Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 14

by LollyPip

Oh thank goodness, some levity has been sorely needed around here lately. Bad decisions and forgotten trysts will eventually reveal their consequences, and if we’re lucky, the results will be as amusing as they are life-changing. But eventually reality must be faced, and fast, as time is running out.

 
EPISODE 14: “Silence all the other sounds that are not of love”

Do-kyung and Hae-young are practically giddy with happiness, having reconciled after Do-kyung’s heartfelt confession. They can’t keep their hands off each other, stopping to hug often as they walk, grinning at each other. At one point they find themselves at the scene of their first kiss, and Hae-young throws herself up against the wall and puckers up, hee.

Once they’ve calmed down a bit, Hae-young tells Do-kyung that if he hadn’t persisted, they would have been over for real. Remembering his vision, Do-kyung explains that he thought how he’d feel if he died, and decided that he should stop being cautious. “Let’s go as far as my heart takes me. Let’s not hold back, and just go.”

Hae-young likes the sound of that, and says that she never thought she’d be moved by a man who fearlessly pursued her. She warns jokingly that she’ll kill him if she ever catches him being cautious again, and Do-kyung promises that he won’t.

They’re adorably reluctant to part that night when Do-kyung takes Hae-young home, and stand outside waving and saying goodnight for way too long. Hae-young rolls around on the floor in happiness, squealing and giggling, and finally her parents hear and come out to yell at her for disappearing from the hospital and worrying them.

Do-kyung reports to Dr. Park about this new development, that he was able to change his visions by doing something different than what he saw. Dr. Park excitedly congratulates him, but Do-kyung is still subdued, assuming that he’s still going to die.

In his opinion, all he’s changed is that he has the chance now to love Hae-young before he goes. Dr. Park thinks he can change his death fate as well, but in the face of Do-kyung’s stoic acceptance, he calms down and tells him that for now, he should just love.

Do-kyung surprises Hae-young on her way to work and offers her a ride, and awww, seeing him smile so much just to be near her is lovely.

Jin-sang literally dances with happiness at breakfast, having had an amazing dream about golden stars that moved together to form a fish. He’d caught the fish when it fell from the sky, which excites Soo-kyung, who recognizes this as a conception dream. She’s happy to hear that the dream made Jin-sang feel calm and excited, which she takes as a sign that he’ll accept fatherhood well.

Jin-sang drives Soo-kyung to work and offers to take her out for steak that night, urging her to tell her family about the baby as soon as possible. He asks if she’s told the baby’s father yet, and he’s surprised when Soo-kyung tells him that her ex-boyfriend isn’t the father.

He gapes when he realizes the baby came from a one-night stand, but Soo-kyung tells him to shush, that she’s planning to raise the baby on her own anyway. She also plans to move out of the country, since she doesn’t want to be constantly pestered about the baby’s father. Jin-sang begs her not to leave, even offering to help with the baby as much as he can. Okay, he’s not entirely terrible.

As she heads into work, Soo-kyung thinks that if she tells him he’s the father, things will get really awkward between them. So she’ll just keep her secret and raise the child alone, and preserve her friendship with Jin-sang at the same time. She thanks him internally for having the conception dream, which she’ll treasure.

Soo-kyung sees Do-kyung dropping off Hae-young, and how happy the both of them look, and in the elevator she tells Hae-young not to feel awkward. She warns Hae-young sternly never to break up with Do-kyung again, ever.

There’s a strange moment when the other Hae-young congratulates our Hae-young, then quickly keeps walking. Hae-young remembers a time when she’d gotten her report card in the mail, showing nearly perfect grades, and her mom and dad had freaked out to see their daughter’s number one class ranking.

Mom had called all their friends and family to brag while Hae-young looked guilty, and she’d answered the door to find the other Hae-young there with her real report card — they’d been switched. Our Hae-young had asked if she could let her parents sign the wrong one and give it back tomorrow and, quickly guessing the situation, the other Hae-young had generously offered to have her parents sign the worse of the two.

She’d nervously presented the report card to her mother, who didn’t even care, only saying that she and Chairman Jang were getting divorced. Our Hae-young’s parents had found out the truth anyway, and Mom’s bitchy sister had actually laughed asif it was the most hilarious thing ever, that Hae-young might get good grades.

That’s when Mom had met the other Hae-young, and she’d assured our Hae-young that grades aren’t everything. The other Hae-young had been envious of our Hae-young’s mom’s unconditional love, and felt she’d always come in second.

Hoon is still moping at being kicked out of Hee-ran’s place, and he tells An-na sadly that he’ll never be a success because he loves her. An-na guesses that a powerful woman must have tried to seduce him, utterly unconcerned about it, and she coos that she’s proud of him.

Do-kyung learns that the barley field he needs to record wind in for a scene is being mowed down the next day, so he and his team have to go out of town for the night unexpectedly. Hae-young is genuinely horrified that she won’t be able to see him for a whole entire day, and she dramatically wonders if she’ll die. Heh.

So Do-kyung calls his sister and asks for a favor, to let Hae-young off work for the day. HAHA, is that actually a bit of aegyo in his voice? Whatever it is, it doesn’t work, so he enlists his team for an impromptu kidnapping.

They pretend to be police, here to arrest her, and she hilariously tries to tell them there are two Oh Hae-youngs who work here (“Yes, we know.” LOL). They manage to get her out, and tell her to turn off her phone when her smitten manager Sung-jin tries to call her.

They claim to see the “real criminals,” on the sidewalk — it’s Do-kyung and Hoon, and they joke that the guy in the hat (Do-kyung) has a sucky personality. Hae-young starts to get suspicious, especially when the guy in the hat jumps in the van and sits all close to her, but she’s thrilled to realize that it’s Do-kyung grinning at her.

They get to the barley field, where the movie crew is wrapping up and it’s time to record the sound. Do-kyung lets Hae-young listen as they record, and when they’re done, he sends his boys back and he and Hae-young stay for a little date.

Hae-young demands hugs the moment they’re alone, and Do-kyung dips her dramatically and makes her squeak. He cutely reminds her it’s still daytime, and Hae-young is all innocence: What did I dooo? Anyone buying it? Yeah, me neither.

Tae-jin goes to see his former partner, who’s done quite well for himself while Tae-jin was away. He offers Tae-jin his old job back, and he advises Tae-jin to go after Hae-young and make her a priority this time. Why, so he won’t notice when you back-stab him again?

Hae-young’s coworkers are worried so they call the police department, who of course have no idea what they’re talking about. Sung-jin takes the cops down to the security office to watch the CCTV tapes, who don’t recognize the guys who took Hae-young as police. They decide the kidnappers must be pros, ha.

They tell Hae-young’s mom that their daughter has been kidnapped, which really shouldn’t be this funny, but it is. She verifies that they’re talking about her Hae-young, and faints when they show her a CCTV still shot. Awww.

Hae-young is perfectly safe out in the country with Do-kyung, oblivious that everyone back home is completely freaking out. She muses about all the sounds she likes — snow being shoveled, a little boy running home from school, a music box — but there’s one sound she still wants to hear. She wants to hear Do-kyung saying her name, which he’s never done.

She asks if he still connects the name with the other Hae-young, but he says that he didn’t say her name only because he knew she’d think that. She admits he’s probably right, but she’s still Hae-young, and wants him to call her by name. She even promises to stop thinking of the other Hae-young herself when she looks at him.

Do-kyung asks for a favor in return, that no matter what Tae-jin may do to him, she won’t get involved. He admits that he’ll deserve whatever Tae-jin dishes out, because of what he did to his business (Do-kyung still thinks Chairman Jang pulled his investment on his request) and for ending up with Hae-young.

And one more thing: He wants her to stop distancing herself from him with how she addresses him. She asks what she should call him then, and Do-kyung is all, “You know, that.”

So that night as they lay in the swishing barley, Hae-young calls him “Oppa.” That is so cute. In turn, he calls her “Hae-young-ah,” and they repeat the endearments over and over, enjoying the closeness it brings. Do-kyung draws Hae-young in for a hug, then gets a mischievous glint in his eye and pulls her all the way on top of himself.

Hae-young is ready for some kissing, but Do-kyung whispers for her to open her eyes. “I want you to see the stars.” She does, and gasps at the glorious starry sky, and she breathes that she wants to die right now, while she’s so happy.

Her words mean more to Do-kyung than she knows, and he rolls over to kiss her for real this time. But as he leans in close, they hear a voice call out Do-kyung’s name (ha, the romantic background music literally grinds to a halt).

Pfft, what looks like the entire police department is combing the barley field looking for Do-kyung, assuming he’s doing nefarious things to his “victim” in the tall grass. I’m sure he had a few things planned, poor guy. Do-kyung and Hae-young pop up from the middle of the field, humiliated, and are brought down to the station with the whole crew of idiots who thought the fake kidnapping was a good idea.

They’d all cringed as Mom had screamed at Hae-young over the phone, but by the time she gets to the station, she’s resigned. Do-kyung apologizes, but Mom just says to him, “You keep her.” She starts to leave but stops, and I love how Do-kyung pulls Hae-young behind himself to protect her. But all Mom does is tell Dad to let Do-kyung have Hae-young.

Jin-sang makes good on his promise to feed Soo-kyung a steak dinner, hovering adorably when she starts to eat the wrong things. He tries to hide when two of his current conquests walk in together and right up to his table, then several more join them and surround Jin-sang.

Soo-kyung calmly invites them to attend to their business while she eats, and the first girl does exactly that. She notes that he has one girl for each day of the week but Sunday — is that his day off? The girls loom over Jin-sang menacingly, but Soo-kyung finally calls an end to it.

She tells them that it’s partly their fault for falling for his lies anyway, calling herself his Sunday woman and crowing that they live together. She advises the girl to look for more than looks or money, and to go for a guy with a good personality.

The lead girl makes the mistake of pulling Soo-kyung’s hair, and now it’s on. Even pregnant she delivers a frightening smackdown, and afterward, Jin-sang thanks her for saving his hide.

Soo-kyung’s silence makes him nervous, and he finally just apologizes. She says that he was so adorable in high school, that he was sensitive and helpful, and remembers how he and Do-kyung would wait for her at her bus stop after work.

She asks sadly why he changed, which makes him shy, and she goes into full noona mode to tell him to meet someone nice and get married. As she walks away, she thinks to herself that even though she’ll never tell the baby who its father is, she still wants that father to be someone worthy.

Jin-sang asks Soo-kyung and Hoon what it is that Do-kyung likes so much about Hae-young that he’d risk going to jail for her, even though Do-kyung is right there in the room (Jin-sang: “As if he’d tell us!”). When Hoon calls Jin-sang a name, Soo-kyung jumps up and pins him with just her feet, and everyone is shocked with how strongly she defends Jin-sang.

Suddenly Jin-sang clutches his head, as the pieces all fall together. He makes a weird whining noise as it hits him, and he starts to beg Soo-kyung to say it’s not true. He yells that they’ve never slept together, even as he seems to realize that they must have, based on Soo-kyung’s calm demeanor. Then he remembers his dream, and finally Soo-kyung says, “That’s right. It was a conception dream.”

Cut to: Do-kyung and Hoon kicking Jin-sang’s ass all over the house. Hoon barks that this is Jin-sang’s punishment for all his years of womanizing, and helpfully holds Jin-sang down so Do-kyung can whale on him.

Once that’s done, they proceed to get roaring drunk, and Do-kyung gets the giggles at Jin-sang’s distress, which is the cutest thing ever. Jin-sang starts to cry, and tosses his emergency condoms in the air, no longer needing them.

Do-kyung and Jin-sang end up wobbling to the convenience store, so drunk they’re barely awake. They blearily wonder if this will work, then lean on each other’s faces — are they trying to kiss? Because it really looks like they’re trying to kiss but are too drunk to manage it.

Jin-sang ends up leaning on Soo-kyung’s bedroom door, defeated, and he slumps to the floor. She’s inside in bed, listening to him bang his head on the door, but she doesn’t go to him.

Do-kyung drunk-dials Hae-young to call her “Hae-young-ah” a few more times, and she laughs at his drunken loop. She happily calls him “Oppa” back.

She breaks the news to Tae-jin the next day, that she and Do-kyung are together. She doesn’t ask his forgiveness for either of them, and willingly takes all the blame. This time when she walks away, she doesn’t turn back to look at Tae-jin, and he’s left sitting alone, gulping back tears.

The other Hae-young and Do-kyung run into each other, and she says that she’s on her way to a blind date, acting as if the news should upset him. But he says he’s glad, and agrees to meet her with our Hae-young one day for a drink. Hae-young barely gets out of Do-kyung’s line of sight before she breaks down.

Our Hae-young joins Do-kyung at work, enjoying watching how he makes the sounds match up with the scenes on the screen (and it’s interesting that he’s making the sound for an identical scene to the one that opened this drama, but with a different actress). He lets Hae-young step in and help, and after, they sit and just enjoy each other’s company.

In the morning, the landlord’s son finds Do-kyung and asks if he’s still interested in buying the house. Do-kyung remembers this from his last vision as the man says his father passed away, and starts to worry.

At the same time, Hae-young has a kitchen accident and burns her hand. When she tells him, Do-kyung has another vision of her with her hand in a bandage, and when she shows up at his place with food, she’s wearing the exact clothes and bandage as in his vision. He sees again his vision of lying in the street in a pool of his own blood, dying.

Dr. Park is shocked to hear that maybe, some things can’t be changed — someone gets hurt, someone dies. He wonders what this means, but Do-kyung doesn’t have an answer.

He meets up with Hae-young later and puts on a smile for her benefit. But as they’re walking, he suddenly yanks her to him and clutches her desperately. Hae-young doesn’t understand, but she hugs him back happily.

COMMENTS

Show, you have to stop doing this to me! Every time I think I know what’s happening with Do-kyung’s visions, and start to hope that he can change his fate, you throw wrenches into things and I’m so confused I don’t know which way is up.

Let’s talk about paradoxes for a minute. A paradox is a situation made up of events that seem unable to coexist, but can actually turn out to be possible. I’m concerned about the paradox of Do-kyung’s visions versus his ability to change them. Logic would say that if he can change events leading up to his death, then he should be able to also change his fate, and live. But in that case, the paradox is that his death is what’s causing these visions in the first place. So if he uses his visions to stop his death, then he’d never have been dying and experienced the visions, and never have the chance to use them to stop his death. Despite my desperate hope, it doesn’t seem possible that Do-kyung will be able to avoid his own death, because it would mean he never had the visions to begin with.

I think the show is saying that while some things can be changed, either Do-kyung’s death can’t be avoided, or that at least, someone must die. I’m not sure Do-kyung would accept someone dying in his place as a desirable alternative. And I’m unpleasantly reminded of Hae-young’s early walk through traffic and her conviction that she can’t die even if she wants to — I’m not willing to trade Do-kyung’s death for Hae-young’s. Though if I am honest, I don’t think any of us have an idea what Do-kyung’s visions actually mean or whether he can avoid his fate, because this writer is wickedly deceptive, and I think we’re all in for a big surprise.

Off that topic for a moment, and onto Soo-kyung and Jin-sang. I think Soo-kyung’s decision to not tell Jin-sang that he’s the baby’s father was well-thought-out and mature, and that she really did have Jin-sang’s well-being at heart. She didn’t want him to give up his carefree life for a one-night-stand he didn’t even remember, and I can understand why she chose that route. She knows the baby will have multiple excellent father figures in Do-kyung and Hoon, and even Jin-sang as he promised, and that the child wouldn’t suffer from not knowing who its father is. It’s not her fault Jin-sang had a sudden realization and figured it all out.

I will say this in Jin-sang’s defense — he may be an immature twit and a womanizer, but the moment he realized that he’s the father of Soo-kyung’s baby, he considered it a foregone conclusion that he would step up as the father. He didn’t try to run away from it, or deny the truth (he had a moment of personal denial, but once she confirmed it, he believed her), or run from his responsibility. He may not have been happy about it, but he did accept that his life had just changed drastically. He’s got a long way to go before he’s a responsible family man, and Soo-kyung knows it… but she also remembers that sweet, caring boy she used to know. She knows him well enough to know that something happened to change him, and hopefully he can address that and work through it. And it may not be too far-fetched that they end up together — Soo-kyung may have been willing to let him go as a parenting partner, but she wasn’t willing to give up on him as a decent human being, which I think is as solid a foundation for potential love as any.

But back to the main couple — how lovely to see Do-kyung and Hae-young finally talking to each other, calmly and rationally, about their issues. The confusion over her name, his entanglement with Tae-jin, for once they just talked without excessive emotion and actually worked some things out. And how much do I love that Do-kyung wanted Hae-young to call him “oppa?” It felt like he was admitting a sort of vulnerability to her that he hadn’t been able to before, that he wanted to be that to her. And their discussion about why he never called her by name, and their promise to say and hear it as HER name and not the other Hae-young’s was so poignant. It’s a hard scene to describe how it made me feel, but after they worked that out, there’s no denying that they felt closer than ever.

RELATED POSTS

• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 13
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 12
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 11
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 10
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 9
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 8
• Oh Hae-young Again climbs in ratings, gets 2-episode extension
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 7
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 6
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 5
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 4
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 3
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 2
• Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 1