Clean With Passion for Now: Episode 6

by TeriYaki

Our germaphobe lead can’t seem to accept that there’s something special about Oh-sol, so he alternates between getting closer to her and pushing her away. Oh-sol may be the sweet and optimistic type, but she has her limits. Will their budding connection fizzle out before it has a chance to grow?

 
EPISODE 6: “Because we don’t know ourselves”

After Seon-gyeol’s sanitizer attack, Jae-min tries make sense of his boss’ behavior. He points out to Dong-hyun and Yeong-shik that Seon-gyeol was able to catch a contaminated employee with his bare hands, but sprayed her with sanitizer after she had just washed her hair.

Dong-hyun and Jae-min look doubtful when Yeong-shik suggests that Seon-gyeol is attracted to Oh-sol. Jae-min scoffs at the idea and assures his friends, “There’s no way he likes her.”

In the privacy of Seon-gyeol’s office, Secretary Kwon demands, “Apologize to her immediately.” When Seon-gyeol balks, Secretary Kwon points out that even her young son knows enough to apologize when he’s hurt someone.

Secretary Kwon ends up apologizing to Oh-sol on Seon-gyeol’s behalf and mentions his mysophobia. Seon-gyeol walks by just when Secretary Kwon asks for Oh-sol’s understanding and overhears Oh-sol answer that she likes him and considers him a good person.

Seon-gyeol runs off just before Oh-sol asks Secretary Kwon to give him her homemade soup. Secretary Kwon urges Oh-sol, “You should give it to him directly. That would be better.”

That night, a freshly showered Seon-gyeol stares into the mirror and his heart pounds as he recalls Oh-sol’s admission that she likes him. When his doorbell rings, Seon-gyeol walks to the security camera in his robe, surprised to see Oh-sol at his door.

After a long delay, Seon-gyeol finally opens the door, now dressed. Oh-sol awkwardly explains that she brought soup but decides to leave when Seon-gyeol says nothing. Seon-gyeol suddenly blurts, “I like you too,” and then quickly explains that he was talking about the soup.

Inside over tea, Oh-sol comments that it must be difficult to clean such a big house. Seon-gyeol explains that a housekeeper cleans when he’s away, since he prefers to be alone when he’s at home. When Oh-sol reflexively scoots away, Seon-gyeol tries to put her at ease, “Make yourself at home…I have to disinfect the whole place after you leave anyway, so just sit comfortably.”

After another long silence, Oh-sol reminds Seon-gyeol, “…you said you have something to tell me.” Seon-gyeol apologizes not only for the sanitizer attack, but for taking so long to apologize. Oh-sol brightly suggests that they should consider things even between them since she’s made her share of mistakes as well.

Seon-gyeol smiles in relief, until he catches Oh-sol looking at him. Suddenly self-conscious, Seon-gyeol gulps his tea but has to spit out the too-hot liquid. Seon-gyeol announces the need to change his clothes but Oh-sol tells him not to worry since she’s about to leave. Seon-gyeol explains that the mess bothers him, which prompts Oh-sol to comment that is must be hard to maintain a strict level of cleanliness at home and at work.

Seon-gyeol wonders, “Do I seem fussy to you?” Oh-sol admits that’s what she thought when she first met him, until she realized that there are reasons for his behavior. Oh-sol then explains her own habits — busy with so many part-time jobs, she considered showers a luxury and preferred extra sleep over washing her hair.

Oh-sol concludes, “Everyone has a story, you know.” She changes the subject by complimenting Seon-gyeol’s hair, which is unwaxed and down. Announcing that it’s time for her to go, Oh-sol insists on washing the mugs before she leaves.

Oh-sol sends Seon-gyeol to change and he makes it all the way to his closet before remembering that Oh-sol’s bright red mug is on his kitchen counter. While she searches for dish soap, Seon-gyeol makes a dash for the kitchen while shouting, “Stop!”

Seon-gyeol pretends that he returned to tell Oh-sol that the water has been cut off. Oh-sol asks how Seon-gyeol managed to wash his hair, surprised when he answers, “I used bottled water,” and when the washer chimes, he explains, “Bottled water.” Oh-sol wonders if she should use bottled water to wash the cups but Seon-gyeol pushes her out the door.

Alone, Seong-gyeol stares at Oh-sol’s mug and his tea-stained bandages and announces that he’s going crazy. Meanwhile, Mr. Choi calls the U.S. to access Seon-gyeol’s patient file and his online bio confirms that he’s a psychiatrist.

Seon-gyeol sits down to eat as Geum-ja vacuums nearby and admits that it’s been ages since he ate at home. When he tastes Oh-sol’s soup, Seon-gyeol smiles and announces, “It tastes good.”

Dong-hyun has a rare day off, leaving Jae-min in charge. He chides Yeong-shik for texting Eun-hee, “You get turned down every time, but you never seem to give up.” When Jae-min sees Dong-hyun and Eun-hee inside a restaurant, he tries to send Yeong-shik away.

Yeong-shik sees the pair and rushes inside, just in time to hear Eun-hee tell Dong-hyun, “I just don’t like him.” He signals for Dong-hyun to stay quiet and hears what else Eun-hee has to say, “You can tell me all the nice things about him you want, but I won’t change my mind. I’m not interested.”

Oh-sol walks up several flights of stairs as she insists over the phone that she can clean a small apartment by herself. The client is on his way out when Oh-sol arrives, but he pauses long enough to check her out. Inside the apartment there are photos of half dressed women in suggestive poses, their faces cropped out, with stockings and magazines strewn all over the bedroom floor.

Eun-hee apologizes to Yeong-shik for not being honest with him, but it’s Yeong-shik who’s sorry, “I only cared about my feelings and made you uncomfortable.” When Yeong-shik turns away, Eun-hee tells him, “That uniform looks great on you. Just as great as a taekwondo uniform.”

Dong-hyun finds Yeong-shik sitting alone at a bus stop. Yeong-shik admits that he knew that Eun-hee didn’t like him, but he’d hoped to win her over with his persistence. It’s what he learned in taekwondo, but he realizes that endurance won’t change someone’s feelings.

Yeong-shik’s mouth quivers when he explains that Eun-hee isn’t the kind to badmouth others. Yeong-shik holds back tears as he blames his short temper for his embarrassment, sorry that he barged into the restaurant. Dong-hyun finally speaks, “I envy you. For being so pure-minded. I envy that innocent side of yours.” When the bus arrives, Dong-hyun gets on it, leaving behind a thoughtful Yeong-shik.

Inside an apartment, Jae-min talks to his mother on the phone, “I’m almost finished up here, so don’t worry…” After he hangs up, Jae-min tackles a very messy apartment.

Yeong-shik is still at the bus stop when heavy rain starts to fall. Dong-hyun watches the rain out of a bus window as he makes his way to a hospital, while Seon-gyeol shows up at work with his hair down.

Seon-gyeol absentmindedly agrees that Oh-sol is ready for a solo assignment during Secretary Kwon’s update, but something about the location stops him in his tracks. Seon-gyeol asks for the company’s blacklisted clients and checks the list when he gets to his office.

Seopn-gyeol is alarmed to see Oh-sol’s client on that list for sexually harassing a female employee the previous year. Seon-gyeol tries to call Oh-sol but she doesn’t hear her phone because of the vacuum cleaner. (Eww! Her phone is on the nightstand next to stacks of condoms.) Seon-gyeol wastes no time and races out of his office.

The lights go out while Oh-sol cleans more stockings and condom packets from under the bed. She hears the door beep as the code is entered and is surprised to see the client home early.

Seon-gyeol keeps trying to call Oh-sol as he drives to her location. Frustrated, he pulls off his bandage and stretches his injured hand. Once he arrives, Seon-gyeol runs up the stairs in the rain and is soaked by the time he reaches the client’s apartment.

Seon-gyeol frantically pounds on the door while yelling out for Oh-sol and when the client opens it with his shirt unbuttoned, Seon-gyeol pushes him inside and punches him in the mouth. Seon-gyeol searches the apartment for Oh-sol, relieved when she returns from taking out the trash.

Seon-gyeol drives in silence while Oh-sol insists that she can take the bus home. When Oh-sol notices that Seon-gyeol’s hand is bleeding, she asks him to make a stop. Outside of a convenience store, Seon-gyeol’s heart pounds while Oh-sol holds his hand to bandage his cut.

When Oh-sol backs away, Seon-gyeol asks, “Ms. Gil. Can you give me your hand…I just have to check something.” Oh-sol wipes her hand on her coat and then extends her hand, which Seon-gyeol manages to grasp in spite of his pounding heart.

Seon-gyeol stares at their locked hands and when Oh-sol tries to withdraw her hand, he pulls her into a kiss. That’s when Mr. Choi walks around the corner and witnesses the scene.

Later, Mr. Choi reads Seon-gyeol’s file and makes an important connection, “He said there’s only one person he can touch. Gil Oh-sol was that person?” Mr. Choi sees the name, Cha Seok-hwan, and after some research, he makes another connection, Seon-gyeol is the grandson of AG Group’s Chairman Cha.

In bed, Oh-sol relives her second kiss with Seon-gyeol, alarmed that she closed her eyes. Oh-sol sits up in excitement when it occurs to her that Seon-gyeol might actually like her.

In the morning, Oh-dol yells through the bathroom door in desperation, “I’m about to poop!” The commotion brings out his father, who panics when he learns that Oh-sol has been in the bathroom for an hour, “We need an ambulance. Call an ambulance now! No, should we call the police first?”

Oh-sol opens the door just as her father and brother are about to force it open. Oh-sol’s father jumps back in shock when he realizes that Oh-sol showered. In her room, Oh-sol takes extra care getting dressed and her father and brother peek in just as she takes a final look in her mirror. Oh-sol’s father thinks she must be sick, but Oh-dol suggests that Oh-sol is seeing someone.

When Mr. Choi walks in, Oh-dol announces, “I think my sister is seeing someone,” and Mr. Choi watches Oh-sol with interest as she preens on her way out the door. Oh-dol tsks, “Gosh, I feel sorry for that guy…Oh-sol of all girls,” but Mr. Choi doesn’t look amused.

At work, Jae-min and Yeong-shik see a news report about the arrest of a serial sex offender, who turns out to be Oh-sol’s pervy client. At home, Seon-gyeol finishes dressing for work, his hair combed back again, distracted by the memory of holding Oh-sol’s hand and kissing her.

At the company, Secretary Kwon commends Seon-gyeol for finding Oh-sol before the sex offender harmed her, but he’s so distracted that he doesn’t hear a word she says. When Seon-gyeol explains that he has a lot on his mind, Secretary Kwon offers, “If you ever need my help, feel free to let me know. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

Oh-sol is in the bathroom when two employees walk in wondering about the identity of the employee that Seon-gyeol saved. Oh-sol thinks to herself, “It’s me, you silly girls.”

Jae-min teases Oh-sol about her frilly blouse and lipstick but their playful banter ends when they see a depressed Yeong-shik. Jae-min explains that Yeong-shik is wallowing because his years-long crush just came to an end.

The team greets Seon-gyeol, who only has eyes for Oh-sol. She calls his name before he walks away and smiles at him with softly puckered lips. Seon-gyeol’s mouth turns up in a smile until he catches himself and orders, “Wipe that surface again.” Oh-sol laughs when he leaves and wonders, “Is he feeling shy in front of other people?”

During a competition, Oh-dol glances at his coach and recalls his tip, “A coach from Hanguk University is here…Show him everything you have.” Oh-dol manages to win the match while two men take notes.

Seon-gyeol can’t decide what to text to Oh-sol, who happens to walk by, arms weighed down with boxes. When Oh-sol stumbles, Seon-gyeol reaches for her, but Jae-min gets to her first and playfully smells her hair to see if she washed it.

Jae-min has his arm across Oh-sol’s shoulders when they greet Seon-gyeol. Annoyed, Seon-gyeol points out Jae-min’s dirty nails and then advises Oh-sol to carry only what she can manage.

Seon-gyeol’s cheeks turn bright red when he walks away. Jae-min complains that he can’t tell if Seon-gyeol is worried or angry but when he sees Oh-sol’s flushed cheeks, he checks her forehead to see if she’s sick. Hidden behind a wall, Seon-gyeol’s eyes flash with jealousy and he mutters, “I should have fired him that day.”

Oh-sol tells Joo-yeon about the kiss over lunch, but it takes some convincing to get her to believe that Seon-gyeol kissed Oh-sol this time around. Joo-yeon assumes that Seon-gyeol and Oh-sol are dating but Oh-sol suddenly realizes that nothing was said about that.

Oh-sol sits in the employee lounge and recalls Joo-yeon’s advice to clarify her situation with Seon-gyeol, or risk being used like she was with Do-jin. Oh-sol texts Seon-gyeol, asking to meet, but he replies that he’s out of the office and asks if they can meet in the evening. When Jae-min informs Oh-sol that the team is taking Yeong-shik out for drinks, she texts, “It’s not urgent, so I’ll just ask you next time.”

It turns out that Seon-gyeol is at the hospital visiting his grandfather. Chairman Cha is just as prickly as ever, but when Seon-gyeol needs to leave for a meeting, he snaps, “Why don’t you stop playing with that silly cleaning agency of yours and come work at a real company now?”

Seon-gyeol reminds his grandfather of his refusal to turn over his company to someone with a flaw. His grandfather orders Seon-gyeol to fix it, otherwise he’ll never be able to live as a normal person and date and get married.

Seon-gyeol explains that he doesn’t date because of his mother, who’s dated one man after another his entire life. Seon-gyeol reminds Chairman Cha that he’s too flawed to marry anyway, and argues that means that his grandfather can’t die. Seon-gyeol is on his way out when his mother and her boyfriend arrive. Seon-gyeol refuses to shake the boyfriend’s hand and Chairman Cha spurns him as well.

It’s torture for Jae-min, Dong-hyun and Oh-sol as Yeong-shik shrieks through one sad song after another at a noraebang. Dong-hyun gets called away because of his grandmother and when he goes to tuck her in, she reaches for his hand.

Seon-gyeol meets with his mother, not happy that she’s dating a gangster, only to be reminded that Chairman Yang is in the resort business; the gangster was a different man she’d dated. When his mother claims, “This is really my last time,” Seon-gyeol reminds Mae-hwa that’s what she always says.

Seong-gyeol remembers how his mother paraded one man after another in front of him, asking him to be nice to each potential father, while not knowing his real father. Mae-hwa argues that her feeling were always sincere, which Seon-gyeol confesses he found pathetic. Seon-gyeol walks away only to have his mother yell at him that he should date, but he spurns her, explaining, “I don’t want to become a laughingstock like you.”

On the walk home, Oh-sol grumbles that Seon-gyeol hasn’t contacted her at all, just as they run into each other. They go for coffee and after futile attempts at small talk, Oh-sol asks to talk about what happened. Seon-gyeol tries to avoid her, “I’m sorry, but I’m not in the mood to talk about it. Let’s talk another time.”

Before Seon-gyeol can leave, Oh-sol argues that he should say something about their kiss. Seon-gyeol asks if Oh-sol expects him to ask her to be his girlfriend and bluntly explains, “I have no interest in dating. Right now, I don’t want to date anyone.” In spite of the hurt look on Oh-sol’s face, Seon-gyeol asks, “Is that enough of an answer for you?” and walks away.

 
COMMENTS

That second kiss between Seon-gyeol and Oh-sol proves that she is somehow different since he can now manage to touch her without fainting. Seon-gyeol can also stand to have Oh-sol in his house and eat the soup that she prepared for him. Those are all huge strides for Seon-gyeol, but after an ill-timed encounter with his mother, he’s not interested in dating anyone.

Seon-gyeol is always either hot or cold when it come to Oh-sol and by the end of this episode, he’s most definitely cold, thanks to more emotional trauma from his childhood. This time, it’s because of his mother’s dating history and the revolving door of boyfriends that he witnessed growing up. Mae-hwa admits that she hopes for the best in all of her relationships, convinced that each one will be the one that lasts. While she throws herself into every relationship with sincerity, Seon-gyeol has to live with the shame that he has no father and the embarrassment that his mother behaves like a perpetual teenager. For Seon-gyeol, dating means nothing but disappointment and he wants nothing to do with it.

I’m actually happy to see that Seon-gyeol isn’t ready to date yet, because I haven’t seen any convincing evidence that Oh-sol is attracted to him. It’s obvious that she’s enjoying his attention, but I don’t ever sense that her heart pounds for Seon-gyeol the way that his pounds for her. I get the feeling that she’s flattered to have someone like Seon-gyeol interested in her after her humiliating, one-sided crush on Do-jin, but that’s not enough for a relationship. The push/pull that Seon-gyeol and Oh-sol have between them may be amusing, but it’s getting them nowhere.

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t something between them. Oh-sol has an uncanny ability to emotionally connect with Seon-gyeol because of her insights into his psyche. She realized how tiring it must be for Seon-gyeol to live with his condition and maintain his house and company according to his impossible standards. He gulped down that hot tea because he was self-conscious — Oh-sol saw the real Seon-gyeol and she didn’t criticize him or ridicule him. Seon-gyeol is so used to being judged harshly that it must be intriguing to meet someone who doesn’t react that way. That’s what sets Oh-sol apart, but will her insight lead to romance?

There was so much romantic disillusionment in this episode that needs to be worked through before the main couple can move forward. It’s not what I expected after that second kiss, but it’s an opportunity for Seon-gyeol and Oh-sol to grow up and hopefully come back together a bit older and wiser, ready for a real relationship. Because isn’t that what Seon-gyeol truly longs for, in spite of his denials? And who better to have a relationship with than the one girl who can break through Seon-gyeol’s barriers?

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