Song Il Kook: Ideal Dad for Song Triplets

Song Il Kook spoke at a press conference for KBS 2TV’s “The Return of Superman” and explained his parenting techniques.

He said, “There are really no hard-and-fast rules in parenting. My wife and I always think together, do things by trial and error, reflect, and try again, but there is just one rule. The parents must be happy. If my wife and I are happy and love each other, the children will be the same way as well.” He revealed that this is the reason why he speaks in honorifics to his wife.

Song Il Kook said, “Even when we fight, we speak in honorifics. So since we were married, we have never raised our voices to fight. Speaking in honorifics is a way of trying to stay that way. My goal in life is to first be good to my wife by being a good husband and being a dad that my children won’t be ashamed of. My work comes after that.”

He then added, “I actually travel to China every year for historical exploration. Before that, I wasn’t this mature; I only became mature in my 30s. In my 20s, you could even say I was insufferable. However, that all changed when I started traveling to China. It’s not easy to get your name known as an actor, and I thought I got lucky. But what I realized on these trips was that perhaps it’s not that I’m lucky, but that my grandfather and mother lived good lives, and that transferred onto me.”

He concluded by saying, “When I think about how I can give back to society now, I think the first thing that I can do to show my love for the country is to live happily with the family that I’ve raised. So that’s why my first rule is to love my wife, the second rule is to be a good dad, and the third rule is to be diligent to my work.”

Song Il Kook is the example of ideal husband and daddy seriously. And what's the result? The very cute, humble and well-manner Song Triplets!

Producing director (PD) Kang Bong Gyu of “The Return of Superman” even chose Song Il Kook‘s son Minguk as the child with the most potential to become the future president of South Korea.

Kang Bong Gyu recently sat down for an interview to commemorate the third anniversary of “The Return of Superman”

On his reasons for choosing Minguk, Kang Bong Gyu stated, “I actually had this conversation with the staff and writers while filming with Song Il Kook and his triplets. The staff picked Minguk as the best candidate. He’s very smart, and if any of the screenwriters or video jockeys look like they’re having a bad day, he would always try to cheer them up. Minguk has an amazing amount of empathy for others. Minguk and Manse sometimes play the role of a daughter, comforting their father Song Il Kook a lot.”

He also added, “Even if not Minguk, I think Daehan and Manse would do a good job as president, and really any of the kids [on the show].”

Uncontrollably Fond - Episode 17 Summary

Joon Young forgets about sending Pororo to a new home, as well as what the statue of limitations means. He narrates that his doctor warned that this might happen as his cancer progressed, but he’d ignored his doctor’s warning, arrogantly thinking that God wouldn’t be so cruel.

Still confused, Joon Young opens the gate to see Jung Eun on his doorstep. She waves her now-ringless hand at him, then steps into his arms. Over her shoulder, Joon Young sees Eul staring at them, and he thinks that God has never forgotten to be cruel to him and Eul. Jung Eun steps back when she realizes that Joon Young isn’t hugging her back, and she comments on his blank gaze, as if he doesn’t know her. After a moment, the memories rush back to him — she’s the hit-and-run driver who killed Eul’s father, and he’s been working on convincing her to give up Ji Tae and date him.

He slips back into character and addresses Jung Eun, saying that she came sooner than he expected. She asks him to make her some ramyun, and the two link arms and go inside. Joon Young looks at Eul only for a second, and in voiceover, says that he decided to be even more cruel than God.

In the kitchen, Jung Eun suggests that they kiss again, this time for real. Joon Young just grins at her, and outside, Eul turns to go. Joon Young narrates that he just hopes that however much misery he’s caused Eul, that he experiences it ten thousand times more.

Assemblyman Choi asks Ji Tae if he knows who Jung Eun is dating, and he knows his son is lying when Ji Tae says that he doesn’t know. Jung Eun’s father arrives for dinner, and he eats heartily while everyone else just sits in awkward silence. He even toasts to the broken engagement, saying that everybody knows. Assemblyman Choi apologizes, and Assemblyman Yoon suddenly mentions that he’s thinking of giving someone else the secretary-general position. All of a sudden, he feels that Assemblyman Choi isn’t experienced enough. When Ji Tae’s mother gently protests, Yoon says that he won’t be giving next year’s government projects to her company. He asks Ji Tae whom he chose over Jung Eun, and his mother can’t stay quiet. She asks about Jung Eun’s new love interest, but this is news to Assemblyman Yoon. She hands over her phone and shows Assemblyman Yoon pictures of Jung Eun with Joon Young.

Joon Young’s mother closes up her restaurant for the night, and Ajusshi stays back to give her a hat. He puts it on her, and she asks again if he likes her, and this time he says yes. Then he immediately takes it back, and asks if she thinks he’s nuts. He turns and sees Eul crouched against the wall, head in her arms, and Mom asks Eul why she’s here. Eul says that she just walked, and ended up here. She tells them to ignore her, but Ajusshi says that if she wants Joon Young back, she should go talk to him.

Eul moans that she knows, but she’s not in her right mind at the moment. Ajusshi nags some more so Mom sends him away, and asks Eul if she’s crying. Eul says she’s not, that she’s too shocked to cry. She finally looks up at Mom, who invites her to her house for some dinner.

After their dinner, Jung Eun asks Joon Young why Eul was in front of his house tonight. He claims not to know, and changes the subject when Jung Eun derides Eul for not taking a hint. The doorbell rings, and Joon Young finds Assemblyman Yoon’s aide at his door looking for him. He dresses in a suit to meet Jung Eun’s father, but Jung Eun warns him that her father is a frightening man and pleads with him not to go. She begs him to let her handle this, saying that she loves him, and Joon Young hugs her with a smile and lets her go. He says that if she’s gone too long, he’ll go himself.

Eul eats with her usual gusto at Joon Young’s mom’s place, and Mom complains that she could have made more than ramyun. Eul explains that she heard that Joon Young was making ramyun for the woman he’s dating, and she was suddenly craving it. Mom asks who he’s dating, and Eul opens a bottle of soju and says that she’s rich, sexy, and from a good family. Mom snatches the soju back, yelling that she brought it for herself, and Eul realizes that she was gulping it without it even registering. She whines that she’s not supposed to be drinking, worried that she’ll act out again. Mom just invites her to share a drink and they’ll see just how bad it can get.

As Joon Young waits, he breathes on his window again, revealing the little cartoon he drew of Eul on the glass. He goes to his room and pulls out a small recorder, and films himself saying that he’s not sure when his memory will start to go again. He starts talking about his mother and her life, and, this makes my stomach hurt, especially when he haltingly says that he never had a father. Joon Young reconsiders, and records that his father is Choi Hyun-joon, but that he doesn’t know Joon Young exists. He says that Assemblyman Choi fabricated the details of Eul’s father’s hit-and-run accident, then he’s interrupted by a call from his mother. He affects his usual cheerful tone when he answers, saying that he’ll rush right over if she misses him. 

At her home, Mom tucks a sleeping Eul into bed in Joon Young’s old room, then answers the door when Joon Young arrives.

He thinks he’s here to fix a broken chair leg, and he’s surprised when Mom tells him that Eul is in his room. She asks why he’s dating someone else when he’s crazy over Eul. He covers her mouth when she raises her voice and accuses him of only dating that other girl because she’s rich. 

Joon Young starts to leave, but stops when Mom says that Eul hasn’t slept in days, so she got her drunk on purpose. She pretends that there’s an emergency at the restaurant, and leaves Joon Young alone with Eul despite his protests.

Joon Young can’t resist peeking in on Eul, and he sits on the floor to watch her sleep. When she starts to roll off the bed, he quickly slides under her, catching her on his chest. Eul doesn’t wake, but just snuggles into him, and he’s stuck for fear of waking her.

His mother texts that she’s going to stay at the sauna with friends tonight, and Joon Young wonders what to do about Eul. He pulls his pillow under his head, and gently pushes Eul’s hair off her face. His hand hovers over her face as if he’s dying to touch her, but he settles for cradling her in his arms and falls asleep. In the morning, Eul wakes on the floor, alone. She looks around Joon Young’s room, smiling at the encouraging quotes he’d taped to the walls and written in his old textbooks. In one book she finds folded papers, and opens them to see her old posted flyers asking for witnesses to her father’s accident — and also the newer ones Joon Young had posted after she’d left, with his own phone number as the contact. Joon Young’s mom comes in to ask where Joon Young is, and Eul is surprised to learn that he was here last night. Mom seems disappointed that Eul never saw him, but she notices the old signs, and tells Eul that Joon Young did everything he could. She says that Joon Young was a law student then, but he gave it all up. She says that he’s a man of conscience, unlike his parents, and asks Eul not to resent him or she’s a bad person, too.

Joon Young wakes to find Assemblyman Choi at his door, and they go to the dock out back to talk. Choi asks what Joon Young is aiming at, threatening him with the USB (the one that had evidence of Choi with Madam Song), and also stealing Jung Eun from Ji Tae. Joon Young says that he merely wants a just society. Assemblyman Choi says that it wouldn’t be hard to destroy Joon Young, adding that Joon Young started the threats first. Joon Young questions whether asking for a just society and a welfare state is a threat, when those are words that politicians like Choi spew all the time.

Choi asks if Joon Young means to continue playing this absurd game, and Joon Young counters that Choi started it. He asks if he’s forgotten what he did when he was a prosecutor just to gain fame and prestige. Choi says that if Joon Young’s goal is to ruin his life, he ought to mess with Choi alone, and leave out his wife and children. Joon Young isn’t the least bit intimidated, and he refuses. He says that Assemblyman Choi’s family needs to be equally harmed; they need to learn that it’s a sin to have Choi as a husband and father. Furious, 

Assemblyman Choi grabs Joon Young by the collar, and warns him one last time — destroying Joon Young would be a piece of cake. He growls for Joon Young to stop this, and not to touch anything that belongs to him. Joon Young just smiles and gives Assemblyman Choi a piece of advice: “Don’t just warn me. Destroy me.” He says that he plans to spend the rest of his life standing in the way of Choi’s success. He invites Choi to try to knock him down, or he’ll just grow worse.

Jung Eun’s father isn’t pleased with his daughter’s choice of men, and he snatches her phone and slaps her when she tries to text Joon Young. He asks if she plans to live recklessly now, but she retorts that she’s going to stop living recklessly. 

Her father calls her childish to choose a lowly celebrity, and Jung Eun yells that she loves him. Her father books the next flight to the States, intent on sending Jung Eun away until she comes to her senses. He forbids her to return until he allows it, saying that she’s not in her right mind, just like ten years ago.

Ji Tae arrives to speak with Jung Eun, and tries to warn her away from Joon Young. But she wants him over anybody else and isn’t going to be swayed away from her love. At that, Ji Tae tells her that Joon Young approached Jung Eun with an agenda—he’s doing it to get back at Assemblyman Choi.

Haru visits Na Ri at work, and Na Ri tells her that the daughter of a restaurant owner has been flirting with Jik, and she approves, since she wants Jik to marry someone rich. Jealous and indignant, Haru reveals that she’s even richer, though Na Ri doesn’t believe that she’s the daughter of KJ Group. Haru shows her a family photo to prove it, and Na Ri is shocked, but not for the reason that Haru thinks — she tells Haru to go home, delete Jik’s number, and never contact him again. Haru refuses, and Jik arrives to find Na Ri trying to physically peel Haru off the display case. Haru pouts that Na Ri is telling her to break up with him, and Jik confusedly asks why. Jik takes Haru outside, where she sobs that things at home are bad enough without all this piled on. Jik promises that he won’t break up with her no matter what anyone says, and hugs Haru while she wails that she’s better than that restaurant girl. As she cries, Jik wonders why Na Ri told them to break up.

With Ji Tae’s words ringing in her head, Jung Eun goes to meet with Joon Young by the river — and when she sees him standing there, she grows angry and nearly runs him over with her car. At the last second, she screeches the car to a halt just feet away from him, while he doesn’t even flinch. She calms and they sit to talk, and Jung Eun says that she heard something from Ji Tae, but if Joon Young says it’s not true then she’ll believe him.

Joon Young asks if Ji Tae told her that he approached her to get revenge on a father that abandoned him. Jung Eun demands that he say it’s not true, but instead, Joon Young tells her to run before he comes up with another scheme to fool her.

Eul goes to Joon Young’s home again, but her work sunbae calls her before she works up the courage to ring the bell. She’s in trouble for showing up at Joon Young’s home while they were shooting his documentary. Her sunbae gets a call from Joon Young requesting that he send Eul for tonight’s shooting, and he grumbles at Joon Young’s unpredictability. 

That evening, Joon Young sits on his pier at a table covered in flowers and a cake. Eul asks what they’re filming, and Joon Young says that it’s the first item on his bucket list — to propose on camera to the woman he loves. He complains that Eul is frowning, and she turns up the corners of her mouth with her fingers to prove that she’s not.

She can’t help but ask who he’s planning to propose to, and his answer floors her: “Noh Eul.” What? But he’s not answering her, he’s just telling her again to stop frowning. The real answer is that he’s proposing to Jung Eun. Eul excuses herself to get a some water, and she’s so shaken that she drops the glass and shatters it. She mutters to herself that Joon Young is cruel, asking her to film his proposal to another woman.

We see that earlier in the day, after his talk with Jung Eun, Joon Young had called Ji Tae’s mother. He’d told her that no matter what happens, he’d have Jung Eun: “Everything you people want to have, I will now steal away, one by one.”

Jung Eun had been watching from her car, and had taken a call from Ji Tae’s mother asking if she had a nice talk with Joon Young. She’d told Jung Eun to come back and marry Ji Tae, and when Jung Eun tried to hang up on her, she’d said that she had CCTV footage of her hit-and-run from ten years ago. Jung Eun accused her of lying, but Ji Tae’s mother invited her to come see for herself. Jung Eun desperately reminded her that she wouldn’t be the only one affected if it goes public, but Ji Tae’s mother had been willing to take that risk. Between a presidential candidate with a murderer daughter and a mere prosecutor who gave in to power, “I wonder who’ll shed more blood?” Shiver.

Jung Eun had gone back out to Joon Young, who’d asked if she decided not to run. She’d asked how far Joon Young would have gone if he hadn’t been caught, and he said he’d have married her. He admitted that he wants to take the one thing his father wants, and when Jung Eun was surprised he’d marry someone he doesn’t love for revenge, Joon Young had said that feelings change. He’d told Jung Eun to leave, but she’d stopped him. She’d commented on his ability to know what a woman is feeling, and suggested they follow this through together. 

Now she shows up at his place and sits at the table, and she hesitates when she sees that Eul is here to film it. But she gathers her wits and even greets Eul, and asks her to make them look good.

Ji Tae drinks at his and Eul’s old haunt, and the restaurant unni fusses at him for disappearing for so long, calling him sexy and handsome in his fancy new appearance. Ji Tae just says that he had always thought he was a rational, reasonable person. His assistant finds him, and shows him the latest news on Joon Young. We don’t see what Ji Tae sees on the phone screen, but whatever it is makes him go pale.

Over at his mother’s restaurant, Man-ok and GY also gape at the news. Ajusshi says that Joon Young’s mother should never see this, but it’s too late — she’s just walked in and overheard them talking, and wants to know what this is about.

Eul continues filming as Joon Young slips a diamond ring onto Jung Eun’s finger. Eul asks the two what made them decide to do this on camera, and Joon Young says again that it’s on his bucket list. Eul wants Jung Eun’s answer, and she responds that she wants to publicly show people that she’s chosen Joon Young, so that they’ll stop threatening her. Well, how romantic.

Eul asks if they really love each other, zooming in on Joon Young’s face for his answer. He says that he does, but Eul pushes, wanting to know when he starting loving Jung Eun. He looks cornered for a moment, and he says that he doesn’t remember exactly. Voice rising, Eul asks why he can’t remember. Joon Young asks if she recalls every single moment she fell in love, and Eul confidently says that she does. It was March 15, 2005, at the playground in her neighborhood. Some kids had made fun of her brother for having no mother, and the boy in question had comforted Jik.

Of course that had been Joon Young, and he remembers it vividly. He’d told little Jik that he used to get teased for having no father, but he never cried because that’s what the bullies wanted. Eul had witnessed the whole exchange, and she’d fallen for Joon Young that very moment. Joon Young looks shaken now, but Eul doesn’t let him off the hook, and she reminds him that he loved another woman before Jung Eun. Eul asks if he really even loved her, and Joon Young says that he doesn’t remember, gripping Jung Eun’s hand tightly to stop her from chiming in.

He regains his composure a bit, saying that he’s the type of person who starts a new relationship cleanly, erasing old memories. Now Eul is upset and she calls a break, and Joon Young watches as she walks away. Jung Eun says that he’s a scary man. He stands and starts the camera, but Jung Eun doesn’t notice. She asks if they could start again once this is all over. Joon Young asks her what her dream was for her life, explaining that his dream was to become a prosecutor, then find his father and show him that he grew up well without him.

Jung Eun asks if he doesn’t resent his father, since he wants to get revenge on him. Joon Young just says that his father doesn’t even know he exists, which is why he studied so hard. But then one day he discovered his father’s true colors — that he’s cruel, and a fraud who’d do anything to get what he wants. Joon Young tells her that his father covered up a hit-and-run case for a powerful man. As he lays out the details, Jung Eun realizes that he’s talking about her, and drops her wine glass in shock. She excuses herself, and Joon Young watches her go with a calculating look in his eyes. Eul comes back and sees that the camera is on, and Joon Young hands her something and tells her not to take her eyes off the monitor.

Ji Tae confronts his mother, accusing her of starting the rumor that Joon Young is a drug user. Oh no. Joon Young’s mother makes Man-ok read her the article, which states that a “Mr. A” uses drugs in clubs and has drug parties with girls. Though the articles don’t name him, everyone assumes that the rumor is about Joon Young. Assemblyman Choi looks deeply conflicted, but it turns out that he’s the source of the untrue rumors.

Jung Eun emerges from the restroom, having composed herself. She tells Joon Young that prosecutors are people too, who can be cowardly and make mistakes. Joon Young counters that the prosecutors he knows still try to be good fathers and stick to their principles. Jung Eun asks if this is why he wanted revenge on his father, but he just tells her, “The man who died in the hit-and-run accident was my girlfriend’s father.” He confesses to interfering when Eul tried to expose the truth, by trying to protect his father.

Just as Joon Young instructed, Eul is witnessing this entire exchange through the camera that Joon Young re-positioned, and she watches with tears in her eyes as he says, “I wanted to protect him, so I killed my girlfriend.” 

He looks directly into the camera, and says again, “I killed her.”

Personal Thoughts:

Joon Young sets his plan into motion, bringing all the pieces together for one final confrontation. But every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and as Joon Young pushes, his adversary is ready and willing to push back just as hard. The question is, will Joon Young be able to outwit his opponents and set everything right before his time runs out?

This episodes reveals a lot about JY's secret and thats what is good about. It's reaching the end already but this conflicts seems to be a little bit dragged out. Shouldn't we see some beautiful and happy scenes between JY and Eul already??

I am happy that JY's Mom is now on Eul's side and she plays a bit of cupid yeay! I was also touched when I see how hard for JY not to touch Eul, instead he just sleeps with her in his arm. At least for that time, even if he dies, I would be so glad that he dies in the arms of someone he loves. Though I may not want him to die. 

Uncontrollably Fond - Episode 16 Summary

In a series of clips, we see—and hear—JY talking to the cameras mounted in his house. He speaks as though to Eul, saying that he dreamed of her all week, and wonders if she would dream of him, too. Later he says that he doesn’t have a lot of time and asks Eul to stop playing hard to get.

Another time he talks to the camera in his living room, and tells Eul that he just got back from the doctor. Things have gotten worse, so he doesn’t have much time to spend with her. He admits that he’s scared he’ll die before he has a chance to tell her how much he loves her.

Now Eul watches the videos closely, picking out what JY is saying by reading his lips. The last message stuns her, and when her coworkers complains that there’s no audio, she breathes, “I hear everything. I can hear him clearly.”

Meanwhile, JY forces Jung Eun to speak to Ji Tae’s mother on the phone, and listens as she tells the woman that she’s giving up on Ji Tae. When he hears that, he turns back and kisses her. On the other end of the line, Ji Tae tells his mother that he’s not here to give in to his mother — he’s here to declare war. He’ll follow her as far as she wants to take this. Her look of betrayal doesn’t sway him.

A while later, Jung-eun washes her face in JY’s restroom, now having second thoughts and wanting to take back her words about giving up on Ji-tae. Instead, she approaches JY and raises a hand to slap him, although he stops her. He tells her to take off her engagement ring the next time they kiss, because he’s not nice or strong enough to welcome a woman wearing another man’s ring. GY lets himself in and gapes to see Jung Eun there — he only knows her as the project leader of JY’s movie. JY tells GY to drive Jung Eun home, ignoring his questions about whether something happened between them. Gook-young yells that if anything happened, that makes JY nothing but a beast.

Eul takes a taxi to JY’s house, and nervously tries to ring the doorbell. In the driveway GY gets slapped for trying to take Jung Eun’s keys, but he promises that he’ll forget everything he saw and heard today, so she allows him to drive her. Eul sees Jung Eun being chauffeured off the premises, and she hesitates. She remembers driving once with JYg, when he’d asked her if she hates seeing him that much. She’d said yes and told him to get lost, and he’d agreed to disappear from her sight forever, but only after three or four months.

As Eul cries outside his door, JY gazes out the window and draws a little cartoon picture of Eul in a patch of his breath.

In the morning, an increasingly desperate Haru resorts to chants and talismans to try to coerce Jik to like her back. The housekeeper stops her from actually eating the talisman, ha, but Haru just goes back to her chants, and celebrates when she gets a text from Jik. He asks her to meet, to apologize for ignoring her messages. Haru plays it cool, saying that she had plenty of guys to entertain her, but it backfires on her when Jik takes it as a rejection. She backpedals and says there’s no one else, and she’s single-minded when she likes someone. She gulps nervously, and Jik backs up, assuming she’s about to plant another kiss on him, hee. She assures him that won’t happen, and he makes her promise there will be no skinship until he graduates high school. Well, maybe hugs on special days. And he wants to meet her parents to get their permission and date for real. Haru whines that it’s old-fashioned, but Jik is serious, and he wants to do this right until he’s an adult. Haru isn’t happy about the “no kissing” rule, but she agrees when Jik says that holding hands is okay. He takes her hand to reassure her that it’s no worse than a handshake, but his heart starts to pound. He says that maybe they can’t hold hands either, which just makes Haru stomp and pout even more. So cute, these two.

JY sleeps until early afternoon, and wakes up looking like hell. Doctor Kang calls to tell him that Eul came by his office today, and suddenly Joon-young is wide awake. The doctor says that Eul knows he’s sick, and we see that Eul took the news stoically, only betraying emotion when the doctor confirmed that JY is dying. JY goes downstairs to find Eul making herself at home, and he reminds her that they’re over. She agrees that they were, but now that she thinks about it, it doesn’t really benefit her to end things now. She asks JY to let her continue working for him on the documentary, and she swears she won’t even care if he dates someone else.

She nearly slips with, “Just let me be next…” but stops and corrects herself. She says that producing his documentary is a huge feather in her professional cap, but she wants to go further, and it’s not worth giving up for a mere ten million won.

But JY denies her request, and tells her not to be so clingy. He gives her one minute to leave, and walks away.

Ji Tae is raked over the coals by one of KJ Group’s bigwigs for having no filial piety and trying to dismiss his own mother. He’s ordered to rescind his request, but he holds strong and refuses. As he bends to pick his scattered papers off the floor, Jung-eun approaches and tells him to give up. He just removes her shoe from his papers and continues, so she tries to get a rise out of him by saying that she’s falling for JY. She admits that she never thought she could have feelings for anyone else, and that it surprises her too. She asks Ji Tae to hold onto her and prevent her from going to JY. But Ji Tae says coldly that he already gave her his answer.

Jung Eun visits Ji Tae’s mother next, and attempts to talk about her statement that she’s giving up on Ji Tae. But his mom bulldozes right over her as if she never heard a thing, and gives her an expensive, difficult-to-buy handbag.

She eventually acknowledges what Jung Eun said about Ji Tae, and starts to fawn over her and ask her to forgive Ji Tae. Something about that offends Jung Eun, and she says again that she’s seeing someone else. Mom sweetly tells her to just break it off, and even offers to do it for her, like she did once before. Wait, has she been chasing off any suitors that weren’t Ji Tae? Seriously, this witch is doing things even worse than before.

Assemblyman Choi is still reeling at the news that JY’s mother was never married as she claimed. Recent information confirms JY’s birthday, and the math adds up. Choi finds himself in front of JY’s home, and remembers when teenage JY told him that he wanted to be a prosecutor. JY had grown quiet when Assemblyman Choi said that his parents must be proud of him, which now seems to mean more than he realized back then.

Ji Tae pulls up while Choi is still standing there, and he asks his father why he’s here. Assemblyman Choi says that his department is organizing a Hallyu event, so he’s here to ask JY to sing a few songs. Ji Tae thinks it odd that he’s doing this in person, but Choi stammers that he’s just catering to JY’s famous pride.

Not fooled one bit, Ji Tae asks his father if he was crying. Choi lies that he has dry eyes, but Ji Tae just asks how much he knows about his relationship with JY. Choi clings to his lie and says that he doesn’t know what Ji Tae is talking about, and Ji Tae backpedals, saying he was mistaken. He tells his father to go talk to JY and he’ll come back later, but Choi stops him, and asks Ji Tae how much he knows. Ji Tae simply says that he knows as much as his father knows. Assemblyman Choi ends up leaving first, though he’s so distracted that he nearly hits a group of pedestrians with his car. Ji-tae stands outside JY’s home, thinking about the moment that he pulled up and saw his father here, wiping tears from his eyes.

Ji Tae finally approaches JY, and the two sit to talk. Ji Tae notes that JY didn’t seem surprised to see him, and asks flat-out when JY will be dying. Wow, really? JY smirks and asks Ji Tae if he wants him gone, and Ji Tae says that yes, he does. Really?? JY tells him that lifespan depends on the patient’s willpower, and apologizes since he doesn’t plan to die any time soon. He says that there’s still a lot he has to do, and a lot he wants to do, so he’s hanging on to life as best he can.

Ji Tae tells JY to leave the revenge to him—he’ll be the one to carry it out on behalf or JY or Eul. He tells JY to die in peace and stop using Jung-eun to make things messier. Then he can be remembered as the pitiful and beautiful star. JY almost looks tempted, but his eyes harden and he starts to retort. But Ji Tae interrupts, and says that Joon-young’s father considered Jung-eun his daughter-in-law, so he should stop being a jerk to her and just die quietly. He issues this last warning, and stands to leave. JY calls after him, his voice rising to a scream, “Why do you keep saying that? I won’t die!!” Provoked now, JY angrily empties his entire medicine cabinet onto the counter. But a call from Man-ok alerting him that Eul is at Mom’s restaurant stops him.

Mom feeds Eul, who eats so hungrily she nearly chokes on the food. Mom asks if JY is that mean to Eul, and Eul doesn’t even bother denying it. Ajusshi notes that Eul is just like Mom — when she’s upset, she stuffs her face.

Eul asks Mom why JY is such a jerk anyway, and goes on and on about how selfish he is, and rude, and how he holds a grudge forever. Mom bristles at Eul badmouthing her son, but Eul is all, That’s right, and I’m just getting started. Mom says that maybe Eul should just find someone else, but Eul pouts that there’s nobody else. Mom points around the restaurant, and Man Ok claims the other worker so Eul brightly asks Ajusshi if he wants to date her.

After Eul finishes her meal, she and Mom step outside to speak privately. Mom reminds Eul that she said she was going to break up with Joon-young, and asks why she’s clinging to him instead. Eul doesn’t answer, but instead asks for a hug.

She reaches out and hugs Mom first, ignoring her initial struggle, and asks her to just stay like this for a while. It’s sadly reminiscent of Eul and JY’s hug by the river, only now Eul is the one who needs it. She asks Mom to tell her to stay strong—and no matter what happens, Mom shouldn’t cry too much, either. Okay, but now I’m crying. Mom scoffs and tries to push Eul off again, but Eul just hugs her tighter. JY pulls up in time to see Eul hugging his mother right there on the street. He freezes, unable to move at the sight.

Jung Eun stands on a rooftop overlooking the city, thinking everything over. She recalls how JY told her to take off her engagement ring before seeing him again, while a billboard plays JY’s concert serenade to Eul, and pronounces his documentary a message of hope for those facing death.

The next time JY sits to record for the documentary, he tells the camera that the first item on his bucket list is to bring the girl he’s dating into the camera shot right now, and be proud. The official story is still that he and actress Kim Yuna are dating, but he says that that’s not who he’s talking about, outing the president for making up the story. GY asks if he means Eul, and Joon-young denies it. Gook-young then snarkily asks if it’s Jung Eun—and JY confirms it, to everyone’s shock. Just then, Eul’s cheerful voice interrupts: She’s here to help. JY’s eyes flicker just a moment before that cold expression slams down again… and then everything goes blurry.

JY clutches his head in pain for just a moment, struggling to control himself in front of everyone. His face twists in agony as Eul and President Namgoong argue over whether she should be here, and the moment he’s under control he stands and says they’re done for the day. He tells everyone to leave, and Eul seems to notice that something isn’t right. President Namgoong blames Eul for making JY want to quit filming, but GY kindly asks if Eul is okay. It’s interesting how he’s suddenly her biggest supporter. GY is fed up for real this time, and he tells President Namgoong that he’d rather eat rocks than continue to be JY’s manager.

Joon-young stumbles to his bathroom for his medicine, fighting nausea and dizziness. He gets a pill down, but collapses in the hallway, unconscious.

Eul finds him lying there and sits with him, fighting back her tears. She stays with him, wiping the sweat from his face, until he wakes just enough to roll his eyes up to her.

She tells him that she almost called for an ambulance, but she didn’t want rumors to spread. JY pushes himself to a sitting position, and he throws Eul’s phone angrily when she starts to call Doctor Kang. He screams at her to leave, but she just calmly urges him to get treatment. Unable to make Eul leave, JY starts to walk away, but Eul stops him. She asks if he’s refusing treatment because he’s afraid people will find out he’s sick. She says the words out loud: “You’re dying.” She tells him again to go to the hospital, but he just grabs her hand and pulls her outside. Desperate, she threatens to tell everyone if he keeps refusing treatment, but he pushes her out the gate, tells her to do whatever she wants, and slams the door in her face. He goes inside and sinks to the floor, choking back tears.

Ji Tae runs into Assemblyman Choi coming home late that night, and sadly asks his father never to leave his mother, no matter what. Choi easily promises, and asks for a promise in return — that Ji Tae will never abandon his mother, no matter what. But Ji Tae can’t make that promise, and says that that’s why he asked for his father’s promise first.

Jung Eun is at the Choi home for dinner, and Haru pulls her aside to talk about boys. She asks if it isn’t normal for a a man to want to kiss and hold hands with the girl he likes, and Jung-eun says that it is. Haru asks about Jung Eun and Ji Tae’s first kiss, but Assemblyman Choi and Ji Tae’s arrival saves Jung Eun from having to answer. Ji Tae is unhappy to see Jung Eun here, and complains that they should have told him. Jung Eun says that she has something to tell the family, and she pushes off Mom’s hand when she tries to pull her away. Jung Eun goes to Ji Tae and gives him her engagement ring, saying that they should call it quits now. She turns to Assemblyman Choi and tells him that she’s seeing someone else. She states that her debt to him (for helping her in the hit and run) has been paid back by her father, and tells him not to use that to hold her back. She tells Ji Tae’s mother that she left behind the fancy handbag she’d given her, adding that she’s perfectly capable of buying herself such luxuries. Assemblyman Choi asks who she’s seeing, but we don’t see her answer him.

Over at Na Ri’s place, Eul is doing her best to hide in a blanket cocoon, and Jik asks Na Ri if he can hold her hand, then grabs her in a hug, then touches her face, checking his heartbeat. He leans over and kisses her cheek, and Na Ri decides he’s gone bonkers.

Jik clinically reports that he doesn’t feel a thing, so he wonders why his heart explodes when he so much as touches Haru. Eul suddenly bolts upright and starts talking about jerks, and both Jik and Na Ri point questioningly to him. Eul dashes out, leaving Na Ri and Jik utterly confused.

JY calls GY when he can’t find Pororo, and GY accuses him of making up an excuse to call him. He reminds JY that he rehomed Pororo a while back, and JY is confused for a minute before he remembers. Okay, that’s worrisome. Eul shows up and pounds loudly on the gate, demanding to be let in. When he doesn’t respond, she calls loudly that she knows he’s pushing her away, afraid she’ll be hurt when he’s gone. She yells that that won’t help anything, because they were never madly in love, and they never understood each other.

JY’s chin wobbles when Eul cries out that her not wanting to see him romantically was all a lie. She says that she likes him, that she loves him, and she can’t stand one more minute without him. She beats on the door, begging him to let her in.

Her words shake him to the core, and he starts to walk towards the gate. But an alert on his phone just then reminds him that the statute of limitations is up in only thirteen days, then GY calls. GY has called back to say that even though JY is a big star, he shouldn’t flirt with just anyone and break a poor girl’s heart. He says that if JY does that, he’ll suffer in hell for it. Confused, JY asks GY what statute of limitations is up in thirteen days. Oh no. He doesn’t remember what the alert means, or having put it on his phone. But GY has no idea what he’s talking about, either.

Eul pounds on the gate until her hand is bruised, but JY doesn’t open up. Jung Eun pulls up and the two women exchange loaded glares, then Jung Eun walks past Eul to ring the doorbell.

JY hears the bell and goes to the door, expecting to see Eul on the other side. Instead it’s Jung Eun, who holds up her hand to show him that she’s no longer wearing her engagement ring. She steps into his arms, and Joon-young looks confused, almost as if he doesn’t know who she is.

Then over her shoulder, JY sees Eul step out from behind the gate.

Personal Thoughts:

That was painful to watch. It’s one thing to see JY in pain, but something else entirely to see him losing large chunks of his memory. He looked so lost and befuddled, but the scariest part is that when he starts losing his memories, he’ll start losing himself in the process. It’s our memories that make us who we are, and without them, JY will slowly fade away. When the sickness starts to torture him in such a way, I feel heavy for JY and Eul too.

Just when I thought Ji Tae’s mother couldn’t get any worse, she goes and gets way, way worse. Apparently Jung Eun’s fixation on Ji Tae isn’t all self-propelled — from that little comment of Mom’s (when she offered to get rid of Jung Eun’s new fling, “like before”), it sounded like she’s experienced in chasing away any man who shows interest in Jung Eun. This shows a level of commitment and obsession with the match of Jung Eun and Ji Tae that’s been years in the making, and it’s frankly chilling. Neither of them ever had a shot at finding love for themselves, with Mom making damn sure that they never even had any other options. It’s amazing that Ji Tae was able to hang out with Eul as long as he did, and resisted the brainwashing that Jung Eun’s fell into.

I’m feeling more magnanimous towards Assemblyman Choi these days, though I’ll admit that it’s largely to do with his current lovelorn situation. He seems deeply shaken to know that he may have a son he never knew about, and there’s a large part of me that still wants him to turn out to be a good man. He’s a loving father and husband, but his attitudes towards the poor are problematic at best. I hold out hope that his reconnection with JY’s mother, and his realization that JY is his son, can turn him around on that score.

Ji Tae is really frustrating me lately, because I just wish so badly that he’d chosen a different path. If he had been able to forgive JY for Eul’s loving him, the two men could have worked together to get Eul the revenge she deserves. I watch Ji Tae and JY’s scenes together and it’s like I can see an alternate scene, where the two are at least on the same side, and taking down the Choi family together. But Ji Tae can’t let it go, and his anger and resentment are causing him to push everyone away. I just wish he’d gone in a different direction, and been a help to JY rather than repeatedly telling him to just go die already so Ji Tae can do things his way.

I think that Suzy’s acting has improved measurably during the course of this drama, and for me, she’s gone from tolerable to actually better than decent. I still wouldn’t call her a really good actress like Ha Ji Won or Song Hye Kyo, but she’s serving the character of Eul very well and getting better with each episodes, it seems. I can absolutely see that Suzy has more spark in her eye, more confidence in her voice, and more maturity overall than she did before. I like how she’s turned the tables and decided to stay near JY whether he likes it or not, now that she knows the truth. She stays strong enough and reveals exactly what we all hopes to hear, to stay besides JY and told him that by pushing her away, would not help Eul in any way since to love well is something that is far better than revenge.

On the other hand, Woo Bin has been and continues to absolutely master the role of JY. I may not understand JY fully, but I can feel every ounce of his sorrow, anger, and grief at facing his own mortality. The man has a will of steel, to be able to listen to Eul crying that she loves him, and not go to her and just love her while he can. Every time he sees her, he looks like he’s just a moment away from breaking down. Woo Bin is the perfect potrayal of JY and I just can't imagine anyone to potray JY other than him. 

At this point JY's character has been entirely focused on the end of his life. I am sure enough now that the last episode will potray a sad ending rather than an open ending. I do wish he would find a magic cure but I bet he won't be able to as it is a melodrama. I do want him to realize that love is more valuable than revenge, so that he can die without regrets and knowing that Eul loves him. But for all of his angst and self-denial to be worth it, he almost has to die, otherwise it will render everything that we will have invested in for ten weeks meaningless. And he was on the right track before he veered off into revenge territory, back when his final wish was to tell Eul how much he loves her. I want him to learn to embrace love again, and leave knowing that he did do something meaningful before he died — he loved well.