One More Happy Ending: Episode 6

by LollyPip

You can only deny your feelings for so long before it starts to get painful, and something’s got to give. Whether it’s realizing that Prince Charming may not be as charming as he seemed, or admitting that you’re falling in love with the wrong (or is it right?) person, eventually someone has to make the first move. If the fairy tale is going to end in a happily ever after, sometimes things just need to get complicated.

EPISODE 6 RECAP

Mi-mo lies in a glass casket on a bed of flowers like a Joseon Sleeping Beauty, but suddenly her eyes pop open. She complains about her Prince being late while she does yoga to ease the stiffness from laying down so long, but when she hears hoofbeats approaching, she jumps back in her casket and closes her eyes.

She peeks at her Prince, approving of his looks, and pops up happily at his chaste little kiss. They both admit that they stopped somewhere else on the way here, but now they’re ready to live happily ever after.

Mi-mo hesitates when her Prince’s steed turns out to be a tiny fluffy pony, though he insists that everyone loves this horse. Besides, German horses are way too expensive to maintain — do you know what it costs just to change their saddle? HAHA. Mi-mo grumbles a little to discover that he doesn’t have a fine castle either, but she starts to take his hand anyway… and a voice cries out, “WAIT!”

Another prince rides up, this time on a large fine horse, and he seems to know Mi-mo already. He’s upset that they spent such a hot night together and now she’s about to run off with another man. She claims not to remember any such thing until he produces a scrap of her clothing with a note on it, “You are mine,” and signed with a picture of a goldfish. Snerk.

The first Prince grows angry, disbelieving her claim not to remember this other man and calling her the kind of woman he hates most — the kind who play two men off each other. Cue horrified gasps.

Back in the real world, Soo-hyuk feels terrible as he drives a wet and shivering Mi-mo home. She’s lost in her thoughts too, remembering how Yeon-soo told her (quite kindly) that she will always be the one who loves more in her relationship with Hae-joon.

Meanwhile Hae-joon heads to Mi-mo’s place, and on the way he listens to a radio advice DJ talk about how hard it is for a man and woman to only be friends. So often, one of them has a change of heart, and it complicates matters. He remembers Soo-hyuk’s bizarre behavior when he crashed their recent date, but shakes off his worries.

But when he sees Soo-hyuk escorting Mi-mo home from what should have been Hae-joon’s date with her, he realizes that it’s true. Soo-hyuk has feelings for Mi-mo. Mi-mo looks thrilled to see Hae-joon, but he and Soo-hyuk exchange knowing looks — things are about to get complicated.

Soo-hyuk tries to play it cool, and says that they just ran into each other, but Hae-joon comments that that seems to happen a lot. He pointedly replaces Soo-hyuk’s coat with his own on her shoulders, and leads her to her place himself. Things are awkward while they have coffee, and he asks what’s in the bag she’s carrying.

Mi-mo says it’s just old memories, but admits they aren’t good ones when he pushes. It bothers Hae-joon that she doesn’t want to tell him about it, but Mi-mo is hurt that he doesn’t even ask how she’s feeling when she’s a disheveled, sneezing mess. She rightly points out that he even gave her his coat, but didn’t notice that she’s not well.

He blinks at her — ouch, he really didn’t notice. She asks why it’s so hard to get him to notice her, and when he finally asks what happened, she doesn’t want to talk about it. As nicely as she can, she asks Hae-joon to leave. He’s hurt, but he goes.

Soo-hyuk is frustrated at the night’s events, and has a weird little vision of tiny winged Mi-mos flying around shooting hand-hearts at him. A pretty one tells him to choose love over friendship, and he flails at them to go away.

Mi-mo watches her phone for a message from Hae-joon, but instead she gets a visit from Soo-hyuk, who got dressed again to go buy her some cold medicine. He checks her for a fever and tells her to dress warmly for bed. Aww, you gotta love the guy, he bought every kind of medicine there is.

She thanks him in the elevator the next morning, admitting that it was especially nice considering the night she was having. He notices her downcast expression, but doesn’t comment. Hae-joon still hasn’t contacted her, and she resists the urge to call him first.

Mi-mo and Soo-hyuk both get calls from their old elementary school about an invitation for a time capsule opening ceremony. They were their class representatives, so they’re invited to be presenters, and they both accept.

Hae-joon gets cornered by Stalker Girl again, and ugh, her grandfather owns the hospital. She’s convinced it makes her more attractive to him, but he just pretends he didn’t hear her. When she starts ranting about Mi-mo, asking how he could be attracted to such an old woman (!!!), he tells her that she lacks one important thing: maturity.

Yeon-soo comes to ask Hae-joon if Mi-mo has mentioned anything to him, and he looks genuinely alarmed at the idea that they may have talked about him. Yeon-soo decides to come clean about the whole thing.

At a staff meeting Soo-hyuk maintains that nothing else interesting happened that day at the hotel, but Ah-ni interrupts — that’s not what she’s heard. She says that she can do more research, and the story is handed over to her.

Oven Guy visits Dong-mi at work and brings her a gift of a pink scarf. He asks her to always wear it, because her neck always looks cold. She swoons at his thoughtfulness, but Mi-mo’s narration tells us that he’s much more interested in her generous teacher’s retirement pay. I knew there was something fishy about him.

Soo-hyuk confronts Ah-ni, asking why she’s so interested in his story and telling her that none of the witnesses will talk. She says there’s another witness, but refuses to tell him who it is.

Mi-mo interviews another potential client, a single father with a ten-year-old son, and he asks if she knows any other single fathers. She says that she does, but calls him immature, which the client seems to find strange. He says that when he had his son, he was completely lost, because back then there wasn’t anyone for single fathers to go to for help.

As he describes his struggles we see Soo-hyuk and little Min-woo going through the same things; tearful nights, trips to the emergency room, and having to pretend he doesn’t notice people staring at him. But seeing his baby smile at him made it all worth it.

The client tells Mi-mo that anyone who went through that couldn’t possibly be immature. She seems a bit stunned, just now realizing what it means for Soo-hyuk to have raised his son alone.

Da-jung tucks her son into bed, then braces herself to talk to Geun-hak. She nervously asks him for a hug, probably for the first time in years, and waits hopefully. Geun-hak scoffs, asking if she expects this to make him happy after seven years of rejection. She says she must have gone crazy for a moment and leaves, and Geun-hak’s knees go out when she leaves the room. Da-jung just stands and cries.

Mi-mo calls Dong-mi to cry over Hae-joon, and Dong-mi tells her that when she made the first move with Hae-joon, she tipped the balance which made him back off. Mi-mo bursts into tears, asks when Dong-mi became the teacher, and hangs up. Awww. But she notices that Hae-joon’s been calling while she was on the phone, and freaks out. He calls again, and she runs out to talk with him.

We go back to Hae-joon and Yeon-soo’s conversation, where he’d been angry with her, saying that Mi-mo probably misunderstood her. It’s not her decision to make, whether or not he and Mi-mo suit each other.

Mi-mo finally shows up and Hae-joon admits he’s been out here for three hours, waiting for her to answer his calls. Mi-mo admits that confessing first has made her feel insecure, and that she’s been assigning meaning to his words that she’s not sure are true.

Hae-joon gives her a pair of fluffy earmuffs with wings on them, and he puts them on her, telling her not to listen to words that aren’t there. He tucks her hand into his pocket for warmth, but she finds something in there, and pulls out a handful of her cards from when she was an Angel.

Hae-joon admits that he was her biggest fan, and that he’s had these cards for thirteen years. He admits that he actually cried when the Angels disbanded, because he thought he’d never see her again, until she came to his ER, “wearing something other than wings,” hee.

He says that he’s thankful she confessed to him, because she’s precious to him, and she thanks him for reassuring her. He hugs her, then finally leans in to kiss her… and Mi-mo remembers that she was eating dried squid just a few minutes ago. She hastily kisses Hae-joon on the cheek, and grabs him in a super awkward hug. Then she rushes home to brush her teeth forever, and assures herself that he’ll kiss her next time.

Dong-mi looks at an expensive watch as a possible gift for Oven Guy (who’s name is actually Poong-nam), but she boggles at the price tag. Another woman casually waves a credit card to buy the watch, and suddenly Dong-mi decides she wants it, and she spends her entire savings to buy it.

Ah-ni asks questions at the hotel restaurant, threatening to write whatever she wants if nobody will talk to her. But Soo-hyuk has followed her and yanks her aside, and he admits that he did cover something up but for a good reason. He asks Ah-ni to please drop this, and she nails it — there’s something going on with him and the woman who created the disturbance.

Soo-hyuk just says that the woman will be in a bad situation if she prints this, but Ah-ni makes a good point, that they aren’t in this business to be nice. She’ll find the truth and decide for herself if the story should be written.

Mi-mo and Da-jung discuss a client who, it turns out, has a lot of undisclosed debt. Mi-mo just thinks they should tell the woman they matched him with, and that love will take care of the rest. Oh, you innocent thing.

She meets Hae-joon for dinner, and when he excuses himself to the restroom, he gets a text reminding him of his due loan payment. Mi-mo doesn’t mean to see it, but she does, and when he comes back and makes a quiet comment about loan sharks, she starts to worry.

She asks if Hae-joon is in debt, and only gets a vague answer in response. Hae-joon claims that it’s just student loans from medical school, but then he starts to talk about big, huge loans and loan sharks — he’s just winding her up though Mi-mo doesn’t catch on. He asks if she’d dump him for being in debt, and Mi-mo looks nervous.

She’s convinced he’s in some trouble, but she says the same thing to herself, that love is worth it. But Hae-joon continues to tease her, texting her that working women are sexy and saying to make a lot of money, and it just reinforces her anxiety.

Dong-mi gives Poong-nam the pricy watch, and when he gets a call, he says he’ll take it outside since he might have to yell. When he gets back she asks if everything is okay, but he just says it’s something he has to deal with a lot. This dude is definitely shady.

Min-woo visits Mi-mo at work, having found the business card she gave to his dad. He gives her his entire little savings and asks her to find his dad a nice woman, which just makes my tummy twist. Mi-mo says that she doesn’t think his dad wants to meet anyone, but Min-woo insists that he’s lying.

So Mi-mo agrees to help, and asks for some hints about the kind of woman Soo-hyuk likes. Min-woo repeats that he’s not looking for a mother for himself, but a good woman to love his dad. She should be pretty, sexy, and smart. Mi-mo tries to give his money back, but Min-woo insists on paying. Okay, can I keep him?

Min-woo goes home and asks Soo-hyuk to help with his volunteering job the next day. But when it’s time, Soo-hyuk gets an emergency call from work, and calls Min-woo to tell him he can’t make it.

Mi-mo brings some photos of potential prospects for Min-woo to look at, but he asks if there isn’t anyone who hasn’t had obvious plastic surgery. Mi-mo says that he’s young and idealistic, but it’s hard to find natural beauties these days, so he settles for women who’ve had their eyes and nose done, but no more. He’s so serious, I just want to cuddle him.

Mi-mo offers to go with him to his volunteering, where she’s recognized by some of the fathers. But Min-woo’s teacher is there, the one he tried to fix Soo-hyuk up with, and she aggressively says that parents are supposed to bring the kids, not their girlfriends. She promises to make Mi-mo’s day as difficult as possible, and loads her up with what looks like her weight in briquettes.

Min-woo fusses at Mi-mo for taking selcas to brag about volunteering, saying that his dad’s friend hates women like that. She correctly guesses that the friend’s last name is Gu, figuring it must be Hae-joon.

Soo-hyuk’s lead turns out to be a dead end and he runs to help Min-woo, and finds him and Mi-mo taking a break. He watches them joking and laughing for a minute, completely taken by the sight of Mi-mo with his son.

Ah-ni meets with Hae-joon and asks him if he knows Mi-mo, wondering if he’s familiar with her as a former idol. He’s wary when she asks if he knows that Soo-hyuk likes Mi-mo, telling her that they’re just old friends. But Ah-ni insists that Soo-yuk likes Mi-mo as more than friends, and Hae-joon’s eyes turn cold.

He warns her not to jump to conclusions: “That person is mine.” Ah-ni is surprised to learn that Hae-joon is dating her, and worries that she just made things awkward. Hae-joon says it won’t be because of him, but Ah-ni isn’t so sure of herself.

Soo-hyuk joins in the volunteering, impressed with how hard Mi-mo is working and helping her out when she’s not looking. At one point she trips and falls into his arms, and both seem aware that there’s something between them.

Later Mi-mo overhears some dads gossiping about Soo-hyuk, calling him a womaniser in college and talking about how he got a girl pregnant. She approaches them, calling them lazy and pathetic, and chases them away. She gives the worst gossiper the largest carrier for the briquettes, and loads him up until he can barely walk. I love her.

By the time they’re finished, Mi-mo is limping slightly on the ankle she turned, and Soo-hyuk is upset that she kept working after hurting herself. He yells at her, and on the drive home she can’t stop thinking about what those awful fathers said about him.

Hae-joon waits for Mi-mo to get home and thinks about his talk with Ah-ni. She’d asked him what he would do if his best friend did have feelings for Mi-mo — would he be able to give her up? So again, he’s in the parking garage when Soo-hyuk brings Mi-mo home, and seeing Soo-hyuk sweep Mi-mo up in a princess carry is about all he can stand. He nearly follows them upstairs, but something stops him.

Soo-hyuk carries Mi-mo all the way to her apartment and to her couch, gently removes her shoes, and tells her to wait here or he’ll be angry. He comes back with water to soak her injured ankle, and every time Mi-mo starts to object, he quiets her with a firm but gentle look. How is that so sexy??

Mi-mo thanks Soo-yuk, and he thanks her in turn for going with Min-woo today. She asks if he’s going to their school ceremony, and muses that those memories will fade away someday. Soo-hyuk is in a deep, thoughtful mood, and he simply says that they could remain. Mi-mo tells him that they’ve both changed since then, thinking how strange it is that the ten-year-old boy she knew then is now a father. “It must have been hard. How did you endure it?”

She says softly that she wouldn’t have been able to do such a good job, and reaches out to pat Soo-hyuk’s head. He looks like he’s about to cry, and he reaches up to grab her hand, asking her not to touch him. “It makes me want to hold you,” he whispers. He doesn’t let go of her hand while he looks at her with the most earnest expression, it hurts my heart, but before either of them can move, Min-woo comes back in and the spell is broken.

At work the next morning, Hyun-gi is excited to tell Soo-hyuk that the woman who made a scene at Seul-ah’s engagement was none other than her old idol groupmate, Han Mi-mo. Ah-ni has already written the article and is just waiting for approval to publish it. Soo-hyuk runs inside, alarmed.

He slams Ah-ni’s laptop shut, reminding her that this is against their moral code not to harm innocent people. He yells that Mi-mo will be hurt if this article is published, but Ah-ni fires back that someone is always hurt. Why is this one so important? Does he like Han Mi-mo?

Soo-hyuk is too honest to deny it, and he dares Ah-ni to release the article if she wants to find out for herself how angry he can get. He adds that the person who needs to know how he feels isn’t her, and he walks out.

Next thing you know, he’s at the hospital standing in front of Hae-joon. He says he’s sorry, and Hae-joon tells him not to do this then — not to get between him and Mi-mo. Soo-hyuk says he’s sorry again, but he has to get involved.

“I’m sorry. I have to do it.”

COMMENTS

Finally, all the cards are out on the table. I hate when everyone knows that everyone knows, but nobody will say it out loud, so I appreciate that Soo-hyuk is being honest with himself and with his friend. I think that if there was any possible way for him to step aside and let Hae-joon and Mi-mo date in peace, he would. But I also think that he knows himself, and his best friend, well enough to know that getting into this battle is worth it. Hae-joon has problems with intimacy, Mi-mo is already feeling unhappy, and Soo-hyuk is already deeply in love with her. Better to both make their case, and let the lady choose.

Mi-mo may be a flighty thing emotionally, but I just love her honesty. She has no problem saying how she feels, and I loved that she was open with Hae-joon about how it made her feel when he didn’t even notice her condition when Soo-hyuk brought her home. He was so preoccupied with staking his claim, even taking off Soo-hyuk’s coat and giving her his own, that he didn’t even notice the reason she needed the coat in the first place. That’s pretty bad, and I respect that Mi-mo told him, though gently, that it hurt her feelings. If nothing else, you never have to wonder where you stand with her.

And I have to say, I still don’t like how Hae-joon treats Mi-mo. I do think he manipulates her, playing little games just to maneuver her around for his amusement, like deliberately not kissing her just to see her squirm (and we know from his little smirks during their dates that he knows it bothers her). His joking around about being in debt isn’t funny either, because it’s not funny if the person you’re joking with is taking it seriously. If she got the joke and played along, that’s one thing… but Hae-joon knows that Mi-mo thought he was being serious, and that it upset her, and yet he continued doing it. That’s not flirty or funny or cute, it’s just mean. And I don’t even think he truly likes Mi-mo for herself, because goodness knows he never bothers to find out anything about her as a person. I think he’s just flattered that his idol-crush is interested in him, but the fact that he’s keeping her at arm’s length says to me that he’s not really interested in her, not in the same way that Soo-hyuk is.

As childish as Soo-hyuk can be at times, I’m glad we got to see him raising his son, being the loving and responsible father that he is. It showed us a side of him that makes him a lot more sympathetic, and it’s understandable that someone who gave up their own life to raise a child alone would be a little stuck, emotionally, at the age when they had to make that choice. Soo-hyuk isn’t truly immature, he’s just inexperienced, and he’s just now learning what it feels like to fall in love as an adult. I’m happy that Mi-mo got to look at him from that point of view as well, and maybe now she’ll see him not as the young boy she knew, but a man who genuinely cares about her and wants to take care of her. And knowing Min-woo as the smart, self-confident young man he is, is just the icing on the cake. Soo-hyuk did a good job there.

So I’m glad to see him stepping up his game at just the right time, and actually doing things for Mi-mo that don’t involve horning in on her dates with Hae-joon. If he wants be a real contender, he needs to make Mi-mo see him as the caring, loving, thoughtful man that he is — the same qualities that make him a wonderful father, will make him a dream of a partner. Mi-mo is already unhappy with Hae-joon’s inability (or is it unwillingness?) to notice her needs, so Soo-hyuk’s strength will be in his desire to notice absolutely everything that Mi-mo needs, and make sure it happens. Little things like bringing her cold medicine and doctoring her injured ankle mean so much more when you think about the face that Soo-hyuk noticed something was off, took the time to figure out what was wrong, and just went and did what was necessary without wanting or expecting praise. For someone like Mi-mo, who tends to run off half-cocked and ignore her own needs, being a quiet, constant presence is the perfect way for Soo-hyuk to get under her skin.

Not that he hasn’t already. I think that, if Mi-mo weren’t so blinded by Hae-joon’s pretty face and perfection on paper, she’d see that Soo-hyuk is already becoming very important to her. Everything reminds her of him, and she thinks about him a lot more than she lets on. All Soo-hyuk needs to do now is just give her a little nudge, let her know how he feels, and he’s got this in the bag. Come on dude, you can do this, I believe in you!

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