asking the doctor if Jung-bong can eat that first, and then start his fast after. The doctor just sighs that she can do whatever.

When Hyung turns the fruit away, Jung-hwan realizes that he must really be nervous about his surgery to say no to food. Jung-bong sighs that he doesn’t have a good feeling about this one, and Dad snaps at him not to say such things. They notice more dried blood on Jung-hwan’s shirt (eeek), though he doesn’t even remember getting another bloody nose since this morning.

Deok-sun nags her little brother for hogging the phone, and realizes from his conversation that he has a girlfriend. She threatens to tell Mom, and he swears that it’s not even a girlfriend and he’s going to end things with her today anyway.

No-eul seems afraid of his girlfriend and her group of friends, and his meek attempt to break up with her doesn’t go very well. It seems less like a relationship and more like a group of gangster girls are bullying him into things, really.

Deok-sun and her girlfriends head out and happen to see No-eul and the girls down the street, and though No-eul looks like he’s about to piss his pants, Deok-sun seems oblivious and walks on by. Her friends are more observant though, and ask No-eul if he’d rather come with them.

He looks too terrified to answer, and Deok-sun’s friends ask if he’s crying. It’s as if that’s some kind of trigger word for Deok-sun, because she suddenly turns on a dime and grabs his girlfriend by her hair: “DID YOU MAKE MY BROTHER CRY?!” Hahahaha. Noona to the rescue!

The most hilarious brawl ensues, with girls everywhere yanking on hair and swatting at each other, while No-eul cries and tries to protect Deok-sun. Police officers come running over and girls scatter, but Deok-sun’s got a death-grip on the girlfriend and refuses to let go.

She’s quite literally a dog with a bone, and chomps down on the leg like a ferocious beast. This. Is. Awesome. The soundtrack plays cartoon heroine music, and we cut over to Sun-woo and Jin-ju singing along.

Bora heads out to buy a pack of cigarettes and discovers her boyfriend outside waiting for her (cameo by Park Jung-min). Sun-woo heads out to bring in the laundry and looks stricken to see her with another guy.

Boyfriend apologizes and asks her to let it go this one time because it was a mistake, but he doesn’t sound all that sorry. She’s the heartbroken one because he cheated on her with her best friend, but because she’s not readily accepting his apology, he starts getting defensive and blaming her for being cold. Ugh.

He complains that she’s a perfectionist who doesn’t even let him hold her hand whenever he wants, accusing her of not having any feelings at all. He says he felt suffocated while dating her, and might as well have been dating a block of ice. He tells her to fix her personality or else no one will date her: “As a woman, you’re the worst.” No, you’re the worst, asshole.

He walks away and Bora slumps down on the stairs, her hands balled up into fists so hard that her knuckles turn white as they shake. Droplets fall on her hands as she begins to cry, and as if on cue, rain starts to come down and she lets loose a flood of tears.

Sun-woo appears before her with an umbrella overhead, and sighs, “That hyung doesn’t know you at all. You’re a warm person. You’re a good person.”

Flashback to two years ago. Bora arrived at a funeral in her high school uniform, and the dads told her to head inside. But she stopped when she saw Sun-woo sitting outside by himself, hands balled up into fists just like she’s doing now.

It was the day he’d lost his father, and Bora had sat down next to him and said, “Just cry. At times like this, you’re just supposed to cry, Sun-woo. It’s okay, you can cry.” She hugged him, and he broke down and wailed into her shoulder. Awww. No wonder you love her.

It had started to rain then too, and she’d taken him by the hand to head inside, urging him along by saying that she hates to get rained on. He’d asked why her hands were so cold, and she’d said that it’s because her heart is warm.

Back in the present, Sun-woo buys Bora a warm cup of coffee with the last 100 won in his pocket. She notices that he scraped up his hand while going upstairs to pick up the laundry, and chides him like he’s a kid. But she can’t ignore it and takes his hand to look at it, and Sun-woo suddenly kisses her on the cheek and then runs away, leaving Bora stunned.

Deok-sun, No-eul, and Girlfriend Soo-kyung sit in the police station waiting for their parents to pick them up, and when Mom runs in and fawns over Deok-sun, she immediately starts crying like a little girl to her mommy. Mom is up in arms over someone laying a hand on her precious daughter, and wonders what kind of parents raised a thug like that.

But Girlfriend’s sister comes to pick her up and explains that their parents died in a car crash last year, and Mom suddenly feels really terrible for the things she said. Both sides apologize, only to have Dad bust in and do the same thing all over again. Mom finally has enough of that and snaps at him in banmal to stop yapping, and Deok-sun mutters, “And that’s the end of jondaemal.”

And just when you think it’s over, Dong-ryong’s dad busts in as the school representative with a (fake) prosecutor in tow to fight on Deok-sun’s behalf, and everyone shrinks back in embarrassment and Dad regrets having called him. This scene goes on way too long.

The point of it is, Mom hears Soo-kyung’s stomach growling and invites them over to eat dinner at their house, and Soo-kyung politely declines at first but Deok-sun tells her to hurry up and come over so they can eat.

Both Soo-kyung and her sister are grateful to have a home-cooked meal, and when Deok-sun asks Soo-kyung how she died her hair that color, Dad snaps that he’ll shave her head if she dyes it. Then he tells Soo-kyung to put her hair back the way it was and stop wearing makeup because he’s going to check on her once a week, and everyone is shocked when she complies readily.

Deok-sun asks why Soo-kyung likes her brother, and Soo-kyung says it’s because he’s the first person who ever told her not to smoke, and treated her normally after her parents died.

Jung-bong can’t sleep on the night before his surgery, and Mom tells him that there’s zero chance of things going wrong. He says that Mom is strong while he’s weak, and scared, and she has to force her tears back. She says that he’s strong because he endured much bigger surgeries: “That’s impressive. You’re a much stronger person than I am.”

She rushes out of the room before the tears come, and Jung-bong reaches over to tuck Jung-hwan in beside him before trying to get some sleep.

And out in the waiting room, Mom sits in front of the TV by herself, shoulders shaking softly as she cries. The doctor sees her on his way out, and at the sight of her tears, his cold exterior melts and he says all the things she’s been wanting to hear—that it’s an easy surgery and he’ll be done in less than an hour. Mom thanks him and just continues to cry, letting out all the tears she’s been holding back for days. Around the corner, Dad listens with tears in his eyes too.

In the morning, the family waits nervously in the hallway until the doctor comes out of surgery to say that everything went well, and that they won’t have to come back for another ten years to replace the pacemaker.

Jung-bong slowly opens his eyes, and Mom tells him that the surgery went well. She breaks down and cries that she’s sorry he was born unhealthy, like it’s her fault, and Dad holds her as he assures Jung-bong that everything is fine.

Hyung calls Jung-hwan’s name and asks something so softly that Jung-hwan has to lean in, and Hyung repeats, “Is your bloody nose okay?” Aw, you were worried about that? Jung-hwan’s eyes fill with tears and he grouses as he turns his back to cry in private.

Deok-sun narrates: “Words hold your heart, so words have a temperature too. The thing that makes this cold, malicious world a livable temperature isn’t famous wise sayings, but one warm word filled with your temperature.”

Deok-sun takes No-eul out for ddukbokki, and wipes his mouth and licks her fingers like a mom. She really does see him as a tiny child, which is doubly adorable because he looks twice her age.

No-eul wonders who stole Mom’s money and swears it wasn’t him, and Deok-sun goes through the possibilities, which of course only leaves Dad. Cut to: Dad stealing more bills out of Mom’s wallet in the middle of the night.

In 2015, Deok-sun gets up to answer the door when No-eul comes by, and ha, he still looks way older than everyone (adult No-eul is played by Woo Hyun).

He’s a 40-something ajusshi now, but still Deok-sun coos at him like he’s a baby, and when she sees that he injured his foot while playing baseball, she gets up and grabs her coat to go give the other guy a piece of her mind. Husband snarks that he’ll have to get surgery on that foot for sure.

No-eul whines that he’s not 17 anymore, but Deok-sun says he’ll always be a 17-year-old high-schooler in her eyes. That’s so cute. No-eul: “How come you never age, noona?” Deok-sun: “How come you just keep aging?” Husband: “He finally looks his age!”

 
COMMENTS

This was the first episode this season that felt especially long. Granted, they’re all ACTUALLY long, coming in at a whopping hour and thirty minutes each (guh), but I’ve found that the writing has adapted to the length and the episodes are usually filled with enough story to feel less like they’re stretched thin. I liked the main story in this episode just fine, but there were scenes that went on too long, and today I grew tired of Deok-sun’s parents arguing over and over when I wanted to spend more time on the other characters. We did get some great moments, so it’s not like I didn’t like the episode, but it lagged a little more than usual.

I was scared that Jung-bong would die, mostly because everyone kept insisting that it was no big deal and he’d be fine, and the more they said it, the more I grew suspicious of getting the rug pulled out from under me. Truthfully Jung-hwan’s bloody nose freaked me out more (I just love him too much, okay?), but that was the kicker, when Hyung woke up after being so freaked out over his own surgery, and the first thing he does is voice concern for Little Bro. I spent the episode thinking it would be about Jung-hwan coming through for his brother, but it was actually more about Jung-bong being a big brother and taking care of him, even when he’s the sick one. His illness finally explains why his parents are so lenient with him when it comes to college and his myriad of weird hobbies, because I’d wondered until now why they’re so indulgent with him. Mom’s tearful outburst in the end was obvious but no less heartbreaking, because she’s the type of character who hides all her emotions under her tough façade and prickly words. Jung-hwan clearly gets his personality from her, but even though he and Mom are prickly and Dad and Hyung are weird, they’re all so warm and squishy on the inside.

Deok-sun’s fierce love for her little brother was my favorite thing in the whole episode—she’s so immature on most days, and I loved seeing her protective side come out when someone messes with No-eul. We’ve mostly seen her complain about her siblings or feel like she always got the short end of the stick at home, but the way her eyes changed when someone made her brother cry? That was priceless. And the way she babies him is just the icing on the cake, because he looks like he could be her uncle. It’s just nice to see Deok-sun taking charge and being a noona, because that’s an important part of her identity too, even though I get why on most days, Bora out-noonas her and she’s in little sister mode. It also explains why Deok-sun sometimes treats Taek like a little brother (which he doesn’t seem to like very much), because she’s a noona at home and it comes naturally to her.

Bora obviously sees all the boys on the street as her little brothers, which is the obstacle that Sun-woo is desperate to overcome. But I see now that he’s not just blinded by his crush—she was there for him in a formative moment when he lost his father, and is as warm on the inside as Jung-hwan’s mother or Taek’s father. She’s just not very expressive and keeps everything bottled up inside. The way she reacted to her best friend and boyfriend’s betrayal actually helped me identify with her a great deal, because she was obviously heartbroken—she just also wasn’t about to break down in tears in front of them. That kind of stubborn pride feels genuine, and Sun-woo was right about her actually being a good person underneath it all. I think he’s already on his way to getting her to see him as something more than a pipsqueak little brother, especially if he keeps being there for her in her moments of need.

 
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• Answer Me 1988: Episode 7
• Answer Me 1988: Episode 6
• Answer Me 1988: Episode 5
• Answer Me 1988: Episode 4
• Answer Me 1988: Episode 3
• Answer Me 1988: Episode 2
• Answer Me 1988: Episode 1