Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 12

by LollyPip

Everything gets turned on its head in this episode — what we thought we knew has unexpected layers, and both friends and enemies aren’t always what they seem to be. It just goes to show, the truth is determined by the person telling the story, and even those who think they know everything can be woefully out of the loop. The true danger could very well be coming from an unexpected direction.

 
EPISODE 12: “Wish you misery once you leave me”

Hae-young’s mother is worried about her daughter, who just lies in bed, unresponsive. When Hae-young eventually gets up to take an entire jug of homemade wine to her room (with a ladle, ha), Mom tells Dad that she has no idea what’s going on this time.

Do-kyung and his team take come recordings of screeching car tires, which actually looks like big fun. Hoon instructs the funny coworker (whose name we finally learn is Ki-tae, ha) to tell Do-kyung some jokes to try to snap him out of his mood, but Do-kyung doesn’t even crack a smile.

Hae-young kills two-thirds of the jug of wine before finally passing out, and when she wakes she tries some dance therapy (hee, that song sounds familiar). But this time it’s not working, so she flips through the radio channels listlessly until she comes across a radio show. A “wise sage” is on the show, giving advice.

Hae-young calls in, and tells the host how she was always compared unfavorably to a girl she shared a name with in high school. Her voice starts to shake when she gets to the part about Do-kyung, and how he accidentally ruined her life because he thought she was the other Hae-young.

Jin-sang just happens to be listening in his car, and he immediately recognizes Hae-young’s story. She cries to the sage that she doesn’t know whether to kill Do-kyung, or… The sage tells her to go to sleep, then when she wakes, to eat, and to keep doing that until she’s able to move on. Well, that’s not even remotely helpful.

Hae-young argues that it’s not so easy to just forget everything that’s happened, and even the show host looks embarrassed. Hae-young is so angry she forgets herself, and screams that she wants to kill “that man and Oh Hae-young!” Whoops. And oh noooo, Hae-young’s mother also overhears the radio show and recognizes her daughter’s voice.

The hosts hilariously keep repeating her name (to remind each other not to say it again), and soon the whole city has heard her story. Hee-ran warns Hae-young that their entire high school chat room is talking about it, and tells her to turn off her phone.

Even Mom starts getting nosy phone calls from Aunt wanting to know if this is the real reason Hae-young’s wedding was canceled. Mom just hangs up on her, and slams the door in her face when Aunt shows up at the house looking way too pleased about Hae-young’s heartbreak.

Things are just as bad at work, with everyone who knows both Hae-youngs gossiping and taking the other Hae-young’s side. Finally Sung-jin bellows at everyone to stop, and asks how they would feel if it were their little sister going through such embarrassment. Okay, he’s my hero.

Even the other Hae-young looks miserable as she tries to ignore all the tittering from her coworkers, and she refuses to answer any of their questions. Soo-kyung shows up to confront her, saying that all of this happened because she disappeared on her wedding day. She tells Hae-young, “Have some remorse,” and sails back out again. Soo-kyung is my hero, too.

A small crowd of neighborhood ajummas gather outside Hae-young’s parents’ house, and Mom goes out to angrily defend her daughter. She says that Hae-young may be crazy, but she would never hurt another person, no matter what she said on the radio in her upset state.

Mom goes back inside and screams at whoever Dad was talking to on the phone about this whole mess, while Dad’s eyes grow big and round. Oops, that was his mother. Hae-young pretty much hides in the bathroom, shaking with humiliation, and Dad actually recoils when he sees how terrible she looks.

Meanwhile Jin-sang updates Do-kyung on the whole nasty business. Hoon and the rest of the guys laugh over the recording of the radio show, until they realize who it was talking, and they rush to delete it from their group chat room before Do-kyung hears it. Ki-tae tries to get into Do-kyung’s phone but it’s locked, and Do-kyung is all I’ll delete it. Pfft.

Mom brings Hae-young something to eat and reassures her that everything will be fine, though she asks why Hae-young didn’t tell her the truth sooner so she could do something. Woman of action, is our Mom. With difficulty, Hae-young makes herself eat, for Mom’s sake.

When Mom goes back out to the living room to cry, Hae-young follows her and gives her a sweet backhug. “Mom, I’m sorry.” Mom cries that they shouldn’t have given her such a common name, and yells at Dad for not letting her use one of the fancier names she liked. Aww, poor Dad.

She urges Hae-young to give up on Do-kyung, worried that Hae-young could get hurt even more if she doesn’t. Hae-young’s respectful silence tells her that that isn’t going to happen, and Mom whaps Hae-young upside the head and yells that she should want to rip Do-kyung to pieces. “If you still like him after this, you’re the biggest idiot in the entire world!”

Hae-young just says in a tiny voice, “I know.” But she can’t help how she feels.

Jin-sang and Do-kyung are outside talking when Soo-kyung stumbles home drunk and French again, and she stops to say that for the first time, she’s disappointed in Do-kyung. Then she gives him a big hug, and tells him to cheer up. Awww.

Jin-sang asks why she’s not beating the crap out of him like she normally would, seeing almost jealous over how nice she’s being to her brother. Soo-kyung just says you shouldn’t yell at someone who’s truly done something wrong, because he’s already in enough pain.

Jin-sang sighs when Do-kyung says he hasn’t called or spoken to Hae-young, asking again if he really likes her or not. But Do-kyung admits that he wouldn’t know what to say, and Jin-sang makes a brilliant suggestion: “’I love you.’ Wouldn’t that be enough?”

Do-kyung says that he would only be saying it to calm her down, but Jin-sang wisely counters that saying “I love you” is always the right thing to say.

When Hae-young finally turn her phone back on, she has many missed calls, but none from Do-kyung. She doesn’t know that he’s standing outside her house, and he finally calls her just as she turns her phone back off.

Do-kyung’s mother shows up at the house and has the nerve to accuse Hoon of freeloading. She complains that he’s not even related to Do-kyung and Soo-kyung, but Soo-kyung says she’s closer to him than her own family. Mom’s here to announce that she’s getting married tomorrow, but she only wants Do-kyung to come to the wedding.

Hoon tries to stay vague when Mom asks why Do-kyung isn’t answering his phone, but really all she wants is for him to reimburse her for the gift she bought Chairman Jang. She promises that once she’s married, she’ll have tons of money and they can all live in the lap of luxury, but Soo-kyung says they don’t need her help and yells at her to take care of her own life.

Mom just grabs Soo-kyung’s face and whines that she’s looking older than her mother these days, and tells her to get married before it’s too late. She delivers the harsh words like a concerned mother, but it’s clear she’s intending deep insult.

Jin-sang follows Soo-kyung to the bus stop and tries to cheer her up by saying that her mother just says things without thinking. He says that she and Do-kyung are nothing like her, both taking after their father, honest and sincere. He rides the bus with her (he lost his car while drinking again), and gets a bit jealous when she falls asleep on a random passenger’s shoulder.

Jin-sang tries to pretend he doesn’t know her, but the bus driver brakes hard and Soo-kyung barrel-rolls all the way down the bus aisle. He’s impressed when she shoots a leg out and catches herself on a pole by her high heel, and he shields her face and hustles her off the bus before she can be any more embarrassed.

She doesn’t appreciate his help though, and snaps at him, saying that she saw him staring at her just like everyone else as she was rolling down the aisle. She passes out on the sidewalk, and Jin-sang thinks she’s faking it for a minute before realizing that she’s really out.

He takes her to the hospital, hovering like a mother hen, but the doctor says that it’s not her frequent drinking that’s causing her to feel terrible… she’s pregnant. Jin-sang lets out a nervous laugh before he sees Soo-kyung’s shocked face and settles down, unsure whether he should congratulate her or not.

He assumes it happened when she saw her old love one last time, and fusses at her for being careless. He says that he’s always careful so that he doesn’t get himself in these kinds of situations, and loyally tells Soo-kyung that it’s the guy’s fault for not being prepared (showing her his pockets and socks full of “just in case” condoms, which is ironic since Soo-yung knows he’s the father).

Soo-kyung doesn’t say a word, and shoves Jin-sang away when he tries to console her. He runs off to get the doctor, and she sits there whining that she can’t even remember it happening.

Tae-jin has also heard the radio show with Hae-young telling their whole sordid story, replaying her admission that she fell in love with Do-kyung. He has dinner with his business partner and tells him all about it, still assuming that Do-kyung somehow arranged everything to trick Hae-young into falling for him. He tries to call Hae-young but her phone is still off, and something about his expression (and his business partner’s, for that matter) makes me very nervous.

Hae-young moves into the anger phase of grief, and bursts out of the house with Mom yelling after her, “Bite his butt off!” She heads to Do-kyung’s house, where he’s sitting in her area of the apartment, listening to the little music box he gave to her.

She’s surprised to see him there, but he just says he came over because someone knocked on her door to deliver something, and starts to head to his place. Hae-young asks if he’s not even going to ask if she’s okay, but Do-kyung already knows that she isn’t. She agrees that she’s a wreck, and that she can’t sleep because she’s so angry, but also because she misses him.

Do-kyung slowly turns, and hesitantly approaches her to hug her. Hae-young accepts it and hugs him back, but it’s not a reunion. Do-kyung tells her to curse him now, then move on with her life. If she wants to call him later to curse at him more, he’ll pick up her calls every time. “You can torture me. Do whatever you want.”

In answer, Hae-young asks if instead, he can see her until things get easier for her. She agrees that they should end it now, but she can’t do it — if she breaks up with him out of anger, she’ll regret it forever. So can’t they date secretly for a while and then break up?

But Do-kyung says he’s sorry, but that it’s only right to end this now while he’s the only bad guy. He offers to drive her home when she’s ready, and goes back through the door to his place. He looks back to see Hae-young crying. She angrily storms out soon after and refuses his ride home, and takes the bus alone. The next day, Hae-young moves out and back to her parents’ house.

Do-kyung puts in an appearance at his mother’s and Chairman Jang’s wedding as requested, where the chairman’s daughter Young-joo sees him. She goes to talk to him, noting that her father’s fifth wife is the worst of all of them. The chairman sees the two of them looking unhappy, and reminds Young-joo that no matter how many wives he has, she’ll always be his true master.

Young-joo goes to Do-kyung’s mother and comments nastily that her father gets bored easily, and when he does, it’s her job to give the most recent wife a hard time. She picks a fight, and the new wife gets kicked out. She’s just letting Do-kyung’s mom know, so she won’t be surprised when it happens to her.

Mom admits that she spent all her previous husbands’ money, implying that she plans to do the same to Chairman Jang. Young-joo wonders at the sudden deaths of both of her previous husbands, which finally seems to get under Mom’s skin. She reminds Mom that she’s a doctor, and if her father dies she’ll make sure to discover if any foul play was involved. Mom pastes on a cheerful smile, but she leans in close to whisper malevolently, “I’ll kill you first.”

Do-kyung watches their interaction closely, pounding down glasses of wine like water. Once his mother leaves he approaches Young-joo and orders her to go apologize, dragging her by the wrist to his mother and yelling, “Apologize now!” He’s gone too far, and in the scuffle Young-joo and his mother end up in a physical grapple.

Once things die down, Do-kyung’s mom takes him aside, angry at his behavior. Do-kyung is exhausted and begs her not to live like this anymore, and she misunderstands that he’s still angry that she spent all of his late father’s money. She screams that this marriage is the only way she knows how to get that fortune back.

Do-kyung scoffs, saying that it’s okay not to have the money — he hates the mother who only wants money. He screams back that he didn’t hate the mother who didn’t have money, and leaves his mother crying.

Young-joo demands that her father do something about Do-kyung, and he has an idea. He calls in Tae-jin and his business partner, who bow to the floor in front of him, and Tae-jin promises to do his best at whatever has been asked of him while looking like the cat that got the cream.

We finally learn what it was that caused Tae-jin to go to jail — back when he was out of the country for business, his partner was illegally boosting sales by taking out secret loans and buying their own product online. It was this knowledge that caused Chairman Jang to pull his investments, and the night he met with Tae-jin to tell him, was the same night Jin-sang and Do-kyung saw them at that bar.

By the time Do-kyung made that bet with himself and asked the chairman to revoke his investment in Tae-jin’s business, it had already been done. Everything would have happened exactly as it did, even if Do-kyung had never said a word. Interestingly, Chairman Jang had agreed to do Do-kyung the favor, not telling him that he’d already decided.

Now he tells his daughter that he would never have withdrawn millions in investments just on Do-kyung’s request, and sends his minions to see what Tae-jin is up to. He must be eager to get revenge on the man he thinks ruined his life, and Chairman Jang intends to let him get it.

That night, Do-kyung sits in Hae-young’s empty apartment, dying to call her but too scared to do it. He finally texts her, but only to ask for her bank information so he can send her the security deposit he promised when she first moved in. She calls him, and asks in the saddest voice how he can so easily break up with her, when she would have done anything for him.

All Do-kyung can say is that he’s sorry, and Hae-young cries as she wishes him unhappiness. “I hope you cry every night. Every time you think of me, I hope you break down. I hope I die of depression thinking about you, and I hope you feel guilty for the rest of your life.” From the way Do-kyung is sobbing by the time she hangs up, I’d say Hae-young will get her wish.

The following day, Do-kyung goes to a field to record some sound alone. He lies in the grass listening to the wind and the swaying wheat, and everything slows as he has a new vision. This one is different — it’s his mother, crying and pleading with him to beg Chairman Jang’s forgiveness.

He sees Tae-jin, smiling and friendly, saying that somehow they ended up with the right people. Then a man who says that his father owned the house he wants to buy. Jin-sang in Hae-young’s apartment, which is done up like a studio as Do-kyung’s father used to keep it, who asks if he’s heard from the woman who used to live here. Do-kyung hears his own voice saying, “Why would she call me?”

Then Hoon asks about Do-kyung’s recent blind date, then Soo-kyung mentions that one of the Oh Hae-youngs left her company, and asks which one he thinks still works there. Again Do-kyung hears his voice, saying that he doesn’t want to know.

And finally he sees Hae-young, walking toward him with a stony look in her eyes. She passes by without a word, and Do-kyung finds himself standing in the street, uncaring and unmoving when a car strikes him down.

His visions and real life all blend together into a memory of one thing: Hae-young. As Do-kyung lies dying in the street, he says over and over that he’s sorry. His eyes close for the last time, and he finally says the words: “I love you.”

Back in the present, Do-kyung realizes what his visions have been trying to tell him all along, that losing Hae-young is the thing that will send him towards death. He sits in his car and sobs, then he makes a decision, and drives like a bat out of hell back to the city.

He calls Dr. Park and says that he doesn’t care if he dies, but he refuses to die with regrets. “I will go all the way to where my heart takes me.” Dr. Park cheers him on, and Do-kyung hits the gas, not caring about anything but getting to Hae-young.

COMMENTS

Oh no. That last vision seems to explain it all, and it’s every bit as horrible as I feared. The way I interpret it, the vision is telling Do-kyung that he and Hae-young will break up for good, that he’ll be alone for a while, and that eventually he’ll run into Hae-young again. She’ll ignore him, and the pain of that rejection will cause him to either walk into the path of a car on purpose, or at least see it coming and not care. I had assumed that Do-kyung’s death would be a pure accident, but this final vision appears to be warning him that his death will be voluntary — he’ll be so heartbroken over losing Hae-young that he won’t want to live anymore. It’s not that dying will tear them apart, but the fact that they’re torn apart that causes his death.

It makes sense then, if we’re still working within Dr. Park’s theory, why Do-kyung is seeing visions of Hae-young as he lies dying… because losing her is the reason he wants to die. It’s so much worse than I imagined, but it also gives me hope, because if losing Hae-young is what aims Do-kyung towards his death, then it stands to reason that making things right with her could save his life. It’s not too late, he still has time, if the cherry blossoms are a hint that he has nearly a year before the accident.

I’m glad to see Do-kyung finally decide to take action, because while I like his character quite a lot, he has a tendency to be infuriatingly passive. He just lets things happen and does little to try to effect or change them. Even when he saw the vision telling him that he was going to kiss Hae-young, he just waited until he saw her cut lip before he actually did it despite having plenty of opportunities. It’s time he stopped letting his visions send him into a spiral of inertia, assuming that they’re going to happen and just accepting it, and actually did something to try to change them. I like that he’s finally decided that, even if he can’t change what’s going to happen, at least her refuses to die without telling Hae-young how he feels. I’ll be right there with Dr. Park, cheering him on.

Urgh, this has been a difficult couple of episodes to watch. So much pain and heartbreak, and though we knew it was coming, I didn’t expect it to hurt me so much. You know all the parts of a drama have come together perfectly — writing, directing, story and actors — when you feel nearly as invested in their pain as if it were happening to someone you know in real life, which is exactly how I feel about Do-kyung and Hae-young. Their heartache is so real and raw, and it’s just plain painful to watch. This show often makes me feel like I’m peeking in on a couple’s real romance, almost like I’m not meant to see it because it’s so personal and private, but I care about these characters so much and want to see them happy. I know this phase is important, because both Do-kyung and Hae-young still have a long ways to go before they’re ready for a relationship (both individually and as a couple), but it’s just so, so hard to watch.

It was a relief to learn that Do-kyung’s request to Chairman Jang made no difference in all of the events that harmed Hae-young — if he’d never done anything, all of this still would have happened. Tae-jin still would have gone to jail, he still would have cancelled their wedding, and Hae-young still would have met and fallen for Do-kyung. It doesn’t take away the fact that Do-kyung did wrong by asking Chairman Jang to withdraw his funding, but it does remove some of the guilt of what he did, to know that it would have all happened without his interference. But now I’m eager for Do-kyung to know it, because Chairman Jang seems to have an agenda. He had a weird look on his face when he allowed Do-kyung to believe he was working on his request to pull his funding, and now he seems to be setting up Do-kyung and Tae-jin for some reason. Whatever it is, I’d love to see Tae-jin and Do-kyung team up to bring him down.

 
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