The love stories of people in Gongjin village continue to shape up in the 9th episode of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.
Implied and direct love confessions have been out in the open, and it’s only a matter of time for these couples to bravely claim and commit to it.
abbyinhallyuland watched Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha on Netflix
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale Episode + Review |
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha Episode 9 Key Moments
“You’re torn between the two. I get it. Don’t worry I didn’t tell a single soul. Fighting!”
Sensing the fear in Hye-jin’s body, Du-sik hugs her back until Mr. Ban approached to give the phone she dropped. They awkwardly detach from each other and head to their respective homes. But the fleeting embrace caused sleepless nights for both of them.
The next day, Hye-jin learns from Pan-suk how Mr. Ban already shared the passionate embraced he witnessed between Du-sik and Hye-jin. Nam-suk assures her that she did not spread it. She adds she understands her situation of spending the night with Du-sik whilst being interested in PD Ji.
Hye-jin can’t make a rebuttal as Nam-suk happily acknowledges her predicament. Just then, her father and step-mom show up who obviously heard her love situation. Welcoming her parents to her home, Hye-jin leads her dad to the washroom and gets surprised when Du-sik emerged from it.
She is also not aware that earlier, he already met her father when he helped him with the gas service pump. However, Hye-jin’s father was disappointed in how he talked informally to him.
“Yes, you’re right. I’m Hye-jin’s boyfriend.”
Led by Nam-suk’s grapevine, Hye-jin’s father is under the impression that Du-sik and Hye-jin are together. With his hand about to be crushed by Hye-jin’s father, he settles to just go with the flow and escape the situation.
While they prepare food for the guest, he explains to Hye-jin that it was the easiest choice to escape their tricky situation. He remarks she can just declare later they broke up. Responding to Hye-jin’s father’s inquisition, he easily corrects his responses in a formal way. But when he was asked about his profession, he honestly declares experiencing all the jobs in the world but does not have a permanent one.
Surprised to learn he’s unemployed, Hye-jin defends Du-sik right away by saying it does not matter if he does not have a job since she earns well and he’s a great guy. She further explains how competent her “one-day boyfriend” is, highlighting how he’s handsome, tall and also a graduate of Seoul University.
Not finding a way to his daughter’s argument, he decides to visit her clinic together with Du-sik. Because of the unexpected guests, an announcement was made to the people of Gongjin about Hye-jin’s situation. They were asked to cooperate in the role-playing of her and Du-sik being lovers. A 30% discount will also be given to the person who will contribute well.
“Of course, I’m going to be true to my role as Hye-jin’s boyfriend today.”
While sightseeing in the village, Gongjin residents go all out in being hospitable to Hye-jin’s parents. When PD Ji learned from Juri about Hye-jin’s parents, he also introduces himself and invites them for a quick coffee at the filming site.
After the quick chat, PD Ji promises to greet Hye-jin’s parents properly in the future. He also reminds him to do his part-time boyfriend for a day job properly. Cutely annoyed at Du-sik’s passionate response of doing his job well, he also gets the same cute ire of the creative team for giving the llama amulet of their show to Hye-jin.
“You should be penalized too. You see, you invaded my heart. As for the penalty, let’s call it even with the chicken you bought. Let’s date!”
Mi-seon is resigned to chase after Eun-cheol’s elusive heart. After inviting herself to join his task to deliver food to the elderly people, she witnessed him in action serving a ticket to a driver who went over the centerline. She adorably professes her attraction to him and bravely proclaims they should date.
Responding he understands how people easily fall for each other, he tells her that he’s old-fashioned and dating should not be rushed. With her “I like you” confession not being reciprocated, Mi-seon makes up an excuse to evade the awkward conversation and gets off the police car.
At Hye-jin’s clinic, his dad hints interest at PD Ji. Subtly showing his own merits, Du-sik’s myriad skills come in handy as he amazes aboji with his knowledge in horticulture. He ups the ante by showing off his baduk skills, inevitably emerging victorious in the match with aboji.
Meanwhile, Nam-suk is starting to get bored without any gossip to snoop on. Just then, Yeong-guk and Cho-hui arrive at the cafe. At the speed of lightning, Hwajeong gets the news of her ex-husband and Cho-hui meeting up at the cafe. Confessing his feelings, Cho-hui turns him down telling him she wants them to remain friends.
“It’s strange. This is their first time meeting. So how does he seem to blend in so well? How does he make us feel so comfortable? How does he warm our hearts easily?”
Sharing a hearty meal, Hye-jin beams as her parents and Du-sik are in cute chaos coaxing her picky eater father to try on the seafood. He ends up eating a lot of food. But the mood turns somber when Hye-jin’s father learned that Du-sik is an orphan. While he was at the washroom, Hye-jin was ordered to break up with him.
Du-sik, who overheard part of the conversation, stops on his track and listens to Hye-jin chides her father for being close-minded. Blurting how she has her own flaws by not having a mom growing up and having a stepmom, her father decides to step out to let off his steam.
Chief Hong follows him and accepts his apology. He shares how Hye-jin takes after him a lot. She also admits to her mistakes quickly. Aboji expresses his desire for his daughter to be in a big family so she can receive the love she was not able to get from him.
Correcting him of his thoughts, Du-sik assures him that his daughter received a lot of love while growing up. Her ability to give love to others attests to that. Finally, Du-sik also confessed he’s not Hye-jin’s boyfriend.
Back at the restaurant, Hye-jin learns from her stepmom how her father dotes on her so much. How his life revolves around caring and thinking of her – of loving her unconditionally.
Hye-jin and Du-sik send them off with Du-sik’s long list of reminders. Hye-jin’s father calls him to speak in private and learns his talking informally is because of his mantra to speak casually to be friendly. But Hye-jin’s father made sure he won’t do it again to him because he’s an exception.
“What did you do after graduating college? I mean during those five years?”
At Du-sik’s favorite place, Hye-jin probes on his past life, but did not get any sound reply. She blabs about his unique choice to live a simple life when his brain and skill capacity are not fit for living in a small town. But Du-sik replies he will keep living that way and is not taking a break.
Finding her broken-hearted friend wallowing in emptiness, Hye-jin comforts Mi-seon. The next day, something happened to Mi-seon’s mother so she has to leave Seoul. Eun-cheol who was staring at a distance learned about what happened and offered to drive her to Seoul.
Something has been bothering Du-sik since he last spoke with Hye-jin’s father. It turns out, he actually received his blessing. Driving back to Seoul, PD Ji decides to go back to Gongjin for fear of being late again to win Hye-jin’s heart.
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha Episode 9 Musings
We knew Du-sik’s fear all along and he confirmed the clear picture in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha episode 9. He is scared that the people he loves will leave him. Subconsciously, all those small and sweet things he does for Hye-jin are silent declarations of how his heart is already beating for her. Hopefully, we would go all the way soon.
Much as I like PD Ji’s pure one-sided love with Hye-jin, I think someone also harbors the same feeling to him and is really very close. It’s inevitable but all the signs point to Hye-jin already attached to Du-sik, even when she does not realize it fully.
Speaking of love triangles, I hope the Hwajeong-Yeong-gu-Cho-hui situation proceeds to a clearer picture soon. Withholding their motivations makes viewers detach from their thought process.
Driving the girl you turned down makes Eun-cheol either unique or just a plain liar of not feeling the same way with Mi-seon. Rooting for their relationship to blossom, I bet is advocacy that a lot of people would sign up for.
Will we get a clearer picture of the romance stories to move further in the 10th episode of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha?
Get your soothing and saccharine dose of love and life stories in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha exclusively on Netflix!
Photos: tvN
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