Reunited Worlds: Episodes 27-28

by LollyPip

As Hae-sung is discovering, it isn’t easy to keep something like coming back from the dead a secret for long, especially when you make no real effort to hide it. But he’s being pulled in two directions as he tries to arrange for his siblings to live comfortably after he’s gone, while at the same time pursuing the truth about the night that he died. If Hae-sung isn’t careful, he could lose someone very important while he’s looking the other way.

 
EPISODE 27 RECAP

Ho-bang looks up the license plate number of the car Teacher Hyun left the gallery in, and discovers that it was Tae-hoon’s mother’s car. He reports back to Hae-sung and Jung-won, and Min-joon sees the three friends talking. He goes inside to the gallery office and thinks about how Hae-sung seems to know all of Jung-won’s friends.

Back at the station, Ho-bang calls Tae-hoon’s mother and introduces himself as a detective. She lies about knowing Teacher Hyun and about being home for questioning, offering to meet him elsewhere instead. When CEO Cha asks her about it, she lies again, saying that an old friend wants to see her.

She meets with Ho-bang at a coffee shop, where she repeatedly insists that she hasn’t seen Teacher Hyun lately. Even when he asks straight out if she went to an art gallery today with Teacher Hyun, Tae-hoon’s mother says that she didn’t, then threatens to call her lawyer if he asks about this again.

At home again, she calls Teacher Hyun to warn her that a detective is asking questions, and may be looking for her next.

That evening, Ho-bang tells Hae-sung and Jung-won about his strange conversation with Tae-hoon’s mother. Hae-sung asks if the two women bought a painting this afternoon, but Jung-won already thought of that, and the only painting that was purchased today was under a man’s name.

In the morning, Jung-won checks her old high school yearbook to confirm that the woman she saw was her old art teacher. She shows Miss Kim, a staff member, asking if she recognizes Teacher Hyun. Miss Kim says that she’s the one who bought the painting yesterday, confirming that Jung-won did see her former teacher.

The only painting sold that day was purchased under a man’s name. Jung-won visits him to ask some questions, and he tells her that Teacher Hyun is his mother, and that she’s staying with him temporarily.

Jung-won takes this information back to the police station to Ho-bang, who sighs heavily when Jin-ju shows up to retrieve her lost phone. She offers to take them to lunch, and as they wait for the bus, Jin-ju muses that her ideal man is one that works for a big company with a cafeteria in the building.

To that end, she takes them to the building where Moon-shik works to meet him for lunch. He’s waiting for them in the lobby, proudly holding up his employee ID, but they walk right past poor Moon-shik like he’s invisible because he’s wearing a suit, ha. The ladies gasp to see him looking so dashing, and Ho-bang snarls jealously as Moon-shik informs them that he’s management now.

He treats them to lunch in the cafeteria, and by now Jin-ju is all but drooling over him. They find a seat, and an older gentleman dressed as a janitor cleans the table for them before they eat. Jealous, Ho-bang picks a fight with Jin-ju and pouts all through lunch.

After eating, while waiting for Moon-shik, the three friends witness an executive talking to the gentleman they assumed was the janitor. He addresses the man as “Chairman,” and they guess that he’s actually the boss. Moon-shik finds them and calls out to the chairman, calling him Father. LOL, was Moon-shik a chaebol all this time?? That’s hilarious.

Poor Ho-bang looks ill as the girls sigh romantically over Moon-shik’s odd quirks, which used to annoy them but now they decide are just proof that he’s untainted by the world, hee. Ho-bang is so flustered that he tries to get on a kids’ school bus, then just runs home in humiliation, ha.

Hae-sung uses the new gallery kitchen to work on his knife skills, and Min-joon tells him that as soon as the restaurant opens, he’s promoting Hae-sung to chef. Hae-sung is thankful, but he says that as soon as the restaurant is open, he’s quitting. He’s vague about why, and despite his disappointment, Min-joon offers his help if Hae-sung needs it.

That evening, Tae-hoon and Young-in walk home after a date hand-in-hand. But when a department store employee recognizes them and stops to talk, Tae-hoon drops Young-in’s hand like a hot potato and lies nervously about why they’re together. From the look on Young-in’s face and the way she rushes home alone, Tae-hoon is in some pretty hot water.

Hae-sung breaks the news to Grandmother that he’s not planning to work in the restaurant once it opens. He tells her that before his accident, he dreamed of owning his own restaurant and supporting his siblings, explaining that he wants to do that before he goes back.

He says that he may not even have enough time, but if he can, he still wants to leave something behind for his siblings. He also tells Grandmother of his plans to tell Min-joon the truth about himself, so she guesses that he must trust and like Min-joon an awful lot.

In fact, Hae-sung and Jung-won have plans to meet with Min-joon to tell him everything. Min-joon does some paperwork as he waits for them, and he accidentally picks up Jung-won’s high school yearbook from her desk along with some ledgers. He peeks inside, noting how pretty she was as a teenager.

He goes looking for Tae-hoon’s picture, too, and runs across the group shot of all six friends, the same one that Jung-won kept on her refrigerator all these years. But Min-joon is startled to see Hae-sung in the picture, looking exactly the same as he does now.

Min-joon remembers Ho-bang saying that the accident victim from twelve years ago was a friend of his, and Jung-won saying that the blue hair ribbon was a gift from a high school friend. He looks up the news reports from the accident, and sees that the student who died is listed as Sung Hae-sung, age 19.

He makes a call to confirm Hae-sung’s burial place, and learns to his confusion that Hae-sung’s body is indeed interred there. He walks out of the gallery in a daze, driving off just minutes before Jung-won and Hae-sung arrive to talk to him.

Hae-sung goes to the office looking for Min-joon, but instead he finds the notes that Min-joon made about him and his accident. He and Jung-won immediately guess that Min-joon somehow discovered the truth before they could tell him. Oh no.

 
EPISODE 28 RECAP

Min-joon drives to Hae-sung’s burial spot, where he stands in front of the crypt staring in disbelief. There’s Hae-sung’s picture, alongside the same one of him with his friends in school, his death date proving that he died twelve years ago. As Min-joon tries to figure out how this is possible, Hae-sung joins him.

Something about Hae-sung seems ethereal and otherworldly as he looks at Min-joon with an expression of deep sadness. Looking frightened, Min-joon backs away, but he allows Hae-sung to explain.

Hae-sung tells Min-joon that he died twelve years ago, and that he doesn’t know how or why he came back. He confesses that he has difficulty with what he is now, but that his friends and family are very accepting. He apologizes for deceiving Min-joon all this time.

He says that he sometimes wishes he was the normal 31-year-old man he would have been if he hadn’t died, and that he’d met Min-joon as Tae-hoon’s hyung. With tears in his eyes, Hae-sung says that he often wonders what his life would be like if he hadn’t died that way.

The guys walk back to where Jung-won is waiting for them, and Jung-won gives Min-joon a respectful bow. Min-joon doesn’t speak to either of them — he just climbs in his car and drives away, leaving them worrying whether he’ll be okay.

Ho-bang tracks down Teacher Hyun, who pretends not to know who Tae-hoon’s mother is. She jumps in her car and speeds off, calling Tae-hoon’s mother in a panic. She tells Teacher Hyun to go into hiding, and she’ll send her whatever she needs.

Despite their taking care to keep their relationship a secret, the gossip about Young-in and Tae-hoon spreads through the department store like wildfire. Young-in denies the dating rumors, making her coworkers wonder who Tae-hoon’s dating, since he’s obviously dating someone.

One coworker says that of course it’s impossible that he’d be dating Young-in, but Tae-hoon’s voice rings out loud and clear: “No, Young-in is the one I’m seeing.” Eeeee! He proudly tells the women that he’s dating Young-in, then leads her to the roof, looking stern and professional.

But then he whirls and grabs Young-in in a big hug, as she weakly complains that this is where they work. Tae-hoon tells Young-in to trust him and not to worry, adorably hanging onto Young-in as long as possible. Finally she says she has to get back to work, and when Tae-hoon pouts like a little kid, she cheers him up with a kiss on the cheek. His reaction is so cute.

Hae-chul makes a call to his daughter Gong-ju, then settles down to a humble dinner of ramyun. He loses his appetite when he looks up and sees Gong-ju’s mother, Yoo-min, standing in the doorway, and he ungraciously takes her outside to talk.

She offers to buy him a real dinner, but he just asks curtly why she’s here. He glares incredulously when Yoo-min says she missed him, then chatters on about how she always wears blue around him because he once said he fell for her when she wore a blue dress on one of their first dates.

Hae-chul growls at Yoo-min to leave, but she continues, reminding him of how happy they were when they were together. Hae-chul retorts that what he remembers is how Yoo-min abandoned him and Gong-ju, when their daughter was just a baby and he barely knew how to care for her.

Yoo-min counters that she didn’t abandon them, and that she didn’t leave because she didn’t want them. Hae-chul’s voice cracks as he asks how she explains six years with no contact, and she starts to say that it was a hard time for her. Hae-chul explodes, showing her his still-fiery temper and reminding her that she hated this side of him, ordering her again to go.

Min-joon stands on a rocky overlook, staring out over the city. A while later a hiker finds his cell phone, but Min-joon is nowhere to be seen. He calls Jung-won to tell her that he found her friend’s phone, and she and Hae-sung race to help look for Min-joon.

They climb all over the mountain, calling for Min-joon and asking hikers if they’ve seen him, with no luck. Eventually they see Min-joon walking towards them, no idea that anyone was worried about him, and he’s surprised to see Jung-won and Hae-sung.

He apologizes for worrying them, though he admits with a grin that seeing them so upset makes him feel better, hee. He asks why they aren’t at the gallery getting the restaurant ready to open, and they remind him that they don’t work for him anymore.

They head back to the gallery to find, to Min-joon’s astonishment, that all of his former employees from the old restaurant are there setting up the place. Awww! They apologize for being disloyal and ask Min-joon to hire them again, telling him that Hae-sung approached each one of them personally.

In private, Min-joon tells Hae-sung that he’s going to call him just “Hae-sung” from now on (he’s been addressing him as an adult would address a child). He apologizes on his father’s behalf for the accident, and forgives him for keeping the truth a secret. He thanks Hae-sung for coming back so that they could meet, and he asks for a hug, which Hae-sung gladly gives.

When it’s time to deliver Teacher Hyun’s painting, Jung-won gets an idea. Meanwhile Ho-bang interviews Tae-hoon’s mother again, and though she’s still denying that she knows Teacher Hyun, he reminds her that she was the one who hired her for the teaching position at the high school.

Ho-bang wonders out loud why Tae-hoon’s mother would buy an expensive painting for a woman she doesn’t even know, but she sticks to her story. He asks what Teacher Hyun has on Tae-hoon’s mother that she would protect her so vehemently.

Hospital Director Sohn seems to be coming around on the idea of Young-joon as a son-in-law, and she even takes him shopping for a suit to wear to a cousin’s wedding. Young-in sees him talking to Seo-won and Director Sohn, and when he splits up from them, she approaches him angrily.

Young-in asks Young-joon if he abandoned the family just to become a doctor and kowtow to rich people. She tells him that he least he could do is live confidently after what he did, adding that this is why they’ve all forgotten him.

From a short distance, Soo-ji watches her sister confront Young-joon, though she only knows him as the doctor she bumped into at the hospital. But she hears Young-in call him “oppa,” which makes her realize who he really is.

Jung-won rides along when the painting is delivered to Teacher Hyun, and Ho-bang meets her at the apartment building. He sneaks into the apartment behind the deliverymen, and when they leave, he greets Teacher Hyun with a cheeky triumphant grin.

Hae-sung and Jung-won sit nearby and listen in as Ho-bang questions Teacher Hyun about the night that Kyung-chul died. She admits that she called Kyung-chul to the school to scold him, but Ho-bang thinks it’s strange since she wasn’t even his teacher. Teacher Hyun explains that she caught Kyung-chul hiding cigarettes in the art room, and that she spoke to him at the school gates at around 7:50 p.m. that night.

Teacher Hyun tells Ho-bang that after they spoke, Kyung-chul went into the school with another student. Ho-bang asks why she lied about knowing Tae-hoon’s mother, and Teacher Hyun agrees to tell him everything so that he’ll believe what she said about Kyung-chul.

She confesses that Tae-hoon’s mother was once married to her older brother while studying in the U.S., and that they were divorced after only six months. CEO Cha doesn’t know that his wife was married previously, and the reason Teacher Hyun contacted her recently was to tell her that her brother is back in Korea after getting into legal trouble in the States.

Tae-hoon’s mother had been in a panic to think that her ex-husband might look her up, and Teacher Hyun had wondered why she was so scared after nearly thirty years. Tae-hoon’s mother had said it’s her husband, CEO Cha, that she’s frightened of.

Soo-ji goes to see Young-joon at the hospital, also calling him “oppa,” and asking if he can talk. Her doctor sees them together and wonders why Young-joon claimed not to know Soo-ji when he asked him.

Young-joon doesn’t hide who he is from Soo-ji, who says that she doesn’t like to see her other siblings hate him. She tells Young-joon that she knows where he really was the night that Hae-sung died, and she asks why he can’t just tell their siblings the truth.

Teacher Hyun leaves, but she comes right back to tell Ho-bang something she just remembered — that the student Kyung-chul met at the school that night was wearing a cast on his right arm. After she’s gone, the friends try to remember who had a broken arm at the time of the deaths.

Jung-won remembers the boy, but not his name. They speculate whether he was with Kyung-chul at the time that he was attacked, and whether he may have been Kyung-chul’s real killer.

 
COMMENTS

Oof, I knew we were going to have a problem if Min-joon figured out the truth about Hae-sung on his own — though I have to say, I’m thrilled that someone finally had a normal reaction to seeing a boy who’s back from the dead! For a few minutes, anyway. It hurt to see him so hurt at being lied to – I can’t help it, Min-joon is such a squishy little panda, and there’s something vulnerable about him that makes me just want to see him happy and loved always. I’m actually surprised that he got over his upset so quickly, but I think that he values Hae-sung and Jung-won’s friendship too much to hold onto his hurt for very long.

And I’m happy that the air is finally cleared between Min-joon and Hae-sung, because at least on Hae-sung’s end, you could tell that keeping such a big secret from someone he was growing so close to was really weighing on him. I liked seeing Min-joon decide to relate to Hae-sung as equals, instead of adult-to-teenager, because now it feels like they can truly be friends without that barrier of secrets between them. If I’m being really honest, Hae-sung and Min-joon’s friendship is my favorite part of this drama, and when it’s time for Hae-sung to go, their goodbye is going to be the one that really hurts.

Every time Hae-chul is given a scene, I wish that we got to see more of his story. It’s partly the fact that I pretty much love everything that Kwak Dong-yeon does, and partly that he’s selling the former-gangster-turned-single-father role so impressively. I’m a sucker for stories in which the tough guy is reduced to a marshmallow by a tiny little girl, and I love Hae-chul’s struggle to straighten his life out and be a good father to his baby.

In fact, I feel that most of Hae-sung’s siblings’ stories would make interesting full-length dramas, and I almost wish that there were fewer siblings so that their stories could have been more fleshed out. I know I would watch an entire drama about Hae-chul becoming a better man for his daughter’s sake, or Young-joon denying his family because of an embarrassing past but coming to terms with it, or Soo-ji’s struggles with her illness. It’s like the writer had so many good stories and tried to squeeze them all into one drama, which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just that they’re all so interesting that it leaves me feeling unsatisfied because we only get bits and pieces of each of them.

Speaking of Young-joon, now that the truth about that night twelve years ago is looking more complicated than we expected, I’m not so sure that he’s guilty of anything besides witnessing something he shouldn’t have (and kudos to the writer for playing out the mystery so well that it keeps me on my toes!). Every clue changes my theories on what happened that night, and at this point I’m thinking that Young-joon was a witness to both Kyung-chul’s murder and Hae-sung’s accident. I still think that CEO Cha paid his way through school and is banishing him to the U.S to keep him from telling anyone that CEO Cha was really driving the car that hit Hae-sung, but I can’t help but wonder how Kyung-chul’s death ties in to CEO Cha’s involvement, or why CEO Cha would tell Hae-sung that Young-joon killed Kyung-chul. I do love that the mystery is a real mystery, and how with the addition of a new possible killer, everything changes. There’s nothing more tedious than a predictable mystery, and if nothing else, Reunited Worlds has given us a mystery that is truly confounding.

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