On the night that Jung Sun (played by Yang Se Jong) tells Hyun Soo (played by Seo Hyun Jin) that he got the internship in France, he asks to see her, but she declines. He goes to her place anyway to ask why she was crying on the phone, admitting that he knew because he’s cried like that before. Hyun Soo starts to recite the adage that men only cry three times in their lives, but Jung Sun interrupts to say pragmatically that anyone can cry whenever they want. Hyun Soo complains that she’s just feeling cranky, so Jung Sun talks her into going for a run.
It cheers her up, and they stop by the river for a stretch before sitting to have a drink. Jung Sun suddenly asks without preamble, “Will you wait for me?” He tells her that she was his first thought when he got the message about the internship, and that he wondered what he should do.
Instead of answering, Hyun Soo turns on Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, and they listen to the lyrics as they both think back on their time together. As they walk, Hyun Soo says that her scriptwriting teacher taught her that in a love between a man and a woman, the drama begins the moment they break up.
As Amy Winehouse sings the lyrics, “We only said goodbye with words,” Hyun Soo stops and asks Jung Sun if he knows what that means. He says his English isn’t that good, so she translates, and his smile fades as he anticipates what she’s about to say.
Hyun Soo wonders how it’s possible to only say goodbye with words, and says that her relationships always ended completely when the end was declared. She tells Jung Sun that love isn’t very special to her, and that her parents still love each other after thirty years of marriage, but there’s not much to their relationship. She says that she doesn’t want to waste an important time in her youth on something so trivial as love.
She tells Jung Sun that she cried because her dream collided with reality once again, and that it was a particularly hard day. Jung Sun says that she’s difficult to understand, and she says that he is too, but he tells her that he’s difficult in another way. Hyun Soo says that she’s sorry, but Jung Sun tells her not to be, because she gave him a clear answer to his request to wait for him.
But later before leaving the country, Jung Sun still tries to call Hyun Soo one last time from the airport. Hyun Soo is having dinner with Jung Woo, so she decides not to answer his call for the first time ever, and Jung Sun hangs up without leaving a message.
He gives his phone to Won Joon to deactivate, and with a warm farewell hug for his friend, he follows his mother to their plane. On the bus ride home, Hyun Soo returns Jung Sun’s call, but unbeknownst to her, he’s already on his way to Paris.
She shows up for her first day at work the following morning, and Jung Woo points her to a huge pile of books. He says that her first assignment is to read them over and analyze them, to help him decide which ones to buy the rights for. She tries to carry all the books at once, but she only manages to dump them all over the floor. Jung Woo tells her to go to her desk and he’ll have someone bring them to her, but she says she’ll carry them herself, mystifying him with her independence and stubborness.
Hong Ah shows up later to bring Hyun Soo some food and tell her that she’s already submitted her entry into the writing contest. Hyun Soo tries to shush Hong Ah as she complains that her boss is already working her too hard, seeing him approaching and worrying that he’ll overhear.
She introduces Jung Woo to Hong Ah, whose eyes bug out when she sees how young and handsome he is. She looks him up and down like he’s a piece of meat, then launches into full-throttle flirt mode. She asks him flat-out to buy them lunch, but he just looks uncomfortable and excuses himself. Once he’s gone, Hong Ah says that she was sizing up Jung Woo because he seems to like Hyun Soo. Hyun Soo denies that Jung Woo is interested in her, but Hong Ah argues that if he weren’t, he’d have fallen for her flirting just now. Hyun Soo just counters that she’s in no place to think about men right now.
After work, Hyun Soo submits her script for Man Who Eats Rare Steak to the writing contest. She tries to call Jung Sun again, but this time the automated message says that his number no longer exists. She’s confused, but she’s distracted when Jung Woo calls her from his office (which is on the balcony overlooking her work station) to ask why she hasn’t gone home yet.
Hyun Soo goes to Jung Sun’s apartment, telling herself that she’s only there because he comes to her place so often and she doesn’t like feeling indebted. She’s shocked when a stranger answers the door and says he’s the new tenant, and she staggers home in a daze. Hyun Yi reminds Hyun Soo that they’re moving tomorrow and wonders nastily how long her new job will last. Hyun Soo is too upset to respond, stunned that Jung Sun would just disappear without a word. But then she remembers that in his own way, he did tell her, by asking her to wait for him. She thinks about how she turned him down, belatedly realizing that that was the last time she would see him.
Months go by, and December rolls around. Hyun Soo is hard at work as Jung Woo watches her from his balcony, and he goes down to return a story analysis that he’s finished reading. Ha, it’s for Cheese in the Trap, and she tells him that she’s almost finished analyzing Misaeng. Jung Woo says that she can drop that one, since another production company already bought the rights. He invites her to dinner, and at first Hyun Soo says she’s not interested, but when Jung Woo levels a look at her, she remembers how he likes to make people do what they don’t want to do and says she’d love to.
He’s all, “Okay, let’s go then,” and warns her teasingly not to try to trick him. He asks if she’s not hungry, or if she just doesn’t want to eat with him. She says she’s not hungry so Jung Woo tells her to go home. Hyun Soo immediately changes her mind, making Jung Woo grin when she says she’s fickle like that. But her good mood and her appetite disappear when their meal reminds her of the soup that Jung Sun made for her, and she can’t bring herself to eat.
Later, Jung Woo flops on his couch in frustration, and Joon Ha drops by to crash at his place after a late night of shooting. They crack a couple of beers as Joon Ha asks how Hyun Soo is doing, and Jung Woo casually confesses that he likes her. He says he’s going to ask her out, but Joon Ha warns that Hyun Soo isn’t the type to have flings. Jung Woo tells Joon Ha that it’s not a fling—he’s been watching Hyun Soo for a while, and he says confidently, “She’s my woman.”
Hyun Soo gets a call early one morning, and she’s barely awake to hear that she won the writing contest. That evening, she comforts Hong Ah as she whines about not winning, assuming that Hyun Soo didn’t win, either. But Hyun Soo tells her tentatively that she won, and Hong Ah seems happy for her, if a bit jealous.
Hyun Soo is on her way to meet Jung Woo at the top floor of a skyscraper, and he barely acknowledges her arrival when she joins him. Finally he says he likes skyscrapers because he likes looking down from high places.
Jung Woo tells Hyun Soo that his father was a failed businessman, and that his father lost his mother in return for that failure. He says that his father then became ill, and that he was afraid that Jung Woo would end up like him. So he gave Jung Woo every penny he had to go to the States, in the hopes that a big pond would make a big person.
Jung Woo says that it worked, and he made a lot of money, but his father died before seeing his son successful. He tells Hyun Soo that he wants to make his own family now: “Family is something I can choose now. I think I could live happily with you.” But when he finally looks at her, he sees that her eyes are brimming with tears. There’s something interestingly soft about Jung Woo’s expression as he watches Hyun Soo cry. He asks if his story was that sad, assuming she’s crying for him, and he congratulates her when she tells him that she won the writing contest.
But she admits that she’s not happy, even though it’s what she’s wanted her whole life. She tells Jung Woo, “I have a man I love, but I realized it too late. I realized what love is only after he disappeared from my sight. He’s my life’s…”
Jung Woo interrupts, flustered and confused, but Hyun Soo keeps talking. She sobs that he asked her to wait for him, but that she didn’t answer his call because she was with Jung Woo. She says that it was the last time he ever called her, asking futilely, “Where can I go to see him now?”
Jung Woo laughs wryly at the situation as Hyun Soo dissolves into tears, but he puts an arm around her and does his best to comfort her.
Five years later, the present day.
We watch again as Hyun Soo confronts her drama’s director for going off script too much, as Jung Sun watches from the stage. He speaks out in support of her and gives her the tiniest of smiles. But in her humiliation at seeing him for the first time when she’s acting her worst, Hyun Soo turns and runs from him.
Jung Sun follows her, but she’s too far ahead, and he can only call out to her not to run or she’ll fall. As she disappears around a corner, he mutters, “I know how easily you fall down.”
In voiceover, Jung Sun says that he was told that the writer wouldn’t be visiting the set, “But Lee Hyun Soo, who has a boyfriend and is now a writer, showed up unexpectedly.”
Hyun Soo runs until she’s out of breath, and Hong Ah and Bo Kyung (the other assistant writer who quit working for Writer Park) find her and ask if she caused a scene. She says that’s not the problem. Meanwhile, Jung Sun takes off his apron and tells an assistant PD that if the writer doesn’t agree to the scene, then he won’t do it.
Jung Woo arrives on set to ask the director not to cancel the shoot. Director Min says his hands are tied when the writer refuses to cooperate and shows up to make a fuss, but Jung Woo tells him that he shouldn’t change the script without telling her. Director Min sneers that Hyun Soo must be acting out because she knows Jung Woo will back her up. Despite Jung Woo’s pleading, the director cancels the shoot for the day.
Jung Woo goes to see Jung Sun, who’s cutting fresh herbs. Jung Woo sighs over how much the canceled shoot cost him, and when Jung Sun asks cheekily if he’s running low on money, Jung Woo fires back that Jung Sun just feels guilty because his restaurant, Good Soup, is losing money.
Jung Sun isn’t concerned, reminding his investor that he knew the first year would be like this, reassuring him that he won’t let him see a loss. He asks why Director Min won’t stick to the script, so Jung Woo explains that he’s a bit of a diva who only works with new writers so that he can change the script as he likes.
Jung Sun says that he liked the drama Man Who Eats Rare Steak, which he saw while he was in France. He mentions that Hong Ah told him about it, which makes Jung Woo ask if he knows Hyun Soo. Jung Sun says that he does, and that he also knows she has a boyfriend, but Jung Woo laughs and asks who told him that.
Jung Sun thinks back four years to his time in France, when Won Joon and Hong Ah had come to visit him. Won Joon had gone off on his own to explore, and Hong Ah had moaned that she was still entering and losing writing contests, but that Hyun Soo had won one.
Clocking Jung Sun’s excited reaction on Hyun Soo’s behalf, Hong Ah wasn’t happy to learn that Hyun Soo had told Jung Sun all about her drama. She’d asked Jung Sun if he liked Hyun Soo, and he’d answered, “No. I loved her, but she rejected me.” Jealous, Hong Ah had told Jung Sun that Hyun Soo was dating an older, rich, handsome man who doted on her.
Back in the present, Hong Ah drives the writing team home as Bo Kyung finds that a video of Hyun Soo’s fight has already been posted online. Hyun Soo has other things on her mind, and she asks who hired the chef who was on set today. She assumes that Hong Ah didn’t know about it when she freezes at Jung Sun’s name.
Awww, Won Joon is finally following his dream, working as the sous chef at Jung Sun’s new restaurant. He stays late at Good Soup working on a recipe, and Jung Sun deliberately sneaks up on him and startles him. He tells Won Joon that he saw Hyun Soo today, but that she ran away from him.
He wonders if he’s a horrible memory for her, though he can’t think of anything he’s done wrong. Won Joon suggests that Jung Sun ask her himself, offering to give him Hyun Soo’s number. Jung Sun declines, saying that he doesn’t want to force things.
But he caves, and later he stands on the roof trying to work up the nerve to call her, though he resists the urge to save her number in his contacts. But when Hyun Soo’s phone rings (while she’s looking up Jung Sun online), it’s Jung Woo on the other end, who says that he blocked what articles he could about her tantrum today, but warns her to brace herself for the backlash on social media.
Good Soup’s kitchen is bustling the next day as Jung Sun and his chefs prepare for service. The mood is lighthearted as they tease the maknae, Min-ho, who complains when they all coo that he’s cute. Jung Sun is all, “He doesn’t like it, so stop it, no matter how cute he is.”
Jung Sun is called to the dining room, where he finds his mother setting out flower arrangements. She asks him to reserve a table because her boyfriend Daniel is coming for lunch, and asks him to come say hello while Daniel is here.
Hyun Soo is so stressed that her hair is falling out at an alarming rate. She and Bo Kyung join Hong Ah, who’s busy “liking” any negative comments posted by netizens about Hyun Soo’s outburst yesterday. She shows Hyun Soo the comments, sparking an argument between Hong Ah and Bo Kyung, who both work as Hyun Soo’s assistant writers on her current drama, Unruly Detectives.
They’re joined by the drama’s chief producer, CP Yoo (cameo by Ryu Jin), who pleads with her to apologize to Director Min. Hyun Soo says politely that he’s completely changed the theme of her drama, and that she’s lost her way. This gets back to Director Min, who complains to Writer Park, Hyun Soo’s old boss. He’s gotten hold of all of Hyun Soo’s scripts for the entire drama, and Writer Park offers to fix it for him ad take over, kissing up to him shamelessly.
Over lunch Jung Sun’s mother requests that her son come out to say hello, but her boyfriend Daniel says that he knows Jung Sun doesn’t like him. He’s gloomy and negative, grumbling that the best thing he ever did was not have kids even though he was married twice. Jung Sun’s mother says that it’s surprising, since it’s not like he has a problem in that area. Daniel gets upset, thinking that she’s insulting his virility. But she plays him like a fiddle, pushing all the right buttons until he’s praising her for acknowledging a man’s true value. Gag.
Jung Sun finally shows up to offer Daniel a painfully polite greeting before heading back to the kitchen, barely suppressing his eyeroll.
Jung Woo invites Hyun Soo to talk, but she knows he wants to talk about her fight with Director Min. She complains that he’s like a parent who keeps stepping in to handle his child’s problems. She says this kind of thing happens all the time, and that it’s her job to fix it.
A man covered in blood leads a car chase through the streets, screaming at his brother, who’s in the car with him, for betraying him. It’s Hyun Soo’s drama, which she’s watching with Bo Kyung, and they note that the lines were changed again.
Hyun Soo takes a call from Shin Ha Rim, the lead actor (cameo by Ryu Seung Soo), who has complaints about his lines not being manly enough. He pulls rank on her, lecturing her to listen to someone who’s been in the business a lot longer than her.
One of Jung Sun’s chefs is addicted to the show, and a big fan of Shin Ha Rim’s. Won Joon impresses him by saying that he knows the show’s writer, and the chef asks him to call her and cheer her up since she’s taking a beating online. Jung Sun overhears this, and he goes online to post an anonymous supportive message to Hyun Soo. That is so adorable.
CP Yoo mediates a discussion between Hyun Soo and Director Min at the station, though the latter makes it obvious that he thinks this is a waste of his precious time. Hyun Soo humbly agrees to let Director Min make changes to the script, so long as he tells her the changes beforehand.
Director Min pitches a fit, but Hyun Soo refuses to back down, even if it means she’s fired. The CP says that won’t happen because he likes her storytelling style, and tells Director Min to stop adding in so many expensive explosions, heh. Director Min snaps that this is why the CP sits behind a desk instead of directing, accuses him of taking bribes from the production company, and storms out of the room.
Afterward, Hyun Soo finds Jung Woo waiting outside to take her to dinner. But she stops in her tracks when she sees that he’s brought her to Good Soup, which she knows is the name of Jung Sun’s restaurant, and she refuses to go inside. She claims that she’s tired, but a voice calls out, “No matter how tired you are, you should still eat.”
It’s Jung Sun, who walks up to Hyun Soo, and she stiffens nervously. Jung Woo steps away to take a call and Jung Sun steps closer, asking Hyun Soo why she’s not running away. He says she ran the last time she saw him, and he asks if he did something wrong.
Hyun Soo can’t even look at him as she says that it was just an awkward situation. She uses the pronoun “jagi” like she did when they first met, and he quips that it makes them seem close. Hyun Soo falls right back into the same banter they shared the first time she used that word, finally looking at Jung Sun in her irritation. He smiles, and she can’t help herself and smiles back.
With the ice broken, Hyun Soo relaxes and congratulates Jung Sun on becoming a chef. He returns the congratulations, and they both say that they haven’t really earned it yet. Hyun Soo notes that Jung Sun sounds all grown up, and he fires back that if he’s an adult, it must mean she’s old now. Ha.
Hyun Soo says that Jung Sun has grown annoying, and he shrugs and says that growing is good. Losing a bit of her tenuous good humor, Hyun Soo asks why he disappeared without a word, only to show up now and act all cynical. Jung Sun drops the smile, asking if she forgot that she didn’t take his call.
Hyun Soo snaps in a quivering voice, “How can I forget? Do you know how much I regretted it, and how much it hurt?” Jung Sun asks why she regretted it and why it hurt, but Hyun Soo freezes up, unable to think of an answer that doesn’t expose her most vulnerable feelings.
Finally she says to forget it, that it’s in the past. Jung Sun says that she has a big-shot boyfriend and her dream of being a writer came true, and he asks again, “So why did you regret it, and why were you hurt?” He waits for an answer, but they’re interrupted by Jung Woo, who asks why they’re still outside.
He peers closely at the two of them and says in a dry voice, “Someone who didn’t know you might think that you’re having a lovers’ quarrel.”
COMMENTS:
Timing can be everything, and unfortunately for Jung Sun and Hyun Soo, they met at a time when both of them were experiencing some pretty huge changes in their lives. Their problem in the past was never whether or not they had feelings for each other, but that they disagreed with how to handle those feelings in the middle of major upheaval. Hopefully by now they’ve learned from their mistakes, because they’re about to get a second chance.
It's true that was harsh to just leave without even saying goodbye to Hyun Soo. I know he tried to call her and she didn’t answer, but did he leave a message? Did he have his friend let her know how to reach him if she wanted to? Did he even tell her the date he was leaving? No he did not, and I’m mad at him for that. Of course he was hurt that she rejected his request to wait for him, and that she even called what they had trivial and not worth waiting for, and that’s understandable. But they were still friends, and the day that you’re leaving the country for five years doesn’t just sneak up on you. Jung Sun knew that there was something between them despite Hyun Soo’s decision not to pursue it, and it’s frustrating that he has no idea that his leaving the way he did would have hurt her.
Especially when Hyun Soo really was doing the mature, responsible thing by not promising to wait for him. She was at a stressful place in her life, unemployed and nearing thirty, and from her perspective he was a young kid with stars in his eyes and unrealistic ideas about romance. Both of the options he proposed were impractical—he was either offering to give up his dream for a woman he just met, or asking her to wait five years for him to return, based on little more than a mutual love of food and one (admittedly amazing) kiss. By turning him down, Hyun Soo was being very responsible, and while I don’t think that Jung Sun was being deliberately cruel by not telling her when he was leaving and never calling her again, he still hurt her by disappearing without a word.
But as much as I admire Hyun Soo for doing the right thing and not making any promises to Jung Sun, I also do not appreciate her way of being so self-centered till she doesn't even bother when Jung Woo confessed to her. It's such a big move for Jung Woo to admit that he thought living with her would be a happy thing, but she doesn't even try to understand, instead confessing to him that she likes someone else, which is already too late. WHAT girl, how can you be so mean :(
I haven’t said much about Hong Ah because I’ve been trying to get a good read on her, but she really began showing her true colors this week. She professes to be devoted to Hyun Soo, yet she has no problem telling lies to keep her and Jung Sun apart (such as telling Hyun Soo that Jung Sun is a playboy, and telling Jung Sun that Hyun Soo has a boyfriend). She seems to think that she’s entitled to whatever she wants, even Jung Sun, who has always been friendly but kept a very firm line drawn whenever she tries to push for more. But what really revealed who Hong Ah truly is was how she takes such quick offense when a man even looks at her, saying that it makes her feel dirty, but she did the exact same thing to Jung Woo when she met him. She’s a hypocrite of the worst kind, and no true friend to Hyun Soo or Jung Sun.
