Looking on with disapproval, Yi-an watches Tae-gwang planting a quick
peck on Eun-bi’s cheek. Mortified by his instinctual kiss, Tae-gwang
cringes and asks Eun-bi to hit him or go home. He can’t look at her
properly, so she takes it as her cue to head home.
After the awkwardest parting ever, Tae-gwang walks away with a spring
in his step. Broody Yi-an watches the giddy boy walk away, taking
another look at the medal Eun-bi gifted him.
At school the next morning, Yi-an brings Tae-gwang to the roof to
admit his feelings for Eun-bi. He doesn’t hate her; in fact, he likes
her. Tae-gwang responds that he’s liked Eun-bi from the beginning, but
Yi-an doesn’t care who was first. He’s starting now. Last minute love
triangle?
Even with Director Gong taking full responsibility for Soo-in’s
death, Teacher Kim insists on his resignation. He doesn’t feel confident
in teaching his students. The vice principal respects his decision, and
Min-joon overhears this information as he drops by the office.
The new English teacher has arrived (cameo by Sam Hammington),
and students are entertained by his thorough understanding of Korean
and slang. His comic relief juxtaposes the tension between Tae-gwang and
Yi-an, both sitting with their arms crossed.
Eun-byul interrupts Tae-gwang’s nap to confirm her suspicions about
his interest in Eun-bi. Seeing that he went all the way to Tongyeong,
she knows that he likes Eun-bi. But does she like him back?
Eun-bi works at Mom’s shop as she waits to transfer schools. She asks
Mom to send her to tutoring to make up for missed time in class, and
Mom gladly agrees. As Mom greets a customer, Eun-bi picks up a call from
Tae-gwang.
Tae-gwang waits nervously for Eun-bi, his legs trembling. She sits
down next to him with an awkward buffer space. He starts to apologize
about yesterday, but she stops him. Her mind is racing, so she doesn’t
know what to tell him. Tae-gwang smiles at her lack of response — or her
lack of rejection — and quickly catches up to Eun-bi, teasing her for
blushing. How cute.
During lunch, So-young sit next to Ki-tae and Hae-na. They throw out
backhanded compliments about her confidence and shameless attitude.
Ki-tae even goes to call her a criminal. So-young merely glares at the
group and chokes down her food.
So-young throws up in the bathroom from indigestion, and she runs
into Eun-byul. She threatens Eun-byul with more nonsense about revealing
the truth about the twins, as if it were still relevant. Eun-byul
responds by advising So-young to take a look at herself in the mirror
and reflect. “Can you hide your guilt by acting aggressive? I know that
feeling of wanting to erase the past and run away from everything.”
Eun-byul’s pointed comment seems to hit home, and So-young stares at
herself, brimming with rage. She throws something at the mirror and
looks angrily at her broken reflection.
So-young nervously sits with her father and starts to bring up
Eun-byul. He stops her and quotes Shakespeare (really?) to make his
point: “Weeds spread because the gentle wind. Improper care will result
in dense weeds. If you don’t want to get stepped on, there’s only one
alternative. Step on them first.”
She shakes her head and asks to transfer, but her father won’t risk
his political nomination. He’s already had enough trouble because of
her, so she can either step on others or live quietly. She won’t have
her way this time.
Yi-an finds Eun-bi on her morning bike ride and asks for her phone.
He reminds her that they agreed to be comfortable with each other, and
to do that, he needs her number. As he returns her phone, he sees a
message from Tae-gwang asking about her search for tutoring academies.
Yi-an offers to help her, but she quickly declines, which tells Yi-an
that she’s going with Tae-gwang.
Yi-an shrugs it off, saying that he briefly considered skipping
practice to accompany her. He adds that Eun-bi needs to keep her promise
until he wins his gold medal, which confuses her. What promise?
In class, Min-joon announces Teacher Kim’s leave. Ki-tae suspects
that it’s because of Soo-in’s death, and this catches Tae-gwang’s
attention. Min-joon suggests that they do something. They can’t just let
Teacher Kim leave, right?
Tae-gwang meets with Teacher Kim on the roof and confronts him about
his leave. Teacher Kim tells the story about when he decided to become a
teacher. In his second year of high school, his homeroom teacher was
the kind of person who didn’t keep the expected distance between himself
and his students. He struggled overnight in the countryside searching
for a student who ran away from home. That teacher was Tae-gwang’s
father.
Teacher Kim visited Director Gong at the police station and tells
Tae-gwang that his father worries about him. He admits that he doesn’t
know if he’s a good teacher, let alone a good person. So he’s taking
time off to reflect. Tae-gwang understands but still complains: what
about him? Teacher Kim headlocks him and tells him to call whenever.
A rude man accuses Yi-an’s father of causing the dent in his car, and
though Dad tries to talk it out, things start to get rough. Yi-an
interferes, and as Dad tries to hold Yi-an back from fighting, he gets
hit. Beyond all good judgment, Yi-an’s strong sense of loyalty prompts
him to throw some punches.
Tae-gwang attempts to his father at the police station, but just as
he reaches the cells, he stops. He can’t get himself to go further, and
he walks back out.
Dad tries to calm Yi-an’s temper, which continues to be provoked by
the rude man. They try to come to a mutual agreement, and Dad uses his
extreme patience to get through.
Yi-an walks outside and sees Tae-gwang talking to Detective Park.
Tae-gwang asks the detective to take care of his father, and as all the
pieces come together, Yi-an realizes that Director Gong is Tae-gwang’s
father.
As Yi-an walks out with his father, their paths cross with Tae-gwang.
Dad recognizes the school uniform and confirms with Yi-an that
Tae-gwang is a friend. Unaware of the rivalry, Dad suggests that
Tae-gwang join them to eat and drags the two reluctant boys out for
food.
So-young goes to the store to get her cracked phone replaced. The
salesperson asks if she needs her data backed up, and she nods. She
lists the photos and the videos… then she’s suddenly reminded of
something on her phone and asks that every single thing be backed up.
Dad thanks Yi-an for stepping up for him, even though he’s done very
little for his on. He reminds Yi-an to take care of his body before
jumping in a fight, but Yi-an shakes his head. He’d do the same thing if
this happened again. Tae-gwang watches their interaction with a deep
longing in his eyes.
Turning to Tae-gwang, Dad asks why he was at the police station. Did
he cause trouble? Tae-gwang says that’s usually the case, but this time…
He doesn’t finish his sentence and continues to eat.
As they part ways, Yi-an talks with Tae-gwang separately. He asks
Tae-gwang if he’s okay, to which Tae-gwang looks back in confusion.
Yi-an reminds him that he’s just started, and he doesn’t want his
competition to weaken so fast. He tells him to keep his spirits up and
leaves with Dad.
At home, Tae-gwang changes his father’s contact name from “Legal
Guardian” to “Father.” He says it out loud, with a change of heart.
Mom gives Eun-bi the information for her new school, which concludes
her Sekang High School memories on a bittersweet note. Eun-bi talks to
her sister in bed and requests that she have one more day at Sekang to
apologize to everyone.
Eun-byul agrees to switch out for a day and then apologizes for
taking out the bear in the room without her permission. Eun-bi says that
it was from Yi-an, before he knew she was Eun-bi. Eun-byul nods, saying
that if he knew it was Eun-byul, he would have never bought the furry
bear.
So-young goes through her phone’s new data, looking specifically for a
video. She seethes that Eun-bi and Eun-byul have yet to find peace.
She’s just making this harder on herself.
A girl runs into class with the latest gossip: Director Gong’s son
goes to their school. Tae-gwang and Yi-an overhear the conversation as
Ki-tae speculates Director Gong’s son as Gong Tae-gwang. They laugh off
that possibility, and another girl insults Director Gong’s two-faced
nature.
Tae-gwang gets up, and Yi-an quickly follows to ask where he’s going.
He nonchalantly answers that he’s going to the bathroom and heads out.
Ki-tae and his posse breathe a sigh of relief when Tae-gwang walks out
without any confrontation.
In the facility, Director Gong overhears a fellow inmate bragging
about a letter from his son, who’s ranked at the top of his class. He
thinks back to Tae-gwang’s dilemma about revealing the evidence,
regretful of his assumptions about his son.
Eun-byul reads a book, and Yi-an sits by her. He reminds her of their
younger days, when they would do the same thing. Eun-byul would read,
and Yi-an would bother her while waiting. They reminisce over old times,
and Yi-an echoes Eun-byul’s words: “We’ve outgrown their younger days,
and a lot has changed.” He hesitates to tell Eun-byul something and
decides against it. He ruffles her hair and says he’s headed to
practice.
At Soo-in’s grave, Eun-byul apologizes and asks if she can visit her
occasionally, since they’re friends. Teacher Kim and Min-young watch
from afar. She asks him what he’ll do after leaving his teaching
position, and he responds that he’ll work on becoming a person worthy of
being a respectable teacher before returning.
Teacher Kim addresses his class about his departure. He first
apologizes and gives them a nugget of advice. “The times you are
experiencing now are at times lonely, difficult, and uncertain. But it’s
all okay because you all are still 18.” He ends the class there and
receives one last parting bow from his students.
When Teacher Kim gets to his car, he stops in his tracks. He sees his
windshield covered with notes from his students thanking him for
instilling wisdom and encouraging them. His students yell out of the
window, wishing him the best and begging him to come back. He can’t help
but spill some tears of gratitude as he waves back at his students one
last time.
Yi-an finally gives Eun-byul his gold medal as promised in their
youth, and Eun-byul commends him for remembering after all these years.
He tells her that he’s here to break off his 10-year-long one-sided love
for Eun-byul. She confesses that she’s been confused about their
friendship as well, and Yi-an nods that he knew. It’s one of the reasons
why he’s waited so long.
He then adds that no matter how much you think about it, your heart
already knows. Eun-byul admits that she may look back and regret this in
retrospect. She may belatedly realize that she liked Yi-an, especially
without him by her side after 10 years with each other. But she’ll deal
with the consequences of her decision. This is his decision, his
feelings.
Yi-an reminds her that they’re not breaking up forever, he’s just
breaking off his one-sided love. Of course they’ll still see each other.
Eun-byul agrees and jokingly asks why she would cut ties with a friend
who’s willing to work hard for her. They poke and tease, both relieved
that their friendship remains intact.
Tae-gwang dresses up to visit his father and adds the one missing
element to his outfit: the tie gifted by his mother. Father and son
exchange smiles when they see each other, and Tae-gwang tries to lift
the mood by reporting his good behavior at school. Dad nods and
apologizes for excessively intervening when Tae-gwang would have done
fine if left alone.
Dad compliments Tae-gwang’s tie, and Tae-gwang tells him that it’s
from Mom. Tae-gwang admits that the house without Dad feels empty and
that he doesn’t feel embarrassed by him. Dad elaborates on his apology,
“I used to think that I had a lot to protect. But in the end, I only
needed to protect one thing. That was you, Tae-gwang.”
The visiting time runs out, and Tae-gwang wonders where all the time
went. He promises Dad that he’ll visit again and calls him “Father.” On
the car ride home, Tae-gwang cries thinking back to Dad’s words.
Yi-an sees Eun-bi on the bus and jumps on to accompany her. Their
friendly rapport is back, and Yi-an seems adamant about spending more
time with Eun-bi. On their walk home, Eun-bi tells Yi-an that she’ll be
going to school one last time as Eun-byul tomorrow to say goodbye. She
says that under her sister’s name she’s gained Mom, a teacher, and
loving friends so effortlessly. She even gained Yi-an’s admiration as
Eun-byul.
Looking around, Yi-an asks if Eun-bi remembers where they are. She
nods, since they’ve visited this park quite often. But Yi-an clarifies
that it’s the first time he’s here with Lee Eun-bi. He says that there
will be many firsts with Eun-bi to come and asks that she stay. Or he
could go to her. Yi-an walks towards her and hugs her.
Eun-bi arrives on her last day at Sekang, and Tae-gwang does a double
take. To make sure that it’s Eun-bi, he pokes her forehead and quickly
shields himself. When he doesn’t get a smack, he happily greets Eun-bi.
Ha, is that how you distinguish the two?
So-young watches their interaction from afar, and having confirmed
Eun-bi’s identity, she calls Eun-byul. She tempts Eun-byul with a “fun”
video from Tongyeong and claims to have an event planned to reveal it
today. Eun-byul immediately rushes out to grab a cab to school.
Eun-bi steps up to the podium and asks for the class’s attention. She
nervously begins, and So-young watches intently, waiting for Eun-byul’s
appearance. “The truth is…”
Eun-byul bursts into the classroom, and all eyes shift from one twin
to the other. They’ve been played. So-young steps up to the front and
announces to the class that she was right. Lee Eun-bi from Tongyeong is
alive.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.