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Drinking Solo: Episode 8

What does a man do when his heart and his mind want two different things? If he’s Jung-seok, he just lies to everyone, even himself. But lies can’t hold up forever, and Jung-seok isn’t the only one about to find his deepest darkest secrets threatened.

 
EPISODE 8 RECAP

Today, Jung-seok visits a less-fancy restaurant than usual, enjoying a huge plate of shrimp and a simple beer.

The evening after helping Hana with her online class, he’d come home to find Gong-myung watching the dancing portion of the class with a dejected look on his face. He’d asked Jung-seok what kind of relationship he has with Hana, and Jung-seok said they’re just coworkers.

Gong-myung asks why the guy famous for caring about nobody but himself went on her web class, and even watched the fireworks with her. He demands the truth, but he backs down when Jung-seok insists he just helped her out to keep her from lowering the quality of his joint class. Gong-myung breathes a sigh of relief, no longer worried that he’ll have to compete with his brother for Hana’s affections.

Jung-seok goes to his room, where he finally lets himself think about his accidental kiss with Hana. He’s horrified that someone as lofty as himself could kiss a low-quality woman like her. I can’t wait for him to regret those words.

Hana checks out the website where she posted the picture of herself and Jung-seok at the fireworks show, and she beams at all the happy comments from students. She’s also cringing from the kiss, however, wondering how she’ll face him tomorrow.

She flops down on her bed, and her giant teddy bear falls forward and kisses her the same way she kissed Jung-seok, hee. The bear gets a fist in the face, and Hana and Jung-seok both lie in bed, flailing in horror.

They end up in the same elevator the next morning, and it’s hilariously awkward the way they try not to look at each other. Hana brings up last night first, and Jung-seok hilariously pretends to have no earthly idea what she’s talking about, ha. That forces Hana to clarify, and Jung-seok is all Oh, right! That thing that happened! Ha ha!

He says it was so insignificant that he forgot about it, like a fruit fly, and when Hana’s face falls he has to backtrack that he wasn’t calling her a fruit fly, and OMG just please stop talking.

He comments that it seems to be bothering Hana, almost as if he’s hoping it is. Hana says that she forgot all about it too, and awww, Jung-seok looks disappointed. When the elevator door finally opens, the poor guy can’t flee fast enough.

Jin-woong’s impression today is from VJs on the Scene, and Hana gets it on the first guess. He and Jin-yi both congratulate Hana on her web class, amazed that Jung-seok showed up and even danced, and Jin-yi wonders if he really does like Hana. Hana denies it, clarifying that he was just helping her.

The teachers overhear Director Kim asking Jung-seok who he plans to take with him to a special lecture this weekend. Hana is assumed to be disqualified since Jung-seok just helped with her web course, but when Hana agrees that she’s not qualified anyway, Jung-seok gets this odd look on his face.

Jin-yi and Jin-woong both want the chance to do a special lecture, but Jung-seok huffs off, determined to decide for himself. He watches Hana delivering coffee and grumbles that she’s too damn nice, and goes through some pretty impressive mental gymnastics to convince himself that he wants to invite her because of business reasons, not personal.

Ki-bum and Chae-yeon exchange insults after class as usual, and Gong-myung tries to smooth things over by asking Chae-yeon to tutor him. She just snarls a no, lumping him in with Ki-bum since they’re friends, and sails out. Dong-young asks why Ki-bum hates Chae-yeon so much anyway, but he barks that he just does, okay?! Oookay buddy.

Hana finds Jin-yi face-down on her desk, upset that she wasn’t chosen for Jung-seok’s special lecture. Hana is surprised to learn that Jung-seok picked her, though his reasoning is obviously just to improve the quality of his joint class. But Jin-woong sees this as proof that Jung-seok likes Hana.

Hana inspects Jung-seok’s poster at the bus stop, wondering if he really does like her. But she shakes her head, remembering how embarrassed she was the last time she thought so.

Gong-myung joins her, calling her “my woman,” which makes Hana sneer at him. She tells him to go study, and he jokes that she just wants him to pass the test quickly so they can date. She grabs him in a headlock, which just makes his entire day.

He spots his brother’s poster, and tells Hana not to get too close to Jung-seok. He says that something about Jung-seok just bothers him, but Hana defends Jung-seok, but says he’s way out of her league anyway.

Ki-bum runs into Chae-yeon on his way down from the gosiwon roof, and he teases her for taking a break from studying to exercise. He heads inside, then the door cracks open again, and someone takes lewd pictures and videos of Chae-yeon while she stretches.

In the morning, Hana feels prepared for her special lecture today, and picks out something cute to wear. She tells her teddy bear that she wants to look good in front of the students, not Jung-seok, but the teddy bear looks skeptical.

Jung-seok offers Hana a ride, but only because she’d be late if she took public transportation. When Hana comments on the nice view he lowers the convertible roof, saying that she’ll give a better lecture if she’s relaxed. He’s really starting to stretch for excuses to make her happy, hee. He tells her to focus on her lecture, and Hana promises that she’s extremely prepared this time. She even stops talking with him to review her notes, and Jung-seok smiles to himself, impressed.

Unfortunately, they arrive at the lecture location to find that it’s been canceled due to electrical problems. Hana is particularly disappointed, since she was looking forward to showing Jung-seok a great lecture.

Dong-young sees that the ramyun stash in the gosiwon kitchen has been replenished, and he starts stuffing the packages down his pants, ew. A couple of male students come in and Dong-young starts to slink out, but he stops when he hears them discussing pictures of Chae-yeon being passed around.

He shows the pictures to Gong-myung and Ki-bum, all of them of her stretching, or walking up stairs wearing short skirts. They’ve been uploaded to a site where boys post upskirt pics of girls, with a caption saying that they’re the uploader’s revenge on Chae-yeon for rejecting him. Gong-myung is properly horrified, but Ki-bum looks uncomfortable. Just as Dong-young wonders if they should tell Chae-yeon, she shows up and yanks the phone out of his hand.

Jung-seok drives Hana to a wine cave they passed earlier, to cheer her up after having their lecture canceled. Aw, you big marshmallow! Of course he grouches that he’s just trying to keep her from being in a bad mood and bringing down the entire joint class, but sweetie, your excuses are starting to look pretty thin.

Hana is thankful anyway, which makes Jung-seok smile even as he calls her excitement tacky. He explains that the cave keeps the wine at a consistent temperature, and he hands over his jacket when Hana comments on the chill. He even steps close to button it when Hana just wraps it around her shoulders, and the closeness flusters them both.

Jung-seok claims the jacket was bothering him, but he shivers violently the moment Hana turns her back. She turns back to him, and he utterly fails at looking suave while he’s freezing, hee.

Later, Chae-yeon demands Ki-bum’s phone, accusing him of being the pervert who uploaded her pictures, since he has the same model of phone as the one that took the photos. Ki-bum points out that it’s a popular model, and his friends jump to his defense.

Gong-myung mentions that the person who took the photos obviously has a grudge since she rejected him, so it can’t be Ki-bum. Chae-yeon says that she did reject Ki-bum once, in a big way, and Ki-bum cringes in embarrassment.

We flash back to last year, when Ki-bum obviously carried a huge torch for Chae-yeon. He’d stopped her one day after class and given her a note declaring his feelings. But it was the scantron test with “I ♥ U” spelled out in tabs that caused Chae-yeon to sneer that he’s a slacker, and she’d tossed both in the trash. Another student had found the note and posted it on their class forum, and though Ki-bum’s name wasn’t mentioned, he was humiliated to see his feelings, horrible misspellings and all, posted for everyone to read.

Ki-bum had gotten sloppy-drunk and confronted Chae-yeon, wrongly assuming she was the one who posted the note on the forum. He was practically in tears, and hearing that Che-yeon didn’t post the note, but threw it away, doesn’t make him feel any better. He’d sworn to hate her forever, and when Chae-yeon had apologized for making him Noryangjin’s Idiot, he’d begged her to keep this a secret.

But now his secret is out, and Ki-bum is humiliated all over again in front of his friends. He shows Chae-yeon the pictures on his phone to prove he didn’t take the shots of her, and pfft, they’re all selcas. Chae-yeon isn’t convinced, and insists on taking his phone to the police station to have it restored.

Jin-woong and Director Kim go on a hike together, because Director Kim needs an excuse to get away from his in-laws. He tells Jin-woong that they helped him start up the school, and now they live with him and nag him about it all the time. He sighs that Jin-woong wouldn’t know what it’s like, and Jin-woong gets a strange, almost wistful look on his face.

When they stop for a rest, Director Kim complains about his in-laws again, then he asks why Jin-woong isn’t impersonating anyone today, Jin-woong says he needs to rest on the weekends, and offers to wait here while Director Kim climbs the rest of the way up the mountain. Director Kim berates him for never finishing anything, and just being at peace with mediocrity. Jin-woong pops up and promises to follow Director Kim all the way.

When Hana tastes a wine she particularly likes, Jung-seok uses an app to translate the name of the wine. Hana muses that she usually likes sweet foods, but she doesn’t care for sweet wines. When Jung-seok says he likes dry red wines, Hana holds up a hand for a high five, and he totally leaves her hanging, ha.

But then Jung-seok tentatively high-fives her, and Hana can’t help but grin. How is that so cute?? Hana wants to buy a bottle of the vintage she likes but declares it too expensive, then heads off to the restroom. Jung-seok checks the price and wonders how she thought that 30,000 won (less than $30) is expensive.

He mutters that it just proves how low-quality Hana is, but when they’re ready to leave, he hands her a bag with a bottle of the wine inside. Awwww! Naturally, he says he didn’t get it for her, but because if she keeps thinking about it back in Seoul, she won’t be able to focus on the joint class. This is just getting silly now.

Hana gives Jung-seok his coat back, and asks him to drink with her tonight. She uses his own argument against him, saying that it’s for the joint class, not her personally, because she’ll feel unappreciated if he doesn’t let her take him out. Smart girl. Jung-seok narrows his eyes at her, and Hana rescinds her offer. But then he says, “Let’s go have a drink,” conceding that she has a good point.

Ki-bum mopes, wondering how he’s going to clear his name of Chae-yeon’s accusations. He catches Dong-young smirking at him, a bit starstruck at finally meeting “Noryangjin’s Idiot.” Ki-bum swears he’s innocent, but Dong-young keeps teasing, and Ki-bum jumps over the table to throttle him.

Chae-yeon notices that boys keep staring at her, and she tells herself to just study and pass her test, and get out of here. Gong-myung approaches her and she snaps at him, then storms off to the stairwell when the elevator is full. Gong-myung gets in, but he changes his mind and follows Chae-yeon.

Its a good thing he does, because her stalker is taking more pictures of Chae-yeon going up the stairs. Gong-myung punches him, and they fight for a minute before Gong-myung gets the upper hand and pins the pervert against the wall. Chae-yeon comes down and whips off his hat, and whoa, it’s her cute suitor from before.

After their hike, Director Kim and Jin-woong stop at a pojangmacha for dinner and makgeolli. Jin-woong seems unusually subdued, and he gets griped at for not saving Director Kim’s favorite part of the chicken. He looks even more hurt when Director Kim complains about his class’s low attendance and his annoying impressions.

Director Kim says yet again that Jin-woong wouldn’t know what it’s like to feel like he’s working on weekends, and Jin-woong explodes. He says that he does know, that he’s so upset he feels like crying — but he says it in a character voice, which confuses Director Kim.

Jin-woong smiles, saying that he felt like he was working today so the impression just came out, but he corners of his mouth quiver like he’s trying not to cry for real. His alarm goes off and he leaves quickly, leaving Director Kim alone.

Hana takes Jung-seok to a small restaurant, where they share a beer and a plate of steamed shrimp. Oh, it’s the meal Jung-seok was eating at the top of the episode! Why does that make me feel all squishy inside?

Hana chirps that it’s an honor to drink with the man who only drinks solo, says she likes to drink alone too, then gets excited when he says he’s seen her Instagram photos. They bond for a minute over their shared love of drinking alone, though Hana says she’s not a master like Jung-seok. She admits that she’s too shy to drink alone in a restaurant, because she worries what people will think of her. Jung-seok asks why that matters, and Hana resolves to learn how to do it properly from him.

Hana fumbles with her shrimp, unsure how to eat it. Jung-seok deftly de-shells it for her, then says he’s only helping her so she doesn’t hurt her fingers and become unable to write on the class board. Hana practically simpers in delight.

Gong-myung and Chae-yeon deliver the pervert to the police, and Gong-myung mentions that she can hire someone to delete the photos online. Chae-yeon crouches and bursts into tears, alarming Gong-myung, and admits she was really scared.

She says that she’s still scared, and worries that she won’t be able to study and pass her test. Gong-myung notes that she seems more approachable now, and he tells her to be nicer to guys because they’re just lonely, so she can at least reject them in a gentler way. Chae-yeon thanks Gong-myung, but he says he’ll settle for her apologizing to Ki-bum.

Ki-bum is glad to hear he’s been cleared of suspicion, though he’s still angry with Chae-yeon for accusing him. In the restroom he overhears two students talking about Chae-yeon’s body, bragging that they sent her pictures to all their friends. Ki-bum’s face goes dark and he leaves, then comes back and flings a bucket of water on the boys. He says in this scary voice that what they’re doing is a crime, and that they will delete the photos now.

Jin-woong goes back to the hospital, and he has to compose his bleak expression again before going inside. He approaches the woman on the bed, calling her “Mom,” and teases her for not recognizing her son. Oh, my heart is breaking.

His mother says that she misses her daughter-in-law, but Jin-woong reminds her that he got a divorce. Then he brightly says that it’s probably better not to remember that, and gently lays his mother down to massage her legs. Just for a moment his cheerful expression slips, showing the pain underneath.

Hana goes to the ladies’ room and talks to herself in the mirror, wondering why Jung-seok is being so nice to her and blaming it all on the joint class. She wonders if he really does have feelings for her (she says she’s no drama character who wouldn’t even notice, hee), concluding that it must be true.

Out at the table, Jung-seok thinks about how he likes to drink alone at the end of a hard day, because it’s like a spell that can make you forget the bad things, or make you feel like you have a friend. We see Chae-yeon, Ki-bum, Jin-woong, and even Director Kim all drinking alone, but it doesn’t seem to be making them feeling any better.

Hana walks back to their table and another diner bumps into her, and she nearly faceplants into Jung-seok’s lips again before catching herself. She chatters that they almost kissed again, and Jung-seok gives her this look, then says it’s okay to make that mistake again. What??

He walks over behind her, and puts his hands on Hana’s shoulders. He says that it might have been an accident to Hana, but he meant it, and leans down to give her another upside-down kiss. What?? HAHA, it was just a fantasy, and Hana opens her eyes to see Jung-seok looking at her like she’s lost her marbles.

They get a designated driver to take them home, and the guy offers to take Jung-seok’s “girlfriend” home first. He vehemently denies that Hana is his girlfriend, and Hana, who’s very drunk at this point, asks why he doesn’t have a girlfriend.

Jung-seok says he has to focus on his teaching, and forbids Hana to date while she’s in his joint class. She just smirks that he was jealous when he thought she had a boyfriend, and calls him out for lying when he says he was just managing his joint class.

Hana grins smugly, saying that he was really trying to manage the woman he likes, and that he was doing it again today. She says boldly, “You like me, don’t you?” and Jung-seok actually stammers when he tries to deny it. That just makes Hana even more convinced, and next thing you know, Jung-seok is kicking her out of the car.

He’s intending to prove how much he doesn’t like her, but he goes overboard with his denials as the driver pulls away. He barks this demented laugh, trying to convince himself he doesn’t have feelings for Hana.

Hana ends up on the same bridge where they watched the fireworks, slugging the wine Jung-seok bought for her and screaming her humiliation. She yells at herself for being over-confident, wondering if she really thought he’d say he likes her. She wonders if she actually likes him, and her eyes grow wide at the thought.

COMMENTS

Who knew that of all the characters in this show, it would be Jin-woong who made me cry? Now that we know his full story — that his mother is ill with a fading memory, and he’s divorced and lives alone — I feel like his impressions are all a shield, like he’s afraid of showing his true self and disappointing people. But I find that I like him much more when he drops the act and is just himself, because he really seems like a sweet, sensitive guy. It’s no wonder that Jin-woong is content to just get by on a professional level, because on a personal level, his life is so empty that even mediocrity must seem pretty good to him. I really hope that he and Jin-yi fall in love, because I think Jin-woong would happily give Jin-yi all the attention she craves, while Jin-yi’s capacity for loyalty would fill up the loneliness in Jin-woong. They’d be so perfect together.

I admit it, I’ve completely jumped the Gong-myung ship and am firmly on board with Jung-seok and Hana now. How cute are these two together? And somehow I much prefer Jung-seok’s more mature, uncertain flailing to Gong-myung’s youthful confidence — I think it’s because Gong-myung has been cheerfully ignoring all of Hana’s big flashing Not Gonna Happen signs from the beginning, which is starting to look less like self-assurance and more like immaturity and lack of experience.

I actually don’t think that Gong-myung is being too pushy, because if the girl he was pursuing returned his affections I wouldn’t find his behavior out of line at all. But when Hana keeps making those faces every time he flirts, and reminding him that he’s a student and should be studying, his persistence just feels like he’s not grown up enough to catch her hints and respectfully back off. I’m worried she’s going to have to be mean to Gong-myung to get him to understand that she’s not interested, not now and not after he passes the test, not ever.

On the other hand, Jung-seok’s twitchy uncertainty is so adorable, and I actually like that his feelings are making him uncomfortable. He’s being faced with his own nasty prejudices and having to come to terms with the fact that he actually likes someone he sees as “low-quality” (and I find it veeery interesting that he calls her that all the time, but he got his fur all ruffled when she said it about herself). He’s going to have to do some real changing and understand that different doesn’t necessarily mean bad, and get rid of some of that arrogance that’s keeping him from connecting to anyone, much less Hana. Luckily she’s a very forgiving, sweet woman, and she’ll let him off the hook pretty easily. I just hope he doesn’t let himself off the hook so easily, once he realizes what an ass he’s been in the way he perceives her. He needs to suffer a little.

In the meantime, it’s sweet the way Jung-seok keeps finding ways to do things for Hana while telling himself that really, he’s being selfish and it’s not about her at all. Inviting her to the special class, taking her to the wine cave, giving her his coat, even peeling her shrimp — he’s having to come up with more and more twisty excuses why those things are really just for the joint class, but he’s definitely not fooling Hana. She may not be the most worldly woman, but she knows when a man is attracted to her, even when he continues to deny it. I love that she’s not some typical drama heroine who doesn’t see the giant flashing neon HE LIKES YOU signs, and that her instincts are telling her that he’s attracted even when he denies it. And I’m finally getting my wish — knowing that there’s something more to Jung-seok’s attention is giving Hana confidence, and she’s starting to look him in the eye and even call him out on his little self-delusions. More of that, please!

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I love this show so so much :D.
They are so cute together, it is killing me !
Seriously, this is such a great drama. Entertaining from the beginning to the end. Time flies so fast.
I dont know what's happening with 2016 but dayum, so many greaaaat KDramas, I am so freakin happy ♥

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Hahaha, can't believe I fell for that, thought it was real, .. So refreshing. Well, Jin Sang, you on the high horse, you will fall really hard, hope it hurts,hahaha...
High quality? Guess he wants some high class girl that he equates with his high quality crap but his heart already recognizes the innate goodness of Ha Na, whatever ..

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Thanks for the recap! Still enjoying the series hell of a lot... a few points:

Jung-seok is really a textbook tsundere ^^

I want some of those prawns!

In Kdrama land if one of the two protagonists becomes aware of their romantic feelings halfway through the series, the other must remain in denial of it or one of them will get cancer.

Does Hana not care she may be allergic to some common ingredient and want to go back and complete that allergy test? Allergies are serious business I always assumed.

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Right?! That bothers me. If I had an allergic reaction to something I ate (hasn't happened yet, knock on wood) I'd want to know what, exactly, I was allergic to.

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I'm allergic to something but I've never gone to figure out what that was. Only had two reactions in my life and the doc said that it was possibly a combination of ingredients/factors. So not worth a huge investigation for me, so...

Hana could just not eat anything listed ilon that medicine pack.

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perhaps it's okay to ignore light allergies which cause sneezing or itching at most, but something that causes your heart to stop and makes you pass out is quite dangerous. And it seems to be something they use in nutritional supplements. I'd want to get that checked out...
But then this is a rom-com with the zany, absurd feel of a manga/kdrama so I don't expect real world logic to dampen the situational comedy or sympathy-traps :P

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I had to rush to the clinic to get a shot...

Eh, it's all risk assessment. I'm pretty sure that if it were something more common, HaNa would have fainted from something long ago and had realised it long ago. Seems like this one time, it was just a combination of things in that one pack/brand of traditional supplement that made her collapse. All she has to do is not eat it ever again.

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I really wanted to get an iv drip so I suggested it to my doctor, she looked at me kinda funny. Whaat? They do it in korea, we eat whatever when we're hungry and in a rush, not really getting enough nutrition here. So only those confined get iv drips here. Tchk.

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Haha, I'm a doctor too and a Iv drip typically refers to a nacl drip, essentially salt in water. It doesn't have any nutrition in it and is not necessary in most kdramas scenarios, it's just the Korean culture!

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This is surprisingly a very fun drama...i really enjoy watching it !! Hana and Jung-Seok are so darn cute and his hysterical laugh at the end is soo funny hahaha he's denying his growing feelings so hard :D

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I really like this show and your posts

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Aw, Jin-woong and his mother made me so sad. He definitely needs a sweet and supportive partner as he tries to go through all of this. And I agree that Jin-yi would be an excellent match for him.

Our two main leads crack me up. I am so glad that Hana is seeing through Jung-seok's crap and dishing it right back at him. I lol'd when she invited JS for a drink, saying "its for the good of the joint class". With JS saying it so often I wondered who he was trying to convince more - Hana or himself?

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I was never really on the Gong-myung train to begin with, but if I were I'd be off it now. I understand it's a cultural difference but all that victim-blamey stuff he laid on Chae-yeon at the police station was so not cool. Dude, none of that was her fault :(

I'm also not sure how I feel about that budding ship either.... I mean, I get it, but poor Ki-bum! (I'm 100% behind the professor Min/Jin-yi pair though, they're going to be so adorable even if they're breaking my freaking heart right now!)

At least the main pair is all awkward and cute!

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I was never really on the Gong Myung ship either. Sure, he has his cute moments, but he kind of strikes me as immature and a bit self entitled. I know that Jung Seok can be hard to take at times, but if my slacker sibling came to live with me, drove my vehicle all over the place without asking, drank all my expensive wine like it was convenience store beer, didn't put forth any effort to study and go to school and that was their only excuse for being there, I would be more than a little upset and would feel very used. The thing I think that bothered me the most about the whole thing is that Gong Myung just acts like it's no big deal. He still goes to drink the wine even after he has been told not to.

And the way he has repeatedly gone after Ha Na romantically even after she has repeatedly told him that she is his teacher and he her student bothers me. Yes, he can be cute with her and he has been around when she needed someone, but that doesn't always lead to romance. Sometimes you just take it at face value and realize that it is a very good friendship. I don't think that she could ever see him as an equal and for that reason, any hopes he had for a romantic relationship were doomed from the start.

Don't get me wrong. I like him as a character. I just never felt the warm fuzzies when he and Ha Na were together in a romantic way. I always saw more of a younger brother/older sister relationship with them.

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You got it right my friend! Gong Myung Character description is right there!

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you're right he was completely wrong to blame the victim that way... the stalker guy is the problem here you stupid stalker boy!

interestingly i've encountered the reverse situation in shoujo manga with (usually the male lead) being castigated by the lead female for rejecting other girls harshly or coldly, telling him a bit of compassion and humanity goes a long way, and there's no need to make someone feel like shit for liking you. But of course he continues to be horrible to everyone except her and that's appreciated by her as a mark of pride. (I tamed the beast or something like that).

Moreover the guys in these manga are completely mean, as opposed to Chae-yeon's stand-offishness. And the rejected girls don't retaliate by sexually harassing him, as in this case.

Overall I've noticed it's okay for a man to humiliate an undesired woman for liking him, but a woman in the same position must let the man down gently or suffer his just outrage and revenge.

As though men have the right to pursue but women don't, and men have the right to reject but women don't.

It's sad how even modern urban educated sensibilities continue to re-echo these backward sentiments.

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I've noticed the same thing in shojo manga too, and it drives me nuts! I think they're dealing with some of the same things she is, though, if you think about it. People have written dissertations on this stuff and it's way too loaded to really get into in a comment section, but people castigating Chae-yeon for being harsh are kind of missing the point in my opinion. She's just here to study, she just wants to pass this test, and on top of that immense pressure she has to deal with countless men (probably for years!) cutting into her study time to ask her out because they think that liking her makes them entitled to her attention. It's no secret she's not looking to date! That's literally what she's famous for! I would start getting annoyed too if I were her!

Furthermore, it's not her job to manage the hurt feelings of the person she's rejecting. Having to constantly qualify, simper, or lie to avoid bruising someone's ego so he doesn't get mad is exhausting. And they'd probably just hear what they want to hear and keep pursuing her.

Honestly, I don't think she's being mean, I think she's being honest and shutting them down as fast as possible so it doesn't keep coming up.

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agreed. i find her no nonsense attitude refreshing.
but the society around her only seems to value 'aegyo'

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I agree that Chae Yeon should be allowed to turn the guys down, they shouldn't ask her out because she doesn't want to date, and that she doesn't do it in the harshest way possible just factual.

I can't fully agree that Gong Myung was victim blaming though. I can see how it was taken that way. But I think he was just saying "Unfortunately, there are psychopaths in the world, male or female. If you explain a bit more, maybe they wouldn't react in a psychotic manner."

However, they totally still could. They are psycho for a reason. They don't think like normal people, i.e. Gong Myung. 1 in 10000 guys she rejected responded that way. It isn't her fault. He's just trying to help her avoid the next time.

Sorry if I offend anyone with my opinion. I don't believe in victim blaming. But I also don't believe in ignoring possibilities. It's not about causing the crime to happen to you, it's about doing your best to ward off the crazy.

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Gong Myung really disappointed me when he told Chae Yeon to be nicer when she rejects guys. Dude, when she's nice about it, they just keep asking! But of course he has a blind spot about that - he's the guy who just keeps asking Hana to be his girlfriend. I hope that when Hana rejects him firmly enough for him to accept it, he will realize that Chae Yeon has every right to be firm with her rejections, too. So that I can stop being mad at him, and the writers.

Seriously, I really liked this episode a lot - except for that one line!

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Gong Myung really disappointed me when he told Chae Yeon to be nicer when she rejects guys.

Yeah, I narrowed my eyes at that. I also narrowed my eyes at JungSeok throwing an obviously drunk HaNa out of his car. If he doesn't go back to pick her back, I'll really want to smack him.

But to be fair, what GongMyung said wasn't too wrong. It's NOT ChaeYeon's fault that she got stalked but perhaps she could have protected herself better by not being so abrasive and garnering so many unnecessary enemies. Like, perhaps when there's no need to, don't go walking in dark lonely alleys. If you get robbed, it's definitely not your fault. But even though you've done nothing wrong, you're the one who loses the most. It's unfair, but... well, the world's unfair. I didn't take it like he was blaming her.

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Since our world is full of sexual harassments or else worse cases, I heard that a lawyer advises his son that he should never ever break up with his girlfriends with ill terms. I agree with him on that.
The girl has to learn to refuse boys with non abrasive manners, to be honest. She can be firm but not so aggressively. She was lucky this time because her case could have been worse, she can get physically hurt with a wrong guy.

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''The girl has to learn to refuse boys with non abrasive manners, to be honest.''

and what about the boy accept the girl doesn't want to go out with him and hmm.. move on ? why the girl has to be the one who learn ??

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Both boys and girls need to learn not to be so abrasive.

I don't actually have much of a problem with ChaeYeon being all no nonsense. Just that what I got from GongMyeong was that he wasn't blaming her at all. Probably just telling her to protect herself by not earning so many unnecessary enemies. Like telling your daughter not to go out late at night. It's not fair and it's not blaming her if anything befalls her, but... well...

Rather than snipping about whether GongMyeong should have told ChaeYeon that, I'm all for educating entitled people so that our girls are safe, just like KiBum. A pail of water coming right up!

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perhaps she could have protected herself better by not being so abrasive and garnering so many unnecessary enemies. Like, perhaps when there’s no need to, don’t go walking in dark lonely alleys. If you get robbed, it’s definitely not your fault. But even though you’ve done nothing wrong, you’re the one who loses the most.

+100
I'm "glad?" the boy wasn't more psycho. It stopped at harassment, stalking, and privacy override. Huge crimes but it could have been worse. It's never the victims fault. There are simply times we, women AND men, need to protect ourselves. Not triggering potential psychopaths is one of them unfortunately. I think Gong Munger was giving solid advice to all generations and genders.

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I used to know a couple genuinely beautiful women. I came to feel sorry for them for the added stuff they were obliged to put up with that we mere mortals don't have to. I can imagine Chae Young probably being polite the first dozen times she was accosted by a stranger, then becoming progressively more curt with each new intrusion.

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this, this, this! I hope they do SOMETHING because I don't want to be mad at him :/

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This apparently didn't bother me so much as it did others. I just saw it as him telling her that if she talked to people civilly and with respect when she told them "no" then she may not have as much trouble. I don't feel like he was blaming her in any way.

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I didn't feel that way either.

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I have to admit, I thought she was a rude so and so. It might be a little white lie but saying something like, wow thanks for the offer, but I'm dating someone right now. He's doing his two years in the army.

Okay, now you get 2 years of everyone leaving you alone.

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And I'm not saying she deserved to be stalked just that she maybe could have avoided it with some tact or my go to little white lie.

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Hard disagree. I'm fed up with the societal expectation for girls to be "nice" (and to "smile, you'd be prettier," and to be humble, and not "bossy"--all for the sake of boys) and that sentiment can go shrivel up and die. My esteem for Gongmyung just dropped to zero when he subtly blamed Chaeyeon's blatant refusals for the sexual harrassment, and I won't be sorry at all for that second lead.

Even in this drama, you can see that Jungseok can be as rude and thoughtless as he wants to his own coworkers but it doesn't affect his social and professional standing, and no one thinks of it as anything more than an annoying personality quirk. But for Chaeyeon, who's merely fending off unwanted attentions from persistent suitors, it's considered a crime worthy of being punished by perversion. Who are those boys anyway, that she's in any way required to be "nice" to them and let them down gently? Why should she have to tell white lies for their benefit? They just appproached her out of the blue, being unwelcome distractions, when she's just trying to study. Boys (and men) can be so entitled that they think they can act however they want with no repercussions (even in a non-courtship context, see: Jungseok) and that they are owed female attention, and it's on us to be careful about their precious feelings even when we hate them. Hahahahahah-no.

That double-standard needs to stop. That whole "but to be safe, do this" advice, well-meaning though it may be, is just a more subtle form of victim-blaming. It only encourages and justifies male entitlement. People should take a firmer stance against victim-blaming rather than advice women to be nice and agreeable--the sort of behavior men msiconstrue (even deliberately) as interest.

P.S. I'm fully shipping Kibum/Chaeyeon and I was sorry to see how she threw away his heartfelt rejection. But nevertheless, the lady's entitled to her own feelings.

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I agree with genki-escapist's post. I thought that it was victim-blaming, too, and was upset with Gong-myung's advice to Chae-yeon. It was the rejected dude that took the pictures and posted them on the internet. It's not her fault he took rejection poorly. Ki-Bum was rejected and even embarrassed on the internet but he doesn't resort to crime to get payback.

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crime worthy of being punished by perversion

It didn't seem like Gong Myung agrees with the punishment. He found the guy, went to the station with her,and awkwardly tried to comfort her. He was just acknowledging that the world we live in has people who think rejection is a crime to "punish". Not him.

Gong Myung (inner thoughts) and kinda what he said: "Avoid it as best you can. Because the world is crazy. Don't make them think they have a right. Take that potential away. Reject all like they could be psychopaths."

I think that's good advice. "Stranger danger" is something we instill in children so they don't get taken advantage of/abducted. We only want them to turn strangers into friends with supervision. We continue to have it in adulthood. It's to help us survive. "All may be psychopaths & all may be criminals." I'm regularly telling people I care about that. If anything happened to them, I'd never blame the person but given enough time, we may need to think of alternates. Yeah, it ducks that we have to change our lives so as to avoid harm. But avoiding harm is a reward, even if the potential criminal was nothing of the sort.

Sorry, I'm probably too much of a pessimist for this conversation. Bad is always around the corner.

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I totally agree with genki-escapist. I was also taken aback by Gongmyung's comments. Regardless of how a woman rejects a man, it in no way justifies the unfavourable actions taken by a man just to 'get even'.

This victim-blaming has to stop. Similarly, telling a woman not to walk down the alley because she might get hurt implies that it is the woman's fault for walking down the alley, thus taking the blame away from the perpetrator. Or saying that a woman was raped because she wasn't clear enough about her intentions, or that she was behaving suggestively, or that she didn't dress appropriately blah blah blah and so on.

For all we know, the guy could have been pestering Chaeyeon despite numerous rejections. Chaeyeon should not be held accountable for the actions of the perpetrator. And why do girls have to be nice and agreeable anyhow when men can behave obnoxiously or rudely.

Apologies if I sounded a little strong in my comments. Just needed to say that out loud.

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I am in no way victim blaming. As indicated nothing she did or could do deserves the nasty she got. But you are all speaking about the world you want to live in i.e.a girl should be safe walking down a dark alley no matter what. That's not the world we live in. I don't blame the girl if something bad happens. Period. However, if I can clue my daughter in on situations that she should avoid that will keep her safe than I will do so. Does is suck....is it unfair? Yes, but it is life.

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And I am equal opportunity. I don't want my son walking down that dark alley either. I don't want either of them getting drunk to the point of not knowing what they do.

Now telling a girl her short skirt was the problem....heck no. Never.

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I agree. She's been perfectly perfunctory with all her rejections. Has she attacked anyone, called them a loser, denigrated them? Nope. "Not interested, go study."

I do think Gong-myung deliberately chased after her on the stairs to try to catch the stalker and clear his friend's name though. I don't think it was a coincidence but a good intuition he could catch him.

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She threw a guy's handphone when the guy hoped she would type her number in his handphone tho. I think that's rather extreme.. As Ki Bum said, she's the meanest girl in Noryangjin.

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She threw the phone in the trashcan after having turned down the guy multiple times. Bet he didn't bother her after that.

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Throwing away someone's phone is not cool with me, but at least she didn't break it. No type of rejection deserves a criminal reaction, even if she had broken the phone. A second crime does help.

Only an obsessed man or woman would respond that way. Might not matter how she says no. But it's just to help not trigger them.

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Ha-na, why did you have to call him out? I could watch Jung-seok coming up with excuses to do swoony stuff for hours...
- I'm only holding your hand because you're so clumsy and always lose a shoe which will make you fall flat on your face one day or get you into an accident and you can't miss any more of the joint class.
- I have to pick you up every day for work, the traffic is too bad and you can't be one minute late for joint class.
- I'll drive you home after work because taking public transport during rush hour is too tiring and you need to be well rested for the joint class.
- We need to eat every meal together, I've seen your instagram, you eat too much junk food when you're on your own and it's not good for your health and brain therefore lowers the quality of the joint class.
- We need to kiss, not that I want to but you keep staring at my lips and you need to fully concentrate for the joint class.
- We should go on an 1n2d trip to bond and work on our communication in order to improve the quality of the joint class.
- I bought all these clothes for you because you need to look your best for joint class.
- We should move in together, your apartment floods every time it rains and you need the time to prepare for joint class instead of drying your belongings.

Oh the possibilities are endless..... ?

On another note, I hope they're not making Chae-yeon fall for Gong-myung because he's become the knight in shining armor this episode. Don't hurt uri Ki-bum and the bromance!

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Yes. Hana ruined his plan. I love all of your excuses

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everything for the joint class :)

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LOL

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Heehee all the excuses Jung-Seok came up with......just so adorable! I just hope he doesn't get stuck in "the Nile" for too long if you know what I mean heheh.

Jin Woong is such a good son, I wonder what happened between him and his ex-wife. Either way Jin-Yi need to chuck her no-good Minho and embrace the Jin Woong way ASAP, they'd actually be a good match.

I love Kibum SO much! Please Mr/Ms writer don't hurt him anymore! The student trio has such a great chemistry, if something happens between Gong Myung and Chayeon, it likely to damage that relationship, though I guess it's also a good way for Kibum to get over Chayeon once and for all.

Can't wait for next week's episodes!!! I wonder how many episodes this drama has?

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Please, don't misunderstand. I read this recap not because I really wanted to read all the fun comment and squealling together with you on hana jungseok cute interaction. But I just finished watched this show and had to randomly refreshing dramabeans and thought it was entertaining.

Because you know, If I am bored and not leave any comment. It will make you unappreciated. I afraid you will stop watching this drama if you feel that way. Jung seok will sad if nobody watch this show and had to stop his joining class. See.. I do not want that happen. So I sweeeeeeaaaaar I read this recap and write comment just for the sake of joining class!!

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Lol! We all are doing it for the good of the class!

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Who isn't? :)

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1. [+2,345, -39] Don't misunderstand, I turned on the tv not because I wanted to see this drama but I was drinking alone, had to turn on the tv and thought it was entertaining. I'm doing it for the joint class. (Cr.: kkuljaem)

Oh, you mean like this? Me too, me too.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!

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I am glad I gave this drama a second chance. It has its flaws, but it actually has me laughing out loud which is rare for a kdrama. The whole set up of the students procrastinating and one guy watching videos of panda bears going down the slide from the last epiaode still brings a smile toy face.

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This is a really cute drama, and I like all of the characters -- they are all so silly -- even Chaeyeon I'm sure is not who she pretends to be -- she's the male form of Jung Seok, all pride and arrogance. I'll continue to watch though because Park Ha Sun is always so adorable in so many of her roles :)

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I was on the campus library when I watched this episode and yelled "WHAT" really loudly when Ki-bum returned to douse the jerk boys with water, earning glares from the librarian and my fellow library-goers. Lesson learned: never watch k-drama in public again.

By the way, I'm leaving this comment for the sake of their joint class, not because I like this show or anything.

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Last line LOL.

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I'm leaving a comment here not because I want to but for the joint class . Haha.

I'm loving Gong Myung with Chaeyeon.

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This episode made me laugh (a lot) and cry in equal measure (poor Jin-woong). I love this show, so much. That's all I can say. *Smiles happily*

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Unlike some people I loved this drama from the beginning and the best part is it keeps getting better and better, like its even possible to be any more good ♡

I love how the show reveals hidden emotions in a light hearted way than as dark heavy scenes.

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Leaving this comment only for the joint class! Haha.

Awwwwwww everyone shone in this episode. Drinking Solo is getting stronger and stronger each week and I'm so glad we're all here for this ride. Jung-seok's mental gymnastics were hilarious lol I could watch him go on all day being super nice to Hana while convincing himself that it's all for the joint class loooool. But I did appreciate Hana being so perceptive of her own and Jung-seok's feelings--no shame in liking someone, even if they do call you "low quality" all the time. Get your game on, Jung-seok!

The Ki-bum/Chae-yeon arc was really great too. Ki-bum's performance has been consistently good, and I laughed myself silly at the part where Dong-young points out all his spelling mistakes LOL we've all been there before. Some people have pointed out Gong-myung shifting the blame to Chae-yeon--I don't think that it was her fault at all that she was being secretly photographed, but I also feel that Chae-yeon has been overly abrasive to everyone she meets as well. Hopefully she gets to be better friends with the Bro Trio now, and I guess that's what Gong-myung meant by "being nicer"?I don't think she's really that harsh by nature anyway, since being in Noryangjin has to be energy-sapping.

Jin-woong: aw :( I thought it was his wife in the hospital, but this turned out to be more heartbreaking. I hope he finds the energy and courage to live his life better soon, and yes, hopefully alongside Jin-yi! These two complement each other too strangely well.

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I guess that's just Jung-Seok's natural defense mechanisms kicking in - especially after he was hurt pretty badly after seeing his senior kiss up to the prof and then getting what Jung Seok should have deserved - his high quality hard work. A bad experience like that would have cemented his beliefs and presumptions about people - that they are ALL not genuine and being nice for instrumental reasons. Hana's honesty and kind-heartedness will break his all or nothing thinking about others, and hopefully bring back the warmth and trust in Jung Seok that was probably there before :)

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for this episode I like the hiking scene between Jin woong and the boss, how the writer plays on 'irony'. while the boss was complaining about JW putting on the impersonations even on a weekend and asking him to stop acting like it's still a work day, HE is the one that is the problem in the first place, when he orders JW around and still expects to be served by his staff when it's THEIR weekend off from work. So everything the boss tells JW is actually what JW feels like telling him!

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I love this drama. I'm invested in these characters and all of them are such well developed characters!

Min Jin-Woong, you made me cry. Who would have thought your story line is so much more than just comical relief impersonations?

Kim Ki-Bum, seriously this guy's loyal and a keeper. And also really bad with his grammar. I couldn't stop laughing at "Naver".

Jin Jung Seok in denial is too cute for words. He makes me cringe, but in a good way. And everytime when he slips out the word "quality" in that intonation, I laugh out loud.

This show gives me a sugar rush and more. Underrated, but definitely in my good books.

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As always the girl gets the blame. she cold be nicer

Huh? why? guys can be jerk all the time, and hm they are not in danger like girls are when they aren't nice.

She just rejected them. She told them to study. She never humilliated them or called them ugly or something.

No matter how nice she could be, the men ego would be hurt and they would stalk her anyway.

BTW, I'm disliking more and more Gong Myung character.

He keeps making it seem Hana NEEDS a man in her live to be able to survive, and this man has to be him, he doesn't do anything worth with his life, since he has the financial means, and keeps lazing around. So immature.

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I understand GM point there and I think he's not implying that. He just want CY to soften a bit.

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What I love about this episode:
1. A little moment when JS asking himself why he is drinking together with HN instead of drinking solo like he always does
2. When he give a soft touch to Hana's hanging hand
3. All secret look that JS and HN exchange in this episode
4. When JS said, "Its all for joint class"

Yah here i am, for the sake of "joint class", oh i mean for the group squealing :p

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I'm so glad that my favorite kdrama this 3rd quarter of 2016 is gaining attention because of its HIGH quality. Too bad, its still underrated. But NAVERmind, I'm still hook in this show.
What I like about in this episode are ...
1) the "because of the joint class" excuse thing
2) KiBum's past and his letter! gosh, so hilarious!
3) The budding romance of Hana and Prof. Jin. But I kindda annoyed by Prof Jin saying Hana is low quality where in fact he's treating her with so much care now. I cant wait for him to realize that he like her in spite of Hana's flaws.
4) Okay. I like Ki Bum but I'm shipping Gong Myung and Chae Yeon. Gosh! They are the younger version couple of Hana and Prof Jin.
5) Jin Woong real situation is vey touching. I like it when the writer shows his real side, not impersonating someone. just beng himself

What I've been looking forward for the next ep ..
1) Ha Na will learn to not care of what other people might say. She needs to develop or rather her character needs to improve to be someone with a higher quality.
2) Also, I want Prof Jin to finally conclude that he really likes Ha Na. And I don't want Jin to help her anymore. I don't know why.
3) Looking forward to GM and CY skinship <3
4) and lastly, please writernim! more hilarious, relatable, realistic, romantic and cute scenes please!! Kamsahamnida!!!!

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Ki bum-chae yeon relationship is so hilarious, I always wondered why he hate chae yeon so much ? it turn out she rejected ki bum in the past. LOL. Btw, I'm in love with his satoori. His character is seriously hilarious

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