United by the loss of their siblings, two in-laws decide to live together and join hands to care for their nephew.
Their endeavor proves more challenging than expected, though. Not to mention, they had a rather awkward past encounter and wished to avoid each other. Let the chaos and co-parenting begin.
Bunny S. watches Our Universe on Viki
Opening Week Ratings:
Our Universe Opening Week Story
“I will give you my approval. I am basically my sister’s mom and dad.”
Meeting our heroine Woo Hyun-jin (Roh Jeong-eui), she is a college student trying hard to land a job before graduation and taking on as many part-time gigs as possible. Losing her parents at a tender age, Hyun-jin was raised by her sweet elder sister, Woo Hyun-joo (special appearance by Park Ji-hyun), and the two sisters share an adorable and tight bond.
Spotting a ring in her bag, Hyun-jin figures Hyun-joo’s boyfriend, Sun Woo-jin (special appearance by Ha Joon), has proposed to her. But Hyun-joo keeps putting off their marriage plans out of concern for Hyun-jin. Knowing how selfless her sister is, Hyun-jin takes matters into her own hands. She gives them her blessing, urging Woo-jin to set up a proper family meeting so they can discuss the marriage plans. Yet Woo-jin has no family members. Or so we thought.
“Sorry, I am late. I got the invitation pretty last-minute yesterday.”
At the family meeting, an uninvited guest, Sun Tae-hyung (Bae In-hyuk), turns up, calling Woo-jin “brother.” And judging from Woo-jin’s facial expression, he isn’t that excited to meet his so-called younger brother.
As it so happens, Hyun-jin and Tae-hyung have crossed paths once, though their first impression of each other is terrible. Hyun-jin wanted to buy a decorative lighting piece for her sister as a wedding gift. But she couldn’t afford a new one, so she resolved to buy a second-hand item. The seller was Tae-hyung. Yet while haggling over the price, they got into an argument, and the lighting piece was damaged.
At the family meeting, the mood turns awkward upon Tae-hyung’s arrival. Hyun-joo tries to act nice, yet Tae-hyung is rather prickly, relaying how he got abandoned by his brother and advising Hyun-joo not to trust him. Storming off, Woo-jin follows after Tae-hyung, but the latter refuses to hear anything he says and asserts they should never see each other again.
True to his word, Tae-hyung doesn’t attend the wedding. Through a quick flashback montage, we see Woo-jin celebrating young Tae-hyung’s birthday and buying him new shoes and a camera. Then he left Tae-hyung at an orphanage, promising to come back for him. Tae-hyung kept waiting for his brother all those years. But he now knows it was all useless. Tae-hyung took up photography because of his brother’s last gift, but now he tosses away the camera along with their photos together.
“How could you go, believing just that?”
Three years later, Tae-hyung quit photography and took up a video directing job at a proper company. He now owns a small apartment and leads a more successful life. On the other hand, Hyun-jin has yet to land a full-time job after graduating.
Hyun-joo offers to support Hyun-jin while she pursues her dream job instead of a random one. But Hyun-jin’s pride gets the best of her. And she spews mean words at Hyun-joo, calling herself a burden and wishing she were on her own, before taking off. Then one night, both Hyun-jin and Tae-hyung get a call about their respective siblings getting into an accident and passing away.
Rushing over to the funeral hall, Hyun-jin feels guilty and regrets hurting her sister’s feelings, never imagining it would be the last time they would see each other. Tae-hyung’s feelings are more complex, though. Yet his heart feels heavy, given how he told his brother not to see each other again. And now Woo-jin is really gone.
Leaving behind a cute kid, the only survivor of that tragic accident is Woo-jin and Hyun-joo’s twenty-month-old son, Sun Woo-joo (played by child actor Park Yoo-ho). His name means universe in Korean. And Tae-hyung is taken aback to realize he has a nephew. An accidental fall has Hyun-jin hurting her wrist, so Tae-hyung takes over as the chief mourner. But he has more trouble taking care of Woo-joo.
Though he acts nonchalant, Tae-hyung isn’t unaffected by Woo-joo. And we can see this adorable kid growing on his prickly uncle. With the funeral wrapped up, it is time to decide who will look after Woo-joo. And unsurprisingly, Hyun-jin is the one who steps up for that mission.
“I have to get in so I can raise Woo-joo right.”
Entering her sister’s place, Hyun-jin cries her heart out, looking around the room her sister prepared for her to move in with them. Then, there is poor Woo-joo, who keeps crying and asking for his mother, unaware he won’t see her or his father again. Just then, Hyun-jin receives a text about passing the first screening for BS Food, her dream company. And now she has to prepare for the interview. However, it is no easy feat to balance parenting and working.
With no one to watch over Woo-joo on the interview day, Hyun-jin reaches out to Tae-hyung, appealing to his emotions in all sorts of ways. Getting an urgent work task, Tae-hyung drags Woo-joo to his place. But who on earth feeds a little kid a burger and fries and then leaves them be without keeping an eye on them? Unsurprisingly, Tae-hyung’s place turns into a mess, and he even gets his phone broken.
“Wait, you aren’t seriously telling me you plan to stay here, are you?”
After the interview, Hyun-jin is shocked to find Woo-joo in the company lobby, causing a scene. Worse off, Woo-joo disappears, and they have to pick him up from a fountain where he is playing. Walking away, Tae-hyung bids Hyun-jin and Woo-joo farewell, asserting he wants nothing to do with them. But ironically, his moving-in date is delayed by a month, and he has nowhere to stay except for Woo-joo’s parents’ place, where Hyun-jin is staying with Woo-joo.
We get a reversal of the earlier scene where Tae-hyung has to do the pleading. Earning his keep, Tae-hyung does the chores, cleans up the place, and makes Woo-joo a proper breakfast this time. Yet it is all an agenda to get on Hyun-jin’s good side and save on rent until he moves into his new place.
At first, Hyun-jin was planning to kick Tae-hyung out, but she landed the job at BS Food. And she now needs someone to look after Woo-joo while she works. Nannies are expensive, and daycare centers are backed up. So, she is forced to accept Tae-hyung’s offer to co-parent for a month, no more, no less. Setting the rules and signing an agreement, our in-laws’ cohabitation and co-parenting era kicks off.
Our Universe Opening Week Musings
This was a good start, and we appreciate the contrasting relationships our leads had with their siblings. Hyun-jin and Hyun-joo had a close bond, but Woo-jin and Tae-hyung had a tough past. There are hints that Woo-jin abandoned Tae-hyung at the orphanage to protect him from some complicated family history, but the drama has yet to reveal the details.
Regardless of the past, Hyun-jin and Tae-hyung are now stuck together, and they need to get along to raise Woo-joo. And sure enough, love is bound to bloom between them. The biggest highlight of the drama is our adorable universe, Woo-joo. He might stress the hell out of his aunt and uncle, but one can’t help but fall for his charm.
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