Was It Love – The Fantasy Rewrite (14 Years Ago)

1) Ae Jung and Ryu Jin met at the orientation, becoming like-minded friends through the freshmen semester: while he falls for her appearances initially, subsequent interactions has him falling for how she treated him like any other student on campus. (I’m assuming he had achieved semi-famous status as an actor in school and we could have scenes where other students objectified him, kind of like how canon Ah Rin is treated by her male fans)
2) During the class outing, Ryu Jin was drinking outside by himself by the river and was intending to confess when Ae Jung unexpectedly comes up to him drunk and asks him to kiss her (canon). He was about to when Dae Oh ruined the moment by puking on her shoes (canon). While he tries to contact Ae Jung again, he hears gossip from the other students at the drinking party about how he’s too good for Ae Jung (canon) and decides to hide his feelings for her.
3) Ae Jung eventually accepts Dae Oh’s confession (in the canon it was presumed he fell for her after seeing her hardworking nature trying to scout for an extra which I will follow). Ryu Jin, knowing that Ae Jung’s dream was to be a producer, decides to befriend Dae Oh so that he could work with him on Ae Jung’s movie without sparking rumours. Though the friendship wasn’t genuine at the start, Ryu Jin and Dae Oh became good friends eventually and he helped the couple mediate any fights they had. They sleep together and Ae Jung becomes unknowingly pregnant.
4) During their anniversary, the couple have a big fight over the concept of marriage (Ae Jung wanting to be successful first while Dae Oh wanting to affirm their relationship). As Ryu Jin was auditioning for a show then, the emotions were not defused and the couple have a public breakup which was witnessed by Ah Rin (I’ll follow the canon for Dae Oh and Ah Rin’s interactions and why she fell for him). She follow him and finds him drinking away his sorrows.
5) Meanwhile, Ryu Jin who has returned from the audition finds out about the fight. When the couple texts him needing him to be a pillar of support, he has a moment of panic but eventually decides to go to Ae Jung: Dae Oh, seeing this as a betrayal of their friendship, gets wasted and Ah Rin is forced into carrying him back home in the rain. Dae Oh thanks her for helping him and the two become closer, with Ah Rin making plans to confess to him at the right moment.
6) A few days pass and the tensions have cooled. Ae Jung decides to make up with Dae Oh and visits him at his house but sees Ah Rin hanging up ‘I love you’ balloons though the window, with friendly photos of them from their tutoring relationship over the years plastered over the wall. While in reality Ah Rin was planning to surprise Dae Oh with a confession, Ae Jung believes that Dae Oh had cheated on her and collapses in shock. A passerby calls for help.
7) When Ae Jung wakes up at the hospital and is informed of the pregnancy, she tries to call Dae Oh knowing that he is the father. At that moment, Dae Oh is being surprised by Ah Rin’s confession right at home and is too stunned to answer his phone. While she tries to text him, her water bursts and Ha Nee is born prematurely with the text never been sent. Ae Jung’s mom was informed by the hospital and she runs over in despair, realising that as a single mom (following canon) she had never paid attention to Ae Jung’s life as she was too busy being the breadwinner.
8) Ryu Jin was informed that he passed his audition and was to go for a second round overseas. Feeling excited, he texts both Dae Oh and Ae Jung but both don’t respond: Dae Oh having blocked his number and Ae Jung recovering in the hospital. Ae Jung’s mom sees the notification on the phone but can’t read it, not knowing Ae Jung’s passcode. He subsequently leaves without anyone seeing him off at the airport, thinking that Ae Jung still needed some alone time.
9) Dae Oh had rejected Ah Rin’s confession, telling her that he wasn’t stable enough to be in a relationship. Feeling sad and fired up at the same time, she decides to become successful herself and woo him again when she herself is stable enough. Working hard at acting, she finds herself crossing paths with Ryu Jin in the future and is antagonistic against him (poop canon here) as she believes Ryu Jin was to blame for not being there for Dae Oh when he needed it. Dae Oh sees the call on his phone and returns it but Ae Jung is in the midst of labour: he decides not to pursue it.
10) Ae Jung was discharged from the hospital together with her mom and Ha Nee. At home, her mom tells her about the text and asks who is the father. Ae Jung opens the phone and sees the text she typed out to Dae Oh informing him about his fatherhood. Feeling overwhelmed and alone, she deletes the draft and breaks down, crying out that the dad is dead. Her mom cries together with her and wonders they both shared the same fate (canon). When Ae Jung sees the missed call from Dae Oh, she laments that it’s too little too late and decides to raise Ha Nee by herself.
11) Ae Jung takes a leave from absence from school the following week to focus on parenting, leaving a message of good luck for Ryu Jin’s career and heading for her hometown and stay with her mother (of which the location is not known to both Ryu Jin and Dae Oh as the mom was always busy working). At her hometown, she meets Yeon Woo at her mother’s workplace and he takes a liking to her (sauna canon). (I’ve assumed here that the air pod canon doesn’t happen because this ensures Yeon Woo doesn’t know Ryu Jin or Dae Oh.)
12) When Ryu Jin returns to school from overseas, he’s shocked that Ae Jung has suddenly left when he reads the message she left for him. Thinking that Dae Oh might have known where she went, he desperately looks around the campus for him and finds out that Dae Oh was equally blindsided by her departure. On Dae Oh’s laptop, a script which he has written dramatises the notion of marriage and commitment, which goes on to be a bestseller in the future.
13) Time passes by with Ryu Jin and Dae Oh graduating from university together: they are now on speaking terms but have not regained the friendship they had. As part of the prom night, the film that Ae Jung was originally involved in plays and both of them reminisce about the times they had together as the trio: in their minds, Ryu Jin is determined to become successful for Ae Jung’s sake while Dae Oh wishes her well hoping to see her once again in the future.
14) Back at the hometown, Ae Jung’s mom has finally scrimped up enough money to open up a family restaurant in the neighbourhood but disaster strikes on the opening day when a gang fight between two triads breaks out right outside. Fighting to keep the restaurant from being collateral damage, Ae Jung accidentally kills one of the triad heads and the police is called in. While Ae Jung is deemed to have acted in self-defence under the law, the triad is out for revenge.
15) Yeon Woo, who was resting in the hospital after injuring his knee (basketball canon – I assume the injury happened around the same time as the gang fight), hears about the fight and tries to leave the hospital. However, he is blocked by his mother who has heard of his interactions with Ae Jung and disapproves of him hanging out with her. Enraged that his mother is interfering with his life, he spits back that his mother will only be his mother in name going forward.
16) When Yeon Woo is finally discharged, he decides to visit the restaurant with a belated opening gift of baby shoes for Ha Nee but is shocked to find the restaurant gone (canon). Asking around, he finds out that the triad retaliated by destroying the restaurant and harassing Ae Jung’s family, forcing them to move away. He is devastated by the fact that he couldn’t do anything for her when she had done so much for him. Blaming his mom, he runs away from home.
17) At their new two-storey house (present day home), Ae Jung is unpacking her stuff when a letter falls out from her luggage. She flashbacks to when she found the letter at the doorstep of the old house with no return address and was also anonymous, which had contained instructions for her to get enough money to flee to the new house. She wonders about how Yeon Woo is doing back at the hometown as the letter sender is revealed to be Pa Do, the other triad head. Yeon Woo, now staying at a gosiwon preparing for the teacher exam, reads her farewell message to him and smiles.

To be honest, I’m not sure about how to approach the current day and how the 4 men reappear in Ae Jung’s life (particularly the two schoolmates) since that loan scenario from the premiere week of the official show was narratively very weak. Briefly speaking, in this rewrite the overall story in the present day would be about Ae Jung trying to find a stepfather for Ha Nee to help her avoid social stigma but running into her demons from the past.

4
2

    Thank you for this! I needed this and I’m gonna pretend that this is the real backstory. Goodness! I dislike where the drama is going but I can’t stop myself from watching!!!

    0
    0

    I like this too. It helps get rid of the aftertaste.

    0
    0